When I Tried Strengthening 【Rusted Sword】, It Evolved Into An Overpowered Magic Sword - Chapter 79

Chapter 79   Attention

The sound of four pairs of footsteps echoed through the stone corridor.

All of them were quiet and light, the steps of young women.

Conversely, there was no other sound, and a wall of silence had formed between the four women.

Ruby Blood, listening intently to the footsteps, thought to herself:

(When did I stop finding this uncomfortable?)

Ruby was basically a talkative girl.

She needed to keep talking to avoid having too much energy built up inside her, which made her feel unsettled.

More than anything, she was very bad with silence and always kept her lips moving when with friends.

But now, even though she wasn’t conversing with the three women walking in front of her, her mind wasn’t unsettled.

It was probably because…

(That means we’ve become close enough, right?)

A strong bond had already been formed, one that didn’t require conversation.

There was trust built from having faced countless dangers together and helping each other out.

Ruby reflected on this while observing the colorful backs of her companions.

Well, it might just be that she had gotten used to these quiet individuals.

Oh, if only she could chat more, she thought, they could become even closer.

As she was lost in these thoughts, someone, without seeming to have noticed her contemplation, casually broke the silence.

“By the way, it seems the recent adventurer kidnapping case was resolved by a pair of adventurers.”

It was the beautiful woman with blue hair who spoke.

Her hair, a clear, bright blue like a clear sky, reached down to her shoulders.

She wore a matching triangular hat and a thick robe, and had a monocle over her slightly upturned, azure eye.

Additionally, she carried a “thick book” with elaborate decorations in her right hand, giving off a strong impression of a knowledgeable woman.

Her name was Sapphire Grimoires.

She was widely known in the world as a “Sage” who could wield a thousand spells, a highly skilled magician.

It was said that when she opened her artifact book with her right hand, flames would spread, turbulent waves would surge, storms would rage, and lightning would strike.

As Ruby admired her beautiful face, Sapphire continued speaking.

“According to a rumor I heard in town, the pair who solved the incident are still newbies, and their rank is only Bronze. Plus, they supposedly single-handedly defeated the Seven Great Demons and rescued all thirty adventurers. That’s the story going around.”

“Th-they’re amazing, aren’t they? To solve such a big case while still being Bronze level…”

The one reacting was a woman, clearly acting suspiciously, dressed in a white robe.

She looked more like a girl than a woman, with a delicate, childlike face. Her green hair, resembling young grass, was braided into a single braid and hung down in front of her large chest.

She held a “large tin staff” carefully in both hands and constantly looked around nervously.

Her name was Emerald Rod.

In the public eye, she was also known by the title of “Saint.”

It seemed that the “tin staff” Emerald possessed was the most powerful healing artifact of its kind in history.

Despite this, she always appeared frightened like a weak little animal, making it hard to believe she was a master of such a formidable artifact.

Ruby, thinking how enviable Emerald’s figure was, watched as Emerald nervously asked Sapphire:

“So, what kind of newbie adventurers are these two?”

“Well, since it’s so recent, there hasn’t been any public announcement about their names or characteristics. They might even be a ‘skilled old couple’ who have been fighting demons on their own for years without becoming adventurers.”

“I see! If that’s the case, it makes sense that even if they’re new adventurers, they would be strong!”

Emerald, who was quite gullible, immediately took this explanation to heart.

Seeing this, Sapphire gave a mischievous smile and then turned her gaze towards Ruby.

“What do you think, Ruby?”

“Well, I think Sapphire’s idea might be right. The most likely scenario is that these are seasoned experts who have been working in the shadows instead of becoming adventurers. Or maybe a young adult who just received an incredible artifact has appeared?”

As Ruby suggested a seemingly unlikely possibility, Sapphire gave a look of exasperation.

“A young adult who can defeat the Seven Great Demons? I seriously doubt that. No matter how powerful the artifact is, I can’t believe someone would win against the Seven Great Demons right away. Even you, Ruby, took time to get used to fighting while we provided support. Don’t forget how hard it was back then!”

“Oh, thank you very much for that time.”

Ruby, whose red hair was tousled by Sapphire, bowed playfully.

Indeed, when she first joined the party, it had been quite challenging.

Not only was her knowledge and experience shallow, but she also didn’t understand how to handle artifacts at all.

Mastering the use of the immense power granted by the artifacts was almost akin to a secret technique.

It was said that those who received high-performance artifacts took longer to get accustomed to combat.

However, thanks to the guidance of the party members, she had quickly become capable of standing on the front lines.

The idea that a newbie who had just received an artifact could defeat the Seven Great Demons was utterly implausible.

“Even someone with exceptional talent like you took six months to become capable of fighting properly. I can’t believe a young adventurer would be able to defeat the Seven Great Demons right away.”

“Well, I guess that’s not it.”

Ruby thought to herself that it would have been more interesting if that were the case. At the same time, she considered another possibility.

