What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 441

#441

Devil’s Claw, Shipwreck of Nadir (5)

“What?!”

“Lady Stella!”

Ms. Gain made an incredibly loud noise, and I hurriedly covered her mouth.

Following that, the Crown Prince questioned with a sharp glint in his eyes.

“Where is the location? Can you swear to the sun that what you saw is accurate?”

“Aish, jeez!”

You’re going to catch a person!

I immediately delivered a smash to the Crown Prince’s back—Whack!—and staggered back from the terrible experience that made my forearm throb.

Startled, Kina and Willem quickly hid behind Sir Johan’s robe.

Cedric looked down at me with a gaze that said, ‘Did a fly land somewhere?’, and Diope, that rascal, snickered and mocked me.

But this was too important a moment to collapse like this.

I forced a smile and looked at the children.

“Sorry, I startled you. Everyone’s just a bit excited. We’re looking for that person very desperately. That’s why we came from far away.”

“······.”

“Did you happen to see the color of their hair or their legs? They also have a prosthetic leg.”

“I couldn’t see properly because they were wearing a robe, but their hair seemed gray. Or maybe light purple?”

“I saw it through the high window, so I don’t know about the legs. But their hands were very flashy! As soon as they saw us, they slammed the window shut.”

“······.”

The two children answered diligently. I bit my lip and exchanged glances with my friends.

This didn’t seem like it could be a miss.

The person the children witnessed was definitely Werner Fenetian.

However, what was puzzling was why his goal wasn’t ‘mana’ but ‘magic stones’.

It would be good for us if he hadn’t left the black market yet, but what on earth is he plotting? Why does he need that?

What about little Cornelious?

“Hey, kids.”

Flinch. At the call of the wicked young master, the children trembled.

Ms. Gain and I glared at him intensely.

“You said to feed that magic stone to the sacred beast. Hurry up and do it.”

“Please speak nicely to the children.”

A sharp sentence immediately flew out. The man turned to look at me with an unpleasant gaze.

Meanwhile, Sir Johan gently led the two children to the ‘throat’ of the sacred beast.

Whirr······. An unusually clear air rose from the cozy darkness.

It felt like entering a very clean forest, not the underground black market.

“Just, there’s nothing much to it. You just give it as it is.”

Willem haltingly held up the magic stone in his hand.

Then Kina urged her brother. ‘Hurry. Claw must be hungry.’

-Thud! Roly-poly······

The colorless, transparent rock diligently rolled into the darkness and disappeared.

And for a moment, everything was silent. We looked at each other and quietly held our breaths.

Kina, who was very nervous, also stood one step closer to her brother.

After about a minute that felt like an hour······.

-Whoosh······!

“Wow!”

The hole brightly lit up with a warm beige color.

The ceiling’s vine-like stems also emitted a faint warmth and glowed softly.

Then, a streak of fine light embraced Willem once before releasing the child like a limp rubber band and disappearing into the cave.

We alternated between looking at the boy and the sacred beast’s hole with wide eyes.

As if nothing had happened, the place was once again completely dark. Willem scratched the tip of his nose, looking embarrassed.

The sacred beast really ate the magic stone? Not even a holy stone? There’s nothing inside, is there?!

“It likes it very much. Just like that.”

“There’s all sorts of things in the world, seriously······.”

“It doesn’t just like it. When Claw hugs us like this, we don’t feel hungry or sick. It’s really kind.”

“I see.”

Kina explained proudly, and I blankly nodded.

Come to think of it, the children looked unbelievably healthy for having grown up underground.

They were thin, but they had enough stamina to climb this hillside without difficulty, and their cheeks and fingertips were rosy with color.

I heard they were twelve years old, and their physique was similar to their peers.

Around that time, Lopi, who had climbed onto my shoulder, began to press down on my neck. ‘Koo-roo-roo, koo-roo-roo-roo.’

······Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.

“Kina, Willem. Have you ever been outside the black market?”

Shakes of the head. The children shook their heads with slightly sad expressions.

Ms. Gain gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. I calmly continued.

“Then Claw really took care of you. If you two gather food, Claw repays you by making you not hungry and helping you grow taller.”

“That’s right. We don’t even know what a cold is! We’ve never had one before.”

