NOVEL WEB Chapter 81
Chapter 81
Leon…
“What?”
“Stop meddling in the witch’s affairs.”
“Why are you saying that?”
“Haha… Shall we take a walk? Someone might wake up.”
What is this guy to me?
I need to make it clear this time.
‘Leon… Are you an ally or an enemy?’
He acts like a benefactor, but I’ve only seen his face twice.
“You’ve successfully settled in the dungeon.”
“Are you spying on me?”
“Isn’t that a bit harsh? I just have a wide network and take an interest in the Frozen Lands. Also, I wanted to check if you’re doing well.”
“You sure have a knack for sticking your nose in useless matters.”
“Heh… If it weren’t for me, you’d be buried under the dungeon or hunted down by Scala.”
“So make it clear. Are you here to help me or mock me?”
“Hmm…”
Leon brushed his hair back and looked around.
“My stance remains the same. I just need someone useful.”
“Wasn’t this supposed to be a brief transaction? I don’t recall agreeing to work under you.”
“That’s not for you to decide. It’s my call.”
Swoosh…
I looked into Leon’s eyes.
Eyes of someone who speaks arrogantly and firmly believes it.
“Don’t stare at me like that, it’s embarrassing. Demon Lord.”
“…Since when did you know I was a demon?”
“From the first time we met. You have a distinct smell. The magic in the air blends with you without resistance. You also easily recognized that this form of mine is a disguise, didn’t you?”
Faust, it’s a disguise.
‘Did he hear what Bill said?’
“We’re both busy deceiving each other, not a very hopeful future, is it?”
“Haha! Well, it’s natural to be cautious. I understand. But let’s talk about the witch. That’s the most important issue.”
“Why do you want me to stay away from Enis?”
“Listen carefully. This matter is quite complicated. It’s not a simple good versus evil fight like in the streets.”
“…”
“If you help the Blue Witch, everything will go wrong.”
What is he talking about?
“You might think all this happened by chance… but it’s not.”
“Is that so… So there’s a grand plan behind all this?”
“Exactly! So…”
“Can you tell me what that plan is?”
“…I can’t.”
“You don’t trust me. Then I won’t trust you either.”
“It’s not my place to interfere! If you get involved in this…”
“So this is what you’re really like…”
“…What?”
I looked at Leon with indifferent eyes.
“Hiding behind your precious secrets and sowing discord… Is that your true nature?”
“…”
At that moment, I heard a presence.
“Faust! Who is that… Eek-!”
Swoosh-!
The situation became urgent.
It was Enis, who had woken up from her sleep…
“Don’t move, witch.”
“Aita, stop…”
“…Leon, do you realize you’re being overly kind to this person?”
A beautiful woman with long bangs covering one eye.
Her aura was sinister and cold.
And…
‘…Heavy!’
Aita was undoubtedly a formidable individual.
“…Is this a threat now?”
“Stop! Shut up! Don’t judge Leon with your petty tongue!”
“Leon, are you now being led by your subordinates? If Romwell had shown up, we could have continued the conversation.”
“Romwell? He got seriously injured trying to save you from the investigation team! How dare you…!”
Aita, unable to calm her anger, charged at me as if to kill.
‘The more she does that, the more information she leaks.’
It was clear that this woman only followed Leon’s orders. Despite her threats, she didn’t act without his command.
“Ugh!”
“Stop resisting, witch. The more you do, the more it hurts.”
“Ugh…”
“Leon, let’s do this. How about we kill this witch here?”
Leon exchanged glances with Aita.
“That would make things more…”
“Aita.”
Leon’s expression turned cold, and an overwhelming aura emanated from him.
Thump-!
My heart felt like it was being squeezed.
Even though the force wasn’t directed at me, but at Aita.
“Do you want to die?”
“Ugh…”
“How dare you interfere without my permission…”
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Release the witch.”
Enis finally regained her freedom.
Snap-!
But as soon as Leon snapped his fingers, she clutched her throat.
“Ah…”
She couldn’t speak properly.
