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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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The hazy moon, hidden behind misty clouds, slowly revealed itself.
Then, the faint moonlight descended upon every corner of the dark village.
Taking advantage of the night, I had secretly slipped out of the castle. I was able to glide to the village undetected.
Nias, who had been clinging tightly to me, finally exhaled the breath she had been holding until her face turned red.
“I- I thought I was going to die.”
While flying through the sky, Nias tightly closed her eyes and clung to my chest.
Is the Demon King afraid of flying in the sky?
Of course, it was an act. Nias was simply playing the role of a cowardly maid dependent on her master to make me let my guard down.
And she planned to slip a hypnotic drug into my stomach, whether it be in cookies or food.
“Fortunately, the lunchbox is intact too! I’m so glad!”
The first thing Nias checked after getting down from my arms was the basket, beautifully decorated with ribbons and spring flowers.
Inside that basket was the lunchbox Nias had prepared.
“Since you haven’t had dinner yet, if you get hungry, let’s eat together! Achoo.”
I felt a sense of cuteness when I looked at Nias, who spoke with a bright smile and let out a slight cough.
Honestly, I did think about eating together with her for once.
But, of course, I didn’t want to consume any hypnotic drugs.
To prevent such thoughts from arising, I should have shaken her once in the air and dropped her.
I uttered a single comment I didn’t really mean.
“Hah. Perhaps only a dog would eat that.”
“Young Master, you shouldn’t call yourself a dog!”
Nias spoke with concern.
Wait, did she just turn that back on me?
“You idiot! I’m not eating it! Throw it away!”
Nias quickly shook her head and hugged the basket with both arms as if protecting it.
Then, she started looking at me with moist eyes, asking if she really had to do that.
“I wanted you… to eat it…”
I pulled myself together before my resolve weakened slightly at Nias’ pleading expression.
This was precisely Nias’ scheme.
“If you’re not going to throw it away, then don’t. I’ll give it to the poor soon anyway, so keep that in mind.”
Nias sobbed as if shocked.
However, the system window… didn’t appear.
‘As I thought, once you get used to a pattern, the achievement progress doesn’t increase.’
The achievement of filling Nias’ masochistic tendencies by making her develop affection for me had once again hit a problem.
It was ‘mannerism’.
The patterns Nias had become somewhat accustomed to no longer satisfied her masochistic tendencies.
At this rate, when would I ever fill that number of 10,000?
No, there was something else I needed to do first.
“Achievement Window.”
This was the problem I was currently facing.
Obtaining the strongest weapon.
I had been tracking it for two years to acquire that weapon and finally found a clue in the picture book tucked away on the bookshelf.
By searching for the terrain depicted in this picture book, I could reach the Tablets of Teranto where the strongest weapon was sealed.
However, because of this, I was in a slightly undesirable situation.
One of the heroines, who appeared normal on the outside but was a bit twisted on the inside, would encounter me earlier than expected.
I didn’t know how we would meet, but I needed to be cautious.
‘But that ??? addition in the reward bothers me.’
I thought it might be the addition of a new system.
I could only hope it wouldn’t be a headache.
I closed the achievement window and opened the picture book instead.
It was a picture book left behind by Kift Deinhart, the first duke of the Deinhart family.
The content of this picture book was about a boy wandering around various places in the village, following the moonlight.
The fact that it specifically meant the Tablets of the Full Moon implied that this moonlight was important.
That was why I had also decided to match the conditions and roam the village at night.
“Achoo. So where are we going now?”
Nias gently clung to my side and asked.
“First, the plaza.”
I spoke while checking the picture book.
The first place the boy reached while following the moonlight was the plaza, where a statue of the first duke on horseback was erected in the center.
Following his name, it was called Kift Plaza.
I started moving slowly with Nias.
Flying would be simple, but people who could use magic were rare. In other words, it would be easy to get noticed.
It would be troublesome if someone spotted me and the information reached my father’s ears.
“The night breeze is still cold…”
Nias spoke while rummaging through her usual rag.
Even after two years had passed, she still cherished that rag.
“You wrap it around yourself.”
“Let’s wrap it together!”
“Ugh, if we do that, we’ll have to stick close to each other!”
Nias and I had grown quite tall so that rag had become small.
It would be highly stuffy to be inside that blanket together.
“I’d like that!”
“You might like it. You idiot. Why do you enjoy clinging to me so much? Are you a dog?!”
