Chapter 61
In front of Zervan's treasure vault.
The intaglio carvings and splendid sword patterns etched into the massive stone doors were well-maintained without a speck of dust despite the long years of weathering.
Zervan of the North, which had stood alongside the kingdom since its beginning. Its history was contained here.
"But. Did you come to guide me?"
"Yes."
In front of the treasure vault.
Callius's eyes as he looked at Nohitel were complicated, as if regarding an uncomfortable opponent.
"The weapons residing in the treasure vault have existed for such a long time that without strong mental fortitude, you would be consumed by them instead. Among them, there are exceptionally dangerous treasures, so I will guide you while excluding those."
His words were firm and clear, but Callius rejected them outright.
"Unnecessary."
"It will be necessary."
"Insolent. I said I don't need it."
"But......"
"Step back."
"Young master. Originally, there is no precedent for me to guide anyone through the treasure vault. The Patriarch broke tradition specifically for you, young master."
"I never asked for such consideration."
Callius quietly observed Nohitel. An ordinary-looking elderly butler.
However, he was not ordinary.
In the first place, how could an outsider capable of guiding through the treasure vault containing Zervan's history even exist?
No matter how long he had stayed in Zervan, such a thing was impossible.
Therefore, his existence was anything but ordinary.
"You are not even of Zervan's bloodline, so how do you know of the weapons in the treasure vault?"
"That is because I have served in the North, in Zervan, for this entire lifetime."
This lifetime.
Even so, would it make sense for a mere butler to know about the treasure vault that housed the successive patriarchs of Zervan?
Common sense would say no.
"Then when does your next lifetime begin?"
"......What do you mean?"
Nohitel's eyebrows twitched.
Callius sneered and waved his hand in dismissal.
"If you don't wish to say, then I don't need the guide, so be on your way."
The aged eyes shone sharply in the darkness before settling down.
"......Understood. Please be careful."
He disappeared as if seeping into the darkness.
'Somber indeed.'
After he left, Callius took out a key in front of the treasure vault's door.
"Did I poke at him unnecessarily?"
Nohitel was no ordinary human.
Too calculating for a dragon, too good-natured for a demon, too timid for a giant, bound by contracts.
Yet a creature far superior to humans.
A fairy.
"That's not what's important, so I'll think about Nohitel later."
For now, let's go in.
Click. He inserted the key, but it wouldn't turn. If he hadn't known, he would have panicked, but Callius was not so easily flustered.
As he infused pure divine power in one breath, it spread like tree roots following the grooves carved into the door.
Rumble!
With a rough noise, the magnificent door of the massive treasure vault opened.
Torches driving away the darkness and luminous stones created a soft divine light, and finally, what appeared was:
"It's bigger than I thought."
Seeing the treasure vault he had directly designed in reality brought fresh emotions.
A vast hollow displaying magnificent weapons.
There was nothing missing.
From trivial rings and accessory-type artifacts to gauntlets and boots, even full body armor.
All the precious weapons used by successive patriarchs were housed here.
Of course.
"Even swords made from them."
There was no Phantom Sword here that could rival the Storm Sword-Kalis. However, Spirit Swords radiating powerful forces definitely existed.
Callius, who preferred light armament, picked up thin armor intertwined with leather and chain.
It was unique armor with leather on the outside and chain on the inside, and it was perfect—lightweight and with good flexibility.
On one side of the treasure vault, there was another ornately decorated door.
This place had gathered dust, and when he pushed hard to open it, the door opened with a grating sound of stone scraping.
Tap tap.
The deeper he walked, unlike the hollow, there were no artifacts, and swords that felt as reverent as if enshrining holy relics of the gods began to appear before his eyes.
The enshrined swords had their names like those written on epitaphs.
『16th Patriarch Rokeranta von Zervan』
'Embracing Sword Rokeranta, huh.'
The ability of the Embracing Sword-Rokeranta was storage.
A sword that absorbs and stores the abilities of weapons it clashes with, then uses them.
If it clashed with the Thunderclap Sword, it would be a sword that could use the Thunderclap Sword's lightning energy just once.
Depending on how it's used, it's a sword that could pierce an enemy with a decisive blow.
『14th Patriarch Rikel von Zervan』
'Wave Sword Rikel.'
A sword that delivers vibrations through the air as a medium, causing internal damage.
This was also a tempting sword.
Just by clashing swords with the opponent, their internal organs would twist or their head would become hazy, unable to regain their senses.
After that, various swords welcomed Callius.
『13th Patriarch Kruma von Zervan』
'Crystal Sword-Kruma.'
A sword that forms minute and sharp crystals on its blade and shoots them.
A sword capable of long-range attacks.
When shot forth with sword aura, invisible crystal fragments embed themselves in the body, causing pain and bleeding.
Besides those.
『12th Patriarch Mahad von Zervan』
'Silver Moon Sword-Mahad'
The Silver Moon Sword said to resemble a silver moon.
『10th Patriarch Baun von Zervan』
'Blood-drinking Sword-Baun'
There were many outstanding swords.
Of course, not all of them were present.
"Radiant Charge Sword, Void Sword. And Great Ice Sword and a few more are missing."
Spirit Swords of a higher tier than those here were not in place.
The 1st Patriarch's sword.
Storm Sword Kalis was with Elberton, but the swords from the 2nd to 6th Patriarchs were missing. They had probably been used by others of Zervan's bloodline until they died or lost them.
"What sword did Violet take again? I don't remember well."
The missing swords were regrettable, but the swords present here were also sufficiently outstanding.
Depending on how they were used, some swords were more useful than the Thunderclap Sword or Body-strengthening Sword.
Callius's eyes swept over several swords before stopping at one.
