Snakes and Stars
***
"Huammm!"
Waking up on an unfamiliar bed, I yawned and did a few stretches.
As soon as I stood up, however, a painful headache assaulted me.
"Arghhh! This is why I fucking hate drinking!"
After what felt like ages, the headaches finally calmed down.
"Haaaah... well, it was worth a shot anyways..."
After all, I couldn't help it if I 'accidently' spilled everything about the incident to Sylvia while I was drunk.
'I'm not sure whether to be happy or not that I didn't say anything crucial to her...'
As I was thinking that, however, a voice suddenly rang out from behind me.
"You're up, Theodris! I have to thank you. Last night was the best night of my life!"
Startled, I snapped my head to the source of the voice, only to find Semier very lazily sitting on the bed since god knows when.
"W- What are you doing on the b- bed? D- Don't tell me...!", I covered my body defensively.
In response, Semier merely chuckled. "Don't need to worry, brat. I'm not that far gone yet"
"Though", he gulped a mouthful of saliva. "I wouldn't mind doing it with Theodris Gre—"
"NO!"
"Pfffffft!", hearing my response, he burst into laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAH! YOU SHOULD HAVE LOOKED AT YOUR FACE!"
After a while, he calmed down.
Wiping the tear on the corner of his eyes, Semier's expression turned serious.
"You might not believe this but there's a reason I'm here. Well, other than making fun of you that is"
He then reached into his Space pouch and took my scabbard out. "Although it would be funny to let you name your scabbard while you were drunk, I'm not so heartless to do so. As such, you need to name your scabbard now before it turns into a nameless artifact"
Hearing this, I took the scabbard from his hands and fell into thoughts.
'Should I name it... Bob? No... it wouldn't fit a scabbard like how it would fit a Wyvern...'
After a while, I nodded my head in satisfaction as I thought of a cool name.
"Space breaker, Distorias"
Immediately after those words left my mouth, the scabbard glowed a faint blue hue. And after a minute, the hue subsided.
While I was still being confused, Semier approached and put a goggle on me.
"Try looking at it now"
I complied.
As I laid eyes on the scabbard, a translucent blue screen appeared right beside it.
==
[Space breaker scabbard, Distorias] (Grade - artifact)
A scabbard made from Mythasium and the tail scale of White dragon Sylvia Adrancus. It boasts unparalleled durability as well as mana conductivity and storage. It can also reshape itself to fit any weapons
==
"Cool, right?", Semier puffed his chest in pride. "I can confidently say that this is the first scabbard artifact to have ever been created!"
Seeing the grandmaster blacksmith acting like a child, I couldn't help but to let out a sigh.
'Sometimes I forgets he's supposed to be a thousand years old...'
Pausing my thoughts there, I focused on the scabbard again, and began to agglomerate mana into it.
After exactly 36 seconds, I was done.
"N- No way...! 3 charges!?"
I was extremely surprised to find out that the scabbard allowed me to use [V - World splitter] 3 times consecutively.
Though, I recovered from my surprise fairly quickly once I saw Semier looking at me as if he wanted to be praised.
'Like hell am I going to compliment someone like you!'
After all, the way he acted, and especially the way he called me 'Theodris', didn't fit the image of an old blacksmith at all. In fact, I was starting to doubt that he was an
Pausing my thoughts there, I turned to Semier once again. "Can I buy swords here?"
I needed to restock my swords supply anyways, and I might as well buy them from the supposed best blacksmith in the Empire.
"Sure", Semier replied almost immediately.
He then went further inside the blacksmith to presumably take the weapons out.
"Oh, and can you bring out some spears too?"
"Alright"
After a while, Semier came back out with a few dozen swords and spears floating right behind him.
One look at the weapons and anyone could tell that they were of the highest quality.
GULP—!
"A- Are all of those for sale?"
"Yes. And I'll sell them to you for 1 Platinum"
Although these weapons were absurdly expensive, I didn't mind their price. After all, weapons made by a grandmaster blacksmith are in a different league from normal weapons.
