Absolutely Do Not Touch ElDmia Egga – Chapter 123

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Shadowfoot.

He wasn’t exactly a master of ownership transfer, but he was a pretty skilled scout adventurer.

“Well, sometimes I steal things, but that’s only when I’m raiding bandit hideouts, so don’t worry about it.”

He said with a friendly smile.

His adventuring career spanned a whopping fifteen years.

Balkun, who was listening beside us, didn’t say anything, so it probably wasn’t an exaggeration.

“In my experience, those kinds of guys are likely racists. And I hate racists.”

Shadowfoot casually tossed out such prejudiced words, but since it was helpful to me, I didn’t really care.

It seemed like Shadowfoot wasn’t being entirely serious, it was more like he was just rambling.

“I was just wondering how I could secretly track them, and this solves it perfectly. How much should I pay you as a down payment?”

“Oh, no. This is purely out of goodwill.”

“Even better. I’d like you to accept my goodwill, which is to repay your pure goodwill with a reasonable sum.”

“Ahahaha! You got me there! Nobles are indeed skilled with words!”

He accepted it as if he couldn’t refuse, but the down payment he suggested was a single copper coin.

The payment upon completion was also a single copper coin.

“Aren’t adventurers supposed to earn money based on the difficulty of the job? Tailing those guys is nothing to me. I’d be ashamed to take more!”

I’d heard they were a race meticulous about monetary value, but I didn’t know he’d be this stubborn.

I couldn’t help but be genuinely impressed.

Since that was his wish, I accepted it for now and decided to ask Asirye later if there was a way to give him a bonus.

“So, how far do you want me to investigate? Their base, I presume?”

“Yes. Judging by their light clothing, I believe it’s within the capital, but I’m not certain.”

“No problem, no problem. I’ll find out. This feels like it’ll be an interesting job. I like it.”

“Tsk. That brat’s intuition is annoyingly accurate…”

Balkun, who seemed displeased, handed me back my sword after finishing his work.

“The blade is fine, of course, and there’s no damage to the core. In fact, it seems to absorb mana more efficiently now. Whatever it was, some positive side effect must have occurred while fighting that mage. It’ll likely absorb enchantments more easily now.”

It seemed my use of magic had caused some mysterious magical reaction.

“Thank you. Oh, and speaking of which, I heard this gauntlet also incorporates Dwarven craftsmanship. Could I ask you to check its condition?”

“I was wondering about that, so I’m glad you mentioned it. My hands were itching.”

Since Vender had said that dwarves were involved in its creation, I thought it would be good to have Balkun inspect it.

I brought it up, and it turned out he’d already noticed and was very interested.

I watched the fascinating sight of my magnificent gauntlet rippling like a metal slime, making me crave popcorn.

Balkun stroked his beard and spoke,

“Where did you get this?”

“I received it as a gift in the Empire.”

“You went to the Empire and back in a week? And a gift? From whom?”

“A high-ranking noble.”

“Huh. You have some impressive friends.”

Balkun scratched his head, instead of his beard, and continued his explanation.

“As you may have already heard from the giver, the magic imbued within is military technology. They likely anticipated this kind of inspection, so it’s not a secret anymore. Still, it’s quite well-made… for a prototype. These kinds of things often have been disregarded in the initial testing phase. It’s an interesting concept, but… hmm. Useless for mages, and difficult for non-mages to use. A truly paradoxical item.”

To ‘perfectly’ block offensive magic, you needed to cast higher-level defensive magic or analyze and dispel the magic in real-time, which was insane.

Naturally, ordinary warriors couldn’t tell if the opponent was using a spell with a power of 2 or 3, so this gauntlet was created to overcome that.

“The problem is, its efficiency is terrible. Both mana and aura are refined forms of magical power. Since objects don’t hold aura, it absorbs it, converts it into magic power, and then activates the embedded magic. This process is incredibly inefficient.”

