NOVEL WEB Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Growth
There was no shouting. No admiration, nor even jeers.
Only the silent gazes filled the stadium.
“…Ha…”
It was Aria who broke the silence.
“As expected, you are strong, Leo…”
Admitting her defeat, she collapsed, accepting her loss.
Leo, maintaining his stance with the sword, did not even look back.
At that moment of victory and defeat, the judge shouted in a trembling voice.
“Winner!! Leonardo!!”
At that confirmation, his strength left him.
“Cough…!”
A dry cough brought blood to his lips.
[Are you okay?]
It felt like having a fresh eel wriggling inside, not a cooked one, spewing out electric shocks.
[Using electric magic for physical enhancement is common, but directly striking your body with lightning is different. It’s extremely dangerous with a simple one-circle spell.]
There was no need for explanation; he felt it with his body. Logically, it would be wise to use a processed buff form of magic rather than an attack spell.
[…Still, it was tolerable. You bastard.]
“Thanks a lot for that…”
Leo’s legs gave out, and his knees hit the ground.
[…Did you faint?]
“No. I can’t… faint yet…”
Leo used his sword as a staff to rise from the ground. Then he approached the fallen Aria.
‘She’s as exhausted as I am.’
Aria had fainted, unable to withstand the mana of her two-star core. Yet, even in unconsciousness, she tightly grasped her sword with delicate hands.
“If you sleep here, your face will be paralyzed, young lady.”
With aching muscles, Leo carried her and started to move.
At the same time, he shouted while looking at Marquen in the audience.
“…I gratefully accept the weapon!!”
Only then did the audience cheer.
Disregarding the gazes of the Reinhardt family,
They purely honored the warrior’s fierce battle.
***
The journey to the armory went smoother than expected. Some knights and servants opposed, but surprisingly, Marquen, who viewed Leo the most unfavorably, firmly pushed his opinion.
Since Marquen was the owner of the personal armory, the opposing voices quickly died down.
Without time to ponder the strangeness of this, Leo arrived in front of the armory.
“…We have arrived.”
When they reached the summit of one of the Reinhardt family’s mountains, Marquen stopped in front of a cave.
At the halted spot, the burly old man pushed open the massive cave door with his bare hands.
The dull, stiff sound indicated that the door’s security mechanism was simply its weight.
“Enter.”
Following Marquen’s order, Leo entered the weapon storage along with its owner.
[…Oh… The old man has a certain charm.]
As the Sage admired, the cave indeed had a charm.
There were peculiar parts that didn’t seem natural, as if a sculptor had meticulously carved and polished the surfaces.
“This is a cave I personally made. For training, I carved the mountain with a sword and hammer.”
Though the Sage admired it, Leo only pretended to be impressed, knowing this fact from his previous life.
“It was too wasteful to abandon it after training, so now I use it as my armory. You are probably the first outsider to be allowed in.”
This was somewhat surprising. Marquen clearly did not regard Leonardo favorably.
“I sincerely thank you for this honor.”
As if to contradict this thought, Marquen clicked his tongue and glared at him.
“Don’t misunderstand. It doesn’t mean I acknowledge you.”
[He’s as stubborn as he looks.]
The Sage’s words were harsh, but Leo didn’t feel the need to defend him. Not nodding in agreement was the extent of his courtesy.
“The reason I let you in is purely as insurance.”
Drawing a firm line, Marquen snapped his fingers. With a precise reaction, the torches on the walls lit up one by one.
As the flames ignited, they began to fill the cave’s darkness with light.
[…This is quite something.]
Inside the brightened cave, various weapons were neatly displayed. These were not merely high-quality items; each one was a treasure with unique abilities.
“First, choose the weapon you want. I’ll explain afterward.”
For Leo, this was a command he was thankful for.
Without hesitation, Leo dashed toward the enticing treasures awaiting him.
[But what should you choose?]
[You do know what beauty is. I thought you didn’t have a concept of aesthetics, kid.]
Ignoring the Sage’s jab, Leo’s attention was captivated by the well-crafted weapons before him.
The pros and cons were so distinct that choosing immediately was painfully difficult. If Marquen weren’t there, Leo would have wanted to stuff all the weapons into a subspace glove.
