Chapter 121
One day after leaving the demihuman village, we arrived at Lægjarn, the city of war, on the way to our next destination, Alfheim.
“Oh, this is…”
“It’s really like a city from an RPG.”
After arriving in Lægjarn, I was a little touched now. What entered my field of vision was the most archetypal cityscape of an RPG. The roofs of the buildings on both sides of the cobblestone street were uniformly red, while the walls were either yellow or white. Flowers adorned the window sills, giving off a gorgeous atmosphere that was contrary to its stern name—the warrior city.
It was neither surrounded by a huge lake nor stuck to the side of a mountain. It was neither shrouded in perpetual night nor a capital city that was a mobile golem itself. It certainly wasn’t a collection of tents on a gra.s.sland.
This was the cla.s.sic fantasy cityscape. There were carriages on the main street and many people were coming and going. Their outfits were also typical of RPGs. They weren’t uncles in work clothes with faces that looked alike nor angels wearing cloaks. The women wore ap.r.o.ns over blouses and skirts, similar to the German dirndl in design. The men wore leather pants with suspenders, many of which were similar to the German lederhosen.
The emphasis on durability and dirt resistance would imply heavy work. In this world where the culture was less developed than on Earth, it was unsurprising that hard labor was involved in the majority of jobs instead of desk work. Furthermore, there were adventurers and mercenaries, who were obviously not common people, walking around with swords.
Hmm. This was good. The fantasy feel was amazing.
“Now, is it okay to send you this far?”
“Oh, thank you, Ruphas.”
Gants answered my question cheerfully. Even though he knew my ident.i.ty, he still did not change his att.i.tude towards me. He was still a nice uncle. On the other hand, the tiger and the elf nii-san still looked at me with anxiety. They were rather pitiful.
In the hero’s party, there were three types of att.i.tudes towards me—friendly, indifferent, and fearful. Sei, Gants, and Jean were the former, while Cruz, the tiger, and the cat were the latter. The gorilla was probably indifferent, neither particularly fearful nor friendly.
…Ah, I needed to make a correction. It wasn’t just three people who were frightened of me. There were four people, including the one who joined the hero’s party yesterday and just got off Suzuki.
“Golems are amazing. To think that we’d reach the national border so quickly.”
What came down was a suspicious person who shrouded his entire body with white loose clothes, wore a turban on his head, and even covered his face with a cloth. Of course, we knew why he was dressed in this manner. His ident.i.ty was the male spiderkin who served as one of the subordinates of Leon.
I didn’t know the details, but it seemed that when Scorpius tried to kill him, the youth Sei intervened and saved his life. And so, the honorable male spiderkin offered to accompany him on his journey out of grat.i.tude. This was the result of the youth Sei’s moral character.
But even so…
“You guys don’t look like a hero’s party at all.”
“…I’m aware of that.”
My words caused Sei to droop his shoulders, but it couldn’t be helped. There were adventurers, a mercenary, and even a tiger, a gorilla, a cat, a dog, and a spider. What a chaotic group. It seemed the only serious people were the youth Sei and Cruz.
“What will Ruphas-san and the others do now?”
“We’ll take a short tour in this city, then head over to Alfheim.”
Originally, I intended to go directly to Alfheim, but there had been some changes. We’d take a stroll through this city for a little while. This was the most RPG-like city since I came to this world. It would be a pity to just leave without doing anything. There was no urgent matter right now anyway, so it wasn’t a bad idea to spend some time socializing with friends. Besides, it might help Sagittarius to take his mind off things.
“Libra, find the best inn in this city.”
“Understood.”
There was a lot of money left. I had made a lot of money from selling the orc meat that I acquired at the start through Dina as well as the swords and spears that I made casually. (Despite this, they still met the professional standards in the current era.) Furthermore, since we were traveling on Tanaka, there was no transportation cost. And so we only ended up acc.u.mulating funds.
“By the way, Sei. I have something for you.”
I said and snapped my fingers. Then, as if he was waiting for the cue, Aigokeros stood beside me and handed me a package. Well, it wasn’t actually anything important. It was just something I made casually during the journey, but it should still be of a better quality than what was generally available.
A katana was revealed after the package was unwrapped. The katana used by the youth Sei had been broken by Scorpius, so this was a kind of compensation.
The materials used were Mizar Steel and the mana crystals that Aries picked up from somewhere. This gave the weapon a decent attack power along with a magic support function which was better than having nothing. In addition, I added a bit of my mana into the crystals, so low-tier Sun-attribute arcane magic could be activated without any cost. Well, even if I said this, it was just a poorly made sword, but it was just the right match for low-level individuals.
“This is a replacement for the katana that was broken by Scorpius. Think of it as a farewell gift.”
“Eh? Is—Is that okay? As long as we have money, we can just buy weapons here…”
“It’s fine. It was my subordinate who broke it, so it’s my responsibility.”
I handed the katana over to the youth Sei and then I realized that I didn’t name the sword. Even though it was fine for it to be nameless, it would still be better for it to have a name…
“Its name…Since it’s a katana, a j.a.panese name will be more appropriate. Okay, let’s call this katana Kouen.”
Kouen—a phenomenon in which the Sun’s gases were blown upwards, also called a solar prominence. The name was somewhat pretentious, but a little exaggeration for a weapon name seemed fitting. Furthermore, it was the weapon of the hero, so a slightly fanciful name would be better.
