Chapter 94. You Can’t Stand It, So You Crawl Back Up, Right?
A space filled with nothing but silence.
Whoooosh—.
As a cold gust swept across the land, Solion’s head, rolling along the slanted ground, thudded against a stone and stopped.
“…….”
Oberon stared, eyes wide, taking in the scene.
‘What… did I just see?’
Shine stood there, looking down at Solion.
That back couldn’t be called broad, but in this moment it was unimaginably huge—like a towering mountain.
An utterly overwhelming presence.
His breath caught under that pressure, and then Shine’s eyes met his at that very moment.
‘……!’
A flinch.
Under that intense gaze, Oberon instinctively stepped back.
A pressure that strangled his breath, like a raging wave bearing down. Facing a vast awe he’d never felt before, Oberon thought—
‘…A monster.’
Yes. A monster.
Those eyes held not even a speck of killing intent, and yet how could they be this vicious?
That was when a voice came.
[Scared?]
“…….”
[Hah, yeah. Makes sense. This is transcendence (超越). Well… it’s only half of it, though.]
Shine chuckled and turned his gaze away.
But Oberon, watching that, couldn’t laugh at all.
‘How….’
Should you call it consistent? No—rather than consistent, “crazy” is the right word.
He’d just poured out seething rage, and now how could he be that slack and brazen?
An emotional flow no person in a normal state of mind could ever have.
- Oberon, remember this. The politely crazy ones are the most dangerous.
His master’s warning rose up in his mind again!
But whether Oberon felt that way or not, Shine gathered up the Casket of the Dead and handed it to Aster.
[Here, you sly bastard. This is what you were looking for.]
“…….”
Aster looked at Shine in silence.
[Huh? You’re not taking it?]
That swaggering frame. That crooked posture. That short height, yet the way he looked down—everything was the usual Shine.
It was—yet….
‘…Idiot. Bluffing.’
What? Half transcendence? What? “Scared”?
He was puffing himself up and cackling like always, but do emotions calm down that easily?
No.
Originally, with emotions, soothing them after you’ve let them explode is harder than holding them in.
If you never burst them out, fine—but if you did, the right thing is to release them completely.
Like I did in the Hall of Trials. You have to drain out everything that’s festered and festered, so it doesn’t fester again.
But Shine—how can he act so calm…?
He probably doesn’t know how.
He’s never looked back at his own feelings, never taken care of himself. Just endure, endure, endure. To avoid shaking, he kept strangling and berating himself endlessly.
So he’s an idiot. What other word do you need?
“You….”
[You….]
Just as I was about to say something, my voice overlapped with Shine’s by coincidence.
“…You go first.”
Aster ceded the initiative out of awkwardness. Shine didn’t refuse.
But the sentence that popped out of his mouth was outrageously shameless.
[Maybe you were scared too?]
“…….”
Aster clamped his mouth shut. No—he tried to, but he couldn’t.
“Hah.”
The corner of his mouth twitched up. A hollow laugh he couldn’t suppress.
[You don’t need to act tough, you know? Hm? If you were scared, you can say you were scared. Still, we’ve got history—me beating you to a pulp—kak!]
“You f*cking bastard.”
Clang!
A bright metallic sound shook the area.
That impact was louder than usual. Shine’s vision wobbled for a moment and he couldn’t gather himself—but the humiliation was only beginning.
“You little shit… if I give you even a bit of consideration, you can’t stand it and you crawl back up right away, huh?”
Clangclangclangclang.
Metallic sounds rang out without pause. Shine curled up and covered his head.
[H-helmet! My helmet’s getting dented, you trash—kak!]
And for a while like that—
The dead man’s screams echoed through the Hamelin Great Forest.
After the commotion died down.
I stuffed the grumbling Shine into the Bracelet of Subjugation, then looked at Oberon.
But why?
“Junior.”
“Y-yes? Senior?”
He flinched at my call.
“Get in touch with Base Camp No. 4.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
For some reason, he’s more keyed up than usual.
Did seeing me beat Shine just now scare him? It could have.
You know how it is.
There’s a strong guy—and if there’s another guy who treats the strong guy roughly, that guy looks even stronger.
Seeing Oberon like this, what should I say?
‘Do I call him kind, or do I call him stupid? If you think about it, he’s the top dog here.’
Think about it.
Shine is tied up with me in a master-servant relationship through the Bracelet of Subjugation, so that’s that—but what’s my relationship with Oberon?
Senior and junior.
If you stop there, it’s natural that I’m above him. But let’s dig a little deeper.
Then who’s my senior?
‘Senior Riheim.’
And Senior Riheim has Oberon as his disciple.
If I were Headmaster-senior’s disciple, I wouldn’t be that far behind Oberon… but—
‘That would be way too horrifying.’
Anyway, as long as Oberon has Senior Riheim as backing, in a way Oberon is the highest authority in this place!
Of course, if someone heard my thinking, they might answer, “No he isn’t?”
And I’ll say this outright: that guy has never known resentment.
He either has backing he can’t complain about, or he’s lived a peaceful life without trouble.
That’s how the world is.
What rules the world are prestigious houses (名家) bound by blood, schools bound by academic ties, or alliances bound by hometown ties.
Even if Senior Riheim and I are seniors and juniors—so we’re bound by academic ties—how could that closeness compare to a master and disciple?
So what am I saying?
‘Oberon… probably won’t ever get hit by me, even if we live our whole lives.’
I’m a Troubleshooter.
A person who submits to authority.
If I’m pissed, I’ll slam into authority and whatever else, but I try to respect authority when I can.
