What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 440

Devil’s Claw, Wrecked Ship of Nadir (4)

This is truly absurd. Of all things, now we’re in a place like this…!

“Lophy, you knew about this, didn’t you? That’s why you led us all the way here?”

-Baaaeh.

I urgently looked down at the divine beast and whispered.

But the little one, with its front paws wrapped snugly in its tail, simply blinked, as if it had no idea what I was talking about.

Its palm-sized form was so adorable and cute that I was speechless.

I can’t believe this! I sincerely appreciate it, little kitten!

“Sir Johan.”

“I see. Willem, if you don’t mind, could you tell me what the scrap metal you’ve been buying is used for? On the way here, I noticed the surroundings are cleaner than I expected.”

“Well… I’ll show you. Follow me.”

Gain quickly signaled to Sir Johan, and with incredible tact, he excused the siblings from the table.

With a calm demeanor, I wiped the boy’s mouth as he stood up.

The child seemed awkward but obediently accepted my care.

Then, he walked briskly with Sir Johan towards the corner of the tree cave.

Kina, her wounds fully healed, also headed to her brother’s side with a bright smile. As soon as I confirmed that the two children had completely turned their backs to us—

“Jackpot! Princess, this is a real jackpot!”

Gain whispered, her eyes wide as if they would pop out.

We huddled together.

Being huddled around a low table in the round, cozy darkness felt like we were seven dwarves.

Dwarves facing a very urgent situation!

“But the three paladins didn’t sense anything at all. How is that possible?”

“It’s strange. I still can’t detect any Ether [magical energy].”

“Me neither.”

“Huh?”

“Wait, could this tree be a sacred object or something? Even though it’s falling apart?”

Suddenly, Jibril Diop leaned in.

I looked back at my friends with a confused expression.

The situation was so sudden that my brain felt frozen.

It would be better to start from the basics. Let’s go back to the beginning. So, just like the Empire, the Divine Nation has a total of four sacred objects…

“I’ll open this notebook. Please keep the Prince away from seeing it.”

“Leave it to me.”

“Hey, Princess?”

The playboy wizard frowned, but I maintained a firm expression.

This contains all sorts of information, so it would be difficult for outsiders to even glance at it.

While Gain quickly took out a handkerchief to cover the man’s eyes and ears—he was surprisingly docile—the pages flipped busily.

I definitely wrote it down here…

“I’ve organized the contents of [a fictional book]. There’s a section in that book that introduces the sacred objects of the Divine Nation. You read it yourself when you were young, so you should remember.”

“……”

“And I’ve also written down the original settings that might be helpful…”

“Princess, you’re really diligent. You must have been a good student in school?”

Gain stretched her neck and whispered. I had nothing to say, so I glossed over it with a smile.

The Crown Prince looked at the notebook and then at me with a strange gaze.

I wondered what kind of look that was and pondered for a while.

Not revealing his inner thoughts is both his personality and a characteristic of the royal family, so it was faster for me to guess like this.

He tends to show his mistakes on his face, so it’s good for confirming wrong answers.

Hmm, let’s see…

“It’s weird that you’re showing us something you never showed before?”

“……What are you doing? Do you have mind-reading powers now?”

“Hahaha.”

I chuckled softly and found the page in question. Cedric Prince frowned slightly.

“……I can’t read anything but numbers.”

“I’ll teach you properly next time. It’s an easy script to learn, so you’ll pick it up quickly.”

Right next to me, pink hair tickled my forehead. We both bowed our heads.

The hastily scribbled and added letters came into view.

The color and thickness of the pens were all different.

· Sacred Objects

– Empire 4 + Divine Nation 4 + Papal State 1 = Total 9

– One sacred object has three unique abilities (excluding basic attributes).

– Unlike the Imperial sacred objects that exist in fixed locations, the Divine Nation’s sacred objects are known to freely roam around.

– Liester Empire: Blessing of the Azure Sea (Water), Ark of Bireom (Air), Shrine of Trees (Earth)……

– Temple of Boundary: Holy Grail of Wishes (Desire)

– Venetian Divine Nation: Vault of Ice Silkworm (Water), Foreboding of Headwind (Air), Spirit of Iran (Earth)……

Found it! Earth attribute ‘Spirit of Iran’!

