Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Dragon's Bargain
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The ice attribute stone, which had bloomed blue and white like frost in the midday sun, slowly evaporated and faded away.
The cold mana it held collided with the fire mana spewing from the essence of fire, creating and dissipating distortions in the air like twisted mana.
As these distortions persisted throughout the area, several mages who had been suppressing the mana torrent and controlling its flow vomited blood and collapsed once more.
"The continent's attribute stones have been scraped together to the point where they'll be scarce for a while, but it's still not enough, family head."
Kaiman, who had been casually absorbing the fire mana that occasionally burst out like whips from the hovering essence of fire, furrowed his brow.
"Moreover, somewhere in Chavid, fire mana is rampaging. It's not too close or too far, but it's resonating, making the essence of fire spew even more violent mana."
"Even with this spatial isolation magic circle in place, resonance happens at distances within the same country."
Kaiman watched as ice elves, sculpted by his gaze, were impaled on spears, walked toward the essence of fire, and withered into mummies as their cold mana was stripped away, dying in the process. He continued,
"Tell me about the investigation into that island where storms and rain have been relentless in the southern archipelago."
At Kaiman's words, the two men bowing before him raised their heads and answered in turn.
"The locals say that starting about 40 to 50 years ago, the sea god was angry or an abandoned mermaid was weeping, but from what we've found, it seems like an artifact."
"However, it's definitely related to mermaids. They say there's a mermaid nest about a week's voyage away."
"We inquired directly at the mermaid nest, and it seems someone fled with the mermaids' treasure to that island."
"The current mermaid king is in hibernation, so they're on high alert and very secretive. We couldn't get any more information."
Kaiman's unusually reddened fingertips stroked the still snow-white skin of his jaw. Faint crimson mana swirled beneath the skin at his fingertips.
"Even though someone fled with the treasure, the mermaids haven't taken much action, yet the artifact is still there... Hmm. If that storm is a barrier, and it's the artifact's power."
I must have it.
Kaiman took in the essence of fire, which pulsed ever so slightly, expanding and contracting like breathing.
"It's not certain, but we suspect one of the mermaid royals took the artifact to the island."
"If it weren't someone of such high status as one of the few royals, the mermaids would have recovered it by now."
Kaiman slowly nodded at their words, then opened his mouth again.
"The essence of fire will maintain this state for the time being, so take the mages and destroy the barrier."
And bring back the artifact inside.
At Kaiman's words, the people bowed their heads.
* * *
The fierce battle between Kane and Repid that had ravaged the area for a while finally ended after nearly half a day when Repid's mana was depleted.
From the looks of it, before Rachel vanished, she'd sealed Repid so he could only exert the power of a high-level human mage.
Thanks to that, his once splendid clothes and hair were torn and slashed to shreds, covered in dirt, and right before Kane could behead him, I called out to Kane to stop the mess.
"Stop and come here, Kane. That's an order."
"...You're lucky."
Kane, straddling the panting Repid, had driven his sword into the ground like a guillotine to slice off Repid's neck but slowly stood up. Repid clutched his throat with trembling hands.
His fingers weren't gathering mana yet, so blood gushed out between them, spilling onto the ground. Repid staggered to his feet and muttered with a dazed look at Kane.
"Is that thing really human...?"
At Repid's words, Kane, who had just stopped to drink the water I'd given him, turned his head. Repid flinched and took a step back.
"Ah, stop, stop. Let me go, let me go."
Worried a second round would start, I casually held them back and smiled at the utterly wrecked Repid.
"I barely talked him down, so you should use this chance to run away."
At my mocking words, Repid's body trembled.
"You... you bastard. Human. I'll remember you. Thank the gods you're alive."
Repid, who seemed to have gathered a bit of mana and was healing his throat, glared as he spoke. Kane ignored him completely, pouring the rest of the bottled water over his head to cool off.
'Wow, such a lucky charm. Total lucky charm.'
Honestly, counting just the gains, that dragon was a huge boon.
I waved mockingly at Repid, who was slowly backing away while picking fights, as if saying goodbye.
Once his mana recharges, he'll teleport somewhere.
Though because of Repid, I'd lost the pendant and shield bracelet.
Excluding that, I hadn't really lost anything.
I'd nearly died, but I hadn't, and thanks to recovery magic, there were no lingering effects. Plus, having a future promise with Rachel was a pretty big win.
'And the biggest gain is something else.'
I looked at Luna starting a fire, Zero hurriedly prepping something, and Kane waiting for me, soaked.
"Why not just ask for Clean right away?"
"It's different from just getting the surface clean—washing off with water is better."
I pulled out the codex, cast Clean on Kane, and set up the magic tent.
The tens of thousands of monsters that had filled this plain had entered the canyon, and we'd sealed the entrance with a massive boulder like a wall, so we should be safe for a while.