“Just watch from there. Hoo… Things aren’t going as planned. Fine, let’s do this.”
Leon switched from threats to a proposal.
“If you stay out of this, I’ll give you two boxes of magic stones.”
“Leon!”
“Shut up, Aita. If you interfere again, it won’t end with just a punishment.”
“…”
“I want a quiet conversation, calmly.”
I didn’t care what they were babbling about.
‘Two boxes of magic stones… Hmm…’
Two boxes of magic stones for doing nothing?
“And if… no matter the outcome, if you get involved in the witch’s affairs and survive… I’ll give you six boxes of magic stones.”
“…What?”
“This isn’t a threat. It’s a deal to gauge you.”
“Of course, there are conditions, right?”
“After this, help me with my work, unrelated to this matter.”
“Hah…”
“Of course, there will be compensation, just like now.”
He’s not asking me to be his subordinate.
Just to help with his work in exchange for a lot of magic stones. There’s no reason to refuse…
“What benefit does this deal give you?”
“If you choose two boxes, I’ll have someone who knows their place. If you choose six boxes, I won’t waste magic stones on someone useless.”
“Hah.”
“But if… if your dungeon can take root in this land, hmm…”
His eyes softened.
“I’ll have someone who can achieve things I hadn’t even thought of.”
I glanced at Enis’s face.
“…”
Her face was turning pale.
If I give up helping her, I’ll get two boxes of magic stones. She thinks I’ll choose the easier path.
“I accept the proposal.”
“Which one?”
“Of course, the one with more boxes.”
“Haha!”
Leon laughed heartily and then turned serious.
“If you fail, you’ll die, for sure.”
“One thing I learned from almost being buried in the dungeon.”
Yes, I learned it through the Autumn War.
“Avoiding danger doesn’t solve anything.”
“…”
“You end up facing it eventually.”
“I acknowledge your ambition. We won’t see each other for a while.”
“When I finish all this…”
I spoke to Leon and Aita as they turned away.
“My value will go up. Can you handle it?”
“…We’ll see.”
* * *
“Yawn… Did you see those guys off properly yesterday?”
“You knew, so why…”
“I was sleepy, and I had no intention of killing them.”
“…”
“Interfering would only mess up the flow of conversation. Don’t you think so, witch?”
“S-Sorry…”
Enis apologized, bowing her head nervously.
“The truth is… I went there even though I was told not to…”
“I see.”
It seemed Amon had warned Enis not to interfere in the conversation, but she did anyway, causing a bit of a commotion.
‘Just a little mishap.’
Whoosh-!
Corning flew in, shouting.
“I’ve confirmed the destination! I couldn’t get a detailed look to avoid detection, but it seems there are about twenty of them.”
“Twenty, huh… It must be an infiltration.”
Nodding, I turned to Odin.
“It’s better to wait here.”
“Indeed. If there’s any commotion, just signal, and I’ll come running.”
Odin sat down against the cliff.
Whoosh-!
“Corning, keep watch. Warn us if there’s any contact.”
“Got it!”
We moved forward, pushing through the snowstorm. No need to worry about leaving footprints; the weather would soon cover them with fresh snow.
“Where’s the treasure vault?”
“It’s not far from the village. We have to be careful, though, or we might get caught.”
The village was obscured by the snowstorm, but we could sense someone in the watchtower.
“Should I take them out?”
“Only if you want to tussle with twenty people.”
“Ugh… What should we do? We need to pass this way to reach the vault…”
At that moment, Bill flipped a coin and spoke.
“I hear voices nearby.”
“How did you know?”
“Earlier, I threw a snowball with a coin connected to this one into the village…”
I had thought Bill was just bored, making snowballs. Turns out, it was a clever trick.
Sizzle…
“It’s a one-time thing, so we can’t listen for long.”
As soon as Bill finished speaking, faint voices came from the coin. Fortunately, it seemed the watchtower hadn’t detected it.
“You still haven’t caught that girl?”
“Even Brocia couldn’t catch her.”
