Текст книги "Overlord - The Invaders of the Large Tomb"

Автор книги: Maruyama Kugane

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

“Auf lirru gwpph!” (I’m really sorry!)”

“Hehehe, that’s right. Regret is a valuable thing.”

Neuronist picked up a thin rod from somewhere. At the end of the rod were spikes that were roughly five millimeters long.

“Let’s start with this.”

Neuronist kindly explained every little detail to the man who didn’t understand anything about the tool.

“My creator used to suffer from a little problem called ‘kidney stones’. To pay respects to that, we’ll start with this. Since it became so small, I don’t think we’ll have much problem putting it in.”

“Thnd du mus!”

Neuronist took its face closer to the man who was screaming out in realization of what would happen to him.

“We’re going to spend a long, long time together. You shouldn’t start crying, because this is only the beginning.”

 

Part 3

Despite each team picking their own path at the crossroads, Eruya’s baseless assumption that stronger enemies would be in the deeper part of the tomb was why he chose to keep going straight ahead.

He came across countless corners and stone doors, but he silently walked on. In fact, he was bored that there was nothing happening. Not a single monster nor a trap. Maybe he picked the wrong route. Eruya thought that as he clicked his tongue.

“Move it, you slowpoke. Walk faster!”

Eruya ordered the elf who was walking ten meters ahead of him in a forceful voice. The elf had stopped every once in awhile, but after the order, she trembled a bit and started to walk again. She had been walking continuously since she came into the tomb.

She was lucky so far, but if there were any traps ahead, she would die for sure.

Rather than searching for traps, her treatment was more akin to the way canaries were used by miners. Eruya’s team consisted of Eruya and three elf slaves with distinct skills, – ranger, cleric and druid. Using someone who possessed detection skills as a mining canary was an unreasonable order to give.

But Eruya had his own reasons. It was simply that he was tired of the elf who was walking at the front.

Many would be surprised if they heard it. Not for moral reasons, but for monetary reasons.

Slaves from the Slane Theocracy were not cheap. Especially elves, whose prices varied drastically depending on their appearance or skills. Elves were normally expensive enough to make one’s eyes pop out and were traded at price far beyond the capabilities of an average person.

An elf with skills would go for around the same price as a weapon imbued with special magic. Even for Eruya, they were not something he could buy willy-nilly.

But since Eruya took all of ‘Tenmu’s payment for himself, he could make up for the losses quickly if the quests went well. Thus, he didn’t care if one of them died after he got tired of them.

Next time, I should get one with larger breasts.

Eruya thought that while looking at the back of the elf who slowly walked forward.

I like how they scream when I squeeze their breasts hard.

Because this quest was a joint operation between multiple teams, he couldn’t bed the elves for a few days. No one would have grounds to complain if he did, but jealousy could trigger all sorts of unpleasant events. Eruya had enough common sense as a worker to realize what kind of loss in profit the problems might lead to.

Eruya’s pent up lust made him harbour alternative thoughts.

No, maybe I should get someone like that woman.

The one who came into Eruya’s mind was a member of “Foresight”. The half-elf who had looked at Eruya with hate-filled eyes.

She was truly an annoying woman.

There was a small girl beside her in that party, but Eruya could understand that the small child couldn’t help but look at him with open hostility. It was common for women not to understand men’s desires, and especially for someone of her age, it would be understandable for her to have a certain disdain for sexual acts. But it was not acceptable for lower life forms to look at humans with such eyes.

Just the thought brought out the anger in Eruya’s face.

I want to beat that annoying face until it can’t resist anymore…

For elven slaves, they were broken with all kinds of methods before being delivered to the customer. There was no way elf slaves would show much resistance.

On the other hand, if he targeted that half-elf, she would resist like a mad beast. For Eruya, it won’t be hard to break and conquer the beast, but he wouldn’t be unscathed and he didn’t have much confidence in his ability to subdue his prey alive. While he was imagining slapping Imiya around in his head, he didn’t notice that the elf who was leading the way had stopped.

“Who told you to stop? Keep walking.”

“Sob…! I h-heard a noise from there.”

“A noise?”

Eruya concentrated on hearing while frowning at the elf. The silence was almost deafening.

“…I don’t hear anything.”

Normally he would have beaten her, but elves had superior hearing than humans. Even if Eruya couldn’t hear anything, there was a good chance elves could hear something. To confirm, he asked the two beside him.

“What about you? Do you hear it?”

