Chapter 24
Translator: Hand of Vecna ✎ Editor: Two More Free Thoughts
After I calmed Libra down safely, I worried about what to do next. Jean would definitely be suspicious if I returned with Libra like this. Particularly, if I tried to take Libra along, they would object. In the worst case scenario, they might demand that Libra be destroyed.
Of course, I did not wish for Libra's destruction, but this would set me in opposition with them. Although Jean and his comrades were no match for me, I would rather avoid unnecessary trouble. Yet I couldn't think of any good excuses. Hmm~ In the worst case scenario, I could knock them unconscious and run away… There didn't seem to be any other way. Thinking about this, I felt a bit depressed.
"Oh, Ruphas-sama."
"Welcome back. You seem to have secured Libra without incident."
As I descended to the lower floor in a bad mood, Aries and Dina welcomed me with a smile. In contrast, Jean and his comrades were motionless. Their eyes stared blankly ahead.
"Dina, what happened to them?"
"Oh. It would be troublesome if they report us after returning, so I gave them a little suggestion."
"Suggestion?"
"I just planted some fake memories…so they think that they never met us at all. Also, I decided that they are the ones who cleared this dungeon, so it should shift people's attention away from us for a while."
The outrageous things Dina just said made me smile.
Ah, right. She could manipulate memories. How convenient and yet terrible. I seriously thought it was good for an ally though. My greatest concern was gone with this.
"Concerning Libra, she would be already badly damaged when they arrived. The story is that the previous investigation team dealt some extensive damage. This should divert some attention away from Libra."
"Did you intend this from the beginning when you allowed Jean's party to accompany us?"
"Why else would we take the trouble to bring along a burden?"
"…You are such a frightening woman."
"For the sake of Ruphas-sama, I will become a demon. This is who Dina is."
Ahem. I shivered slightly and wiped away the cold sweat as Dina puffed her chest in self-satisfaction. Well, whatever. I should take some of the things stored here. After all, I promised Megrez to leave some unwanted things behind. For example, equipment that adds +100 to attack power could not be sold since we did not have the proper sales channels. Such equipment would be better left behind for others.
"Okay, let's go to the top floor."
"Yes~"
"Y—Yes."
We departed for the top floor, leaving Jean's party behind on the 106th floor. The top floor was an elaborate, fancy room. The ceiling, walls, and floor were all made of gold. To say that the eyes were blinded by the golden glitter was a form of flattery. It would be difficult to feel settled here. Jewels and gold coins were simply piled up. Swords and daily-use items were beautifully arranged.
No. This was not a tomb, no matter how you looked at it. If this was my tomb, I would hate it, since it would be impossible to calm down and sleep.
It should be like this…but why did I feel so excited about seeing this room? For some reasons, I had a sudden urge to take away all the glittering things here.
"Ruphas-sama, please calm down."
"I'm calm…I should be calm, yet I could not calm down. What's going on?"
"Oh. Ruphas-sama, you used to love these shiny things and had collected them in large quantities."
I stiffened at Aries' words.
Eh, seriously? I did not remember a setting like that?
I collected shiny objects because I loved them. Was I a crow!? No, certainly my wings were black.
"Let's take the necessary weapons before Ruphas-sama gets distracted."
"Dina. Getting distracted is out of the question. I can still distinguish what we really need."
"Well then, how about putting away all the unnecessary gold lumps in your hands?"
After being pointed out by Dina, I finally noticed that I had a mysterious, shiny gem that I did not know what to use for.
…Oh crap. I was doing it unconsciously.
Well, yeah. I was not really interested in such gold lumps. I did not have a taste for money either. I preferred things that were chic and darker in color.
"Aries-sama, Ruphas-sama is just a crow now. Let's choose what we need."
"Yes, I understand!"
Eh? Not only was I useless, but I was also getting in their way?
Even as I thought this, my hands were picking up some strange items.
Ugh, I could not stop myself.
My body naturally moved towards the shiny objects.
"Ruphas-sama! That is just a ceremonial object for the looks! It does not do anything! Throw such things away!"
"Ruphas-sama, that is a shiny item to look nice!"
"Ah, hmm."
After making Dina and Aries angry, I dejectedly went to the corner of the room.
Ugh…It should not be like this. I should be searching for weapons seriously, but my body would not listen. And then, I realized that my hands were once again holding some items of unknown utility. Dina and Aries squinted at me as they gathered the weapons that I previously used.
