Volume 1 Chapter 11: Treasure

The pirates were fleeing.

Some of the pirate knights tried to resist, but they were eventually surrounded by soldiers and were defeated.

They had no choice but to give up once they were ganged up on.

The adjutant was frantically running around the ship.

"Goaz, that bastard. He's trying to escape alone!"

After the enemy's landing squad had breached the ship, he had suddenly disappeared.

Desperately running away, the adjutant was trying his best to think of a way out of this situation.

He pulled up the ship's map with his personal terminal.

"…there's nowhere else for me to run. Damn it all."

The adjutant turned around and sat down, giving up.

In front of him was an enemy unit led by a small knight carrying a sword.

He tried to flee, but no matter where he went there'd only be enemies waiting for him.

The adjutant raised his arms in surrender.

"Please wait! I have information you'd be interested in!"

The small knight carrying a sword over his shoulder stopped, giving the order for the men behind him "stand down."

The knight sounded fairly young judging by his voice.

(This is my last chance, I need to use every card I've got here to survive.)

"I'm just another victim of Goaz's tyranny, please have mercy on me!"

The knight was wearing a helmet so his expressions couldn't be read.

"That's right! I also know where all the treasure is kept! I don't have the access key, but I can show you where it is! You can trust me!"

The adjutant immediately genuflected before them.

The knight was silent.

However, the knight's subordinate opened his terminal and gave a report.

"Lord Liam, this man is the deputy officer of Goaz's pirate fleet. I don't think he's a victim who was forced into the life of piracy."

At the mention of the name 'Liam', the adjutant raised his face.

"Liam? You're the bast- I mean, of course you're Liam! No wonder you had such a majestic aura about you! Say, why don't you hire me? If we join our forces together then-"

The adjutant's vision suddenly changed.

He didn't move his body at all, but his vision still changed all the same.

In the sudden weightlessness of zero-gravity, he could see every individual's body.

Even his own.

"…huh?"

The adjutant's consciousness broke off from there.

◇ ◇ ◇

The guide was stunned as he watched over the battlefield.

He was currently standing on a destroyed pirate ship.

"This is impossible. W-what the hell is with that strength?!"

The guide was perplexed over the power that Liam originally should never have obtained.

The school of the One-Flash didn't exist in this universe.

In the first place, it was just a lie created by Yasushi.

Yet somehow, Liam was able to reproduce it in reality.

"Even if he were talented, how did he obtain such strength?! Just what did that man teach him?!"

While he wasn't looking, Liam had become far stronger than he could've imagined.

There's no way he'd know Liam would be this powerful.

The guide gripped his head with both his hands.

"It hurts! I'm in pain here, dammit!"

Liam's grateful feelings were being transmitted to him even now.

There was an absolute feeling of trust mixed in as well– it was nauseating.

"I can't allow things to keep going like this. I'll have to give Goaz some power."

The guide waved his arms, generating black smoke around him.

"Doing this goes against my style, but it can't be helped. This is the end for you, Liam."

The guide felt like throwing up at the thought that he was forced to get his hands dirty.

◇ ◇ ◇

Goaz was hiding in a remote corner of the ship while shaking.

He had the alchemy box firmly gripped in his hands.

I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die.

The leader of a pirate fleet whose name spread fear across the cosmos was crying like a baby, terrified.

In the first place, his unlimited source of funds was Goaz's only weapon.

As a pirate he was only a little stronger than the norm, if he was found, there was no doubt that he'd be killed.

"This can't be real. I'm going to survive this, no, I'm going to live a life of luxury. Yeah, that's right, as long as I have this-"

The Alchemy Box- if he were a bit smarter about how he used it, Goaz could've lived an easy life.

He didn't have to be a pirate.

This was a situation caused completely by the choices that he himself had made.

He brought about these circumstances himself.

With that said, nobody would've expected for him to actually lose against Liam, the situation as it was.

At that moment, black smoke started enveloping Goaz.

"W-what the hell?!"

The voice of the guide called out to him,

"Goaz, I'm going to give a bastard like you a chance."

"Who's talking?! Who the hell is talking?!"

The black smoke forced its way into Goaz's mouth as he was frozen in fear.

As the guide materialized, Goaz was already collapsed on the ground, gripping his throat with both his hands in pain.

The guide spoke,

"This is your last chance, I will give you the opportunity to defeat Liam. You want to win here, don't you?"

As Goaz forced himself to nod his head, the guide proceeded to laugh with his crescent moon smile.

"That'll do."

The black smoke dissipated, and Goaz dropped the alchemy box in surprise as he was suddenly released from the pain.

"What's going on? I can feel power surging through me, and I don't feel scared! I don't feel any fear at all!"

His skin now had a bluish tone to it, but he didn't feel any discomfort with his body at all.

In fact, he felt great.

Goaz smiled.

The guide was also smiling.

"Your skin is now as tough as adamantium, so you have nothing to fear. You have transcended the limits of humanity, so go forth and rampage!"

"This is all because of that brat! I'm going to kill him!"

The guide watched Goaz run off while pressing a hand against his forehead.

"…that was a bit excessive. I guess I had a little too much fun."

Considering how often he had used the dimensional door recently, this was a pretty stupid move.

The figure of the guide was severely fatigued.

"Well at the very least, this guarantees that Goaz will kill him. Oh Liam, regret the fact that you've bored me and must now fall into despair."

