Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Giant’s Tomb (1)
I entered a building that resembled the Taj Mahal. As I climbed the stairs toward the third floor, I looked around.
It felt desolate, as if no one lived there. There wasn’t a single presence to be sensed inside the building.
“There’s no one here.”
“It’s not because of you. It’s because of a guest who arrived first.”
The woman walking ahead answered coldly. She was a rare named assassin, and she looked at me as if I were laughable.
“A guest for the Second Young Master of the Kargula Family who’s supposed to be recuperating? That’s funny.”
“You’ve grown quite confident since I last saw you.”
Of course, with my own temper, I didn’t back down and shot back at her. Our eyes met—her gaze sharp as a blade. A faint pressure emanated from her.
“Want to test it? It’ll be fun. Assassin.”
“……A guy without even a sword.”
She stared at me for a moment at my provocation, then turned away. She shook her head as if dealing with me was too much trouble.
An assassin’s combat power comes from surprise attacks. A nuker who accumulates massive damage at an unexpected timing.
Once you’re already aware of them, an assassin’s threat drops significantly. I considered puffing myself up a bit more, but Canis Ulbushis, who had been following behind, tugged at my collar to mediate.
“He’s the type who’s got no manners, so he won’t listen to me anyway. Just don’t do anything stupid. Cleaning bloodstains is a hassle.”
“I’m honored.”
When we reached a massive door, the assassin cautioned me. I responded with a heavily sarcastic remark, and a small sigh escaped her.
—Come in.
When the assassin knocked, a man’s voice came from beyond the door. It was firm and deep, yet devoid of strength.
“How coincidental.”
I stepped through the door she opened. The first thing I saw was a thin-looking blanket and a large bed.
Between them, I saw a man with a gaunt appearance. On the opposite side, in the corner of the room, I saw a familiar silhouette.
The suspicious figure who had stared at my group in the harbor restaurant. The passerby who had concealed his body with a robe was sitting just like before, his legs propped up on the table.
“It’s been a while, Davide.”
“Rama Kargula. Long time no see. How’s the ship with the hole in it?”
“……Your way of speaking has grown even more rude.”
Rama let out a hollow laugh. I glanced at the robed figure quietly sitting in the corner before walking over to Rama’s side.
“Thanks.”
Quick-witted as ever, Canis snapped her fingers and a chair made of crystal appeared. I gave a small word of gratitude and sat down.
Feeling the hard surface beneath me, I surveyed the surroundings. Despite the talk of a guarded visitor arriving first, it all seemed rather sloppy.
“The security seems pretty unstable.”
“Are you worried about me? I appreciate it, but don’t be. I am a Kargula.”
At my words, Rama displayed confidence. Even with the assassin standing there with sharp eyes, it wasn’t enough. It seemed he had something else he was relying on.
“Clearly, I said I would contact you first.”
“You were too slow.”
Rama was the one who opened the conversation. He showed his displeasure quite openly as he reproached me.
“Mm~ Sorry to butt in~ but weren’t you two in a stab-and-get-stabbed kind of relationship~?”
Canis naturally inserted herself into the conversation. Only then did Rama take a proper look at her. Blue hair and a tear mole beneath her eye.
“A young lady of the Ulbushis Family? Huh, Duhein and Ulbushis, of all combinations.”
“Dabi~ isn’t a Duhein anymore though~”
Rama quickly grasped Canis’ identity. He seemed fairly surprised that Duhein and Ulbushis, known rivals, were together.
When Canis teased him slyly, Rama smiled with a rather manly expression.
“Ulbushis, huh. You’ve gained quite a capable ally.”
“Well, something like that.”
Rama’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Canis, who had created a crystal chair behind me and sat down.
“I’m curious though~ If it were me, I would’ve put a hole in Dabi’s head~”
“As expected of the icon of betrayal.”
“But~ I really am curious~”
Canis didn’t hold back her curiosity. Even when I lightly rebuked her blunt words, she didn’t back down.
“Is she trustworthy?”
At Rama’s question, I nodded. She was bound to interrupt and meddle anyway. Besides, she wasn’t the type to run her mouth elsewhere.
“I made a deal with Davide.”
“A deal~”
“Yes. A deal.”
Rama unconsciously touched his lower left abdomen. It was the spot where the previous Davide had stabbed him.
“We were all in danger.”
“Ah, hold on.”
Before the story could properly continue, I interrupted. With a puzzled look on his face, I pointed toward the robed figure in the corner.
“Can he be trusted?”
“……He is a guest of the Kargula. Of course.”
The assassin was his closest aide, so she was fine. But not the robed figure. He was some strange fellow whose identity I couldn’t even discern. I had never seen a character like that in the game either.
I wanted to exclude him if possible, but Rama vouched for him with firm resolve.
“I’ll continue. We were in danger. More precisely, we were on the verge of being eliminated by our respective families.”
Hearing that much, Canis let out a small exclamation. Being as noble as anyone could be, she understood immediately.
“So~ Dabi and the young master of Kargula almost died because of succession issues~”
“You grasp it at once. Davide’s case is a little different, but mine is correct. The future of Ulbushis is bright.”
“Oh my~ You’re quite good at laying on the gold leaf~”
Watching Canis assess the situation so precisely, Rama sincerely admired her. Puffed up with pride, Canis nudged me.
“What.”
“Why don’t you learn a thing or two~ He’s so sweet~”
“I prefer spicy.”
I ignored Canis’ nonsense. At our little skit, Rama let out a faint chuckle.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but I have an older brother. However, that bastard is sorely lacking in ability. So my father marked me as the successor.”
