Ch.127Boldness+

# 127. Conversation+

Majikant.

And demon summoning.

The moment I heard those two words, I immediately ruled out the possibility of this being useless information.

“Tell me more.”

“…”

“A demon appeared, so don’t go there? That’s quite a shocking story, but how are we supposed to believe you with just that?”

“…Fine.”

Rahan sighed once while looking at the still-trembling Alb, then sighed again while looking at the prisoner held by Yuri, before starting to share additional information.

“Majikant is currently experiencing extreme division, almost like a civil war, and in the process, some madman or group seems to have summoned a demon. I hear the summoned demon is spewing fire from its entire body and devastating the city.”

Not just demon summoning, but a civil war too?

“That’s shocking news, but is that information worth the compensation in this negotiation? Information like that would normally spread everywhere, wouldn’t it?”

“Majikant is under lockdown. To be precise, I understand that leaving the city is what’s being blocked.”

“Then how did you—”

“…Even the tightest net has holes. I can’t tell you that much.”

A civil war is happening, and Majikant is locked down from the inside out.

A demon spewing fire from its entire body.

“Alright. Let me ask one more thing. What were your nomads planning to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know about a locked-down area and you’re staying near it for a reason, right? You’re supposed to be wanderers.”

Right. Demon summoning in Majikant? That’s fine.

But we needed to keep moving forward anyway. If we were going to stop, we would have stopped at Benas.

[Please clear this.]

But right now, passing through this floor was most important. In that sense, the information from the nomad leader seemed like the key point.

So I pressed further. I was even prepared to insist that this level of information wasn’t nearly enough.

As I expected, Rahan frowned again in apparent difficulty. The subordinate beside him had an expression that seemed to ask if they were really going to reveal this too.

‘This is the decisive moment.’

I deliberately spoke to Yuri loud enough for them to hear.

“Yuri, let him go.”

“Huh?”

“They even shot arrows to warn us of danger. As insignificant adventurers, we should be grateful and back off. They could overwhelm us with those dozens of people if they wanted to, right?”

Yuri initially looked at me as if checking if she’d heard correctly, but soon released the rope binding the prisoner as I suggested. The prisoner, looking bewildered, limped back to join the nomads.

“I don’t know what kind of group you are, but take care of your people.”

“Hey.”

“Let’s go. Consider it a lesson learned.”

“Okay.”

Yuri and I turned our backs as if we truly had no lingering interest. And we started walking at a slightly slower pace than usual.

One step.

Two steps.

And three steps.

“Adventurer Sunghyun.”

“What?”

“On the condition that you maintain secrecy, I’ll tell you.”

That’s right.

I thought he might act like a gentleman.

I slowly turned around and nodded.

“Our objective is to safely transport a fragment of Edenic to Majikant.”

“A fragment of Edenic…?”

Another bombshell declaration exploded from Rahan’s mouth.

**

I can’t help but talk about the game for a moment.

The main story of the game we were playing wasn’t particularly unique. Demons from another world appear, the world becomes devastated because of them, and a savior (the gamer) who receives a revelation travels around the world defeating demons to restore peace to the continent… that kind of common story.

However, the story itself had almost no flaws, and many elements such as illustrations, modeling, direction, and music were also excellent, so whenever the main story was updated, people would always praise it as a “god-tier game.”

Anyway, what stands opposite to demons?

Heroes.

Here they’re called saviors.

Then what weapon does a savior use?

The holy sword, Edenic.

Since demons are beings from another world, natives of this continent cannot deliver fatal blows to them. To truly defeat a demon, a savior from another world must strike with the holy sword—that was the setting.

The legend of the holy sword is known to everyone in this world, and there’s also a setting that the holy sword is currently broken into several pieces and sealed in various places.

So you might wonder why this is such a bombshell, but the reason Yuri and I were surprised was…

“Oppa. Demons aside, Edenic is already appearing? Was it always like this?”

“No.”

“And the nomads have a fragment of Edenic?”

“Exactly.”

It was because the story hadn’t just changed slightly—it had drastically deviated.

After asking Rahan for a moment to confer, we created some distance and urgently reviewed the information, but couldn’t come up with any particular solution.

Yuri whispered at the end:

“Just do what you feel is right, oppa.”

“Yuri?”

“If things have changed drastically, both I and Subin unnie will rely on you. At times like this, making the best judgment is something only you can do.”