This was the part I was most curious about.

The efficiency issue that even Marquis Vender had mentioned.

But I use magic power, so there’s no risk for me, right?

I was really curious about that.

“Conversion… you mean it can’t even utilize mana or magically imbued artifacts?”

“Not exactly. Hmm… It’s like a border crossing. Citizens can pass freely, but foreigners need various documents. Like that.”

I hadn’t even tested its performance, afraid of breaking it if I infused it with magic power incorrectly.

Balkun’s explanation cleared my doubts.

My thinking was correct.

“Balkun, your explanations are incredibly clear. I understand.”

At least under his tutelage, people might fail due to lack of talent or effort, but never from a lack of understanding.

After receiving the gauntlet back in its original form, I gave him a small token of gratitude, concluding our business.

“Then I’ll be going. Thank you for your help.”

“Come back anytime if you have any problems. You’re always welcome.”

“Thank you. Shadowfoot? Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Don’t worry!”

I left Balkun, who gave a calm farewell, and Shadowfoot, who waved enthusiastically with exaggerated gestures and a cheerful laugh, despite the unpleasant task ahead.

I stretched and looked around.

They weren’t visible, so they weren’t completely thoughtless.

What choice did I have?

I had to trust the professional!

I started walking home without further thought.

Since I returned to the Ogatorf mansion much later than expected, both Asirye and Cheryl were already home.

Cheryl had apparently returned not long before me, as Asirye told me she was still bathing.

“That took a while, Eldi.”

“A lot happened. Oh, by the way, I have a question for you. I ran into a Pulling.”

I briefly explained my encounter with the cheerful Shadowfoot and asked if there was a way to compensate him further.

Asirye just laughed and shook her head.

“If a Pulling says that, then that’s how it is. If you want to repay him, you’ll have to wait for another opportunity. Either help him with something of equal value, or mention this incident when helping another Pulling he knows and refuse payment. He’d probably sneak into the mansion and return the extra money anyway.”

“Just how unmaterialistic are they…?”

The more I learned, the more amazing Pullings seemed.

They even seemed to enjoy returning money as a prank.

For now, all I could do was express my gratitude.

I summarized the other bizarre events of the day, and Asirye widened her eyes and shook her head in a different sense.

“You managed to cause quite a stir in that short time. It’s truly frightening to let you out of my sight.”

Well, I almost became a fugitive after nearly beheading a duke, so I couldn’t deny causing a “stir,” but regardless, I was proud.

“Convictions are convictions because they don’t bend. And it actually paid off.”

“That’s true. Connecting with an information broker is no easy task.”

“So, how did it go for you? Was your acquaintance still in the capital?”

“No. It seems he went to the front lines as the war intensified. It’s dangerous, but the rewards are substantial, so many skilled individuals have gone there, apparently.”

It seemed her acquaintances were adventurers.

At least they weren’t dead, which was a relief.

“So, there’s nothing we can do until this Shadowfoot person arrives?”

“At least I can’t. Did Cheryl find anything?”

“She didn’t look too happy.”

Well, that was understandable.

Unlike Asirye and me, Cheryl was just a genius noble.

It sounded strange, but it was true in this situation.

No matter how quickly she learned and how exceptional she was, she was limited to her education.

She had a social standing to maintain and a family to uphold.

She was in a completely different position from me, who tended to act impulsively, or Asirye, who had long experience as an adventurer.

Asking other nobles for help was Ekaf’s responsibility, so all Cheryl could do was literally run around and ask her classmates.

It wasn’t hard to guess that she wouldn’t have any real results.

“It feels like I have a little sister who sulks when things don’t go her way.”

“She’s the same age as you.”

“She’s still young because she hasn’t experienced enough setbacks.”

That was true.

She would sulk whenever she felt inadequate or like she’d failed.

It was typical for someone her age.

Asirye just stared at me, seemingly exasperated by my disapproving tsk and the way I was shaking my head.

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