Chapter 74

Threads of Fate

Before heading to the lawless city of Violess, I stopped by the commercial city of Frecce first. The reason was none other than Seraphia's medicine.

Seraphia was still unconscious. Fortunately(?) her condition wasn't about to take an immediate turn for the worse. The 241 days in the Infinite Labyrinth had passed only within the labyrinth itself. Barely two days had gone by outside.

Still, I needed to at least check whether her medicine was ready before I left.

Frecce, the city of commerce. It had been a full eight months since my last visit, yet nothing had changed. Again, those 241 days had passed only within the Infinite Labyrinth. It would have been stranger if anything had changed.

As I strode through the streets of Frecce, someone suddenly drew close beside me and spoke.

"It's been a while since I last visited Frecce."

It was Kai, the knight with the swaying blond hair.

"I told you to go back to the county ahead of me. Why did you follow me?"

"I have no ulterior motive."

Anyone could see he had an ulterior motive. I just couldn't tell what it was.

Wouldn't understanding a lunatic make me one too?

"Shall we get going?"

... Honestly.

I shook my head and walked on.

Eventually, we reached Adlan's shop. When I opened the door, Adlan sprang reflexively from his seat behind the counter.

"Welco—!"

Then he saw my face. His eyes went wide.

"You've arrived!! Lord Adrian!!!"

Adlan bent into a ninety-degree bow and simultaneously slammed his head into the counter.

THUNK!

It looked painful enough to crack his skull.

"Owww..."

Fortunately, his skull seemed intact. He raised his head, rubbing it furiously, then spotted Kai beside me and tilted his head.

"And who might this gentleman be...?"

"A leech."

"Pardon? A leech...?"

"Don't worry about him. Feel free to treat him like one."

Kai gave me a thoroughly sour look, which I casually ignored.

"More importantly, how did that matter I mentioned last time go?"

"If you mean the medicine for your younger sister... Ahem!"

Adlan cleared his throat. From the look of him, he was about to launch into a lengthy explanation.

"After you left, Lord Adrian, I thought to myself: what would be the fastest, most efficient way to handle—"

"Just give me the result."

"... I haven't found an alchemist willing to accept the commission yet."

Adlan answered dejectedly, looking like a weasel that had been thoroughly scolded.

"I even distributed flyers at the mages' association, but no one will take the job..."

He bowed his head deeply in apology.

"Was there a particular reason?"

"Most said the commission was simply too difficult."

The curse of bitter cold[P] was what had left Seraphia bedridden. Her symptoms stemmed from [Supernatural Thermal Energy Deficit].

Even at a glance, those were no ordinary symptoms. Producing medicine to treat them would require far more than ordinary skill. Above all, the ingredients were no small matter either.

Flame Heart (Heart of Flame), an essence of condensed fire energy.

Sungrass (Sun Grass), a rare plant that absorbed the sun's energy.

Magma Heat Column (Magma Heat Tonic), an ore formed from condensed magma energy deep within a volcano.

Flame of Dawn (Flame of Dawn), an essence that could be collected only at certain locations for a limited time at sunrise.

Each ingredient alone cost a staggering 20,000 gold.

"They also said they couldn't afford the compensation if they ruined the ingredients."

With the risk of owing 80,000 gold, they hadn't even dared touch the job.

"I'm sorry..."

Adlan lowered his head even further, as though it were his fault. But this wasn't something I could blame him for.

The curse of bitter cold[P]. Its [P] grade stood for Primal, a special ability grade on an entirely different scale from biological evolutionary abilities, which ranged from F to S.

As far as I had discovered, the order was:

Rare[R] < Unique[U] < Epic[E] < Legend[L] < Myth[M] < Primal[P].

Primal[P] was the highest grade. Treating an illness caused by an Authority of that caliber was no easy task.

'Had I known, maybe I should have made Avarus produce the medicine.'

Avarus was an insane alchemist, but his skill was real. It was fair to say that almost no alchemist on the continent surpassed him.

Creating homunculi was no simple feat. It was possible only for a highly accomplished mage who had mastered alchemy.

In other words, now that Avarus had been annihilated, the Devotees of the Fallen Souls could no longer create homunculi.

Avarus certainly had the skill to make Seraphia's medicine. In that sense, the Elixir of Infinity could itself be viewed as a medicine he had fashioned for her.

But on further thought...

'It wouldn't have made any difference.'

Not only was Avarus unlikely to make the medicine honestly, but his mind had been completely gone. He hadn't been in any state to make medicine or anything else.

"Did you try the mage towers?"

"Of course. But they weren't particularly..."

Apparently, the mage towers had balked at the commission too. But there was more than one mage tower on the continent.