As such, I gave him 1 Platinum without hesitation.
"Glad to do business with you", he hurriedly stuffed the coin in his Space pouch. "And here's a little bonus for being 'friends' with the little lizard"
Before I could retort to his statement, however, he had already pulled out another sword and spear from god knows where.
Instead of focusing on Semier, who was grinning, my eyes instead were glued to the sword and the spear.
The sword looked shabby. It was just more than half a meter in length, with blade made of a dark-red metal which looked almost rusty. However, judging by the fact that mana in the atmosphere was swirling around its tip at immense speed, I knew better than to underestimate it.
The spear was similar to the sword in the sharpness department. And just like the sword, the spear's shaft and blade looked extremely shabby. However, instead of being red, its blade was light-blue instead.
Feeling my sparkling gaze on the weapons, Semier smirked. "Liking what you see, brat? They are all ranked artifacts"
"Do they have names?", I spoke as I held the sword and spear in my hand.
"They're called: Dragonslayer sword and Dragonslayer spear"
Instantly, I dropped them to the ground and jumped back in fright.
Seeing this, Semier chuckled. "Relax. It's not like I used these to murder dragons or anything"
"T- Then why did you even name them like that?"
"Well...", he scratched the back of his head. "I made them to scare that brat Evanos when he got my daughter Melissia pregnant. Although... I did a bit more than 'scaring' him"
"Did you mean... duke Evanos Adrancus?"
"Yes yes, that's what people call him nowadays I suppose... though he will just always be a little brat in my eyes"
I kept silence, trying to process the new information.
"..."
"Anyways", Semier interrupted my thinking with a grin. "I've beaten him to a bloody pulp with these weapons so I'm sure he will have a PTSD episode when he sees them"
"..."
"And that's why you need the Dragonslayer sword and spear. After all, he won't leave you alone if he finds out about your relationship with the little lizard"
"We're just casual acquaintances", I frowned.
"Sure", Semier waved his hand dismissively, no doubt he didn't believe what I had just said. "Now get out of my smithy, you've freeloaded here for almost 3 days already.
'3 days?'
Frowning, I checked my phone. It was the 17th, 7:34AM.
"Shit, I have to go! Thanks again, grandmaster Seimer"
"Just call me grandpa Semier!", he shouted as I was running to the door.
Pausing for a moment, I turned around to wave at him before leaving the smithy. "Glad to do business with you, grandmaster Semier!"
CLANK—!
...
BAM—!
I slammed the door opened and rushed into the classroom.
Ignoring the weird stares everyone were giving me, I glanced at the clock.
'Just on time!'
Pausing my thoughts there, I navigated my way towards my seat.
Though, on my way there, I couldn't help but to overhear the conversations between some students.
-Did you know that Sylvia got kidnapped?
-Huh? You mean our class' Sylvia?
-Yes, Sylvia Adrancus. She was absent yesterday too.
-What!? I thought she was sick or something?
-Nah, she's kidnapped like I told you before. The duke's even searching for her himself!
'S- So she really did get kidnapped... I- It's not my problem anyways!'
Ignoring the guilt that was slowly building up in me, I continued walking towards my seat and eventually sat down on it.
However, Krista approached me with a [Soundproof sphere] on her hand as soon as I sat down on my chair.
"Brother!"
Whenever Krista calls me 'brother', she is either going to pull a prank on me or talk about serious matters. And judging by her expression right now, it seemed to be the latter.
"What's the matter?"
"Sylvia's missing!"
"O- Oh... okay..."
"..."
"..."
We then stared at each other in complete silence before Krista spoke up with a frown.
"W- What's with that reaction? Aren't you worried?"
"Why should I?", I shrugged my shoulders.
After all, Arthur was going to swoop right in and rescue her anyways.
'After s- she go through extreme t- torture that is...'
However, I wasn't able to feel guilt this time around, as I noticed Krista's glare. "Isn't she your girlfriend? One that is bearing your child at that!"
