Ch.319Chapter 319 – The Intrusion of Uninvited Guests

A golden-armored figure appeared before me and Ironbeard.

[Are you the ones who repaired the sword containing my power?]

He spoke while looking at the sword Ironbeard was holding.

Judging by his mention of repairing a sword containing his power, the energy emanating from this sword must belong to the golden-armored being standing before me.

“Is the power contained in this sword yours?”

[Yes. I am called Dearside. The weapon that dwarf is holding contains my power.]

His words confirmed that this weapon indeed contained his power.

But why had he placed his power in this sword?

“I heard this sword was created by Lord Firebeard based on a scene he witnessed in a dream.”

[I see. So it happened that way again.]

“Pardon?”

I didn’t understand what Dearside meant.

[I am from another world. More precisely, I travel between worlds eliminating beings that shouldn’t exist.]

“What do you mean by ‘beings that shouldn’t exist’?”

[I hunt those who prevent worlds from being created and destroyed in their natural cycle—those who artificially twist the order of things.]

Hmm, even with his explanation, I honestly don’t understand what he’s talking about.

“So in simple terms, you go around beating up bad guys.”

[Precisely.]

Right, I should just think of it as him going around defeating villains. Thinking about it too deeply would only give me a headache.

“Then, have you come here to retrieve the sword containing your power?”

[No. I came because I was curious about who managed to stop the rampage of the sword containing my power.]

He then began a lengthy explanation.

His power is meant to destroy evil beings, but occasionally, when someone like Firebeard sees his battles in dreams and creates weapons inspired by them, his power becomes embedded in those weapons.

When this happens, if the weapon doesn’t meet Dearside himself, his power eventually goes berserk over time.

The sword Firebeard created had also gone berserk because it hadn’t met Dearside and time had passed.

Normally, only Dearside himself could quell the sword’s rampage by appearing in person to retrieve it, but he explained that there had been significant conflicts during this process, forcing him to remain a bystander.

In any case, Dearside, who was aware of all swords containing his power across various worlds, sensed that the energy from one particular sword had stopped rampaging and become calm.

So he came to where the sword was located, which led to our meeting.

[That’s why I came here. I wanted to meet someone capable of suppressing my power even without my presence.]

“Kekeke, then you’ve come to the right place. Our clan’s benefactor here is the one who did it.”

Ironbeard introduced me to Dearside with a hearty laugh.

[Hmm. From the energy I sense, you’ve mastered the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique. That would allow you to suppress my power to some extent, but it shouldn’t have been enough to completely quell the rampage.]

“That would be because of my unique ability.”

I explained my unique ability to Dearside.

[You possess such an ability?]

He seemed quite surprised after hearing my explanation.

[Impressive. If my friends knew of your ability, they would fight over recruiting you into their organizations.]

“I’m well aware that my ability is extraordinary.”

[Indeed. An ability to repair anything in existence with just three hammer strikes certainly warrants such confidence.]

Dearside found it natural that I held my ability in high regard.

“So has your curiosity been satisfied now?”

[Yes. I’ll return with my friends later, and we can talk more then.]

With these words, he vanished without a trace, as if he had never existed in the first place.

“How remarkable. The ability to come and go without leaving any trace.”

“He could have used that to quietly quell the sword’s rampage himself.”

Ironbeard and I chatted about various things as we left with Lord Firebeard’s sword.

The sudden encounter with the golden-armored being, Dearside, seemed to conclude just like that.

After returning to the academy, I told Sister Regina about my meeting with Dearside.

“How fascinating. A swordsman who travels between worlds wielding lightning.”

“Seems like even you haven’t heard of such a being before.”

“Just because I’ve lived long doesn’t mean I’ve lived long by anything but ordinary human standards.”

Sister Regina pinched and stretched my cheek, saying I shouldn’t treat her like some dragon.

“Buh shishter, you awe shtill owder than me.”

“Well, that’s true. But even I don’t know everything.”

My words sounded strange with my cheek being pinched, but she seemed to understand my meaning anyway.

“Why don’t you go to the Great Goddess’s temple and ask there?”

“Wouldn’t she dislike being summoned too frequently?”

“What does it matter? Now that the demon god is gone, she can freely intervene in the world.”

She then told me about some drunkards who had recently committed blasphemy and were struck by lightning.

Goodness. Whether here or elsewhere, people who get completely drunk cause problems.

In this world too, drinking in moderation is considered virtuous, while being so drunk that you can’t control yourself is seen as problematic.

“But why does time seem to pass so quickly?”

“I know. It feels like March was just yesterday, but it’s already August.”

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but time really does fly by.

The empire was now in the height of summer, and the academy was empty as everyone had gone on vacation for the break.

“Sigh, I should hand over the chancellor position and retire soon.”

“You have a lot to do even during the break.”

“Can’t be helped. The title of chancellor isn’t something you can maintain by just sitting around.”

Regina’s smile as she said this would only apply for this year and next was quite cute.

“You’re cute.”

“Hey, keep saying things like that to your sister and you’ll be in trouble.”

While we were playfully bickering to pass the time, the door opened and Cheon Hyeryeong appeared.

“My lord. There are guests outside looking for you.”

“Guests?”

“Beings wearing gleaming golden armor, dazzling white armor, and dull black armor.”

From Cheon Hyeryeong’s description, I could tell who had arrived.

It seemed that Dearside, who had mentioned bringing his friends earlier, had now returned with them.

[Oh! This energy is indeed yours!]

[How fascinating. Two energies coexisting.]

[Hmm, not just one woman but relationships with multiple women. Befitting a man with such remarkable abilities.]

When I went outside, there were indeed three beings wearing golden, white, and black armor.

“It’s been a while, Dearside. Who are these people with you?”

[These are the friends I mentioned before. This is Keeper, and this is Destroyer.]

Keeper and Destroyer. Guardian and Destroyer. The white one must be the guardian and the black one the destroyer.

Did they name themselves after their colors?

“What brings you to my world?”

[We have something we’d like you to repair.]

[Can you fix extremely large objects?]

Extremely large objects? How large are we talking about?

“How large is this object?”

[A battleship. Not one that floats on the sea, but one that navigates through space.]

“What, about 100-200 meters long?”

[If you’re using the SI unit system, it’s a 650-kilometer battleship.]

“…”

I was speechless upon hearing the size of the battleship Keeper mentioned.

Wait, isn’t 650 kilometers a bit excessive?

“That’s way too big.”

[Too big? This is the smallest battleship-class vessel operated by the organization I lead.]

[650 kilometers is actually small for eliminating space monsters. Our organization operates siege battleships up to 50,000 kilometers in length.]

…Hold on, these guys suddenly scaled up to cosmic proportions!

Then again, if they have the technology to travel between worlds, building battleships tens of thousands of kilometers long would probably be trivial for them.

[Ah, and what we need you to repair isn’t the entire battleship, but its keel. It’s difficult to repair using conventional methods.]

[That’s right. Repairing a keel is equivalent to lifting out the entire ship and rebuilding it.]

They looked at me, seemingly waiting for my answer.

Well, there’s only one thing for me to say here.

“What’s the compensation?”

I’ll help them out, but I need to make sure the reward is worth it.