“Spirit. It seems like this friend we’re inside, right? It’s currently in tree form, and it even heals children’s wounds.”

“Yes. There’s no reason for the fire attribute to take a form weaker than itself. Besides, fire is said to be the most extroverted of the four special Ethers. This deep underground clearly doesn’t suit its disposition. I read it in [another fictional book].”

Gain and I whispered excitedly.

The Prince stretched out a gloved finger and gently pushed his partner’s forehead. They’re going to fight again!

“Ah! I’m going to bite your finger off—”

“Then what are the ‘Spirit’s’ unique abilities? Does it have the ability to eliminate Ether?”

“Actually, in the original…”

I said that far and glanced at the Lightning Prince.

He was sitting silently with his eyes and ears covered.

Judging by the fact that there was no sign of him at all, it seemed that Sir Johan had blocked the sound in the meantime.

But I was concerned about constantly mentioning the word ‘original’ in front of someone who didn’t know anything.

It certainly wouldn’t be a pleasant word for my friends either.

Okay, let’s change the wording.

“From now on, I’ll refer to the original work as ‘Garden.’ There isn’t much publicly revealed information about sacred objects in the Garden. Especially about your two sacred objects. Most of what we know, we learned through direct experience. In the case of the Blessing of the Azure Sea, the only officially mentioned ability is ‘Petrification,’ and Eve’s Great Adventure didn’t provide detailed explanations either. The Spirit of Iran is…”

Swoosh. Two pairs of eyes followed my fingertips.

‘Unique Abilities: Life Force, Purification, Frenzy.’

What! It wrote down all three!

“Serenete?”

“……Ahem. It has the abilities of life force, purification, and causing frenzy. The past me wrote it down in detail.”

“Gasp! Princess, speaking of life force, I just remembered!”

Thud! Gain, who was very excited, pushed the Prince’s chest and shouted.

The handkerchief she was holding fluttered in the air. The moment the angry man grabbed his Hyegeom [sword],

“Black magic!”

“Ah……!”

Tingle! I was horrified and covered my mouth with my fist.

A thrill of realization ran through me, and goosebumps rose along my spine.

I hurriedly turned to look at the Prince.

He also seemed to have grasped the situation, and his crimson eyes were wide open.

I could almost hear the cry of my dear Marquis somewhere.

‘Good heavens, Ariane blessed by the Holy Spirit!’

“I knew it… I felt like something was off. The scale of the black market was excessively large, beyond imagination. But I never thought…”

The sensation of the blood draining from my face due to shock was vivid.

I moved my lips, trying to suppress the thoughts that were rising haphazardly.

Gain’s voice that followed was trembling slightly.

“Yes. There are a lot of people here, but if black magic on this scale can run on its own, it means it needs a tremendous amount of life force. The airships outside, the magic lights and security devices in every alleyway. It looks like it can only be maintained if people die every day.”

“……”

I nodded as if possessed.

Black magic always consumes someone’s ‘life force.’

With this, corrupted mana exerts a power that is several times stronger and more terrifying than ordinary mana.

And the target of the criminals here who suck life is—

‘Unique Ability: Life Force’

“They are trapped in a terrible darkness and cannot distinguish right from wrong. They are exploiting the life force of the sacred object.”

“Oh my god……”

-Nyaeb

The Prince summarized the situation in a sharp voice.

Only then did Lophy jump onto my lap and curl up.

Judging by the reaction, it seemed that our reasoning was correct. I ran a hand down my face and looked up at the ceiling.

Through the withered, yellowing branches, a faint aura of flax occasionally sparkled.

If you listened carefully, you could hear a mournful cry beyond the dense darkness. ‘Sniff… Aaaaaah…’

-It hurts……

It wasn’t scary anymore, it was just a heartbreaking sound that drained all the strength from my body.

I couldn’t believe it.

“Then, the reason you can’t feel the Spirit’s Ether is…”

This is the Divine Nation.

