Chapter 41: Spirit (1)

Loriel of the Five Swords of Calan held her breath and waited for Kim Hyunwoo's response, her face showing disappointment as she thought.

"I wish I could ask more directly."

In truth, she wasn't much of a talker nor was she the type to have a way with words, so she wasn't good at beating around the bush.

Yet, the reason Loriel spoke in such a roundabout way about the Absolute Ruler of Darkness was because of her Master.

Since her Master said she was sad and struggling, Loriel knew she absolutely should not indirectly convey her emotions.

Loriel didn't know the details, but she knew her Master was gathering gifts to apologize to the Lord before her for something.

Therefore, Loriel could not recklessly spoil something her Master had been preparing for years.

"Yes, well... that's correct."

However, seeing her beloved Master skip meals and remain holed up in her quarters was also painful, so Loriel used 'diplomacy' as an excuse to visit the territory.

To gauge the Lord's feelings.

If the perception of her Master was not good, to try and improve it even slightly.

Therefore.

"Indeed. The fact that the Absolute Ruler of Darkness was also called a Weapon Master does command some respect from the perspective of a warrior."

"Ah."

"Could you possibly tell me what the Absolute Ruler of Darkness was like, if that's okay?"

She asked this question to probe the Lord's feelings.

Soon, Kim Hyunwoo, having received such a question,

"Weapon Master... Was there such a title?"

thought this but soon answered.

"Well, quite a reliable hero."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Being adept with various weapons, they performed well on any battlefield. A truly remarkable hero."

At Kim Hyunwoo's answer, Loriel murmured a quiet

"As expected,"

nodding her head in apparent satisfaction.

"Then, may I ask just one more thing?"

"What would that be?"

She then stealthily glanced at Kim Hyunwoo's reaction before asking her question.

"What did you think of the Absolute Ruler of Darkness?"

"Me?"

"Yes."

A question that seemed slightly off-target.

It was a mistake made by Loriel, who originally lacked eloquence and was in a hurry to find out what she wanted, but Kim Hyunwoo only harbored slight doubts before responding thoughtfully.

"From my perspective... as I mentioned earlier, a good hero. Good at fighting and followed commands well."

He thought,

'Well, I almost got sick of the weapon gifts that nearly broke my back,'

but Kim Hyunwoo didn't say it out loud.

After all, Loriel seemed to admire the Absolute Ruler of Darkness at first glance, and from Kim Hyunwoo's perspective, there was no need to give a bad impression to a diplomat from the Calan Kingdom.

"Building a bit of rapport now might be helpful when I open the Labyrinth city."

Thus,

"Honestly, I did miss her presence a bit."

Kim Hyunwoo offered such lip service to Loriel, who seemed to like the Absolute Ruler of Darkness.

Whether Kim Hyunwoo's lip service worked or not, Loriel, whose expression brightened noticeably as she spoke with him, said,

"Having delivered the gifts, I will take my leave now."

With those words, she left the territory.

As Kim Hyunwoo pondered again how to handle the materials,

on a hill above the territory,

"...He said, he missed her...?"

Merilda murmured with a face full of murderous intent and a hint of tears.

"......"

Giral, who silently observed her as she continued to be in an oddly low mood since yesterday.

Grr-!

Giral, thinking the air around the intensely agitated yet deeply saddened Merilda might have dropped to below freezing, soon quietly vanished from behind her without making a sound.

He actually wanted to say hello and come back, but feared he might find himself in a difficult situation if he spoke to Merilda, who had been in a low mood since yesterday.

"Sigh."

Thus, having quietly moved out of Merilda's reach, Giral sighed and then,

"...It seems the Boss has no intention of moving from here, so I should bring her back."

He moved to bring back the beastfolk, who were surely in disarray without their leader.

Based on the Norba Kingdom, it was located at the easternmost end and was the third-largest territory within the Kingdom.

At the same time, Roman, shrouded in darkness, belonged to the Duke of Tesnoka, who held a ducal title in the kingdom.

"...Is that true?"

"Yes."

He was reporting to the woman before him.

"Hmm-"

The woman, humming with interest and playing with her hair that reached down to her waist, spoke with a slightly questioning tone.

"So, the Lord of a territory that was only established a few months ago dealt with a disaster with just 200 soldiers and one hero?"

"That's correct."

"...I hate to say this, but you do realize that what you're saying sounds incredibly hard to believe, right?"

She answered while fiddling with her silky, purple hair that reached her waist.

Yet, despite her words,

"It is the truth."

Roman answered her, the rightful heir to this territory and the one who had recently inherited the ducal title from her father.

She, the Duchess of Tesnoka, crossed her arms.

Her endlessly serious expression fell into silence as if pondering something.

"Let's hear the details."

Following her question, Roman began to methodically recount what he had seen.

Starting with how the soldiers distracted the Disaster's attention by throwing blue flames made from a power engine.

And how they trapped it in a prepared pit, the hero broke the Disaster's jawbone, and finally detonated a massive power engine inside the Disaster's body as a bomb.

And after listening to Roman's story with her arms crossed for a while,

"Huh,"

she laughed incredulously and said,

"...And that's really how the Disaster was captured?"

"Yes."

Upon Roman's affirmation, the Duchess fell silent in thought.

If Roman's words were true, then the Lord of Lartania had not engaged in battle with just 200 soldiers and one hero.

"If Roman's words are true, the important thing isn't the soldiers or the hero. Rather, it's-"

Even though she had inherited the territory a bit sooner than other heirs due to her father's untimely death and had not received all his knowledge, she was intelligent.

The fact that the Tesnoka territory had grown even more right after she officially took over as its Lord was proof of that.

And the conclusion drawn by the astute Duchess of Tesnoka after hearing Roman's entire report was,

"-The Lord of Lartania."

That was precisely it.

"...An impressive Lord."

"Yes. Certainly, the hero without a title is also a monster, but..."

"The Lord is even more so, right?"

"Correct."

Roman answered as if he had been waiting for her response.

It was indeed an unbelievable tale that a being, which would normally require thousands of sacrifices and many heroes to subdue, was dealt with through strategy by a mere handful of people.

Therefore,

"...How far do you think this story has spread?"

"From what I've checked, initially, there were only two people tracking it, but later it increased to about four."

"...At least the guys from Calan Kingdom have seen it, right?"

"Yes. A report will probably be submitted before long."

The Duchess, speaking with Roman, said,

"I don't want to lose this."

Muttering in a slightly greedy voice as if she had found precious jewelry by the roadside,

"Send someone to Lartania. Let's see if we can meet up sometime... Or maybe I should just go myself?"

She smiled as she said this to Roman.

The meadow north of Lartania.

In that place, where there was nothing but vast fields, it suddenly appeared.

Whish-!

Shrouded in a black robe, concealing its identity, it silently observed Lartania.

As if assessing something, it remained motionless, watching the territory for a while.

"Indeed, worthy of the 'extrastar' expected by that person. I didn't know it could handle a Disaster to that extent. But still-"

In a voice that could not be identified as male or female, it spoke with an odd admiration before continuing to observe the territory,

"-Whether the extrastar can grow until the deadline is something that must be observed."

It murmured softly.

And after watching the domain for a long while,

"Arde- Pa, Narma."

Murmured softly, and then,

"May it live up to that person's expectations-"

As these words were spoken, it began to dissolve into a black mist from the ground up, disappearing.

"-O, last star."

With those words, there was nothing left on the meadow.

As if there had never been anything there at all.