Chapter 152: Turbulence (1)
Everyone has their own goals when they play games.
Clearing all the endings.
Speedrunning faster than anyone else.
Unlocking achievements with bizarre playstyles.
Defeating boss monsters on hard difficulty.
They all set their own objectives and play the game to achieve them.
And for me, clearing the quest for the <Descent> skill was the goal of this game that I was facing right now.
“A new quest has opened.”
I muttered as I checked the newly appeared quest on the screen.
<Descent>.
It was a skill that could be acquired by clearing five quests that it required.
I didn’t know what effect it had, but the quests to unlock this skill were so vicious that they could be considered as the ultimate goal of the game.
Like collecting a million karma without using any.
Or retrieving an item while avoiding a ruthless boss monster.
And now, there was one more quest added that was hard to understand its meaning.
-Every time you meet the following conditions, the progress of <Descent> will increase by one step.
-Usable karma: 1328 / 999999 (Incomplete)
-[Sacred artifact: Ergus’s stake]: 1 / 1 (Complete)
-[Philosopher’s stone]: 0 / 1 (Incomplete)
-???: 0 / 1 (Incomplete)
-Making a holy body for Descent (Incomplete)
Making a holy body for Descent.
It was not a kind of quest that I could comprehend at a glance.
However, judging by the sentence that said “making”, it seemed clear that the quest was about crafting something that I could use.
I still had doubts about the holy body, though.
“A holy body…”
I didn’t know what the <Descent> skill was for.
I vaguely guessed that it might be a task to create a character that I could control myself.
But that was just a leap of logic based on the content of the quest.
I wouldn’t know the exact information unless I checked it myself.
After spending so much time on this, I might be disappointed when I finally got the skill.
“But still… maybe it will be a clue to get closer to the ending as I progress?”
Nevertheless, I moved with this quest as my goal, because it was the only objective that was given to me right now.
I felt a deep interest and moved to find Yuto somewhere on the map.
The newly added quest was aimed at making something.
If I had to make something unknown, it would be better to leave it to ‘that guy’ who was studying the [Philosopher’s stone] diligently.
No one else would have any expertise in crafting.
Swoosh.
Using the familiar screen swipe, I cut across the continent and soon found Yuto flying in the air.
-“Mr. Elbon, what are you doing?”
On top of Yuto, Perin was talking to a character named Elbon.
Of course, Elbon looked annoyed by Perin.
Perin peeked at Elbon with his pointed ears twitching, and Elbon waved his arm in the air and put a speech bubble over his head.
-“Don’t bother me when I’m busy.”
-“Yes…”
-“It’s a possibility. If I use this, maybe I can make a philosopher’s stone with other sacred artifacts…”
Elbon was surprisingly diligent in carrying out the task given to him.
Unfortunately, he didn’t produce any results yet.
But according to Eutenia who brought him along, he was competent, so maybe he would someday produce something decent.
“That’s impressive.”
Well, if he ran away from there, he would only free fall from the sky.
I had also considered the possibility that the AI might bug out and drop him.
It was also impressive that he didn’t run away.
I watched Perin petting Yuto with a relaxed expression and Yuto snorting for a while, and then I moved my finger to the <Voice> skill to talk to Elbon.
There was no need to go through Perin to talk since I had the <Voice> skill.
“Ah, listen.”
-“Mortal, listen.”
-“This voice is…”
As the voice played by the <Voice> skill, Elbon stopped his hand in surprise, immersed in his research.
He looked around for a moment, then looked up at the sky with a blank face.
He seemed to have figured out who was talking to him in an instant.
He understood that I was talking to him, so he would listen to my commands using <Voice>.
Now all I had to do was tell him about the quest.
“Ahem…”
Elbon’s job was to create a holy body.
I didn’t know much about the holy body either, but I had a kind of trick in mind for that.
It was a method of using a new translator that matched the words to the context.
I used the <Voice> skill to say a story that would convey the minimum meaning.
I believed that the new translator would paraphrase it appropriately.
“A holy body for Descent? You make it.”
-“Prepare the holy body. Weave the clothes that suit your master.”
-“Is that… telling me to make a homunculus for you?”
Did my intention work well?
It looked like a plausible conversation between Elbon and the new translator.
The most noticeable word among them was homunculus.
Homunculus was a term for artificial humans made by alchemy.
Judging by Elbon’s conversation, the holy body he was talking about seemed to refer to the avatar of the character.
As I listened to his story, I became more confident in my guess.
It seemed obvious that the <Descent> skill was a skill to control the character made in the game.
“That’s right. Make it a cheat character by stuffing only good things.”
-“Create the most strong, sturdy, and powerful flesh in the world. When the time of destiny comes, a worthy being will dwell there.”
Then the character I would control had to be a cheat.
It would have a more direct and intuitive impact on the relationships of the characters.
Not to mention, it would be no different from a god descending for the cultists.
Such a character couldn’t be weak.
