Chapter 72
Boom-!
『Seed of Calamity』
【Quest Completed】
Looking at the fallen Thunder Wolf Dragon, I let out a rough breath. The breath that had risen to my chin subsided as it turned into white steam.
Instantly, a faint light emanated from the Thunder Wolf Dragon, and there was a place where the energy of Lei Qing gathered.
That place was its heart.
A place where the energy of lightning was condensed and barely visible.
I immediately pierced that spot.
Stab.
"The energy of Lei Qing increases greatly"
As soon as I pierced its heart with the Lei Qing Sword, its lightning seeped into the sword.
At least double.
It had become several times stronger.
I could feel that immediately.
Kwaji-jijik, Pajik!
"Did it become a bit impure?"
The dark-red blade that signifies the spirit grade had turned slightly darker.
"That can't be right."
It was just that the grade of the Lei Qing Sword had increased slightly through this quest.
It was not yet a Phantom Sword.
It was rare for a sword's grade to increase.
Quests related to swords were rare unless there was a clear connection.
"Rare" naturally means there are some, but the certain thing was.
"This one didn't have any."
But now it did.
Parts I hadn't set up had emerged, and an unused past maintained the present phenomenon.
I didn't find this kind of change pleasant.
Having parts I didn't know about meant that many more variables would be created.
Variables in this world kill me.
"Where are you running off to?"
"Gasp!"
Raiven had become a handful of dust.
Druma had his head ripped off and died from the Thunder Wolf Dragon.
Orkal was stabbed but didn't die. To be more precise.
Not yet.
"I didn't kill you."
Orkal of Greed.
He was originally someone who stood out more in areas other than combat.
As his nickname "Greed" suggested, he was more useful in scouting and reconnaissance using bugs. He was the one who made the scabbard of the Insect Spirit.
A paladin who had become one with a manifestation-type sword that produced bugs.
Unlike the others, this one had plenty of uses.
"Brans."
"Yes sir! Right here! My lord!"
Brans, who had been hiding in the bushes, popped out. I ordered him to bind Orkal, and he took out a rope from his backpack and tied him up tightly.
No matter how much of a paladin he was, once wounded, even someone like Brans could bind his limbs. It was quite a rare sight.
"Ugh... Damn it! What are you going to do with me!!"
"My lord, what should we do with him?"
"Make him quiet."
"Yes! He says be quiet, you bastard!!"
Thwack!!
"Cough! Y-you mere servant!"
"Mere servant my ass! He's a count's servant!"
Smack!! After being hit a few more times, he must have fainted, as he went quiet.
Killing Orkal would be the standard approach.
But my thoughts weren't yet fully decided.
It wouldn't be too late to decide his fate after confirming my policy.
I put my hand into the void and took out several glass bottles.
The troll's blood was one thing, but the blood of the Dragon Fang Blood was a treasure in itself.
Since I had come with the intention of catching it from the start, I had plenty of glass bottles.
"My lord! I'll do it!"
"No need."
The Thunder Wolf Dragon was a creature that held at least a little dragon's blood.
Although it had impurities called demonic energy, if it could be refined, a small amount of dragon blood might be extracted.
Dragon blood alone could be used in various places.
Simply, in artifacts.
Complexly, even in corpses.
'If it's Dragon's True Blood, while the grade would be lower than a holy artifact, it might be able to produce a proper sacred relic.'
That would be literally worth a fortune.
Just having it would make many holy alchemists come rushing to ask me to sell it.
I had to store as much as possible before the blood coagulated.
Brans, who had tightly bound Orkal, came running quickly and helped with the work.
As I was filling bottles with the Thunder Wolf Dragon's blood layer by layer, a voice approached.
"You're going to sell that to me, right?"
"Ugh! You startled me!"
Helena.
She was standing in the shadow of a tree without making any sound.
Leaving Brans to make a fuss over being surprised, I answered.
"I'll think about it."
"Even if we buy it at the highest price?"