“······.”

If they were ordinary people, they wouldn’t be able to live this well without ever having been exposed to sunlight since birth.

There was no way their nutritional status could be good, even though their meals were irregular.

But these siblings didn’t seem to have any problems with their bones or development, and their eyesight was normal.

They weren’t much different from the tavern errand boys I met in Yeriho.

It was amazing.

“The sacred beast shares its life force.”

“Amazing. The spirit is having voluntary exchanges with these children. It’s not having its power taken away.”

Sir Johan softly added.

I slowly blinked, trying not to lose the thread in my mind.

Then how does it consume the magic stones? Why does the sacred beast need them?

There’s no need to even pretend to eat them.

That being, which is the will of the main god itself and the manifestation of ability, why would it bother to wash foreign substances for what······.

‘The spirit of Iran’

‘Unique ability’

‘Purification’

Ah—!

“Lady Stella, Pilsner, Sir Johan.”

I urgently called my friends. The siblings tilted their heads, looking at me.

“What is it?”

“Sacred beasts have egos. You two know that well.”

“Me, Heineken? I haven’t caught up yet.”

“Preferences. Like people, sacred beasts also have things they particularly like and dislike. For example, Dduk-sim likes to sit in high places. As a free being, it doesn’t mind sleeping out. Hye-geom hates strangers touching it, while Bing-jam’s custodian easily takes people’s hands. The Divine Bow of the Forest is very merciful to fragrant life.”

“Then, this tree is······.”

“It’s a sacred beast with the ability of purification. It clearly likes ‘clean things’.”

I said solemnly. Then Sir Johan made a troubled expression.

“But Heineken. This tree didn’t react at all even when someone poured spring water on it in the grand plaza. There must have been similar attempts so far.”

“······Hmm.”

I pouted and fell into thought. My friends also became serious.

The children looked at each other and whispered.

“Brother, is Claw a sacred beast?”

“I guess so.”

“What’s a sacred beast?”

“I don’t know either. The market people didn’t say anything like that.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter to us. We’ll still be friends with Claw whether it’s a tree or a sewer rat.”

“That’s true.”

“So I wish that man wouldn’t take our magic stones. We want to give them to Claw.”

“That’s also true.”

Willem agreed plainly.

Then, a thin vine that had flowed down from the ceiling began to tickle the children’s hair.

The siblings laughed and played with the sacred beast.

The limp branches were full of unspoken affection.

I quietly smiled and watched the scene.

It was such a pure and innocent sight that my heart was filled with warmth.

But the fact that the children had never been outside since they were born was a big problem.

There was no school, no temple, and nothing to take charge of their socialization or childcare here.

They both needed to get a thorough examination from a doctor.

The young master would say something again, but if possible, I should talk to him well and head in the direction of leaving together······.

“Huh?”

Wait. Something really important just flashed by.

Really! What was it?!

“The answer is a pure ‘soul’. Not pure magic stones or pure water or anything like that.”

The young master, who had been silent, said bluntly.

I was so excited that I almost grabbed Ms. Gain’s hand and shook it.

That’s right! What’s wrong with you, purity!

“That’s right. The sacred beast is voluntarily taking care of the children who are the only ones who think of it here and have a clean heart. In return, it receives the power of a pure soul!”

“Ah! It’s like the ‘fragrant life’ that the Divine Bow of the Forest likes. Since they’re both of the same earth attribute, their tastes overlap a bit? Uh-huh?”

“Lady Stella, you’re a genius!”

Ms. Gain and I were about to break through the ceiling and go wild.

Lopi, unable to withstand the vibrations, jumped onto the Crown Prince’s shoulder.

The man, who was looking at us with a pathetic gaze, continued the question instead.

Meanwhile, the siblings Kina and Willem were smiling brightly with puzzled expressions.

They didn’t know exactly what the conversation was about, but they seemed relieved that the atmosphere was good.

“Now that the secret is roughly solved, let’s move on to the important points. The location and time when you saw that person.”

“Ah, the time was dawn. But it wasn’t curfew, so it must have been around 6 a.m. yesterday.”

“The location was the ‘Salt Pillar’ area, but that’s······.”

Willem trailed off and looked back at his sister. Then Kina also dropped her shoulders.

