Sword Pilgrim

Thud–!

『Sprout of the Aftermath』

[Quest Complete]

<Reward> Blue Lightning (雷靑)

Looking at the collapsed thunder wolf dragon, Callius exhaled harshly. His heavy panting slowly subsided as his breath turned to white steam where it met the chill air.

Quickly, a dim light rose from one part of the corpse of the thunder wolf dragon, the place where the power of thunder was concentrated the most.

Its heart.

The place where the lightning was condensed to the extent that it could be seen with the naked eye, however faintly.

Callius stabbed there right away.

Snikt.

「The power of thunder rises significantly.」

As soon as he stabbed the heart with the Thunderbolt Sword, all the energy seeped into its blade.

At least twice as much.

That’s how much stronger it had become.

He could feel it straightaway.

Spark, crackle!

"It got a little cloudy."

The dark red blade that symbolized a spirit sword, had turned a little darker.

"How unexpected."

With this quest, the rank of the Thunder Sword had risen, albeit only a little bit.

Certainly, it didn’t turn into a vision sword or anything.

But raising the level of a sword in itself isn’t very common in this game.

Even for quests related to a specific sword, unless there’s some clear connection to its rank, that fact holds true.

Of course, ‘not common’ meant quests like that did exist, but one thing was for certain –

"There wasn’t any for this guy."

But it still happened.

This was something that’d never been set, an unwritten past behind the current status quo.

This wasn’t a pleasant change for Callius.

The fact that there were parts that he didn't know about, created variables.

In this world, variables could spell his death.

"And where do you think you’re going?"

"Hic!"

Ryburn had turned into a handful of dust.

Druma had gotten his head chomped off by the thunder wolf dragon.

Orcal had gotten stabbed, but he wasn’t dead. Although, to say it more precisely –

He wasn’t dead yet.

"I haven’t killed you."

‘Roving Worm[1]’ Orcal.

His specialty was in aspects other than battle.

As his nickname reflected, he was more useful for scouting and infiltration using his worms. Because the sword he’d made a sheath of was the Worm Soul.

He was a paladin who’d unified with a sword that materialized worms that it could control.

Unlike the rest of the captains, he was quite useful in a utility role.

"Bruns."

"Yes! Here I am! Master!"

Bruns, who’d been hiding in the bushes, came out. At Callius’ order, he pulled out a rope from his double cloth bag and bound Orcal tightly with it.

No matter how hurt a paladin might be, for him to get tied up by a guy like Bruns… it was quite a sight.

"Ugh… Damn it! What are you planning to do with me!!"

"Master, what should we do?"

"Be quiet."

"Yeah! Be quiet, you bastard!!"

Puff!!

"Kgh! Bastard, you dare!"

"Sure I dare, you bastard! Only the count can order me around!"

Thud!! After being hit a few more times, Orcal fainted and the quiet returned.

Killing Orcal would be the usual approach here.

But Callius hadn't made a final decision yet.

It wouldn’t be too late to decide his fate after considering the future clearly.

Callius grabbed at the air and pulled out several glass bottles.

As with the blood of a troll, the blood of a dragon was also treasure in itself.

He’d come here to hunt the beast down in the first place, so he was carrying a lot of glass bottles with him.

"Master! I'll do it!"

"Forget it."

The thunder wolf dragon had a little trace of dragon’s blood.

It was mixed with impurities, that is, demonic energy, but if it could be purified, it might be possible to extract a little bit of blood essence.

Dragon's blood could be used in various places.

Artifacts were a basic usage.

A more complex use was for carcasses.

‘If it's dragon blood essence, it might even be possible to create a relic, although its grade would definitely be lower than a true sacred relic.'

It was really worth the effort.

Even if you don’t use it for anything, spirit crafters would line up to buy it.

The blood had to be stored as much as possible before it could congeal.

Bruns, who’d finished tying Orcal tightly, rushed back to help.

As the blood of the thunder wolf dragon was poured into containers little by little, a voice came near.

"Are you going to sell it to me?"

"Ugh! What the!"

It was Helena.

She’d been standing silently in the shadow of a nearby tree.

Leaving Bruns to his startled trembling, Callius answered.

