Inside Out (Part 2)
I stepped into Lady Karalin’s private chambers and found myself granted a private audience. I needed to deliver a full accounting of the recent events I had summarized at the door, and there were other matters I wished to discuss with her alone. Yet before I could begin, the lady handed me something.
“This is…”
“Read it.”
“I cannot believe the theft you people committed, and I will never forget it. Should you return to the main house in two years, I will most certainly hold you strictly accountable… (omitted)”
In short, it was a furious text-shout straight from the enraged Lady Shagalor. She had actually gone to the trouble of sending this.
“…And how did you reply, my lady?”
“I wrote back that we had done no such thing. She’s attacking us on pure emotion without a shred of evidence, isn’t she? Ufufu, what a fool.”
“You handled it perfectly. Since we have no plans to return anytime soon, denying everything was the correct choice.”
“Precisely.”
Indeed it was. The letter also carried grim news. It informed us that additional wyvern incursions had struck Vitagarte.
“The exact numbers remain unconfirmed, but we are currently in a position to hold them off ourselves. Therefore, the two of you should not even think of lingering near the territory. I will handle everything.”
From what I remembered, this was the exact period when the invasions would intensify and the front lines would begin to collapse. Could she truly be fine? No—this was clearly a bluff.
Ever since she had driven Lady Karalin and me away, the duchy had begun to fall apart. Deep down, Shagalor must have felt a sting of guilt. This letter was nothing more than a transparent attempt to show us that “everything runs perfectly well without you.” Knowing the truth, I could only laugh.
Lady Karalin’s expression remained perfectly composed.
“Vitagarte will not fall. There is no need to worry. We simply need to focus on doing what we must.”
Of course, unlike me, she did not know the future. She spoke only from pride and faith in her homeland. I could hardly tell her, No, it will soon collapse in a truly miserable fashion. So I changed the subject to the circumstances that had allowed me to come here.
“…So you humiliated the baron’s illegitimate son who insulted you, then devoured that treasured sword, Azero?”
“Yes. After that… I was chosen as the sparring opponent for a girl who was on the verge of failing her examination. The method was rather forceful.”
Karalin lifted her teacup with refined grace and took a sip. Yet the central-region black tea tasted comparatively bland compared to the robust northern blends. Her expression twisted ever so slightly. Still, she seemed to accept that nothing could be done about it. She closed her eyes and spoke.
“You did well. Once a sword is drawn, whether the opponent is a girl or anyone else, they are a warrior. You are not the sort to act thoughtlessly, and even if your actions were extreme, they were necessary. That is enough.”
“Then, what do you think of the matter concerning Sir Roban?”
“That fellow?”
She quietly set her cup down.
“Insulting my one and only attendant is exactly the same as insulting me. He is lucky. Had I been present, I would have severed his head on the spot and twisted it off.”
“I see.”
“Pay no mind to how he rages over the mere breaking of a family heirloom blade. That is simply the behavior of a destitute house with no other treasures to display.”
She continued to tear Roban apart with biting criticism.
“Therefore, if there is any future trouble, you may eliminate him cleanly later. I would prefer you avoid leaving evidence, but I trust my Steel Knight to manage it.”
“As you command.”
Her tone was exceedingly cold and her judgment ruthless, but this was simply how Karalin behaved when conducting official business. As I had said many times before, my lady was the sole heir to the Grand Duchy. Which is why the gifts she usually receives are things like hides and swords…
Suddenly she spoke again.
“Very well. Then would you show me Burga? I wish to see what that boasted blade of hers looks like.”
“Ah, did you even bring a projection orb for this?”
“You are a critical matter. I must always keep a grasp on Burga’s power.”
She handed me the projection orb that had been resting beside her desk.
Burga was a ghost—one that normally slept in the rear of the mental world inside my brain. Even I did not fully understand why it was arranged that way. The truth had been uncovered by the scholars of the Vitagarte court while researching my epic skill, Ghost That Eats Iron.
When had it been? Not long after Abel was born in Vitagarte, I believe. That was when I had revealed the true nature of my power to Lady Karalin. In order to understand it, she had issued a special order to investigate the “skill” I possessed. The projection orb had been developed during that process.
It was a magical tool created by grinding away every technician in the court, all for the sake of managing my power more conveniently. When I held it and focused, it would project my inner world into the sphere.
I disliked it because it was always noisy, but if my lady asked, I had no choice but to obey. I accepted the orb and concentrated.
Whirr—
“Puu-puu— It’s Burga!! Master, hello!!!”
A girl could be seen crouching inside the thick fog that filled the orb. Burga. She spotted us, waved both hands, and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Master! Madam! Ohayo gozaimasu!”
