novelraw Chapter 108 : Chapter 108
Chapter 108 : Chapter 108
Chapter 108
Deepest part of the swamp.
Jeremy, passing through a dark cave, kept cursing.
"Damn it, damn it!"
It is commonly said that wizards are beings who seek the truth.
To put it in a wizard's way, it's more like 'rolling around reading books in a tower', but anyway.
The important thing is that a dark and humid cave absolutely does not suit him, a wizard.
"Vice-tower lord... I will definitely get my revenge someday..."
As the darkness of the cave deepened, Jeremy dwelled on his anger toward the Vice-tower lord who had sold him off, and Garius, who was next to him, asked with a peculiar look.
"...Shouldn't you resent the Young Lord who hired you?"
Startled by the voice next to him, Jeremy hurriedly covered the Tower Lord's mouth.
"Are you crazy? Who are you trying to get killed!"
"……?"
For his foolish master who seemed not to understand at all, Jeremy whispered as quietly as possible.
"Actually... I've already tried."
"What?"
"N, no... Just be quiet and listen for a moment."
Afraid that his surprised master would attract the attention of the Special Mission Unit, Jeremy slowed down and continued.
"Master, you must absolutely not tell anyone what I'm about to say."
Seeing Jeremy's face more serious than ever, Garius nodded involuntarily, and Jeremy continued.
"You know the first day I came here. I was so exhausted and resentful... I put poison in the Young Lord's meal."
Confirming his master's expression stiffening in real-time, he quickly continued.
"No, not that kind of poison, but 'Jurif's Wing Powder'. Because one would want to sleep deeply after eating it. Wouldn't he return if he was tired?"
Garius pondered for a moment at his disciple's question and nodded.
This much was normal wizard thinking.
If a problem arises, you deal with the cause of the problem. If he had used a deadly poison, the problem would have grown, but something like 'Jurif's Wing' that induces drowsiness and relieves fatigue...
"A wise choice."
If it were Garius, he would have used 'Fairy's Wing Powder', but wizards of the Magic Tower are generally poor, so it can't be helped.
"I know. I thought it was a perfect plan. But..."
Jeremy looked around once more and spoke with a face full of fear.
"Phew... Anyway, the Young Lord came to me the next day and asked quietly. Do you have any Leviathan's poison instead of that cheap stuff?"
He really thought his heart stopped then.
No, it was clear that it actually stopped for a few seconds.
Because he was sure he would really die for getting caught trying to poison a noble.
"I was debating whether to prostrate myself and beg or tear a blink scroll and run away, but the Young Lord smiled and warned me. 'Keep up the good work in the future too'."
Recalling Ian's cold eyes and fishy smile, Jeremy shuddered.
'Jurif's Wing Powder' increases the consumer's desire for rest regardless of their resistance to poison.
In reality, it is closer to a medicine that enhances the resting effect rather than a poison, but it is classified as a poison because detoxification is difficult.
So wizards believed that the only ones immune to Jurif's Wing Powder were masters beyond the 6th star.
"So did you give up on revenge?"
"No way. Just as I was making the next plan, the Young Lord came and asked me to give him all the poison I had."
"...Poison? Why?"
At Garius's question, Jeremy answered with a pale face.
"Saying he had something to verify, he ate it all right there."
"What...?"
He had just brought various poisons for detoxification since he heard they were hunting Serpents.
Among them, there must have been deadly poisons that could kill dozens of people with a single drop.
Garius, snatching Jeremy's bag, hurriedly checked the vials inside.
"……!"
There was really no poison left.
Neither Basilisk's poison nor Tarantula's poison.
The only thing remaining was the fresh Serpent's poison gland collected through hunting.
"Ha..."
"The Young Lord must have read my thoughts. That's why he showed me directly. That no matter how hard I try, I can't do anything to him."
When you see a person eating Tarantula's poison right in front of your eyes and spitting out words like, 'Hmm, this is a bit salty,' even a wizard is bound to change their mind.
"So I changed the target of my revenge."
"...So that's the Vice-tower lord?"
"Yes. Because someone has to receive my anger."
Looking at his disciple who was becoming an excellent wizard before he knew it, Garius bared his teeth and laughed.
* * *
I was lucky.
No, I have a good eye for people.
"Captain, did something good happen?"
"Ah, Jeremy gave me a present."
"Yes? That prickly wizard?"
I grinned at Hoodwock's surprised appearance and said.
"I must have looked a bit tired, so he prepared 'Jurif's Wing Powder'."
"Oh... I didn't see him that way, but he must be a good person."
"Right? I also thought he was just a wizard with a lot of complaints, but I'm a bit moved."
On top of that, when I said I needed poison for an experiment, he gave me precious poison without a moment's hesitation.
It must have been a precious experimental tool for Jeremy, who is a regular wizard, not a Tower Lord.
"Or maybe he liked working at the fortress..."
Hoodwock tilted his head at Ian's words.
"I was passing by yesterday and heard the wizard cursing a knight, calling him a helmet rack that he wanted to tear apart and kill."
"It's because he's shy, shy."
At those words, Hoodwock recalled the relationship between a cat and a dog.
'Hmm... Sir Zehir said wizards are eccentric and cranky; perhaps their emotional expression is different from ordinary people.'
Thinking so, Hoodwock nodded.
'I thought he hated training, but it turns out he actually liked it. I should help him a bit next time.'
Doesn't everyone have rookie days when they are embarrassed to participate in training and lament their weakness?
Hoodwock, who has trained countless rookies, knew very well the fastest way to get through that period.
'We have to roll together until just before death.'