“Idiots. Losing the third key right in front of you!”
“There are signs of a battle… but as you know, it’s hard to track in a snowstorm…”
“She might have left the Frozen Lands. Hmm… Should we proceed with Akila’s plan?”
“Isn’t it too dangerous?”
“The seal has weakened too much to wait for the third key. If Ekelart breaks the seal himself, we’ll be swept away unprepared.”
Mentioning Akila’s plan made me uneasy.
“Withdraw the troops. Did you gather all the treasures?”
“Yes. However… nothing particularly useful…”
“I expected more from the Blue Witches, who were skilled in alchemy and forging… but it’s just a bunch of antiques. We’ll withdraw at sunrise, so inform everyone.”
We inadvertently overheard their withdrawal plan.
“If they’re talking about noon, we just need to wait a bit longer.”
“This puts Odin at risk of being detected.”
I relayed the message to Corning to move Odin to a different position, and we waited until noon.
“They’re gone.”
Finally, we moved comfortably to the entrance of the treasure vault Enis mentioned.
“There’s an entrance up on that cliff?”
“Yes. That’s why I said we might have to climb the ice wall.”
They had made an entrance at the top of the ice wall surrounding their base…
“Odin.”
“Haha! Don’t worry. I’ll lift everyone up at once.”
We quickly reached the top, thanks to Odin.
Whoosh…
The key hidden within Enis vibrated, opening the suspicious door.
“Here it is, let’s go in.”
The interior was quite large.
But it didn’t seem like there were many items inside…
“Hmm?”
“Whoa…”
Amon and I simultaneously focused on one spot.
“What’s this?”
A cannon shaped like a teapot.
“Impressive, right? It’s a legendary relic of the Blue Witches.”
Everything I’d seen in this world so far was cheap junk, but this was a proper relic.
“It’s called Albinus. It has the power to attract divine lightning. What do you think?”
“It’s broken, isn’t it?”
Amon said, looking dejected, and Enis scratched her head.
“They said it malfunctioned after delivering the final blow in the battle with Ekelart.”
“…The inside is completely burnt. There’s nothing salvageable. But it might have one last breath left.”
“Really? But… Grandma said Albinus would never move again…”
“Ah, but that’s assuming I can get my hands on it… I’ll take this.”
“What?”
“Give me Albinus.”
“But…”
I thought it over.
What use is this junk?
And I reached a conclusion.
“Give it to me.”
“Both of you are being unreasonable…”
Albinus, junk?
‘In a world where even combat noodle dispensers exist…’
I had spent a while seriously giving feedback while wearing that ridiculous hat.
‘And… this world isn’t just about magic stones.’
In the game, the only way for players to get stronger was by using magic stones. Naturally, I had come to think that magic stones were the only way for Faust to get stronger.
‘I guess I still had a gamer’s mindset.’
If necessary, I must use everything at my disposal to get stronger.
“What other relics are there?”
“Uh… wait a moment…”
Enis appeared, carrying a sword wrapped in a suspicious cloth.
“Ugh…”
“What’s this?”
“It’s a relic from the same era as Albinus. Another pride of the Blue Witches.”
“This sword?”
“Yes, the cursed sword Misrante.”
“A cursed sword…”
“It’s dangerous, so don’t touch it.”
“Why?”
“There might still be a faint curse left… Ekelart withstood Albinus’s bombardment for seven days but was eventually sealed by this Misrante.”
“That strong of a curse, huh…”
“Who knows? But Grandma said no one could use this sword.”
Swoosh…
As I drew the sword from the cloth, the blade crumbled like dust.
Thud…
“…Hmm?”
“It was always like this. Don’t worry.”
“The blade is broken…”
“Yes. It seems it used all its power to seal Ekelart. It can never be wielded again.”
“Why? Didn’t the Blue Witches make this?”
“Well… the most important material was used up when making this sword. It’s something out of legend, and its existence is questionable.”
“What is it?”
Enis answered without hesitation.
“Golden mistletoe.”
“Wait… what?”