Chapter 107

Chapter 107 – It isn’t Going as Planned (4)

“Hero······?”

“Artpe!?”

When Artpe agreed to the archbishop’s request so easily, Maetel and the emperor became surprised.  Even the archbishop became surprised.

“Y…you really want to go······?”

“What?  Didn’t you want me to go?  You don’t want me to go now?  Should I not go?”

“I…it isn’t like that!”

“All right.  I want you to prepare a comfortable carriage that befits the station of the heroes. I also want you to gather a lot of guards too.”

“You are a proper snob…..  Koo-hmm.  Understood!”

The temple had to advertise that the temple had a relationship with the heroes.  They had to advertise this fact beyond the borders of Zard.  That was why the archbishop was thankful for Artpe’s suggestion.  The archbishop quickly nodded his head.  The emperor and Maetel was still dumbfounded.

“Why······?”

“Since it has turned out like this, let’s get ready, Maetel.”

“Why!?”

Artpe and Maetel rode the carriage prepared by the temple on the next day.  The carriage was quite luxurious, and they were guarded by several dozen Warrior Priests and Holy Knights.  They left Aedia.  The act of roasting a peanut with lightning magic would be slower than this!

It was two days after they started traveling on the carriage.  The carriage was rolling down Aedia’s main road.

“Hoo-hnng.  Hmm hmm hmm.”

The view outside the carriage’s window was passing by, and it was neither too fast or too slow.  Maetel couldn’t help but enjoy herself.  She started humming a tune.  Maetel had been taken aback in the beginning, but she was showing an upbeat attitude.  It was quite the difference.  Of course, Artpe knew why she was like this.

“Are you that glad······?”

“Yes.  We can do this for the rest of our lives, and I would still like it!”

Maetel tightly grabbed onto Artpe’s sleeve with one hand.  On the other side of him……  No one was grabbing onto Artpe’s remaining sleeve.

That’s right.  Artpe and Maetel was the only ones riding inside the carriage.

“Hero-nim, is there anything you need…..”

“Don’t disturb us.  All right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The priest had exquisite timing.  He opened the door to the carriage as he pushed his head into the carriage.  Maetel let out a kind smile as he pushed the priest out of the carriage.  She once again closed the door.

The carriage started rolling again as if nothing had happened.  Maetel once again put on a bright smile as she leaned into Artpe’s body.  There was a satisfied smile on her face.

“In Diaz, freshly married couples travel outside of their hometown.  It is supposed to solidify the relationship between the couple.  They witness things that they normally wouldn’t see in their everyday lives.  This custom is called the honeymoon trip.  It is how the newly married couples greet their new lives.  It feels like we are on a honeymoon.  Right?”

“Many married couples lost all their belongings when they come across bandits.  That is why it is an abolished custom.”

“I’ll rip apart any bad bandits that tears apart a person’s moment of happiness.”

“Normally, a bride doesn’t possess the ability to rip apart a bandit like you.”

Artpe let out a sigh, and he lowered his shoulder.  He wanted Maetel to be in a little bit more comfortable position.  This small consideration made Maetel feel happy.  Suddenly, Maetel asked him a question.  She was curious.

“Artpe, why did we leave behind Sienna and Regina?  Did you finally feel the need to treat me with care?”

“You are saying I have to get rid of all women near me if I want to treat you with care?  Is that correct?”

“What else could it be······?”

Before they left Aedia, the archbishop had asked Artpe about his other party members.  Artpe had told him that Sienna and Regina were temporary party members.  Heroes were the only ones that were important to the archbishop, so he easily accepted Artpe’s explanation.

This was how they had arrived at their current situation.

“Once the temple starts targeting us, they won’t let us go easily.  Still, the fact that they are annoying doesn’t mean we should wipe out the temples.  I worked hard to fix the image of the heroes in the minds of the people, so what would happen if I did that?”

“So?”

“That is why I’m pretending to accept the temple’s request with you.  On the other hand, Sienna and Regina will continue to receive orders from me.  They’ll take care of the work we have to do in our stead.”

Sienna was an Evil Reflector.  Once the temple found out about her, they would focus on her once she entered Paladia.  She would receive as much attention as the heroes.  He made the right call in keeping Sienna apart from the temple.