“…Is that so.”

“Yes. So don’t feel burdened and do what you want to do.”

I gave Yuri a light kiss of gratitude before returning to my original position to speak with Rahan.

“Nomad Leader Rahan.”

“I’m listening.”

“If you hadn’t stopped us, we were planning to go straight to Majikant. It was hard to believe.”

“I understand.”

“But if you’re trying to stop us even by revealing that you have a fragment of Edenic, I think it’s right to believe you’re telling the truth.”

“I’m glad you believe me now.”

Rahan nodded while crossing his arms again. This was where it really mattered. I made my move based on the importance of the situation and Rahan’s character as I had observed it, albeit briefly.

“Could you also tell us why you’re trying to transport the Edenic fragment to Majikant, and to whom?”

“…”

“You’ve already told us something important, surely you can throw in some details as a bonus?”

“I told you two things when you weren’t satisfied with one, and now you want ten.”

“If my companion hadn’t deflected that Alb’s arrow and gotten hurt, I wouldn’t be asking for ten, but a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand.”

I meant it. Even if Yuri had been hit by that arrow, she probably wouldn’t have died, but I would have been… extremely pissed off.

For a while, Rahan and I engaged in a staring contest. Given our height difference, a third party might have found my appearance somewhat comical, but I was serious. And my Charisma skill couldn’t be ignored either.

But Rahan, perhaps because he was a leader of a group, didn’t back down. Feeling like my eyeballs might pop out if this continued, I casually added:

“Depending on your purpose, we might be able to cooperate.”

“…Cooperate?”

“You’re planning to enter Majikant, right? You wouldn’t just bury something as valuable as an Edenic fragment outside the city or throw it over the wall.”

“Let me ask you this. If you believe the information I’ve given, why do you still want to go to Majikant? And why should we move together with you?”

Ah. He’s not giving in easily.

Swallowing my disappointment internally, I brazenly pushed forward.

“To defeat the demon, of course.”

“…”

The three nomads wore expressions that suggested they had much to say but couldn’t bring themselves to say it.

“You, Alb.”

“Y-yes!?”

“What reason did you give for attacking us?”

“W-well, we heard that some human adventurers had badly defeated the Albs, and I just got angry and…”

I silently pointed at Yuri. She grinned while swinging her axe around. The expressions on the Alb and Rahan’s faces were worth seeing. I pressed on before they could think more deeply.

“That rumor, I don’t know exactly what rumor you’re referring to, but if you’re talking about human adventurers who defeated the Albs while siding with Ayor, that would be us.”

“Th-that’s impossible!”

“I thought it was a rumor deliberately exaggerated by Ayord to break Albrant’s morale, but it was true?”

“How can a group with enough intelligence to know about a closed city’s situation be so misinformed? This is making me doubt the reliability of the information you just shared.”

[Please clear this.]

Seeing that this message hadn’t updated despite our peaceful conversation, my half-certainty became full certainty.

The certainty that to clear this, I needed to find a hidden element beyond just dealing with the visible nomads.

Then in the current situation, that hidden element was most likely related to “Edenic” and the “Majikant demon summoning,” so I couldn’t just let the nomads go by saying we’ve received an apology and compensation, so let’s all go our separate ways.

“If you’re hesitating about simply traveling together because you’re afraid we might touch the Edenic fragment without permission, should we swear before a spirit? We have a spirit mage too. If you doubt our abilities, we can demonstrate a little.”

“…Give us a moment to discuss among ourselves.”

“As you wish.”

Just as Yuri and I had created distance earlier, now Rahan took his subordinates and created some distance. While feeling my heart pounding, unsure if this gambit would succeed or fail, Yuri asked:

“A demon spewing fire from its entire body—could it be Iseratio?”

“Most likely.”

“…Can we defeat it?”

Yuri’s voice was mixed with anxiety. Even someone as confident as her couldn’t help but worry about the name value of a “demon,” especially one appearing much earlier than expected.

But considering Majikant’s “civil war” situation,

The nomads,

The Edenic fragment,

And the completed Veritas,

Looking at these elements coming together like an oriental salad, I deliberately nodded more emphatically to dispel her anxiety.

“Of course we can beat it, and then some.”

“…And then some?”

Wait, Yuri. What’s with that hand gesture…? Weren’t you anxious just now?