Proofreader: Xemul
The Ancient Dragon had gone to great lengths to describe the item as a ‘special item’. Loren thought it must be an extraordinary item, but then a question came to his mind.
Dragons had a habit of collecting treasures, which, in addition to gold, silver, and gems, should also include powerful magic items. If it was such a treasure like Konin had said, then it should be included in the treasures piled up by the wall of the chamber where their party currently was.
“Don’t tell me it’s among the treasures there?”
If so, it was no longer the legacy of the Ancient Kingdom, but the treasure of a dragon. Konin wanted to express his gratitude, but there was no way to tell whether he felt thankful enough to give up his own treasure.
“No, it’s not here. I’m not interested in items I can’t use myself.”
With that being said, Loren looked at the hoard piled up against the wall. In addition to the coins and gems, there were also some weapons that like treasured swords or magic swords stuck into the ground, which seemed to contradict Konin’s statement.
Loren was about to ask about it, but he closed his mouth when he saw Konin walk up to the wall, held the hilt of one of the swords stuck in the wall in his mouth and started shaking his head. It seemed like he wanted to say that he could use the swords in this way.
Taking that into account, Loren looked at the piles of treasures again and found that there were indeed shields and swords among them, indicating that they were probably collected because the dragon could use them by holding them in his mouth.
Regardless, Loren had no idea why a dragon, who was supposed to have scales stronger and fangs sharper than most swords, would go to the trouble of putting a shield or sword in his mouth to use it for anything.
“What are the magic items that you can’t use?”
“Armors. I can’t wear human armors.”
Konin, who had returned from the wall, answered Lapis’ question.
As a dragon’s body structure was completely different from that of a human, it was true that a dragon could not wear human armor. He probably could use helmets at the very least, but it seemed that Konin had no intention of dismantling a set of armor just to use the helmet.
“There is an extraordinary item, made from the best of the best technologies of the Magic Kingdom in a ruin that I know of.”
“It smells of trouble.”
Dia muttered as if she had some thoughts about the legacy of the Ancient Kingdom.
Loren did not disagree with the fact that the trouble powerful goods attracted was proportional to their power. It was usually the case for things that everyone wanted, and Loren would not want to touch them unless he had to. However, with someone like Magna collecting such things and making it even more of a hassle, he had no choice but to resign himself to the fact that he would have to.
“I don’t know if it is troublesome or not. I haven’t seen it myself, after all.”
“You haven’t seen it?”
Because of Konin’s big talk, Loren had assumed that he had seen the actual object. However, if the dragon had not seen the actual thing himself, it was doubtful whether it was actually in the place he said it was.
“I am sure it is there. It was written to be there.”
“Written?”
“There is a monument at the entrance to the ruin where it is enshrined. It is written there, so I think it is there.”
Konin’s tone was losing strength, as if he became weak when confronted with the fact that he had not seen the item himself.
The faces of Lapis, Gula and Dia, which could be seen behind Loren and Nim, turned doubtful.
“A monument at a ruin? They went through all the trouble of putting up a sign that says, ‘There is an armor here’?”
“It’s a strange story, isn’t it? What kind of ruin is that?”
“They can’t build a ruin just to put armor in it, can they? No, can such a wasteful thing be… possible? Is it possible?”
Loren understood why the three of them were sceptical. Ruins of the Ancient Kingdom always served a purpose. For example, it could be a research facility, a residential facility for the people of the kingdom, or a warehouse. What kind of facility would be built with a monument at the entrance to inform the public that there was armor inside? That made the existence of the ruin that Konin mentioned became doubtful.
“Ojii-chan, you’re not going senile, are you?”
“How rude. Both my eyes and head are still clear.”
“Really? You’ve lived a long time, haven’t you?”
Gula, with only one eyebrow raised, spoke in a mocking manner, and Konin protested, stomping the ground in indignation. Leaving the dragon to Gula, who provoked him with even more words, Loren formed a circle with Lapis, Nim, and Dia and began consulting with them.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know what it means, but I don’t think it’s a lie.”
It was Lapis who responded to Loren’s request for an opinion.
“I don’t think Konin would benefit from setting us up, and since he seems to feel indebted to us for eliminating the orc threat, I think the information is fairly reliable.”
“Even if you take that possibility out of the equation, I’m still not convinced.”
Dia took over Lapis.
“I’m sure you’ve already known this, but ruins always have a purpose. I’ve never heard of any ruins that were built to house armors.”
“So, with that in mind, let’s let the leader decide, shall we?”
Loren’s words caused three of them to shift the focus of their gazes, and Nim was the centre of attention.
“M-me?”
“Even though it’s just a formality, you are the leader of this party, Nim.”
“Mercenaries are a bit strict about hierarchical relationships among ourselves.”