Especially if that authority is stronger than me.
In that sense, Oberon was in a position worthy of respect.
Well, anyway.
“Take it slow, take it slow.”
“Y-yes, sir…!”
Watching Oberon all tensed up, I rubbed my fist.
Thinking I’ll never have a reason to hit him even if I live my whole life—why does that make me feel oddly regretful?
Anyway.
‘We dealt with the forbidden mage faster than I expected.’
Was the situation just good?
Originally, even at minimum, I’d expected the clash to last around an hour. If it dragged on, three or four hours.
But excluding travel time, the clash itself wasn’t that long.
So does that mean we have leeway…?
‘Tch. Not exactly.’
The leeway I mean isn’t time.
I mean… yeah. Leeway in power.
‘That bastard… he really pulled transcendence out right there?’
Why did I support Shine in this clash to the point of eating precious Elixirs?
It was because of this Artifact in my hand.
The Casket of the Dead.
My plan was this:
Even if I consumed a few Elixirs and even if I wasted some mana, if I got the Casket of the Dead, couldn’t I use Shine at full strength somehow?
Even now—look.
A small amount of black magic power the forbidden mage injected. Look at Shine regaining strength with it!
I didn’t know how fast the Casket of the Dead charges black magic power, but I thought it was possible.
But.
‘To think he’d use power right up to the brink of dying.’
As a caster observing him, that body felt like a ceramic jar right before it shatters.
All of it was the price of manifesting transcendence, even if only half of it, with a Death Knight’s body.
The rage he carried in his chest was so immense that he burned his own body away.
So—does a person go crazy? Or not?
Well, thanks to the battle ending earlier than expected, the loss of mana and the fatigue aren’t that big, but—
“Phew….”
What comes out is a sigh.
“Phew….”
Two, because it’s the second one.
It didn’t go to three.
“Uh, Senior. I finished the communication.”
“Oh, yeah? What’d they say?”
“Well… I didn’t hear all the details. But Commander Plen’s words sounded like the situation is okay. He said it’s fine even if we don’t rush.”
“……?”
It made no sense.
Why is it okay?
‘Are they about to die?’
You know how it goes.
Two friends poisoned. Only one antidote. While they’re in a standoff over it, one friend says:
‘Actually, I had an antidote. I’m fine, so you take it.’
‘Are you fine?’
‘Of course I’m fine!’
So the friend believes it and swallows the antidote—
But it turns out the “fine” friend wasn’t fine. He’d pretended, yielding the antidote for his friend.
A beautiful story.
‘Too bad it’s unrealistic. Can’t believe it.’
If my friend… well, I don’t have a friend who’d do that, but let’s say I did.
And he yields the antidote like that?
‘I’d beat the crap out of him.’
Isn’t it suspicious?
What’s his intention in yielding it? Couldn’t it be pure intention? The world isn’t that pure.
The purest thing is two fists. Only that.
That’s why.
“It wasn’t just talk?”
“Uh, um… why… are you asking that?”
Maybe my look was too blatant.
Oberon’s face turned serious, too. I shook my head slightly at that.
“No. Anyway, they said the situation’s kind of okay?”
“Yes. He didn’t seem like he was putting on a show. He kept saying this and that after that too, but the communication cut off in the middle, so….”
“Hmm. So that’s how it is.”
Still, it was impossible to make sense of.
Part of me wanted to run over and check whether they were selling medicine or not, but the situation was the situation, so I pressed the urge down.
Well, anyway….
‘Base Camp No. 4 is doing pretty okay….’
“That means there’s plenty of time to recover mana.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Then what do we do….”
“…?”
With my arms crossed, I swept my eyes over Oberon.
For a moment.
“Hand me the communication crystal.”
“…? Yes.”
Oberon handed it over readily. I took it, then handed him what I’d been holding.
“You take this.”
“This is….”
“It’s called the Casket of the Dead. Inject mana into it. And… here, put this on too.”
“…?”
Psssss—.
The Casket of the Dead changed color as it accepted Oberon’s mana.
‘Owner recognition is done. Now what’s left is….’
I undid the Bracelet of Subjugation and handed it to Oberon.
But why?
“…….”
He didn’t take the bracelet I was offering—he just stared at me.
“Why…? Isn’t that the bracelet bound to the Death Knight? Why are you giving it to me?”
“Ah, you worried I’m passing it over without his consent? It’s fine. It’s all clearly written in the contract. He’ll like this better too.”
Shine—despite looking like a brainless sword-swinger—had read the contract carefully.
One of the contract terms they agreed on when forming the retainer contract with the Bracelet of Subjugation:
If the “A party” transfers the Bracelet of Subjugation without the “B party’s” consent, the “B party” may unilaterally break the retainer relationship with the new master (hereafter referred to as “C party”). This clause is also valid for the “C party.”
In this case, Oberon is “C party.” Not illness, not the “C” in idiot.
Anyway, for Shine, it wasn’t a bad situation.
“But still, what on earth….”
“Tsk.”
“…Whatever the reason is, you must have a plan.”
When I slightly furrowed my brow, Oberon hurriedly took the Bracelet of Subjugation.
After I confirmed Oberon recognized ownership of the bracelet, I quietly turned my head away.
Ssss—.
The Hamelin Great Forest, where withered leaves and undead corpses fluttered. A fierce, ominous energy felt from deep inside.
I was distracted by that uncanny energy for only a moment—
Then a voice came.
[You trash, what are you plotting now, huh? You didn’t forget our contract, did you?]
