Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Savior of the Underground World
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A few days later, Arsen visited the residence of the Guide bloodline for the second time. Unlike his first visit, he did not come in a small group.
Thanks to including the combat puppets from Starburmi, more than twenty knights accompanied him, along with a similar number of mages.
The effect of bringing such a large force was powerful.
In the underground world, knights were precious existences, and no one wandered around with more than ten of them.
Thanks to this, Arsen could bask in the astonished gazes of the bloodline members as he entered the residence.
Arsen's knights were all riding Jin. It was the result of Starburmi's enthusiastic support, as they were highly motivated by the fact that their goal was now within reach.
They all rode horned horse-shaped Jin similar to the one Marun rode, giving them an imposing presence.
When they finally arrived at the patriarch's dwelling, the first to greet him was his young cousin and heir, Turik.
"Brother!"
"Long time no see, Turik."
The little boy had initially treated Arsen awkwardly due to his shy personality, but after hearing stories of his adventures on the surface, he now followed him eagerly.
It seemed the boy admired Arsen as a fearless and valiant senior adventurer.
"Are all those people really your guardians, Brother?"
"Yes. They're following my command for now, at least. I'm truly grateful for that."
Lightly ruffling his cousin's hair as he saw him again, Arsen looked at the faces of the so-called family elders who had come to greet him. Old men around the same age as Everic, in their sixties or seventies.
Their faces were mostly grim, harboring hostility.
They must have guessed that bringing over twenty knights just to return a spear was far from a good sign.
This was exactly what Arsen wanted.
As on his first visit, if he had come as just an individual, they would have treated him as a 'member of the bloodline' and tried to manipulate him to their liking.
By displaying this show of force, he might appear threatening, but they wouldn't see him as someone they could handle at will.
A moment later, when Patriarch Everic appeared, Arsen bowed politely in greeting.
"It's good to see you again, Granduncle. I hope you've been well?"
"Yes. Thanks to you, I have. I've heard many good stories in the meantime. However..."
Everic's face wasn't particularly bright either.
As the patriarch of the Guide bloodline, he didn't seem pleased by the visit of such a large force.
This was separate from his admiration for Arsen's exploits and his desire to lend him the spear.
"Is the reason for your visit what I think it is?"
"Absolutely not. It was solely for safety, and if it was rude, I sincerely apologize."
After apologizing politely, Arsen turned to the elders and said,
"I'd like to discuss the topic you mentioned before coming here."
"Why don't we talk over a meal? We've prepared a banquet."
Arsen looked at the face of the middle-aged man speaking so courteously.
He already knew who he was. Everic's youngest brother and one of the Guide bloodline's knights, Taram.
Before Arsen had roughly claimed the spear as his own, he had been the leader of those insisting they needed to retrieve Isht's spear quickly.
The reason such a man used honorifics toward Arsen was obvious.
Half of it was treating the half-outsider Arsen as a 'foreigner.' Acknowledging him as a bloodline member would disadvantage them in recovering the spear.
"Thank you for the invitation."
* * *
At the meal, Arsen didn't insist on bringing all his knights. He had swung the whip hard enough to shock them, and now it was time to offer the carrot.
Sitting beside him were Bazkal and Rino.
The early conversation was meaningless chatter.
Talks about the recent war, victories and defeats, the current situation, boasts of merits.
Stories like whose son fought well, whose daughter cut off the Ollmu hero's head.
In the midst of that, Arsen brought up the main topic first.
"I'd like to extend the loan period for Isht's spear a bit longer."
At that one sentence, the lively dining hall froze in an instant.
In the icy silence, Taram was the first to respond.
"It's hard to accept. That spear is one of Ancestor Radus's relics, a treasure we've guarded for ages. Even if we share blood, you're essentially no different from an outsider..."
"How frustrating."
At that moment, Shatia cut in and snapped at Taram.
"Uncle, let's be frank. You make him shoulder the burden as a bloodline member when there's dirty work to do, but now that it's over, you call him an outsider. Isn't that too self-serving?"
"I opposed bringing in outsiders from the start!"
"If you had, you'd still be hiding from the Ollmu. You just stayed home guarding the place during the war and now you're grandstanding."
"You insolent...!"
Arsen had never seen the usually curt Shatia mocking like this.
She had shown a hint of it during explanations, but she clearly despised these 'elders.'
Taram, though relatively young, held a similar stance, so he received the same treatment.
Their confrontation seemed familiar, as those around them watched with faces saying, 'At it again.'
After giving Shatia a slight nod of thanks, Arsen finally got to the point.
"Of course, I don't mean to borrow it for free. I've prepared rental fees, so please take a look and let's discuss."
"Rental fees? You mean buying a treasure with money...?"
"Rino."
At Arsen's signal, Rino went out and returned with the pre-prepared magic bag.
The magic bag itself was a wondrous item to the underground dwellers, so they watched in fascination as something much larger than the bag—big as a person's torso—emerged from it.
"What is this?"
What came out of the bag was a Jin. One of Starburmi's Jin, damaged in a way that was tricky to repair during the war, making it unusable.
Shatia, who had seen it firsthand since she fought in the war alongside them, spoke up first.
"It's the surface dwellers' mount. Called Jin, right?"
"Yes. That's correct."
Arsen placed his hand on the Jin to operate it, making it stand rigidly on four legs, then offered Shatia to try riding it.
