Chapter 165 – Remaining Funds (2)

When I open my eyes, I see a flushed face with red hair sticking to my cheeks.
As I lowered my gaze a little to my still heavy eyelids, I was greeted by underwear strings peeking out through a white T-shirt.
Her pure white breasts, bathed in sunlight, are slightly wet with sweat even though it is winter.
Instead of the scent of a person, the smell of ripening grain was in the air, and it made me realize that the woman lying next to me and staring at me was a saint.

“If you’re up, get out of the way…”

The distance was so close that each other’s breath could touch.
Moist nose with beads of sweat and pure white skin without any blemishes.
It seemed like she couldn’t escape because of her hand wrapped around her slender waist and inside her.
When I released her arms and legs from my half-hug, she sighed and immediately stood up.

“You have really bad sleeping habits…”
“I’m sleeping on the floor and you keep coming next to me.”
“That was a revelation… !”

She was about to get angry, but eventually lowered her voice and muttered as if she was crawling.

“It’s not because I want to fall off the sofa…” … “You idiot.”

A revelation from the goddess that was forgotten while on the floating island.
As she lived with Caroline, who could not go out of the cafeteria, the strange phenomenon became a daily occurrence.
No matter which of us sleeps on the sofa, we always fall off at dawn.
I tried sleeping at the end of the room, but the draft was cold, so I ended up going back to the center.

Yesterday, I tried to reach an agreement with that proud goddess through prayer, but it seems I failed in the end.
It is amazing to experience the external power of God that cannot be resisted in this way.

“Why don’t you just ask the church to drop a meteorite?”
“Are you praying every morning? I was late today because of you. “It’s only been a month, so what if it breaks here?”

His tone of voice was constant, but it didn’t seem like he was actually reprimanding.
Because she probably knows she’s no good.
Hela’s power is strictly limited to changes in Caroline’s personal life.
Even this was possible because it took the form of a revelation to a saint.

If the Goddess of Light could descend to Earth and solidify her will, she would never have come to me on a business trip beyond her dimension to pick off her demon lord in the first place.
In this world, the power of God is at exactly that level.

“Goddess, Goddess, that dog…” … Please give the puppy-like executives of the religious order the diseases that can never be recovered, such as hair loss, decreased sexual function, and gallbladder disease… Please, just leave us alone when we go to sleep…”

I came down to the first floor, leaving Caroline, who straightened her back and started to raise her clothes.
The purpose was to search the warehouse and find a pickaxe.

‘Hmm… ‘Have you not bought it again since it was smashed last time?’

Since it was a tool that wasn’t needed for minor repairs, it didn’t feel like it was always in stock.
One won’t be enough anyway, so going to the blacksmith shop is a given.

“Hey! “I’m going out, but do you want something for lunch!?”
— …

There was no answer from the second floor.
Since he seemed to be busy praying, I decided to buy something.

***

“I’m sorry, this is all.”

The blacksmith took out only two pickaxes from a corner warehouse.
This is already the third blacksmith shop I’ve been to, but so far I’ve only found five.

“Demand for weapons has increased recently due to war. The reality is that even adventurers who were tying their pockets quickly caught the smell and melted down farm tools that were not there to make knives.”
“Is there anything leftover from the mine?”
“The only place where things work better in the winter is the mine. “Thanks to the magic stones and wood we dug up, you won’t freeze to death.”

In short, there is so much demand that there is a shortage of supplies.
In the end I had to come back with five crude pickaxes.
I put my lunch on the counter and went into the basement to find the door broken.
That’s right, the iron dogs ate it last time.

“This needs to be fixed too… “Ugh.”

Why is there so much to do?
Entering the small room with the tombstone, I removed the flowers at the entrance and looked at the small crack.
A faint glow was flowing from beneath the words, “Remember your oath.”
As a test, I held a pickaxe in one hand and lightly struck around the area.

Kwaaaaang——!!!

The result was the same as last time, and it was devastating.
The pickaxe was reduced to powder by the enormous repulsion force, as if a bomb had exploded.
While I was rolling around in the dust, a voice came from upstairs! A scream was heard.
Caroline, who was in the middle of praying, came running down in a panic as the entire store was shocked.
The pupils peering through the glass door were filled with fear, as if they thought they were being attacked by the religious order.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! “What are you doing now?!”
“Nothing. “I was just doing some cleaning.”

Since it was Caroline who might still be affected by her self-brainwashing, I sent her back up.
And when I saw the four remaining pickaxes, I realized that my chance was short.

“It just won’t work.”

What should I do.
Magic is useless because it repels everything.
It reflects not only magic but also general shock.
It is not easy to take it out because it is not simply covered with dirt but buried during the foundation construction stage.
They even buried it vertically under a black shield.