"Let me think about it."

"Even if we buy at the best price?"

Callius glanced at Helena.

Then Helena tilted her head as if in puzzlement.

"What, what is it?"

Aren’t you going to ask?

Callius had just killed two captains of the Inquisition.

One more had been captured, and he'd even used a demon sword to do it.

There were several questionable points, but Helena spoke calmly as if she didn’t know anything.

If she wasn’t curious, Callius wasn’t going to bring anything up either.

"How much, do you think?"

"Hmm… well. The leather is shredded. The meat is quite burnt, too, so it’d be difficult to sell. Still, the horns are fine."

"I'll take the horns."

"What, really? Then I guess the claws and the teeth are fine at least – ah! The tail fur is also in good condition. Then…"

Helena, nodding, picked up a tree branch and wrote down some numbers on the ground, then glanced at him askance.

"How about ten thousand?"

Ten thousand gold coins for all the materials except the horns.

"What kind of a wastrel do you take me for?"

It was a dragonblooded creature.

Not a simple beast that only wielded lightning. A dragon’s blood ran in its veins.

To buy its corpse for ten thousand?

This is why merchants can’t be trusted.

"But the meat and the leather are in terrible condition… Considering the transportation costs and handling fees, that's just the right price."

"Don't be silly. In the first place, it's true that the beast's meat is useless and the leather is badly damaged, but it's not that they can't be used at all. Besides, the other parts are intact enough to be used for anything."

The internal organs might have been unusable, but the eyes, claws and teeth were fine.

And above all –

“Even if you sell only the bones of the thunder wolf dragon, you’ll get ten thousand gold. Don’t you even know that much?”

Not just that –

Among the wealthy aristocrats, there were those who’d buy the whole corpse and have it stuffed.

For such cases, the story behind the corpse would make its price soar much higher.

For example, it’d hunted down and eaten multiple captains of the Heretic Inquisition, but in the end had lost its life in the hands of Callius, the famous scapegrace of the kingdom who was also called the Hero of the North.

"I’m not sure if you’re doing it intentionally. But you’re looking down on me too much."

"Hmm, I’d forgotten for a moment."

Callius wasn’t somebody to accept such a lie and move on. He spread out three of his fingers.

"Thirty thousand."

"That’s too much! Twenty thousand!"

Even for a dragonblooded beast, thirty thousand was far too much.

The price would vary depending on how much dragon’s blood remained… That’s how bargaining worked.

"Thirty-five thousand."

"No, we're bargaining, why are you going up!"

"Bargaining takes time. Of course, the price goes up if you waste my time."

"No, who came up with that formula? Do you think this makes sense!?"

"Forty thousand."

"Alright, I get it, thirty thousand!"

"Forty thousand."

"Hell no! Why would I!? I don't even know if it’s really the descendant of a dragon or not, I don't know how much of the blood it’s inherited, that’s too much!"

"Forty thousand!"

"No, buddy, come on! And look at it. It's a female! A female… huh?"

Helena, who was being noisy, became quiet.

Giving the corpse a once-over, she spoke in a strange tone.

"I think she might’ve been pregnant. Did she give birth recently? Look, here. There's milk."

“…”

Truly.

There were indeed traces.

Did this bitch beget another bastard?

"Looks like she had a cub. Ah… what’s got you so cautious?"

"It's unlikely, but I'll have to check."

Callius pulled out the Thunderbolt Sword.

He made a sharp incision across the belly of the beast.

The blade had definitely gotten sharper.

But that wasn’t important right now.

The blade caught on something. Callius ripped off the leathery skin covering the corpse’s stomach and began rummaging inside.

He pulled out something like a pouch, and tore it open it to find what was hidden inside.

"It really had cubs, looks like."

After cutting the thunder wolf dragon's belly apart, what looked like its cubs came out.

About five in number.

They looked like wolf cubs.

Unlike the thunder wolf dragon, their bodies weren’t covered with scales, and they just looked like normal wolf cubs.

“Did it mate with a wolf-type beast?”

Since the thunder wolf dragon had cubs, it had to have a mate.

If both were of the same species, that wouldn’t match with the quest’s name, Sprout of the Aftermath.

