211. The Price of Greed
211. The Price of Greed
[So? So? What are you going to buy as a gift?]
'Alcohol.'
After dumping the trash in Mikel's office, I strolled through the streets of the Holy Capital and bought everything worth buying.
[What?! What kind of alcohol! Luna, right now... huh? It's been almost 400 years, hasn't it? Anyway, she's been locked up like a half-corpse for 400 years, and you're going to pour alcohol into a body like that?]
'Yeah.'
[You crazy bastard! No, crazy bitch!]
Thump-thump— Sparkle's fists pounded against my lower belly from inside my pocket.
Savoring that ticklish sensation, I turned my gaze this way and that.
People here, people there.
Even though it wasn't the busiest hour, the place was swarming with people.
When I was young... that is, in Ronan's childhood, I'd liked it when there were this many people.
Because I could pickpocket recklessly without getting caught.
-Whoa, shit, it's a feast.
-On a good day, it feels like I could even pick the Emperor's pocket.
-Wanna try? But what does the Emperor even look like? I mean... don't you think he'd have long hair?
-Not all Emperors have long hair. He could be bald.
-Then I'll pick the pockets of the long-haired ones, and you pick the pockets of the bald ones.
-That's certainly a good method. Understood.
So Paulo and I used to deliberately travel around to cities and villages where festivals were being held.
Without a carriage, stupidly, on foot.
We'd made up our minds to do that when we were probably seven years old.
Then at eight, we were taken in by Aunt Diana, lived in a warm place for five years... and after she died when I was thirteen, we wandered the streets again.
I wanted to stay in the village, in the place where she had lived, but I couldn't.
The traces left by the Army of Wrath's rampage were devastating.
The earth was dead, and the sky was stained with Demonic Energy, turning it into an environment where people could no longer live.
-Don't cry, you fucking bastard. If you... if you cry, then I... I'll... sh, shit... hic...
-St... stop... sniff, stop your bullshit. Ronan, I, a man, do not cry. If anything, you're the one crying. This is... right. It's just sweat... just sweat.
-Don't... don't give me that bull, bullshit. Fuck, fuck... fuck! I'll... I'll definitely... kill that fucking bitch Wrath, somehow, by any means, even if I have to sell my soul, so just wait... Auntie.
-The one who kills Herta of Wrath... is me. I, Paulo, will kill Herta.
-Fuck off. I'll kill her. I, Ronan... Ronan, Ronan Luzarak, will, fuck, round up every last one of those Demon mongrel bastards and tear them apart.
-No, I'll kill her.
-Get lost. While you were sniveling, I caught three goblins.
-While you were running away like that, I caught four goblins.
-I wasn't running away, I was catching my breath. And then I came back and caught five more.
-While you were exhausted and resting, I caught six.
-Bullshit. You caught that last one with me.
-Wipe your snot before you talk. It's unsightly.
-You talk after you pop the bubbles on your nose.
So in the end, we got out and survived.
Of course, from then on, we didn't make a living by pickpocketing.
We had a separate main job.
Adventurers.
Paulo and I became adventurers, following Aunt Diana.
Of course, because of our age, we couldn't become real adventurers.
Meaning we couldn't get the nameplates that adventurers carried around.
Still, we could take requests.
Just like now, there were plenty of rotten adults back then too.
If we told those adults, "We'll handle the request for you and give you a cut of the fee, so please accept the request," they'd gladly toss the requests our way.
That's how we scraped by.
It was a truly beggarly life.
Then a year later, at fourteen, Paulo was chosen by the Sacred Sword, met Luna, and headed to the Holy Kingdom.
From then on, there was no more begging.
Three square meals a day of excellent food, and the beds were soft.
We, who had only ever swung blades, learned what swordsmanship was, and learned what etiquette was.
Of course, we only absorbed the swordsmanship and never learned the etiquette.
For two people who had lived as thugs for fourteen years, etiquette was far harder than hunting Monsters.
Well... anyway, from there, Paulo showed talent with the sword. He caught the eye of Zahard Frandis, the Sword Saint of that era, went to the Plain of Swords, and became the Sword Saint's disciple.
I, who was chosen by no one, subjugated Monsters and Demons roaming the continent together with Luna.
Then... when the time came, I left the Holy Kingdom, joined up with Paulo, met Arisa, met Kaloso, and...
The five of us gathered.
[Thinking about the old days again?]
'No, I'm not?'
[Heh heh, I don't know about your Past Life, but right now it's written all over your face.]
'Damn body.'
