39
Chapter 39
Fortunately, my intuition was wrong this time as well.
A very pleasant train journey.
I didn't even catch a glimpse of a Terrorist. We arrived at our destination safely.
It had been an incredibly long day.
After returning to Rubia's mansion and getting some deep sleep on a plush, high-end bed.
Waking up in bed with a clear mind, a smile naturally spread across my lips.
'This really was the best decision I could have made.'
It was to be expected, in a way.
This trip to the Black Market was an unprecedented, massive success.
I originally went there just to shop for a few Artifacts.
From screwing over the Empire big time, to creating an opportunity to build a good relationship with Black Fang.
Even putting these secondary benefits aside, the direct profits right in front of me were astounding.
Though it was snapped in half, the Holy Sword still radiated a brilliant light.
And the massive pile of Artifacts.
On top of that, there were the gold coins Asel provided and the materials the Black Market merchants happily supplied us with.
But they paled in comparison to this dazzling lineup.
I looked at the mountain of Artifacts with a satisfied smile and quickly began the sorting process.
Of course, checking the item descriptions through the Status Window was impossible.
[Resetting Destiny Path.]
[......The distortion of fate is severe. Cannot explore the Destiny Path. Searching for a solution.]
The Status Window, which had only been taking up space before, had now officially declared it was giving up on its job.
'What the hell does this thing even do?'
At this point, I felt like it would be better if it just didn't exist.
It wasn't like I was abusing some cheat or bug. I was simply completing the quests given to me, yet it broke down on its own.
This was beyond ridiculous.
'Well, fortunately, I'm doing just fine without it, so it doesn't matter.'
I was working hard and making good progress on my own, without the help of convenient features like the Status Window.
I was gathering companions, obtaining the Holy Sword, and walking what you would call the perfect standard route.
Besides, these were all Artifacts that appeared in the previous installment. Whether I could see their descriptions or not didn't matter.
I had all their effects memorized, after all.
'Honestly, with the amount of time I put into the previous game, it would be weirder if I didn't know them.'
I had spent a four-digit number of hours on the previous game.
Naturally, I could recite simple game item descriptions without missing a single word.
A total of twenty-five Artifacts.
Since I equipped three of them to the groaning Ciel, I was left to sort exactly twenty-two Artifacts.
The sorting process was over in a flash.
The mountain of Artifacts was quickly and neatly sorted by their uses.
Thirteen for offense.
Seven for defense.
One for support, and one that was hard to classify.
Each and every one of them was a highly useful Artifact.
Like an armor that increased defense by about ten percent, or a Staff that spewed Fireballs three times a day without consuming Mana.
But....
'Still, the offensive and defensive ones just don't really appeal to me.'
It was inevitable that I would think that way.
Of course, an Artifact is an Artifact.
They all possessed stellar performance in their own right.
But... from my perspective, they couldn't help but feel like more trouble than they were worth, yet too good to throw away.
The reason was quite simple.
'My party members are way too overpowered.'
Actually, come to think of it, I was probably one of the top overpowered existences in this world myself.
My physical combat skills were still lacking, of course.
But practically speaking, I was something like a Summoner right now.
I had a genius Mage and a Martial God-level powerhouse who would grant any request I asked of them.
At this point, it was safe to say I had contracted two Spirit Kings. No, the situation might actually be even better than that.
With those beings, since the relationship is bound by a contract, you have to offer something to use their power.
But with my side, it was a relationship solidly bound by friendship.
We were just asking favors as friends, so there was no way they would demand a price.
'I really do have insane luck when it comes to companions.'
Just thinking about how I managed to gain such amazing people as my companions made me feel grateful.
Anyway.
Therefore, the offensive and defensive Artifacts weren't a very attractive option for me.
Rien's punches were stronger than a Fireball.
And that wasn't an exaggeration, it was the genuine truth.
When we infiltrated Rubia's mansion, I saw her cancel out a car-sized Fireball with a single punch.
By similar logic, Ciel's shadows were much more efficient than your average defensive gear.
Rather than raising defense to block an attack, it was just much better to swallow it up with a shadow.
