After spending some refined double-peace time with Lady Lavina, I immediately stood before the spire again.
Originally, I’d planned to knock before going in, but Lady Lavina fired the shotgun, and the door disappeared.
“Lady Lavina. We’re supposed to knock. What am I supposed to do if you blow the door away?”
“Benefactor. During the time I was apart from you, I came to many realizations…”
“???”
Lady Lavina’s eyes, fully enjoying the effects of the double peace, were steeped in rapture.
“Why should I knock when I have a shotgun…?”
“Huh.”
“If I have a shotgun, shouldn’t they come out to greet me on their own…?”
“Gasp.”
“I merely injected manners into vampires who were lacking in etiquette…?”
- Hmm… she’s right tho
- (Is that so…? wizard emote)
- If I had a shotgun like that, I’d do the same lol;
I thought about it carefully.
Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve seen it in a book before.
That a shotgun is an excellent means of communication and an etiquette injector.
Then didn’t that mean the ones without manners weren’t Lady Lavina, but the vampires?
If the vampires had been polite, they would have come out to greet us before Lady Lavina pulled the trigger.
“I see. I understand, Lady Lavina.”
“Huhu…”
“But I’ll be taking the shotgun back for a moment.”
“What?!”
- ?
- Hmm…
- (Wait…? priest emote)
- (I’ll help…! priest emote)
Startled, Lady Lavina hugged the shotgun tightly and slowly backed away.
If I gave her three more seconds, she looked ready to cry ang-ang-ang.
Still, I think it would be best to retrieve it. If I left things like this, Lady Lavina would try to solve every situation with the shotgun from now on.
- Ang-ang-ang don’t take Lavina’s away ㅜㅜㅜ
- I’m gonna die I’m gonna die I’m gonna die
- I’m a failure I’m a failure I’m a failure
- Why’d chat go to shit again
- Ugh, the Sapyeongs’ empathy mode is driving me insane;
- Waaah, don’t take my shotgun, waaah, waaah
“???”
I don’t know why, but it felt like Lady Lavina’s crying had been amplified twofold.
Even though Lady Lavina herself hadn’t even started crying yet.
Her eyes, trembling tearily after losing all composure, weakened my heart, and just as I was about to give up on retrieving the shotgun, a gigantic shadow fell over us.
Thud—!
An incredibly enormous gargoyle had come out to greet us.
- What the fuck, that’s a gargoyle?
- Why’s it so big?;;
About fifteen meters, perhaps. The height difference that forced me to look up for a long while was burdensome.
If I hadn’t trained my flexibility, my neck would have hurt—
“Benefactor, it’s dangerous!!!!!”
With a strangely excited voice, Lady Lavina pulled the trigger repeatedly, and each time the shotgun fired, the gargoyle’s foot, leg, pelvis, abdomen, and chest disappeared in order.
In an instant, the gargoyle, left with only his head, no longer had much of a height difference with me.
- This is a gargoyle?
- Why’s it so small…?
- That… shotgun is kinda… really strong…
- Don’t gargoyles have insanely high physical defense…?
Oh dear. How did you end up with only your head left?
I wanted to tremble in fear of Lady Lavina’s violence.
So this was how shotguns ruined people.
“Lady Lavina. Shooting even the gargoyle who came out to greet us was very bad of you.”
“B-but… I thought you might be in danger, Benefactor…”
Those eyes truly lacked persuasiveness.
“If the gargoyle intended to attack, he wouldn’t have landed in front of me. He would’ve simply crushed me outright.”
“That is correct.”
“???”
- ??????
“Th-the gargoyle can talk…?!”
The gargoyle, with only his head remaining, looked at me and spoke.
“Let us converse. Human.”
“Oh. Sure.”
“Benefactor…?!”
- H…?
It was a request for communication, which I truly loved.
***
Arc Gargoyle Barkel.
Barkel, a top-class individual even among gargoyles, was a gargoyle whose ability to discern things had developed to an extreme degree.
Even if his opponent was hiding something, he could see through it, and he could discern a living being’s potential with extremely high accuracy.
When the True Ancestor came to him.
Barkel was able to tell that the True Ancestor was an immortal being, and he realized that no living creature capable of defeating the True Ancestor could exist in this world.
Thus, he became the True Ancestor’s subordinate and fulfilled his role as gatekeeper.
But.
‘What is that?’
When Barkel saw the maid with a doll-like appearance who had suddenly appeared before the door, he had no choice but to doubt his own senses.
Not only did she possess infinite energy, as though she existed outside the laws of this world, he could even see that she had a “means to sever immortality.”
‘Where did something like that come from?’
That was not a human, but an anomaly.
The way she was suppressing her mana and aura as though she’d come on a picnic, and having a staring contest with a stone statue, was also anomalous.
If she wished, she could distinguish between a stone statue and a gargoyle as much as she liked, yet she was deliberately doing that. If that was not an anomaly, then what was?
Barkel’s rational thoughts judged as such, but his sharp discerning eye insisted that the maid was not an anomaly, but a human.
‘There’s no way something like that is human, though?’
She contained infinite power.
And not only did she have the power to sever immortality, she even possessed the power to erase existence itself. That was human?
How should he respond?
If he exerted his full strength, could he inflict even a single wound upon that anomaly?
After repeated questions and answers within himself, Barkel made his decision.
‘Dialogue. Only dialogue is the answer.’