However, seeing that the cubs didn’t show any draconic characteristics, the mate seemed to be a simple wolf beast.

"How pitiful. A savage killed all these children before they could even see the light of the world."

“…”

Just when he was about to stab his sword at Helena, who dared make fun of him –

Wriggle.

One of the cubs he’d thought dead, squirmed.

"I think it's alive! Huh? What are you doing!?"

Callius brought the sword to bear down upon the cub.

Helena's eyes widened, as if asking how he could do that to something that couldn't even open its eyes.

"You be quiet."

The tip of the sword quietly emitted a small spark of lightning.

The cub whimpered and wiggled towards the sword.

"It's responding to the sound of thunder."

"So?"

Perhaps because the lightning came from its mother?

The young cub seemed to be sensitive to it.

It whimpered for a long time, squirming over its dead brothers, and touched the sword with its head.

After that, it leaned back as if it’d gotten comfortable and began to breath quietly.

"I was joking when I called it pitiful, you know? It's a beast."

Its aura was tainted with demonic magic.

It’d harm people one day.

The only beasts that do no harm are the dead ones.

Right now, it was only a feeble cub, but it’d grow up and eat humans one day.

Although faint, it had dragon's blood, so it’d have a vicious disposition.

Once it tasted human flesh, it’d devastate village after village, and grow into a disaster that’d drown the northern lands, and perhaps even the world.

It was best to kill it right now.

"Thus spake the God, Valtherus. Spare not the demon."

The remnants of the demons must be purged wherever they are found.

Indeed.

That was the right thing to do.

But –

"What’s that?"

"Troll’s blood."

"Eh!? Didn’t trolls already go extinct centuries ago, where did you get the blood from?! Our family has searched for so long, but we never found any traces!”

Unrefined troll blood.

Because it’s mixed with magic, if you just drink it, you’ll become addicted to magic and soon perish.

Generally speaking.

‘It’d be fine for a beast, though.'

It was a baby that'd never even had milk.

The troll’s blood would be enough to restore its energy.

– Kiyaakiyaaa.

When Callius opened the bottle’s lid and started pouring out a drop of blood or two, it snarled as befit a beast.

On that head that wiggled even though the eyes wouldn’t open, as soon as blood dripped, the young cub began to sip.

“The Church will not allow it.”

”The Church doesn’t allow those magical beasts the nobles keep as pets, either.”

It was somewhat unusual.

But there were many nobles who kept magical beasts as pets.

Callius would just be another addition.

"But why, all of a sudden?"

"None of your business."

It was just a simple curiosity.

Seeing the guy reacting to the lightning of the Thunderbolt Sword, Callius had gotten curious.

There was no other reason.

"That sword. Is it because of that?"

"Helena."

"Yes?"

"Pretending at ignorance is virtue for a merchant. Why are you pretending at knowledge instead?"

Helena, startled, tapped her lips with a finger.

"Ummm… Then, how about thirty-five thousand?"

"Forty."

"Damn it! At least shave it down a little!"

I can't.

I’ve got a lot to spend on.

"Forty thousand. I'll take care of moving it, so don't even think about cutting the price."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, it won't get damaged if it's inside my artifact."

"Nice!"

Helena, who agreed to the deal, didn't ask any further questions, as if she was feeling better already.

‘Maybe by raising this guy, I might be able to strengthen the Thunderbolt Sword further.'

If that happened, the Thunderbolt Sword might rise in rank and become a vision sword.

It was a slim chance.

But if there was any chance at all, there was no reason not to try it.

And –

Callius' eyes as he looked at the thunder wolf dragon cub held a hint of compassion.

As soon as it was born, all its blood relatives departed and left it alone in the world, and it had to rely on a stranger it'd met for the first time in its life in order to survive.

It felt like he was looking at himself.

Editor's Notes:

[1] 탐충의 (lit. of the worms) is Orcal’s sobriquet. This clarifies why Druma was calling Orcal ‘the only worm left’ earlier, since his nickname is literally ‘worm’. Poor guy. 탐충 can also mean exploration which indicates his abilities as a scout. ‘Roving Worm’ is… a compromise so that both meanings can be preserved. Suggestions welcome.