Timmons Merchant Guild (1)

‘He wants me to deliver the final blow?’

The absurdity of the plausibility left me speechless.

With my current skills, going up against the Dark King, Lugal Necris, was nothing short of suicide.

‘If I could at least learn directly, I’d give up on the Setting Addition, but that’s impossible too.’

Fabian possessed a natural-born talent for martial arts, and Damian, having immediately recognized this, approached him first and offered to pass on his swordsmanship.

He thought that through Fabian, he might be able to witness the limits of the sword—the end of the Moon Severing Divine Sword—that he himself had never achieved.

‘I have become incomparably stronger than before, but…’

Even so, it was unreasonable to compare myself to Fabian, who had such overwhelming talent.

In the end, to obtain Damian Viet’s swordsmanship, I had to personally defeat the Dark King, Lugal.

“Your expression doesn’t look good. Is something wrong?”

“… No, it’s nothing.”

What am I supposed to do about this?

After some hesitation, I spoke.

“If the story so far is correct, Lugal has already resurrected several times, and you, sir Damian, have been stopping him each time.”

“That’s right.”

“And based on the circumstances, this resurrection seems quite different from before. What’s the reason?”

The miasma the Fairy Queen had sensed.

It had clearly been the energy released when Lugal was resurrected.

But according to her, the current cycle had been drastically delayed.

“As I said before, I’ve defeated Lugal more times than I can count. No matter how many times I killed him, he kept coming back.”

A faint red light in his helmeted eyes turned toward me.

“After centuries of unending defeat, he changed his mind. This time, he’s decided to risk everything on a final battle.”

Damian’s explanation was as follows.

Once Lugal became a lich, he could resurrect endlessly as long as his soul core containing his vitality was intact.

And it was so well hidden that destroying it was no simple task.

That was why Damian never managed to kill Lugal completely.

However, hiding the core wasn’t all upside for Lugal.

While it let him avoid true death, it limited the strength he could unleash.

Having judged that this situation would never end, Lugal finally chose a decisive battle.

He risked everything, pulled out his hidden core, and decided to fight Damian with his full power.

‘So I have to fight the Dark King, Lugal, going all out, staking everything on this battle?’

I could avoid all this by giving up the Moon Severing Divine Sword, but that was too valuable.

It was the swordsmanship that made Damian Viet the strongest on the continent.

“… Sir Damian, I have one more question.”

“It’s fine. I’m already dead. I have all the time in the world.”

I fixed my eyes on his calm demeanor and spoke slowly.

“Why are you going this far?”

Abandoning even the glory of a hero, continuing an endless, solitary struggle.

Is that really a choice anyone could make out of simple justice?

I couldn’t help but wonder, because I knew I never could.

“… Because Lugal and I are alike.”

There were a multitude of emotions in his voice.

Though his face was hidden by the helmet, somehow it seemed as if he was giving a bitter smile.

“The despair of not being able to surpass one’s target. I know it all too well, so I can’t let him be.”

Unable to surpass his goal…

For Lugal, that must have been Damian.

“But if you say you and Lugal are alike…”

That meant Damian, too, had someone he was striving to surpass, but never managed to.

Sword God Damian Viet was known as the strongest swordsman of his time, said to have reached the limits of what humans could achieve in martial arts.

The idea that there was someone even he couldn’t surpass was simply astonishing.

“Yes. In the end, there was someone I never surpassed, not even at the very end. I’m sure you know her too. There isn’t a soul on the continent who doesn’t.”

And what he said next was far beyond what I had expected.

“Grancesia Atell.”

Called the Maiden of the Eternal Star.

The Saintess representing the Altair Order.

“She was my goal.”

* * *

When I returned to the fairy forest, it was late at night under a moonlit sky.

As soon as I arrived, Monet rushed up to me, clearly bothered.

“Where have you been? I was worried!”

“Did you have fun with the fairies?”

“Yes, I did, I suppose…”

Monet stopped there, opening her eyes slyly and looking at me.

“You didn’t go anywhere dangerous again, did you?”

“No, the Fairy Queen asked me for a favor, and I just took care of it.”

“Well, that’s a relief…”

When I mentioned Beatrice, Monet finally looked relieved.

On the other hand, Beatrice looked a bit guilty as she addressed me.

“Clay, you worked hard today. I never imagined the source of that unusual aura would be the Dark King Lugal.”

“Do you know him, Your Majesty?”

“He was a hero who made a name for himself long ago, so of course I do. Now that I think about it, I recall things getting noisy back when the forest was still small.”

Beatrice looked off into the distance as if recalling the distant past.

“So, did you learn how long it’ll be until the Dark King revives?”

“Yes. There’s about half a year left.”

Originally, this episode was set to happen after Fabian’s visit to the Eintban Kingdom, so it made sense.

“Half a year…”

It wasn’t short, but it wasn’t long either.

After thinking for a moment, Beatrice continued.

“In any case, now that I know the reason, I will reward you as promised.”

“Thank you.”

But even though her question was answered, Beatrice still looked uneasy.

Or rather, she looked even more troubled than when she’d first requested my help.

“Are you worried about Lugal?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. If Damian fails to stop him, our forest will suffer greatly.”

After a brief pause, I spoke.

“Your Majesty, may I ask for a favor?”

“A favor?”

“Yes, it concerns the dungeon.”

“Tell me what it is.”

“There’s a mithril vein in the dungeon. If it’s alright, I’d like to mine there.”

Continuous mining would mean many humans coming and going through Kiten Forest, so her permission was crucial.