Looking at the youth Sei who received the katana with trepidation, Gants laughed and said, “You struck gold.”
“Congratulations. I wonder how many millions a weapon made by Ruphas Mafahl is worth.”
“Heh, it’s probably comparable to my Lucifer Blade Ecthelion Ω.”
Lucifer Blade Ecthelion Ω…? Wai—Wasn’t that the super-weak weapon I made while I was messing around?
Its equipment effect merely added +150 to the attack power without any add-on effects. It was left behind in the royal tomb and now Jean was using it as if it was a really powerful sword…Sorry, Jean, but it was actually super weak.
“Wel—Well then, we should get going.”
I somehow felt it was becoming unbearable and quickly left the spot.
How should I explain this…? It was like watching an adult acting inappropriately for his age while buying a sword-shaped key holder at a souvenir shop. Moreover, the key holder was made by me. While listening to the footsteps of my comrades who followed behind, I was thinking of making something for Jean next time.
♊
the backs of Ruphas and her followers moving away, Sei sighed lightly. The purpose of meeting with Ruphas was to determine the paths and choices available to him and understand her personality and objectives. Although it became complicated due to the issue with the demihumans, he somehow managed to complete it without any problem. All he had to do now was to activate and release the golem he received from Megrez. However, he still did not have an answer.
He had already concluded that Ruphas was not a villain. She wasn’t a dangerous person like the world portrayed her to be. So at one point, he almost concluded that they should make an alliance. However, her subordinates were different. Scorpius and Aigokeros were fine if Ruphas was keeping them under control, but if she wasn’t, they could potentially bare their fangs at the humanoids.
Yes, Ruphas herself wasn’t the only thing that the people feared in the past. The Tyrannical Twelve Stars, who could become devilish beings at her whims, were also feared. That was why he pondered and became confused.
Is this really correct? Is the path I’m choosing right now really the correct one? If…If it turned out to be the wrong choice…
—In that moment, he recalled Ruphas using Solar Flare in his mind.
He then imagined a scene where she used that power against the humanoids, a scene where she destroyed Midgard. Overwhelming power was enough to incite fear on its own.
“Sei, what’s wrong? You look pale.”
“Ah, ah. No, I’m fine.”
He could empathize with the people in the past. That was certainly scary, way too scary.
When he first came to this world and heard about the Demon King and Ruphas, he only thought of it all as a typical fantasy development. He imagined they were as powerful as the typical demon king of RPGs. But it was different. They weren’t even in the same dimension.
If she wanted to, she could destroy this world at any time. There was too much power concentrated in one individual. Furthermore, she commanded the organization called the Tyrannical Twelve Stars.
As a result, if one chose the wrong way to deal with Ruphas…in the worst-case scenario, one could become responsible for the destruction of the world. This fact was more frightening than anything else.
“An—Anyway, why don’t we find an inn? A lot of things have happened. I think it’s better to take it slow today.”
“That’s true. Everyone is pretty tired. Let’s take a break here.”
As Sei talked to Cruz about accommodations, he had a discomforting feeling. Their journey was made possible by the support of a ranger team from behind the scenes. For example, food procurement and information gathering of cities were performed by them. This included making arrangements for accommodations. When they arrived at a city, one of the rangers would normally come and inform them about the accommodations. However, n.o.body came today.
“…Um, Cruz-san. Could it be that…the entire ranger team was left behind in Draupnir…?”
“………”
When Sei mentioned it, Cruz seemed to notice it as well. His face turned pale as he checked to see if there were any rangers nearby, but of course, there weren’t any. This was because Sei and the others were traveling on Suzuki after they met Ruphas. It was moving at more than sixty kilometers per hour. It wasn’t a speed at which humans could run and catch up.
No, the people of this world might be able to catch up if they were of exceptional levels, but it was impossible for the ranger team. Disregarding any momentary burst of speed, they couldn’t move at the same speed as Suzuki over such a long distance all the way from Draupnir. They were certainly remarkable, but they weren’t exceptional.
“An—Anyway, let’s find an inn for the time being. They may unexpectedly catch up if we wait for a bit.”
Cruz looked into the distance and decided to prioritize accommodations. He wasn’t trying to escape from reality. Neither was he looking away out of guilt for messing up.
They pa.s.sed through a lively street and headed towards an inn that caught their eyes. Its exterior wasn’t bad. In addition, it was facing the main street and had a sense of cleanliness. Naturally, the price would be higher than normal, but this was the hero’s party backed by a king, so they had sufficient money. Moreover, the acquisition of the elixir in Draupnir resulted in them having an excess of money.
It was not a good idea to stay at a cheap inn and have one’s luggage stolen by thugs. The price of an inn was not just about the quality of its facilities. Cheap inns should be avoided if only to buy one’s safety.
Naturally, cheap inns would attract people who could only pay so much for such facilities, thus such people would often steal other customers’ luggage. In the worst case scenario, even the innkeeper might aim for the customers’ luggage.
Sei paid at the counter to receive the key and headed for the designated room.
I’m really tired today. Let’s take a long break.
So he thought, but when he used the key to unlock the room, the door of the next room opened.
“Hmm?”
“Ah.”
And he met Ruphas who just came out of the other room.