Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Darling's Plan
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"Hi, hi! Honey, were you waiting for me?"
"Since when were you my honey?"
Krash made a slightly weary face upon seeing Darling kick up a fuss the moment she arrived.
Having just dealt with Balok earlier, he was completely drained and had no energy left to play along with her jokes.
"You look kinda down. Something happen?"
Darling picked up on Krash's state and asked.
There was no reason for Krash to hide it, so he let out a sigh.
"The family head stopped by."
"Family head? You don't mean... the Martial Sovereign, Balok Valheim?"
Calling someone else's father by his name like that.
"Yeah, my dad."
"Whoa, that's awesome! I really wanted to see him in person. If only I'd come a bit sooner!"
She hopped in place, feigning regret.
Each time, her hair and earrings swayed, drawing the eye, but Krash just shook his head.
"Better off not meeting him."
It'd just hurt inside.
And honestly, even Darling would struggle to keep up that attitude in front of Balok.
The Empire had two Heavenly Sovereigns, but Staron had only one.
In Staron, Balok was everyone's idol, occupying a position no one could touch.
The only one who might one day rise to Balok's level as a new star was Charlotte—that was how highly they thought of her.
"So, kid, did he come to see you to make you the next Valheim family head?"
"As if. You know my sister well enough."
She was a total Charlotte fan, after all.
"I do. But I don't think you're lacking at all, kid."
At the same time, Darling's eyes curved into crescents.
"I'm super curious how the family's mutant will stand up to Charlotte."
Darling's bad habit was starting to show.
As her curiosity-filled eyes sparkled, Krash jabbed a finger into her side.
"Eek!"
Watching her twist away harder than expected, Krash said,
"Cut the nonsense. I never wanted to be family head in the first place."
What was the point when the whole world might end someday?
Darling clutched her side in a hunched posture and replied,
"Didn't expect you to go soft on that front. Anyway, kid, don't just poke my side like that. Some people are sensitive there."
"Like you care."
Krash snorted, and Darling straightened up with a relieved expression.
"So, about that favor I asked for."
Darling grinned at Krash's words.
She opened the bag she'd brought and pulled out a small vial.
Inside was a pill the size of a pinky nail, shaped like a rice cake ball.
"It's done. What do you think? Pretty genius, right?"
"You've always been a genius."
Krash responded matter-of-factly to her playful remark.
Darling froze at the unexpected reply, and Krash took the pill from her hand.
In the meantime, she clenched and unclenched her fist, looking a bit embarrassed.
"...Huh, didn't think you'd call me a genius so outright."
"Geniuses deserve to be called geniuses. It suits you best."
Geniuses shone brightest in their fields, their names so familiar that people mistakenly thought there were many.
But their numbers were always sorely lacking.
And Krash had lived among a generation packed full of them: the Generation of the Sky.
Not acknowledging geniuses would only make him look smaller.
So Krash acknowledged them.
Though now, he had to trample them to rise above.
"You show these weird sides in the oddest places, kid. The more I know you, the more charming you get?"
"Don't hit on kids."
"Kids don't get this stuff anyway."
Leaving the giggling Darling behind, Krash started toward Aliod.
But her next words stopped him in his tracks.
"Heard Anix has been acting different lately."
Krash whipped his head back.
After getting crushed by Charlotte, Anix had dialed back his training intensity.
More precisely, he'd lost the point of it.
He'd decided no amount of effort would let him catch up to her.
But after seeing Krash, who'd been overshadowed by Charlotte, spread his wings at the Star Sanctuary, something in Anix had changed.
No one knew what.
But the latest rumor was that he'd ramped up his training again.
"What a pointless waste."
Krash reacted with clear displeasure.
It was only natural.
To Krash, Anix was nothing but a traitor.
Utterly repulsive, even.
'I don't care what influence that bastard got from me.'
Krash didn't welcome the fact.
"Got it. Now go."
"Harsh. I came all this way, and you're kicking me out already?"
"It's not like you can do much here anyway."
"Eh, I wouldn't say that."
Krash frowned at her sly smile.
Leave her be, and her teasing would only get worse.
Maybe he should warn her off now.
At that moment, Krash froze at the voice echoing directly in his mind.
This unfamiliar sensation only came when Crimson Garden spoke into his head.
As Krash glanced around, Crimson Garden was perched by the window before he knew it.
She'd fled the moment his father appeared earlier, but now she was back.
Krash saw Crimson Garden's crow eyes gleaming red.
She seemed to have pierced right through Darling's talent.
Crimson Garden looked satisfied.
An elixir was a special medicine that boosted physical abilities and aura upon consumption.
It was priceless, with secret family arts passed down for generations to create them.
Asking for one out of the blue.
Even Darling couldn't whip up elixirs on demand.
If that was the case.
Krash had no reason to object.
Elixirs had always been out of reach for him.
Feeding them to half-talents yielded no returns, and those bastards gobbled them up without leaving any.
Krash didn't deny it.
The first day back with Crimson Garden.
Krash underwent his first training session with her.
And the words he heard there were simple.
She'd been dumbfounded, saying even this level of talentlessness was a miracle.
Krash wasn't a regressor, but the rest rang true.
Even Anix, whom he'd crushed easily at the Star Sanctuary, would outpace him once he hit twenty.
If Crimson Garden had only seen his talent, she never would've taken him as a disciple.
Crimson Garden slowly rose into the sky.
