Chapter 22: Shopping

After officially registering as an adventurer at the Adventurer’s Guild, I took Lucius and headed to the next location. We stopped by an inn to get a place to stay, then went to a general store, a potion shop, and a weapon shop.

“Master, where are we going this time?”

“Wait. We just have to stop by one more place.”

“…We’ll end up going to all the shops here.”

Lucius looked quite tired. We hadn’t even looked around a few places yet, but Lucius seemed eager to leave this shopping street.

“Why? Are you tired already? You shouldn’t be that tired, right?”

“…I’m just worried that you might get tired, Master.”

“Getting tired is a piece of cake.” An undead complaining of physical fatigue? Satan would laugh.

“Have you forgotten what kind of body I have?”

“That’s not it…”

“We just have to stop by here. Let’s just look around this one place.” I pointed to the shabby weapon shop in front of us.

Lucius sighed deeply and shook his head at me.

“This is already the seventh time I’ve been to a weapon shop and left. Master, I might be a nuisance to the shop owners.”

“If a buyer doesn’t like an item after seeing it, they can just leave. What kind of nuisance is that? Did we go in and disrupt business or break the items?”

“…We just compared things at each weapon shop for thirty minutes and left.”

As Lucius said, I visited each weapon shop to check the performance of the swords.

To get a sword for Lucius and a sword for me.

I couldn’t keep using the rusty iron sword I’d captured from the goblins, so I had to make Lucius use a sword that wasn’t a holy sword.

It would be camouflage, and Lucius could swing a regular sword like a holy sword.

Since it was a rare sword, I tried to choose a sword that would be durable and strong, but Lucius was now showing signs of exhaustion and wanted to go back to the dorm.

“Do you know how important a weapon is? It’s something that can save your life in an emergency. Even if you have good qualities, how can that be?”

“I will reflect on it.”

Although he seemed to be reflecting, it was true that he looked a little tired. With the Holy Sword’s influence, he shouldn’t be physically tired, but I guess I went on a shopping spree too much.

“But I really have to do this. Buying mana potions, a backpack, extra clothes for emergencies, scrolls, antidotes, paralysis treatments, defrosts, fever reducers, insect evasion sprays, cave escape ropes, and other miscellaneous items.”

At the very least, I had prepared items to be able to respond to any enemy I encountered wherever I went, so it was a little disappointing that Lucius acted out like this.

“For a young man to whine about being tired like this. Tsk tsk.”

“I shouldn’t be whining.”

Even though he had eaten at the inn he had chosen as his lodging and had moved around here and there, he probably wasn’t hungry, but Lucius was tired even though he had bought the bare minimum of necessary items.

“When I was a kid, there were times when I would prepare for two days and nights before going on an adventure, just to get my gear ready.”

“Aren’t we different now than when you were a teacher?”

“Huh? Do we even talk back to each other now?”

“I live in the countryside, so I don’t know the details, but I don’t think we need to prepare enough to pack such a big backpack.”

Lucius pointed to the bag on my back. The bag, which was large enough to reach my shoulders and knees, contained all the things I needed for the trip.

“Isn’t it heavy? I’m worried that it might be harmful to your health, Master.”

First of all, my body doesn’t know what fatigue is, and secondly, it’s an artifact bag with a lightening spell, so there’s no big problem. “Look, there are other adventurers who carry bags.”

In the place I pointed, five adventurers were gathered in groups of three or four and heading somewhere.

A blond knight and three women with a lot of exposure clinging to him.

And a tired-looking black-haired young man walking behind them.

The young man was carrying a bag bigger than himself on his shoulder, but he didn’t sweat profusely or fall over due to the weight of the bag.

It must be thanks to the weight-reduction magic.

The wizard, who was wearing clothes even more sloppy than mine, laughed at the blond knight’s words.

It appears that he is actually infusing his porter with magic that lightens his weight and strengthens his body.

“The world has really become a better place these days. Lucius, what do you think their party will be like?”

“Hmm…It seems like a harmonious party.”

“That’s the same situation as ‘the clueless male knight,’ ‘the inferiority complex porter,’ and ‘it turns out all three women like the porter.’ This is a case I experienced 500 years ago.

There was a party of heroes who wanted to defeat the Demon King, so I personally participated.

However, it was exactly the same, and the porter left the party.

The women realized their feelings when the porter disappeared, and the party of heroes disbanded because the women left to find the porter.

I went in to ruin the party of heroes, but it was already a broken vessel.

It was a party that was broken because no one had touched it, and the party itself didn’t know it, and I happily tried to recruit the porter who had great talent.

‘Who are you…?’

‘I am Belphegor. The Demon King.’

‘The Demon King… Is that so, have you come to kill me…?’

‘Do you want power?’

‘What…?’

‘I see the thirst for revenge and power in your eyes. I will give you power. Instead, serve me.’