“Regina and Sienna is really far apart with us in terms of level.  This will give them time to catch up with us.  Moreover, this will allow us to move more freely until we finish our work in Paladia.  Sienna has close combat abilities.  Regina has long range fighting abilities including support capabilities.  The two of them are a perfect party.”

“You have something to do in Paladia….  Why do humans have so many problems?”

“It isn’t just humans.  It is the same for all the other races capable of rational thought.”

Still, he wanted to leave Paladia to ‘others’.  However, the other side had searched his party out first, so he had no choice.  Since it had turned out like this, he would willingly go into their midst, and he would crush them.

“Still, it seems like we destroy every place we search out in recent days……  I’m getting confused as to whether we are heroes or Demon King type beings.”

“I’m not sure.  I have no idea if it would end even if we destroy them.  It might not end even if we reconstruct them. We’ll have to see.”

“The premise of the two options you just stated involves destroying the temples…..”

Was it because Maetel had gotten a bit smarter?  It was harder for him to read what she was thinking about.  Artpe tsked as he raised the Communication apparatus.

Of course, he didn’t forget about putting up a barrier inside the carriage before he used the Communication apparatus.  It was a pretty high ranking barrier, so it repelled sound and physical damage.   A being with decent power would exhaust oneself if one tried to break this barrier. This was obvious, but he hadn’t possessed this spell before this.

“I’m really glad I emptied out Aedia’s storage room before we left.  I acquired a lot of useful magic.”

“When did you loot it?  I didn’t see you do it.”

[Nyaa.]

“Ah, I see.”

Roa ate anything that was infused with Mana.  Of course, Roa and Artpe wouldn’t forego the opportunity to find treasures.  Artpe let out a smile as he turned on the Communication apparatus.  Then he opened his mouth.

“Uh, Silpennon.”

“Silpennon!?”

By the flow of their conversation, she had expected him to speak the name of Sienna or Regina.  He betrayed her expectation!  However, Artpe didn’t care if Maetel’s eyes opened wide or not.  He spoke into the Communication apparatus.

“What’s your level right now?”

[I’m level 218.  What do you think?  I’m pretty good, right?]

“Yes, you are pretty slow..”

[Koohk!]

Artpe had wanted Silpennon to be at level 250.  It seemed this wasn’t possible without Maetel’s Growth Speed Multiplier.  Silpennon grinded his teeth at Artpe’s words

[What level are you!]

“283.”

[I lost······.]

It didn’t matter if there was a level difference when they first met.  Leveling became much harder when one climbed to the higher levels.  This was especially true for those that were over level 200.  A single level looked like a small difference, but the quality of one’s ability was stark when one raised a level.

So how was he able to reach level 283?  Silpennon had worked like hell for the past two years, yet he realized he couldn’t catch up to Artpe no matter what.

“What about your party members?”

[Leseti is 208.  Deyus is 206.]

Silepennon was a party member of the hero from his past life.  He possessed a cheat-like ability.  When one took that into account, he could tell Leseti and Deyus had worked hard in increasing their levels.  At their current level, Artpe decided they could carry out his immediate goal.

“Where are you right now?”

[I’m moving according to the map you gave us through your merchant.  That is why we are….  Ah.  We are near Paladia.]

“Artpe?”

Maetel had overheard the conversation, and her eyes slightly narrowed.  It seemed he had sent another map to Silpennon using Mycenae.  This was the first time Maetel had heard about Silpennon’s party being near Paladia!  This was why Artpe had a grin on his face.

“I told you I’ll leave this to someone else.  Who else was I going to entrust this task to?”

[You’ll entrust us with a task?  Ah.  Are you talking about the items you wanted us to find and store?]

“No, I’m not.  I want you to clear one more Dungeon, then I want you to immediately come to Paladia.  Let’s meet up in Paladia.”

[You want us to meet up!?  Are we finally joining your party?]

“I’ll make the decision after I see how you take care of this task.”

Artpe ended the call.  Maetel let out a beautiful smile as she made a demand.

“Explain it to me.”

“It’s simple.  I don’t want to get close to Paladia.  Coincidentally, I have a good hand I can use in Silpennon.  After he finished clearing all the Dungeons in Diaz, I gave him a map to the next region.  Naturally, I made him move towards Paladia.  I originally wanted to dump this task on him.  For your information, I met Mycenae before we went into the ocean.”

“Your explanation is quite honest······.”

