We live in the foothills of Dragon Peak.
Frontier City
“Wait a moment,” Ristea says, looking at me with deepening confusion.
“If you wield those twin swords, your power will be absorbed? Then what about you? Is it only Elu who is safe to touch?”
There are some curses that are not affected under certain conditions.
For example, magic swords.
If a non-demon race wields a magic sword, they are cursed. However, if a demon race wields it, the curse does not activate and it becomes a powerful weapon.
Ristea is asking me if there are such conditions.
But no, it’s different.
“No, there are no such conditions. That’s why I am also continuously having my power drained.”
But you, Ristea stares at me intently.
And I was holding the Spirit Current Sword and appearing unfazed.
“It’s all Lord Reed’s guidance… Originally, the Spirit Current Sword’s ability was to absorb all the power from its wielder only when it was drawn from the scabbard to cast spells or techniques.”
Even that alone is an extremely wicked ability, I think.
“Then, Lord Reed added a special effect to the Spirit Current Sword.”
To be precise, it’s not that he added it, but rather he released its suppressed abilities, which is more accurate.
That’s right. My Spirit Current Sword now has a terrifying specification where it continuously drains power from its wielder even without drawing the sword from its scabbard or attempting to cast spells.
“But the fact that I haven’t collapsed like Slanel is a question for both Risu and Slanel.”
Although Slattton’s stamina was drained and he collapsed powerlessly, he is not in a weakened state.
If he rests like this, his stamina should return and Slattton should be able to get up.
Well, he will likely feel the fatigue as if he had exerted himself fully.
I continue my explanation, while Ristea and Slattton cast their questioning gazes on me.
“If the Spirit Current Sword keeps draining my power, I just need to replenish the same amount of power from the Dragon Vein, right? I am currently undergoing training to be able to draw from the Dragon Vein even unconsciously.”
“Y-you really are…”
Ristea’s expression becomes one of disbelief, going beyond surprise.
“I have heard about the Dragon Vein from Cerise and Creacio, and I know about it. As for me, if I try hard, I can faintly feel the great flow beneath the earth.”
“Risu, you truly are amazing! To be able to feel the presence of the Dragon Vein on your own, when that is a state that even the Dragon Race struggles to reach!”
“No, you had already mastered that domain at the age of fourteen, didn’t you?”
“In my case, my master was Grandpa. A simple comparison is meaningless.”
Besides, the curse magic Ristea can use has little connection to the Dragon Vein, so it should be more difficult for her to sense the presence of the Dragon Vein than for me or the Dragon Race who handle Dragon Energy.
Even so, Ristea was able to touch upon the existence of the Dragon Vein.
I am convinced that Ristea will surely be able to reach even further heights.
“Never mind me. It’s about you. It doesn’t make sense. If your power is continuously absorbed by the sword, you just need to keep replenishing it from the Dragon Vein? Does that mean you are constantly feeling the Dragon Vein and receiving power in your normal state?”
“Yes,” I say to myself, with a bitter smile at the absurd situation.
But you know, this is probably a basic level of ability that is expected.
“You know, Grandpa absorbs power from the Dragon Vein as easily as he breathes.”
Ristea and Slattton know that the “Grandpa” I refer to is Old Man Sleigsta.
Old Man Sleigsta draws from the Dragon Vein very naturally on a daily basis. As an unconscious act for survival, as if breathing.
Also, Spirit Trees live by absorbing power from the Dragon Vein.
“At first, when we saw Grandpa and the Spirit Trees naturally absorbing power from the Dragon Vein, we recognized it as something external, thinking ‘because they are unfathomable beings.’ But if we aim for higher, we must become able to do the same as those unfathomable beings, and that should be natural, right?”
One of those things is training to unconsciously receive the benefits of power from the Dragon Vein.
Hearing my explanation, Ristea slumped down as if giving up on many things.
“So, you are going to become someone who joins the ranks of the unfathomable beings? You are already an unfathomable being in our eyes simply by being the messenger of the Dragon God, but to be looking even further beyond that.”
“Could you stop for a moment and wait for us to catch up…?”
Slattton recovered quickly.
He was already able to move on his own and sat back down on the bed without Ristea’s help.
“How many more times do we have to be surprised by you? So then, what did you do before you collapsed? You, who constantly receive power from the Dragon Vein, must have done something that caused you to collapse so easily?”
“The army that was coming from the south tripped and fell. Also, when we entered this city, the guards were making a fuss, saying ‘The border count’s barrier magic was interfered with by someone.'”
They don’t think I just swung the Spirit Current Sword at that time, do they, Ristea and Slattton?
And they are right.
“Simply put, I disrupted the Dragon Vein and took them by surprise.”
The Spirit Current Sword is a twin sword for learning about the Dragon Vein, and therefore, it is endowed with the ability to allow even an immature wielder to utilize the Dragon Vein’s power with relative ease.
However, using spells or techniques means having all of your power completely absorbed by the Spirit Current Sword.
“That’s why I rapidly weakened.”
My current challenge is to properly guide the Spirit Current Sword along the flow of the Dragon Vein even in such situations, so that my power is not absorbed.