Under the moonlight, Nias’ eyes held a subtle glow.
Rejected, Nias held the rag in her hand and stared at me with a pitiful look, like a wet puppy.
“Can we really… not? Achoo.”
Nias let out a slight cough as if displaying coquetry.
While doing so, she slightly raised her eyes to gauge my reaction.
I couldn’t tell if it was because of the pollen or because she was cold.
But such melting actions were too cute.
“…Hah. Fine.”
I sighed as if I had no choice and snatched the rag from Nias’ hand.
Then, I spread the rag and wrapped it around Nias and myself.
The blanket was indeed a bit tight for two people.
As our shoulders touched, I could feel Nias’ body heat through our clothes.
Nias already had a slightly higher body temperature than others, so being close to her made me feel hot.
Every time Nias gently shook her head, her thin hair, as if embodying the night, swayed and emitted a fragrant and sweet scent that tickled my nose.
“I- I’m happy. Young Master. It’s warm.”
Nias showed an unmistakable smile in the moonlight without a hint of falsehood.
That smile seemed to gradually seep into my heart.
I forcibly averted my gaze from those melting eyes and uttered words I didn’t mean.
“I’m warm.”
Following my words, Nias actually pressed her shoulder even closer to me.
“Why are you sticking so close?”
“Since you’re warm, Young Master, I’m trying to absorb some of that heat.”
“Then, since I’m warm, are you going to get out of the blanket?”
Nias suddenly raised one hand to cover her mouth.
“Achoo.”
Then, she looked at me lovingly, asking how she could leave when it was cold.
I inhaled and decided to push through this temptation with even more indifferent words.
“Are you trying to die? Fine. Do as you please.”
“Yes! I’m glad!”
Nias clung to my arm with a hug.
‘I have one piece of luggage. Just one piece of luggage.’
I hypnotized myself in my mind and moved forward.
Perhaps this was Nias’ way of hypnotizing me differently.
I thought to myself.
Upon arriving at the plaza, I wiped off the sweat that had formed during the walk.
Nias, who had been chattering non-stop, showed a disappointed expression.
“Already…”
Nias spoke with a regretful look, glancing around the empty plaza.
The moonlit plaza was surprisingly bright.
The time the moonlight illuminated the plaza was an essential factor. Fortunately, it seemed to match the conditions described in the picture book.
“That’s enough. I have something to do.”
As I tried to break away from Nias, she pulled me back. Nias stared at me intently as I turned my head, raising her hand to her mouth.
“Achoo.”
Then, she looked at me as if asking if I would really leave.
I wouldn’t fall for that foolish and pure scheme twice.
“Idiot.”
I left Nias, who was making a sad face and stepped out of the blanket.
I opened the picture book, confirmed that the conditions matched, and looked around the area near the statue.
The ancestor, proudly seated on horseback, appeared majestic under the moonlight.
“As expected, there’s nothing visible on the surface.”
Of course, I didn’t expect to find it right away.
The boy discovered some shining letters in the picture book on the statue.
The picture book ends with the boy walking to the statue and discovering the shining letters. There are no other clues.
However, when you dig into the settings, you realize that clues are not only revealed in the text.
The empty spaces can be filled with various circumstantial evidence.
Kift Deinhart, the first head and duke of the Deinhart family, had quite grandiose settings attached to him.
He was the strongest grand mage of his era, the first of the Five Orbs, which later became the title referring to grand mages.
He was the only person who had transcended human boundaries, met the god of this world, and was said to have visited and returned from the world of the stars.
If such a person had sealed the strongest weapon according to the setting somewhere, it wouldn’t be that strange.
It wasn’t difficult to speculate why he didn’t pass down this weapon through generations and intentionally sealed it.
There could be countless people coveting the strongest weapon. A family could fall into ruin over time.
Therefore, he wished for someone with the necessary qualifications to obtain this weapon.
A child young enough to read a picture book…
He hoped such a child would notice the peculiar part of this picture book.
A genius who could unravel the secret of the picture book at a young age.
If they were at that level, he thought they could become a mage as great as himself.
Kift didn’t want the weapon to fall into just anyone’s hands.
That explains why he left this picture book in the family’s library as proof.
In any case, it could be interpreted that he wanted the weapon to end up in the hands of someone from the Deinhart family.
“…In other words, the answer is…”
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…To hold hands and say gex?