The Second Divine Sword (1)
The Second Divine Sword (1)
Since I couldn't put it in the artifact pouch, I wrapped the broken sword in an old cloth.
The broken sword had now become a long, slender object wrapped in old cloth.
Seeing the young man tearing his hair out over the items scattered everywhere, Balea quietly gathered the junk into one place.
The young man bowed to Balea so deeply that his head nearly touched the ground.
Leaving the young man behind, still bowing deeply, we stepped out of the smithy.
Once we were outside, I lightly tapped the cloth bundle I was holding and asked the Princess,
"What should we do with this?"
"Pardon?"
The Princess looked bewildered by my question.
"Since we found it by following you, Your Highness, you should decide what to do with it."
It would be troublesome if we didn't make things like this clear.
Given the Princess's personality, it wasn't as if she would snatch it away and claim it as her own.
Would she suggest making it the joint property of our group project?
"But didn't you buy that sword, Young Lord?"
Since I was the one who'd bought the mountain of junk, was she saying I'd bought this too?
"I'm satisfied just knowing that there actually was something there. Besides, I can't even see it now."
Just as the Princess said, the line cutting across the sky had disappeared.
It hadn't vanished naturally.
After finding the broken sword, I'd held it and channeled mana into it here and there, which had ended up making the line disappear.
If the mana-line-emitting part of the Marquis Pisen household's 'Divine Sword' was broken, this sword seemed to have only that part intact.
By manipulating mana, I could turn that function on and off.
But it didn't seem as though just anyone could do it.
Only someone who could see the Mana Threads would be able to understand the sensation of turning it on and off.
Since the Princess put it that way, there was no reason to refuse.
As for what the others would think...
I looked at Balea, walking beside me. She met my gaze and grinned.
"I don't even know what that is. It wasn't as spectacular as I expected, but I got to see something interesting, so I'm satisfied. Instead, since I worked hard too, please give me a reward. With delicious food."
"Oh, then me too. A reward for guiding you."
The Princess had stopped pretending to be an adult in front of me.
It was nicer to see her like this than before, but when she demanded it so openly, I couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat.
Finding a meal that could satisfy nobles and royalty in a neighborhood like this...
It was like trying to find a fine-dining restaurant in a night market.
But since I'd acquired the sword, I couldn't just play dumb.
I asked around as we walked the streets, and I also made inquiries while requesting the repair of the longsword—which was our official purpose—at a large smithy.
Fortunately, I managed to find a decent restaurant.
Perhaps because so many big spenders visited the smithies, it was a lavish and expensive place.
This was one of the good things about becoming rich.
I couldn't believe I didn't even tremble at the thought of going to a restaurant that was clearly going to rip me off.
Remembering my past life, when I had to walk out after looking at the price tag, I couldn't help but feel how much things had changed.
As an expensive restaurant, it was divided by partitions.
Since they didn't have to worry about the gazes of those around them, both the Princess and Balea looked relaxed.
Once we sat down, I put on the airs of a newly rich man and told them to order whatever they wanted.
At my grand pronouncement, the two women ordered the most expensive dishes to suit their tastes.
That was only natural for the Princess, given what she usually ate, but Balea was clearly planning to bleed me dry.
But I didn't regret spending the money.
Partly because I'd obtained the sword, but also because the restaurant was proving more helpful to me than I'd expected.
"Prices have gone up too much lately, haven't they?"
"With everyone hoarding, of course they're going to rise."
"Will it come to civil war after all?"
"Everyone's just waiting for the King to die. It's good for us since we're making money, but I wonder what will become of the country."
As I subtly channeled mana into my ears, the conversations around me immediately became audible.
"The Marquis is on the First Prince's side, right? Surely, if a civil war breaks out, transactions with the Second Prince's side will be cut off?"
"Who knows? Marquis Pisen is a much worse merchant than we tradesmen are. He'll probably deal through the back door, won't he?"
They whispered behind the partitions so others wouldn't hear, but their words couldn't escape my ears.
"It's bad enough with just the two princes fighting each other, but it seems the Grand Prince will join in too."
"The Empire will probably meddle as well."
"Greedy great lords might even step forward and declare independence."
"Before the civil war, territorial wars will gradually break out first."
"It seems Duke Gracia has already finished cleaning up his surroundings."
"Well, he's someone who's very thorough with these kinds of things..."
"If things go south, should we head to the Gracia Dukedom...?"
"If you don't want to go abroad, that would be the best option."
As I listened, talk of the Gracia Dukedom reached my ears too.
People were speaking far more highly of the Gracia Dukedom than I had expected.
It sounded like the last remaining sanctuary in a chaotic kingdom.
It was a little strange. Although the Duchy was decent compared to other territories, it wasn't some paradise on earth.
It wasn't nearly as wonderful a place as the people in the restaurant were claiming.
Rumors were often exaggerated, but something about this felt manufactured.
There had to be a reason these stories were circulating.
'Is the Duke's estate spreading these rumors? Does the Duke have some scheme of his own?'
I stopped eating and pictured the Duke's face for a moment.
A handsome, cold face.
Indeed, he was the type of person who would exploit chaos rather than be swayed by it.
If so, it meant the Duke was up to something...
It wasn't something a young illegitimate son attending the Academy should meddle in, but I couldn't afford to get stabbed in the back without knowing what was going on.