“Y-yes. I can hear it.”

“It-it’s like the sound of metal clanging against metal.”

“…Is that so.”

There was no way a metallic clanging sound occurred naturally. There must be someone making that noise. In other words, his first chance for battle since entering the tomb. He became excited at the thought.

“Let’s go towards the place where the sound’s coming from.”

“Y-yes.”

With the elf slave leading the way, he headed towards the place the sound was coming from. Soon, Eruya could hear the metallic sounds as well. It was accompanied by the sound of something hard striking some other hard material and the shouts of battle.

“Well, I guess it’s just the other workers. The tunnel didn’t seem to bend at any point, but I guess we’re going to run into another team.”

It was as if someone poured a bucket of cold water on his excitement. He sighed as if he had lost all motivation.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. I can fight as their reinforcement.”

When Eruya reached where the sound was coming from, he had a strange feeling. It was abnormal for a battle. It was like—

His curiosity was answered when he turned the corner.

It was a fairly large room, big enough to have tens of people run around freely. Inside were ten lizardmen wearing magnificent armour. They all wore collars around the neck, each with a broken chain hanging off it.

They were swinging swords at each other. They struck with screeching shouts and exchanged blows filled with resolve. It was occurring everywhere in the room. Despite having an appearance of a fierce battle, Eruya could tell this was just practice.

He confirmed it since they stopped swinging their swords when Eruya’s party entered the room.

One of the others in the room was a hulking figure with a gigantic tower shield, wearing black full plate armour with decorations that looked as if it were covered in blood vessels. And the last person was– no, the last thing would be more accurate.

It was a gigantic beast covered in silver fur, with wisdom gleaming out of its eyes.

“You have finally arrived, intruder-dono.”

There were a lot of annoying monsters amongst the ones that could speak. Magical beasts tended to attack using physical strength, but the intelligent ones often used magic.

Eruya knew he was a genius swordsman, but he wasn’t so confident in magic. He strengthened his core and resolved his heart to counter magic.

“And you are?”

There was no need to ask. If it was waiting here, then it was something that would be defending the tomb. The only question was how strong it was.

From the appearance, it could be the tomb’s master. If he took down this beast, his would be the top contribution. It would mean his team would be the best out of all the worker teams. Since ‘Tenmu’ was pretty much Eruya by himself, it would mean that he was the best worker. Even luck was an important quality for a worker.

“This king was ordered to face you here. I was suppose to test out this and that… but you don’t seem to be much of an opponent.”

He felt disappointed and annoyed at the same time.

Disappointment at the fact that the beast was nothing but a watchdog and annoyance from the fact it was underestimating him.

“To think it would be like this even before we exchange blows… You.”

“Y-yes.”

The elf trembled when he called her with a low voice. Eruya felt satisfaction at the sight. That was the kind of attitude something should show towards him. Even though it had only been a few days, after spending some time with Momon, whom everyone looked up to, he had become more generous.

“What is that monster?”

“I-I’m sorry, but it’s n-not a monster I know.”

“Tsk, useless.”

He struck the useless elf with the sheath of his sword. Eruya ignored the elf that was collapsed on the floor apologizing over and over again to study the beast.

Due to its size, facing it head-on appeared to be disadvantageous, but monsters were generally like that. And Eruya had killed numerous monsters without a problem. He felt foolish that he was scared even for a moment just because it was a beast he had never seen before. There was always need for caution, but being overly cautious and being scared was incompetence on its own.

“I’ll ask one more question. What makes you think you can win against me?”

“I can tell that you’re weak just from a glance…”

Eruya frowned and gripped his sword tightly.

“…Seems like your eyes are useless. Shall I carve them out for you?”

“You can certainly try. But my orders said it didn’t matter if I killed you here… So why don’t we start?”

That calm tone. It angered Eruya once again.

He wanted to swing his sword without saying anything, but running into the beast that did not seem worried at all would make him look like the weaker one. So he held back and scoffed at it.

“Then so shall it be, beast.”

“Then why are you just standing around like that? Do you not wish to prepare the elves over there?”

“No need. Speaking of which, don’t you want to prepare the lizards standing behind you?”

“Ah, it will be fine. They are only here to observe this king’s battle. Do not worry about them.”

“You’re brave to throw away your only chance of victory.”

“I am very grateful for your praise.”

Sarcasm didn’t work on it. Maybe it was intelligent enough to speak, but not that smart? While Eruya was thinking that, the beast twitched its whiskers and spoke.