A red-haired girl covered in fur and horns, with striking shark-like teeth. When she interfered with my mind from the inner world, her voice and manner of speech truly resembled a ghost. Someone unfamiliar with her might easily lump her appearance together with the word “monster.”
Yet when projected through the orb, she always appeared as a young girl. Of course, since she was ultimately nothing more than a ghost, her form hardly mattered. Still, the thought that a girl lived inside my head left me with an oddly complicated feeling.
“Since Master has once again filled this body’s belly to bursting, this one predicted you would come visit soon. This body can foresee everything! Oh, and as a side note, this body is wearing clothes today!”
Only here did Burga speak in relatively polished sentences. When she talks only to me, she just makes those grotesque burbling noises… I had no idea why, but it didn’t seem worth digging into. After all, the girl was helpful and caused me no real harm. On the contrary, she always addressed us respectfully as Master and Madam.
Look at her now. Last time she had appeared without clothes and I had scolded her, so this time she had obediently put on an outfit.
“It is good to see you, Burga. I called because I wanted to examine the sword Yohan broke.”
Lady Karalin spoke to her with gentle courtesy.
“Aigoo, Madam! You have become even more beautiful since this one last saw you! This body already warmed up her stomach. Please wait just a moment—I will bring it right out.”
Then the girl shoved her monstrous hand straight into her tiny mouth. Her throat stretched impossibly far; she swallowed nearly to her upper arm. A moment later she pulled out something almost the size of her own body. It dangled by the hair.
One look was enough to tell who it was.
“So that is the Lake Goddess Azero.”
“She was juicy for a goddess. That plump, squishy texture is first-rate!”
If the word “juicy” sounded familiar, then yes—my guess was correct. I had no status window, but I did possess the ability to obtain general information about any weapon I devoured. Burga wrote every detail by hand and planted it directly into my brain. She even added commentary and footnotes; the girl took her professional pride seriously. She performed the function of a status window, if not the form.
“S-Save me…”
Covered in gastric fluid, Azero crawled across the ground before finally fainting from exhaustion. She was a Steel Spirit—one of the elemental beings that dwelled within all steel. Burga, simply put, served as their natural counter. She could devour the existence of any Steel Spirit.
Most of those consumed were digested inside Burga’s stomach and annihilated. But there were a few rare exceptions, like Azero. Particularly powerful Steel Spirits with a certain level of strength could survive within Burga’s belly. They could never leave my mental world again, yet they retained their consciousness. As a result, their existence became bound to me and they offered up their abilities.
Azero’s fainting was nothing unusual. It was the typical reaction of any Steel Spirit dragged out of that gastric hell. Having returned alive from a place where souls were torn apart, it would have been stranger if she hadn’t collapsed.
“Kuhehehe! Now our household finally has a new freeloader to join the two idiots!”
When Burga puffed out her chest with pride, Lady Karalin spoke.
“It seems Drakaris and Rorschach are getting along well.”
As if on cue, two male figures shimmered into existence from the darkness. They, too, had been devoured by Burga and bound to me. Like Azero, they were Steel Spirits of outstanding caliber.
“We are not idiots. I am the Great Dragon Spear Drakaris. It is an honor to meet you, my lady.”
The first to speak was a one-armed dragon-man. This was the Great Dragon Spear Drakaris—the very first A-grade relic I had consumed. He had also been the one to prove that a sufficiently powerful Steel Spirit could maintain consciousness even inside Burga’s stomach.
◈ A spear carved from the steel-like bones of an ancient dragon that hated its own kind.
◈ Grants the user the passive Ancient Dragon’s Frost Flame.
◈ High Cold Resistance Lv.3, Dragon Bane.
◈ PASSIVE — Ancient Dragon’s Frost Flame: Allows the user to wield the ancient dragon’s frost flame that freezes all things in the form of strong energy. Requires no magic power!
◈ Why learn magic when you have this? Every mage tower on the continent is going to go bankrupt.
He was the spear embedded in the head of the ancient dragon known as the “Master of the Snow Mountains,” which we had discovered by chance when we first began blocking the wyverns of Vitagarte. Lady Karalin had thought it merely one of the stronger dragons, but I had known its identity.
In the game, it was a legendary boss that could be challenged during the Vitagarte Salvation episode in Chapter 3. There was no need to defeat it to progress the story, yet doing so would drop this very spear, Drakaris. Attacking it first would have provoked a ferocious assault, and our strength at the time had been insufficient. Lady Karalin had therefore suggested we leave it alone and move on…
…But I had simply slipped away later and pulled the spear free.
One must make use of memory cheats when one has them, yes?