“A mithril mine? We have no need for such things, so take as much as you want.”

Thankfully, Beatrice nodded and granted permission easily, but there was still more to clarify.

“Mining will take a considerable amount of time. It will also require many people.”

“True, I suppose.”

“So, could you help by allowing at least a small path for workers to pass through?”

“You mean you want a path through the forest unaffected by magic?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm.”

She seemed to be giving this request much thought.

Since this was basically opening up a part of Kiten Forest, it was only natural.

I quickly added,

“In return, I’ll help Damian to ensure Lugal is defeated and never awakens again.”

“You will?”

“Yes, I promise. If I fail to defeat Lugal in half a year, you can close the path again.”

Once I answered in all seriousness, Beatrice slowly nodded.

“Very well. And if you successfully subdue the Dark King Lugal Necris, I’ll keep the path open for mining until it’s finished, and grant you a great blessing.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

That resolved the mining issue.

At last, I could breathe a sigh of relief.

‘Beatrice doesn’t know that Lugal will definitively perish in half a year.’

According to the synopsis, even if I do nothing, Lugal will be destroyed by Damian.

‘And probably thanks to Sword of Man Genova.’

She probably wouldn’t have trusted an ordinary human to defeat Lugal.

But since someone with Genova claimed they could, it earned her trust.

‘However…’

I glanced at my hand. Although covered by a black glove, it was the hand wearing the Eye of Shimosha.

‘Normally, this is where you’d scold me for pulling a trick, but you’re quiet.’

Perhaps it was the effect of meeting Damian.

‘Is there something going on between them? Maybe he was your disciple or something.’

[No, that’s not it.]

As if reading my thoughts, Grancesia spoke in a low voice.

[Damian used to visit the temple just to see me all the time.]

‘Why?’

[I don’t know. Maybe watching me fight influenced him. He used to say those things back then too. That he wanted to be like me.]

Grancesia reminisced about the past.

She recalled her era long ago, and the time when she met Damian.

[Of course, I didn’t think much of it. Who would have imagined he’d be idolized as the Sword God? It’s nice to see him… but seeing him like that…]

‘Because he’s become a death knight?’

[I was shocked at first, but not anymore. More than that, you heard what Damian said: that he and Lugal are alike.]

That’s right, he did say that.

Still…

‘I disagree. The two of them are nothing alike.’

Maybe they did share some similarities, just as Damian said.

But I disagreed.

Lugal, unable to endure never surpassing his goal, chose a twisted path, while Damian sacrificed himself to protect the world.

Even as a death knight, Damian remained the hero I had admired since my childhood.

How could anyone say the two were the same?

But Grancesia seemed to think otherwise.

[No, I can sense it. That child… he still has regrets. Truly, I wonder why he ever aspired to be like me.]

“….”

I couldn’t answer that unbearably bitter voice.

* * *

Having secured the Fairy Queen’s promise on the mine, I headed straight to Timmons Merchant Guild.

The place was buzzing—just as I had requested, they were busy gathering workers and equipment for the mining project.

“Ah, Count Vanhart, you’re here…”

Ravin, giving instructions to men hauling cargo, was startled when he saw the line of laborers following me to the door, his eyes wide in surprise.

“It’s been a while, master Ravin.”

More than ten workers were each carrying large packages, and at my gesture, they carefully placed them before Ravin.

“Count, what are these…?”

“Open them and see for yourself.”

With a gesture telling him to hurry, Ravin cautiously unfolded one of the packages.

“Gasp! Th-this is…”

“You have a sharp eye. To think you recognized it immediately.”

“How could I not! If I couldn’t recognize equipment made of mithril, I’d have no right to call myself a merchant!”

Ravin examined the mithril equipment, awe apparent in his voice.

“Where in the world did you get these?”

“Do you remember when I told you about the dungeon in Kiten Forest?”

“… These all came from that dungeon?”

Since I’d already told Ravin about the mithril vein in the Kiten Forest dungeon, he quickly caught on.

“That’s right. Loot from monsters.”

“My word. You collected all this yourself? If there’s any more…”

“Unfortunately, that’s all of it. But don’t you think this settles the debt?”

“The debt? Oh!”

With this quantity of mithril arms, paying off the debt of the Bellen family was more than possible, even before the mining began.

“Of course it’s possible! Not only can we repay the debt, but we’ll have easily fifty thousand gold left over!”

“That’s good news.”

When I smiled gently, Ravin looked almost dazed.

“You’re really giving us all of these?”

“Consider it an investment. You’ll still need money to procure workers and equipment for the mine. Use them to cover all expenses.”

“This is more than enough!”

Now that it was sinking in, Ravin nodded enthusiastically, face full of life.

Of course, I wasn’t as unflappable inside as I looked.

‘If I said I wasn’t reluctant, it’d be a lie…’

The mithril gear came from what was left after distributing shares to the three adventurers who’d helped me in the Kiten Forest dungeon.

Honestly, once mining started, repaying the Timmons Merchant Guild’s debt was only a matter of time—I didn’t actually have to hand over the equipment.

But I wanted to bring the Timmons Merchant Guild to House Vanhart’s territory as soon as possible.

‘The sooner, the better; I won’t have time later.’

I couldn’t devote all my time to the mining operation. I needed as much time as possible to train swordsmanship with Damian.

To do that, it was crucial to get the Timmons Guild’s debt resolved and bring them in as quickly as possible.

‘… Yes. It’s an investment.’

It hurt to part with them, but compared to the wealth I’d earn in the future, this was nothing.

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