“But I plan to kill you without any mercy, so I hope you fight with all your strength. As I said before, this is a test given to this one as well.”

“A test? A test for a watchdog?”

“Hmm~ It’s a test to see if I’ve improved as a warrior. Now, are you ready to start? I’ll leave the elves behind you alone and face only you for now.”

“As you wish.”

“This king’s name is Hamsuke! Go to the other world remembering the name of one who killed you! State your name as well!”

“…I have no name to give to a mere beast.”

“Then I shall erase you from my memory as a nameless fool!”

The gigantic figure leaped forward.

It was an unimaginably agile movement considering its size. A mediocre warrior would have been overwhelmed by the pressure of its approach and taken massive damage from the charge.

I’m different from those losers.

Eruya baited in Hamsuke’s charge and slid to the side without moving his feet.

It was the improved version of martial arts called ‘Shukuchi’, the ‘Shukuchi Kai’.

Originally, ‘Shukuchi’ could be used only to close distance with the enemy, however, this version allowed the user to move freely in any direction. The appearance of sliding without moving the feet looked strange, but it was extremely useful.

Dodging will shift one's center of gravity and break their balance. However, if one didn’t need to move in order to dodge, then one could attack immediately with the full strength of their lower body.

“Tyaaht!”

His sword swung down—

“—Kehut!”

Eruya flew back as if he had bounced off Hamsuke’s body.

It was an extremely hard body. What looked like fluffy silver fur felt strangely hard and metallic, and Eruya felt as if he had been hit by a mace. He nearly whited out from the impact.

The moment he hit the ground, Eruya unconsciously checked his whole body to see if it could move. He had minor bruises, but it didn’t appear as if he had any dislocated bones. He could fight on.

The fact he fell on the floor and allowed the enemy’s attack to touch him incensed him the most, but the warrior in Eruya told him that now was not the time to think of such things.

As soon as Eruya stood up, he located Hamsuke and prepared to receive its charge once again by extending his sword.

Something sticky flowed from his nose. When he wiped it, he confirmed it was blood as he expected.

“Bastard…”

Hamsuke watched Eruya, who was trying to stand up, with calm eyes. It would be more accurate to say that Hamsuke was observing him.

It was different from a typical beast’s gaze of ‘Can I eat it?’ or ‘Can I win against it?’. Those were the eyes of a warrior who was trying to determine the best method to fight from the blow they exchanged earlier.

I’m a test dummy to see if a monster grew as a warrior? Not someone else, but me?

It felt as unpleasant as ever, but considering its agility, he had to admit that it was not an average monster. Within a split second, this monster had predicted that he would try to flank its attack, and launched a jumping bodyslam. It was not a particularly powerful attack, but it could only have acquired that kind of response after training extensively.

“It seems so, indeed… If it keeps on like this, I would win easily. Ah, please don’t pay this king any heed. This king has never seen a human that could win against me.”

“You should save your words until the end. Unlike a mere beast, a warrior can use martial arts!”

He thought he would win hands down. That was why he was holding back, but now, he needed to be serious.

“Martial arts! 「Ability Boost 」, 「 Greater Ability Boost」!”

These were the martial arts he was most proud of. Especially ‘Greater Ability Boost’, which was not something a person on Eruya’s level could learn.

I’m a genius because I’m able to learn something like this! I’m strong!

He swung his sword and could feel how light and smooth the movement was. The sword moved exactly as how he imagined.

Eruya smiled cynically. The next round would be his.

“Hmm~ I was taught to keep a distance when unsure of an opponent’s strength, but I have to fight as a warrior… I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Hamsuke scuttled over on its two hind legs and closed in.

“Is it going to be close quarter combat? Shall I receive your attack?”

“Don’t look down on me, beast.”

The moment it came into range, Eruya launched his assault.

Hamsuke barely deflected the sword strike augmented with ‘Ability Boost’ using its claws. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say it attempted to deflect the strike, because the sword was still headed for its arm. However, the sword had lost its force after hitting the claws and failed to cut through the hardened fur and the flesh beneath.

Eruya did not retract his sword and immediately thrust it towards Hamsuke’s eyes. Some monsters had hardened eyelids which could deflect even swords imbued with ki or aura. But Hamsuke didn’t appear to possess anything like that.

That was why Hamsuke did not allow the attack to happen.

Hamsuke dodged by twirling its body around and swung its tail at the same time.

