A day had passed since then.
A total of 200 visitors were gathered on a square at the outskirts of Badgordo.
Belonging to the Merchants Guild were about 15 staff members, including the guildmaster, Shin-san. The rest were blacksmiths belonging to the Blacksmiths Guild and other merchants from the Merchants Guild.
We have to prove to them our ability. That way, according to Yukari, 'the system to earn much money while whole selling Mithril Alloy' will be set. All the fine details were left to Yukari. Ahh, so these are the pains of being a seriously addicted online game junky. I feel sad for my lack of knowledge. But, it's great to have Yukari with us.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered here today――"
Shin-san then took the lead. He started with a greeting, then an explanation of the outline, and an announcement of the performance that will happen in a moment. When that was over, the crowd of 200 people greeted us with a thundering applause.
The first ones to perform were Silvia and Eko.
"Here I go."
Silvia stood at the right edge of the square, and aimed at the previously prepared target located at the left, while holding her 『Bow of the Blazing Wolf』, she used a combination of "Rook Archery" and "Fire Attribute・Third Form".
In the next moment―― a burning mass of magical power was shot, and it flew straight towards the target at a very high speed while leaving behind a trail of flames.
Then it landed. It became a huge explosion. The target was blown away not by the force of the hit, but by the sheer explosive power, devastating all the surroundings.
"...T-this is...! "
The 200 people stared in admiration.
They might be thinking that with this much, capturing the Proline Dungeon may be possible.
"Next target, here I go."
Silvia prepared a combination of "Soldier Archery" and "Fire Attribute・Third Form" and was ready to fire it in quick succession.
"Okayー! "
What appeared at the left side of the square was Eko, who replied energetically while preparing her 『Shellrock Shield』 with "Bishop Shieldmanship".
The multitude became noisy.
At the sudden turn of events, the audience was filled with unrest. What would happen if such a young demihuman was hit with a shot like the previous one? Before they could think of an answer, Silvia fired her bow.
At the moment the shot landed, all the spectators must have thought "the child died".
Immediately afterwards, a 'paaan' resounded! In other words, the sound of the explosion scattered after hitting something.
"...Eh? "
All 200 people were amazed.
Eko was unharmed, and she was just showing a big smile.
How did that happen? That question was solved soon. They saw it was thanks to the big shield.
"OHHHHHH! "
The audience roared. They exclaimed that those two were amazing.
The degree of confidence that we can capture the Proline Dungeon surely climbed.
"That is indeed incredible strength... but, I honestly don't think they can go and clear it many times a day."
However, a calm opinion was heard among the crowd.
That's right. Considering doing constant clears, this alone is 'weak'.
But this was already expected to happen when we were doing the strategy meeting with Shin-san yesterday. For that very reason is my "Spirit Summoning" spell.
"Next will be the last announcement."
As Shin-san continued with the moderation, I stepped into the center of the square.
The eyes of the 200 people were focused on me. However, I wasn't tense at all. Title matches had over 100 times the audience, and 10,000 times more people watched in on the internet. It's impossible not getting used to it.
"Here I go."
I then took the Premium Spirit Ticket from my inventory and used it. A golden aura covered my body. With this, an initial spirit strength of 25,000 or more is confirmed.
After one deep breath, and clearing my mind as much as possible, I activated "Spirit Summoning".
"――――! "
A large summoning array with a radius of about 5 meters was deployed around me. The audience was quietly holding their breath.
Please, be at least one with a spirit strength of 30,000 or more! I sincerely prayed. But it was already useless to pray. The result has already been determined the moment the previous skill activated, and the spirit to be summoned has already been selected, so it was useless to pray. Still, I wonder why I decided to pray?
"...Oh."
Among the silence, the voice of someone leaked.
That person's line of sight was directed towards the sky.
Eh?
Noticing something was odd, I also looked up at the sky.
The sky which had been clear just a few seconds ago, was now covered with thick, black clouds, and a large whirlpool in the center.
The land dimmed as if it were night, and thunderous lightning jolted across the clouds, illuminating the people in place of the sun.
Strange, eerie, intimidating… It was a scene filled with a mysterious fear.