This case did intrigue her a little.

The adventurer abduction incident was something that their party, ‘The Famous Girls’ Night’ Party, had also been following.

Knowing that the Seven Great Demons might be involved, they had been chasing the culprit until recently.

But then, the adventurer abduction case was resolved, and the abducted adventurers returned to town.

So, they had withdrawn from the case, but learning that the resolution was achieved by newbie adventurers made her inevitably curious.

This meant that ‘The Famous Girls’ Night’ party, a highly regarded hero party, had been outpaced by newbies.

Then, Sapphire turned to the remaining member, a woman with translucent white hair who had not participated in the conversation.

“Sapphire, what do you think about the newbie adventurers who solved the big case?”

“…I don’t know.”

In response to Sapphire’s question, the white-haired woman gave a curt reply.

With her translucent white skin and well-defined features, her slender longsword hanging at her waist radiated a light that seemed to cut through the darkness.

This was Parlti Lightning.

The renowned ‘Hero’ Parlti.

Among this group, she was the most taciturn, and she remained as quiet as ever. Although she was the reason Ruby joined the party, Parlti still spoke as little as a doll.

It wasn’t that she disliked the party members. It seemed that Parlti simply struggled immensely with conversation and didn’t know the right way to interact.

Everyone was well aware of this.

So Sapphire, accustomed to Parlti’s indifferent attitude, asked again.

“Are you perhaps feeling frustrated?”

“…Frustrated about what?”

“Even though we managed to get a lead on the Seven Great Demons, we got overtaken by newbies. I thought maybe Parlti was feeling some frustration about that.”

At this question, Parlti immediately responded without changing her expression.

“It doesn’t matter who defeats them. The fact that the Seven Great Demons are gone is enough.”

“…Hmm, that’s true.”

Sapphire nodded in agreement.

It didn’t matter who defeated the demons; the important thing was that they were gone. Ruby thought that this was a very Parlti-like answer.

Parlti’s ultimate goal was not just to defeat the Seven Great Demons, but to completely annihilate them. So, it didn’t bother her at all if others took on the task. She also seemed completely uninterested in who these newbie adventurers were.

“Well, whoever they are, if they’re as promising as it seems, they’ll definitely be taking on ‘this request’ as well. We’ll probably meet them soon. We can learn more details then.”

“Y-yes, that sounds right.”

Thus, the truth about the abduction incident was put on hold for the time being. Although it was just a casual conversation, Ruby felt a nagging concern in her chest.

She couldn’t quite articulate it, but something about the situation bothered her just a little.

Hmm, well… she thought silently, as Sapphire pointed ahead at the end of the stone corridor.

“Ah, I can see it now—the ‘Demon God’s Altar.'”

Looking ahead, there was indeed a stone pedestal emerging in view.

A circular space stretched out beyond the stone corridor. In the center stood a simple altar, devoid of any decoration.

Moonlight streamed down from the open ceiling, casting light on the pedestal. Ruby tightened her focus upon seeing it.

The current objective of ‘The Famoous Girls’ Night,’ who had taken over from the adventurer abduction case, was a new mission entrusted to the hero party.

“How many of these have we done so far?”

“This is the third one. Honestly, they only seem to be in the most troublesome and dangerous areas.”

Agreeing with Sapphire’s exasperated tone, Ruby spoke silently to someone not present.

(Just a little more, Rust. Just a little more, and I will be with you…)

With this conviction in her heart, Ruby continued to wield her artifact as a member of the hero party.

――――

In the bustling crowds of the city.

Next to me walked a silver-haired girl carrying a large white shield.

The big shield she carried was not particularly suited for navigating through crowds.

It was already large enough to be “as wide as an adult’s outstretched arms,” and being vertically elongated in a diamond shape, it sometimes bumped into people passing by.

Each time, the girl would bow and apologize, saying, “Excuse me, I’m sorry.”

Seeing the girl shaking her silver hair with agitation, I decided to gently take her hand and guide her through the crowd.

The girl thanked me with a “Thank you.”

As I responded with “You’re welcome,” I reflected again on the struggles of wielding such a large artifact.

Eventually, as the path cleared up, we walked side by side again. The girl next to me looked at me with concern.

“Rust-san, is your body feeling okay now?”

She narrowed her round, blue eyes slightly as if gauging my condition.

Touched by her kindness, I smiled to reassure her.

“Yeah, I’m completely fine now. I had a lot of help from Dia. Although, if I had to say, my body has become a bit sluggish from resting for a while.”

“I see. In that case, let’s gradually move your body to get back to your best condition.”

Returning her smile, I nodded vigorously.

It had already been a week since that incident.

Having been injured in the battle with Onyx, one of the Seven Great Demons, I had been resting at a clinic for a while.

As a result, my body had become sluggish.

The rest period was to avoid the aftereffects of the curse, so I hadn’t been able to go outside much.

