Chapter 163 – …Huh? (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The desert city of Colony had been extremely noisy lately.

Because of the capital reconstruction project.

Scorpirion and Seol Gak’s assault had dealt the capital a great blow.

It was not enough to wipe out the entire capital, but one part of the wall had completely collapsed, the royal palace had been smashed apart, and the northern and eastern districts of the capital had taken heavy damage.

In that situation, Karmakses III made a major decision.

He would empty the royal treasury and restore the capital.

Of course, it was obvious that this would have a negative effect on the administration afterward.

Even so, thanks to that decision, the capital was being rebuilt at a very fast pace.

But Karmakses III had one more great concern.

“…The damage from Time Gates, no, from gates, is steadily increasing?”

“Yes.”

“Hoo. Misfortunes pile on top of each other.”

After letting out a deep sigh, he thought for a moment and asked,

“What damage has been reported inside Colony itself?”

“At present, there is not much, but… before long, I believe we will begin hearing reports of damage from various places.”

“What about the Baba Yagas?”

“…Aside from Golden Flash, they are all moving more or less as we wish for now, but if this continues, it will put a strain on them.”

At his secretary’s report, the king sank back into thought.

As the man had said, the Baba Yagas were indeed handling the gates according to the kingdom’s will for now.

But that state of affairs would not last for long.

The five Baba Yagas could be called Colony’s greatest military power.

But they did not belong to the state.

They were only fighters who competed in the colosseum, which meant they could come and go freely from Colony whenever they wished.

The king scratched at his head and let out another sigh.

Things were fine until now.

Of course, there had long been opinions saying that it would be better to make them members of the state.

But there was a reason why Karmakses III, and in truth even the first king, had spent great sums supporting the five Baba Yagas while never bringing them formally into the state.

Convenience.

The reason Colony, planted in the desert, had been able to prosper this much was the colosseum.

But when the first king first conceived the colosseum and the Baba Yagas, the original purpose of building the colosseum was not prosperity.

It was closer to securing military power.

Colony had many undeveloped gold mines that did not exist in other countries.

Because of that, before it became one of the Allied Kingdoms, Colony had to endure the threat of invasion from foreign nations while lacking nearly everything.

So the first king devised a method.

He built the colosseum and began gathering powerful people from all over the land who did not belong to any specific country.

Among them, the top five were treated even better than nobles, even without belonging to Colony.

He created the very title of Baba Yaga and set the hearts of strong people ablaze.

And the first king’s intention proved effective.

Unaffiliated strong people of that era flocked to Colony in pursuit of money, fame, and title.

Colony used the fighters of the colosseum to reinforce the military weakness that had once left it behind other nations.

Strictly speaking, it was close to a display.

But that alone was enough.

The system was never built for invading foreign countries, only to prevent invasions of its own land.

And the fighters and the Baba Yagas lived up to that role.

Besides that, this system was also very useful to Colony.

Or rather, to the king.

Since they were not state members, complete control over them was impossible.

But because they received benefits from the kingdom, a certain degree of control was possible.

And even if they caused trouble, the kingdom had no duty to take responsibility for it.

In other words, the king could extract what he wanted from powerful people without drawing them into politics and weakening royal authority.

That, however, was only the story up until now.

With the appearance of gates, the situation had changed.

I need to bring the Baba Yagas under control.

Of course, it was not urgent enough to demand action this instant.

The current gates were troublesome, but they were not yet inflicting catastrophic damage.

But just like him, other kings were surely thinking about the future course of Time Gates as well.

Time Gates are steadily evolving.

Had they not already worsened into gates?

Then what if, beyond gates, an even more advanced form appeared?

Or even if not, what if gates began causing not small losses like now, but far more enormous damage?

If I wait until then to respond, it will be too late.

That was especially true for Colony.

So for Karmakses III, making the Baba Yagas part of the state was a matter that absolutely had to be accomplished in the long term.

And among them, the person he was paying the most attention to was.

…Seol Lang. I want to bring Seol Lang into this place somehow.

Golden Flash.

Golden Flash had already become a being qualitatively different from the other Baba Yagas.

Which meant she had become someone he had to secure by any means.

But it would never be easy.

She did not move for money or for fame.

The only one who could move Seol Lang was.

Marquis Palladio alone.

In other words, unless he first drew Marquis Palladio in, he could never bring Seol Lang over.

After pondering it from every angle, Karmakses III finally opened his mouth as if he had come to a decision.

“How long until the ball in Lartania?”

“Two months remain.”

At his secretary’s answer, Karmakses III hardened his eyes.

I will settle it there.

####

At that same time.

On the roof of a building that had already been rebuilt to some extent in less than two months, Seol Lang’s secretary Lime removed the hands she had placed over Seol Lang’s ears.

“Mm. That should do it now.”

“…This is not it?”

“No.”

“…I thought I made it very similar to the way he did it.”

“No. It is different from when Master does it.”