"Just w-what...!? "
The audience was shivering.
Can this man manipulate the climate? ――They wondered.
Overlapping in layers, the black clouds slowly approached the ground.
Some of the audience even said "We get it, so please stop it! " while begging me to halt.
However, the summoning performance doesn't stop.
"...There's no way."
I then started to think of something from the past.
That was, after the first major update, a player was able to summon a spirit with a spirit strength of over 35,001 for the first time.
One of those spirits was summoned per each of the 29 large updates performed in Mobius online, the most powerful and rarest of them being one with an initial spirit strength of 41,000.
"Hiii...! "
Screams rose from among the audience.
The swirl of clouds began to fall, and the sky began to come down like a funnel.
From the center of it, a huge arm made an appearance.
An arm dozens of times bigger than a building, with an ominous dark red crest. Just as it turned into a fist, it rushed towards the surface of the ground while making roaring sounds.
"...W....Whoaa, ahhh! "
Someone then shouted.
――We're going to die.
If such a huge fist landed, everyone here would die.
The audience was enveloped in panic.
Zuuun―― The moment the fist landed, the ground shook. However, the arm suddenly disappeared almost as if everything had been a dream.
Forgetting their surprise, amazement, willingness to escape, and even their panic, the two hundred people were just staring at the sight before them.
Dust clouded the air. About five meters ahead of me, a dark red lightning flashed in the air.
Bang! Suddenly, the expanded air blew away all the dust. The spectators screamed and crawled on the ground, so as to not be blown away.
Yet, I wonder why I didn't feel that wind.
Then, what appeared in front of my eyes was―― as expected, 'that spirit'.
"My name is Angolmois. Great King of all spirits governing over the four major elements."
Angolmois then loudly introduced itself. Even though it was not raising its voice, it was a neutral voice clearly heard even through this raging wind.
A spirit with a beautiful face that could be taken as a man or a woman, about 160 centimeters tall. Its hair was cut short and shone in red, black and gold in the wind, and its eyes emitted an intense orange and green light, similar to a supernova. Its clothes were silver colored with several strips, decorations of mounted gems lapis lazuli and ambers were scattered here and there, the shoes were of a scorched tea and greenish color with an irregular mottled pattern giving off a grotesque and repulsive feeling.
And then, those hands. They had the same crest as the huge arm that manifested from the sky before, and the crests flickered as if they were hungry for blood. Every time the light reflected from it, a dark red lightning leaked from that emblem.
Angolmois walked out.
One, two, three steps, then it stopped.
A really elegant gait. The epitome of 'endlessly deep fear'.
"My Second. I was looking forward to the day when I could meet you."
Angolmois said while kneeling in front of me.
The storm still hadn't stopped.
...Ahh, I see. The reason why the wind still hasn't calmed down, and was making the spectators crawl on the ground, might be because the spirit was thinking 'I will not lower my head any lower than those 200 people', probably. I've heard rumors, but to think you are 'that kind of guy'.
"Can you stop the wind?"
"Fufu, as you wish."
Angolmois smiled and obeyed.
The wind soon calmed down.
The audience was stirred. Not because the wind had finally stopped. They were stirred because of 'fear'.
...Well, that was to be expected.
This guy is evil, no matter where you look at it.
And this evil being was kneeling before me, so it became like this.
Alas, if this guy is the 'Great King of Spirits', then I will be seen as the 'Great King of Fear'.
Please spare me that...! Why did he come with this timing!? Isn't the change of getting a spirit with a strength of over 35,001 only about 0.1%!? If it was going to turn out like this, one with 35,000 of strength was enough!
"..."
I turned my sigh towards Yukari, implicitly asking what to do.
Ahh... She just shrugged. Seems like I can't count on her on this.
"...Hmm, sorry. We'll talk later. For the time being, I'll send you back. Next time you come out, do it normally."
"You didn't like it? My apologies, my Second. I became a little enthusiastic since it was the first summoning――"
"Later."
"Ahh, wai–!? "
I decided to use "Unsummon" as soon as possible, then while taking a deep breath I wiped my forehead.
