Chapter 167: The Secret Treasure

About a month after we defeated the Earth Dragon, Grandpa summoned El, Ashera, Mother, and me to his office after dinner.

It felt just like being called to the faculty room when I was a student.

We timidly knocked on the office door, and Grandpa’s voice came from inside.

“Enter.”

For some reason, I led the way, followed by El, Ashera, and the Ice Witch.

Although I felt that this order was deeply unfair, I stepped forward before Grandpa, Father, and Serie.

“You summoned us.”

“Yes. Be at ease.”

“Thank you.”

The four of us sat in the chairs Serie had presumably prepared and waited for Grandpa to speak.

“At last, all of the Earth Dragon’s materials have been sold. I understand that part of the hide and scales were used for your armor. The remaining materials sold for eight divine-gold coins, one divine-crimson coin, and six divine-silver coins.”

Eight hundred and sixteen million yen!!

Sure, it had been strong, but eight hundred million was more than a lottery jackpot! Come on!

“Selling part of the bones, fangs, claws, and meat in the royal capital—and the remaining meat and blood in the Blue Ring territory—made a considerable difference. Tab is not present, but his work exceeded our expectations.”

“Tab…”

El smiled, clearly delighted by the achievements of Marl’s parent.

“I have a proposal. May we use this money for the Blue Ring territory?”

“By ‘for the Blue Ring territory,’ do you mean investing in magical-tool production and our next business?”

“Correct. We still have the money earned from Reversi, but considering the future, I want to keep as much cash on hand as possible.”

“In that case, I fully agree.”

“I see. What of the others?”

“I agree with Brother.”

“If it is an investment in our future, I would be grateful.”

“I have no objection either, Father.”

“Then the money will be used for the Blue Ring territory.”

Grandpa signaled Serie with his eyes.

“I will continue from here. We have already reached an agreement with Deputy Guild Master Naga. Including compensation for her silence, she will receive one divine-crimson coin as her share. She protested that the amount was excessive, since she did not participate in the Earth Dragon battle and helped only with transporting the quickly spoiling meat and blood. However, we settled on this amount because she is Lady Rafina’s old friend, wishes to move to the Blue Ring territory in the future, and knows about the Apostles. I ask for your understanding.”

Without Naga, we could never have conquered the Labyrinth of Claws and Fangs so smoothly.

Exploring a labyrinth required more than the ability to fight.

A leader had to arrange food, maps, and equipment, assign roles, and flexibly change the exploration plan after judging the party’s strength.

Naga had been a truly excellent leader.

I didn’t know the market rate for her work, but I wanted Serie to treat her sincerely.

Grandpa looked around to confirm that none of us objected before speaking.

“That concludes our discussion. You may leave.”

“Yes.”

The four of us departed the office.

I had no complaints, but this meant our effective reward for the Earth Dragon had become zero.

I didn’t believe Grandpa would waste the money, yet receiving no reward at all was still a little painful.

Speaking of rewards… What had happened to the glowing staff and the mithril knife?

The mithril knife had killed the Earth Dragon. If possible, I wanted to keep it as a backup weapon.

I asked Mother what had become of them.

“Mother, do you know what happened with the appraisal of the glowing staff and mithril knife?”

“Hm? We had those too, didn’t we? I don’t know.”

“I see. I’ll ask Naga.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

Mother answered with no interest whatsoever and moved to the sitting room.

I decided to ask at the guild after the academy ended tomorrow.

The next day after classes, I remained for independent study.

Recently, I’d been learning the demon language from Instructor Anna.

I could now speak Elvish and the beastfolk language, so after demon language, I intended to study Dwarvish.

I was still a student, but now that I’d become an Apostle, I would probably need to travel throughout the world.

I was genuinely glad I’d started learning languages.

While I studied languages, Louis and Nero practiced physical enhancement.

Looking at them again, both had improved tremendously since the beginning.

Louis’s diligence during the winter holiday was expected, but it was clear that Nero had trained seriously too.

“Louis, Nero, it looks like you’ve practiced mana control a great deal.”

“Yeah. I trained hard every day.”

“I trained until I was nearly out of mana before sleeping every night!”

“I see. Even now, I practice mana control before bed. My mother trains every day too.”

“Even the Ice Witch trains every day…”

“I’ll keep doing it every day too!”

That day, Louis, Nero, Faristea, and I continued our respective independent studies with Instructor Anna until it was time to leave.

Afterward, I parted with everyone at the academy gate and headed to the guild alone.

Noel, Faristea, Yuri, and Instructor Anna returned to the Blue Ring mansion together.

As for me, I equipped knives in the usual places—against my right shin and left thigh—and walked straight to the guild.

Without any detours, I arrived sooner than expected.

When I entered in my academy uniform, the guild fell utterly silent, and every person stared at me.

Recently, they hadn’t paid me much attention.

