Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 395

Chapter 395

“I would like to talk a bit more; would you spare me some time?”

At Okal’s request, Karian seemed to ponder for a moment before nodding. The meeting that followed was unusually pleasant. At first, only mundane small talk was exchanged, but as the atmosphere grew more comfortable, they gradually began to share personal stories. It was around that time that the topic of Elquines’s impending disappearance came up.

“The Water Spirit King is about to disappear?”

“It seems the time is approaching. As his contractor, I can feel it more clearly. The bond is weakening more and more.”

“Is it difficult to know the exact timing?”

“That’s under the jurisdiction of the Underworld. There’s no way to know such a thing without peeking at the Guide’s Book of Life.”

It was just a casual remark, so Okal never dreamed it would become a problem. Therefore, he didn’t notice Karian’s thoughtful expression. He also took the subsequent questions lightly.

“Do you happen to deal with unicorn eyes?”

He should have noticed something was wrong then. At the time, he just thought the interest had shifted from soul stones to unicorn eyes. In fact, unicorn eyes were more often used for decoration, so he couldn’t imagine any other use for them.

Of course, having already made his plan, Karian would have gathered unicorn eyes one way or another, even if it wasn’t him. He simply shouldn’t have mentioned Elquines’s disappearance in the first place. Once again savoring the rising frustration, Okal buried his head in his arms.

It was fortunate that this Elquines had a gentle personality; the previous one would never have let it go. On the very day the truth was revealed, the Blue Clan might have been completely erased from the Dragon World. In fact, when the God of Punishment, known for his ruthlessness, arrived, his heart sank, thinking he was going to be dragged to the Divine Realm. Fortunately, that wasn’t the purpose, but he still felt his face burning because the god seemed to look at him with particular disdain. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he felt a resemblance to the previous Elquines, as if he was being scolded by him.

‘Come to think of it, was his voice a bit similar too?’

Okal retraced his memories to recall the God of Punishment. Strangely, he couldn’t quite remember his appearance.

Before establishing the Water Barrier, Okal had received a brief inspection directly from the God of Punishment. It was to check if Karian had set any tricks. At that time, he had clearly looked at his face, but he couldn’t recall even the basic features like hair or eye color. The God of Punishment must have taken some measures. He wondered if it was really necessary, but he understood it as the god’s way of saying he didn’t want to associate with others, as he was known to be prickly. Even that personality was a bit unsettlingly similar to the previous Elquines, considering it was just a coincidence.

“Did you ever eat or drink anything he gave you?”

Nothing special was found in the inspection. Still, the God of Punishment was cautious. When he questioned him in a low, calm tone, Okal confidently shook his head. His interactions with Karian mostly took place in his lair. Okal had offered refreshments, but Karian had never given him anything.

“What did you do with the magic stones you received from trading with him?”

“I disposed of them all five years ago. There’s nothing left now.”

Each time he answered confidently, the God of Punishment stared at him intently for a long time. His gaze seemed to discern the truth, making him nervous, but he calmly accepted it as there was no falsehood in his words. Several more questions followed, and only after confirming that everything was fine did the Water Barrier begin to form. It was a long and suffocating time.

If someone else could have been substituted, Okal wouldn’t have been used for this role. However, he was the only dragon capable of handling the Water Barrier at the moment. In the Dragon World, only the Blue and White Clans possessed the water attribute, and these two clans generally had weaker innate power compared to other clans. There were strong dragons, but their numbers were few, and even they were mostly in hibernation. Among the water-attribute dragons currently awake, Okal was the most outstanding. Even so, it was a close call for him to handle the purification barrier, so choosing someone weaker than him was impossible. It would be good to wake the sleeping ones, but the process of waking a dragon takes several years. There was no time to wait.

‘I should have stopped Grandfather from going into hibernation.’

His grandfather, Ramias, chose to sleep for the absurd reason that he didn’t want to experience the moment the contract with the previous Elquines was severed while conscious. When the next Elquines wasn’t born immediately, he was relieved (as he would have made a huge fuss), but now, thinking back, he realized that if Ramias had been awake, he might have judged the situation earlier. His obsession with Elquines was truly remarkable. He would have thoroughly analyzed the reason why the Water Spirit King wasn’t born and tried to find the cause. It goes without saying that the problem of creating the purification barrier could have been solved more easily.