Eruya blocked the tail with his sword, but the shocking amount of force numbed his arms.

“Khh-urk!”

He spotted Hamsuke twirling around once again. It meant the same kind of force would be striking him again.

Eruya jumped back. He could not determine exactly how long the tail was, but planned to close the distance with ‘Shukuchi Kai’ the moment it passed by.

But the tail he expected to pass by stopped in midair.

“Urk.”

It was a feint. In the meantime, Hamsuke had regained its posture and retracted its tail as well. Eruya’s face twitched at the fact he missed an opportunity to attack.

He could see that the tail and the body moved almost independently from each other. It was not like the tail of a rat, but could move independently like the snake tail of a chimaera.

“You can use your tail freely, too!”

Eruya etched the details of the monster called Hamsuke into his mind and charged. Hamsuke, who was waiting for an opening, rushed forward to meet the attack.

Blade and claws clashed. Eruya was the first one to be wounded during the exchange of blows. Hamsuke, who could attack with two claws, held an advantage in its number of attacks against Eruya, who used only one sword. Close-quarters combat was turning disadvantageous. Despite having raised his physical abilities, Hamsuke was still winning. If that was the case—

He retreated immediately with ‘Shukuchi Kai’.

“Hmph, is what I say!”

Before Hamsuke could give chase, Eruya seized the opportunity, raised his sword in the air and swung downward.

“「Void Cutter 」!”

The slashing hit cut through the air and flew toward Hamsuke.

Hamsuke braced to protect its face and the strike bounced off its fur.

The strike did less damage the further away the target was. It would be difficult to inflict any meaningful damage like this. But—

“Seems like you can’t block it. This is the difference between a mere beast and a human.”

“This is certainly… troubling.”

Eruya used ‘Void Cutter’ repeatedly.

Hamsuke’s fur was hard and difficult to cut through. That’s why Eruya targeted its face and used the martial art repeatedly.

Hamsuke remained rooted to the spot but spoke through the little crack between the paws that were covering its face.

“Hold on a moment please—”

“Are you trying to beg for your life? As expected of a mere beast.”

“It’s not that – It’s so annoying. Inside this king’s mouth is – Ah, I give up!”

He couldn’t understand.

I guess it’s expected for a human to not understand what an animal is saying… It looks like it’s about to charge now.

“Ah– So loud and annoying! Let’s finish this!”

“Come.”

Hamsuke did not possess a method of ranged attack, so it would try to close the distance at all costs. This was what Eruya was aiming for.

It would be difficult to inflict critical damage with ‘Void Cutter’, so he needed a direct strike to deliver a killing blow. When Hamsuke showed its face like a beast and charged in, he would pin it down with a martial art stronger than ‘Void Cutter’ and keep targeting the face at close range and win.

As Eruya smiled cruelly, sure of his victory, Hamsuke’s tail moved and—

“Gyaaaaaaaahhhhh!!”

The tail struck Eruya’s shoulder like a whip at unbelievable speed.

The shoulder armour buckled and the flesh became pulp. At the same time, the sound of bones cracking could be heard and pain coursed through his body at the speed of lightning. It was so painful, Eruya staggered back while drooling.

Behind Hamsuke, the snake-like tail squirmed. It was stretched out to an abnormal length.

“My tail was too strong as expected. This was why I tried to finish with just close quarter combat.”

Not good.

Eruya barely kept himself from screaming.

If he kept getting charged like this, he would lose.

“You! What are you idiots just standing around for! Use your magic! Heal me! I said heal me! Quickly, you stupid slaves! Do it now!”

One of the elves started casting her spell when Eruya yelled at them.

The pain at the shoulder faded away into nothing.

“More! Cast the enhancement spells!”

Physical ability enhancement, temporary magic boost to the sword, hardened skin, sensory ability enhancement… Even though numerous spells were cast to enhance Eruya, Hamsuke watched on silently.

With so much magic enhancing him, a smile returned to Eruya’s face.

Overwhelming power coursed through his body.

He had never lost after receiving so many enhancement spells. It didn’t matter what kind of enemy it was.

Compared to his normal self, he now swung his sword with extreme speed. He was confident of fighting evenly now.

“Since a monster and a human have different  physical capabilities, I’ll fill the gap with this!”

“I was planning on fighting all of you from the start, so it doesn’t make much difference to me. This king was thinking that it will finally be a good fight!”

“Bullcrap!”