“Fuck…”

First, I took out a cigarette and smoked it to gather my thoughts.
You only need to solve the one most important thing.
This is to ensure that the pickaxe does not break even if it touches the shield.
Try finding an artifact other than a regular pickaxe at the auction house, or——

“Oh right.”

I quickly grabbed a pickaxe and came out of the basement.
The destination is a small alley slightly away from the entrance to the commercial district.
I was confused for a moment because it had been a long time since I visited, but I soon found a shabby house with a dream catcher hanging on it.

Kano’s workshop, an alchemist who occasionally supplies supplies to the store.
It was she who made her Litweis exam paper at the beginning of the semester and also passed on her adult toys, etc., Which were her malicious inventory.
She would also have chemicals to make pickaxes harder or corrode basement floors.

Smart.

After knocking on the door, I heard the chime and waited for my scruffy-looking friend to come out from inside, but even after a while, there was no response.
Are you going out?
When I looked inside through the small window on the side, I saw the inside of a bleak, uninhabited workshop.
On the dusty flask and messy desk.
There were traces of places that had not been touched by humans for quite some time.

‘Have you left Farencia at all?’

For a moment, I felt sad to see the workshop looking almost abandoned.
Even if I left, I could have stopped by the store and said hello.
Just as I was about to take my many steps back, an old woman with a shabby appearance from next door passed by, clicking her tongue.

“Tsk, tsk, you shouldn’t have deceived the lord like that.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The alchemist who lived in this house was caught stealing our viscount’s money. “They said the trial would be held in the square.”

Those who called Darling the Little Viscount or Little Lord were mostly natives of this area who experienced the monster wave that occurred in the western forest.
Until just ten years ago, Farenzia was a small rural town, so the old woman was well aware of the tragedy that happened to Viscount Ruhilan.

“How much pain must that delicate person have suffered…”

As the old woman disappeared with a small lament, I also turned around and headed toward the square.
A large number of soldiers and onlookers gathered at the place where small performances were usually held at street stalls and under the clock tower.
In a somewhat serious atmosphere, a carriage with the Ruhilen family crest arrived.
One of the users who ran in with a custom-made footrest bent down and the door opened, revealing Darling inside.

***

“The lord is entering!!”

Because Parenzia is no longer a small town on the outskirts, the lord’s authority is not as strong as the sky.
Since it is physically impossible for Darling to directly handle all the crimes that occur in the city, a low-ranking noble with judicial authority is dispatched from the capital.
This means that tyranny, such as raising taxes arbitrarily or trying to take away land owned by individuals, is inherently impossible.
However, since Parenzia was strictly a Viscounty of Ruhillen, it was possible to directly interrogate criminals if necessary.

“Is the criminal the alchemist who runs a workshop in Parenzia, Cano Lerigier?”
“Yes…”

In this case, the problem started because the alchemist, who had continuously received funds through a merchant run by Darling, was unable to produce proper results.
Of course, it was an agenda that Darling could have personally addressed, but it was questionable whether she, who was already busy, bothered to come in the name of the lord.

“Hmm, so the sinner is… In exchange for 3,000 gold per year from the Ruhilen merchant… Hmm, so…”

However, the judicial officer who was reading Kano’s charges trailed off as he looked at Daring, who was sitting at the head of the table.
The executives at the top who attended the trial were also unable to bring up the alchemist’s crime when they saw her twisting her mouth with a very dissatisfied expression.

“Why were you arrested for that?”
“Oh, that’s it…”

I was dumbfounded when I heard the whole story from one of the onlookers in the square.
The judicial officer, who was clearing his throat just before vomiting blood, continued the trial using the most euphemistic expression possible.

“Kidney… A contract was signed to continue research on enhancement, but no results were achieved for more than three years. Up to this point, it was a matter that would have ended in the termination of the contract, but the criminal wasted countless gold coins in manufacturing a reagent in a completely different direction from the request of the client…”
“No, it was impossible from the beginning!?”

When Kano, who was tied to a rope, refuted, the judicial officer’s complexion actually turned pale.

“There are degrees of coercion in this world. How can I grow taller? At first, I thought there might be some kind of curse, so I did everything I could to investigate, but there was nothing like that! “Nothing at all!!”
“Sin, sinner! “Shut that mouth right now!!”
“It was just there from the beginning. It’s the limit of the soul!? It’s my destiny to live as an idiot for the rest of my life! I was trying to make an anti-aging elixir with the remaining money so I could at least retain my youth, but suddenly…”

Rather, Kano claims that it was an impossible task from the beginning, saying that he was asked to do something that even the royal alchemist who developed a groundbreaking cure for hair growth could not solve.
I thought, looking back and forth between the terrified people trying to quietly exit her square and the pickaxe she was trying to ask for.

“Kill it.”
“Woah, my lord!?”
“Bury the head at the west gate so that all merchants’ carriages can step on it, and throw the body as crow food… !!”

I guess I’ll have to find someone else.
I think I’m going to lose a friend today.