Knowing that it was too late now, Okal clutched his hair due to the overwhelming regret. Just then, a small, bright blue fish suddenly appeared and circled around him. Okal’s expression softened upon discovering its presence.

“Una.”

Una was a familiar [a magical companion] that Ramias had created for his only grandson. Originally, familiars were generally used as extensions of their master, but Okal simply kept it as a pet. It didn’t have any useful abilities other than living a long time, so it wasn’t much different from an ordinary fish. Once, it was almost eaten by a predator while he briefly looked away. Fortunately, he rescued it just before it was digested, but it was so badly injured that he sweated profusely while treating it.

“…….”

Come to think of it, did he use one of the magic stones Karian gave him to treat Una?

Okal groaned slightly at the belated, crazy thought. Magic stones are used to process various types of magical items. Familiars, being magical creatures, are also basically created using magic stones. If they break or get damaged, they need magic stones to be repaired, and because the situation was so urgent at the time, he brought all the magic stones he had. But it seemed that some of the magic stones he used at that time were the ones he received from trading with Karian.

‘This much should be okay, right? Una is connected to me, but it’s not the kind that affects me.’

Okal looked at Una with an uneasy expression. His heart was racing, but the fish, completely unaware of its owner’s worries, simply swam around calmly. He couldn’t find anything different from usual in its appearance.

No, shouldn’t it be different from usual?

Okal’s expression slowly hardened at the sudden, insane thought.

「Set up a barrier first.」

The voice of Eluen, the God of Punishment, flashed through his mind. It was right after the Water Barrier was completed, when everyone was exhausted. He seemed to distrust Okal until the very end. Even though he was very tired from using almost all of his divine power, he wanted to prepare for the worst.

「Don’t touch anything from now on. Then the outside world won’t be able to find you.」

In fact, from the moment those words were spoken, everyone there recognized that Okal had disappeared. That was why Okal was now alone in this vast ocean. But Una in front of him clearly recognized its owner. Perhaps because it was a familiar connected to him, it wasn’t affected by the barrier because the same wavelengths flowed through it. Nothing had happened yet, but an unsettling feeling rose within him. Una, who had always been cute, looked ominous today. Then Una left his side and started going somewhere else.

“Una?”

Okal lifted his head with a stiff face. Despite being called by its owner, Una continued to move forward. In that direction, there was a school of fish clustered together. They weren’t fish that originally lived here, and it seemed they had lost their way for some reason. Una mixed into the school of fish without any hesitation, frolicking as if it had met its friends. It was a common sight, so Okal, who had been tense, chuckled lightly.

‘I’ve become too sensitive.’

After mingling with the fish for a while, Una turned back towards Okal. Then the other fish also changed direction and began to follow behind it. It looked as if Una was leading the school of fish, but Okal wasn’t nervous this time. Una had always brought fish like this when Okal was in a bad mood. It was Una’s way of comforting its owner. It seemed that its owner looked quite depressed today.

Okal smiled and raised a hand to greet his returning pet fish. The familiar was soon to be a part of its owner, and if it wasn’t affected by the barrier, it shouldn’t matter if he touched it. Now it was time for the soft sensation of the fins to brush between his fingers. But at that moment, an unexpected stinging pain occurred. Okal blinked for a moment at the sight before him. Una was biting his finger.

‘……Did Una have teeth?’

In a state of slowed judgment, he thought blankly for a moment. He felt something spreading rapidly from the bitten area. When he inadvertently looked ahead, he saw a school of fish rushing in from behind Una. They were all opening their mouths wide. The sharp teeth filling their mouths were vivid.

“Ah.”

At the same time as his realization, the black swarm rushed in from all directions. The fins that crashed down with the bubbles instantly swallowed his vision. The bubbling sound filled his ears.

That was the last thing Okal remembered.

* * *

“It’s Halberk.”

