Chapter 73: Treasure

Abarth, who has returned to his girlfriend through transference magic, does not pay attention to her enemies, Kuna and Punini. He runs to Iva at a glance and screams in a nasal voice.

“You’re terrible, Iva! When I tried to kill that dark-haired man earlier, you told him! You betrayed me again!”

“…… I told you to calm down. I can’t help it, you know? He’s so nice”

“You’re terrible… betraying me means that you betrayed Jin-sama too”

“Why would that be?! I would never betray that person!”

They are completely arguing and seemingly defenseless, so Kuna and Punini are not sure if they should attack.

However, the conversation was interesting, so they listened in.

As a result, it turns out that Jin-sama refers to the Brainwashing Hero, and that he is waiting in another country.

The two fights, but a rumbling sound forced them to stop.

“The ground!?”

“What the hell is this?!”

There was a disconcerting echoing sound and the ground beneath their feet rose. The first to react was Iva, who had keen senses and took a few steps away.

But this time, the earth rose again from behind her, and this time, it was a giant arm.

An open palm fell from above her head and Iva’s whole body was smashed.

“Oh no. Iva?”

Abarth, who fled up into the trees with his transference magic, was exasperated by his jittery lover. His eyes scurry to see who the enemy is, and when he finds Haku and Shion among the trees, he screams, shouting all over them.

“They’re both alive!! What have you done to my Iva?! I’ll never, never, never forgibe --- gbuhhh!!!”

Suddenly, his body exploded and Abarth fell headlong from the trees. He was so absorbed in yelling that he didn’t notice, that Kuna had shot an arrow at him.

“Gotcha! Master, now!!”

Shion praised her for a job well done, and then made two black hands appear from Abarth’s shadow, grabbing both of his arms and snapping them at the same time.

As Abarth screamed with his mouth open so that you could almost see the back of his throat, dozens more of Haku’s merciless needle pierced him.

It was made from the hairs that got hardened and made them fly. Abarth was almost overwhelmed by the pain of the white hairs piercing deep into his body, but his death was certain if he just screamed here.

He used all his strength to make a distant transfer. But it failed, and he slipped and fell ten meters behind Shion and the others.

“Don’t you have to take out your lover’s enemies?”

Abarth glared at Shion once as he walked up to him, swinging his sword from side to side, but a moment later, he had a vivid image of his death, and the enmity disappeared.

Crawling like a caterpillar, he makes the transition again. Due to his mental agitation, he fails again and ends up on his face in the dirt, but the distance between them is greater than before, and he regains a little of himself.

“HII!!! Run… I need to RUN…!! Jin-sama! JIN-SAMA!!”

Teleport. Fall. Teleport. Fall. Teleport. After repeating this, Shion and Haku eventually disappeared from his sight.

“I… I did it. I did it! I escaped! I ESCAPED!!”

Both of his arms were broken, and the white hairs that stung his body were unlikely to fall out, but he had avoided fatal injuries, so he decided it was no problem, and Abarth headed for the exit of the forest.

◇　◆　◇

‘So, all’s good?’

“That was perfect”

Shion smiled in satisfaction as he stroked Haku’s torso. Both Kuna and Punini were not seriously injured, and he was able to kill only one of the enemies as he had intended.

‘What are you talking about-puni?’

“That’s right, Master, why did you let him go?”

Punini and Kuna wondered because it was a situation where they could thwart the escapee’s struggle.

To tell you the truth, Shion had deliberately let Abarth go in order to return him to the Brainwash Hero.

Haku can feel the needle that sticks in his opponent, up to a certain distance. So, that’s when the plan to let him go formed.

After he finished explaining the situation, the elves approached Shion from afar, happy as if they had accomplished something.

“We did it! We defeated it!”

The elder proudly held up a raw head with a helmet, but it was painful to see five daggers sticking out of his face. It was obvious that it was Dullahan, so no one felt sorry for him.

“Oh, Kuna and Punini! You’re all right, aren’t you??”

“Yes, I’m sorry for being so selfish …… If it was just me and Punini, we would have died”

‘Sorry-puni…’

“Hush child. All’s well as long both of you are safe”

The elder gently hugged Kuna and the others. It was a heartwarming scene, but for now, the priority was to protect the brainwashed female elves and catch the group of knobby enemies.

‘If Aria-san were here, I’m sure the brainwashing would be lifted in no time’

“Well, time will tell, I guess”

If it is brainwashing by items or magic, the [Holy Fresh Water] made by Aria is effective. However, since he didn’t have it on hand, he decided to let her rest for now.

They all work together to bring the Resistance members to the village. They imprison all but one of the men who were in charge.

