Jupiter was charging alone towards the Golden Gargoyle, while the rest of the party members stood rooted in their places, flabbergasted by the abrupt shift of events.
I shouted out in desperation.
"Hey, Jupiter! What are you doing?! Stop!"
"..."
"Jupiter! Come back, Jupiter!"
That's when it happened.
"...Gold."
Drooling profusely, Jupiter yelled out.
"It's goooold!"
...What did she just say?
I gazed anxiously at the Gargoyle.
It shimmered brightly, sprinkling a radiant golden light all around.
"...Hold on a second."
Could it be that her Gold-Fever trait had just kicked in upon seeing that?!
"Are you out of your mind, Grandma?!"
However, regardless of my outburst, Jupiter had already dashed in front of the boss Gargoyle.
The Golden Gargoyle, taking its time, raised the weapon it held.
A terrifyingly large mace...
"This is insane, seriously!"
Pulling at my hair in frustration, I quickly ordered Lucas and Evangeline.
"Charge, guys! We can't afford to let the old lady die here!"
"Understood, Lord!"
"Get a grip, Granny Mage!"
The two knights bolted forward like bullets. I turned my head towards Damien.
"It's not going to be easy this time either, Damien! Draw out your magic gun!"
Before I could even finish, Damien had already drawn his Black Queen and was taking aim.
Jupiter was now right in front of the Gargoyle.
"Twenty years ago, it was the Hundred-Year Chief, ten years ago, it was the Hundred-Year Chief..."
A deep, humming voice flowed from the face of the Golden Gargoyle.
"Am I to live my life always chasing after the Hundred-Year Chief?"
Then, a low hum-!
Immediately afterward, the mace held in the Gargoyle's hand fell downward.
Lucas and Evangeline were still too far away.
Damien could attack the Gargoyle directly, but
'Even if he kills it with a single shot, if he gets it wrong, Jupiter could die!'
Sure, the Black Queen was an incredibly powerful spear, but killing a robust Gargoyle boss in one blow was too much to ask.
Even if he did kill it, the mace falling towards Jupiter's head wouldn't simply disappear.
I clenched my jaw. There was no choice!
"Damien, shoot that bastard's weapon!"
"Yes!"
Damien promptly corrected his aim and pulled the trigger.
With a deafening blast, the muzzle spat fire. Damien, unable to withstand the recoil, fell backwards.
The magic bullet whacked the side of the mace.
But the mace only slightly changed its path, still falling towards Jupiter's head.
Then, even while tumbling backward, Damien continued to fire his magic gun.
Two more hits and finally, the mace's trajectory shifted, stabbing into the ground right next to Jupiter.
With an earth-shattering thud, the massive mace slammed into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.
"Waaargh?!"
Jupiter, screaming in an ungraceful manner unfitting of her age, sprung off the ground. Oh, Grandma...
"Ugh, what am I doing here...?"
"Retreat, Lady Jupiter!"
Lucas had caught Jupiter in her daze and swiftly retreated.
Evangeline held up her shield on the front line and yelled out.
"Hey, you shiny gold dung beetle! Look at me!"
It was the Shield Knights' common passive skill, the [Battle Cry]. (TL Note: Changed 'Roar of the Battlefield' to just Battle Cry)
The effect? Taunting all enemy units in range and buffing allies!
The golden gargoyle that had been aiming its second strike at the retreating Jupiter suddenly jerked its gaze sideways.
Its enormous mace descended upon Evangeline in an instant.
Boom-!
Evangeline's shield emitted a dazzling white light as it absorbed the attack.
"Ughhh!"
Despite the weird noise she made, Evangeline held her ground. Good job!
Just then, Jupiter returned to my side. I gritted my teeth at the sight of this damned mage.
"Jupiterrr...!"
"I-I'm terribly sorry, Your Highness..."
"Can't you keep your mind straight, for real?! What the hell is the top-ranking mage doing?!"
Jupiter, who was always shameless, repeatedly bowed her head this time, seemingly genuinely sorry.
"I've put everyone in danger because of my carelessness."
"At least you know it, you old fart!"
How can we solve this Gold-Fever trait of that bastard!
'In the game, it only activated from the boxes, but in reality, it triggers even in the most absurd places.'
I looked over at the sparkling golden gargoyle.
Will we have to go through this chaos every time we encounter a jewel monster like this in the future?
"I'll join the front line!"
After bringing Jupiter next to me, Lucas dashed towards the golden gargoyle again.
He probably wanted to help the increasingly exhausted Evangeline.
Jupiter quickly reached out her hand forward.
"I will strike it down right... ugh!"
The electric current that was gathering at Jupiter's fingertips dissipated weakly.
Jupiter tried to gather her magic power again, but she couldn't, possibly due to her recent injury.
I waved my hand at Jupiter, who kept trying.
"Forget it, don't push yourself. Recover first."
"Ugh, I've lost so much face today..."
"Since when did you care about face in front of us."
I surveyed our surroundings.
Lucas and Evangeline were taking turns blocking the golden gargoyle's attacks.
Asking them to also attack the boss, who initially had high physical defense, was too much.
Jupiter was grumbling, having lost her edge.
Damien... he looked pale.
Having fired three consecutive shots with his partially healed Far-Sight, and forcefully withstanding the immense recoil of the Black Queen, he must be feeling awful.
"I'll... finish it! Ugh!"
I stopped Damien as he steadied himself, trying to aim his magic gun again.
"Forget it, step back."
"Huh? But then..."
"This Prince has to test his new product. Just wait and see."
Having distanced Damien behind me, I took out a short magic wand from my bag.
An SSR-rated wand, Maestro.
This seemed like a good opportunity to test this new guy in real battle.
"Maestro, commence."