I proposed revenge to the porter who recovered his exhausted spirit and served the Demon King’s army by giving me a pure dark elf.

‘In the name of the Demon King, I command you. I will give you five years. Grow your strength and help you take revenge.’

‘…Good. Then how should I train? Should I go to hell and come out? Or should I implant a magic stone in my heart? Tell me! Will you do anything?’

‘Exercise for three hours a day, and when you have enough stamina, you can train in mana and swordsmanship. Snippy Ring! You will take responsibility and make this young man a proper warrior of vengeance. You are an expert in this field.’

‘As you command, Your Majesty. However…’

‘A strong warrior and a dark elf’s half-blood will make an excellent warrior. Of course, that is when you become a strong warrior who can even make a dark elf have children, keuhehe.’

‘That is…’

‘Report regularly in writing! That is all! Nehahahahahaha!!’

‘Demon King..!’

He really became a strong mine.

His waist and stamina, trained as a porter, were no less than any warrior, and the Mine I met five years later became the strength of the Demon King’s army with a force that rivaled the Demon King’s army officers and a half-elf mixed-blood.

I wonder if he’s alive. If he’s in Middle-earth now, he might be alive.

Or he might have been sacrificed by Zepar’s group who tried to resurrect Belphegor, or he might have died while suppressing the remnants of the Demon King’s army after Belphegor’s death.

The elders gulped, glancing at each other.

“…Are you saying that the reason the holy sword was awakened is not because someone became its master, but because a situation arose where it had no choice but to become its master?”

“In my opinion… I will not beat around the bush.” Leluna continued with a stern face. “I think that the Great Demon King Belphegor has been resurrected.”

“That is why we must quickly find the hero who uses the holy sword of wind. We must protect the hero. Otherwise…”

Leluna glanced at the elven elders.

“Perhaps, others who notice the resurrection of the holy sword may find the hero first and corrupt or persuade him.

So I ask all the forests.

We…” Leluna stood up and slammed the table with both hands. ”

We must find the master of the wind. Tell all the elves in the world. If the master of such a holy sword appears…”

Leluna continued with a fire in her eyes.

“We must make them side with the elves, no matter what the means.”

“Give me the sword!”

“I-I’ll give it to you! You don’t need money, right?!”

“That’s not it, sir.”

After buying the sword from Fergus, I returned to the inn and suggested to Lucius some physical training, as I had told him before.

“Haa, haa, haa.” Lucius collapsed on the floor. Sweat was pouring down his body.

“Is this hard?”

“…A little, because it’s my first time doing physical training.”

“Well, it is hard.”

Dark Health-Squat.

It’s a technique that trains the muscles of the entire body by repeating the action of sitting down and standing up. Although this body doesn’t know how to do squats, I know exactly how to do it.

“Follow me. This is a physical training method that only three people in the entire world know.”

“Three, three people…?”

“Yes. Why would I tell anyone else about this precious thing?”

Only three people in the Deep Dark Council, the deep and dark council, know this. Belphegor of Sloth. Satan of Wrath.

Lucifer of Arrogance.

This is the ultimate physical training method that only the ‘Three Demon Kings’, who are known even in the Middle-Earth, have mastered.

It is an exercise method developed by Satan, the chairman, and I paid him a very expensive information fee and directly learned the posture of the exercise method.

“This is worth the price of one holy sword.”

I sold the holy sword.

To be exact, I sold the method of attacking one of the holy swords, its weaknesses, and the know-how of how I attacked the holy sword.

Who would sell the technique of attacking a holy sword with just one squat?

The ‘dark health’ developed by Satan has that much value and emotion!

“Don’t go around telling people about it carelessly. Okay?”

“You tell me.”

“I’m telling you because you are…”

Lucius looked at me with an impressed face. That’s only natural.

“Let’s start simple, and then gradually increase the number of repetitions. Okay?”

“I understand. But, Master.” Lucius looked at me with a complicated face. “D-Does the posture have to be like this?”

“Why? Why this perfect posture?”

“T-That…” Lucius lowered his head with a blush. “…It’s chafing.”

“What? Chafing? Where…. Puhahaha!!” Seriously, he burst out laughing. “There’s a limit to how much blood rushes! Ahahaha!!”

“Master…” Lucius covered his face and below with his hands. It seemed like his thighs would chafe in the place he couldn’t speak in the normal squat position.

I’ll have to tell Satan later. How would Satan answer? If your physical condition is that the thing between your legs is too big and it rubs your flesh every time you move it up and down.

“Ah.” There is a way. “Want to try this?” I spread my legs wide.

“Wide squats.”

“T-Teacher!!”

“What? Why? Oh, me.” I lifted my skirt.

“That depends on what you do.”

“….. What brings you here?”

“What brings you here? I came to the blacksmith shop to buy a sword.”

“Who are you…?”

“Who are you?” There is only one answer. “A customer.”