After the Subjugation (1)
Carpeng’s subjugation was over.
Luci was dead.
Four days had passed.
The world kept turning just fine.
Of course, a few things had changed.
First of all—
Hepais’s forge was packed to the rafters.
Probably because the greatsword she’d given me had nearly finished Carpeng off. Business had exploded.
Which meant… I couldn’t even set foot inside.
I’d wanted to buy a few things, but—
There were way too many people…
If I went in, I was pretty sure I’d suffocate and die!!
I did try once, though.
Hand in hand with Rubia, we skipped right in, all cheerful—
and everyone bolted out in terror.
Some of them even screamed…
Was Rubia really that scary…?
She might seem that way at first, but once you got to know her she wasn’t scary at all…
It was probably the power that frightened them.
She outranked most nobles, after all.
Anyway, for that reason I didn’t go anywhere near Hepais.
If we showed up, the customers would just scatter…
Next was Rubia…
The first day she cried the entire time.
She’d even jolt awake in the middle of the night and start sobbing.
The second day she was a little better—she ate, at least.
Ate and cried.
Talked and cried.
Cried and cried some more.
Cried while I was washing her.
Laughed and then cried.
So I told her if she laughed and cried at the same time she’d grow hair on her butt, and she burst into giggles again.
Actually it grows horns, not hair…
Then came the third day.
She was back to being the old Rubia.
No more tears, and her words came out clear and steady.
We ate stone-slab steak together and went for a walk.
We sighed at the completely collapsed south gate.
We cheered on the villagers cleaning up the west gate.
When a Gold-rank adventurer who’d been helping the townsfolk came over to greet us, I glared daggers at him.
Other adventurers kept circling around Rubia too, so I chased every last one of them off.
I bugged my eyes out, did my best Carpeng impression, and went “Arrrrgh!”—and they all ran for it.
Little punks.
Scaredy-cats, the lot of them.
As for me—
They’d confiscated even my greatsword, insisting I absolutely had to rest, so for two whole days I just stayed curled up in Rubia’s arms.
I genuinely felt like a comfort plushie.
The silver lining was that she washed her plushie very thoroughly.
I felt incredibly refreshed…
Oh, and speaking of comfort plushies—
They told me my greatsword… could never be repaired.
Hepais and every other smith… had given up…
The greatsword Hepais had given me wasn’t bad, of course…
But it just didn’t feel the same as my precious attachment greatsword.
How safe I’d felt sleeping with it hugged tight at night…
So I spent some gloomy time right alongside Rubia.
…Still, when she squeezed me in a big hug, it helped a little… just a little.
And sometimes,
when we wanted some air, Rubia and I would go outside and set off fireworks.
Once in the village square.
Once at the steakhouse.
Once in the empty lot at the edge of town that the sparring match had turned into a wreck.
And once at the southern entrance where we’d faced Carpeng.
Every time,
Rubia sniffled.
I got gloomy thinking about my attachment greatsword too.
It had only been three days.
I missed it.
So much.
Come to think of it, we’d even planned another sparring match.
Guess that wasn’t happening anymore.
Nothing was.
“Hey, shorty! Next time we meet, how about we arm-wrestle again?”
“Y-you already lost once… doing it again would just end the s-same… way, you know?”
And then today, the fourth day.
Heinzel stood in front of me with that usual sly grin and said he was heading back to the village where he’d been staying.
He was taking Luci with him too.
I’d wondered how he planned to get there with no arm, but a bunch of adventurers from that village had come to pick him up.
Still—how could not a single one of them be carrying a greatsword?
Tsk. Kids these days have no romance. Honestly.
“You sure know how to poke a sore spot… Anyway, listen up, shorty. Eat proper meals, go to bed early, and take it easy on the fighting. And… don’t go wandering off the path. Keep walking straight ahead.”
After ten straight minutes of lecturing, Heinzel pointed at Luci’s sword hanging from my hip.