Slattton was only half-listening to my explanation from the middle onwards. Ristea kept muttering, “I feel nothing more, I feel nothing more…”
And so, as we were engrossed in conversation in the infirmary, several presences approached from outside.
Along with a bit of commotion.
Ristea, Slattton, and I stopped talking and peered outside.
Then, the commotion carrying through the door could be heard.
“Wait, you priestesses. You continue to nurse our lord!”
“Demon Lords, no matter how many times you tell us, we cannot provide any further treatment. We cannot betray the devotion of these Great Shrine’s people and have Shooting Star take over our duties.”
“I don’t care about your circumstances! You humans must obey the orders of the Demon Lords!”
“Uwah, please stop!”
Hearing the commotion, we looked at each other and then, as one, we burst out of the infirmary.
As expected, we saw several demons entangled with Lady Shooting Star Mine and Anna.
The demons were forcibly grabbing them by the arms and trying to take them away with an undeniable force.
“Lady Mine, Lady Anna!”
Without hesitation, we intervened between Shooting Star Sama and the demons!
Naturally, the demons glared at us with murderous intent in their eyes.
But there is no way we can back down here!
“There are no humans who would stand by silently while Shooting Star Sama and the clergy are being harmed!”
I declared forcefully, positioning myself to shield Lady Mine with my back. Ristea and Slattton also shielded Lady Anna from behind, confronting the demons.
However, despite the commotion happening within the Great Shrine, not a single ordinary person, nor even the priests and priestesses who were part of the clergy, showed any sign of coming to our aid.
The people who gathered after hearing the commotion were all just watching from a distance, trying not to get involved.
Seeing this, Slattton let out a small click of his tongue. Nevertheless, he didn’t utter his usual curses, because he correctly understood the nature of the world they inhabited.
Even in the demon world, there is an unwritten rule that clergy should not be attacked.
But sometimes, that is just a pretense, and in reality, various unreasonable acts involve priests and priestesses.
In fact, the demons boldly say.
“You’re in the way, do you want to die? Don’t misunderstand. We value these two priestesses. That’s why we are saying we will make them priestesses exclusively for our lord.”
“This is a role that should not normally be given to mere humans. Step aside if you understand!”
The demons’ true intentions were clear.
They still think of priestesses as nothing more than lowly humans, beneath slaves. That’s why they forcefully push things forward for their own arbitrary reasons.
We were angered by the demons who, without hesitation, uttered impure words within the Great Shrine, threatening to kill us if we interfered.
Surely, the people of this Great Shrine must feel more unpleasant than we do.
But still, no one came to our aid.
It can’t be helped.
This is the true power dynamic between humans and demons.
Humans cannot compete with demons.
We are too special.
However, even if it leads to some trouble, we have to protect Shooting Star Sama.
I exchanged glances with Ristea and Slattton. The demons, feeling suspicious, showed their anger.
“You scoundrels!”
“Don’t think you’re guaranteed your lives just because you’re the priestesses’ companions!”
“Mere humans, you’re getting too big for your britches!!”
*You’re* the ones who are getting too big for your britches! I didn’t say it out loud, but we showed our intent through our actions.
A tense atmosphere, on the verge of breaking, hung in front of the infirmary.
But still, we absolutely cannot back down.
Even if it means clashing with the demons.
“You bastards!”
The demons, enraged by our resolute attitude, lashed out.
The demons, whose rebellious actions and will are nothing more than those of beings below slaves, must find it extremely unpleasant.
In their rage, the demons simultaneously drew their weapons.
Screams erupted within the Great Shrine.
We, too, reached for the weapons at our waists!
But, that was when.
“What is this disturbance within the Great Shrine?”
From down the hallway, a woman’s voice reached us. At the same time, a large number of demons in uniform armor surged in and instantly suppressed the commotion we were causing.
They restrained the demons who had drawn their weapons without question and roughly apprehended us, who were in opposition.
“Ow! Go easy on me!”
“Slanel, don’t talk back unnecessarily.”
“I-it really hurts…”
We didn’t resist.
After all, the demons in armor clearly exuded an aura and bearing of those responsible for maintaining the city’s public order.
The ones the armored demons did not lay hands on were the clergy who had gathered to watch the commotion from a distance, and Lady Shooting Star Mine and Lady Anna.
“These are individuals I have never seen before. They don’t seem to be related to the forces of troublemakers from the outskirts, do they?”
And the one who led the armored demons was a stout, middle-aged woman.
Her apparent age is around forty, I’d say.
However, if this woman is a demon, her apparent age and her true age would not match. Still, the way demons age gradually should follow a similar aging process to humans.
Therefore, I think this woman’s aging process is equivalent to that of a human in her forties.
The woman’s loose-fitting clothing hid the rounded contours of her body.
But she didn’t give the impression of being obese or unsightly fat. Rather, she gave the impression of a wealthy person who had elegantly accumulated various things.
Her abundant citrus-colored hair, combined with her loose-fitting attire, gave the woman a gentle aura.
However, the expression on her round face seemed slightly displeased.
“Lurking within the temple, where we grant a certain degree of freedom to humans. I expect an explanation from you, vassals of the Baron?”
Saying this, the woman glanced at the demons who were being held by the armored demons.
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