[…Hm…Hm…?!]
Amidst his happy dilemma, the Sage’s gaze fixated on one particular item.
Leo’s eyes naturally followed the Sage’s line of sight.
At the end of their gaze was a black orb. Curiously, it was an incredibly round and smooth black jade, but it did not reflect the candlelight at all.
“Are you going to choose that?”
As Leo’s gaze settled on the black jade, Marquen asked in a low voice.
“Ah, that…”
“If you choose that, I wouldn’t recommend it.”
[Why ask if you’re not going to listen?]
Leo understood this attitude as something common among people of the same kind. He silently examined the black jade.
“That black orb is a relic I obtained from some ruins. I brought it back because it seemed rare, but every attempt to process or appraise it failed.”
“Is it something like an indestructible stone?”
Sometimes, high-purity indestructible stones were difficult to process. That orb might be a material of such nature.
However, Marquen shook his head firmly.
“It’s not that. The blacksmiths weren’t particularly fond of it either. If it were an indestructible stone, we could have appraised it.”
Marquen wasn’t wrong. Leo was about to turn his attention to another weapon without much interest.
[Choose that one.]
But another stubborn person blocked that decision.
[Stop talking. Just choose it.]
The Sage’s eyes were unwavering.
Leo decided to give it a try, trusting his master.
“Okay. I’ll take that one.”
Thus, Leo decided to be fooled once.
A disciple who couldn’t trust his master wouldn’t learn anything.
“I’ve clearly warned you. I don’t give multiple chances.”
“I have to trust my intuition.”
Leo said, walking towards the black orb. He grabbed it with an unwavering hand.
[Leave the rest to me.]
The Sage, in his spiritual form, inserted his arm into the black stone. Simultaneously, he chanted solemnly.
[Code input, Memento Mori.]
…
……
………
The Sage’s eyes rolled slowly. Please, not “no”…
[…Uh… No…?]
What could he mean by “no”? It was highly likely that the Sage himself was the “no.”
[Wait, I remember. Let me try again.]
Uttering an unconvincing remark, the Sage recited the spell again.
[Code input, Magus Memento Mori.]
…
……
This time, Leo didn’t even expect it to work.
“Recognition complete, initiating activation of the object [Black Stone].”
A voice echoed around, and the black stone began to emit a blue light. It was a brilliance that rendered the candlelight insignificant.
[Alright, now touch it.]
[Don’t lie, you brat.]
Confirming their deep bond of trust, Leo placed his hand on the black stone.
“Detecting a life form with magic, beginning the engraving process.”
The black stone adhered to Leo’s arm, resembling a thick bracelet.
“…Wh-what…! How…!?”
“I… I don’t know either!”
Leo, now the owner of the bracelet, was equally bewildered. He shook his arm in disbelief, trying to make sense of it.
[Now, imagine a sword. The coolest sword you can think of.]
Despite his confused expression, Leo clearly visualized the shape of a sword in his mind.
Like watching black slime, the bracelet transformed, taking on the sharp shape of a sword.
[How about that? Pretty cool, right? It’s one of the most refined creations I’ve made.]
From his tone, it sounded as casual as making tofu and getting okara as a byproduct.
“…How…!? More importantly, how do you know how to use it?!”
[Just make something up. Like that third-rate martial arts story you told last time. Got it?]
“…Could it be… a weapon similar to a holy sword?”
“Is it perhaps not allowed to possess it?”
“No. A promise is a promise. Besides, it seems difficult to retrieve it in that form.”
Marquen accepted this and turned toward the armory exit.
“Let’s go. We’ll talk as we walk.”
Leo followed Marquen towards the exit of the armory.
“…I told you before. The armory’s weapons are insurance.”
“Yes, you said it wasn’t an acknowledgment.”
“…Jehad has already been murdered.”
“Not just Jehad, but the entire Dainons family was killed by someone.”
“…Was it the work of the Bloody Shadow?”
“I’m not certain. The Bloody Shadow has already been destroyed, but it’s not just them.”
“These are secret letters sent by Jehad. Read them.”
Leo checked the torn envelopes. His eyes widened as he read them.
He was now a secret manual containing the optimal techniques for mana and physical training.
The value of being a kidnapping target was more than justified.