“Now then, leave this matter to us”

In an open area of the village, a log for archery practice was driven into the ground. The man was tied to the log with a rope, and the elves of the village surrounded the log and set up their bows.

What was the aim of the attack on the elves? The elder asked the question, and when the man didn’t answer, the arrow struck. The fear of where it was coming from, the fear for his life, made the man expose himself easily.

The female elf would be used in the assassination of the prince, which would take place in three days. The others’ purpose was to be used as comforters. The male elf who got killed is to be used as a material for longevity potion.

He also said that he didn’t know the details of the brainwashing drug since it was given to him by Abarth and the others.

“Is there anything else you would like to hear from him, Master Shion?”

“Okay, let’s talk about your plans for the Anniversary Festival. Even if you guys don’t come back, were you planning to carry out the assassination?”

The man nodded a few times before answering.

“Most likely. The leader who remains in ImperialCapital will carry out the assassination. There are also more than ten supporting members”

“Well, …… Haku, as expected, once you return to ImperialCapital, you can’t chase after Abarth, can you?”

‘It’s difficult. The magic in the hair needle will be completely gone’

“I guess I’ll be the one to have to go……”

It means that Haku and he will be forced to separate. Aside from Abarth, there is Brainwash Hero. When he had to make a difficult decision, Kuna raised his hand.

“Master, shall I go?”

“You?”

“I really want to follow you master, but I found out that I’m still not good enough at all. …… I want to be useful, at least. Right, Punini?”

‘Yeah, if we go to Imperial Capital, Shion will be able to defeat the bad guys, right?’

“That’s true, but……”

What Shion was worried about was whether Kuna and the others, who had never left the forest before, would get lost. He also wondered if she would be able to find Aria in the capital.

However, this is resolved with a word from the elder.

“I will also go with you. We have a few horses in our village. We should be able to make it in three days”

The elder has indeed lived for four hundred years. He had been a wandering traveler in his youth and was able to adapt to the human world.

Shion told them the characteristics of his friends and the houses they would be visiting, and the elder understood, turned his back, and then made a proposal to the elves.

“Everyone, I wish to bestow the Ring of Summoning[1] upon Lord Shion”

“Elder, are you serious? That’s a treasure that’s been passed down from generation to generation in our village”

“But we have no use for it. I want to do something to repay him. If Master Shion hadn’t come this time, what would have become of this village?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Huffing, the elves fell silent. The silence was not long, and they unanimously agree that they should give him the treasures of the village.

The elder brings a ring made of silver from his home and gives it to Shion.

“If you wear the Ring of Summoning, you can summon the person with whom you have made a contract at any time at will. Even if they are in a faraway land”

“Any number of people, sir?”

“Any number of people, yes. But the contract is meant to be akin to servitude, so it’s a sort of forced summoning”

The point is that once a contract is made, the person being called cannot refuse. Trust is the key contract.

The way the contract works is that the blood of the owner and the contractor must be split one-to-one and sucked into the ring, and the contractor must touch the ring without pause.

In other words, it calls up heroes, so it’s called the Ring of Summoning.

“Master, please make a contract with me!”

“Kuna……”

“I want to help you as much as I can. Please!”

‘Me too! You can call me out anytime you want-puni’

“Are you sure about this?”

When Shion asked, both Kuna and Punini immediately nodded, so they quickly signed the contract. Kuna and Shion slashed their fingers with the blade and dripped a few drops of blood on each. When they put the mixture on the ring, it’s get absorbed. Kuna touches the ring.

“Ah!”

“What’s wrong?”

“——For a brief moment, I felt a burning sensation in my chest”

The elder tells us that that is a sign of a successful contract.

Punini were contracted with purple bodily fluids.

“I, too, am always at your beck and call”

“Even you elder… Are you certain?”

“In this short life of mine, I think it would be my greatest happiness to serve you, Lord Shion”

“Thank you very much, sir”

He also made a contract with the elder, bringing the total number of contractors to three.

“As long as it is within twenty-four hours of being summoned, you can send us back to where we came from”

Shion admired and thanked him for the ring, which was very useful as it had been considered a treasure of the village for thousands of years.

The elder brought the horses and the five of them moved to the entrance of the forest.

“I’m sure Master will be fine, but please be careful”

‘We’re definitely going to tell everything that happened here to this Aria person-puni, okay?’

“I’ll take care of the Hero. I leave it to you guys, Kuna. Punini”

Shion watched the backs of Kuna and the others as they rode away on their horses. He was delighted to see that they had grown so well while he had not seen them.

Once the girls were out of sight, he switched his attention and turned his body in the direction of the enemy.