After curing another patient with the use of the vial Luke took from Samantha's laboratory. The first prince was finally convinced that it was indeed the cure. The only problem now is how to get the approval of the king to agree with the genius alchemist's proposal of the cure. The first prince swept it under the rug, for the meantime as he was still smiling ear to ear.
Now that Lawrence was able to show the effects of the cure to the first prince. Everything's slowly going his way for once. If he can convince the king, money would rain in his way and his influence would grow. Still, he has to know if the first prince is dealing with people who sell slaves and buys them. He might be uncaring to others but he still has principles he follows. Even if it's the only thing that differentiates him from a villain. The problem is how he would bring this topic, it would be suspicious to act like someone who wants to have slaves on top of being a collector and an alchemist. He glanced at Luke before smiling.
"I nearly forgot. I hope that the prince doesn't take an offense to this. My friend here" Lawrence looked at Luke who felt that something bad is gonna happen.
"Need some slaves for-preferably beautiful women exactly- for entertainment" Lawrence bowed respectfully as everyone winced even the first prince. Meanwhile Luke shows a betrayed expression, still seeing that the woman beside him didn't take his head and the first prince simply acted surprised. He has to follow his boss as Luke sighed.
"It's alright if there aren't any but I heard that there are some in this place. Don't worry, I don't do any disgraceful actions on my slaves." Luke explained as the first prince stared at him.
"There are…some. Though I have to let you know that selling and buying any slaves is illegal. I..don't condone it but as you can see. My influence isn't that strong, I need their support to even have a fighting chance. I can arrange a meeting for you to the sellers that you would buy some" The first prince meekly replied with a deep sigh. The woman beside her didn't even react to Lawrence and Luke's words as she stands there like a statue, silently guarding the prince.
"Does the Kinsei Family allow these slave traders to exist in their dukedom?" Lawrence asked with a serious tone.
"Yes. The majority of the Kinsei family members are slave owners themselves. They are fine with it since they don't see anyone that isn't a mage or warrior being a person. They make me sick yet I can't do anything. Anyway, they are happy that they can do it under the nose of the empire. Even my father knows what they are doing but the Kinsei family is too influential and important for the economy that he allows it." The first prince informed Lawrence.
"That's all I need. Once my friend gets his shares from selling the cure. He will return but for now. We would head back if there are no matters that need to be discussed" Lawrence bowed as Luke followed suit.
"Alright. Just walk backward and you would be teleported outside of the palace" The first prince said as they followed what he said. In that instant, both of them immediately appeared outside of the palace and at the bottom of the golden staircase. Luke briefly opened his eyes to look if someone is investigating them. He noticed a few mages hiding in the alleyways near the mansions and nearby buildings. They don't have any hostility toward Luke and Lawrence but they are keeping an eye on both of them.
"It seems that they are keeping an eye on us, boss"
"Leave them. It's fine as long as they don't attack us"
Both of them walked back to the normal street where civilians lived. Lawrence looked around but he didn't find a single slave walking around. The houses are built properly and the civilians looked happy. There is a busy market where a lot of people are buying supplies. Stores are full of customers and children playing around the street. It's as if this city is perfect with every citizen's needs given to them added by the security behind these walls and the powerful mages. It's the perfect place to live.
He has to return one way or another to check where the slave traders are conducting their business. If he can remove the filth in this world while benefiting from it, he would gladly do it. The slave traders might also be quite rich so Lawrence can just kill them and steal all of their money for him to use. He can free the slaves while also gaining money. If there's a large organization behind the slave traders, he can always use the guerrilla tactics to slowly destroy their business and rob them. For now, he can only walk and look around. After exiting the city, they rode the carriage back to the capital of the Sekai Kingdom.
Inside, Lawrence summoned the suitcase from his space ring and Luke stared at it with great interest. Lawrence opened it slowly before giving Luke the broken handle of a sword. Who received it with confusion written on his face.
"Boss? What is this?"
"You don't feel anything?"
"Um, am I supposed to feel anything? It feels like a handle of a steel sword." Luke twisted and turn the handle in confusion about what Lawrence meant but it was simply a normal handle.
"Unsheathe your Carwennan. That thing you are currently holding might be the handle of the sword King Arthur wielded. The Excalibur." Lawrence said with a sigh as Luke shrugged and pulled the Carwennan dagger from his belt before unsheathing it. The broken handle started shaking terribly as Luke stared at Lawrence like he has no idea what is happening.
"Boss? The handle is quite hot. Crap" Luke accidentally dropped it to the floor as the handle sizzled and started a small fire inside the wooden carriage. Lawrence immediately opened the door and kicked the handle away as it falls to the ground. Luke told the coachmen to stop as both of them went outside to check it. The handle started burning intensely as the nearby grass started getting caught in a fire.
"Unsheathe the dagger, Luke"
"Sure boss" Luke unsheathed the Carwennan dagger as the intense heat emanating from the handle suddenly vanished and the surrounding fire was immediately put out. Still, it seems that Lawrence is indeed right. It's the handle of the Excalibur but the problem remains. How can Luke use it? For now, it only acts as a fire starter when he unsheathed his relic dagger. Lawrence just throws it at Luke who grabbed it by his hand.
"We probably have to look for a lake" Lawrence muttered
"Lake? to cool it down?"
"Not only that. Have you heard about the myth of King Arthur?"
"I have never heard of that myth before."
"How about Odin? Zeus?"