He had no reason to be loyal to the True Ancestor, nor did he have any reason to oppose that anomaly.
Thus, Barkel engaged in conversation with utmost sincerity.
“My name is Barkel.”
“So long as my core is not destroyed, I can restore my body as many times as needed.”
“If I restore my body now, smooth communication will not be possible.”
They conversed.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I have no need to ingest things.”
“If you wish, I am capable of analyzing taste, scent, and components.”
“I, too, do not know the circumstances of my birth.”
They conversed.
“I possess the power to discern a great many things.”
“Even if I tell the truth, will you not destroy me?”
“Your height will not grow any further from there.”
They conversed…
What he learned amid a conversation that felt like eternity was that this maid cherished humanity to an extraordinary degree.
To show hostility toward humanity in front of this maid would be irrational and foolish beyond measure.
“If I had to choose, I prefer protecting human civilization over destroying it.”
“Then, Sir Barkel. May I check whether I can put you into my subspace?”
“Very well.”
He did not know what she meant by putting him into her subspace.
In any case, she did not seem intent on destroying him completely, so it should be fine.
Just as Barkel thought that, the maid’s hand touched his head, and he felt his field of vision change.
In a space where the flow of time did not exist, Barkel simply existed.
***
[Arc Gargoyle Barkel’s Core (A) has been stored in subspace.]
“Oh.”
“D-did… it work?”
“Yes. You’re in my subspace now.”
- Uh… why is putting a gargoyle into subspace possible…?
- It’s Lady Yuyeon, just feel it
- Aha! Lady Yuyeon can do it!
Lady Lavina couldn’t be placed into my subspace, so I’d thought living beings simply weren’t allowed.
But when Sir Barkel’s core entered my subspace, the head left all by itself crumbled apart.
Curious, I checked the item information.
「Arc Gargoyle Barkel’s Core (A)
- You can awaken Barkel by injecting mana.」
Oh dear. It seems Sir Barkel did not catch the Tower’s eye.
The Blood General had four whole lines describing his armor, but Sir Barkel ended in a single line.
I rummaged through my subspace pouch and took Sir Barkel’s core back out.
「You have obtained Maid Points.」
“So that must be the core of an Arc Gargoyle…?”
“Yes. Lady Lavina. You mustn’t shoot it this time.”
“……? Benefactor. Do I look like the kind of person who shoots first and asks questions later…?”
“???”
What is this? Is Lady Lavina perhaps incapable of self-objectification?
Ugh. It’s hard to say, but I should say it for Lady Lavina’s sake.
As firmly as possible.
“Yes.”
“…… M-me…?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Hiiing…”
“Gasp. Please be careful. Lady Lavina, your crying sound is ang-ang-ang.”
“…… Ang-ang-ang?! Me?!”
“Yes.”
- You didn’t know this whole time? LOLOLOLOL
Lady Lavina’s face turned incredibly red.
“That’s… that’s impossible… Or is it…? I feel like maybe I did… No! There’s no way I’d cry like that!”
“Lady Lavina. I’ll be taking back the shotgun now.”
“Ang-ang-ang…!”
“See? It’s ang-ang-ang.”
“No way…!”
- Laa is seriously so damn cute…
- So this adorable kid was dying on the 1st floor every day…
Lady Lavina’s face turned even, even, even, even redder.
After that, she shut both eyes and made groaning sounds as if she were suffering, so I spoke to her again.
“Lady Lavina. It’s okay to cry ang-ang-ang. Mine is hing-ing-ing.”
“I don’t want to…! I’ll never cry again…!”
“Gasp.”
I’d heard that if you don’t cry when you’re sad, an illness forms in your heart.
I became deeply worried for Lady Lavina.
At this rate, Lady Lavina’s heart would fall ill.
I scurried over and retrieved the shotgun.
“? Eh. Uh. Eh???”
“Lady Lavina. I’ll go far away, so you can cry comfortably.”
- ???
“G-give it back—”
I put some distance between us so Lady Lavina could cry comfortably.
She tried hard to follow me, but Lady Lavina was no match for catching up to me, and in the end, Lady Lavina’s crying could be heard from behind.
Ugh. My heart hurts. But for Lady Lavina’s sake, it can’t be helped.
To turn away from the pain in my heart, I performed a Maid Elegance Double Peace.
“VV.”
- ㄷㄷ…
- Uh… Lady Yuyeon… never mind…
Even while Lady Lavina was crying, I had things to do.
It said I could awaken Sir Barkel if I poured mana into the core, so let’s try pouring mana into it first.
“Sir Barkel, Sir Barkel. Let’s communicate.”
As I rubbed the core back and forth while pouring mana into it, Sir Barkel’s head formed, and then his torso, arms, legs, and even wings formed pop-pop-pop.
The completed Sir Barkel looked down at me, then snapped off his own head.
“?”
- ?
Afterward, he placed his head on the ground and spoke.
“If I am to communicate with you, it seems better to be only a head.”
“Why?”
“You are too short.”
“!!!”
“And you will not grow in the future, either.”
“!!!!!”
- Gasp
Saddened, I trudged over to Lady Lavina’s side and cried with her.
“Ang-ang-ang…”
“Hing-ing-ing…”
Sir Barkel, who rolled over with only his head, did not even give us time to cry and brought up something incredible.
“Were you not on your way to meet the True Ancestor? I shall tell you of a secret passage.”
“???”
A secret passage!
I suddenly became interested.