Having tried it a few times experimentally, Shatia controlled the Jin with ease.
"Oh."
"It really moves."
"Is it powered by magic?"
Not only the others but even the elders watched this gift with keen interest.
The hostility they felt moments ago had considerably faded from their curious faces.
"But it's a bit uncomfortable to move."
"That makes sense. This Jin is just a sample, after all."
After saying that, Arsen presented a book next.
With the word 'sample' added, no one failed to guess what the book was.
Taram asked skeptically,
"Surely, this is the manufacturing method?"
"Yes."
Everyone let out exclamations.
The underground world certainly had superior mechanical engineering compared to the surface, but it lagged far behind in magical knowledge.
Thus, the technology to create Jin was an immense treasure to them. Far more than a spear usable only by a select few.
The Guide bloodline had mages too, so with the technology secured, they could produce Jin themselves.
Of course, finding cores for the Jin would be hard in the underground where large magic beasts were scarce.
"Isht's spear is undoubtedly the bloodline's treasure and something that should return home. I merely borrowed it temporarily to fight the Ollmu."
The elders were already half-swayed by the enormous gift presented so casually and the polite attitude elevating it.
Watching them, Arsen began explaining calmly.
"But first, we should consider what our ancestor Radus truly intended. Granduncle?"
"Hm?"
Everic responded with slight surprise at being addressed.
"Ah, yes. Radus's will... it's clear. Solely for humans, to create a peaceful world for those who suffered on the surface and fled underground."
It was now faded, but originally the duty passed down to Radus, the leader of those who came from the surface to the underground, and his bloodline.
That was what Arsen referred to.
"I believe I've fulfilled that responsibility. By personally judging our fallen ancestors."
"Ahem."
The fact that the Ollmu king was Yerika was public knowledge within the bloodline, so they had some idea of the inside story.
Someone coughed awkwardly in response.
Of course, the Guide bloodline had dispatched five knights to the war, but none had achieved feats as outstanding as Arsen's.
It would be more accurate to say not even half, or half of half.
Toward them, Arsen presented a single document.
"I received this from Timak, who currently oversees the Ollmu capital."
The document's content was simple. A letter of gratitude expressing respect to Arsen, the greatest guardian who stood against the Ollmu on behalf of the underground dwellers and beheaded their king.
Below it were signatures from Timak as well as the leaders of the residences that participated in the war.
"I will soon head to the surface, and my purpose aligns with what the bloodline should pursue. It's just the surface instead of underground—fighting for humans, for a better world. This spear will be used for that same purpose."
When he thus requested to borrow the spear, there was no opposition like before.
With both practicality and justification fulfilled, there was nothing they could say.
They soon reached an agreement.
A loan period of two hundred years—practically a transfer.
***
Having completed the deal without hitches, Arsen returned to the capital to prepare for departure.
Having spent quite some time here, it was now time to move forward.
On the day of departure, thousands of underground dwellers gathered to see off Arsen's group.
Not only the guardians and warriors who fought in the war, but their families wanted to see Arsen.
The savior of this underground world, whom they might never meet again.
"Wouldn't it be better to have escorts at least on the way up? No one knows what's beyond the Ollmu capital."
Timak offered to assemble a separate escort to guide Arsen's group to their destination, but Arsen politely declined.
Though the large Ollmu army had collapsed due to internal strife, remnants still lurked throughout the underground, so the humans' capital needed to bolster its defenses a bit more.
"I'll gratefully accept your kind intentions."
"If that's the case, there's no helping it... Sigh, sending you off like this doesn't sit well. It would be great if you stayed here."
"I have duties to attend to."
In recent days, Arsen had sensed that Timak inwardly wanted to make him the king of the underground world.
He could guess a few reasons. Perhaps feeling limits to leading everything alone, or developing a following for Arsen after fighting the war together.
Either way, Arsen couldn't accept it. Becoming king of the poison-sensitive underground dwellers would prevent him from ascending to the surface or achieving anything.
With his goal—the library—just one step away, he couldn't falter here.
"Here, a parting gift I've prepared. It's modest, but I hope it aids your purpose."
What Timak prepared was twelve crossbows, and naturally, they weren't ordinary ones. They were high-grade models used by Ollmu, specifically those only hero-class Ollmu could wield.
Made from the finest materials available in this underground world, and enhanced with magic by Yerika herself for durability and elasticity, their quality was top-tier.
It was a gift Arsen welcomed greatly.
These crossbows were powerful enough to potentially incapacitate even a knight in one hit if they let their guard down. If his knights were armed with them and faced a similar number of enemy knights, a preemptive strike alone could halve the foes.
Moreover, their utility against large magic beasts was immense.
"I sincerely thank you. They'll be a great help."
"No need. I'm only regretful I can't do more."
Arsen promised Timak that someday, if possible, he would enable some of the underground dwellers to live on the surface again.
It was feasible once he obtained the library and the means to manipulate genes there.
By altering the underground dwellers' genes to resemble modern humans, at least those who accumulated mana could endure it.
Or he might even repair the purification magic circles to cleanse all the surface poison.
They received many gifts besides the crossbows.
From ample food and water to last until reaching the surface, to single-use artifacts for the mages.
As they finally set off, the underground dwellers began chanting Arsen's name.
[Arsen, Arsen, great savior Arsen.
Spear of thunder, god-sent guardian.]
The voices of thousands singing like a song echoed until they left the capital.
Again and again, without end.