I stared at Helena steadily.
Then Helena turned her head as if flustered.
"W-why?"
Not asking anything at all.
I had killed two Inquisition Captains.
I had captured one, and she couldn't be unaware that I even possessed a demonic sword.
There were several points where she could raise objections, but Helena had casually spoken as if she knew nothing.
If she wasn't going to ask anything, it would be better for me not to ask either.
"How much do you estimate?"
"Hmm... Well. The leather has many sword marks and is damaged. The inner meat is too cooked, so it's ambiguous to sell. But the horn would be fine."
"I'll take the horn."
"Really now. Then the claws and teeth are intact, oh! The tail hair is also in pretty good condition. So..."
Helena, rolling her head, picked up a tree branch, wrote numbers on the ground, and then said while glancing at me.
"How about ten thousand?"
Ten thousand gold coins for the other byproducts excluding the horn.
"Who do you see as a sucker?"
This was a creature that possessed dragon's blood.
If it were simply a demonic beast that handled lightning, that would be one thing, but it had dragon blood mixed in.
You're lowballing that kind of creature at ten thousand?
This is why merchants can't be trusted.
"But the meat and leather are heavily damaged... Considering transport costs and commissions, that amount is just right."
"Stop your nonsense. Originally, demonic beast meat has no use, and while the leather is heavily damaged, it's not completely unusable. Besides, the other parts are intact enough to be used for anything."
The internal organs might not be usable, but the eyes were fine, and the claws and teeth were intact.
And above all.
"Even just selling the bones of the Thunder Wolf Dragon would fetch ten thousand gold coins. Do you think I wouldn't know that?"
That wasn't all.
Among wealthy nobles, some bought demonic beasts whole and had them stuffed.
In such cases, the story the Thunder Wolf Dragon held would make its value even more premium.
For example, the fact that it ate the Inquisition Captains but ultimately met its end at the hands of Callius, the kingdom's scoundrel and hero of the North.
"You shouldn't not know that. Aren't you taking me too much for a sucker?"
"Cough, I momentarily forgot."
I'm not one to fall for such lies. I held up three fingers.
"Thirty thousand."
"Thirty thousand is too much! Twenty thousand!"
Even if it possessed dragon's blood, thirty thousand was a bit too much.
The price would vary depending on how much dragon's blood remained... but haggling was all about momentum.
"Thirty-five thousand."
"No, why does the price go up when we're haggling!"
"Haggling is also time. Naturally it goes up since you're taking up my time needlessly."
"No, what kind of calculation is that? Does that even make sense!"
"Forty thousand."
"Ah, fine, thirty thousand!"
"Forty thousand."
"No, really! Are you going to do this!? We still don't know if it's really a descendant of dragons, and we don't know how much blood it inherited, but fifty thousand is too much!"
"Forty thousand!"
"No, why are you acting like a broken doll all of a sudden! And look at this. It's a female! If it's a female... huh?"
Helena, who had been noisy, went quiet.
She looked around the belly area, checking this and that, then spoke with a peculiar expression.
"It looks like she was pregnant. Did she give birth? Look here. There are mammary glands."
"..."
It was true.
There were such traces.
So the creature had offspring.
"So it had babies. That explains why it was so defensive... what?"
"There shouldn't be any, but I'll check."
I drew the Lei Qing Sword.
Creating a sharp sword aura, I slashed its belly skin, and it split open.
The sharpness was definitely different from before.
But that wasn't what was important right now.
When I split the belly skin and rummaged through the insides, I caught something.
I pulled out something like a pouch and tore it open, and there was something inside.
"It really was pregnant."
When I split the Thunder Wolf Dragon's belly, what appeared to be its offspring came out.
About five.
They looked like wolf pups.
Unlike the Thunder Wolf Dragon, there were no scales on their bodies, and from how they just looked like wolf pups.
"Did it mate with a wolf-type demonic beast?"
If the Thunder Wolf Dragon was pregnant, there must have been a mate.