At my words telling him to make a cheat character, Elbon stroked his beard and pondered for a while, then put up a speech bubble.
-“The most powerful flesh… The only material that suits it is dragon blood.”
“Dragon blood? Well, do you have dragons?”
I want to raise a cool dragon.
Even as that thought crossed my mind, Elbon kept mumbling.
-“But getting dragon blood is not an easy task.”
-“Dragons live in places where people can’t see them, and they are wary and powerful.”
-“Not to mention, making a homunculus is risky and experimental.”
So is it possible?
Or is it impossible?
He should just say yes if I tell him to do it, but Elbon seemed to have a lot to say.
I got annoyed and wondered if I should just punch him.
Then Perin spoke for me and looked at him.
-“Mr. Elbon, do you not want to follow the command of the great one?”
-“Hmph.”
Perin spoke with a confident face and crossed his arms, and Yuto below him put up a speech bubble and agreed with her.
Elbon looked flustered by Perin’s unexpected remark.
Even if she was rolling around in the sanctuary all day, Perin was still an apostle.
She was not in a position to be careful in front of Elbon.
-“No, no, that’s not it, I just…”
-“Then just do it!”
-“…”
-“The apostles will help you with the hard part anyway!”
Perin’s positive threat made Elbon nod slowly with a drained expression.
It was an order from God himself.
It was hard to refuse it in front of the apostles.
Elbon gave up on refusing and put down the herbs he was holding.
Then he looked up at the sky instead of him and asked me one more question.
-“If all the tasks are successfully completed, what will happen to me and… my disciple?”
He was worried about the fate that would befall them when everything was over.
Elbon’s fate after the work was done.
If it were Eutenia instead of me, she would have disposed of him without hesitation.
Blasphemous, lacking faith.
She would have said such things and thrown Elbon as a sacrifice on the altar.
But now Elbon was asking me and the new translator.
He clearly wanted a different answer than Eutenia.
“…”
What would I say if I were the new translator?
I looked at him as I pondered that.
If I were a god, a being with such dignity, what would I say to him?
After thinking for a while, I opened my mouth with one hand on my chin.
Well. I don’t know for sure, but if I were a god, I think I would say something like this.
“Those who perform great deeds will enjoy glory.”
-“Those who perform great deeds will enjoy glory.”
***
The reception room of the Colt Duke’s residence, where the guest had left.
There, the Duke of Colt looked at Scollaus in front of him with a sneer.
He was trying to look a bit more serious than usual.
It was the look that Scollaus always had when he failed the task he was given.
The Duke snapped his fingers and waited for his answer, and Scollaus reported to him with a troubled expression.
“······I failed. The mercenaries who took the mission seem to have been annihilated.”
It was a failure report on the kidnapping mission that the Duke had entrusted to Scollaus.
The mercenaries hired by Scollaus had failed to bring the emperor’s teacher.
The failure of the mission also meant that there were consequences to follow.
The advance payment to the mercenaries was completely gone, and the alertness of the emperor would have increased.
It was a possibility that the Duke had anticipated to some extent.
“I see. They had some means of their own.”
It seemed that the forces that joined Aycliffe had secretly guarded the teacher.
He had sent the mercenaries with that possibility in mind from the beginning.
Even if the hired mercenaries failed, he could gauge the level of the opponent.
Besides, it was not hard to cut off the tail.
The mercenaries in the back alleys would do anything dirty.
It was a pity that the mercenaries who brought the information were wiped out.
“Yes. Should we move the Shadow Knights?”
“Leave them alone. We’d better stay quiet for a while.”
Scollaus looked regretful as he mentioned the Shadow Knights, but the Duke shook his head and denied him.
Unlike the mercenaries, the Shadow Knights were not disposable trash.
They were made by pouring a lot of gold from the training process.
There were many ways to deny the relationship with the Duke’s family, but it was too wasteful to throw them away just to gauge the opponent.
Eventually, they would face the reality of the opponent as they stayed in the system.
Now it was wise to just wait for the right time.
“What are your intentions, Your Grace? When do you plan to return to your domain?”
“I intend to stay in the system for a while.”
“I see…”
“My son will take care of the domain even if I’m not there. He doesn’t deserve to inherit my place if he can’t do that much.”
The Duke’s domain would be well protected by his successor, Ribore.
The Duke planned to stay in the system for a while.
The succession education was already well underway.
Even if something happened to him in case of emergency, Ribore would become the next Duke without any problem.
It would be burdensome for him to face the emperor for the succession ceremony, though.
“Come on, doesn’t the whole empire know how capable your son is?”
“I raised him as a lion cub, of course he is.”
“A lion… A fitting animal for your son.”
“You know that too.”
The Duke smiled and lifted his lips at Scollaus.
The Colt Duke’s family always had to be lions.
They had to be fierce lions that could play with any prey in front of them.
That was what the successor education was for.
And that was the only way for the Duke’s family to survive in this chaotic era.
