C230: Tangled Truth (2)
There was nothing to write in the letter. In fact, it was too much to write a letter because it was enough to deliver a warning message.
Nevertheless, it must be because he was thinking of picking it up a little bit, but he wrote it carefully in a letter and even stamped it with a seal.
'It's hard to pass it over.'
He could order Hans to run errands in moderation.
'Come to think of it, I haven't been able to go out to the city because I've been too busy lately.'
He didn't have classes tomorrow, so he decided to see how the business was going.
All the reports he received were good news, but there was a difference between reading and seeing with his own eyes.
'It's been a while since I saw the others.'
* * *
The next morning Rudger was about to go out of Theon in a carriage, but frowned at the people waiting at the front door.
'There are a lot of journalists.'
The main gate was full of reporters, who were unable to enter Theon after being stopped by the security guards.
There was a good reason why reporters who would not normally come were gathered at the entrance like that.
'Is it because of me?'
Journalists are quick-witted people. Naturally, some of them who have a good network knew what happened at the Arcane Chamber.
They came here with the intention of meeting Rudger Chelici, who made a great discovery, and interview him somehow. However, they were blinded by the scoop and came to Theon recklessly, so they couldn't cross the main gate and were forced to wait there.
"What shall we do?"
The driver of the carriage asked Rudger. He also noticed that it would be annoying to be surrounded by reporters.
"Just go ahead."
"……will it be all right?"
"It doesn't matter."
As Rudger said so, the driver operated the golem horse that moved slowly ahead.
"Oh? Someone's coming out."
"Who is it?"
As the main gate opened and the carriage came out, reporters naturally focused their attention.
"Who's in the carriage?"
When the reporter asked, the driver hesitated to answer and the quick-witted journalists did not miss the slightest sense of alienation.
"Who's in there?"
"Is it Rudger Chelici?"
Several reporters approached the carriage.
The guard shouted to step away from the distance, but those who were blinded by the scoop did not listen.
"Are you Mr. Rudger?"
"Show us your face!"
The door of the carriage was forced open with a rattling sound and the faces of the reporters, who had swelled with anticipation, hardened as soon as they looked inside the wagon.
"What? There's no one here."
The interior of the carriage was empty and the disappointed journalists withdrew from the carriage, thinking they had lost their scoop.
There was no word of apology to the driver of the wagon for their rude behavior.
"I think it's a wagon for greeting guests outside."
"Oh, no. It's a waste after all."
Seeing the reporters stepping down the driver left with the carriage and after a while spoke.
"No one is following me."
"Good job."
As the driver spoke, Rudger's voice came from the empty carriage.
In time, Rudger appeared like a mirage in a place where there was nothing.
"How did you do that? Is that magic, too?"
"It's magic using the principle of light."
By distorting the light a little, he made himself invisible to the reporters.
"That's amazing."
"It's only useful against ordinary people who can't use magic but it's nothing more than a child's prank that would have been seen through if the opponent was a wizard."
'Isn't it amazing that you're so popular with ordinary people?'
The driver thought so, but Rudger really didn't think it was a big deal.
In the first place, light attribute magic itself is a rare attribute because very few people could use it.
'I don't know what the geniuses think.'
The employee drove the wagon thinking so and arriving in Leathervelk, the carriage stopped at one side of the street.
"We've arrived."
"Good job. I'll go in now."
"Yes, thank you."
The carriage left and Rudger headed toward the slums.
The streets where few people would normally be were particularly busy. As he got closer to the slum, the number of people increased, and as soon as he entered the street, there were so many people that it was like a market.
The slums were no longer called by the name of the past. Their new name was [Royal Street].
The completely transformed street has become the most famous innovation street in Leathervelk, and it was crowded every day.
'I hoped it would work out, but I'm so dizzy.'
Rudger paused and looked around, but a little boy spotted him and went to him.
The little boy bowed his head to Rudger and spoke in a small voice.
"Welcome Owner."
"Do you know me?"
"Yes. There's no one on this street who doesn't know Owner."
It was an uncharacteristically sharp answer.
People in the slums considered Rudger a benefactor as they were thoroughly educated about the existence of Owner, and they engraved deep in their bones that they had to treat him with all their heart when he came.
"There are a lot of people, right? I'll show you a shortcut."
"Let's go."
Although the entire street was remodeled, a maze-like narrow alleyway still remained. And these alleys were only allowed to people from slums, which the general public did not know.
Led by the boy, Rudger was able to reach the hideout faster than expected through a shortcut.
Rudger took a coin out of his pocket and handed it to the boy.
"Good job. Go and buy something delicious."
"Yes! Thank you!"
The boy, who received money, left with a smile.
Rudger overlapped a scene from the past with the boy's back moving away. A sight he saw in the kingdom of Delica, never to be seen again.
Rudger shook his head.
'I've become very sentimental, too.'
Alex, who was just sitting around in the living room, welcomed Rudger as he entered the hideout.
"Oh, is the leader here? It's been a long time."
"Long time no see, Alex."
Rudger greeted Alex, then paused for a moment, looking at the giant sitting next to him.
"……Pantos?"
Sitting next to Alex, Pantos fixed his eyes on Rudger when he called his name and nodded.
"What the hell is with that look?"
Pantos, as Rudger remembers, was a big, muscular man. But what about Pantos in front of him?