"Anyway, I never imagined there would be such a deep cave in a place like this."
When Hoodwock looked into the darkness that still seemed endless and spoke, Ian grinned and said.
"Doesn't it look strange and like there's something there just by looking at it?"
When Hoodwock nodded, Ian said proudly.
"Usually, when it's this suspicious and looks like there's something there just by a glance..."
Just then, one of the soldiers walking ahead was seen running back.
"There really is something."
"There is a huge Serpent ahead! Sir Zehir said it looks like a 'Serpent King'!"
Hoodwock, momentarily flustered by the words Serpent King, looked at the Captain with narrowed eyes.
'If there's something, shouldn't we not go...?'
Then, he suddenly thought.
If he were a human with such common sense, there would have been no reason for the Special Mission Unit to go through the swamp slaughtering Serpents.
* * *
Anyone who has played Lost Chronicle cannot be unaware of this cave.
This cave, called the 'Developer's Last Conscience', was one of the hidden pieces where you could unconditionally obtain a 'Serpent King's Bone Fragment' and various Orc-made weapons if you knew the location.
'In other words, it means you only get a single bone fragment.'
No matter how much I thought about it, it was strange.
A large monster like the Serpent King died, but only a single bone fragment remains.
I was only convinced after searching for the real hidden piece and investigating dozens more times.
'The Serpent King didn't die here.'
To be precise, the Tyrant , who went out to hunt the Serpent King, did not kill the Serpent King.
Instead, he cut off a bone fragment of the Serpent King and made it submit.
'Because the Tyrant's favorite steed was the Serpent King.'
It's just that no one knew because almost no players have killed the Tyrant.
The one obtaining the hidden piece here is not the player, but the King of Orcs, the Tyrant .
"Captain, what will you do?"
"Hmm... Could I ride it if I ask nicely?"
Hoodwock asked with a straight face.
"You intend to ride the Serpent King?"
"As expected, the fortress is too narrow, so it would be hard, right?"
"I don't think that would be the problem..."
The Tyrant rode it just fine.
Of course, I have no intention of giving up.
If I can't have it, I just need to destroy it.
"You, go tell the Special Mission Unit to prepare. And call Jeremy and Sir Garius from the back."
"Yes!"
Now, it is time to hunt a king.
* * *
"Young Lord."
"Not Young Lord, but Captain."
Since Jeremy is now a proper member of the Special Mission Unit, I need to correct the title.
"Ah, yes, Captain. Uh, I heard on the way that we are going to hunt the Serpent King..."
Jeremy's expression as he spoke turned black in real-time.
"According to the records of the Magic Tower, the Serpent King is a monster with a higher hunting difficulty than a Basilisk, so it's best not to encounter it as much as possible..."
Jeremy, who hesitated for a moment, squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.
"I'm not looking down on the Special Mission Unit, but it is not a monster we can hunt with our combat power!"
"Correct."
"...Yes?"
"I said correct. No matter if it's not intelligent, it's a Monarch species; how can we catch it?"
Starting from its name, it's King, meaning a Monarch species .
A Monarch species is said to be 3 to 10 times stronger than comparable monsters.
Among them, the Serpent King, the Tyrant's favorite steed, is stronger than most named monsters, only lacking a specific name to be a 'Named'.
Unless Garius could use combat magic, it is absolutely not a monster we can fight and kill with our current combat power.
"...Ah! Hunting was not the objective! You know what a fuss those ignorant guys were making on the way here about catching the Serpent King? Hahaha! When I asked Master, he said that if it's the Young Lord, no, the Captain, of course you could do it, so I thought I was finally really going to die. Hahaha..."
Jeremy's expression, who was spitting out words with a laugh, gradually stiffened.
"Haha... Ha... M, Master, why do you think the Captain is looking at me like that? Like he's looking at a weirdo."
Instead of answering Jeremy, Garius spoke to me.
"Hoh... You must have a way to hunt it."
"Of course."
At first, I wondered if I should bring an Ogre or something.
"Don't we have two capable wizards?"
* * *
Jeremy, unable to shake off his anxiety even while preparing the magic, sought his master.
"Master, Master."
"...Your true calling would have been a storyteller, not a wizard."
"What does it matter? If this method doesn't work, we'll all die."
At those words, Garius stood up from the magic circle, looked around, and said.
"It seems you are the only one thinking that way."
"That is exactly the problem! The humans here clearly put slimes in their heads instead of brains, so shouldn't we, the wizards, pull ourselves together especially at times like this?"
At those words, Garius fell into deep thought.
'If it were before coming here, I would have agreed...'
His gaze fell upon his disciple, who was drawing the magic circle while sweating profusely with an anxious face.
'Hmm...'
While being solely responsible for the treatment of the Special Mission Unit for the past few days, he had quite a few conversations with knights and soldiers.
Among them, there were humans with outstanding insight that surprised even him.
In fact, most knights he thought were ignorant had better insight than he expected. They were just using those brains for swordsmanship, not magic.
...And above all.
"No matter how much I think about it, it doesn't seem like you are wiser than the other soldiers."
His favorite disciple, who failed trying to poison the Captain of the Special Mission Unit and the Young Lord of Moner, was far from wise.
"How could you say such harsh words...!"
Ignoring his disciple who was making a tearful face as if genuinely hurt, Garius approached Ian and said.
"Young Lord, the preparation of the magic circle is complete."
Just as he was about to turn back after finishing his words, he asked just in case.
"By the way, can we really hunt the Serpent King with just that kind of magic?"
The Young Lord answered with a smirk that only quirked up one side of his mouth.