Swordmeister of Rome

Chapter 74: Responsibility of a Hero

Stiel was curious. Sian had no experience in dealing with a Harijan, so he just assumed all Harijans were like that. It was strange to Stiel, however, who had a lot of experience fighting Harijans. These monsters were vicious, but they prioritized their own survival the most. There had to be a reason for the monster to stay by the beach. No Harijans dared to goad the stronger being.

Stiel realized it had to do something with the stopping of the pedestal and examined it, finding something underground. After destroying the ground to walk down, she met a familiar face. It was the man who tamed the Rokuums. She wasn’t sure why he was here, but one thing was for sure. This guy was the reason for the Harijan staying by the beach. He was so focused that he did not even realize that she had entered the room.

<Hey, kid.>

<…! Who are you! How do you know about this place!>

The man was alarmed, but he calmed down after a few smacks. Stiel asked him why he was here and he confessed everything.

<So… you are here to tame that monster? And you thought it was going to work soon?>

<Y…yes… look at him. He must be terrified of me! Dammit… if it only came closer, I would’ve saved Margaran…>

Tame! The artifact he was wearing was very powerful, but the artifact depended on the user’s powers. This man’s power was just enough to make the monster angry.

Stiel finally realized what had been going on.

The monster was extremely terrified of Sian and wanted to run away, but it was also angry at this man. So it didn’t want to just run away without killing him. The monster was probably infuriated that such a weak man like him wanted to take control of its mind.

‘Hehe…’

This man would’ve been stoned to death if the people of the city knew this. Stiel could barely hold back her laughter at this wannabe hero who just destroyed the city and started thinking.

<Wow, good. We need a hero who can save Margaran! Do you think you can tame the beast if we take you closer to the monster?>

<…You can take me to him?>

<Yeah. I’m not sure if you’ve realized it, but I am really powerful.>

<…Okay. I can do that. The only problem was the distance.>

To Stiel, this was the crown’s problem. It used too much of the user’s brain that by trying to use powerful magic, it occupied too much of the brain, making the user dumb.

To accept such a suspicious offer… the man’s brain was already damaged quite a bit. It may be useful, but the artifact was not a good one for a human to use it for long.

Yet it didn’t matter for Stiel as he was useful for her purposes and took him back to the mansion. Then she proposed her idea to Sian.

“Okay, Sian. I’ll make other preparations. You just need to create what I asked for.”

“Sure… so, you will get the bait?”

“Yeah. Or do you want to my job? I can do yours.”

“No. You can wait here.”

Sian could not think of a way to find a bait to lure the monster, so he accepted it and went to the beach to create what she requested. There was plenty of materials as all the ships at the dock had been destroyed.

After Sian moved to the docks, he began taking off every anchor and chain off the damaged ships. As he gathered enough of them, Sian then began linking all thick chains into one really long chain. He was done with a fishing line. It was time to create a fish hook.

Sian then gathered all the anchors he piled up and began molding it all into one. He needed to make a big hook so that the monster could not run away. After a while, he was left with a giant fishing hook.

All that was left was a bait.

‘Where is she going to get it though?’

He decided to return to the mansion to find out.

“I think I saw him somewhere.”

“Oh, yeah. You have a good memory. I barely remember him.”

“Well, I did like his show. So, why is he here?”

“What do you mean? I said I’ll prepare, right?”

“Yeah, but you said you were going to prepare a bait.”

“Right. How is it?”

“…”

“Sian, I didn’t force it on him.”

Stiel quickly replied as Sian frowned.

“Don’t lie. He looks beaten up already.”

“Hmph. That’s for another reason. He did volunteer for it. You want to see it?”

Stiel then turned to Lamran who was still focusing toward the sea, and woke him up by calling to him.

“So, are you ready to become a hero?”

“Yes. If you only take me to him… I’ll control him and bring peace to the city.”

After seeing him, Sian called Stiel to the corner of the room.

“…he looks weird.”

“It’s because of that crown. It dumbs people down.”

“…No. We can’t use a live person as a bait.”

“Really? But he’s the reason why that monster’s still here.”

Stiel began to explain what she found out. Sian now understood why the monster was still at the beach.

“Hmph. So, both of them are fault. That monster and Lamran… but this guy really made a mess.”

He was the reason why the monster did not run away when Sian made it terrified, and it would lead to the destruction of the city eventually.

“Hehe… we are not going to kill him anyway. You aren’t going to kill either of them, right?”

“…”

“Don’t worry, he won’t die. Besides, that monster is here because of him. Isn’t it fair for him to take care of it?”

Sian nodded. It was, after all, Lamran’s responsibility to try mend his actions.

“Okay, let’s do it then.”

“Good choice.”

They began to prepare for the final stage for ultimate fishing.

Sian ran toward the monster floating in the middle of the sea and it fled as it always did. Unlike the first time, it was now taking time to run away. Sian began to ponder. It seemed like a better idea to just take off the crown off from the man and let the monster run away.

But he decided against it. Lamran and the monster were both responsible for this mess and they needed to pay the price.

Sian began to make his preparations once the monster ran away. There was a small island nearby, so Sian took out his fishing line and the hook from the Nitzmatan. The hook had a hole big enough for a human to step inside and a door to close the person in. It was all possible because the hook was that big. Sian then put in Lamran whom he carried here on his shoulder and closed the door. He would stay safe in it as it was created with precision by Stiel. After Sian finished putting Lamran in, who was still so focused on the crown, into the hole, he then dug up the ground to bury the hook inside and laid the chain across the ocean before he came back.

“Is it done?”

“Yeah.”

“Good… shall we hide then?”

“You know…”

“Huh?”

“Fishing is a really an annoying hobby.”

“…”

Sian and Stiel finished their job by hiding their power from the chain. They would still be revealed if the monster got too close, but the chain was long enough so it looked okay.

The Bakuron eyed the beach suspiciously. After it came back from running away, the terrifying being was no longer present. The Bakuron was still being careful, but there was no sign of it. However, the uncomfortable one was now much closer.

Bakuron started thinking. Did it need to run away from this very suspicious situation? But the uncomfortable one was too close to just ignore it. The Bakuron then began approaching the one.

There was still no sign of the terrifying one. Even if it was hiding, there was still some distance for him to run away.

Then Bakuron took a bite into a chunk of dirt that was letting out the uncomfortable wave of energy. It decided to just run away after crushing it with its mouth.

At that moment, the monster felt something weird in its mouth. The Bakuron tried to crush it, but it became stronger with a strange power and resisted. It felt that something was wrong and tried to run away, but the terrifying power exploded from the beach, pulling it toward the beach with tremendous strength that it had never felt before.