In truth, Paladia was much closer to Diaz than Aedia.  Aedia was developed in terms of magic, but they were too far for the words of the gods to reach them.  This was why there were more magicians that were trying to grow their own power instead of using the power of the gods.

“Basically, Paladia doesn’t really welcome magicians into their fold.  I’m a hero, but my abilities are heavily slanted towards being a magician.  That is why I was reluctant in going there.  I don’t trust the temple, who are allied with gods. Moreover…..”

Artpe once again checked his barrier, then he spoke in a lowered voice.

“I find the holy priestess to be annoying.”

“However, you still haven’t met her.  She might be an innocent beautiful girl, who only eats dewdrops as she prays to the gods all day.”

“Your description of her is spot on.  It is correct, but·····.”

“Hmm. I’m right?”

Maetel’s expression turned menacing.  If he praised the holy priestess’ looks a little bit more, it looked as if Maetel was about to do something very rash.  That is why Artpe quickly changed the topic.

“She isn’t my cup of tea!  I hate everything that is related to the gods.”

“Artpe always says a woman isn’t to your taste.  However, they always like Artpe, and you aren’t able firmly reject them.”

It would have been a lie to say Maetel’s point didn’t hold any water.  However, there was something he could say for certain in regards to the holy priestess.

“No, I don’t think the holy priestess will like me.”

“How can you be so sure?  You haven’t met her yet.  I understand Artpe has personal information of others, but you can’t guarantee that she won’t be to your taste, right?”

“Well, you do have a point, but······.”

In his past life, Artpe had seen the men that had developed relationship with the holy priestess.  That is why he knew her taste in men.  If he spoke this truth, there was no point in hiding his past life to Maetel.  In the end, he decided to gloss over this point.

“Anyways, you don’t have to worry about it.  When my peaceful life as a dairy farmer becomes guaranteed, I don’t plan on getting involved with women.”

“Artpe just needs me, right?  Hue hue..”

“······if you are asking that question in a friendly manner, I would like you to take your hand off your sword hilt.”

He let out a sigh as he roughly tousled Maetel’s hair.

“You don’t have to be so insecure.  Aside from few select people, most people aren’t permanent fixtures in a hero’s life.”

“Yes······ This all because Artpe is too handsome.”

Maetel stuck a bit closer to Artpe. Since they would have to meet up with another party in Paladia, it seemed she wanted to gather an ingredient that she could only acquire from Artpe.

Her intent was too apparent that he found it troubling.  As he had these thoughts, Artpe took out a book.  It was a very thick book encased in a leather binding.   There was a serious amount of Mana within it.  Maetel’s eyes shone.

“Isn’t that the magic tome from before?”

“Yeah.  I’ve been lazy up until now.  I should start using it now.”

It was the magic tome containing the essence of the Demonification curse.  He had acquired it after killing the Demon Teana.

Of course, he had use it to guide Sherryl.  It allowed her to become a Genesis Mermaid.  He had poured a massive amount of Mana into the tome, and he was able to forcefully change the direction of the process enacted by the tome.  That was why the magical tome was in a ambiguous state.  However, he planned on transforming the magic tome  by Reinforcing it with the ink he acquired from the Kraken and the Ancient Kraken.

“Let me check the content….  Good.  It is starting to become affected by my Record.”

“The magic tome is continuously letting out a light..”

“Its owner had changed, yet it hadn’t accepted this fact yet.  It is resisting against me.  Of course, its actions are useless.”

First, Artpe used the Kraken’s Ink Pouches as Reinforcement ingredients.  Each Ink Pouch was Reinforced to the fullest extent, then they were combined into its final form.  Then he dipped a quill into the ink.

[Nyaaaaaaaaa.]

“No, I’m aiming for a more ambitious goal.”

If he simply wanted an ability to destroy a curse, he already had Roa for that task.  This was a magic tome created with the intent of transforming a human into a Demon.  Artpe thought about completely flipping that process.

“······this might be more important than anything we’ve done up to this point.”

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“A focused Artpe is….   Too cool…..”

“Roa.”

[Nyaaa-ah nyaa.]

Maetel was in an aroused state.  Artpe asked Roa to stop Maetel if she tried to jump him.  He raised his pen, and he placed it on the first page of the magic tome.

They still had a lot of time left until they arrived at the Holy Nation of Paladia.