Spear, greatsword, knife, halberd, jamadhar, tonfa, pile bunker…It seemed that I was flirting with all types of weapons. Incidentally, my favorite weapon was the whip sword.
"I guess this is enough for now. The others seem to be weapons used by Ruphas-sama in the past, but they probably won't be used anymore, so let's leave them here. They should still be valuable in the current world."
"What about the golems?"
"Ah, I will bring the golems to the tower as well. Ruphas-sama, can you gather all the golems that were not yet destroyed?"
After loitering in the corner of the room, my turn to act finally came. Even so, this was fairly hard work to gather all the golems that were not destroyed. However, if I did not do so, there could be more victims in the future. There was no choice but to comply.
"I understand, but it will take some time."
I was useless here anyway. So I would do whatever I could do.
…This time, I had no dignity.
♎
In the end, it took a long time to gather all the golems. This tomb was simply too large. Who built this thing?
For the time being, I entrusted all the high-AI golems to Dina, along with all the weapons. It seemed she could transfer any inorganic matter, so everything was moved to the Tower of Mafahl. Aside from that, I also destroyed all the idiotic golems that automatically attack people.
"Okay, let's go"
"Is it alright to leave Jean's party here?"
"No problem. They will awake after a while, thinking that they came here all by themselves."
After waking, Jean's party would become the lucky heroes who cleared the Black-Winged Royal Tomb. Although they might embezzle some of these treasures, it would not be my problem. The wealth that I could not bring with me would just be a bother, so they could do whatever they want with it. It was enough for me to recover the weapons, golems, and Libra.
Still, this was meant to be my tomb. My feelings were somewhat complicated when I thought of this place becoming an empty ruin. It was the same on Earth, where treasure-laden tombs were excavated and robbed. Using prevention of tomb robbery as an excuse, the scholars would claim the discovery of important historical relics and display all the corpses in the museums. However, museums were simply unsuitable to serve as tombs. If I really died, I would prefer to be buried in a plain tomb that would not attract anyone.
We left the tomb and returned to the forest where we left Tanaka. I created a new set of maid outfit for Libra with alchemy. Next, I needed to polish her dirty body and change her clothes. Hmm. The task of polishing her and so on would be left to Dina instead.
After that, we waited for a few hours. Since Libra would not move without orders, I gave an order for her to get up. Libra promptly opened her eyes.
"…Visibility good, checking each part…No abnormality. Starting up."
Light shone from her eyes as Libra slowly raised her body. When she saw me, she stood up and bowed elegantly. Well then, I should take a look at Libra's status.
Level: 910
Race: Artificial Life-form
Attribute: Metal
HP: 120,000
SP: 0
STR (Strength): 5,500
DEX (Dexterity): 4,900
VIT (Vitality): 5,020
INT (Intelligence): 300
AGI (Agility): 4,100
MND (Mind): 350
LUK (Luck): 600
Hmm. She was exactly as I remembered her.
Having SP 0 was a common trait for all golems. Golems did not expend SP when using skills. Instead, their skills were limited to a specific number of times. The usage frequency would not reset until twenty-four hours later.
Therefore, Brachium could only be fired once. It would be pointless even if SP-based skills were learnt. On the other hand, a golem's HP could be considerably higher than other characters, given the appropriate materials. If the material was really good, the HP of such a cheat golem would be close to that of a boss monster. However, a golem could only be healed by alchemist's skills. Since it had high HP, it was not necessarily a drawback unless it was struck really hard.
For example, Aries had less HP than Libra, but since he had an automatic HP recovery skill, Aries was surprisingly difficult to deal with. But if the two of them were to actually fight, Aries would be killed off in one hit with Brachium before the endurance battle could start.
"Good morning, my master, Ruphas-sama."
"Hmm. Does any part of your body feel strange?"
"No problem. I appreciate your concern."
It was a fluent and gorgeous voice, unlike the voice mixed with radio noise when I fought her earlier. She seemed to be fine, so that was a relief. Libra then saw Aries and bowed to him as well.
"It has been a long time, Aries. As before, your appearance and gender do not match."
"That's the first thing you say after two hundred years!?"
Aries fled in tears after suddenly being teased about his appearance. Libra bowed again gracefully.
"Nice to meet you, stranger. I apologize for the inconvenience I caused this time."
"This pattern again!?"