And quickly, the square became open again.
"......"
The venue was in a state of dead silence.
They could not believe what had just happened.
Everyone was equally stunned.
"Hiiii."
A merchant who matched his eyes with mine screamed his lungs out, and after quickly avoiding my gaze, he ran away as fast as he could.
One person became two, and then three, then more and more people started to run away.
The moment they looked at me, fear clouded their eyes.
They completely believe I'm the master of that demon.
And thus, the presentation ended.
Naturally, the trade discussions were cleanly and neatly abandoned. Both the Merchants Guild and the Blacksmiths Guild said "Never get involved with that guy", and quickly took their distance. Well, that is obvious.
...I blew it.
Everything that Yukari took the time to go here and there to prepare and plan, went up in smoke in just a moment.
I feel stupid to fail like this after everything I said about not wanting to be hostile towards the Adventurers Guild. Let alone the Adventurers Guild, now we've earned the mistrust of two of the biggest organizations in the Castall Kingdom, the Merchants Guild and the Blacksmiths Guild. This is no longer about being enemies or allies.
But even then, what was I supposed to do?
The spirit was ruling over the four major attributes, Fire, Water, Wind and Earth. Depending on the attribute, the Spirit Summoning manifested in different ways. If it was a fire attribute spirits, it will appear from a fire column; a wind attribute spirits will simply descend from the sky. Something like that.
However, Angolmois is different. He is set to be the Spirit King, standing atop all other spirits, dominating the four major elements. That is why his summoning presentation is extremely special. It leans more towards the "ruler" direction.
Even in my previous life, as I was the top of the world, I did not have Angolmois. It was just that rare. After all, even since the start of the Mobius Online launch, there were only 29 chances to get it. It required for you to use a Premium Spirit Ticket during the "Spirit Summoning" with a chance of just 0.1%, and at the same time, be lucky enough to win against all the other players who were aiming for a rare spirit like Angolmois at each major patch.
That is virtually impossible―― Everyone thought so. Even I thought so.
...
But I got it!
Since I'm aiming to be the top of the world, this should be a very welcoming addition, but considering the current situation, it's not that easy to rejoice.
And what's with that setting? A neutral good-looking body, respectable, arrogant and a King. That spirit is such a big deal. And because it's so great, I'm not sure I can deal with it.
Do I really have to call him again to have a proper chat? ...Whoa, I'm really not in the mood.
On the way back to the inn.
I told Silvia and Eko, "Sorry to have been a nuisance", and to Yukari, "Sorry to have wasted your efforts."
Silvia just smiled at me and replied with a "That was just you being you". Eko said "It's fine! ", while nodding to cheer me up. Yukari said "It doesn't really matter, but..." and tried to say something else, but at least she wasn't worried about her wasted efforts.
I felt a little relieved with everyone's unchanged attitude.
A lot of things happened today, but at least it seems our everyday life will continue the same.
—————————-
"I am terribly sorry."
That same day's night.
Yukari came to my room to apologize.
"Why are you apologizing? If anything, I'm the one who wants to apologize to you."
Since the plans and arrangements that Yukari made blew up because of me, I'm the one who should be apologizing.
"I was just terribly mistaken. The opinions of a common person like me are meaningless. And for Master, someone like me will be just a pair of shackles slowing you down."
Eh? I don't really understand.
"Shackles? "
"Yes. Master is someone who'll become transcendental. You didn't worry about turning a guild into an enemy or gaining recognition, I now understand this very well, and that there was no need to worry about that small work I was doing."
That's wrong, I just can't think of a way, so I just wanted to proceed as unnoticed as possible. I made a huge blunder this time though.
But, why would Yukari say something like this so suddenly?
"Why do you think that? "
"Because of Master's composure. You don't think of this as a failure."
"No, I think this was a failure. And if anything, this was a huge failure."
"No, you don't think that. A person who has really failed won't be able to eat dinner normally, won't enjoy a drink after a bath, and most of all, won't be able to smile like there's a tomorrow."
"...Uhmm."
Now that she says that, I might give off that feeling. Even though such a thing happened, I spend this evening without any change from my usual self.