[So? When were you thinking about? When you first came to the Holy Kingdom? Or your first meeting with Luna?]
'What? You still remember that?'
[Of course! It was the most exciting of all the stories I'd ever heard!]
'I really told you for nothing.'
[But if Ronan hadn't told me those stories, I never could have gotten close to you. And then... that would've been a problem, wouldn't it?]
'Right. If you'd kept avoiding me, I wouldn't have been able to put the Restriction on you, and I'd have died even sooner.'
[...I'm sorry about that. Back then, I was... how should I put it? A bit immature... I guess. I'm sorry.]
'What's there to be sorry about.'
With a snicker, I stroked Sparkle's belly inside my pocket.
I'd told Sparkle... quite a lot of stories.
400 years ago... back then, we needed to get close to Sparkle.
More precisely, we needed to get close to the spirit of light, and anyway, that was Sparkle, and we had to get close to Sparkle.
But this tiny, cheeky little thing, far from getting close to us, wouldn't even come near us.
All the other spirits liked us, but Sparkle alone disliked us.
No, actually, it wasn't us. It was afraid of me... of me alone. It was close with all the other four... but it only avoided me.
Of course, there was an understandable reason.
Apparently, Sparkle, whose rank was far higher than the other spirits, could see the shape of souls more clearly.
Well... I have no idea what the hell my soul looks like, but anyway.
It saw my soul, got scared... and wouldn't even consider getting close.
But in the end, we did get close.
Naturally, not by force.
Sparkle liked our old stories.
Among them, it especially liked the old stories I told personally.
So, well... after rambling on about stories I didn't even need to tell, I was able to get close to it.
So Sparkle knows all the major events of my past.
That's how it knew what I just mentioned.
I didn't expect it to remember.
[But Ronan. Are you really only going to buy alcohol?]
'I said so, how many times are you going to ask? And I already bought the alcohol ages ago, so why do you keep asking?'
[No, no, I mean, are you going to buy only alcohol? Really just that? Only alcohol?]
'...This is enough.'
[Hmm?]
Squirm-squirm— Sparkle wriggled out of my pocket.
[What's with that look? Ronan, you... you already prepared another gift, didn't you? Huh? Right? You bought it already, didn't you?]
'No, I didn't.'
...I did.
Yesterday... on the way back to my lodgings, a necklace happened to catch my eye, so I bought it.
Well... even if she was sealed together with the Demon King, her body still remains, so I can at least... put the necklace on her.
[Good heavens... Ronan prepared a surprise gift... You're actually buying the alcohol because you're embarrassed about the separate gift you prepared, aren't you?]
'Bullshit.'
Chirp-chirp— tweet-tweet— Covering its mouth with both hands and giggling quietly, Sparkle scurried up my body and wrapped itself around the nape of my neck.
[What is it? What is it, what is it? Huh? What'd you buy?]
'I said I didn't buy anything.'
[Heh heh. Look at your ears turning red. Your personality has definitely changed a lot from your Past Life, but you're still just as awkward about this stuff. Is it because you're a bachelor... no, a maiden?]
'I'll seriously kill you.'
I whipped my hand up to the nape of my neck, but Sparkle had already burrowed into my chest.
To avoid my hand?
No.
It was avoiding the person who had approached in front of me.
[...Ronan.]
'Stay hidden.'
Conscious of the nonexistent cleavage Sparkle had burrowed into, I raised my gaze.
First, the most obvious thing I saw was a massive bulk.
Two bald men who looked to be just under two meters tall.
Big vertically, and big horizontally too. Not as big as Dad, but roughly five Elis in volume.
Those guys were clad in crude-looking white heavy armor.
Both carried the same weapon. Halberds.
They even looked identical. Maybe because they were bald?
Their faces were far above my line of sight, and since both were bald, it was hard to tell them apart by appearance.
Well, anyway.
Between those two hulks stood a woman who was smaller than them, but still far larger than average.
Black hair long enough to cover her hips.
Likewise a black uniform, black gloves, black uniform. And on her back, she carried a sword even blacker than that.
A zweihänder.
It wasn't an ordinary sword.
And so, its wielders were hard to find as well.
Of course, hard to find didn't mean there were none at all.
In the Holy Kingdom, there was exactly one.
One wielder of a zweihänder.
The most conspicuous figure in the documents Mikel had handed me, the ones containing information on the people she judged to be "enemies."
Supreme Commander of the Executors
Ishmael Duran.
The Holy Kingdom's greatest madwoman blocked my path.