"Nope. I have never heard of them too."
"That's peculiar" Lawrence observed Luke who stared at him confusedly. Does that mean that the myth used to manifest relics is only the myth that comes from Earth? It might be possible since the author, Catalinna. Used the myths from around the earth to create a background and relic for the characters in her novel to use. It's also common for authors to use myths to create godlike characters. Luckily, there doesn't appear to be a cult or church praying to Zeus or Odin.
"Do you know what is the strongest relic that existed?" Lawrence asked Luke who thought about it for a while.
"Probably the one the Human Emperor holds. The orb of creation. According to the information I was able to find while working in the black syndicate. It's one of the 5 broken pieces of the creator's weapon that was destroyed during his fight against the progenitor of origin. There are also rumors that the strongest of the four races each, has one part of the creator's weapons. Each has the ability to destroy and create whatever the holder wants in exchange for mana, aura, and their lifespan. Though, it is only used when a specific race is about to get exterminated." Luke shrugged while Lawrence pondered over this new information. In the novel, the human emperor died from old age which kick-started the civil war to start between the nobility and the royal family. The Swordwin Empire was covered in chaos and death that Cain and his friends were able to take revenge on those who wronged him. If the human emperor didn't die, Cain's revenge would be nigh impossible. The empire would be united and would be able to kill Cain or at least the majority of his friends. Still, it seems that relics created from myths of this world also exist.
"There are also some relics that are used by 7-star mages and warriors. Including the Irth, the dragon head. Which is basically a relic of a dragon head attached to someone's arm that can breathe fire and use the dragon's language. It is currently used by the Dragon Maniac named Zack. A 7-star mage that resides in the central continent. There are many more. Lucky for you, boss. I have a great memory so I can tell you the other names of the relic and their wielders. . "
"No need.."
"My father also has a relic according to the information given to me by Geiryst." Luke said with a grim tone. Luke took a deep sigh before continuing "He got his hands on the Silver Wolf's Claw. A relic that was once used by our progenitor or our first ancestor to kill anyone who gets in his way and forged our wolf beast tribe. I don't know what it does but by the stories told to me…it can give the power of a mythic wolf that ate the moon to the one who awakened it. If he can use it to its full potential. My revenge would be all for nothing" Luke muttered with a noticeable cold tone in his voice. He didn't show anger as any normal person would, he just stood there silently. Unlike Catalinna who openly shows hostility, Luke appeared to be deathly silent. Lawrence merely chuckled.
"What is the thing your holding right now?" Lawrence asked randomly as Luke calmly stared at the Carnwennan.
"A relic.."
"Then why are you worried. Besides, your father is quite a headache that we need to deal with more or less in the future." Lawrence shrugged as Luke smiled and returned to his mischievous expression.
"Thanks for the encouragement, boss. Didn't expect it from you." Luke snide with a grin.
"Anyway. We should return to the carriage. I have to test something with the other items I bought" Lawrence fixed his suit before returning to the carriage followed by Luke.
"Isn't it safer to test it outside the carriage? it might burn again"
"It might but the mages that have been following us might reach us. To be honest, these items are traps that they put to see if someone can identify them and use them successfully. Basically, if they notice that it's valuable. We might be in trouble"
"hmm…then why not just let me sheath the carnwennan in the carriage when the handle is burning?"
"Since I want them to know that we have the ability to discern things that they can't but not make the items we bought to be that valuable. Who would want a handle that turns hot and burns everything slowly? Also, I'm assured that they didn't hear our conversation. You of all people should've sensed it if they got closer. Close enough to hear what we are talking about"
"That's extremely risky, boss. I didn't open my eyes at any point at that time. There's a chance they might overheard us"
"You said that the ones following us are mages right?"
"Uh-huh" Luke nodded as Lawrence simply smiled and didn't reply before grabbing the wooden stick from the suitcase.
"Oh! It seems that my anger made me stupid. Only the warriors can use their extreme senses to overhear us. I don't know if your smart or I'm simply stupid" Luke chuckled.
"You choose. Anyway, this stick. This appears to look like one of the branches of Yggdrasil. If I'm right" Lawrence muttered before summoning the golden spear, Gungnir. The normal-looking stick immediately turned into a brown root and slung towards Lawrence's neck with blinding speed. It wrapped around Lawrence's neck like a noose as he choked briefly before the root slowly adjusted. Giving Lawrence a much-needed space to breathe as the root turned into bronze. It immediately infused into his skin, leaving a small tattoo of a large tree with one large root on the bottom.
Silence followed as even Lawrence didn't know what to say. If he needed to collect all of the branches of the Yggdrasil to get something in return, he would have to get chocked a thousand times while also actively looking for them. If it's the root, then he only has to collect two more to complete all of it. If this symbolizes Odin getting hanged by the Yggdrasil while pierced by the Gungnir to gain the knowledge of runes. Then he also has to sacrifice his other eye. Since every relic needs a certain procedure to awaken the latent abilities, the owners of a relic need to do it if he/she wants to get stronger. Also, the runes currently used by the mages, especially runemasters are probably not the same as the rune magic he would learn if he does what Odin did in the myth.
Lawrence can only hope that he would have enough time to complete all of the procedures to fully awaken his relic. Though with the given timeline, he needs to be more efficient in how he uses his time. He only has one year left to have the power enough to kill a 6-star warrior, not only a warrior but a monster infused with the blood of a demon, and was given intelligence.