“Don’t even have to hear the rest~ I already know~”
Rama’s older brother had envied Rama’s superior abilities. Even the head of the Kargula Family had taken interest in Rama, so for the eldest son, it must have been maddening.
In the end, Rama’s brother devised a plan to assassinate him—and succeeded to a certain extent.
“I drank poison over a long period of time. I was too naïve.”
The poison had been administered to Rama in secret. Without realizing it, he became poisoned, and at some point, he noticed something was wrong with his body.
If he continued attending the Academy like that, his death would have been certain. He had to leave the Academy immediately, but there was no suitable method.
“I had to leave the Academy at once, but—”
“It’s not easy~ It’s closed-off and takes a long time~”
“Exactly. If my brother had learned of that fact, he would have made his move personally. So I made a request to Davide.”
In the end, an extreme method was necessary. To leave Museion Island under the pretext of treatment and recuperation.
“But~ in that case, couldn’t you have just stabbed him yourself~?”
“At the time, I was hired by that bastard’s brother.”
I answered in place of Rama at Canis’ reasonable question. She tilted her head, puzzled.
“Somehow, that bastard’s brother found out he was trying to escape and commissioned me. Even if I couldn’t kill him, I was to leave him with an irreversible wound.”
“And Dabi~ you accepted that? How fascinating~”
Canis dragged her chair farther away from me. I frowned at her reaction.
“It was complicated. The offer that bastard’s brother made was tied to my safety.”
At the time, the head of the Duhein Family had been trying to dispose of Davide. He was of no use, and there was a replacement named Bereninche Duhein.
Davide needed to distance himself from the Duhein Family as much as possible, and being expelled from the family allowed him to catch his breath.
“But my brother’s words were lies. He had lured Davide with false promises. When Davide came to see me, I told him the truth, and we struck a deal on the spot.”
“So~ that’s how this situation came to be~”
Even hearing it again, it was a complete mess. When I first encountered this story, I had been dumbfounded by the tyranny of so-called nobles.
“I presented him with the same offer my brother had made. On top of that, I proposed that we join forces and bring my brother down.”
“Thanks to that, I was expelled, and Rama went off to recuperate.”
A guy asking to be stabbed, and another guy actually doing it without hesitation. Thinking about it that way made me laugh.
“Let’s leave the background at that. I heard you obtained the medicinal ingredient to treat me?”
“Yes.”
Only now did we reach the main point. At Rama’s question, I pulled out a specially treated glass bottle from my coat. Inside, the Slime of the Acid Gecko sloshed gently.
“Hmm. It truly is Slime of the Acid Gecko.”
After opening the bottle and checking the scent, Rama nodded with a solemn expression.
“Indeed, if it’s this, it will be sufficient. But do you know? That besides this, another ingredient is required.”
At Rama’s question, I nodded. The Slime of the Acid Gecko burned organic matter. The poison inside Rama’s body had grown into a single organic entity.
The absurd phenomenon of poison becoming organic matter. It was that powerful and vicious.
“Statue of the Petrified Eagle.”
“……You know an oddly suspicious amount.”
In the game, the solution had been simple. Using the Statue of the Petrified Eagle, the body was turned to stone. But that only turned Rama’s body to stone.
After that, a substance that eliminated the still-living poison inside the body was administered.
The medicine made from the Slime of the Acid Gecko would cause no harm whatsoever to Rama’s petrified body and would burn only the poison away.
“Hm? Where have I heard that before?”
At the mention of the Petrified Eagle, Canis voiced her doubt.
“That’s right. It’s the same thing that mage used during the assault.”
“In that case~ why not ask the academic affairs office for help~? They retrieved it, didn’t they? That artifact~”
“That was a replica. Once you use it, you can never use it again.”
Rama’s eyes sharpened. He looked at me with an unusually serious expression. His hollow gaze scrutinized me persistently.
“I’m curious about your source of information. We only learned of that recently.”
“You’re just slow. If you commission mercenaries for something like that, they’ll find out quickly. There are a lot of lunatics among them, and strangely enough, they’re good at digging things up.”
Rama’s eyes were full of suspicion, but he didn’t press the matter further. He knew well what was more important right now.
“You’d do well to prepare a more productive excuse.”
“Is that so? Then how about prophecy? I’m a Cult Leader, you know.”
“I don’t know. You might as well say you came from the future.”
At Rama’s words, I answered with a sly grin. He had spoken in a cynical tone, but the moment the word future came up, Canis’ face entered his view.
As soon as the word was spoken, Canis stared at me intently.
“……Don’t tell me. Did you really come from the future?”
“If I had, would I have lived as human trash?”
“Dabi~ that’s just your personality~ Of course you would’ve lived like that~”
“If you open your mouth one more time, I’ll report everything to the head of the Ulbushis Family.”
“Mmfmfm~ Mmfm mmfmfmfmfm~”
Even at my stern warning, Canis didn’t back down. With her mouth shut, she once again demonstrated that peculiar talent of conveying meaning without words.
I was about to flick her forehead for being so irritating, but Rama stopped me.
“I’ll obtain the Petrified Eagle.”
“Hmm. We’ve been searching as well.”
“‘Giant’s Tomb’? You’ll find it soon enough.”
The dungeon where the Statue of the Petrified Eagle was located. A hidden dungeon created in ancient times. Naturally, I knew its location.
“Are you suggesting I commission it? Not a bad idea.”
▶Main Quest: [Statue of the Petrified Eagle]
Obtain the Statue of the Petrified Eagle for Rama Kargula.
Reward: Random Artifact Exchange Ticket.
At last, the long-awaited Episode 3 had begun.