“I just went with the flow. I had no idea this elf was the leader.”
In fact, Nim was registered as the party leader to be able to accept this commission, but she did not expect to be entrusted with the decision here. After looking around at the troubled faces of the three people staring at her, she looked at Loren with a sullen expression. Seeing such expression on her face, Loren put his hand on her shoulder as if to reassure her.
“It’s just a joke. We won’t dump it on you here like that. But…”
After a pause, during which his expression turned serious, Loren looked into the eyes of Nim, who was still looking at him, and spoke his mind.
“Nim, you originally joined this job because you wanted some easy money, right? I’m sorry, but from here on out, it’s going to be a troublesome thing that has nothing to do with the job. I can’t involve you in this, so it’ll be better if you turn back here. I’ll ask Dia to take you back.”
“You’re trying to exclude me when things become interesting?!”
Dia pressed, and Loren apologetically told her.
“I’m not trying to exclude you, but we can’t let Nim go home alone, can we? Our party will continue on alone from here on, so why don’t you go back with Nim?”
Although Nim was a very skilled silver-ranked adventurer, Loren was not only uncomfortable asking her to return to Kapha alone, he was also worried that something might go wrong. If Dia escorted her back, he would be able to go to the ruin without worrying, but he knew that Dia would be reluctant to accept this proposal. That was why he made the request earnestly.
Dia’s cheeks were puffed up and she looked dissatisfied, but when Loren bowed to her, she reluctantly agreed.
“Only if the elf decides to come back.”
“Of course. So, what do you think, Nim? Of course, we’ll pay you the money. If it’s urgent, you can ask Lapis to pay right here.”
“I’ll lend you the money, but the interest is ten percent for ten days, Loren.”
Lapis said with a smirk, and Loren, wondering how serious she was, responded with slumped shoulders.
“I’m in so much debt I can’t even count it, and now you want to add more to it?”
Nim, who had been watching their exchange, responded to Loren’s suggestion with a slight chuckle.
“I’m going with you. It would be absurd to go back now. The commission to investigate the Fire Flute Mountain would not have been possible without the presence of a silver ranked adventurer, even on paperwork. I can’t just leave.”
“It could be dangerous.”
It might have been bad for Nim, but from Loren’s point of view, it would be better if she left now. Even if they didn’t know how dangerous the ruin or whatever Konin was referring to was, it was by no means safe, and he would feel sorry for Chuck if anything should happen to Nim, who was about to marry him.
“You’re a good child, Loren, for worrying. Not only for me, but also for Chuck. But I am an adventurer. I take responsibility for the consequences of my decisions.”
“But…”
Loren tried to argue with Nim again, but she seemed resolute and showed no sign of changing her decision.
As Loren focused all his mind on making Nim return safely, Dia smiled happily at the thought of not having to go back and said.
“Worst case scenario, I’ll turn her into an undead while she’s still alive, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Loren, this child… scares me.”
“I’m scared, too. And she really means it.”
Loren said this with a sigh as he soothed Nim, who was trying to keep as much distance from Dia as possible.
As things were now decided, they looked back to Konin, whom Gula was supposed to be wrangling some information from, but what they saw was the two of them fighting for some reason.
Loren had thought that even an Evil God would not stand a chance against an Ancient Dragon, but the battle was rather balanced, although he was not sure if it was because Gula was putting up a good fight or because Konin had become weaker with his shrunken body.
“Gula, we’ve come to an agreement. You can stop now.”
“Just a bit more! Just a bit more and I’ll have this lizard’s life…”
“Don’t you dare make fun of me, little girl! I may have shrunk, but this is nothing!”
Konin was struggling violently to escape from Gula, who was outright strangling his neck, and Loren put an end to their scuffle by pulling the dragon away by force. As Konin breathed heavily and gasped for air, which he had been deprived of, Loren rubbed his back and asked him to show them the way to the ruin.
Konin, after catching his breath, tapped his paw several times on the floor where he had been when he greeted Loren and his companions.
“The truth is, there’s a reason I made this my home.”
The floor opened up with a crack, revealing an entrance to a downward spiral staircase. When Loren peeked down, he could not see the bottom, just a rather deep vertical hole.
“If you go down here, you will find the ruins. It’s a straight path, so you won’t get lost.”
Konin said that the reason he chose to live here was partly to heal his wounds, but also because this was the only entrance to the ruin he had mentioned. Even though he had been seriously wounded by the Ancient Kingdom, he had, just as expected of a dragon, sealed the place with magic so thoroughly that even the Ancient Kingdom could no longer easily get to it
“In short, it comes full circle.”
Konin laughed as if to say “Serve them right!’, but to those who heard the story, all they could feel in their heart was amazement for the level of pettiness the Ancient Dragon possessed.