Chapter 194

Chapter 194. The First Meeting (2)

Ah, Hippocampus.

Or, in Anagin's language...

Horse-head.

To be honest, the subordinate woman's offer itself wasn't bad.

Judging by the fact that she said she would "give" him Horse-head, it sounded like she intended to make him a familiar.

Even to someone like Anagin, who didn't know much about such things, it was an incredible offer.

And for good reason.

When else would anyone ever have the chance to obtain an elemental that had once served a god as a familiar?

Even so...

Anagin refused.

Wasn't it just too suspicious?

She was offering him a high-ranking elemental that protected her, all just to hear about his past.

The terms were so favorable that it felt like there had to be an ulterior motive.

Maybe it would have been different if the subordinate woman were someone who treated the people around her as disposable.

But she wasn't.

She might have been prickly toward other people, yet she was genuinely kind to her younger sisters and Horse-head.

That was why Anagin declined.

He wasn't desperate enough for a familiar to accept something that felt suspicious.

Besides, he didn't particularly want Horse-head in the first place.

Horse-head's reaction wasn't much different from Anagin's.

'Forgive me for saying this, Princess, but I cannot leave your side. Especially not to follow someone like him...!'

Horse-head reacted as though he were having a seizure at the mere suggestion of becoming Anagin's familiar.

In response, the subordinate woman said something unexpected.

'You owe that man a debt, don’t you? You should repay it.'

'......'

'What debt does that bastard owe me?'

Sphinx quietly explained it to Anagin.

'Brother pulled the harpoon out of him and treated his injuries.'

Only then did Anagin remember.

He had removed the harpoon lodged in Horse-head's body...

And even healed his wounds afterward.

Normally, he never would have done something like that.

But because of the blessing, he'd gotten carried away and ended up sticking his nose into someone else's business.

Sphinx continued.

'Elementals have to repay favors they receive. They won't die if they don't, but... problems arise.'

Anagin immediately exploded.

'So I'm the one getting punished here? By taking care of that guy...?! That's cruel! This is so unfair!'

'You son of a bitch...!!'

Horse-head flared up.

The subordinate woman wrapped her arms around Horse-head's head and whispered something to calm him down.

Before long, he regained his composure.

In the end, they decided to discuss the matter in detail another time.

Anagin agreed as well.

He had something he wanted to ask her, after all.

Promising to meet again after he'd visited the Ruin, he left with only Sphinx and headed toward it.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Incidentally, the reason he wasn't using the blessing to travel faster...

Was simply because he didn't want to overuse it.

You could say it was the lesson the fisherman mage had taught him.

He'd decided that relying too heavily on the blessing was a bad idea.

He had the feeling that if he became too accustomed to it, he'd end up depending on it for everything.

And that felt like the right decision.

Because as they drew closer to the Ruin...

He noticed something had changed.

The fish-men that had been scattered all over the island had vanished without a trace.

He couldn't even smell them anymore.

It seemed they'd done more than hide.

They had completely left.

Maybe that Cult Leader guy has disappeared too?

Just as that thought crossed his mind—

“Brother, aren't you going to ask me?”

Sphinx, now transformed into a cat and perched atop Anagin's shoulder, suddenly spoke.

He'd already asked earlier why she'd bothered turning into a cat.

She'd answered that she'd used Spirit-Form Manifestation too much and was tired.

Well...

What could he do?

Anagin had committed enough sins that he allowed her to ride on his shoulder.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Aren't you going to ask me more about the Cult Leader?”

Hah.

Now that they were alone, perhaps she'd relaxed...

Or perhaps she had a guilty conscience.

Either way, she brought up the subject herself without Anagin saying anything.

Since she'd opened the topic...

He asked what he'd really been curious about.

“Do you know the Cult Leader personally?”

Sphinx paused for a moment.

Even with a cat's face, it was obvious she was thinking carefully.

“...Not directly.”

Which meant...

She knew him indirectly.

Or at the very least, through someone else.

“I see.”

Understanding immediately, Anagin simply nodded before falling silent again.

Sphinx looked puzzled.

“That's all you're going to ask?”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“......”

“If you don't want to, then you don't have to. I live by the rule that I don't do things I don't want to do, so I don't believe in forcing other people to do things they don't want to either.”

