Chapter 130. You Still Haven’t Saved the Wyvern Yet
The morning at Zenion Academy during vacation was peaceful.
Piiiiik—! Piiik!
As the loud cries of Breakfast No. 1—my breakfast-time watchdog—rang out, the greenery surrounding the hideout was thick and lush.
“The mountain is the mountain, and the water is the water.”
A small realization I’d gained last night.
A mountain is just a mountain, and water is just water. It’s my heart that pours meaning into them.
The fury that boils up when I look at Parun and Shine isn’t because those two are provoking me—it’s because my own mind is in turmoil.
‘Parun is Parun, and Shine is Shine.’
Hoo—
I slowly exhaled a long breath and opened my eyes.
Right now, I was occupying the open space in front of the hideout.
Though “occupying” was putting it grander than it was.
The only people who ever came to the hideout were Headmaster sunbae and Shine, that was it.
And sitting right on top of my head like it owned the place—Breakfast No. 1.
Piiik! Piiiiik!
“You little punk, there’s no studying today.”
I scolded the flapping Breakfast No. 1, but the bastard’s tyranny showed no sign of stopping.
Getting angry while looking at a creature like this was probably proof that my self-cultivation was lacking too.
Anyway, it was true that there was no studying today.
As soon as it got light, I ran to Lapiter and explained the situation to Teheman sunbae.
I didn’t go into detail, but I told him I had personal circumstances and wanted to take a few days off.
I wanted to focus on the Infinite Chain matter for at least a few days, and Teheman sunbae accepted my request without hesitation.
But……
‘This lowborn bastard of a bird.’
Why, exactly, was it refusing to get off my head?
“Hoo.”
Ignoring Breakfast No. 1, I squatted down on the ground like a beggar and picked up a stick.
I needed to check the plan again.
In the end, persuading Shine and Parun wasn’t that hard.
They have brains too—so they realized there weren’t any other options.
But there were still a few problems that hadn’t been resolved.
‘First…… we have to go to Lortel and single out the Third Sword to challenge him to a duel.’
That was practically advertising ourselves.
The Lortel people might not know the full circumstances, but they’d know something about Deculan felt off.
In that situation, barging in and pointing at the “Third Sword”?
That would be like announcing, ‘Ah, yes, we’re the guys Deculan is hunting!’
So what do I do?
“Hm.”
As I poked at the word “Lortel” I’d scratched into the dirt with the unlucky stick, an unwelcome face came out of the hideout.
“Still agonizing over it?”
“Tch. How could Shine possibly know Aster’s intentions.”
“Why wouldn’t I know? Didn’t I say it yesterday? The best thing is to barge in boldly and point at the Third Sword. But that sneaky heart of yours can’t accept it.”
I looked up at Shine with a sullen glare.
“Well, it’s not wrong, but…….”
“Not wrong—so it’s worth getting punched?”
He stole the initiative.
At this point, I’ll shut up. I’d lost the momentum, so it was a losing fight.
As I clamped my mouth shut like an oyster, Shine snickered and tossed bait.
“What if I told you this body has a way?”
“A way?”
“Heh heh. Yes. In fact, this body looked into Lortel separately.”
That wasn’t something I could just let slide.
The fact that Shine had some connection to Lortel was a not-very-impressive secret that I knew and Shine knew, and the heavens didn’t.
But Shine looked into Lortel separately?
‘It stinks. It stinks.’
Piiik?
“You took a shit.”
“You f—ing bastard……!”
I violently shook off Breakfast No. 1 from my head and dusted myself off.
After washing with magic and doing a bit of this and that, it didn’t take long to clean up.
“That bastard I should boil and eat…….”
It was definitely on purpose.
A creature that understands human speech can’t possibly fail to tell its own crap from pee.
As I fumed, staring at Breakfast No. 1 perched in a tree playing dumb, Shine let out a puhuhu laugh.
“That’s what you get for having an ugly heart.”
“Want me to grind you up nicely?”
“If you can, I won’t stop you. Well—if you can, that is…….”
The arrogant look on Shine’s face made the back of my head throb, but only for a moment. I took a deep breath and let the rising anger go with it.
Right now, prying into Shine’s true intent mattered more.
“So. You’ve got a way?”
“Yes. I’ve got a way.”
“But when did you have time to look into it that fast? You weren’t already investigating, were you?”
“Ahem. Of course not. It was purely my noble-hearted desire to help you. It is absolutely not because the information guild’s commissioned materials arrived today.”
Oh, please. A guy with no money used an information guild? Then again, money wasn’t the issue.
Shine’s money was Raileigh’s money, and Raileigh’s money was Shine’s money.
Because Shine didn’t have a single coin to his name.
At this point, the suspicion I’d put to sleep slowly raised its head.
‘The parasite is doing work?’
This wasn’t normal.
What kind of scheme was hiding underneath?
But I hid my own thoughts.
In my heart, I had Breakfast No. 1…… too long. From now on I’ll standardize it as “Asik1.” No—by sound, “Asiki” feels better.
Anyway, in my heart, I was staring like a hawk targeting Asiki, but my eyes stayed innocent and pure.
“So what’s the way?”
“Your gaze suddenly…….”
“What. Why.”
“It’s just bad luck, is all. Anyway, to continue—apparently, inside House Lortel there’s a 200-year-old Hall of Challenge.”
“Hall of Challenge?”
Is that a knockoff of the Hall of Trials?
“Well, ‘Hall of Challenge’ is just what people call it. The official name is ‘Tomb of the Sword God.’”
“Tomb of the Sword God?”
“Yes. They say it’s where one of Lortel’s Heads of House from several generations ago is buried, and that there’s something that Head of House arranged inside.”
At that point, the rest was obvious.
“So…… if you clear it, you can claim whatever was arranged?”
“That’s right.”
Shine nodded, smug and triumphant. It was especially irritating.
At this point, I had to ask.
“And Lortel just left something that good alone?”
“They had no choice. It was the Head of House’s last will.”
And then Shine spoke like Shine was the Head of House leaving the will, and this was what it said:
- The rightful owner has already been decided, so let none of my bloodline enter the Tomb of the Sword God.
What a bunch of thick-headed fools.
As a rule, good things should be eaten up among blood relatives, and whatever’s left gets shared with hometown friends, and if there’s still some left after that, you split it with fellow students.
To be fair, whether hometown friends come before fellow students isn’t clear, but the accepted truth is that all three share it.
And you’re just going to leave it untouched because it’s the Head of House’s will?
“Anyway, following that will, Lortel’s bloodline has kept the Tomb of the Sword God open while waiting for its rightful owner. If we use that, getting into Lortel itself shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Hm. That definitely helps, but…….”