“He treasured that thing, so take good care of it. Kahahahaha! Nice not having to buy you dinner! See you next time for sure, shorty!”
Heinzel let out a laugh that was a little different from usual—weaker, somehow—then turned his back and walked out of the village.
His empty sleeve flapped in the wind.
I heard the sound of teeth grinding.
“Heinzel’s gone now, so shall we start getting ready too, Noah?”
I pretended I hadn’t seen.
Hadn’t heard.
Then I turned to Rubia with a small smile.
Her hand reached out and took mine.
“Yeees.”
I nodded and laced my fingers through hers.
The warm touch
pushed the memory of that familiar hilt just a little farther away.
“Noah, your face doesn’t look good… Hmm, want to go get some jelly?”
Hah…
Such beautiful words existed in this world…
“Yeees…!!”
“Hehe… I’ll buy you lots, so don’t eat it all at once. Take it little by little, okay?”
I shook off the lingering thoughts and nodded hard.
Heh heh.
Jelly sounded amazing.
Maybe this time I’d ask for nothing but peach flavor.
If I had a mountain of peach jelly…
A mountain…?
Wait… wait? Wait wait?!
Jelly??
Heinzel… never bought me any jelly!
Y-you… baldy!!
Stingy, petty baldy!
Smooth shiny chrome-dome!!
If we ever meet again someday—
No. We will meet again, and I’m wringing twice as much out of him.
No question!
But that was a problem for later!
Right now I was heading straight for the jelly right in front of me.
Smiling wide.
Remembering the smile I’d seen before.
Blooming into a full, radiant grin as I walked beside Rubia.
Forward.
Forward.
Pruuuung— Hiiiing—!
“Mm… this much should be enough. We can restock when we stop by Urusphier on the way.”
With that, Rubia hung the bags on the horse’s flanks.
Oh, right.
The damn horse that had spit on me when we first rode it was still alive and well.
I’d thought it died when the stable collapsed, but it came trotting over from far away—
chewing on a goblin arm the whole time…
Still, I was glad it survived.
Good job, you.
“Ah, and that… fragment. You still have it, right? If your head starts hurting, or strange thoughts pop up, or your body feels weird, you have to tell me right away. Understood?”
“Fragment…? Oh, this. Yeees. Nothing weird so far… I think.”
I squeezed the small shard in my hand.
It was the fragment that had come out of Carpeng.
The “Fragment of the End” that the magic beasts created by the End itself carried inside their bodies.
Mmm… that cool name was this world’s explanation.
In game terms, it was an Epic magic stone you could get from a raid-tier boss!
Common.
Rare.
Unique.
Epic!
A full four ranks up!
Hard to get!
One of a kind in the whole world!
Socket it into a weapon and it grants insane effects!
A ridiculously fantasy-style magic stone!
Just looking at it made my face go all soft and dopey.
But what was Carpeng’s effect again?
I knew it was good, but the penalty was annoying so I never used it much.
Was it “Thirst”?
Eh, whatever!
I’d find out when I used it!
The name was scary, but it was still a helpful item in the end.
I believed it would help!
“If nothing’s wrong, that’s a relief… Still, I never expected they’d give it to you, Noah. The Adventurer’s Guild acted like they were going to confiscate it… I wonder what that was about.”
“Y-yeah…”
That part still puzzled me.
On the third day, someone from the Central Adventurer’s Guild… uh… what was her title again?
Anyway, a high-ranking lady had shown up.
She asked my name and where I was from,
then handed me the extracted magic stone.
According to adventurer law, it belonged to the adventurer who killed the magic beast, she said, and pressed it into my hands.
I told her the one who actually finished it was the late Luci.
She just insisted it belonged to the adventurer who fought alongside him and survived, and forced it into my grip.
Of course… I was happy.
The moment I took it my heart went thump-thump.
My head floated at the thought of getting stronger.
But part of me felt uneasy too…
“Still, it’s officially yours now, so maybe we should look on the bright side? Selling it would probably fetch a fortune. Not that you ever would, of course. Hehe.”