"Master should be considering this to be not a major failure. On the contrary, Master probably thought "it's okay if this fails" from the beginning, right? "
At least the former is correct. That's because the purpose to save money was to buy a house, therefore, the goal of being the "top in the world" is not affected even if that failed. In the first place, there are other ways to earn tons of money. My initial priorities for coming to Badgordo were 「Earning Experience＞Making Equipment＞Earning Money」 after all. Then, why did 'earning money' suddenly take priority?
...Ohh, I see. Certainly, I do not think of this as a failure. Rather, I even thought it was fine if this plan failed. And since I wasn't serious about trying to succeed in this, that means the damage is minimal in the case of failure. Yukari is right.
"You're incredible, Yukari. You know me better than I do."
"That's not true! "
Yukari strongly denied it. It surprised me a little because she usually doesn't express much emotion.
"...I'm sorry. However, I do think I have a good understanding of you, Master."
"Isn't that what I said? "
"No. Also, this time, if I had a deeper understanding of you, Master, I might've been able to devise a better plan."
I see. So, that's why Yukari came to apologize. She's quite dutiful.
"In that case, don't worry about it too much. Because I was a little ignorant in that aspect, I left everything to you. I just ended up placing a burden on you, Yukari."
"Still, I didn't get to live to your expectations."
"Like I said, it was my fault. There's no way you could've predicted such a thing, right? You don't have to be so hard on yourself. In addition, it was me who agreed with Yukari's plan and made the final call. Therefore, this is all my fault."
"..."
Yukari became silent, albeit a little unwillingly. Her expression didn't seem convinced yet.
"...Would it be better if I focus on Blacksmithing?"
She then said that while looking down. How did she come to that conclusion?
"Well, that would be troublesome. Like, really troublesome. After all, you are the brains of 'Firstest', Yukari. It was just by chance that things didn't go as planned this time. But I'm sure it'll be fine from now on. Will you help me follow the right road? "
"—-! Yes, of course! "
"Then, I'll be relying on you."
"Certainly! "
Yukari replied somewhat happy. "Starting today I'll change my mindset, and show you how useful I can be as a secretary", she then added.
Secretary, huh? ...That's the first time I'm hearing this. Well, it's not like I can tell her no. She will certainly have too much spare time during our dungeon clears, so that might be good for her mental state. It might be natural for her to want to do things other than working just as a blacksmith, since she'll have too much free time in her hands.
"Ah, that's why, hmm... I want to know more and more about master from now on. If I don't know anything about you, Master, and something happens again..."
"Huh? Okay...Eh? "
The distance between me and Yukari shrank. Then, she came so close, being face to face. Ahh, she smells like flowers.
"That's why, that's why, right? Tonight, together with me――"
——————
――Knock, knock, knock.
At that moment, just when Yukari was about to ask for something, a knocking sounded in the room.
"......"
Yukari's expression then became frozen cold. Hey, that's scary!
——————
"C-come in."
Feeling a bit shaken, I called out to the person standing outside the door.
"Excuse me for coming this late in the night."
The person who entered was a slender old gentleman with a white beard. I didn't recognize his face, but he seemed to be a gentle person.
"Second-sama, I assume."
"Yes."
"My name is Forest; I am the steward of the house Lumberjack. I have come in place of my master. He would like to talk to you face to face in person."
Ranba jakku (Lumberjack)? Curry (Steward)?
Seeing me with question marks above my head, Yukari then whispered "It's an Earl household whose territories are located in the commercial city Leñador". She then added, "Having the house steward come in person is a very polite expression". I see, so curry (Karee) as in Steward (Karei)? And what about 'Hausu'(House), such complicated names.
But, why come at such a time? The moment I wondered that, Yukari whispered to me "I think he probably came here in secret". As expected, he knows how 'famous' I am...
"Forest-san, is it? Sure, I don't mind. May I ask what the talk will be about? "
When I said so, the steward, Forest-san bowed splendidly.
Then, he opened his mouth as his sharp eyes looked at me behind those round glasses.
"We have a proposal for the trading of Mithril Alloy."