novelraw Chapter 122 : Chapter 122
Chapter 122 : Chapter 122
122
The Spear God had a unique gait.
Perhaps due to his severely hunched back, he shifted his steps with a slight waddle from side to side rather than walking straight forward.
Assisting that walk like a cane was his spear.
TAP, TAP, TAP.
The sound of the staff striking the ground followed his footsteps, perfectly timed with each stride.
‘No openings.’
Despite that clumsy gait, there were no openings to be seen.
It was because of that abnormally long spear.
‘Is it a pike?’
Unlike the lances of the Lionheart Knights I saw last time, it had a spearhead with a broad, axe-like face attached to the end of a long wooden pole, much like a pike.
However, it was somewhat short to be called a pike, which typically boasted a length of 4 to 6 meters to stop the advance of charging cavalry.
The length of this spear was about 2 meters and 50 centimeters.
Even that was somewhat long for a person to wield, though.
‘He looks like he would wield it well.’
The more I looked at him, the more I could picture him wielding that spear, bending it flexibly like a fishing rod.
Every trajectory created by the spear was his domain.
Then, how should I penetrate this domain?
‘Create my own domain and collide.’
Not to destroy his domain, but to create my own domain perfectly so that I could remain unscathed even if I entered his.
To do that…….
“I did not come to fight.”
Just as I was about to sink into my thoughts, CLACK. The sound stopped, and The Spear God looked at me.
His cloudy white eyes were staring intently at me.
“So withdraw your fighting spirit.”
“……Did I emit fighting spirit?”
“Very faintly. But it is potent. I thought you had drawn a sword, so I was about to stab you.”
I hadn't realized.
I was just pondering how to defeat the opponent out of habit.
To think that leaked out as intangible energy strong enough for the opponent to feel.
“Amateurs wouldn't have felt that ominous energy.”
Is he implying that he is different from such amateurs?
The Spear God turned his body and walked forward with that waddling gait again.
He had every right to be proud.
‘He really is strong.’
Except for the Lionheart Captain, he was probably the strongest person I had seen.
Even people like Rozalin or Hati would likely be pushed back if they fought him.
‘Is it because his experience is different?’
Unlike other regressors, his face already looked to be over seventy.
The center of his head was bald, and long, wispy white hair hung down from the sides of his head as if braided.
His fists, thick and hard like rocks, showed traces of training, and his arms were as thick as his hunched back.
‘There it is.’
As I walked while observing The Spear God, we arrived outside the dormitory building.
A small two-horse carriage was prepared by the roadside.
It was an ordinary carriage that could be easily seen anywhere on the road.
“Welcome.”
The person revealing his face through the window was one of the wealthiest men and a strategist in the Empire.
Abrahal.
He looked down at me with a welcoming smile.
“The evening air is quiet and very nice. Would you like to get in the carriage and go for a ride?”
“Sounds good.”
The Spear God sat in the front seat of the carriage, the coachman's seat.
It seemed he would drive the horses himself.
The inside of the carriage was more spacious than it looked from the outside, so the distance between Abrahal and me was such that we couldn't easily touch even if we reached out.
“My, I didn't expect to meet in the Imperial Capital in a situation like this.”
“By ‘situation like this,’ are you talking about the Goldline civil war?”
“No? I am talking about the coup that turned the Imperial Royal Knights upside down. I heard you fiercely half-killed a Chief Knight?”
I smiled bitterly.
To be precise, I wasn't the one who beat Werner.
Werner had been left in a wretched state by Ulf's curse and the enraged Rozalin's additional blows.
But a proper teacher cannot turn a blind eye to a student's sins, even if they ignore a graduate student's sins.
“Fortunately, the Imperial Family didn't say much.”
“Because someone higher up stepped in.”
“By higher up, do you mean the fourth?”
Leferil Lion Trakimano, the youngest son of the current Imperial Family, is the Emperor's fifth grandson.
And above him were two brothers and two sisters, so the fourth must be a sister.
She would probably be twenty years old, just old enough to have graduated and started working.
“Since the youngest is revealing his ambition, shouldn't the fourth suppress it? I don't know if that's the heart of a sister who loves her younger brother, or the heart of a sister who wants to devour him, though.”
“Anyway, you mean there is no offensive due to political reasons.”
“For now, there isn't. The Empire does not forget its disgrace. They are just waiting while biding their time.”
The carriage, which had been circling the area, stopped.
The place we arrived at was a pub without even a signboard.
It was barely large enough for ten people to enter, and there were only three tables.
Abrahal sat in the space where there were no other guests.
“Let’s eat.”
Dried beef jerky and beer were served without us ordering.
It was cheap beer easily found in a common marketplace, the kind even Academy students wouldn't likely drink.
Abrahal lifted such a huge beer mug and downed more than half of it in one breath.
AHH, a sound escaped his lips along with the thick scent of alcohol.
“Good. I wanted to drink something light like this today.”
“That is unexpected. You are the person with the most money in the Empire, no, in the entire world, yet you enjoy a place like this.”
“Because I have a lot of money, must I be extravagant? Because I have a lot of money, must I live a luxurious daily life? I do not think so. One who was born wealthy but knows poverty, one who was born wealthy but knows loneliness and deficiency, ultimately sells goods to the lonely, the poor, and the deficient.”
“That is deception.”
At my words, Abrahal laughed heartily without any sign of displeasure.