Hmm. It was as expected. When the other golems in the tomb did not recognize Dina, I already expected the same of Libra. Both Aries and I, who also forgot about Dina, now shared a strange affinity with Libra.
"Libra. This one is my adviser, Dina. Although her presence is weak, she was there with us two hundred years ago."
"…!!? …What…? She has a stealth mode that could avoid being recorded in my memory…!?"
"No matter what, my presence cannot be that weak! I'm going to cry soon!?"
Dina was almost in tears. She grabbed Libra by the shoulders and brought her face closer.
"Look, it's me! Please look carefully! If you look at me like this, there should be an impression in your memory, right?"
"…No, the corresponding memory does not exist. But I found some corrupted data from two hundred years ago that was deteriorated due to age. Perhaps memory about Dina-sama is stored there."
Hmm. I secretly thought that since Libra was a golem, she would remember Dina. However, Dina was really unlucky. Her memory data just happened to be corrupted. Maybe her data was entered into the "hated" memory section.
"Recovery is possible, but it will take a few months. Until then, Dina-sama will be recognized as a temporary adviser."
"Temporary!?"
Dina was increasingly traumatized by Libra who did not mince her words. However, Libra did not seem to care. Or rather, since Libra was expressionless, we did not know what she was thinking about. Even so, I could not doubt the loyalty of someone who guarded the tomb so staunchly. Beneath that icy metallic mask, there must be a hot soul…should be, probably.
"Libra, do you know anything about the other Twelve Heavenly Stars?"
"I'm sorry. Since I had been guarding the tomb the whole time, I do not possess information regarding the outside world."
I asked Libra the question, but her reply was as expected. Since she was focused on the tomb, it was unlikely to have information about the outside. Fortunately, there were still four out of the six people in Dina's knowledge, so there was no rush to collect information.
"Then, Dina. Where is the next member of the Twelve Heavenly Stars?"
"The next one…That's right. It's a bit far. Parthenos-sama of the Maiden lived hidden in a village at the foot of the mountain two thousand kilometers west of here."
"Village?"
"Yes. In a forested region with weak monsters, a defensive barrier was erected against outsiders. She is living there peacefully."
Oh, that was really mild. It was wonderful since this would not bother anyone. Although I was a bit concerned about her becoming a shut-in, perhaps this could be postponed? Unlike Aries or Libra, even if we left her alone for a while, there wouldn't be any victim.
"Oh, yes…That mountain is Ruphas-sama's birthplace. All the flügels who originally lived there had been driven away. She now occupied it as an uninhabited, holy sanctuary."
I took back what I said.
I knew it, there was trouble.
※ Author’s Notes: Weapons Of This World
For the most part, weapons of the real world exist in this world. Fictitious weapons, such as whip swords, are also common. Also, since gunner is the advanced class of archer, there were probably a lot of firearms two hundred years ago. (This would be very expensive now.) A firearm with good performance is fundamental to a fantasy world.Jean: "This is amazing. I got the strongest sword!"
Holy Magic Sword—Lucifer Blade Ecthelion Ω [Attack +150]
A sword made by Ruphas in the past when she was drunk. It is very embarrassing to use as its name must be shouted out loudly when attacking. But by the standards of the current era, it would be considered a famous sword.
In terms of design, this sword looks like what you might see in souvenir key-chains. As a child, I always wanted to buy those key-chains with a dragon encircling the sword. In fact, I have a key-chain in the shape of (Translator: uh, a sword in Dragon Quest game, I think). The only sword on the ground that could withstand the power of a dragon knight!
※ Foot Notes
Jamadhar (ジャマダハル) is a kind of punch dagger from India, now commonly and erroneously referred to as katar.Tonfa (トンファー) is an Asian weapon consisting of a stick with a perpendicular handle attached a third of the way down the length of the stick.
(パイルバンカー) is a fictitious, weaponized pile driver featured in Armored Trooper VOTOMS and later anime series.
(蛇腹剣) is a fictitious kind of sword that can be extended and used like a whip. The closest real-world approximation is the Indian urumi.
Parthenos (パルテノス) is the daughter of Apollo, who died a maiden and was placed in the heavens to become the constellation of Virgo. It is also the Greek name for the astrological sign of Virgo.
Ecthelion (エクセリオン) of the Fountain is a high elf and one of the greatest warrior of the First Age in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion.
A WILD LAST BOSS APPEARED!