"Did you try the Langrid Mage Tower?"

The Langrid Mage Tower.

Thousands of years ago, it had been founded by the Great Sage Arcanis Rilsein, who devised the method of converting mana into magical power, a form of available energy.

Arcanis had been the first to reproduce the phenomenon called magic using magical power. Today, he was known both as "the first mage" and as the founder of magical studies.

He had taught humanity magic, hoping to change the world through it, and opened the way for anyone interested to learn. That was the purpose for which the Langrid Mage Tower had been founded.

With thousands of years of history and countless sages and mages to its credit, the tower now stood as the origin of all magical knowledge on the continent and the cradle of mages.

"The Langrid Mage Tower rarely accepts outside commissions," Adlan replied with a troubled look.

That didn't mean it never accepted them. As Adlan said, it did so "rarely."

"Our merchants' guild simply doesn't have the influence..."

The problem was that the merchants' guild lacked sufficient clout.

The Langrid Mage Tower was a sacred place for every mage on the continent. The commissions pouring in from the continent's many kingdoms and prestigious noble houses alone were overwhelming. An ordinary name wouldn't even get a foot in its door.

Even the merchants' guild only wielded real influence within the free cities. It lacked the power to secure a commission with the Langrid Mage Tower.

Naturally, I already knew that.

I took gold coins from my Inventory and poured them onto the counter.

CLATTER!

Countless gold coins spilled from the infinite Inventory, piling into a mountain on the counter.

"One thousand platinum coins. One million gold."

Adlan's eyes bulged. A merchant through and through, he was far more transfixed by the million gold than by my Inventory.

As the old saying went: if money couldn't solve something, perhaps you weren't offering enough.

"Offer all of it as the commission fee."

"Eeeek?!?!"

Adlan jumped when I spoke as though I were posting a bounty.

It was an absurd sum to commission a single medicine. But it was necessary to treat Seraphia, and if I considered it an opportunity to become acquainted with the allied army's Archmage, it wasn't excessive or a waste in the slightest.

Besides, I still had over twenty million gold in my infinite Inventory.

"There should be a mage named Iliana at the Langrid Mage Tower. When you submit the commission, get in touch with Commander Ilia—no, the mage Iliana."

As for a pretext to approach her...

"Tell her the Predator Merchant Company is interested in sponsoring her."

Adlan gulped and nodded once.

"And one last thing."

I took another 100,000 gold from my Inventory and set it on the counter.

"Wh-what is this for...?"

"Your fee for the trouble, Adlan."

"..."

Adlan went blank, as though his mind had left him.

Understandably so. The counter now held a staggering 1.1 million gold, a sum comparable to an entire trading company's annual revenue. Watching me casually produce that kind of money like pocket change was more than his mind could handle.

Compared with the money in my infinite Inventory, however, it was... well, not pocket change, but hardly a large amount.

"If any odd jobs come up, put this golden leech to work. I have business to attend to, so I'll be going."

Leaving the dazed Adlan behind, I stepped out of the shop.

* * *

The moment I left Adlan's shop, the golden leech, Kai, followed me out.

"Where are you going?"

"I told you. To the lawless city."

"I'll come with—"

"Stay here and help Adlan. This isn't a small sum we're dealing with, so there'll be plenty of trouble."

"..."

"And treat Seraphia as soon as the medicine is ready."

"... Understood."

Kai looked somewhat disappointed, but he nodded without complaint.

For some reason, his attitude toward me was distinctly different from before. Even his insistence on sticking to me like a leech and accompanying me to the lawless city was quite strange.

Still, perhaps because of Seraphia's medicine, he agreed to remain in Frecce. Despite the demanding orders, he showed no sign of finding them burdensome.

As I looked at him, I said, "You're really something."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't slept a wink since we entered the Infinite Labyrinth."

I had been fine, continually recovering from physical fatigue with Regeneration[B+]. Player's Will[EX] had also let me withstand the mental strain.

Kai was different. He had Immortal Link[E], but it required a constant expenditure of aura, and aura wasn't something he could replenish instantly like calories.

The mental fatigue from those 241 days must have been considerable too, yet he hadn't closed his eyes or even dozed off once.

"Standing guard without sleep is a basic knightly skill."

"What knightly order teaches that sort of crap as a basic skill?"

Of course, guarding someone without sleep really was a knightly skill. I'd made sleep-deprivation training mandatory for my special task force too. Operations often involved situations where sleeping simply wasn't an option.

But not to this extent. Three or four days at most. Never more than a week, however long the mission ran.

What knightly order on the continent worked its knights for 241 days without sleep?

And what was that? Guarding...?

"Don't tell me you've been guarding me all this time?"