“Preferably, please call it an experience or acting. Becoming a life that is not me. Isn't it truly literary? That is why I personally think commerce is artistic.”
It sounded plausible at first glance.
But I know the truth.
For instance, take the story related to The Spear God who drove the carriage here just now.
“Didn't you say that after securing the regressor, you helped him remember well in the basement?”
“Look closely. Does that gentleman outside, who is so stubborn, seem like the type to talk properly to a merchant like me? He is a fellow who only thinks about swinging his spear and disposing of demons. I served him well, begging and pleading for him to please give me information about the future.”
He fundamentally uses ordinary sentences.
But if you take a step deeper, all those words could be interpreted in different ways.
He appears to be telling the truth, but subtly hides it and speaks in a way that makes the listener interpret it the way he wants.
‘Did he say it was literary?’
In a way, it is literary, but.
In a way, he is nothing more than a supreme swindler.
That was Abrahal.
This appearance he is showing me now.
I couldn't know whether even that was Abrahal's true personality or not.
‘Let’s not think too deeply.’
In times like this, it was better to solve problems simply.
Get straight to the point so the opponent doesn't twist their thoughts two or three times.
“How is the fight with Avril?”
“It's killing me. Phew, don't get me started. As more guys learn Aura, they run wild without knowing their place. Still, they don't know the meaning of moderation between siblings. Why don't they understand that us fighting only benefits other merchant guilds?”
Abrahal grumbled like that and downed his beer again.
I stared intently at him.
‘I still feel sincerity in every tone.’
At least to my eyes, I didn't sense any lies in his words.
Hiding the truth without speaking it is not a lie, after all.
“Still, it is fortunate that we have the elder Spear God. Do you know The Spear God?”
“It is my first time hearing of him.”
“You probably wouldn't know him well. He is a solo mercenary who travels alone, and his rank is S. He was originally someone who could handle a decent kingdom's knight order by himself.”
Being that strong, he must have been able to survive until the final battle even with that body.
Abrahal smiled playfully and drank his beer.
“It was fortunate that the elder came to find me first.”
It was the truth.
“Wasn't it that you tried to secure the regressor?”
“I did try. I am not telling you a lie. But seeing me looking for him, he came to find me from his side. I heard he originally sought me out thinking he would be on good terms with Avril.”
Also the truth.
He burst into hearty laughter.
“He was an elder who knew nothing but fighting. So he came looking for a way to fight demons efficiently and more strongly. I heard he didn't interact much with other people originally, either. Did you say Pan? He knew that man used Aura, but he said he didn't know he had a master who taught it to him. Good grief, a regressor without the key core technology.”
Truth.
“Avril is on a roll with knowledge from the regression, but to think the one I secured is just a brawler. Still, it was fortunate that this person read the textbook you distributed and learned Aura quickly.”
I lifted the beer placed in front of me and took a sip or two.
The beer, at a suitably cool temperature, flowed down my throat.
The moment the refreshing sensation knocked on my throat and entered my body, I felt my blood circulate a bit and my mind spun.
The judgment was finished.
“How about I refine the Aura a bit more and teach him properly?”
Abrahal stopped drinking his beer and stared at me.
He was definitely an untrustworthy person.
But this person had a point that was fundamentally different from Avril.
The point that he wouldn't make me feel unpleasant.
“In return, I would like to maintain a cooperative relationship where I can use the power Goldline possesses.”
“Weren't you close with Avril?”
“He tried to use me blatantly. In a way favorable to himself, in a way he believed was right.”
“I don't like Avril that much, but the direction he pursues isn't wrong. Rather, it is very practical. Following him would be better than cooperating with someone like me.”
Is he testing me?
I lifted the beer mug and drank the rest.
Without stopping, I swallowed the beverage in the glass in one go.
Abrahal silently waited for me to drink all the beer like that.
“Phew…… I just prefer a light relationship today.”
Akarind Academy and the Akarind Territory had undergone great changes.
Goldline Merchant Guild's financial power existed at the foundation of that.
I still don't agree with Avril's methods, but I didn't want to completely exclude the ability Avril had shown either.
This person would also take his own profit, but at least that wouldn't be a method that makes me unpleasant and puts Akarind Academy in danger.
As if reading my judgment in an instant, Abrahal burst into hearty laughter again.
“I am basically an imperial arms dealer, too. A ruthless war merchant. Do you trust me?”
“What I trust is that you calculate profit and loss well, and as a result, you won't lose the product that is me.”
Because Avril was someone who was satisfied only when he completely possessed it.
At my words, Abrahal smiled as if satisfied.
“Then shall we just chat comfortably as business partners?”
“It hasn't been long since I woke up from fainting, so I cannot drink much alcohol. I am taking medicine, too.”
“Oho, I haven't seen anyone who says they can't drink because of medicine actually not drink. It's just beer. Beer isn't alcohol.”
“It is alcohol.”
“Good grief, a person about to do business is so stiff.”
“I do education. Business is what you do.”
“Am I the only one plastered? Huh? Isn't this something we're doing to live well together?”
Drinking and chatting while laughing was more enjoyable than I thought.
We drank beer for about two hours and returned to the lodging.
Actually, maybe I shouldn't have done that.
The moment the schedule was over, I should have returned to Akarind Academy immediately.
THUMP!
A distinct resonance rose from deep within my body.
That sensation felt not only by me but by everyone in the world.
The second demon had appeared.