'How on earth should I deal with these cumbersome yet valuable items?'
It was too wasteful to just sell them.
But wearing them all would be cumbersome, and it didn't seem like their performance would be all that great anyway.
I was agonizing over it like that... when I soon realized something.
'Can't I use these in a different way?'
The Holy Sword is composed of mystery.
Likewise, the power dwelling within Artifacts is also mystery.
If that's the case... could it be possible?
The repair of the Holy Sword.
Such a feature didn't exist in the original game. It was only natural, since there was no route where the Holy Sword ever broke.
However, now that the game has become reality.
Beyond just having a high degree of freedom, in a situation where I can try anything, it might actually be possible.
'It's definitely worth a try.'
A smile naturally spread across my lips.
The Holy Sword was snapped in half and riddled with cracks.
I wondered if I'd have to suffer through the ordeal of scouring the land for fragments, like someone collecting Dragon Balls.
Just as I was agonizing over that thought, this alternative appeared.
'Extracting mystery to repair the Holy Sword might be quite difficult, though.'
But I had a solution of my own for that.
There were numerous Master Craftsmen I had encountered while playing the previous game.
I just had to reach out to them.
I could think of a few people who would calmly accept and complete such an absurd request.
A smile naturally played on my lips again.
Well, to be honest, I might be getting ahead of myself since I don't even know if this is possible.
But hasn't my luck been absolutely peaking lately?
It felt like nothing I did would fail.
Perhaps I could go beyond just repairing the cracks and make the Holy Sword—which had practically become a dagger—look decent again.
With those hopeful expectations, I turned my gaze toward the remaining Artifacts.
After deciding how to handle the offensive and defensive ones, only two remained.
A special Artifact and a support Artifact.
I quickly recalled the item descriptions from the previous game.
'Whispering Earrings: Enhances intuition. Increases evasion speed by 20%.'
In the original, this item was considered total trash.
In Bone and Blood, there was no invincibility window during evasion, making the evasion function itself useless.
It was the absolute worst of the worst, possessing the even more useless feature of increasing evasion speed.
However, the reason I decided to keep this one was very simple.
It enhances intuition.
Normally, that would just be flavor text added for the sake of completion, meaning nothing.
But now that the game is reality, it's a different story.
Wasn't that already proven by the Healthy Body trait?
It was highly likely that the text about enhancing intuition would also be faithfully implemented.
I was already worried that my intuition might be off lately.
This was the perfect Artifact for the job.
I put it on my ear without any hesitation.
'Did something change?'
To be honest, I couldn't really tell.
Well, intuition is a rather vague area to begin with.
I figured that if I kept wearing it, a day would come when it would prove useful.
I pushed the Earring out of my mind and turned my attention to the remaining Artifact.
This right here was the main event.
'The Gospel of the Future.'
Its effect was to tell the user the best way to achieve the most favorable future.
Honestly, I was truly shocked when I found this in Asel's warehouse.
It was the Artifact that the Villain had used for his plans in the previous game.
I never expected it to end up in Asel's hands through some route or another.
Really, I had nothing but gratitude to offer that guy, Asel.
From the Holy Sword to the Artifacts.
It was truly massive support.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him an honorary comrade.
'Nothing was more essential to me right now than this.'
I was in a situation where I couldn't grasp how to prevent the world's destruction.
It was a point where I needed a proper course of action.
Yet Asel had somehow managed to procure and provide exactly what I needed.
Out of respect for Asel's sincerity, the least I could do was put it to good use quickly.
I lightly nicked my index finger with the Holy Sword.
The moment a drop of blood fell onto the cover of the Gospel, a change occurred.
The Gospel emitted a bizarre light.
The pages flipped on their own as letters slowly etched themselves onto the paper.
Before long, it formed a single sentence.
And....
My expression quickly filled with bewilderment.
It was to be expected, in a way.
Because what I was looking at was an instruction that made absolutely no sense.
[There are times when it is better not to know,
so keep your eyes blindfolded until the day you are destined to realize everything.]
......In other words.
What kind of bullshit is this?