Chapter 168: Cleaning Up, And Closure (2/2)

“Well, we’ve had Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, and Greed, so there are 3 left. Envy, Pride, and Rage.”

“Just hearing the names makes me not want to meet them. Why do you all haunt Wargenburg and its vicinity to begin with?”

“Well, because the ancient kingdom’s capital is around here. Unless someone looks into this thoroughly, I think appearing here is more probable?”

Just as the actual name of the ancient kingdom wasn’t known, there were no records about the location of its cities, or what they were like. Lapis added that it wasn’t even known if its capital was on the continent or not.

“Do you know the exact location?”

“The topography has changed a bit, so I can’t say for sure where it is. But I know it’s somewhere around here.”

“If we can excavate it, we’ll discover unimaginable things.”

“Talking about unimaginable things, isn’t that ‘thing’ of Loren one of them?”

Gula pointed at the sword on Loren’s back. The black greatsword had been broken during the fight with Mammon, revealing a white greatsword inside it. Being able to cut through the protection of an Evil God like Mammon and injured him, the sword was definitely not an average magic-infused weapon, but its true character was still unknown. Its sharpness was far beyond common knowledge, and if it was dropped down point-first, its weight was heavy enough to break stone and make it sink into the earth. It would even sink deeper before halting due to its sharpness. The strange thing was, if it was wrapped in cloth, the sharpness seemed to ‘lay low’: if Loren used it to slash at something in this state, the cloth wouldn’t be cut. This was why Loren could carry it around on his back. It would have been too dangerous to walk with otherwise.

“It’s too sharp for a greatsword.”

“I think so too. Its sharpness was too dangerous, so it was wrapped in magic-infused iron to be concealed.”

“Greed’s power didn’t work probably because the magic-infused iron layer acted as its scabbard. He acknowledged the scabbard as the sword, so his power didn’t work.”

“In short, I’ve been fighting with a sword’s scabbard up until now? I’ve never heard of a scabbard with an edge before though.”

“Probably because this sword is something meant to be hidden.”

If the outer layer hadn’t been broken, Loren was sure he would have never noticed it. Lapis guessed that the outer blade had probably been used to hide the inner blade, but as it had been shattered, there was no way to confirm her guess now.

“It seems to be a rather valuable item, doesn’t it?”

“It is. Is it alright to give it to me?”

Loren knew that magic-infused iron blade was very rare. If it was used as just a cover, there was no question about how valuable the inner blade was. He wondered if it was alright for him to possess such a valuable item, but Lapis looked at him blankly:

“Hah? What do you mean? Isn’t it something you bought at a store?”

“Yeah, but it seems like only you know of its true character, Lapis.”

“Are you relying on me?”

Lapis looked at Loren with some kind of expectations in her eyes. Loren wondered for a moment what the correct answer to her question would be, but in the end he decided to tell her what he felt safe to say. Lapis was looking up at him, as Loren patted her head and said:

“I am, and always will.”

“I’m very happy to hear that.”

Lapis looked a bit shy, but she smiled happily just as she had said she was.

“Yeah, he really relies on you a lot, financially… Ah, no, nothing.”

Gula blurted out one word too many, and received a freezing glance that was totally opposite of the one she was giving Loren.

Loren watched them with some shock and reached into his trousers’ pocket. He fiddled with the two gold coins he had received from Tizona as remuneration, and thought that this job could be considered as a successful one.