The sacred beast, which had been making horns on the two children’s heads, also drooped its branches.

A look of realization flashed across Sir Johan’s face.

Why are they doing that? Is there some problem with the Salt Pillar area?

“That’s······. It’s the neighborhood of high-level black mages. The magically enchanted path changes every day, so everyone except the mages who live there gets lost.”

“The path we took yesterday will already be gone. They said it’s a place where ordinary people should never go deep. We didn’t want to go either, but Claw didn’t have any food······.”

Kina and Willem whispered in turn. Then my friends stared at this side.

······Wait, why are you all looking at me? I’m invincible as long as I have this belt?!

*

Underground black market. Salt Pillar area.

-Chug-chug, puff-puff, chug-chug, puff-puff······

The tallest mansion located at the end of the most winding road.

The room at the very top of its most pointed tower.

Located in the middle of a red roof with a winding spring and a gray chimney spewing smoke.

Four men and women were gathered in a space covered with a thick demon beast carpet.

“What more do you need, Master?”

“······I’m starting to feel pain, so I need a painkiller. Wine would be even better.”

“As you command.”

“I will bring it to you soon.”

Two of them were sitting in front of a table made by attaching wood and iron.

The other two bowed politely and went out the door.

‘Squeak, click.’ Werner frowned at the grating sound.

Colorful tattoos danced along his facial lines.

The black mage next to him quietly turned to look at him.

She was wearing black gloves that covered up to her upper arms and a hat several times larger than her face.

Instead of jewels, wind-up keys and screws were busily attached to the hat and necklace, as well as other ornaments.

Soon, a face whose age could not be guessed wore a bitter smile.

“······Does the metallic sound still bother you?”

“I can’t stand what I inherently dislike. Is there a reason why I should?”

“No. It is only natural that a noble person has clear preferences. However, since you have a somewhat fastidious disposition······. I am afraid that you may be concerned about enlisting the help of a black mage.”

“If you intend to mock me, you had better look a few moves ahead. Dragged out of the royal palace in the middle of the night, abandoning all precious possessions, and coming here on my own two feet. What more can’t I do now?”

The state preceptor turned to look at the mage with a sharp gaze.

The woman shrugged her bare shoulders and sipped her coffee.

Occasionally, the iron fireplace made a ‘crack, crack’ sound as embers popped.

“I am relieved to hear that. If Your Highness puts his heart into this plan, I will also do my best to extract the life force of the sacred beast. Regenerating severed limbs will certainly be an unprecedented task. However······. It would be troublesome if there were anyone who mentioned the curse of God at the last minute and ran away with their tail between their legs, wouldn’t it?”

“The gods are on my side. I have received a sacred prophecy, so there is no need to worry.”

“Oh.”

The woman raised one eyebrow and stepped back.

Werner repeated the same words as if to urge her.

“The creation of the main god can never kill this body. Furthermore, I will become even more precious. As long as heaven and earth do not split apart, Sneider will not perish. Now that I know that it is the will of the supreme being, what is there to fear?”

“······.”

“Silently focus only on this operation. If you give me new arms and legs, the greatest wealth and glory of the Divine Kingdom will return to you.”

“I will do my best.”

The woman answered obediently and poured sugar into her coffee cup.

Werner turned his gaze away as if he had seen something very dirty.

“When will the preparations be finished?”

“All the magic stones in the black market are being gathered, but we will have to wait a day or two more for a sufficient amount to accumulate. The current spirit is virtually exhausted. There are only fools who are squeezing out its life force without even knowing it’s a sacred beast, so there’s no way it can survive. To cut down such a withered being and obtain its sap, a very powerful knife is needed.”

“······.”

“However, it must never be destroyed.”

The woman warned firmly. It was not out of concern for the safety of the sacred beast.

She, the leader of the black mages, was only thinking about the survival of the black market.

Then Werner scoffed.

“That’s a ridiculous worry. A sacred beast is a noble thing that can never be destroyed by human power.”

“Do you covet it so much even though you know it is so noble?”

“······.”

The smile evaporated from the man’s lips.

Conversely, the mage’s black lips rose upward like bat wings.

“······.”

And outside the window, a wind with long hair was eavesdropping on their conversation.