"Only at first."

"You were guarding me?"

"Yes. Whenever you used the dragon's power in the Infinite Labyrinth, you were defenseless until you regenerated."

... That was true. With both arms blown off, I couldn't use Dragon's Claw[A]. That was when I was most vulnerable.

Avarus had fired tentacles at me during those brief openings, and Kai had protected me every time. He had even cut off chunks of flesh and fed them to me so I could replenish my calories.

Of course...

"Later, once that was no longer necessary, you guarded me."

That had only lasted until I started chewing the flesh off the floor.

... Come to think of it, Avarus hadn't attacked only me. I had merely borne the brunt of his attacks. Kai hadn't stood idly by watching either, and that had given him a chance to train too.

"I also had to keep the light going with my aura."

He'd even been able to train his aura. Not a single ray of light entered the Infinite Labyrinth. He'd had to continually regulate his aura's light so I could see.

"I had no choice but to focus on control so my aura wouldn't run out. And as a result..."

SHIIING!

Deep blue aura light suddenly streamed from his sword. But its density was distinctly different from ordinary aura.

"An aura blade?"

"You recognized it at once. I should have known."

Kai looked impressed. But that was my line. I was the one who ought to be more surprised.

An aura blade. It was a technique that went beyond simply coating a sword in aura to "compressing" it.

And what sort of power was aura? An absurd power that dragged things out of an individual's imagination and manifested them in reality.

Though it depended on the imagination imbued in it, an aura blade could generally cut through almost anything.

Strictly speaking, there were a few exceptions. The runesteel in Avarus's secret vault was one of the few metals that could withstand an aura blade.

But "withstand" was the key word. It couldn't stop one completely. It merely took a little time.

Given enough time, an aura blade could cut through runesteel too.

In sheer cutting power, it rivaled a dragon's claws and could sometimes surpass them. In other words, it was comparable to my Dragon's Claw[A].

Beyond its cutting power, it also released shock waves carrying explosive energy. Depending on how it was used, it could inflict damage even beyond the reach of the sword's arc.

Naturally, it wasn't an easy technique to use. It required absolute faith in one's imagination—in one's aura—along with exquisitely delicate aura control. That was why it was known as "the mark of a Master."

In other words...

"I advanced to a higher level as well."

Kai had become a fully fledged Master knight. I wasn't the only one who had grown during those 241 days in the Infinite Trial Grounds.

Of course, 241 days was no short time. Maintaining both vigilance and aura for that long was extraordinarily difficult too.

"It's all thanks to you, Lord Adrian."

... Even so, he was definitely one hell of a lunatic.

Wait a moment.

"Thanks to me?"

"You helped me maintain my aura without overextending myself, didn't you?"

... That was true enough. Just as Kai had protected me when I was defenseless, I'd protected him. If anything, I'd protected him more often.

But that was only because I would have been in danger too without his light. I'd never intended to help him grow.

"Above all, it was thanks to you that I survived in there."

He bowed his head to me again. Perhaps he remembered what I'd said at the manor. He didn't actually say thank you.

In any case, with me as a new variable, Kai's growth was surpassing that of my previous life.

'At this rate, he might actually surpass the Legion Commander of Bitter Cold.'

The signs were already unsettling, but I'd be in trouble if he really did. The Legion Commander of Bitter Cold had been a nightmare as it was. And now he might surpass that?

Of course, I too was surpassing my old self as Predator, but...

"Once again, you have my sincere thanks for stepping forward for Lady Seraphia and the county."

◆Kai's affinity toward you increases!

◆Kai's affinity toward you is at [Trust].

◆A person in the [Trust] state believes in and relies on you completely, following you in everything.

◆Kai will willingly accept personal losses for your sake.

... I'd better avoid taking him along from now on whenever possible.

* * *

The chapel was filled with a quiet, reverent air. Soft candles along the walls illuminated the surroundings, and a woman in pure white vestments stood silently at the central altar.

Her head was calmly bowed as though in prayer. Her name was Isolde Cordelia, princess of the Holy Kingdom and the 213th Saintess.

The attendant priest approached the central altar with muted footsteps.

"Your Eminence, I have something to report."

At the priest's call, Isolde gently raised her head. Her topaz-like eyes waited for the priest to continue.

"This report comes from the Eye of the Pilgrim, which has been monitoring the lawless city."

The Eye of the Pilgrim was the Holy Kingdom's secret knightly order, tasked with monitoring and gathering intelligence on outside heathen forces and anti-religious organizations. Scattered across the continent, its members identified and eliminated threats to the Holy Kingdom before they could take root.

"The owner of the Predator Merchant Company has reportedly appeared in the lawless city."