I needed to at least find out what was happening.
Besides the talk about the Gracia family, I heard plenty of other stories.
Stories about the civil war and the princes. Discussions about the economy and artifacts. Even talk about how difficult it was to hire mercenaries due to deteriorating public security.
I was able to gather a wealth of high-quality information about the Kingdom, the kind merchants knew.
Among the things I heard, the Order came up too.
"What on earth is the Order doing...? The country's in such chaos—shouldn't the temples step forward?"
"Well, the Order has always stayed neutral in civil wars and territorial wars."
"Even though they've received an immense amount of donations all this time..."
Amid the chaos, even the silent Order seemed to be drawing flak.
Still, thinking back to my past life, I didn't recall them gathering donations so aggressively...
Since they earned money by healing people with recovery skills and made plenty from their contract abilities, the Order didn't openly run a donation business.
"They use the donations to collect artifacts. They say it's an offering to God, so what can we do?"
Come to think of it, the Order was also a major player in collecting artifacts.
I'd completely excluded them from my list because dealing with religion was troublesome, but since I'd only be examining the artifacts, it might be fine.
Then, should the next destination for our group project be the temple in the capital?
After finishing our meal, we returned to the Marquis's mansion.
We decided to keep our acquisition of the sword a secret for now.
It would be troublesome if the people of the Marquis's household found out.
Even though it was completely broken, any knight who handled a blade would surely realize it was similar in type to the Knight Commander's sword.
Even broken, it was something the Marquis's household would definitely covet if they found out.
For that reason, I decided to inform the Grand Archduchess later as well. It would be troublesome if she touched it carelessly and it ended up emitting a massive burst of light.
The 'Divine Sword Tracker' would be delighted if he knew, but I had no intention of telling him.
Unlike the others, he was still just a business partner.
Lastly, Mirisa was... a good student.
It was just that we weren't close enough to share secrets; it was absolutely not because she disliked me and refused to tell me.
We stayed at the Marquis's estate for one more day, then prepared to return the following day.
The Marquis gave us gifts as we departed.
"It's a bit damaged, but it should still be somewhat usable."
The Marquis handed me two artifacts.
One was a sphere that emitted light while mana was channeled into it.
Originally, it seemed to be an artifact that, once charged, would illuminate an entire room for a day.
But now that it was broken, it had become a half-functional item—or rather, a mere souvenir—whose light would vanish instantly unless someone held it and continuously channeled mana.
The other was a water bottle. A water bottle that absorbed moisture from the air to create water when mana was channeled into it.
It was an incredibly useful artifact, but unfortunately, this water bottle was broken too.
Mana leaked out constantly, so one had to hold it and channel mana for an entire hour just to get barely enough water for a single cup.
This, too, was nothing more than a souvenir.
Still, the Marquis handed over artifacts that were far better than I'd expected.
I would have been satisfied with completely broken artifacts, yet he handed over ones that were at least half-functional.
Since I had the Grand Archduchess, it didn't matter whether they were completely broken or half-broken, but from the Marquis's perspective, he was showing great generosity.
And to me, of all people.
"I am giving this to Student Alex. Since you have so much potential as a knight, please accept this modest gift as a memento."
Although I suggested that it might be good to give commemorative gifts to the Princess and the Grand Archduchess, the Marquis specifically pointed out that he was gifting them to me.
After expressing my gratitude for the Marquis's excessive kindness, we left the Pisen Marquisate.
Leaving the smoke-billowing city behind, the carriage sped toward the capital.
Upon arriving in the capital, we parted ways with the 'Divine Sword Tracker', Lesty.
Although he was disappointed not to have learned anything new about the Divine Sword, he seemed satisfied at least to have confirmed what kind of sword was in the Marquis Pisen household.
Now, he would return to being the 'Auction House Owner'.
After the Grand Archduchess got off in front of the Grand Prince's mansion, the group members returning to the Academy headed there in her carriage.
I didn't go to the Academy, but stayed behind with the Grand Archduchess.
I made the excuse that I was stopping by the Duke's mansion in the capital, but in reality, it was because I had something to discuss with the Grand Archduchess.
"You want me to fix the artifacts you received as gifts, right?"
When I said I had something to discuss, the Grand Archduchess spoke as she led me inside.
"Yes. Originally, they were gifts that should have gone to the Princess and you, Your Grace, but it seems the Marquis misunderstood."
"They were my gifts?"
The Grand Archduchess's eyes widened.
"Which of the two would you like? You may choose. Since it shouldn't be known that we repaired broken artifacts, I plan to give the Princess something else."
"I'll be careful."
When I said that, the Grand Archduchess seemed to recall what had happened at the Marquis's estate.
Since it hadn't turned out badly for me, I shook my head.
"I didn't mean it that way."
"Then what are you going to give Princess Aisha?"
"I haven't thought about it yet."
"Among the artifacts I've repaired so far, hmm, what would be good..."
Even after we arrived in the room, the Grand Archduchess pondered what to give the Princess instead of considering the gift she herself would receive.
Though she had a share in them, they were my artifacts...
But since I'd already brought it up, there was no helping it.
Rather than interrupting the Grand Archduchess as she worried over it, I placed the cloth bundle I'd brought on the table.