As I uttered the start-up word, I felt as if the wand was sucking Magic Power from my body.
Soon, light blue magic particles gathered in front of the wand I held, and three blades of Magic Power were created.
Thin and sharp, like a trio of rapiers. They were blue, transparent, crafted as if made of glass.
'I think I've used up half my MP, and only three blades appear...'
A sense of fatigue rushed in as Magic Power left my body. Come to think of it, it was my first time using Magic Power since I arrived in this world?
"Let's see... is this how it's used?"
With an image of moving the Magic Power blades in my mind, I lightly swung the wand forward.
Whoosh! Swish!
The three blades, made of Magic Power, flew as if they were dancing.
"Oh."
After a few swings, I could intuitively grasp the principle of their movement.
Basically, if I concentrate in my mind, I could control the blades of Magic Power.
And if I moved the wand in my hand in sync, the accuracy increased.
Jupiter and Damien were staring at me, their eyes wide.
"Your Majesty... You always bring some new and interesting means every time we meet."
"I guess I'm somewhat of an innovator."
I smirked.
"It's good to show off a bit, isn't it?"
Damien vigorously nodded his head. Quite adorable.
I reached out with my wand. The training was enough; now it was time to verify its actual power.
Shriek!
The three blades of Magic Power shot forward.
Spinning around and hurled, the three blades of Magic Power struck the Golden Gargoyle,
Crash-!
Directly hitting its left shoulder.
It destroyed the connecting link of the golden armor on the left arm, the armor piece shattered and fell off.
"Not bad, huh?"
I twirled the wand to retrieve the blades of Magic Power.
The swift returning blades lined up neatly behind my back.
"Whew!"
A whistle escaped my lips.
Even though I was not yet proficient and the control was crude, its power was definite.
'At least it can deal damage more stably than Lucky Strike.'
Like a conductor leading an orchestra, I briskly waved the magic wand in my hand.
With that movement, the magic blades struck.
Crash! Crash! Crash-!
The Magic Power rapiers cut through the air in succession, marking the Golden Gargoyle's body in several places.
The Gargoyle, having low magic resistance, had its golden armor shattered whenever the magic blades grazed it.
As the armor was peeled off, its relatively weaker body was exposed, and Lucas's sword and Evangeline's spear did not miss that chance to strike.
"If only I'd worked inside the fortress, I'd have gotten a promotion by now. One wrong move and I'm stuck in this damned outpost for life..."
The Golden Gargoyle was again mumbling something I couldn't understand.
Why do all the local boss monsters babble to themselves like this? If they're going to divulge their backstory, at least make it understandable!
Whoosh-!
My blade of Magic Power struck the Golden Gargoyle's armor for the fifth time. As the chest piece shattered, my three Magic Power blades also disintegrated into nothingness.
'Five times, huh. Its durability isn't high.'
I was about to summon another blade of Magic Power, but there was no need.
Thud! Thump-!
Most of the Golden Gargoyle's armor was already destroyed, and through the gaps, Lucas and Evangeline's attacks exploded in quick succession.
Lucas's 'Soul Strike' and Evangeline's 'Damage Payback' radiated in a bright flash, ripping the Golden Gargoyle to shreds.
"If only I'd gotten promoted, and had the chance to wear cool armor like that statue..."
The movement of the Golden Gargoyle, who was swinging his mace with his dilapidated body until the end, suddenly stopped.
"What is this..."
And then, slowly looking up at the sky,
"Why is the rain... black...?"
It blabbered something like that.
Flash-!
Lucas's powerful strike cleanly severed the gargoyle's neck.
The body of the headless gargoyle staggered forward and backward before collapsing awkwardly to the side.
Thud! Thud...
The heavy gargoyle's body fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust in all directions.
Lucas, who was carefully examining the fallen gargoyle, turned to look at me. And then he nodded vigorously.
"We did it!"
"Hua..."
I let out a long sigh of relief.
And then I signaled to Jupiter, who was standing next to me at attention.
"Jupiter, write a report when we get back."
"Yes..."
"And deduct a week's worth of wages from your salary. Put it into the city development fund."
"Wha-! Your Majesty, that's too..."
When I glared at Jupiter as she tried to argue, she immediately bowed her head.
"That's a fair punishment. I'll do as you say."
I didn't really want to rebuke Jupiter heavily. Everyone makes mistakes, after all.
But if the same mistake is repeated, it needs to be punished.
As the leader of the army, rewards and punishments need to be strict. Even if the person in question is a valuable mage.
"...Jupiter. I don't understand why you lose your mind every time you see something shiny."
I said quietly to Jupiter.
"Weren't you a soldier of the Everblack Empire before you were a mercenary living and dying for money?"
"..."
"I hope you remember the pride within you, before your greed."
The trait 'Gold-Fever' was irremovable, impossible to fix artificially, and not the kind of abnormal state that my passive [Unyielding Commander] could block.
In the end, all I could do was hope that Jupiter could resist it herself.
Jupiter stared pensively at her gloved hands.
"...On the path that the young must tread, the old should not become a burden, let alone be of no help."
Jupiter looked at me with a grim expression.
"If such an incident happens again, I'll take responsibility with my life."
"No need to go as far as your life..."
"Then I'll take responsibility with a sum of money equivalent to my life."
"Ho, how much would that be?"
"An amount equal to my weekly salary...?"
"..."
"..."
I stared at the old money-grubber for a moment, then smirked and nodded.
"Let's go."
Lucas and Evangeline were retrieving the loot from the fallen golden gargoyle.
"That armor looks expensive. We should take a bit of it."
"I've been waiting to hear those words!"
As soon as I finished speaking, Jupiter dashed towards the golden gargoyle. Hey! Were you even remorseful?!