“Extermination…?”
“Yeah. The empire issued a request to all adventurers. Regular adventurers can ignore it, but… I don’t have that luxury.”
Charlotte gave a bitter smile.
“Do you know where Lady Sirin is?” Rubia asked, breaking the prolonged silence.
“No, I don’t. There are thirteen teams taking the request, including my extermination squad. About 300 people total.”
“Three hundred…”
“We’re not moving as one group—we’ll be spread out across different areas. I’m assigned to the south.”
“The opposite direction from Cartia.”
“Exactly.”
After straightening her clothes and smoothing her disheveled hair, Rubia settled onto the sofa and looked at .
“Noah, what’s your take on this?”
“I… think she must have had her reasons.”
Sure, Sirin can be insufferably smug sotis, but I don’t believe she’d act without purpose.
After all, Sirin isn’t an ordinary person. There must be sothing behind this.
“I agree. Though I don’t know her well, she doesn’t seem like soone who’d cause trouble without reason. And with yesterday’s mage attack… while we can’t say they’re connected, we can’t rule it out either.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. I’m not blindly taking Lady Sirin’s side, but… that’s just how we see it.”
Charlotte murmured in agreent, then pulled a small orb from within her coat.
“Here, take this.”
“What is it?”
“A visual transmission artifact. I haven’t viewed it, so I don’t know what’s inside. But I hear it’ll help you.”
“…Who said that?”
“Soone ntioned you’d need to use that Wish Token.”
Wish Token.
Sirin!
“A Wish Token… Did Lady Sirin co herself? Then why not give it to us directly—”
“It was a spirit.”
Charlotte let out a weary laugh as she lit a cigarette.
“A spirit delivered it. One that could speak and reason clearly.”
“An advanced spirit…? That level of spirit… no, who can even command spirits…”
A spirit?
In this world, I only know of one spirit master…
“Right. The Tower Master, ‘Serr.'”
Serr.
The world’s only spirit master… and she’s the Tower Master.
I don’t know what the magic tower does. Don’t know why it exists. Don’t even know where it is.
But I know about Serr.
Though I don’t know her story… I’ll never forget what I saw in that final battle.
Even soone like
who hates mages wanted to try being a spirit master after seeing that display.
Why? The spectacle was dazzling, but those spirits were just so beautiful…
She had this perfect big sister image, spoke so elegantly, had an amazing personality, and even her smile was beautiful…
I an, sure, Rubia is beautiful too, but soone on Rubia’s level—
“Noah.”
“Y-yes?!”
“What were you thinking about?”
“Um… nothing!”
Rubia leaned back on the sofa, crossing her legs as she watched
steadily.
“Are you certain?”
Her lowered voice sent chills down my spine.
“J-just… thinking about the past.”
“The past?”
“…Yes.”
“We’ll discuss this later.”
“But… I’d rather talk about it now…”
“This isn’t the ti for casual conversation. We’ll talk later, just the two of us.”
“…Okay…”
Rubia sighed softly before turning back to Charlotte.
“So the Tower Master wasn’t kidnapped after all.”
“No. Haa… What a ss this is…” Charlotte extinguished her cigarette with a small fla before lighting a fresh one.
“Why not send the spirit directly to you? Why have
pass along the ssage? Was this so kind of test?”
“It is strange. If the spirit knew your location, Charlotte, it must have known ours too. Why the roundabout approach…”
“Cunning snake. Everything about this irritates ,” Charlotte grumbled.
Snake…? Is she referring to Sirin? Or Serr?
“Anyway, I ca to tell you that. As for Yuria… she’ll explain herself, but she’s heading to Roholon with Hephaestus.”
“Roholon…”
“Said she had so loose ends to tie up there. You two are still going to Cartia, right?”
“…Yes, we are.”
“Noah?”
Seeing Rubia hesitate, I answered for her.
“Yeah. Even if Rubia refuses, I’ll make her co along.”
“Good,” Charlotte nodded with satisfaction as she burned away her cigarette.
“Rember that good news I ntioned yesterday?”
Huh…? Was there sothing like that…?
While I tilted my head in confusion, Rubia spoke first.