As I was about to retort to her statement, Krista continued. "And even if you are so heartless as to not care about her, you should at least care about your own safety"
"Hm? How so?"
"Witnesses say that Sylvia was last seen with a girl with molten red eyes and ash-gray hair"
As I heard Krista say this, I sighed in relief.
'Good... the disguise worked after all...'
Seeing that I was still keeping silent, Krista sighed. "Do I need to tell you how dire the situation is? That girl's description clearly fits Lyra!"
In response, I merely shrugged my shoulders. "Even if it was Lyra that was last seen with her, it will be okay as long as she stays in her bird form"
"Yes... that's normally the case... but Sylvia's a duke's daughter"
"And...?", I suddenly had a bad premonition.
'Let's just hope it's nothing...'
"So, they called the
"..."
"Now do you see why I'm worried? Lyra's a Celestial and all but her mana is still traceable. So if they can track Lyra's mana down to your dorm, you're going to be in big troub—"
BAM—!
Not letting Krista finish her sentence, I slammed my hands down on the table and rushed out of the classroom.
I was definitely going to get suspended for a few days for skipping a day. However, none of that mattered right now, as—
'SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!...'
—I was in big trouble.
***
Water dripped down Sylvia's face as she was soundly sleeping.
Drip— Drip— Drip–!
"Ughhhh! 5 more minutes..."
Drip— Drip— Drip– Drip—!
"I'll wake up later, just leave me alone..."
Drip— Drip— Drip– Drip— Drip— Drip–!
Unable to take it anymore, Sylvia's eyes shot open.
However, she stopped herself just before she was about to sprout profanities at the one who dared to wake her up so early in the morning, as instead of being in her fluffy bed, she was lying on the cold, hard floor.
"H- Huh...? Where am I?"
Her confused voice echoed out in the dark space she was in.
It was so dark, in fact, that she couldn't even see her hands right in front of her.
Staring at the darkness before her, she tried to recall the events leading up to her being here.
"Let's see, I got out of the tavern, put the lenses on..."
As soon as Sylvia said that, she touched her own eyes. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she confirmed that the lenses were still there.
"Good... I don't know what I'd do if they're gone..."
She then returned to trying to remember what had happened to her.
"I was watching the dusk and... AH!"
All the colors were drained from Sylvia's face as she remembered what had transpired before she was knocked out.
'N- No! I can't be here!'
She took a step forward, however—
THUD—!
"Ow!"
—She fell to the ground face-first as soon as she did so.
Confused, she focused her sense into her own body.
"N- No way! My mana!"
She suddenly noticed that she couldn't will the mana inside her body, nor could she control the atmospheric mana.
'C- Calm down Estellare, m- maybe aether will work!'
However, she couldn't use aether either.
It was then that her heart quickened, and she was truly panicking.
However, she soon calmed down as she remembered why she was in this dark room in the first place.
"That's right... the Serpente knight order..."
Panicking in a place created by that knight order wouldn't do any good.
In fact, doing so was the worst one could do when they were captured by Serpente. After all, they were extremely well-versed in torture, be it mental or physical.
As such, she knew she shouldn't be in panic.
With her mental state now stabilized, she focused on her situation once more.
Drip— Drip— Drip– Drip—!
The sound of water dripping reverberated throughout the room.
Although for most people, the rhythmic sound of small water droplets splashing onto the floor could bring calmness to their minds, it wasn't the case for Sylvia.
In fact, Sylvia absolutely loathed that kind of sound. Just hearing them made her want to groan in frustration.
'That means... this room is tailor-made for my suffering...'
She could have been reading too much into this as the water could have been just leaking through a totally normal crack on the ceiling.
However, she wasn't going to take any chances, as the Serpente knight order had came up with much more bizarre and absurd torture methods in the past.
It was then that she slowly stood up and stumbled around the room while leaning on the cold and damp rocky walls.
'I'm thirsty...'