Rubia smiled softly.
I just
nodded lightly and grinned right back, all dopey.
I wanted to socket it into a weapon and test it right that second, but apparently nobody in this village knew how.
I didn’t know if Urusphier would have someone either…
I hoped they did.
It was a pretty big city, so maybe?
If not, we’d have to go all the way to the imperial capital… and that would take forever!
I didn’t want to go!
And Rubia definitely wouldn’t want to either.
Please… please let there be someone in Urusphier!
Pruuung—
The horse beside us snorted and shoved its face toward the magic stone in my hand, clearly curious.
“W-want to see?”
Pruung— Hiiiing—
The horse’s head bobbed up and down.
“Mmm… y-you can’t eat it, okay?”
Pruung—!
“O-okay. Here… look carefully. It’s precious…”
I carefully stretched out my hand and showed it from a safe distance.
The horse’s eyes sparkled as it examined the magic stone from every angle.
But… what were you even going to understand by looking…?
Pruuuung—
It snorted like it was done looking.
You still don’t get it, do you.
I folded my hand and slipped the stone back into my pocket.
Watching us, Rubia smiled gently.
“My, you’ve gotten closer, haven’t you?”
Hiiiing— Pruung— Pruuuung—
The horse whipped its head away.
Oh?
“N-no we haven’t… I hate it because it’s ugly. And it smells…”
I whipped my head away too.
You hate me?
I hate you right back!
“Pffft… Is that so?”
Rubia’s hand stroked my hair.
“Yeees. That’s how it is… I hate that thing…”
Pruung— Hiiiing—
Clop— Clop—
Now it was even stamping its hooves to make its point.
Fine, then I would too.
“U-ugh…!”
Stomp— Stomp—
Mmm… not nearly as impressive as that guy’s…
But at least I’d made my feelings known. Good enough.
“A-anyway… let’s head out now.”
“…Yes. We should… leave.”
Rubia nodded and quietly looked back at the village.
I turned my head with her and gazed at it too.
I painted the image of the village in my mind.
But…
at a moment this important,
this moving—
who… was that…?
“Hyaaagh… Haaah, gaaah…! N-Noah-niiim! Priestess-niiim!!”
In the distance, Hepais was running toward us, waving both arms like mad.
And what was that huge bag for?
“Hepais?”
Rubia stared at her in clear confusion.
“Haaah… uugh… th-this is ridiculously heavy… Whew…”
Hepais reached us, gasping for breath, and collapsed right where she stood.
“Uh… so… what brings you here?”
Rubia handed her a water bottle as she spoke.
“Ugh… th-thank you. Are you… going through the Karahan Mountains by any chance? Gulp— gulp—”
“We are, yes?”
Hearing Rubia’s answer, Hepais
set the water bottle down, shot to her feet, and bellowed at the top of her lungs.
“Please take me with you—!!!”
“No. It’s dangerous. You could die.”
And Rubia refused, sharp as a blade.
“I’ll repair everything for free the whole way!”
Hepais didn’t back down; she played the card she’d prepared.
“There aren’t any magic beasts on the Halbion Plains right now, you know?”
But of course—Rubia.
Completely unbreakable!
“Urgh… th-then…”
Hepais’s face twisted for a second.
Then she pulled out the ultimate trump card we couldn’t refuse.
“I know how to handle fragments… so please take me with you.”
My jaw dropped.
Hepais’s forge had been so busy,
and people ran away whenever they saw Rubia…
so I hadn’t even asked.
But Hepais knew how!
Still… even if she could handle it, taking her along was… like Rubia said, way too dangerous for Hepais…?
Fighting while protecting her would get a lot harder.
Yeah, we should refuse—
“I’ll even do the socketing work for free.”
“…Deal…!”
“Noah…?”
I steadfastly ignored Rubia’s piercing stare.
It was free!
I held out my hand to Hepais.
She grinned and clasped it.
Good business, Hepais!