Maybe it’s only natural that he’s a bit clumsy when it comes to dealing with people.
“But that doesn’t mean you have to speak to me so annoyingly every time… You don’t really need to, you know,” Olivia puffs out her cheeks.
She pokes Kim Deok-Sung’s cheek again.
He doesn’t even flinch.
“This won’t do. I really have to teach you some proper manners…”
Olivia mumbles, and an image of Kim Deok-Sung holding Durandal flashes in her mind.
The magical aura he had, like that of her beloved older brother, the same hair color, the same swordsmanship.
“…If you’re the owner of Durandal, a man who has the princess of the French Empire as his personal maid, then you should carry yourself with a certain grace.”
As always, Olivia grumbles, gently stroking Kim Deok-Sung’s black hair.
This moment, when he lies down, ironically becomes a time for her to express the words she couldn’t because of her personality through her thoughts.
“…Well, that doesn’t mean it’s the worst time ever.”
She can hear his steady breathing near her ear.
“How annoying…”
A faint smile plays on her lips.
*
Now, a familiar headache starts pounding.
I feel a soft touch on the back of my head too.
Consciousness gradually returns.
Wait, soft touch?
What is this?
“Ugh…”
A strange groan escapes my lips.
I struggle to open my eyes.
My vision is blurry.
“Oh, are you coming to your senses now?”
A familiar voice comes from above.
It’s Olivia’s voice.
But why from above?
As my hazy vision clears, I see Olivia’s pretty face, looking down at me from just a breath’s distance away.
A fresh shampoo scent, unexpectedly pleasant for this dark cave, lingers by the tip of my nose.
I look around.
I’m in the depths of an ancient ruin, with a damp floor, but where I’m lying is dry, and I’m resting on Olivia’s thigh.
‘Warm.’
I feel a comforting warmth.
I see a platinum flame, conjured with Chlorine ability, swirling around my body.
But her thigh? A knee pillow?
Isn’t it enough that I’m in the princess’s arms; now I have a knee pillow too?
The moment I grasp the situation, I spring up from my place.
“Ugh.”
Rushing up causes my upper body to creak.
“If you move so suddenly, it’s a problem!” Olivia pushes my chest with her hands, laying me back down on her thigh again.
Forced knee pillow, huh?
The feel isn’t that bad, surprisingly.
Whoosh!
Fireballs, regulated to the warmth of a hand warmer, float around me.
Nice and cozy.
A surprisingly comfortable environment, not something you’d find in a cave.
Looks like someone cared more than I expected.
“What’s up? You suddenly seem out of place. What wind blew in?”
A bit unexpected.
I thought she’d just leave me hanging.
“W-What nonsense are you spouting? You can keep your unnecessary delusions to yourself! It’s not like I’m taking care of you because you’re pretty!”
Olivia’s comeback arrives, and I can see her neck turning red.
“Right.”
I close my eyes and open them.
“Thanks.”
Regardless of her insincere nature, gratitude is still gratitude.
Her face blushes at the compliment.
She turns her head away, avoiding my gaze.
“Hmph. There’s no need for thanks for something that’s expected. I didn’t do it to get thanked by someone like you! It was merely my duty, nothing more. I have absolutely no ulterior motives towards you!”
Wow.
To think I’d be hearing such a face-burning line live.
“Now that you say that, I finally feel like I’m alive.”
Definitely still stuck in this damn light novel world.
It’s maddening.
I close my eyes again.
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
“Shut up. I’m about to die of embarrassment thanks to you.”
“You’re loud! Seeing you ramble like that confirms you’re definitely better now! Get up this instant!”
“Not interested. It’s cozy lying here.”
That’s the truth.
Knee pillows really aren’t that bad.
“Pervert! Scoundrel! Sea cucumber! Sea squirt! Anemone! Get up this instant!”
With her face flushed, Olivia forcibly pulls me up.
I sigh and get to my feet.
“Ugh!”
Crack, crack.
Stretching causes a scream as my joints pop.
I take a moment to loosen my stiff body.
I close my eyes and contemplate my condition.
I can feel the Magic Core in my chest cooling down from its heated state.
I try directing my magic.
A strand of magic leaves the Magic Core and circulates through my body via the magic circuit.
The magic circulation is smooth.
Considering I used two abilities simultaneously, my condition isn’t too bad.
Good.
I open my eyes.
“What time is it now?”
It would be a problem if too much time has passed.
Getting caught by curfew would be a hassle.
Startled by my question, Olivia checks her luxury watch on her wrist.
“It’s seven in the evening.”
“Seven… Just perfect.”
I clap my hands.
With this timing, I have enough time to awaken my gift here and have dinner outside before heading back.
It’s different from that time I passed out for over a day fighting with Olivia.
I recall the past.
‘Is it because I didn’t use an Oi?’
The difference seems to be whether or not I used that technique.
It might have been the long fainting period caused by overusing the Oi with my still low proficiency in the Black Light Sword technique.
Unlike the abilities embedded in my special weapon, using an Oi requires the user’s enlightenment.
Enlightenment, huh?
What a strange word to come to mind.
‘Looks like this has some unnecessary martial arts novel vibe.’
I click my tongue.
Anyway, the fact that it’s currently seven in the evening is good news.
Ground Zero isn’t that far from Tokyo, and the curfew for Shuo Hero Academy is at eleven.
It’s 11 PM, and the curfew at Shuo Hero Academy is in effect.
“What’s so great about it?”
Ignoring Olivia’s ticking question, I head towards the center where the Hellhound was defeated.
Near the charred remains of the Hellhound, traces of the fierce battle remain.
I pick up the green-glimmering crystal, the Hellhound’s magic stone, from the ashes.
“This should be the last of it.”
