Chapter 186
"The master of this land... you can at least tell me where this is, right?"
"The North."
"The North! Ooh! I see. Now I remember. Black hair. Gray eyes like a god. Yes. You are the Zervan of the North, blessed by Valterus!"
Kalias von Zervan.
The goblin Rector learned that name at a very high price.
However, he has no regrets.
"That hoof will be quite useful. It's a rather precious item, but I don't feel it's a waste."
His name holds that much value.
Of course, it's only an expectation without certainty.
However, Rector's intuition told him so.
That he harbors various secrets that no one else in the world would know.
That Kalias's secrets would surely satisfy his thirst for knowledge.
Slurp.
Rector, licking his lips with a thick tongue, tapped out the tobacco ash from his pipe.
Then, replacing it with a new one, he lit it again.
"One question, one answer is still valid. Since I asked, this time you answer. Somehow, Kalias, this kind of transaction with you seems like it would be fun."
Rector moved his fingers fluidly, as if luring prey.
As if tempting the fish named Kalias.
"Ah, since you showed generosity, I should do the same. For the hoof of the forgotten horse, just imbue it with wind and throw it."
"Wind?"
When Emily asked back, Rector wrapped both hands around his cane, rested his chin on it, and smiled sinisterly.
"It's the hoof of the forgotten horse. Don't you know why it was forgotten? Do you want to know?"
"Why it was forgotten..."
Kalias stopped Emily before she could inadvertently ask.
But before he could.
"It was a horse beloved by a now-forgotten god! And it was forgotten because it was too fast! Haha! You raised your daughter well! Kalias!!"
The transaction was established by Rector, who had spat out the words like a machine gun.
Even the method of using the hoof was a generosity.
Answering Emily's question required a price.
Chuckling Rector spread his hands that had been supporting his chin, indicating that he wanted payment.
"Dad..."
"It's alright."
When the perceptive Emily, who had caught on to the situation, trembled, Kalias stroked her head, saying it was fine.
Then he glared at Rector with eyes completely different from when he looked at his daughter.
"Are you trying to be petty?"
"Rules are rules. And I don't not know the greed of goblins."
Saying so, Kalias flicked a goblin gold coin as if he had no choice.
Ting!
The flicked goblin gold coin flew toward Rector in a parabolic arc.
Catch.
"What a windfall this is. Tsk tsk."
He examines the gold coin with satisfaction, biting it with his yellow teeth and being pleased.
Glaring at him, Kalias threw the hoof he held.
Imbuing it with a wind.
Then the hoof moved in a bizarre trajectory in midair and soon, with a strange wind, thud! It planted its feet on the ground.
At that moment.
Purururu.
A black horse with red eyes, emitting a sinister aura like a demon that appeared with black smoke, appeared and radiated ghostly energy.
"If I may offer one piece of service, the horse's name is Shunip. A fallen horse. Of course, as you can see, it's a ghost horse. Its speed is very fast, but well. Whether you can ride it is a matter of your own ability, tsk tsk tsk!!"
"You cowardly bastard! You gave us a horse that can't even be ridden and acted like you were doing us a favor!?"
"I never said you could ride it. In the first place, it was Kalias who asked for it. It's a bit funny to blame me for no reason, human girl."
Emily ground her teeth, calling him a scammer.
But Rector only dug his ear with his long, dirty fingernail.
"It doesn't matter. I knew."
"Your daughter's question is several times less valuable than the gold coin, so I'll be generous. From now on, the hoof can only be used once. If you don't make a difficult request, Shunip will try to heed your wind."
"And you'll want a price, of course."
"...!! How did you know that?"
Heh.
Kalias looked at the surprised Rector and approached Shunip, who seemed like something only the fallen would ride, and demanded his wind.
"Be mine."
Stab.
The Iron Lord, which he had drawn at some point, slashed Shunip in the blink of an eye.
Soon a sinister neigh filled the holy ground, and Shunip's figure was enveloped in black smoke and disappeared.
"T-this, have you ever seen such a madman!! That precious horse! A horse that was no different from a divine beast, killed!?"
"You said it fell."
"It may have fallen! Even if it was only restored to a part of its soul with just one hoof! Shunip was Shunip!! To kill a horse of the god, such a wasteful act! No, why did you kill it in the first place?"
Rector asked without realizing and then covered his mouth with both hands.
But this time it was Kalias's turn.
"Because it has a soul and a little flesh."
As long as there's that.
Besides, if the creature was in sorrow.
Whether it was a horse with only a hoof left, or a troll with only bones left, they all became his knights.
"Wake up. Shunip."
Whoosh-!
The remaining black smoke scattered in all directions. The sacred fires burning throughout the holy ground swayed, and Shunip leapt up from the ground stained with Titeo's tears.
