Ch#74
I... I saw the core.
To be precise, I saw Ppuppu hatch from the core and flop into Tie's bag.
But she couldn't tell them all of that truthfully.
Tie cleared her throat awkwardly before mumbling a response.
"Weeell, fighting Krazar inside the subspace was kinda hard......"
The situation had improved greatly once Lucarion appeared.
"Then somehow Tie's pet, no, summon came out~"
"You summoned it inside the subspace?"
"Yeees~"
"Doesn't mana manipulation not work inside a subspace?"
Tie flinched and pursed her lips.
'Oh. Come to think of it.'
Mana manipulation hadn't worked, it seemed.
But there was no helping it now.
Tie rolled her eyes with an 'I dunno' look and replied.
"It worked though~?"
"What?"
"Tie could use mana~......"
Silence fell over the reception room.
Lifting her gaze, she saw Riper and Elanes wearing strange expressions.
Tie seized the moment and quickly added,
"Elanes and Riper didn't go inside the subspace, right?"
In other words, 'You guys have no experience with Krazar's subspace. I'm the one who was there, so what are you gonna do about it?'
Soon Riper nodded.
"......Well, true."
Elanes still looked dubious,
"Is it possible because it's dark attribute?"
She muttered before turning her head away.
Regaining her courage, Tie continued.
"Anyway, so we cleared the Krazar mist and found the core, but it was shattered and gone."
"Shattered?"
"Yes!"
"And that's it?"
"Yeees, that's it."
Tie puffed out her chest proudly.
Tie hadn't told any unnecessary lies, in her own way.
'They didn't ask if something came out of the core, right?'
If they had, she would have told them about Ppuppu.
But they hadn't, so it was a pass.
"Is that even possible......?"
As Elanes tilted her head repeatedly,
"It's possible. I saw it myself."
Someone opened the reception room door and entered.
Tie's face lit up upon seeing his face.
"Factory Chief!"
"Yes, Sovereign King. I'm here."
Berugon entered with a pleased expression and sat at the head seat without hesitation. He continued speaking, his forehead wrapped in bandages.
"I saw it myself. The Sovereign King shattering the red mist with her mana strike, and Krazar's core turning to dust and vanishing."
Huh?
Tie widened her eyes.
"And that's not all. The Sovereign King even saved me when I was lost in its delirium."
"Is that true?"
"It is! She quickly spotted the subspace barrier as it was collapsing. Thanks to her breaking it, we could escape outside."
Tie's puzzled eyes shook slightly.
'Huh? That's not right......?'
Berugon's words had some truth, but also inaccuracies.
'The factory chief never saw the core shatter in Tie's hand.'
He had been passed out when Ppuppu hatched.
Tie secretly checked Berugon's complexion.
'Is he lying to help Tie?'
But given Berugon's personality, it seemed unlikely he'd give false testimony for someone.
And though they'd shared hardships in the subspace briefly, she and Berugon weren't that close.
'This is weird?'
As she pondered,
Tok tok-
At the small sound from below, Tie flinched and looked down.
Inside the Hanbit Kindergarten bag.
Ppuppu, who had unzipped it slightly at some point, was tapping the inner wall of the storage space with its trunk.
Meeting Tie's eyes, Ppuppu brought its front paw to its mouth and shushed softly.
"Shiii-"
Tie barely kept her jaw from dropping and slowly raised her head with a creak.
"Do you know how valiant the Sovereign King was against Krazar? Not for nothing is she a grand mage! When she braced against the wall and flew into a sky-high kick, that height was a whopping......!"
This confirmed it.
"She struck the Krazar mist—pow! The formless magic beast writhed greatly and slammed to the floor—thud!"
Berugon wasn't lying. He was truly testifying to what he'd seen.
The problem was that it was a delusion created by Ppuppu.
Tie swallowed hard and carefully rezipped the bag.
'Ppuppu......'
At first, she thought she'd just become the mom of a cute baby elephant.
Following the Sanctity of Oblivion, it felt like she'd somehow gotten her hands on something enormously significant in another way.
* * *
"When smelting with a major magic beast's core, sometimes the relic turns into scrap."
Berugon's explanation continued for a long while.
"Sorry for dragging on, but I haven't had such a clear mind in years. Back to what I was saying earlier, usually when durability drops, the core used in the relic......"
Until complete night had fallen outside the dim room.
But regardless of the time, Berugon showed no sign of stopping.
As the dozing Tie lifted her head, Elanes was propping her chin with one hand, spinning her water glass.
Behind her, Riper had stood and was gazing at the Primordial Furnace through the full-length window.
"Elanes, pay attention. Didn't you just ask if I had any prized weapons? Don't you want the secret relic I made?"
Elanes suppressed a sigh and closed her eyes tightly.
'......When the hell is he coming.'
Everything that needed confirming had been confirmed long ago.
They'd verified the factory chief was not just fine but more energetic than usual,
and heard that Krazar's core had likely been destroyed.
The sole reason they couldn't leave was one thing.
'We can't decide to leave until Valentis Lumenen arrives.'
The Association's orders went as far as 'report the situation to the Lumenen Leader dispatched on behalf of the Imperial Family.'
In other words, the summons wouldn't end until they met him and briefed him on all the information gathered.
'After slaving away all day, we can't just leave now.'
"Sovereign King. You know, right? How much passion I pour into relic crafting."
Then Berugon's target shifted to the Sovereign King.
The dozing Sovereign King wiped her mouth and nodded earnestly.
"Yeees~!"
"You've trained your mana strikes many times yourself, so you know how much effort goes into creating something of high completion!"
"Yeeees~."
"So......"
Elanes whispered to Riper, who had returned to his seat.
"Take back what I said earlier during the day."
Riper looked at her like 'what?'
Elanes's eyes gleamed blue as she added,
"I said Tesetan was an idiot for not knowing how to butter up the Association. I take it back. That guy's right. We're the idiots."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden."
"The Lumenen Leader. Why is it taking so damn long? The Association definitely said he'd come via teleportation circle."
Currently, no means of transport in the empire was faster than a teleportation circle.
"A few seconds to activate. A few to launch. A few to stabilize. Less than a minute total, but now......"
Elanes inhaled sharply and said,
"I can't wait anymore."
She stood with a scowl.
"If it's the Association, they'll handle compensation properly. I'm leaving first, so wrap it up yourself......"
But at that moment, the reception room door opened.
"My apologies. We arrived some time ago, but matters delayed us, so we're late."
A tall knight stood before the open door.
At his appearance, the room's atmosphere shifted instantly. Tie slowly turned her head.
Her sleepy child eyes blinked, then her eyelids flew wide open.
"Regret making you wait so long."
He resembled him.
"Then let's start quickly and end quickly."
The Lumenen Leader, boasting the highest rank among the empire's holy knights.
Valentis Lumenen, whom Tie had longed to meet more than anyone,
Tie swallowed hard.
'......He looks just like Dad! Super super alike!'
