Chapter 131: Twist – Part 2

Chapter 131: Twist – Part 2

I close my eyes while the dragon groans loudly inside of me. He does not look forward to having to deal with a puny noble and his inflated ego. "Did we bite off more than we can chew?" I slowly ask, feeling drowsy just from thinking about this "friendly talk."

Yunia gives my shoulder a light pimp slap and retorts with such a snooty elven tone that it actually gets me hard, "Oh, please, Wolfy. Imperial royals are leeches who abuse the fact that they're related to past emperors to intimidate others. You hold more influence in your draconic cock than they do with their whole, inferior, human bodies."

"Hey...!" Ciel cries out.

"You know what I mean..." Yunia tries to deflect.

"Is this a trap?" Lina asks out loud to stop the two from starting to bicker.

"Information gathering again," Alissa calmly answers.

And Yunia agrees, "Don't believe for one second that he's friendly. This Cleinias is our enemy, and he's just playing around with us, having us 'dance' with him just to see how we react."

"But why does he dislike us? Is he related to Katasko?" I sternly question.

"We can ask the officials at the embassy for what they know about him."

"Can he mess with Wolfy for humiliating his son?" Hana worriedly asks. She knows all too well the lengths that some nobles will go to just to get revenge for perceived wounds to their pride.

Ciel assuredly interjects, "Only if he wants a Mark. We have Templars that witnessed his provocation, and if we want to ask for a favor, I bet we could easily convince the Seekers of Truth to mediate."

Lina's Trivia: A Mark is the Templar way of saying that someone is on the naughty list, and if they continue with that behavior, they'll be getting a visit from the Punishers. Lower nobles and the commoners often rely on the Mark to protect them from bullying.

"He might ask for a rematch, now with enchantments allowed since he didn't use any before," Yunia points out.

My annoyance flares, making me groan out loud. I'm not one for duels, and I only challenged Alki-Alki at first because he was being a dickhead. I'm not a "you insulted my pride, so suffer for it" kind of dragon, but rather "you're too puny and insignificant for me to care." I only really get serious if someone actually threatens me.

"The invite also specifically refers to only you, Wolfy," she adds, a sympathetic smile growing on her pretty, red lips.

"I'll need mental support, please," I dryly request.

"Always," Alissa diligently replies.

"He might be a Decien, but don't let him intimidate you," Yunia encourages me.

Lina's Trivia: Decien is an imperial title that awards one thousand free imperial soldiers, but our Lordsguard is already twice as large as that.

It's just knights that we're lacking...

We go silent, and the girls start to comfort me, but then Hana turns around to take a look at our stone platform. The orb she was using is still there, though now, it isn't glowing. The psychedelic colors are all gone except for a small amount of light-brown elemental pseudo-mana, and it's slowly sinking into the platform as it absorbs the magically conjured stone.

"It used to absorb things faster, though... " She mumbles absentmindedly and decides to fly over there.

Once she gets her hand on the sinking orb, she notices that it's now extremely heavy.

I order the golems to help her out, and they bring the orb back to us.

Lina immediately notices that it isn't made of weak, magical glass anymore, so I put on [Jewel Appraisal] and use [Appraisal Eyes] on it.

Item InfoMaterial'Diamond'Quality'100'Enchantments'Irregular mana absorption enchantment; irregular elemental conjuration enchantment'Anomalies'Highly irregular magical anomaly deeply ingrained within the item'???'???'

Lina guesses that it was previously made of poorly-conjured glass, which is why it was so fragile, but now, this thing can be called a proper Artifact.

"What do you think the last entry is about?" I question her.

"'Origin Insights,' but it requires either very high 'Wisdom' or historical knowledge, so something from the Dawn of Mankind would be unreasonably difficult to fully appraise."

My 'Wisdom' is twenty, which is damn high, so who would even be able to fully appraise this...?

"We can ask around at the temple," Ciel suggests.

Sure.

"What's up with all the 'irregular' stuff?" Roxanne curiously asks as she stares intensely at the diamond orb, as if just that would be enough to decode its secrets.

"That's just how Artifacts are," Yunia indifferently answers, and Lina nods in agreement.

We won't actually know what an Artifact does until we try it, but this one doesn't actually seem to be any different from the other orbs, it's just far sturdier.

Hana tries it out, and yes, it still works the same way, just slower and with less efficiency.

And Lina scholarly explains, "The previous material was more magical, so it had better compatibility with enchantments, but because it's 'irregular,' it's more chaotic and actually damaging to the jewel."

"I see a Symbol, can I go eat it?" Aoi suddenly asks, her tone as innocent as ever.

I smile kindly at her and nod. It's time to end our little break and continue exploring this dungeon.

We land before our guides, and I unleash my [Sexual Charm] on Penelope with a handsome smirk.

"I suppose we're now allowed to explore this area?" I politely ask, making sure that they understand I'm talking to both of them since I don't want to antagonize Nikolas further.

Lolo throws her floppy ear behind her back and crosses her arms in a sassy stance as she remarks, "Now we can actually help you with our knowledge because this area is full of hazards, but I have a feeling that you can just ignore most of them, anyway."

Hana replies in kind, "Well, we can all use [Fly], so..."Th.ê most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m

Lolo slowly nods. "Yeah, I think I'm already becoming desensitized to how eccentric you all are."