If it was another Thunder Wolf Dragon, it wouldn't match the causality of the quest content "Seed of Calamity."
But seeing that the offspring didn't show dragon characteristics, its mate must have been a simple wolf demonic beast.
"How pitiful. Some cruel person would kill all these children without even letting them see the light of the world."
"..."
Leaving Helena's teasing behind, just as I was about to sheathe my sword.
Twitch.
One of the offspring that I thought were dead twitched.
"This one seems to be alive! Huh, what are you doing!?"
I brought my sword to the pup.
Helena glared at me, asking why I was doing that to something that couldn't even open its eyes.
"Be quiet."
As I quietly brought the tip of the sword and drew out a little Lei Qing.
It whimpered and wriggled toward the sword.
"As expected, it reacts to Lei Qing."
"What's with that?"
Was it because its mother's lightning was implanted?
Even as a pup, it seemed to respond to this.
After whimpering for a while, it crawled over its dead siblings and wriggled, pressing its head against the sword.
Only then, perhaps feeling at ease, it steadied its breathing while leaning against it.
"I did say it was pitiful as a joke, but you know, right? This one is a demonic beast."
A creature mixed with demonic energy.
That harms humans.
The only demonic beast that doesn't harm humans is a dead demonic beast.
Right now it was just a weak pup, but these kinds of creatures grow up and harm humans.
Since it had dragon's blood, albeit faintly, it would possess a violent temperament.
Once it tasted human flesh, it would grow into a creature that would reduce a village to ashes and further plunge the North into suffering.
Meaning it was better to kill it.
"Lord Valterus said it. There is no mercy for that which is tainted by demonic energy."
The remnant of evil must be rooted out.
That was right.
That was correct.
However.
"What is that?"
"Troll's blood."
"What!? Where did you get the blood of a troll that went extinct hundreds of years ago!? Even our family searched so hard but couldn't find even a trace!!"
It was unrefined troll blood.
Since demonic energy was mixed in, drinking it as is would cause death by demonic energy poisoning.
Generally speaking, that is.
'It should be fine for a demonic beast.'
It was a pup that hadn't even tasted milk.
If it was troll blood, it should be more than enough to restore its vitality.
-Kkiyang kkiyang
When I opened the lid and let a few drops of blood drip, the pup, being a demonic beast, flared its nostrils.
It nosily searched around with its head that couldn't even open its eyes, and then when drops of blood fell, it lapped them up.
"The Order won't permit this."
"The Order didn't permit the demonic beasts that nobles raise as pets either."
It was a common occurrence.
There were many nobles who raised demonic beasts as pets.
One more like me wouldn't matter.
"But why suddenly?"
"You don't need to know."
It was simply curiosity.
Seeing the creature react to the lightning energy of the Lei Qing Sword, my intellectual curiosity was simply triggered.
There was no other reason.
"That sword. It's because of that, isn't it?"
"Helena."
"Yes?"
"A merchant's virtue is pretending not to know even when you know. Isn't it also pretending to know even when you don't?"
Helena, startled, tapped her lips with her finger and then said.
"Hmm... then thirty-five thousand?"
"Forty thousand."
"Come on! Give me a discount!"
I couldn't do that.
I had a lot of money to spend.
"Forty thousand. I'll help you transport it, so don't think about a discount."
"Really?"
"Yeah. If it goes into my artifact, it won't spoil, so don't worry."
"Okay."
Helena, who had completed the transaction, seemed to be in a good mood and didn't ask about anything else.
'Perhaps by raising this guy, I might be able to strengthen the Lei Qing Sword once more.'
If that happened, the Lei Qing Sword might ascend to a Phantom Sword.
It was a slim probability.
But if there was even a little possibility. If I had that ability, there was no reason not to try.
And.
Callius's eyes looking at the Thunder Wolf Dragon pup held pity.
Having all its kin die as soon as it was born, and clinging to a being it wasn't familiar with but was seeing for the first time.
It was exactly like looking at himself.