With a powerful neigh, Shunip's aura was 180 degrees different from before.
Its appearance was also distinctly changed.
"No, what in the world..."
Rector was dumbfounded.
Emily opened her mouth wide in surprise at the completely changed appearance of the horse.
Shunip, which had been a ghost horse, was reborn as Kalias's knight, freed from Decal's curse, and became an ironclad horse draped in black iron armor, billowing gray energy.
The majestic gaze of Shunip.
And the black smoke it scattered contrasted with the gray energy, fully conveying its grandeur.
"Shunip."
Purururu.
Snorting and striding over, Shunip then nuzzled against Kalias's hand as if being affectionate.
"But it's bigger than I thought. Is it because it's a god's horse."
The enhanced troll guarding the outer gate.
It was big enough for Gabu to ride.
Shunip's size was quite massive.
Too large for him to ride comfortably.
But Kalias wasn't worried.
Shunip's rank was the same as the Four Star Generals - Niol and Garcia.
It was the first knight with the rank of a Four Star General created after he took Titeo. The third Four Star General.
But would its size even be a problem?
In the first place, it bore the traces of a horse that a god once possessed.
"Reduce your size."
Pururu.
As if answering, Shunip snorted, and its body gradually shrank to a size that fit Kalias perfectly.
Kalias took out Humaesis's saddle from his subspace, fitted it on Shunip, and immediately mounted it.
The ironclad horse producing black smoke.
And Kalias mounted on top of it.
Black hair and jade-white skin.
A nose as sharp as a sword and deep gray eyes harmonized with Shunip, creating a majesty that wouldn't be insufficient even if described as a king of a nation.
"I'll take a short test ride and return."
Giddy-up.
Whoosh-!
When Kalias slightly shook Shunip's reins, he literally disappeared like smoke.
Truly swift.
An incredible speed.
"Shunip is a divine horse. Even if it fell and only a part of its soul was restored, a divine horse is still a divine horse. Shunip's strength is its speed. A speed that no one can catch up with. And the power of its hooves based on that. Kya... It's powerful, but since it's a Decal with a limited number of uses, I was going to trick you into exchanging it for something big, but it ended up like this."
Honestly, for Rector, it was like chicken ribs — not quite useful but too good to throw away, so it sat there like a white elephant.
Still, it was definitely a treasure, so he was going to try to coax out something more, but to think he'd use it like that.
'If I knew this would happen, I should have asked for more payment... I just did a good deed for nothing.'
When Rector clicked his tongue in regret, Emily puffed out her chest as if pleased with his disappointment and mocked him.
"Idiot."
"The father is such a strange fellow, but the daughter is unremarkable."
"What did you say? If it weren't for my father, you would have been dead by my hand long ago. You wouldn't have been able to pay for those meager treasures either. Don't take the master of the North's generosity for granted. Green monster!"
"Keuheuh!! Green monster! It's been a while since I've heard those words. But what can you do, human brat. Even if you don't know your father, you can't do anything to me, can you?"
"Want to try?"
Emily moved her hand to the sword at her waist. Her sword — one at her waist.
One on her back.
Both were swords he had gifted her.
"Keuk keuk, of course they would be good swords in your world. But listen, brat. The world you live in and the ground I tread are different."
"You won't know until you clash."
Shring!
Emily's sword was drawn from the scabbard at her waist, scattering sparks.
A realm that one couldn't imagine was achieved by a mere fifteen-year-old girl.
With the sword, she's honest.
But its speed was that much more brisk.
'Like father, like daughter.'
Rector, who had been a bit dismissive, had to reconsider after seeing that one sword stroke.
However.
Whoosh-!
Her sword only cut through empty air.
"!"
Emily had drawn her sword to take at least one arm off the insolent monster.
But in an instant, just before the sword touched him.
The goblin's body turned to smoke and disappeared.
Emily's sword only cut through smoke.
"In the old days, even looking at us properly wasn't tolerated by mere humans. But would such a trifling blade work."
Rector, who had somehow gotten behind Emily, tapped her lower back with the cane he was holding.
"You're as slow as a donkey. Why don't you become a donkey instead of a human."
Then Emily felt that standing on two feet was awkward and difficult.
Even though she thought she shouldn't let go of the sword, she dropped it and fell on all fours.
Then suddenly her body was covered in fur, her face elongated, and she turned into a small, cunning donkey that resembled a horse but was small.
Emily was confused, but no words came out, and she soon thrashed on the ground crying.
"Tsk tsk tsk."
"You play too rough with my daughter."
"...."
Kalias, who had arrived carrying the smell of blood, pressed his sword against Rector from atop Shunip.
His sword was soaked with the blood smell of various things.
With a sword at his neck, Rector naturally raised both hands into the air.
He was clearly different from Emily.