'You're going to roll with just a little push.'
In the time he didn't see him, Pantos became extremely fat.
"What the hell happened?"
"Well, you know……."
Alex smiled awkwardly and told him the whole story.
Rudger, who had heard the whole story, murmured.
"So, he looked bored after staying still for too long, so people gave him food and that's what happened?"
"He's always staying still like a wooden stone, right? But I can tell that even if he's quiet, he's anxious to be quite wild inside."
"I suppose so."
"He didn't want to stay still, so I told him to help people in moderation, and he did."
Pantos helped rebuild the slums. It was all up to him to carry heavy materials or carry luggage.
Of course, that alone would not have subsided the dissatisfaction that existed inside Pantos, but it was intended to extinguish the urgent fire.
Then there was a problem.
"I guess the people who got help gave him something to eat as thanks. Among them, there was something like chocolate."
Pantos called himself a warrior and fought against the limit and until Rudger called him Leathervelk, he was out in the rough sea hunting for whales.
For him, eating was just a means of supplying energy to the body, nothing more and nothing less.
"But, of all things, this guy figured out the taste of sweet food that he never tasted before."
Pantos encountered chocolate for the first time after coming to Leathervelk and was fascinated by the sweetness at once. That was enough to make the muscular giant close to 2m turn into a huge ball.
"Why didn't you stop him?"
"I tried to stop him. To be honest he only eats those things 3 times a day otherwise I wouldn't have stood still."
"You didn't just watch because you said it was fun, did you?"
"What the hell do you think I am……Of course, it was fun at first, so I watched it with a smile."
"As expected."
"Ah~ at first, it was like that, but as he continued I realized the seriousness so I persuaded him to try something else, but well, he's too stubborn and wouldn't listen to me."
In fact, Alex dissuaded Pantos from gaining weight over and over again. However, Pantos' reply was spectacular.
"What did he say? [Don't stop me. I'm testing my limits as a warrior.]"
"……did you really say that?"
Rudger looked back at Pantos in surprise and he asked back, 'What is it?'
Alex's words seem to be true.
"What?"
Come to think of it, Pantos was still eating chocolate while Rudger and Alex were talking but he was not aware of it because his behavior was as natural as flowing water.
Pantos mumbled over the chocolate.
"This is an ordeal."
"Tell me when you're done eating."
"Gulp. This is an ordeal."
"What on earth is an ordeal?"
"The temptation of this black snack. I mean……"
"Chocolate?"
"Yes, chocolate."
'You didn't even know the name of the snack you were eating?'
Rudger and Alex looked at each other with absurd eyes while Pantos spoke.
"It tastes like a heavenly persimmon, the ultimate beauty that I have never tasted before. This is the ordeal of fate for me who is walking the path of a great warrior."
"… No, but why would you eat that ordeal?"
"Shouldn't I face this ordeal?"
Alex was speechless when Pantos asked with a face that he didn't understand what he was talking about.
"Warriors don't shy away from trials but fight back. That's what it is."
"No, this is……I'm not saying that you're afraid of sweets, so don't eat until you finish it."
"I don't give in to trials. Although my body lost its form and became heavier than before."
"You know you've gained weight."
"He who walks on the path of a great warrior can overcome this kind of ordeal quickly."
He put a chocolate in his mouth again.
Alex shook his head as if he was fed up with it.
"Did you see that, leader? I told you so."
"……I'll have to make a place for Pantos soon."
Pantos, who always pushed himself to the limit to overcome the wall, became that shape and Rudger realized that a part of the responsibility was his.
At this rate, he might be the first of his species to die of diabetes, so it seemed necessary to plan for Pantos to move soon.
"What happened to you, leader? Weren't you busy these days?"
"The work has been sorted out, so I came here because I have something to tell you. There were a lot of people out there."
"Did you see it on the way here? I was surprised, too. I didn't expect this to happen."
"Where is Hans?"
"He's on the second floor. Should I call him?"
"I'll go up. You don't have to call someone else."
"All right."
Rudger approached the second floor where Hans worked and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
At Hans's voice, Rudger opened the door and went inside.
Hans was sitting in a chair struggling with the documents.
"Brother, when did you get here?"
"A while ago."
"Oh, if you're going to come, tell me you're going to come."
Rudger sat in an empty chair, glanced at the scenery inside Hans' room, and when he found something he had not seen before, his eyes shone.
"Are you raising a new crow?"
"Oh, that guy?"
Hans looked at the crow sitting still at the open window and said.
"My ability has been getting stronger lately. In the past, only mice could be called, but one day, suddenly a crow listened to me."
"That's convincing. In fact, crows are intelligent animals."
The quiet crow had been staring at Rudger since he entered the room.
"Brother, be careful. He's so cruel that might peck you with his beak if you approach him the wrong way."
Hearing Hans' warning, Rudger reached out to the crow and the crow, who was still, spread its wings and rushed toward Rudger.
Hans, who watched the scene, was surprised and tried to shout something, but as soon as he saw the crow sitting quietly on the back of Rudger's hand, he closed his mouth.
"……What a surprise. He doesn't approach people like that for the first time."
"It looks calm."
"Maybe it's because I'm in front of you."
Rudger put his finger on it, and the crow rubbed his head. For a big guy, he had a lot of aegyo (cute display of affection).
"Hans."
"Yes, brother."
"This guy can look into the palace."