'No way the monster invasion a few years from now was because of this?'
I knew the Evil God Cult orchestrated the monster wave, but I'd wondered how they gathered so many...
At least half are here.
In the original story, Rachel probably stopped Repid—middle school syndrome... no, dragon delusion—before he could gather monsters for his dragon lord play.
Since Rachel secretly hates thinking too much, she probably just herded them into the canyon and sealed it like this.
Repid would've gone off somewhere.
'And later the Evil God Cult found it and used them as their forces.'
Probably.
For now, no way to kill that many monsters or break the seal, so we have to leave them.
'I'll come back if there's a chance later.'
I rested my chin, watching Zero stirring the soup so it wouldn't stick to the pot.
"I don't remember well since I passed out... but Young Master saved us again, right?"
"...Lord Adelrian, I want to get stronger too."
Both looked deflated and shriveled. I glanced at Luna and Zero with just my eyes and chuckled.
"Why so down? Look at me now. Not a scratch. You eat relaxed at meals. It's fine, don't worry."
"But..."
"However..."
Kane was exceptional, sure, but Luna was too. How long had it been since we started traveling? Less than a year—how much could they grow?
Meeting a dragon was pure bad luck, like a car accident. Sure, in the late game with its power inflation, dragons are like measuring sticks, but even that's rare.
Luna was just starting to discover her talents, and Zero was barely a month old, like a newborn.
'Of course, as a special race, Zero's probably more magic than cold weapons like swords.'
I'll figure that out and help her bloom over time.
"Never compare yourselves to that guy."
As I pointed at Kane with my thumb, dejected Luna blinked and piped up.
"Kane's a bit much. He wants to help Young Master, but trying to be like him would mean selling your soul to the Demon God 30 times over or something."
I couldn't take my eyes off Zero, who was layering mushrooms, chicken, and veggies on skewers, brushing them with the sauce even Balbus had raved about, and grilling them over the fire.
"Tomorrow, sleep in till afternoon, then move. We've been through a lot in a short time. We'll figure out where this is slowly."
"Young Master... can we find the way quickly?"
"Well, if not, we'll just head one direction."
In Chavid, low chance of villages or cities, but if we meet nomads, we'll ask.
Gotta find horses too.
Lost in thought for a moment, I grabbed a bowl of well-boiled soup and skewers perfectly cooked over the fire when I heard sand crunching behind us.
"Ahem. Pitiful, lowly human. I'll give you the honor of serving me."
Repid, looking cleaner—must've changed clothes somehow—but with a troubled face, slunk back toward us.
He haughtily tilted his chin up, and before Kane could draw his sword and stand, I raised a hand to sit him back down and spoke.
"Well, what kind of honor?"
Repid, in flashy, luxurious clothes out of place in this wasteland, glanced at me then shifted to the campfire.
"The great me will accept that lowly, crude food."
Then he eyed the magic tent.
"And that shabby tent as tribute. Of course, you lot can stand guard outside while I rest and feel the joy."
As expected, Repid was a worldly dragon.
Like a shut-in who'd buried himself in thousand-year-old tales of dragon kings from his lair.
That confident, brazen self-importance that even embarrassed me—must be dragon arrogance. But thinking of Rachel or the dragon elders from the original, I'd never seen such bloated egos in older dragons.
I smiled brightly and opened my mouth.
"Yeah, get lost."
"W-What?"
I demonstratively sipped the corn soup—savory, rich, with a gentle sweetness that didn't overwhelm.
Repid's eyes darted between my bowl and me, his Adam's apple bobbing hugely, like he was gulping hard.
"Human body uncomfortable, huh? Tired, exhausted, hungry. Dragons in human play pretend they're really that race. You're not hungry enough yet, right?"
Seeing Repid's face scrunch up like he might breath fire, I thought of the future and decided to stop tormenting him, pulling an extra log stool from my subspace.
Even an immature dragon like that would be useful later.
'If I feed him something and get info on Rachel, it's a win.'
"You'd be fine dying of starvation somewhere..."
"Should I secretly grind up some ghost peppers into the soup, Bunny Senior?"
If eyes could kill, Repid would've died three hundred times to Luna's glare by now.
I stroked Luna's ears, then lightly kicked Kane, whose eyes were blazing.
"I'll share food and shelter. But on one condition."
"What."
Watching Repid take the soup while fighting a smirk, I said leisurely.
"When your mana's full, teleport us where we want."
"That's no trouble for me. Fine."
As he reached for skewers after the soup, I lightly stopped him and spoke.
"And I'm curious about that dragon from earlier."
"Hmph, that violent dragon. If you want to hear about her, I could talk for three thousand worlds. Don't worry."
I smiled at the quickly grumbling Repid and pulled my hand back.