If he tried any tricks, his neck would be severed by this sword.
He could be certain of that.
"You've killed quite a lot."
"While taking a test ride, I did some cleaning."
Kalias, watching Emily thrash around as if she had become an animal, pressed harder with the sword he had placed against Rector's neck.
"Change her back."
"I was just playing with her for a bit."
When he tapped Emily's lower back again with his cane, she jumped up panting as if nothing had happened.
"You damned monster!"
"Emily."
"Dad! That guy turned me into a donkey!"
"Is that so. You became a donkey."
Smiling slightly, Kalias withdrew the sword he had pressed against Rector's neck.
Even if he was a bit angry, collecting the price for that could be done after finishing the transaction.
When Kalias dismounted from Shunip and unsummoned him, Rector calmly spoke.
"You've killed at least several thousand. Were there that many magical beasts around here? What a dangerous neighborhood."
"Well, something like that."
"Father. Are you going to let that guy go?"
"The transaction isn't over yet."
"...."
Emily calmed her anger.
She knew Kalias's temperament well.
If necessary, he doesn't hesitate to behead someone.
If her father didn't do so, there was a proper reason.
Besides.
'Father is with these kinds of guys...'
Until now, all enemies had been within the realm of understanding.
Even that strong orc warlord. Even the thread-and-stake-enhanced trolls. They were scary, but they were beings within common sense.
But the green monster before her eyes was a creature beyond the realm of understanding.
It suddenly appeared from behind and turned a person into a donkey.
And Kalias, who conversed with such a monster on equal footing without batting an eye.
Only then did Emily deeply engrave the words Kalias had spoken when he descended to this holy ground and calmed her mind.
"I believe I've sufficiently proved the vacancy of the fallen one. I should also receive payment for your question."
What proved the vacancy of the fallen one was none other than the sword Kalias held.
The Iron Lord.
Titeo.
Since he had taken it out and proved it himself, he had to receive payment, and by answering Rector's question, he became able to choose two treasures.
"Don't you have anything you want to ask me? If it's a question close to truth, I might know everything you desire."
Perhaps not wanting to give two treasures at once, he offered his knowledge.
But Kalias was puzzled.
"You're offering knowledge? By divine punishment, you can only possess knowledge."
"...Tch. To know even that."
"Was this guy trying to scam us again?"
"That's right."
Goblins are those who received divine punishment.
The exact reason was because they stole knowledge.
They are thieves who stole the gods' knowledge.
Therefore, the gods punished them. They made them unable to resist the desire for knowledge, and they are beings who can never pass on the knowledge they've learned to others.
Thus, even if they have children, they cannot teach them anything.
What they can teach are only small things.
Trivial things. Unnecessary things.
Truly, they cannot convey knowledge of truth.
If it was knowledge heard from others, an even greater price follows.
Yet, to try to set the knowledge of truth as the price, he must have been trying to cleverly circumvent the rules of the divine punishment.
"Rector."
"What."
"I have nothing I'm curious about from you."
"Hoh... Is that really true? King of the North. Kalias. I'm not interested in humans' war games, but even so, I know that Carpe is weak. The power of the sword weakens as days pass, and the power of the spear grows stronger as days go by, but truly! Is there nothing you're curious about from me? Among those who have traded with me, there are those who hold important positions in the Empire. Don't you want to know the secrets learned while conversing with them? The Empire's shames, their weaknesses!"
But Kalias shook his head.
"I don't need it. Because what I want from you is something else."
"What is it?"
Rector, with a deep scowl, asked.
Kalias answered.
"Give me the fruit of the inverted tree."
The fruit of the inverted tree.
Hearing that, Rector's eyes widened enormously again.
"Y-you, how do you know that!! How do you know about the fragment of the old god! Gasp!!"
Rector's surprised appearance again.
Kalias calmly answered his somewhat tiresome reaction.
"A trait, somewhat..."
"Trait, what? What's that?"
The fruit of the inverted tree.
It's a fragment containing the power of a god that was driven into the ground and became a tree.
Those who ingest even a little of the god's fragment bloom with new power.
Some gain strength, others gain unimaginably bizarre abilities — the power of a god.
The power to bloom traits or talents.
To put it more simply.
'Trait draw ticket.'
Or.
'Trait erasure.'
Originally, it was something that couldn't be easily obtained even if you met a goblin.
"I don't know how you know that, but I can't give it. That power is too strong. It's too... to entrust to human selfishness."
But Kalias's pocket was fat with the goblin gold coins he had collected all this time.
Ting. Tinging.
Rector's pupils experienced an earthquake at the goblin gold coins flicked from Kalias's fingers.
"It's too dangerous..."
Crash. The gold coins poured down.
Rector's hand, which had been sweating and trying hard to ignore it, went into the goblin pouch.
"I shouldn't..."