Eruya charged. He would crush it with the overwhelming power flowing through his body. He wouldn’t let that beast talk big anymore. While using ‘Shukuchi Kai’, he launched ‘Void Cutter’ to keep it occupied.

“Take this!”

He swung his sword with a shout. If the fur was hard, he would only need to strike harder to cut through.

“Take this king’s 「Slashing Strike」!”

Something sharp struck his arm from above his raised sword.

Something flew into the air and struck the ground, with a liquid sound like a wet sack, accompanied by the clanging of metal.

Eruya didn’t understand.

His two arms, which had been holding a sword, had disappeared. Despite the wounds spurting blood from the severed stumps in time with his heartbeat, he still didn’t understand.

He could see his two arms tightly gripping the sword on the ground, along with the pain which was slowly rising up the ruins of his arms.

As he looked on them, Eruya finally realized what had happened.

Staggering back from Hamsuke, he shouted with a high-pitched voice.

“My arrrrrmmmmmssss! Heal it! I said heal it now! What are you standing around for?”

The elves did not move.

What reflected in their clouded eyes was the secret joy of the abused.

“Alright! Success! I can finally use martial arts! Now I can finally receive praise from my lord!”

“Hiiii!”

Eruya made a splitting scream.

For a humans, which lived in this world with much stronger creatures, to adventure meant to live with constant pain. He had endured much pain until now. He had been struck with lightning, burned with fire, frozen with ice, broken his bones, bitten with fangs, been cut and beaten. But he had never lost his weapon. To lose one’s weapon in this world meant certain death. Or rather, he was confident that he could get out of any situation if he had his weapon.

And now this confidence had been crushed.

It was the first time Eruya had received such a shock since he was born.

“My arms! What are you waiting for!”

Blood spurted out profusely and he could feel his body grow colder and heavier, starting with the wounded area. The elves simply smiled broadly at Eruya’s screams, which resembled the sound of a cracked bell.

Eruya didn’t know how to express the whirlpool of emotion inside of him, but he could hear a voice that could be described as merciful.

“I truly thank thee! I don’t like inflicting needless pain, so I shall end it here!”

Sccchk, something slashed through the air.

Shortly afterward, a shock struck his face. It was the kind of pain that felt as if it had shattered every bone in his body and was enough to make him forget about his arms.

That was the last pain Eruya ever felt.

♦ ♦ ♦

With half its face gone, the corpse collapsed.

“Hmmm hmmm.”

Hamsuke turned its head and slowly backed off. If he stayed close to the corpse, the elves would be wary and not approach the corpse. The elves appeared to be magic casters but could decide to use Eruya’s sword to fight. Hamsuke had no desire to stop them from doing so.

“Now, do you wish to fight as we—?”

Hamsuke mumbled his words in surprise. The elves were kicking the corpse, which Hamsuke assumed was their comrade, with sneers on their face.

“What is this? Is this the elven way of burying the dead?”

Hamsuke doubted that as it spoke. In their cloudy and dead eyes were sparks of hatred. It could only be overflowing rage.

“– This is truly troublesome.”

The order had been to use the skills it had learned so far on the intruders and to show the results of the training. But if he fought an unwilling enemy, could that truly be considered “showing the result of the training”? If they at least stood to fight, it would have been better than nothing.

“I heard that taunting is a good strategy as well… What should I say? I don’t know… I suppose it can’t be helped. I shall wait for the orders from my lord. But—”

Hamsuke turned around to face the one who was judging the battle.

“How was it, Zaryusu-dono? Did I pass?”

“Yes, it was wonderful. The martial art definitely activated.”

Hamsuke smiled brightly at the warrior who had taught him the martial art.

“This is truly a joyous occasion! Then will I finally start with the combat training while wearing armour?”

“That would be the next step. We’ll start with light armour first and then move onto heavier ones.”

Hamsuke hadn’t worn armour until now. It felt too awkward and it was hard to move freely while wearing it. There weren’t many problems when running normally, but in combat, it lost its balance when swinging its tail and could not strike accurately. That’s why Hamsuke learned from the lizardmen and imitated their training to learn to fight.

“Please watch Hamsuke become stronger for my lord! How long would it take for me to properly call myself a warrior? The Warrior Hamsuke.”

“Let’s see… if it’s Hamsuke-san, you would be able to call yourself a warrior in about a month, no, two months.”

“So long!”

“I think it’s pretty short. Hamsuke-san, it usually takes about a year to learn martial arts. Considering that, you’re learning pretty fast.”