“It must be because the sacred object is on the verge of death.”

“If it’s been exploited for a thousand years, anything is possible. So this tree isn’t hiding its power on its own. It doesn’t even have the energy left to do that.”

“Haa……”

I let out a long sigh as if I were about to spit out my lungs.

Diop, who slowly grasped the situation, made a disgusted face.

The handkerchief had long flown away, and it seemed he had been able to hear the sound for some time. It was then.

“Indeed.”

“Teacher.”

“Sir Johan!”

We were startled and looked up at the man.

The Cardinal, who had already returned to the table, was raising the corners of his lips like a painting.

However, his complexion was dark.

The Kina and Willem siblings hid behind his robe, only peeking out their eyes.

“Every time I came here, I couldn’t understand the legend of the black market. I wondered why such a huge tree had taken root in a place like this. Why it provides a thousand years of sanctuary to these criminals, whether that is truly the will of God…”

Mint-colored eyes slowly traced the tree wall.

Following his gaze, a faint power drew a trajectory of light and disappeared.

-Woo woo woo……

As if begging to be saved.

“So it wasn’t taking root.”

“……”

“This sacred object ran away. Away from humans, into the deep, dark underground.”

‘And was caught again.’ He muttered. We were speechless for a while.

Diop barely took a sip of water and said one word. ‘It’s disgustingly nauseating.’

“……Then, shouldn’t we help in some way?”

I barely parted my lips. Then my friends looked at me at the same time.

Lophy began to rub her head on my palm.

“Of course, the most urgent thing right now is to find ‘that person,’ but after we get a clue, I want to help this sacred object regain its freedom. What do you think?”

“I think you have a lot of unnecessary sympathy. I think your pockets will be easily picked wherever you go.”

The lightning punk retorted bluntly. I immediately tasted blood on my lips.

The Prince began to take off his gloves without a word, and Gain glared at him, cracking her neck from side to side.

“Have you ever thought about having your corn silk plucked while you’re sleeping? Have you ever thought about that going into your trachea?”

“I wouldn’t mind being executed right away.”

“A sparring match is welcome, but it wouldn’t be too late to proceed after we achieve our goals and Heineken’s wishes.”

Sir Johan quickly suppressed the fierce atmosphere.

I turned to look at him with wide eyes.

“……Is that okay? Is that possible?”

“Yes. It will always be as you wish. Coincidentally, these children have both clues.”

He answered gently and looked down at the scrap metal siblings.

Only then did Kina and Willem walk out from behind the adults, step by step.

Anyone could see that they had a lot to complain about.

“It’s here.”

“Now, we’ll show you what we do.”

The point where the two children led us was a very deep corner of the cave.

On the floor here, there were two large holes shaped like human throats.

The inside was so black that you couldn’t see what was inside, and when you spoke, the sound echoed.

It seemed like a gentle and mysterious air was flowing out.

Kina, who had rolled up her sleeves, explained cheerfully.

“The reason my brother and I collect low-grade magic stones and extracts is because they become Balttob’s food.”

“Wow……”

Gain and I simultaneously exclaimed.

Humans taking care of the sacred object’s food, no. In the first place, there’s a sacred object that eats food?

“Of course, it doesn’t eat everything. Only very, very clean things.”

“The black magicians are always experimenting, so if the ingredients are even a little dirty, they throw them away. We take that and clean it or boil it.”

“And then we put it in these holes. Then Balttob gets some energy. It also emits pretty light.”

“Heh.”

The bad guy let out a dry breath. He clearly didn’t believe it.

Regardless, we patiently waited for the children’s demonstration.

Soon, Willem took out a magic stone from his pocket.

It was a rock that emitted a clear and transparent light like a sacred stone, as if it had been scrubbed thoroughly.

But the boy said in a gloomy voice.

“We’re going to give this this time… But this is actually the last one.”

“Huh? Why?”

“These days, no one throws away waste. Today, we only picked up a few pieces of scrap metal.”

Lophy and I tilted our heads at the same time.

“No one throws it away? In such a big neighborhood? There are so many black magicians.”