Chapter 95 – Cartia (1)

“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 me.

“Noah, what’s your take on this?”

“I… think she must have had her reasons.”

Sure, Sirin can be insufferably smug sometimes, but I don’t believe she’d act without purpose.

After all, Sirin isn’t an ordinary person. There must be something behind this.

“I agree. Though I don’t know her well, she doesn’t seem like someone 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 agreement, 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?”

“Someone mentioned you’d need to use that Wish Token.”

Wish Token.

Sirin!

“A Wish Token… Did Lady Sirin come 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 someone like me 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 mean, sure, Rubia is beautiful too, but someone 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 me 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 time 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 mess this is…” Charlotte extinguished her cigarette with a small flame before lighting a fresh one.

“Why not send the spirit directly to you? Why have me pass along the message? Was this some 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 me,” Charlotte grumbled.

Snake…? Is she referring to Sirin? Or Serr?

“Anyway, I came to tell you that. As for Yuria… she’ll explain herself, but she’s heading to Roholon with Hephaestus.”

“Roholon…”

“Said she had some 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 come along.”

“Good,” Charlotte nodded with satisfaction as she burned away her cigarette.

“Remember that good news I mentioned yesterday?”

Huh…? Was there something 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 fragments… they’ve been officially recognized as yours, Noah.”

Fragments?

The Tylant fragments?

“…R-really?”

“Yeah. Why so surprised? You took it down alone—it’d be theft to give them to anyone else.”

First Carpeng’s fragment, and now Tylant’s…

I remember the Tylant fragment’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 come!

“Wow… Wow! Amazing!”

“Hehe… You’re that excited?”

“Of course!”

And Tylant fragments aren’t just for weapons—they work in armor too! They even work in accessories like earrings, necklaces, and rings! Any equipment works!

Will it work the same way in reality? Probably, right?

That means… I have two epic-grade fragments!

Oh my god… Oh my god! This is incredible!

But… you couldn’t use two fragments at once in the game, so it’s probably the same here, right?

If so… I won’t use Carpeng’s fragment 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 messes with your mind! When it activates, I get too excited and act like I did in the game…

That’s what started all those weird rumors!

From now on, I’m sticking to the Tylant fragment!

“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 fragment in Cartia. I requested it be sent to Ursphere, but someone higher up ordered it to Cartia instead.”

“Higher up? What do you mean?”

“They wouldn’t tell me why. Some central guild official said they couldn’t disclose it—even to me, a princess.”

Charlotte and Rubia’s gazes fixed on me simultaneously.

“Noah, just who are you?”

“Huh…?”

“Do you know someone 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 same 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 fragments. While I pushed hard for the Tylant fragment, the Carpeng decision came 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 overwhelmed me. 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. Something’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 me will get them anything…

“Haa… Fine, let’s keep it simple. At least the fragment is going to Noah. That puts my mind at ease.”

“At ease?”

“Yeah. You don’t seem like someone who’d be corrupted. Plus, you’ve got someone to keep you in check.”

Charlotte grinned, glancing between Rubia and me.

Rubia smiled shyly, a slight blush on her face.

And I…

Tilted my head in confusion.

“Someone… to keep me in check? But I don’t have anyone like that…”

At that exact moment—

Crack.

The sound of Rubia’s teeth breaking echoed as fragments fell to the floor.