For some important and secret reason, the Emperor of Emperors wasn't able to make it back in person in time, so he ended up leaving the matters in the capable hands of the terrified Hugin.
"That should do it. As per His Highness's instructions, I encourage you to stay in this mansion for the duration of the on-the-job training course and commute to the knight training facility from here. Those two weeks should be enough to make a proper cover-up story."
Hugin breathed out, putting aside a pile of documents, of which only a fraction were the papers required by the Jade Academy for the special course.
"This one can't even find the right words to convey how grateful she is for His Majesty and your grace, Miss Hugin. It must be troublesome."
"...no, no, not at all…!"
Melinda said with a warm smile but Hugin wasn't able to to look her in the eyes, beginning to tremble the moment her gaze laid anywhere near the gold-haired girl's face.
"Haaaa… I apologize for showing you my adventurers' guild card, Miss Hugin. In my defense, I wasn't going on the monster-killing spree out of some wild bloodlust or other madness. Remember the injury that made it impossible for me to heal? The one that His Majesty sent Lady Seth to look into? I lied to her and claimed that my HP returned during sleep, but the truth is I was using this item to gain more HP from killing monsters to make up for the amount I lost."
Melinda ended up releasing a deep sigh and fidgetted before revealing and taking off the diamond-patterned Greedy Necklace and placing it in front of Hugin, right next to the pile of documents.
"The… what…? Wait… What? What do you mean you were making up for the lost HP through this item?"
That made the pastel-gold-haired Dusk Elf flinch and shake her head, still unable to properly look at Melinda's face but at least trying her best.
"Exactly what I said. I bought it from a magic item shop in Chainlink Port City, and they supposedly got it from some sort of mysterious hermit who descends mountains once every few years or something. Truth be told, I stopped paying attention to the flavor text the moment I learned that while wearing this, I will gain a portion of an HP of monsters I defeat."
The gold-haired girl shrugged her shoulders and said calmly.
"Since I had it for some time before the injury, I knew its effect doesn't count as healing. Go on, take a closer look."
"...!"
She added, pushing the necklace closer to Huggin, but that resulted in the Dusk Elf woman to pull back so fast she ended up almost knocking her chair over.
"Young Lady… I am saying that with complete sincerity and the backing of my ability, Hildskjalf. There is no item with the properties you described in this world. Its rules and boundaries don't allow for expanding one's HP through the death of another."
Without taking her eyes off the Greedy Necklace, Hugin took a deep breath and declared.
"Yeah… but it does, though? Since it was supposedly created by some hermit, it must be a one-of-a-kind item, so you might not have any knowledge about…"
"With all due respect. That's not how Hildskjalf works, Young Lady."
Melinda rolled her eyes and sighed, pointing out, but got interrupted by a clearly agitated Hugin.
"Well. I hate to break it to you, but it seems that whatever your ability does, it isn't really…"
"Did you have it appraised?"
The gold-haired girl pouted grumpily but once again got talked over by the pastel-gold-haired woman.
"...I didn't… but since I bought it in a proper shop and it clearly works…"
"Did you have a proper, full status check-up on yourself to confirm things work the way you think?"
For the third time, Melinda grumbled, only for Hugin to butt in.
"....not a full one…"
But this time she ended up folding in realizing that there were quite a lot of things she simply didn't bother with, justifying everything with game logic.
"Check-up of living beings is outside my area of expertise, but the items have no secrets before me."
"...okaaaay…?"
Hugin revealed, making Melinda raise her brow, not really sold on the sudden theatrics.
"..."
"..."
The two of them remained silent for a few moments until finally the Dusk Elf buckled in.
"Reveal."
She chanted without being asked to, opening her palm and causing a spectral book to appear in front of her.
A book that, interestingly enough, could be properly read regardless of the position of the interested party - meaning that Hugin and Melinda sitting opposite to each other could clearly see the text that appeared on the spectral pages.
{*&%^$: &^$%
&^%&%$: (*&^ ^&$%#$ &^%^&*^
(&T^&$^%&*^(* (^*^%&*^
*&&*%&^%^&*^*&^( *&%&$ *&%&%$%^#$ *&&(*& ^&$%^$&%^ *(^&(*& &%$%$*&^(&(* (&%$^ %(*& &^$%$ *(*&)(* ^&$&^%^(&*). ( )(&*&^%&$ *&^*(& (*&*&^% ^&$^&$&^% *^*&(^ ^%*&^ (&**&^^% *&^ $%&^%&^( &( ^^&$ &^% ^(*& *%^& %*& ^(* &*^ ^&% (*&. }
…even though the text was complete and utter gibberish…
"See?"
"Yes. Your ability sucks, clearly."
Hugin declared while pointing at her book, receiving Melinda's annoyed scoff.
"NO! Cursed objects from outside the rules of our world cannot be appraised by normal spells!"
The Dusk Elf groaned in disbelief over the cold reaction.
"..."
This time, Melinda raised only one of her brows and gave Hugin an expectant gaze.
"...I do have a skill that is capable of transcribing it, though… Decode."
The pastel-gold-haired woman mumbled, lowering her gaze even more before chanting a different incantation.
{N@me: GEed) NeckL@ce
Q^ality: %$^&^ (+ Cursed)
Tr!p CreaTed b) Humanity's WorSt TRaitor
An ITeM CapAbLE Of GrANTING ^ts user 1% of HP O( a mONSter theY KILl bY th#mself IN @ SinGLE H|T wITh OnlY TheIR PHYSicaL strEngth. DesPITe woRkInG, THiS IteM Was cREATED as a wAY tO makE prOMISinG AdveNTUreRs Kill tHEMselveS wiTH TheiR 0Wn GREEd fOr BeTTer StaTS.}
…was what ended up displayed this time around…
"Miss Hugin… You work for the Emperor of Emperors. It's not okay to stop training the ability the moment it barely starts working."
"Why are you more concerned about my ability than the CURSED item you've been carrying with you this whole time!?"
Melinda gave Hugin an admonishing look, making the Dusk Elf woman squirm and cry out in a flustered voice, indeed getting embarrassed over the quality of the translation.
"Oh, that's because, according to your ability, this item works. And its only curse is apparently that it makes adventurers bite more than they can chew and end up dead. So… a perfectly reasonable amount of risk considering the potential benefits."
"...!"
The gold-haired girl shrugged her shoulders, taking back the necklace and putting it back on to the pastel-gold-haired woman's disbelief.
"...you know… I'm sorry. I started this subject without any actual reason. I'm pleased with everything you and His Majesty had planned. However, that's obvious since I've already sent Adi to get part of my stuff from the dormitory. It's so convenient that she doesn't have to worry about being forgotten the moment our party link breaks."
Surprisingly enough, after a minute or two, Melinda slouched in her seat and raised her hand while apologizing with a guilty expression.
"Mind you, I do not intend to back down about wearing the necklace. But I believe that the whole hermit who supposedly made an item like that needs to be looked into."
"...apology accepted, and yes. You're absolutely correct about the necessity of looking into that person. If you don't mind, could you specify which magic item shop you purchased it from?"
Melinda added, returning to her normal expression. Hugin reluctantly accepted that it was the best outcome she could achieve and went along with the flow of the conversation.
"Sure~ It's…"
The gold-haired girl nodded with a smile and began the explanation.