“Brother......”

“So you don't have to tell me. And you don't need to feel grateful either.”

“No, that's not it… Brother, you force me to do the laundry and the cooking.”

Suppressing the urge to yell What the hell are you talking about?, Sphinx barely managed to ask.

Anagin firmly shook his head.

“What are you talking about? You do the laundry and cook because you enjoy it.”

“No, I don't enjoy either of those.”

“You do. I'll argue with you all night about this.”

“Damn it!”

Seeing Anagin refuse to budge, Sphinx let out a quiet groan.

She simply didn't have the confidence to survive another endless argument with Anagin.

That marked the end of the conversation.

Just then, they arrived near the Ruin.

As if announcing their arrival, the natural scenery gradually gave way to man-made structures.

A massive collapsed warehouse.

Weathered wooden planks on the verge of crumbling into dust.

Stone pillars thickly coated with salt.

An enormous rusted furnace embedded in the ground.

Ancient statues so worn down they looked like ordinary rocks...

The scale was immense.

The Ruin on this island wasn't a single structure.

It was an entire district.

“What kind of place is this?”

Anagin couldn't help but marvel as he surveyed the surrounding landscape.

The sheer scale was overwhelming.

A stretch of sea carved deep into the land.

Stone tiles covering the surrounding ground.

Enormous collapsed cranes and various pieces of equipment whose former purpose could still be guessed.

Rows of buildings stretching beyond them.

Even production facilities climbing the hillside.

Calling it merely a Ruin didn't do it justice.

It was simply too vast.

I've never seen a Ruin this large...

...No, I have.

The second Ruin I visited.

Without realizing it, Anagin recalled the second Ruin.

The one he'd entered to obtain Orichalcum.

At first, he'd thought it was nothing more than ancient ruins.

Then he learned it had actually been a facility that produced self-moving bronze statues.

In terms of scale...

It was every bit as massive as this place.

Feeling an odd sense of déjà vu, Anagin remembered the strange light he'd seen there.

The bronze statue that had stood like the final guardian...

The one wielding enormous gate-like shields in both hands that had relentlessly pressured him.

The so-called Shield Bronze Statue.

When he'd destroyed it, a mysterious burst of light had exploded outward and entered his body.

Nothing had changed after he'd absorbed it.

So he'd simply forgotten about it.

Yet for some reason...

That light suddenly came back to mind.

Just as his thoughts grew scattered and an inexplicable sense of unease crept over him—

“A shipyard. One that belonged to the Empire.”

A man's voice suddenly spoke beside him.

Without the slightest warning.

“...!!!”

Anagin instinctively sprang backward, putting distance between himself and the man.

It wasn't just because the man had appeared beside him in an instant.

Far more than that...

Anagin sensed something utterly foreign and ominous from him.

A presence unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Watching Anagin immediately widen the distance between them, the man greeted him.

“You're more cautious than I'd heard. In any case... it's a pleasure to meet you.”

* * *

A man dressed in ordinary clothes that looked completely unremarkable at first glance greeted Anagin with a hint of provocation.

Feeling uneasy, Sphinx cautiously called out to Anagin.

She was worried he might take the bait.

“Are you the Cult Leader?”

Fortunately, contrary to her concerns, Anagin didn't charge in out of anger.

Instead, he calmly asked the man's identity.

“You're rather stiff. Just call me Aesop.”

“So you are the Cult Leader. I'll just call you Cult Leader. I prefer being stiff.”

(T/N): LOL

Ah, correction.

Anagin was indeed Anagin.

Even after instinctively jumping back upon seeing the Cult Leader of the Barbaroi Cult, he hadn't abandoned his usual crooked attitude.

In a way, that was reassuring.

It meant he hadn't been overwhelmed by fear of Aesop.

Or at the very least, he still had enough composure to hide it.

“You certainly talk big for someone who backed away so quickly.”

“When some guy radiating ominous energy suddenly appears beside me, anyone who's not an idiot would back off.”

Anagin made no attempt to hide the ominous aura or the caution he felt toward Aesop.

Apparently pleased by his honesty, Aesop merely chuckled.

Then...

“It has been a long time, Princess.”

Aesop politely bowed toward Sphinx, who was perched on Anagin's shoulder.

“......”

“......”

