Chapter 83: A Merchant’s Talent [2]
The first demon to be summoned, Andromalius. The real demon that Aint Armian would face first.
Aint must fight him. Whether he wins or loses, regardless of the outcome, that experience would be a great strength for him.
’Originally, Aint is supposed to win. But if, due to the slightly distorted past, Aint were to be defeated?’
Because it was a dreadful future that should never happen, Gerhard was preparing for contingencies through the church.
"The main reason I called you is this."
At Gerhard’s signal, Hyde, who had been standing behind, put down the box.
"What is this? There are quite high-level magical inscriptions engraved on it. It must be something precious?"
"Open it."
Click, as the box opened, a thick demon energy spread out.
"This is...?"
"The World Tree contaminated with demon energy."
"...What?"
"To be precise, it’s a branch called an avatar, and only a part of it."
But its roots were the same.
"How did you get this?"
"Is that important?"
"It’s from Fridien, right? Are you asking me to purify this?"
"Yes. But with a different method than what was used on Bella."
"Certainly, even for a branch of the World Tree, the Flame of Purification would be too harsh."
Janice extended his hand towards the contaminated World Tree branch. With a crack, the demon energy tried to infiltrate Janice’s body but failed and bounced off.
"This is severe. It seems difficult with ordinary methods."
"Are you saying there’s no way?"
"I wouldn’t say there’s absolutely none. However..."
Janice shrugged and swallowed his words. Simultaneously, Gerhard’s brow furrowed.
"As greedy as Goldenheim may be, it’s nothing compared to you church people. What is it?"
"Holy water."
"Holy water?"
"The Flame of Purification is indeed too destructive. It’s not a method suitable for the sick or children. So we found it. A gentler, safer method."
"And that’s holy water?"
"Yes."
Like the Flame of Purification, it wasn’t something like divine power. The only difference was that the medium was water instead of flame, but the principles of the two were the same.
Decomposing and dismantling the demon energy itself.
"Unlike the holy flame, it will decompose the demon energy slowly, but safely. We haven’t been able to confirm its actual effectiveness, but since my flame worked..."
Gerhard tapped the table.
Janice wouldn’t lie, so it probably would be effective.
"Can it remove it completely?"
"I can’t give you a definite answer."
"You can’t give a definite answer but you want money?"
"The choice is yours, senior."
"You’ve become quite the merchant."
"A true wizard."
A wizard who secures his own research funds.
"I don’t spend money frivolously. If it’s not 100%, there’s no need to purchase it."
Gerhard shook his head.
"You’ve given it a grandiose name like holy water, but in the end, isn’t it of little use?"
"Little use?"
"It’s an item that has no effect on anything other than demons, devil-kin, and demon energy. It’s just a white elephant."
No matter how expensive the cost price was, if there were no buyers, the price would inevitably drop.
"That was before the demons started running wild. Why are you being stubborn when you’re the one who directly found evidence of the demons?"
"Stubborn? I’m giving you an opportunity to confirm whether it’s a white elephant or not."
"Opportunity?"
Gerhard opened his subspace. Another box with magical inscriptions appeared on the desk.
"What is this now?"
"Open it."
Demon energy more terrible than the World Tree branch filled the private room. Janice’s eyes widened at the sight of blood vessels wriggling as if alive.
"This is...?"
"It’s a lump that was once a Spirit Creature. To confirm the holy water, or rather, to verify whether what the Dragon Faith Church has been doing is right or wrong, it’s an excellent item."
To some, it might just be a grotesque lump, but to others, it’s a tempting research material.
A treasure that would prove their history and research were not wrong.
"...So you’re suggesting we trade this for holy water?"
And in the eyes of one of them, greed glistened.
"Wrong."
"Wrong?"
"You’ll have to add more to the holy water. Like artifacts I want, or a more massive amount of holy water."
"That’s unreasonable. Even though it’s a Spirit Creature I’ve never seen before, now that it has appeared once, it’s likely to appear more in the future."
"This is the body of the grade 4 Spirit Creature, Barka. A monster that even devours ogres."
The corpse of a strong monster was a good material and research item. The same was true for the corpse of a strong Spirit Creature.
Especially for the Dragon Faith Church, which was thirsty for Spirit Creature corpses, the corpse of a grade 4 Spirit Creature, known to be rare even during the Great War a thousand years ago, was a fruit that looked sweeter than ever.
"...Brother wouldn’t lie about such things..."
"That’s right. I don’t lie when it comes to deals. If you want, I can have Ariadne Florian as a witness."
"...If that’s the case... no, but this is too... no, but it’s a Barka..."
After contemplating for a while as if his personality had split, Janice finally nodded.
"...Al...right!"
If it was the corpse of a Barka, not just any Spirit Creature, there would be an overflow of people in the Dragon Faith Church who would want it.
At a time when demons and Spirit Creatures were beginning to run wild, having time to research before they fully flood was a very valuable thing.
"An excellent choice."
The deal was made.
The contaminated World Tree was immediately immersed in holy water that day.
***
"You truly have an innate talent for making money."
To think you’d collect the Barka’s corpse and use it like this.
Hyde marveled.
"Send the rest to the family and tell father to start the research. We need to prepare for Spirit Creatures too."
"Yes."
Although most of the Barka’s body was lost due to the explosion, since it was such a massive Spirit Creature, a considerable amount remained.
"And Hyde."
"Yes."
"Find out where they plant the World Tree branch, and how it’s managed."
I hope it’s just a concern, but until now, the futures from the prophecy book, while slightly altered, had the same main flow.
Whether making it as if nothing happened was the original future, or if it had changed and prevented the demon’s summoning.
’Now it’s time to find out.’
Gerhard’s eyes sank coldly.