A transparent blade as if made from a blue sapphire.
『9th Patriarch Mida von Zervan』
"Is this it. As expected, it stands out."
The inherent ability of this beautiful sword wasn't particularly useful in combat.
There were many swords more powerful than this.
However, in his future endeavors, it would be hard to find a sword as useful as this one.
'If worse comes to worst, I have the Thunderclap Sword or Gluttony Sword in my subspace.'
The Body-strengthening Sword would also be powerful once repaired, so what he needed now was a sword with high utility.
And a sword that could be shown without hesitation in front of others.
'With this, I can pass the heresy inquisition comfortably.'
He had thought of this from the beginning because of that heresy inquisition.
No matter how much they try to fabricate things, it would prove the truth, so there would be no problem.
'Besides, once I become a heresy inquisitor, there will be much to do.'
Corrupt officials. Corrupt nobles.
To execute them and root them out, a fitting sword was necessary.
"The most beautiful sword in the North."
And the Judgment Sword, known as the most cruel sword.
The Judgment Sword's inherent ability was discerning the truth. The transparent blade sees through the opponent's ugly lies, making it perfect for carving out rotten, corrupt roots.
For the current him.
There was no more suitable sword than this.
* * *
The newly risen morning of the North.
Callius had been busy moving since early dawn.
"Where are you going so early in the morning?"
"There's much to do."
In a few days, Dexter, summoned by letter, would arrive, and the merchant as well.
It would be better to handle urgent matters before they came.
"By now, they must be making corpse-swords."
"Are you going to see?"
"Checking on whether they're doing well wouldn't hurt. They're the ones who'll have to accompany me to the Order once this is done."
Walking out toward the castle's outskirts, the soldiers guarding the gate saluted in disciplined manner.
"We greet Lord Callius!"
"Open the gate."
"Yes sir! By any chance, are you going to see the corpse-sword ritual? If so, we could guide..."
"Unnecessary. Which direction is it?"
"Go straight to the east!"
"Open it."
"Yes sir! Open the gate!"
Rumble. The pulleys turned and the massive gate opened.
After walking a little further, a mountain of corpses reeking of blood greeted him.
"They're doing well."
He made the sign of the cross, invoked the god, and radiated holy energy.
With that, a lump of flesh transformed into a sword harder than steel.
Truly a miracle of the gods.
It could be called a god-given authority.
"You've come."
What greeted Callius was Raibun.
The other captains didn't even glance at Callius.
They were merely scouring through the mountain of corpses.
'I expected as much.'
The reason he came to monitor them was also because of this.
Even if he became a heresy inquisitor, they were priests of the Valterus God.
Before outstanding swords, there was no distinction between heresy inquisitor and captain.
Since they were going to perform the corpse-sword ritual anyway, it was better to find stronger corpses.
So they were probably looking for dead grand warriors or warlords.
'Foolish.'
The North, Zervan, was not foolish.
The corpses of grand warriors and warlords had been secured long ago.
Thud.
"Many are collapsing."
"Borrowing the god's authority isn't an easy task, is it. Even a normal pilgrim would be exhausted after about three times a day."
It was a mishap occurring because it required quite a lot of divine power.
Originally, it required much concentration and many divine words to recite, making it a very difficult task.
Borrowing the god's authority simultaneously consumed divine power and stamina, so naturally.
"You don't seem to have much difficulty with it, my lord, do you?"
"Shut up, Brance."
"Ye-yes sir!"
Of course, Callius had no need for that.
It was the so-called privilege of a player.
"How many days do you think it will take?"
"Considering their stamina, generously about a month."
A normal pilgrim would be at their limit at one or two times a day.
One person, twice a day.
The heresy inquisitors here numbered four hundred.
Calculating, it would be done in two weeks, but doing so might endanger their lives, so generously a month.
Not bad.
There were so many orcs and they worked for free, so he wasn't callous enough to nag about it taking a little time.
"You're working hard."
"......Not at all."
Even after all this hard work, they wouldn't take a single gold coin, so how furious must they be. But that too was none of Callius's business.
"Organizing three-tenths of the corpse-swords produced would amount to about twenty thousand gold coins."
That would be used to restore the broken castle walls and village.
"What will you use the rest for?"
"The rest will be bestowed to the knights, kept in reserve just in case, and also lent out."
"Well, there are always those who break or lose their bestowed swords wherever you go."
Raibun interjected into the conversation.
Callius looked at Raibun with displeased eyes before withdrawing his gaze.
It was absolutely not because he had been stabbed after breaking the Body-strengthening Sword. It was simply because Raibun was not to his liking at all.
"But what business do you have here? You didn't come to monitor us. Did you come to obtain a sword by any chance?"
The sword had already been obtained.
The warlord's flesh had been received from Elberton long ago and now resided in his subspace.
Since it was an orc warlord's flesh, Callius was looking forward to it, but he couldn't just produce a corpse-sword carelessly here.
The warlord's flesh would be made into a sword at Patalite's holy ground, a place overflowing with pure divine power.
So he hadn't come here to obtain a sword.
"I didn't come to get a sword."
"Then for what business..."
"It seems like a waste of manpower for captains to be doing this kind of work."
Should one use an ox-slaughtering knife to kill a chicken?
There's a knife for killing chickens.
And a knife for killing oxes.
"Do you want to go hunting with me?"
"Hunting...... you say?"
『Epic Quest』
〈Sprout of Aftermath〉
Rank - A+
- Remove the sprout of aftermath.
"I'm thinking of catching a wolf."
Callius's gaze turned toward the captains of the heresy inquisition force.
'While I'm at it, I'll also remove some rotten roots of the heresy inquisition.'
It was the perfect time to catch the Thunder Wolf Dragon.