Was seeing me in uniform really so unusual…? It was a mystery.

Godo happened to be there and called out to me.

“Aldo… Even with your skill, dressed like that, you look like nothing more than a green academy brat…”

“I am a green academy brat.”

“Hah! If you’re a green brat, what does that make us? Eggs?”

I shrugged, passed Godo, and joined Naga’s line.

As always, it was short. Even though this should have been a busy hour, only two people were waiting.

My turn came quickly.

“Aldo, what brings you here today?”

Her tone was normal, but her cheeks were flushed, and she was breathing heavily…

Surely I’d imagined hearing her whisper, “Uniforms are wonderful.”

“Y-yes… I wanted to ask you something…”

“What is it?”

“What happened with the appraisals of the glowing staff and mithril knife?”

“Ah. Appraisals take time. In unfortunate cases, they can take years.”

“That long…?”

“Do you have some reason to want the appraisal completed quickly?”

“It isn’t terribly important… but since the knife killed the Earth Dragon, I hoped to use it as a backup weapon…”

“I see. In that case, shall we cancel only the mithril knife’s appraisal?”

“Then we won’t know its value, so I won’t know how much to pay everyone.”

Naga looked somewhat troubled as she began explaining.

“Aldo, the mithril knife was loot obtained by our party of five.”

“Yes.”

“Then if the other four agree, no money needs to change hands.”

“No. I couldn’t possibly do that.”

Naga sighed and beckoned me closer.

When I leaned toward her, she whispered into my ear as though sharing a secret.

“I’m receiving a dragon robe and an additional divine-crimson coin. I’ve been rewarded so well that a single mithril knife makes no difference.”

Perhaps Naga had a point.

Once our secret conversation ended, I faced her again.

“Understood. I’ll ask everyone.”

Naga sighed again.

“Aldo. Other than me, the party members are your mother, your brother, and your fiancée, correct?”

“Well… yes.”

“Then the moment I agreed, the mithril knife became yours.”

“…”

“Of course, common courtesy still requires you to explain and thank each of them individually.”

“Yes…”

“For my thanks, how about giving me the right to use your bath whenever I wish? The bath belongs to you, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. If something like that is enough, you’re welcome anytime.”

“Thank you. Ever since you let me use it before, I’ve been longing to go in again.”

Naga spoke with joy from the bottom of her heart.

For a moment, I nearly asked whether she’d like to use the bath at the model house as well, but that one didn’t belong to me.

I would ask Grandpa or Serie before mentioning it to her.

“Then I’ll stop the appraisal and have only the mithril knife returned.”

“Yes, please.”

“When it comes back, I’ll visit the Blue Ring mansion. Please let me use the bath then.”

Naga spoke in an adorably hopeful manner.

This woman was over forty… Elves were terrifying.

“Of course. I’ll see you then.”

My business with the guild was finished, but Naga had one more thing to tell me.

“The Blue Ring family asked us to hurry with the Earth Dragon, so we appraised it first. The rest will take a little longer. There are so many items…”

“The rest?”

“Yes. The remaining materials besides the Earth Dragon. Minotaurs and Tigrises are worth a fair amount too, although the labor cost of transporting them will reduce the proceeds considerably.”

“Oh. So nothing besides the Earth Dragon has been appraised yet?”

“Correct. The Blue Ring family instructed us to pay the rest directly to you and your companions… Was that incorrect?”

“No. I think that should be fine…”

It seemed Grandpa, Father, Mother, and Serie—the four people who’d been in the office yesterday—had played us perfectly.

I thanked Naga and left the guild.

Outside, it was spring, but the sky had already begun to darken.

I quickened my pace slightly on the road to the Blue Ring mansion.

The mithril knife submitted for appraisal had not been identified after only one month.

Ordinarily, an appraiser commissioned a mage to test magical tools by trying every possible effect.

With good luck, they might identify one in a day.

With bad luck, three years could pass without the effect ever being discovered.

Yet the mithril knife Aldo and the others had brought possessed an exceedingly simple ability.

It was “automatic repair.”

When mana was supplied, the blade repaired itself.

In truth, the attack against the Earth Dragon using ultra-vibration should have been more than even mithril could endure.

A material capable of surviving the collision between the Earth Dragon and ultra-vibration would likely need to be on the level of orichalcum.

The mithril knife had survived for one reason alone.

Aldo continued supplying it with mana while forming his magic weapon, causing it to repair itself without pause.

Weapons could be made from many materials, but for pure mana conductivity, mithril was the finest.

The knife found in the Labyrinth of Claws and Fangs was made of mithril and possessed automatic repair to overcome its weakness in durability.

For Aldo, who wielded ultra-vibration, it was truly worthy of being called a secret treasure.

When would they discover that truth…?

Only then would the treasure finally receive its name:

Durandal, the Immortal Blade.