The crow's wingbeats seemed endless as she ascended.
"I'll make you, who crawled the earth your whole life, take flight. Just flap your wings fiercely. Put everything soaring above beneath you. And at the end..."
⟨ "Devour even my immortality." ⟩
That was what Crimson Garden had said on the first day.
Krash realized it was like a vow from her.
A vow to take him as her disciple.
An elixir from such a Crimson Garden.
It was bound to be a huge help.
No reason for Krash to refuse.
"Darling, let's ask for a bit more then."
"So demanding. I'm an expensive girl, you know. I don't do freebies for just anyone."
"I want you to make an elixir."
Krash said it straight, unfazed by her joking.
Hearing "elixir," Darling tilted her head, then chuckled softly.
"Gonna eat an elixir to get stronger? Did Anix's training news fire you up?"
"Anix doesn't matter. Too much on my plate to care about that guy."
Krash's eyes were on a far more distant future.
"It's just what's needed to stand at the starting line."
Darling stared at Krash for a moment.
She didn't know much about him.
He'd suddenly shown up, offered to help with her research, and asked for an incurable disease cure.
Word of her alchemy genius had spread everywhere by then, so she got the request.
But "genius" was a word for teens like her.
Time would come when even she might drift from it.
Most people thought so.
They expected but didn't fully trust.
They'd seen countless geniuses turn ordinary.
But Krash had never once doubted her genius.
As if it were the most natural thing.
How could he be so sure?
This kid about to turn fourteen.
'Every time I see him, he acts like he's lived through the whole world.'
And that sparked a strange interest in Darling.
It started as curiosity about the Valheim mutant opposite Charlotte.
But now it was deeper—about Krash himself.
"Elixir prices skyrocket with the ingredients, kid. You sure you can handle it?"
"What do you take the Valheims for?"
"Valheims are great, but I know your position, kid."
Would the Valheims bankroll that much for their "half-talent"?
"Don't worry. I've got it covered."
Extorting the funds wouldn't be hard.
He could ignore outside rumors, but inside ones reached him inevitably.
Krash knew key events in the Valheim family.
And that they'd bring in big money.
"So confident? Fine, I'll trust you. What elixir do you want?"
"That is..."
Krash glanced at the window, and Crimson Garden spoke.
Krash repeated everything Crimson Garden said to Darling.
Darling listened quietly at first, but her face gradually stiffened.
Because the elixir recipe Krash described was something even she had never considered.
"Uh, so, like this, and it works?"
She mumbled blankly, chewing over the recipe in her head.
Krash, an alchemy layman, turned to Crimson Garden with a look of what did you just tell her?, but she just shrugged her wings.
"Whoa, kid, how do you even know this stuff?"
"...A Valheim family recipe."
Krash bluffed.
"Valheims really have everything, huh."
She bought it.
Relieved, Krash asked if she could do it.
Her eyes lit up.
"Awesome. Now I'm dying to try. I wanna make it. But a few ingredients I can't get either. Especially the Whitesnow Flamecap and Golden Dragon Herb."
"Whitesnow Flamecap grows in Hardenharts territory, right?"
"Yeah, their mountains are brutal, and all the World Erosion means poor circulation. Not many apothecaries stock it."
"I can get that."
Darling suddenly remembered his fiancée.
"Oh, right. Yeah, that works."
But she soon focused on another issue.
"Golden Dragon Herb, though—you know."
"Empire exclusive."
"Yep, they manage it directly. None sold domestically. Black market might have it, but getting caught by the Empire's a hassle."
"Doesn't mean there's no other way."
As Krash considered the black market, Darling poked his cheek with a finger.
He turned with a what the hell? look, and she grinned.
"Lemme teach you an easy way for a kid like you to snag a Golden Dragon Herb."
"There's a way?"
"Empire's hosting two tournaments soon. One for adults, one for boys under fifteen. The real goal's the second—the prizes are better."
Krash got it immediately.
"...You want me to fight?"
"Top three gets you a Golden Dragon Herb. Sound doable?"
Doable my ass.
Krash knew exactly why the Empire was holding these tournaments.
Simple reason.
They wanted to expand the talent pool for Raheln Academy.
'Raheln Academy's nominally a unity ground for kingdoms and empire.'
But in reality, political power struggles came first.
The more your people in Raheln, the bigger your influence.
So, scout promising kids via the tournament and secure power in Raheln.
'Kingdoms are probably prepping something similar.'
The Empire was the Empire for a reason.
They were hyping the tournaments massively, rumors spreading to neighbors.
"...You forgot? I'm a Valheim. Entering the Empire's tournament would be a mess."
"I remember. But their rules say anyone's eligible."
"Idiot. That's just for show."
"Hmph. You just called me a genius."
Krash cradled his head and sighed long.
Thinking it over, Darling was just giving him a way to get the ingredients he needed for the elixir he wanted.
Getting mad at her would be wrong, so he looked at her.
"You suggesting this means you've got a plan."
Darling's eyes sparkled instantly.
"Heh heh heh, love how quick you catch on, kid."
Krash felt uneasy at her creepy grin.
But with no other way to get the Golden Dragon Herb, he watched as she whipped a vial from her bosom.
"Behold, the path to becoming a girl...!"
Crash!
Krash smashed the vial with a fist right away.
He had no intention of indulging her tastes.
"Next option?"
As Krash smiled chillingly, Darling wiped up the broken vial with a handkerchief.