But the black wolf dude interrupts our flirting by asking a question with the "Charisma" of a rock, "So, where do you want to go?"

I politely answer, "Anywhere with monsters for us to gather Experience."

He nods. "Then let's go."

And Kyora moans while she stretches, "Oh, finally. I was getting tired of just standing around."

But before we leave, I want to make myself look cool for a bit.

I press and hold the nature elemental button in my mind, then I begin molding it to my will. After a good minute, I have a carriage-shaped elemental ready.

I turn back to them and smirk, then I press the mental button while I snap my fingers, "You're welcome to use this carriage if you don't feel like walking."

Lolo actually shows a small smile as she stares at the carriage, so I consider this a small success already.

Nature elementals are far more flexible than earth elementals, so the carriage shouldn't shake much if we don't go too fast.

Roxanne stays in the carriage like the lazy demon she is, and just to make a point, our guides choose to walk.

We'd like to inspect the suspiciously low clouds, but both of our guides explain that they're just like wild tesla coils that shock anything with a soul, so everyone but Hana gives it a hard pass.

Nikolas quickly shows his expertise by guiding us around anything remotely toxic/poisonous/venomous, which is basically all of nature here, animals included.

Penelope's specialty is spotting hidden monsters and animals, of which, there are surprisingly a lot. Like how we can easily create underground bunkers with [Earth Magic], the Symbols manipulate the elements to hide within them for sleep or to soak up the elemental mana like a damn plant.

Their hiding spots are pretty far from each other, further than even Alissa's [Sense Soul] range, so Lolo's expertise is essential for us to plot the most monster-dense path for us to take.

The animals here are surprisingly vicious, too, and they all have an elemental theme, but what's most impressive is that they're incredibly similar to modern monsters, which implies that they're the source concept that the monsters were originally based on.

We see the Zinotue, an electric tiger; the Burkanolf, a fire wolf; Wysarie, a feathered wyvern, though only the animal version can use Wind-attuned magic; Giant Turtles with stone carapaces; and Cloud Snakes that can solidify into ice. All of these are animals instead of monsters.

We don't get too far into the valley, though, as lunchtime soon comes, and since our guides are adventurers, fine meals would be lost on them, so I decide to show them the wonders of hamburgers.

We stop by a spring of clear, non-toxic water that continues down the valley and further on merges with the stream of lava, creating a misty zone that ends at a large pillar of magical ice, which has turned the molten rock into obsidian.

The complete lack of trees and other tall plants makes this view oddly barren, reminding me a bit of the cold alpine tundras of Earth.

"I'll inform Decien Alkibiades that you've arrived. Please wait here. You can call for a servant by using this enchantment," Sebastian announces and touches a large yellow gem embedded in the wall, then he bows and leaves after I nod.

I'm neither hungry nor feeling like drinking poison, so I just sit down and wait.

An hour later, I start to get quite irritated.

"Yes, he's deliberately making you wait as a show of power," Yunia slowly affirms, seething just like I am.

While the girls are having fun exploring in the dungeon, I'm forced to sit here and wait like a fool.

"I'm sorry, Wolfy," Alissa guiltily apologizes.

"You don't have to apologize. Just have fun for me," I immediately retort.

I start pressing the "drop [Gate] coordinate" button inside my mind out of impatience. It's kind of weird feeling the coordinate "slide away" for a meter before disappearing. It's just like how [Dead Zone] pushes away my "targeting" for projectile spells.

Just out of curiosity, I put on [Sense Soul] and make a mental map of this place. Surprisingly, most of the mansion seems empty except for a small human on the third floor working away while sitting, who I assume is Cleinias, and a group of humans moving around inside a room, which I assume is the kitchen.

There's something weird about this mansion, tho...

Since there's nobody around to stop me, I decide to explore a bit, but I quickly realize that there's not much to see.

Guest rooms, ballrooms, indoor pools, storage rooms, empty rooms, libraries, and a creepy room full of statues, none of which particularly interests me. Dozens of portraits of similar-looking imperial men and a few women line the corridors, the previous heads of the family, and I admire the hotness of the women for a bit. I also pass by some heraldry here and there, but it seems like the Alkibiades family hasn't done anything particularly noteworthy in its entire history.

The lack of sexual stuff is surprising, or maybe I'm just biased.

Then I notice that my [Gate] coordinates are all sliding towards one room in particular, a library near the center of the mansion.

Suddenly, I feel a familiar "itch" inside my head, practically begging me to enter the library, and I immediately move to do so, my mood completely shifted from boredom to serious determination.

One of the Gods wants me there, and I need to know why.

I enter the small library and follow the "coordinate" as it slides towards a book-filled wall, but when I stop before it, I don't know what else to do.

I stare at the books, and even the girls help me out, but none of us find anything noteworthy.

What the fuck do you want me to do...?

The "itch" grows stronger, urging me to follow the coordinate as it slides into the wall, so I do my best, pressing my body against it...

Then I put the coordinate down one more time, and it sticks. Out of the entire mansion, there's a single, one centimetri cubed spot where the [Gate] scrubber doesn't work.

The fuck...?

Then I turn around and almost squeal in surprise as I see Sebastian just standing at the doorway, staring intensely at me.

"Decien Alkibiades will see you now," he announces, his tone completely devoid of emotion, then he turns around and starts walking without waiting for my response.

Announcement

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