Receiving Aesop's greeting, Sphinx shut her eyes tightly as if she'd expected this all along and remained silent.

Meanwhile, Anagin looked at her in silence, lost in thought.

Irida of the Wind belonging to the New Argonaut Expedition Team is a princess...

The subordinate woman is a princess...

Sphinx is a princess too...

At this point, everyone's a princess.

‘Maybe princesses are actually really common? Maybe I'm a princess too.’

(T/N): HAHAHAHA THE FUDGE

Anagin reached what he considered a perfectly logical conclusion.

“I never expected to meet you here. Have you been well all this time? Her Majesty has been very worried about you.”

“I-I...”

Thump.

Just as Sphinx was about to answer nervously, Anagin suddenly covered her mouth with his hand.

Both Sphinx and Aesop turned to look at him.

“If you want to talk to my familiar, ask my permission first.”

“Aren't you curious about the Princess's identity?”

Apparently already aware that Sphinx had become Anagin's familiar, Aesop didn't question that fact.

Instead, he brought up the fact that she was a princess.

Anagin's reply was brief and unmistakable.

“What's a princess anyway? You people have been throwing around words only you understand this whole time. How gloomy.”

“......”

“And I seriously mean that. Don't do it anymore. It makes you look like you don't have any friends.”

Then he turned to Sphinx.

“You too.”

Anagin offered Sphinx what he believed to be sincere advice.

“You certainly chose an interesting master, Princess.”

“Hey.”

“Very well. I'll leave it at that. I didn't come here to see the Princess today.”

Just as Anagin was about to complain, Aesop casually brushed the matter aside and immediately lost interest in Sphinx.

It didn't sound like he was merely dodging the subject.

So Anagin let it go.

Instead, he casually asked something he'd been wondering about.

“Did you come here to evacuate your subordinates?”

He was referring to the members of the Barbaroi Cult, whose presence had completely vanished after the fisherman mage was defeated.

Truthfully, he hadn't expected an honest answer.

But contrary to his expectations, Aesop answered without hesitation.

“Subordinates... I did move those people elsewhere, yes. But that wasn't why I came.”

So he was right after all.

The ugly one and the rest of the Barbaroi Cult stationed in the Ruin had all disappeared.

That aside...

There was something even more surprising.

Hadn't Aesop just said that he had moved them?

Not that he had ordered them to evacuate.

He'd personally sent them away.

Maybe it was just boasting...

...Somehow, it doesn't sound like a bluff.

Anagin continued questioning him.

He wanted to see just how much Aesop was willing to answer.

“So you found what you came here for? Since you sent everyone away immediately.”

Although he'd been focused on his fight with the fisherman mage, he hadn't forgotten how invested the Barbaroi Cult had been in this Ruin.

Those who sought Ruins were after the treasures sleeping inside them.

And if the Cult Leader had come personally, then it was probably something he wanted.

So Anagin threw out the question.

Whether it worked or not, he figured he'd gain something either way.

Once again...

Aesop's answer was unexpected.

“I did not come here to obtain anything. I merely came to reminisce about memories of an old friend.”

“......”

Anagin wanted to call it complete bullshit.

But he couldn't.

His instincts told him...

Aesop wasn't lying.

Still, there was no way he was simply going to accept it with an 'Oh, I see.'

So he stubbornly pressed the issue.

“Liar. I know your subordinates have been crawling all over this Ruin.”

“People at the bottom are prone to misunderstanding such things. I simply never bothered correcting them. They may believe whatever they wish.”

The response was far calmer than Anagin had expected.

He found himself at a loss for words.

Believe it or don't.

When someone said that so plainly, what more could he add?

Anagin himself used that line often enough to know there wasn't much you could say in return.

Even so...

He didn't want the conversation to end here.

Aesop was answering his questions far too willingly.

This was the perfect opportunity to ask as much as possible.

Having made up his mind, Anagin was about to ask what memories had brought Aesop back to this Ruin.

After all, this was an ancient Ruin.

By all appearances, it had to be at least several hundred years old.

Was Aesop saying he'd been alive even back then?

Just as Anagin was about to speak...

Aesop made a proposal first.

One Anagin had never expected.

“Excellent. Since we're already here, I'll show you around. Would you care to tour the place with me?”