“Oh, that. Though I can guess, go ahead and tell us.”
“You’re awfully confident.”
“Just tell us already. What is it?”
“Well… All the Tylant leather gear is finished. And the fragnts… they’ve been officially recognized as yours, Noah.”
Fragnts?
The Tylant fragnts?
“…R-really?”
“Yeah. Why so surprised? You took it down alone—it’d be theft to give them to anyone else.”
First Carpeng’s fragnt, and now Tylant’s…
I rember the Tylant fragnt’s power well.
The ability to absorb ambient mana and make it your own.
Neither Rubia nor I cared about it before since we couldn’t use mana.
But now I have mana! I can use magic!
Unlimited mana, here I co!
“Wow… Wow! Amazing!”
“Hehe… You’re that excited?”
“Of course!”
And Tylant fragnts aren’t just for weapons—they work in armor too! They even work in accessories like earrings, necklaces, and rings! Any equipnt works!
Will it work the sa way in reality? Probably, right?
That ans… I have two epic-grade fragnts!
Oh my god… Oh my god! This is incredible!
But… you couldn’t use two fragnts at once in the ga, so it’s probably the sa here, right?
If so… I won’t use Carpeng’s fragnt much.
Sure, not feeling pain and fighting endlessly is great…
But the penalties are too severe. Having to drink enemy blood to maintain it is too much. And it sses with your mind! When it activates, I get too excited and act like I did in the ga…
That’s what started all those weird rumors!
From now on, I’m sticking to the Tylant fragnt!
“Well… seeing you this happy makes it worth the effort,” Charlotte smirked.
“Th-thank you so much!”
“You’re even speaking loudly now… Was that awkward act just for show?”
“N-no, it wasn’t!”
“See? There it is again. Are you playing awkward to trigger Rubia’s maternal instincts? Pretty clever.”
“That’s not… I’m telling you it’s not like that!”
Unbelievable. Do I really seem like I’m faking being awkward?!
I want to speak clearly and confidently too!
But… ugh… this is frustrating enough already…
“Anyway, that’s how it is. You’ll probably get the fragnt in Cartia. I requested it be sent to Ursphere, but soone higher up ordered it to Cartia instead.”
“Higher up? What do you an?”
“They wouldn’t tell
why. So central guild official said they couldn’t disclose it—even to , a princess.”
Charlotte and Rubia’s gazes fixed on
simultaneously.
“Noah, just who are you?”
“Huh…?”
“Do you know soone in the central guild’s upper ranks?”
“N-no…?”
Charlotte set her shield aside and sat in a chair.
“This makes no sense. Yes, you defeated them alone. Protected the village and city. But this situation is illogical.”
“Honestly, I’ve had the sa thought,” Rubia added quietly.
“R-Rubia too…?”
“Of course. Too many resources are being concentrated on one person. Carpeng, the Eastern Nightmare, and Tylant, the White Disaster. Not just their materials, but even their most precious fragnts. While I pushed hard for the Tylant fragnt, the Carpeng decision ca straight from the central guild without any input… Noah, are you actually an elite adventurer pretending to be a novice?”
Charlotte’s rapid-fire questions overwheld . By the end, I’d barely caught half of what she’d said…
“The central guild is never this generous. But with you, they make exceptions. Sothing’s suspicious.”
“Well… let’s look at the positive side. Despite all this support, they haven’t shown any concerning interest until now. While sending it to Cartia is odd… Noah, try not to worry too much. Okay?”
“Y-yeah… okay…”
Is this really such a big deal? It’s not like being nice to
will get them anything…
“Haa… Fine, let’s keep it simple. At least the fragnt is going to Noah. That puts my mind at ease.”
“At ease?”
“Yeah. You don’t seem like soone who’d be corrupted. Plus, you’ve got soone to keep you in check.”
Charlotte grinned, glancing between Rubia and .
Rubia smiled shyly, a slight blush on her face.
And I…
Tilted my head in confusion.
“Soone… to keep
in check? But I don’t have anyone like that…”
At that exact mont—
Crack.
The sound of Rubia’s teeth breaking echoed as fragnts fell to the floor.
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