The person watching flinched at the calmly spoken voice. The hair flowing down her shoulders was a dazzling silver, and the eyes nestled between her lush eyelashes also held the moonlight. The woman, Anea, as if sculpted from platinum, checked and rechecked the scene before her with an unbelievable expression. But no matter how many times she looked, the result didn’t change. A white chess piece was placed on the black stone board with a circle drawn on it. It was on the very square she had been praying and praying not to land on.

“The toll is 300 gold coins.”

And the merciless voice continued. Anea stared at the stone board for a while, then let out a deep sigh.

“I lost.”

“Do you concede defeat?”

“Yes, I concede. Even if I scrape together all the money I have left, it won’t even be 30 silver coins. I’ve been landing on expensive properties since a while ago. It’s over. I’m bankrupt. I won’t do it anymore! I can’t!”

Anea, grumbling like a child, had completely abandoned her usual alluring and intellectual demeanor. The emotionless girl sitting across from her, Mine, shrugged at the unpretentious behavior of the usually aloof contractor.

“That’s why I told you not to invest only in Ishiorta. If you had diversified your investments, your win rate would have been a bit higher.”

“That place was a holy ground last game.”

And then, Mine had Ishiorta. Conversely, Halberk was the land owned by Anea. It was also the land where she had to lose all her investment because she never landed on it. But now, the situation was exactly the opposite, and she was defeated by Halberk. Anea couldn’t hide her shocked expression.

“A complete defeat! I can’t believe it. Why is Mine so good at games?”

The Silver Dragon and the Wind Spirit King. The two beings who had formed a close relationship since contracting were trying out a popular game in the human world. They had written the names of cities in Arkadon on a wide stone board and laid them out in a circle, then moved as many spaces as the number rolled on the dice, occupying the land. It was a kind of real estate game. The match, which had been going on non-stop since morning, finally ended with Mine’s overwhelming victory of 30 wins and 0 losses. Anea, who had lost all her games, was frustrated, but Mine, who had already expected this result, wasn’t surprised or proud at all.

“I told you from the beginning that I had the advantage. It’s strange that Anea is trying to play this kind of luck game with a Spirit King in Arkadon. I’ll probably win every time, no matter how many times we play.”

“I knew it, but experiencing it directly is a bit different.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s really amazing. I’m starting to wonder what would happen if Spirit Kings played a game against each other.”

“There’s no need to see it. Ifrit would win.”

The answer that came back was so nonchalant that Anea was even more taken aback. Mine quietly tilted her head at Anea’s surprised expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t expect you to answer so easily. Spirit Kings are supposed to be in a relationship where they can’t determine superiority over each other.”

“That may be true in reality, but this is a game. Everyone knows that you can’t beat Ifrit with luck.”

“Ah, come to think of it, Ifrit’s unique ability was something like that. Kiss of Blessing?”

“It’s the ability to bestow overflowing luck, charm, and prosperity. Ifrit would reverse everything even if this game entered the later stages.”

That was a fact that could be seen just by looking at the Red Dragons, who possessed the fire attribute. The Red Clan was the most prosperous clan among the dragons, and the production of prodigies and geniuses was overwhelmingly high. There was no need to test how much great luck Ifrit, the source of it, possessed.

“Then let’s say Ifrit is in first place, what about the rest of the rankings?”

“It would be in the order that Ifrit favored.”

At that moment, Anea firmly resolved not to cross Ifrit no matter what happened.

「Kuaaaaak!」

Just then, the forgotten scream echoed. The two frowned at the same time.

“I still can’t get used to that sound.”

Mine muttered in an unpleasant tone, and Anea quietly nodded in agreement. Quite some time had passed since the purification barrier began to activate. The noise that started then was repeating periodically throughout the day. It wasn’t a pleasant sound to hear, but even if they wanted to block it out, it was ringing directly in their heads, so there was no other way. In fact, the two of them had started this meaningless game as an attempt to forget the noise. Rather than just sitting still and waiting for the purification to end, which they didn’t know when it would, they wanted to do something enjoyable, even if just a little.