“…What part is different?”

“Mm. When Master does it, how should I put it…”

Seol Lang frowned lightly as if tracing back her memory.

“It has this heavy, press-down feeling.”

Then she lay down where she was, pressed both hands over her own ears, and muttered in a strangely dejected voice,

“I miss Master….”

Lime withdrew her hands awkwardly and scratched the back of her head.

…She seems worse than before. No, maybe in this situation I should say she is actually better?

Lime recalled what Seol Lang had been like before the incident.

Unless something special happened, Seol Lang had spent all day lying down with a bored expression, other than exercising or standing on her head.

But now?

After personally digging and burying the graves of the guild members who had been inside the guild when the incident happened, Seol Lang’s life itself had become similar to before again, apart from training the new ability she had gained.

But two things were definitely different.

“I want ear-pressing….”

She said things like that from time to time.

And unlike before, she wore a smile more often than a bored expression.

Lime bent down slightly toward Seol Lang, who was lying there with her own ears covered.

“Shall I try again one more time?”

“Mm. It still is not very similar….”

“…How different can it be?”

“If Master’s ear-pressing is 1, then Lime is maybe 0.3 ear-pressing?”

“…That is quite a difference.”

Without realizing it, Lime’s face turned faintly sulky.

Just what was so different?

And then.

“…Should I sneak over and visit him?”

Seol Lang, who no longer even had Lime in her field of attention, muttered quietly.

####

The road back to House Palladio was peaceful.

“Stable.”

[Table.]

“Deputy.”

[Puty night.]

“You snake-head bastard.”

[? Why are you picking a fight when you are the one who started it?]

“…Just because?”

Evan and Basiliora bickered from time to time, but aside from that there was a great deal of quiet time, with sunlight falling through the leaves in the forest.

Thanks to that, Alon was able to leisurely put his thoughts in order.

First, I have obtained Foot that Runs Through the Past, so I should head to Lartania soon and use it.

Recalling the conditions required to use Foot that Runs Through the Past, he pulled the Holy One’s Staff from inside his clothes.

Though it was called a staff, Holy One’s Staff was in the form of a gauntlet.

And it was something he had badly needed.

Its abilities were array stabilization and enhancement of magical ability.

Simple abilities.

But because they were simple, it easily surpassed the performance of other staffs.

I wanted this from the start, originally.

To obtain this relic, he first needed Lumiel’s Oath, which Perion had possessed, so only now had he finally gained it.

I do not know what structure made that the key item, though.

Alon concluded that since it was related to the first elf, there must be some connection, and absentmindedly put the gauntlet on his right hand.

At first it was loose, but as time passed it naturally tightened until it fit Alon’s hand perfectly.

“Hm.”

As he looked at the black gauntlet with gold ornamentation as accents and smiled in satisfaction.

“Huh?”

One fact suddenly occurred to him.

…Did this not originally have a race restriction?

The reason Alon had not immediately worn Holy One’s Staff even after obtaining it, and had instead kept it on his person.

Was because the races capable of equipping the artifact were restricted to elves.

That was why, in the game, after obtaining Holy One’s Staff, the player had to clear one more quest in Lartania to erase the race restriction on the staff.

So he had deliberately refrained from equipping it.

And yet he had absentmindedly put it on, and it had equipped itself.

Still baffled, Alon tried using magic just in case.

…It is true. The array is more stable than before, and even with less mana, the spell is clearly stronger.

The effect was certain.

“??”

He stared at the gauntlet in brief confusion.

Then he became satisfied.

…This is good.

In truth, if the result was good, that was enough.

Suddenly being able to ignore the race restriction and equip the item was not a bad situation at all.

Just as a smile was about to rise to his lips.

Still, I should investigate it once, just in case.

After organizing his thoughts one more time, Alon cast a blank gaze out the carriage window toward the forest.

It was an afternoon where the leaves shone like jewels.

####

After about another week passed, Alon arrived at House Palladio.

Before he could even rest comfortably, he had to receive guests.

“…”

“…”

A beautiful woman staring fixedly at him in front of his office.

And a man standing behind her.

As Alon stared blankly at the pair, so beautiful that anyone would stop with their mouth hanging open, he recalled something a servant had said.

A group called the Teal Forest Merchant Company wishes to speak with you, Marquis, about the exclusive distribution rights for gold craftworks. What should I tell them?

If it is about gold craftworks, then.

Gold craftworks were extremely expensive goods in this world just as they had been in his previous one.

Even if the territory already had a stable source of income, it was worth hearing the details.

But.

…These two do not look like merchants.

The woman before him had a beauty that would make anyone praise her with one voice.

As Alon faced her almost spellbound.

Plop.

“?”

He saw it.

A tear suddenly rolling down from the woman’s eye and running over her cheek.

And then.

“Hic…”

“???”

The beauty who had been staring at him with a stiff face until now suddenly burst into sorrowful tears.