Today was my first outing in a while.

The purpose was to visit and greet the guild master.

“Still, this town is as lively as ever. As expected of Clear Land.”

“It is called the City of Adventurers, after all. I’ve heard that many adventurers take on requests here.”

The quality and quantity of requests gathered at the guild were said to be unmatched compared to others.

Unlike Milchronde, where novice adventurers gather, Clear Land was where seasoned adventurers came together.

It was the largest adventurer city in the world, and the number of adventurers staying there was overwhelming compared to other places.

That’s why, whether you look to the right or left, it’s filled with adventurers carrying artifacts.

It’s a somewhat intimidating sight.

Some towns restrict the carrying of artifacts, but generally, in towns with adventurer guilds, it’s free.

It seems that in places with strict regulations on artifacts, receiving even the ‘Blessing Ritual’ might not be allowed.

For certain races—like only high-ranking nobles having the right to undergo rituals while general citizens are not even allowed into the temples, etc.

This is quite a rare system, but there were some in ancient times.

Anyway, it’s irrelevant to us at the moment.

“By the way, what do you think the guild master wants? We were just told to come by once you woke up.”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’ll ask about the circumstances back then? We also want to thank them for Citrine’s matter, so it should work out.”

As we walked through the town, we soon saw our destination.

It was still quite a distance away, but it was clearly visible from here.

The main headquarters of the Adventurers’ Guild—the Guild Headquarters.

It was huge. Really, really huge. As expected of the largest adventurer guild in the world.

To be honest, I would have preferred to come here after raising my adventurer rank.

There wouldn’t be much point in coming here until we could take on higher-level requests.

I mean, there probably aren’t any requests available for copper-bronze adventurers like us there.

It would be a different story if we had achieved some special feat and had our names known.

Anyway, Dia and I arrived at the guild headquarters and went inside.

Then…

“Are… are we being watched?”

“Y-yeah.”

Surrounding adventurers were casting occasional glances our way.

There was no doubt they were watching us.

Thinking back, I had felt similar glances while walking through the town, albeit faintly.

Why are we being watched so much?

“Did we do something wrong?”

“Well, helping a demon girl into town might seem like a bad thing from an outsider’s perspective.”

“Oh, I see.”

Helping a demon girl into town was indeed an unusual action for adventurers.

That alone could certainly attract attention from other adventurers.

The only other thing I could think of was the fight with Helio-kun using artifacts.

I was a bit curious about why we were being watched.

But since we couldn’t stop, Dia and I shook off the stares and proceeded toward the stairs.

Following Dia’s lead, we headed to the upper floors.

I asked Dia, who had been here before, to guide us.

“The guild master’s office is on the top floor. When I came here for the first time, the place was so vast that I almost got lost.”

“If I had come alone, I definitely would have gotten lost.”

As we chatted while climbing the stairs, we eventually reached the top floor.

There, we found a wide corridor and a pair of ornate double doors.

This seemed to be the guild master’s office.

Feeling nervous, I cleared my throat and knocked on the door.

“Ex-excuse me…”

We waited for a response.

However, there was no reply.

Thinking they might not have heard, I repeated the same thing, but still no reaction.

“Are they not here?”

“N-no, they said they would be in their room most of the time. Maybe something happened?”

Wondering what was going on, I decided to try calling out once more.

“Uh, excuse me, I’m Rust Stone, summoned by the guild master. Is it alright if I come in—?”

Suddenly, the door began to open by itself.

It was such a sudden event that both Dia and I jumped in surprise.

It was quite shocking, especially since no one was on the other side of the door.

After waiting for a moment, the double doors swung wide open, as if inviting us in.

We exchanged glances and cautiously stepped into the room.

The guild master’s office was completely dark, with no lights on.

“Hello? Is anyone here? I’m Rust Stone, a copper-bronze adventurer—”

As we took five or six steps into the room, the door suddenly slammed shut with a loud bang.

Once again, Dia and I jumped in surprise.

What is going on? I wondered, tilting my head in confusion. Then, without warning, the lights in the room turned on.

With the visibility finally clear, we breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Then…

“Hmm?”

I noticed someone standing in the center of the room.

A tall woman with sharp eyes and long pink hair.

Who is that?

She looked like a “housekeeper” with her attire, but she was holding a “red chain” in her right hand, which seemed oddly out of place.

The strange sense of intimidation coming from her made my palms sweat.

When I glanced at Dia, she also appeared stunned.

Could she be the guild master?

If not, then who?

“Let’s have a match, Rust Stone.”

“Huh?”

As I stood there dumbfounded, the housekeeper spoke in a stern voice.

Unable to understand the meaning of her words, I furrowed my brow even more.

A match? You mean a duel to test each other’s abilities?

Why suddenly this?

Before I could respond…

“Then, here I come!”

The housekeeper, swinging the chain, charged at us.