She was really regretting having had alcohol before this now. However, her thirst wasn't severe enough to warrant her drinking from the weird water that was leaking.
After a few more minutes, Sylvia had explored most of the room.
To her left was rocky walls.
To her right was rocky walls.
And behind her was also... rocky walls.
As such, there was only one place left to check, and it was her front.
Running her hand along the wall, Sylvia was surprised to feel the cool and smooth texture of metal.
'I- Is it a door?'
It was then that her hands made contact with something round - a knob, and her theory that it was a door was confirmed.
Overjoyed, she tried to twist the knob.
CLUNK—!
'Of course... it would have been too easy', she sighed as she glared at the locked door.
BAM—!
She punched the door with all of her might.
BAM—!
However, without being able to use mana or aether, her punches were much weaker than normal.
BAM—!
Drip—! Drip—!
Blood flowed down her knuckles as she continued punching the door.
BAM—!
"..."
BAM—!
"..."
BAM—!
CRACK—!
It was then that a cracking sound rang out. However, it wasn't created by the door cracking under her punches. Instead, it was the sound of Sylvia's knuckles breaking.
Staring coldly at her broken hands, Sylvia muttered. "Useless..."
She shouldn't have been too conceited with her power and neglected training her actual body.
However, she quickly shook that thought aside and focused on her current predicament. After all, there was no use regretting now.
After a few seconds of thinking, Sylvia had decided on her next actions.
Leaving her in a dark room all by herself was an extremely mild form of torture for the Serpente knight order. As such, she knew for a fact that the real suffering hadn't befell her yet.
'They'll have to go inside here sooner or later...'
As such, she positioned herself right beside the door, staring at it like how a predator would look at its prey.
'You'd better pray for a quick death...'
After all, no one messes with an Adrancus and walks away unscathed.
Not even the remnants of her mother's knight order.
***
"ALICIA!"
Hearing a loud shout, I turned around, only to see an old woman waving at me.
'Is she acquainted with Alicia...?'
After all, that was the only possible explanation as to why she called out to me, who was disguising myself as Alicia.
Not wanting to arouse too much suspicion, I walked towards her.
"Where have you gone for the past few months!?"
Scratching my head, I answered. "Haha... sorry for not telling you but I've moved to the Capital recently"
"Is that so? I was worried that you were dead or something!", she sighed in relief.
However, she then looked at me with a weird gaze. "Were you always this tall? I could have sworn you only reached my hips the last time I saw y—"
"I- It's just puberty!", I interrupted her.
"Is that so?", the old woman nodded her head thoughtfully. "Kids grow up fast these day"
Not wanting to continue this conversation any further and potentially exposing my identity, I excused myself.
"I have to go now! I can't keep my parents waiting after all"
As I was about to leave, however, she called out to me again.
"Alicia, wait a bit!"
I turned around in annoyance, only to see the old woman with holding a bag of vegetables.
"Take this as a gift!"
"You don't need t—"
"Just take it", she shoved the bag into my hands. "It's the least I can do to repay James for saving me from bandits a few years ago"
"Oh, and please be careful. The guards told me that they caught sight of the prime suspect in the case of a duke's daughter's kidnapping", she continued.
In response, I bowed and rushed out of the city gates.
'If I'm not mistaken, Sylvia should be in the Kaiera mountain ranges...'
...
Arriving at the mountain ranges, I couldn't help but to curse out loud.
"Shit! I can't believe I forgot about this!"
After all, I didn't know where Sylvia was held at. Marcos' memories didn't help either, as the novel just cut to Arthur very heroically knocking the kidnappers out and saving her without mentioning the exact location.
'Well... I should be grateful that the novel even mentioned Sylvia being in the Kaiera ranges at all...'
Pausing my thoughts there, I accessed [Alternate storage] and took out Sylvia's tail scale.
Looking at the pale-blue and somewhat shiny tail scale, I heaved a long sigh.
"Haaaaaaaah... let's just hope Sylvia won't fucking burn me alive for this"
SNIFF—!