According to the setup, a considerable amount of magic stones is needed to use the Baptismal Vessel.
I don’t know how much that is, but it was mentioned in Volume 3 that Mad Hatter dumped all the magic stones he gathered from defeating the otherworldly creatures in the ruins to activate the relic, so this should be enough.
Holding the magic stone, I walk towards the wall.
“Wait, where are you going?”
Olivia catches up and asks.
“The quest is over, right? We need to find the relic.”
With that solid logic, I shut down her counterargument.
The space where the Baptismal Vessel was located is near this wall.
But right now, I can’t see any door.
The artificial stone wall looks unnaturally smooth, like it has been touched by human hands.
‘They’ve hidden it.’
I don’t know why they hid it, but it doesn’t matter as long as I find it.
I close my eyes and place my hand on the wall.
I channel my magic.
Thump, thump.
My heart races. The pumped magic travels along the circuits and heads for my hand on the wall.
I spread the magic thin like thread, widening my senses to explore inside the stone wall.
‘Found it.’
I sense an empty space.
I open my eyes.
“Olivia.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“That wall over there, break it down.”
I point to one side of the wall with my finger.
“…Alright.”
This time, without any complaints, Olivia grabs Flamberge.
Whoosh.
A platinum flame of magic ignites on Flamberge.
With a swing of her sword, Olivia cleaves through the darkness.
The sword slash strikes the stone wall with a bang.
Kaboom.
The explosion rings out, dust flies, and the hidden space reveals itself.
There lies the relic.
Half-buried in the wall, there’s a long rectangular device, connected haphazardly with pipes — the Baptismal Vessel.
It’s finally time to awaken the gift.
Baptismal Vessel
‘It looks just like an Iron Maiden.’
I felt this when I saw it in the animation, but seeing it in person makes it even more evident.
“This is the relic…”
Olivia, who followed behind, trails off.
The rewards from the ruins fall into two categories: relics or lost technologies.
Relics are mysterious items that yield results beyond modern capabilities, while lost technologies are otherworldly advancements that surpass modern levels.
Humanity has been using relics and lost technologies to fend off otherworldly invasions, according to the setup.
Some relics are transcendental weapons, and those are the transcendental armaments.
All transcendental weapons manufactured by human civilization are just inferior copies of the transcendental armaments.
‘Eventually, there will be human-made transcendental armaments, but not yet.’
Remembering the original setting makes me appreciate Durandal even more.
Securing Durandal, a transcendental armament, was definitely a wise choice.
In a world where the power of equipment decides half the battle, the value of a good transcendental weapon is beyond imagination.
‘To think they’d try to get that with just a single fight.’
Olivia suddenly looks annoying again.
I shift my gaze toward Olivia.
Our eyes meet as she touches the pipe half-buried in the wall.
I lock eyes with Olivia, who’s fiddling with a green pipe.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just finding you annoying.”
“That’s something I should be saying!”
Predictably, she fires back with that line.
Honestly, I can’t help but think she’s kind of cute.
Cute?
‘Living in this crazy world must have driven me crazy too.’
I shake my head.
“What’s the effect of this relic?” Olivia asks.
“Gift Awakening.”
“Eh? What’s that…?”
“It’s a Gift Awakening feature fueled by magic stones. But if you have no aptitude or have already awakened your Gift, you can’t use it.”
It’s like the law of ‘you’ll succeed if you can, you won’t if you can’t’ perfectly applies to this relic.
In the original story, the Crown of Baptism eventually falls into the hands of New World League, and it’s misused for the villains’ Gift awakenings.
The twist is that New World League is actually behind the Mad Hatter.
There’s a whole episode in the middle about retrieving it, but that’s no longer relevant.
‘The setting book said that if Kim Deok-Sung awakened his Gift, he would have possessed dark powers.’
Oddly uncomfortable, there’s a profile about Kim Deok-Sung in the official setting book titled “The Weakest Hero is Everything of the World Savior.”
I have no idea why they shoved that in there, but it states that if he had Gift aptitude and awakened it, he would have had dark powers.
‘Dark, huh.’
A Gift that wields all powers of darkness, including shadows.
It’s considered a top-tier Gift in the story.
It’s also the ability of the Black Prince and the final boss.
Why such a powerful backstory for a mere extra is beyond me, but since original Kim Deok-Sung couldn’t awaken anything and died, it doesn’t mean much in the story regardless of any potential abilities mentioned in the setting book.
It’s more of a backstory, or perhaps the author’s bad taste.
‘I guess there are times when that helps me.’
Not that it’s any help now in reality.
Now it’s time to bring that backstory into reality.
“Wait, wait, wait! You can awaken a Gift? That’s nonsense?!”
Olivia gasps in surprise.
“This relic turns the impossible into the possible.”
“Even so, a Gift is a natural talent…”
“Common sense isn’t very useful in a post-catastrophe world. The same goes for common sense about Gifts.”
“Post-catastrophe…”
Olivia mumbles with her lips.
To her, who idolizes the hero, the Black Prince, post-catastrophe holds special meaning unlike others.
So, she can’t help but close her mouth at the keyword I tossed out.
Just as expected.
It’s pleasant in the silence.
Leaving Olivia, lost in thought, I head to the altar in the center of the room.
I place the green magic stone I was holding on the altar.
The altar doesn’t budge.
‘Does that mean it’s still lacking?’
I channel mana into Durandal.
Buzzing.
The hilt trembles, and a black void opens in the air.
A quantum storage space, or what you’d call an inventory.
I empty out all the magic stones I’ve collected from the inventory and spill them onto the altar.
The altar responds.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
The room shakes with a deafening roar.
“What, what’s going on?!”
I hear Olivia’s surprised voice.
The magic stones on the altar burst forth in a dazzling display of colors.
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