Another lizardman beside Zaryusu, Zenberu, spoke out.

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. Real battle experience, healing when you’re injured, fighting stronger opponent with enhancement magic, etc. It might be hellish training, but it gets results.”

Hamsuke shuddered. The rest of the lizardmen did so too as they remembered their training so far.

“…How should I put this. I hope it’s not the kind of training that takes us within arms’ reach of death.”

“Personally, I feel you get stronger more quickly in life or death situations, but… I guess everybody is different. Plus, if the newly wed husband dies, it’ll be pretty sad.”

“Oooh! I now remember that you have married!”

“Yes, and she seems to be pregnant.”

“As expected of a skilled warrior, his accuracy is high! How many times did it take? Only twice or thrice?”

Zaryusu’s fist struck Zenberu.

“Enough. If we don’t start training again, we’ll get a good scolding. Also, what about those elves?”

“Wouldn’t it be fine to leave them like that?”

The elves which had been kicking away the corpse were simply slumped on the floor like puppets with their strings cut. There was not a hint of will to fight, so Hamsuke decided to wait for the master's command unless they tried to escape.

Intermission

Translator: Zack Tan and Skythewood

Editors/Proofreaders: Ferro, Namo-Namo, JcqC, Nigel, Rockgollem, NoirX

Sensing the sudden change in air movement from his nose, the dragon Tsaindoruks Vaision who had the alias ‘Platinum Dragon Lord’ stirred from his shallow slumber. The emotions he felt after waking were mostly of surprise. Maybe startled would be a better description.

Dragons possessed keen senses that far surpassed those of humans. If their opponents tried to deceive them with invisibility or illusions, dragons would still be able to detect them even from a surprising distance. This was true even when they slept.

As a lord amongst dragons, his perceptive abilities were far better than normal dragons. Hence, anyone who wanted to sneak up to him had to be exceptionally skilled.

Despite his long lifespan, he only knew a handful of people who could pull this off. First would be the dragon lords who were his equals, followed by the assassin Izania of the thirteen heroes, who had passed on from this world. Next would be―

Feeling the presence of the person that just came to his mind, Tsaindoruks Vaision―nicknamed Tsar―twisted his mouth and opened his eyes slowly.

Even in the dark, a dragon’s eyes could see as if it was day.

The presence he felt before him was an elderly human with a flashy sword at her waist, standing out in the open with no intention to hide. She had managed to reach this point without being detected by the keen senses of a dragon―a pure and innocent smile of someone who managed to pull off a prank could be seen on her wrinkled face.

“It’s been so long since we last met.”

Tsar didn’t respond as he stared at the old lady.

Her head of white hair was a testament to her advanced years. However, her face had the vitality of a mischievous child, which did not match her age. She had gotten thinner and frailer as she grew older, but her heart remained the same.

While Tsar was comparing her current appearance with the one in his memories, the eyebrow of the elderly lady twitched to a dangerous angle.

“What? Did you forgot how to greet an old friend? Huh, so even dragons grow senile with age.”

Showing his teeth, Tsar answered with a gentle laugh.

“My bad. I was too touched from seeing a friend after such a long time. That’s why I reacted so slowly.”

In response to the gentle voice no one would expect from such a colossal body, the old lady’s reply was sarcastic, just as Tsar predicted.

“Friend? That empty suit of armour over there is my friend… It’s all beaten up.”

Long ago, when Tsar journeyed together with the old lady and the others, he did so by controlling that armour from afar. Because of this, when his true identity was revealed, he earned the ire of his comrades. It seemed that even now, the score hadn’t been settled yet, since this subject was mentioned again and again.

On one hand, he wished that she would finally put this matter to rest, but on the other hand he was also glad to reminisce about it.

Tsar smiled wryly at their usual exchange and looked at the finger of the old lady.

“Oh? That ring is gone, what happened? I can’t imagine anyone taking it from you… But it is still an item that exceed the realms of humanity. It must not fall into the wrong hands. Especially the Slane Theocracy or the likes of the Black Scripture.”

“Trying to change the subject? But what sharp eyes you have, so this is the fabled dragons’ sensitivity for treasure… Never mind. I handed it over to the young ones, so be at ease.”

An item like that couldn’t just be handed off to someone else on a whim.

It was something that had been made with wild magic. Now, with the powers of magic tainted and twisted, it would be very difficult to create something like that again. His question also bore the feelings of one of the few who could still use wild magic.