As the guide disappeared, a small light approached the alchemy box.

The light observing the guide's actions was the same one that had entered Avid.

Morphing into the shape of a black and brown dog, it rushed into the hallway towards Liam's location.

◇ ◇ ◇

As I was walking through the corridor, I suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me.

"…huh?"

It almost looked like the tail of a brown dog crossed my view for a second there.

My men must've noticed my abnormality,

"Lord Liam, is there something wrong?"

"Just now, did you see a dog?"

"A dog? No, the scanners don't detect any biological reactions, and even then there wouldn't be such a thing here. A dog could never wear a spacesuit."

Was I just seeing things?

Even so, why did I feel so nostalgic just from seeing a tail?

–that's it.

It reminded me of the dog I kept in my previous life.

At the same time, I also remembered the various animals that all died when I tried to take care of them afterwards.

If I didn't know about my previous life, then I would've just ignored it as supernatural nonsense.

But I knew about the guide, and all that he's done for me.

"I thought his work was already done…"

"My Lord?"

"No, its nothing. In any case, let's go in that direction."

As we proceeded towards the path that I saw the tail pass by, we arrived at an area in total disarray.

All the furniture was scattered about like an old warehouse.

There were many places to hide, so my subordinates advanced carefully, despite the fact that I didn't sense anyone.

Even the dog didn't seem to be here.

I was a little disappointed.

As I sighed and looked down, I spotted something lying on the floor.

"What's this?"

What I picked up was a golden box.

It was something small enough to be held in one hand.

Having been decorated in various intricate ways- I took quite a liking to it.

"I picked up something good here, and now it's mine."

The men looked in my direction with warm gazes,

"I guess the rumors about Lord Liam's love for gold are true."

"I adore gold."

"What about mithril and adamantium?"

"Hmm? I like them, but gold is better."

I feel like my subordinates were a bit confused, but wasn't mithril just a fancy name for silver?

And adamantium has more of an image as something used as weapon materials.

Gold should be more valuable.

As I inspected the box, I saw the dog's tail at the edge of my view.

"-there it is again."

"Lord Liam, please don't go off on your own!"

As I left my men to chase after the dog, I reached a dead end.

But something felt off about it.

After using my helmet's scanner, I found out that there was actually a hidden door there.

"I smell treasure."

After having my subordinate's blow up and destroy the hidden door, I found what could be akin to a treasure mountain.

However, it wasn't the gold and silver riches I had hoped for, but a mountain of antiques.

"…I guess this is a failure."

My men exclaimed in surprise,

"No, isn't this still a jackpot?! These items are definitely worth a fortune!"

"The majority of these are probably just fakes."

In fact, many of the antiques owned by the Banfield house were fakes.

For the time being, I scoured the pile to see if there was anything worth value.

"Hey, I found a sword."

It was an old-fashioned sword that looked like it belonged to a fantasy game.

That's the feeling the design on the sheath and handle gave off.

Simple, and modest.

As I inspected it, I found the blade to be in perfect condition.

"I want to test this on something."

"Wouldn't it be better to not use it? It looks like it's worth a lot."

"I'll only use it if necessary. Don't worry, it was something taken from pirates anyway."

I put the gold box in the large pouch at the back of my belt, and gave my rifle to my men as I equipped the two swords.

If I make wise choices from here on, I might not even need to fight anymore.

"Now then, where should we go nex-"

"Lord Liam, we have an emergency call coming in!"

My subordinate shouted.

◇ ◇ ◇

One of the landing squads had run into Goaz.

Even though they were wearing powered suits, they were easily thrown back by just one of Goaz's arms.

"Damn, why aren't bullets working?!"

"Energy-based weapons aren't either!"

"I'll do it!"

One of the soldiers fired a bazooka at Goaz, but he walked out of the explosion and smoke as if nothing happened.

The faces of the soldiers had gone pale.

Goaz rubbed one of his hands against his neck.

"To intrude on a man's personal ship, you couldn't have thought you'd be able to get out of here unscathed, did you?"

Goaz was intoxicated with the power he gained and felt like he could do anything.

Not even a knight could be his opponent now.

When he clenched his fist, it didn't sound like a person's hand- there was a metal squeaking noise to it.

"You are all my toys."

Goaz blew off the soldiers with ease using the guide's power.

Bullets, lasers, and explosives were all useless against him.

The soldiers even tried to alter the air pressure in the corridor- but that had no effect on Goaz either.

"I guess you could say I've done some remodeling recently."

"He's a cyborg?!"

When the soldiers tried to retreat, Goaz chased them down and sent them flying.

Grabbing and throwing them like nothing, Goaz rampaged around with his newfound strength.

"Bring me the brat! Let's end this here and now!"

One of the soldiers loudly sent out commands to his surroundings.

"Send out a message to get Lord Liam off the ship immediately! We absolutely can not let the two of them meet!"

Knowing that none of the soldier's attacks were effective, Goaz continued to run wild.

"What happened to your bravery just a second ago?! Come at me!"

Whenever he punched a soldier, he'd completely smash the head in along with the helmet.

Grabbing another soldier to use as a shield, the shooting stopped.

"This time it's my turn to-"

As he threw away the soldier he was using a shield and took a step forward, Goaz suddenly felt pain shoot through his body.

"…what?"

When Goaz looked down at his figure, he was surprised to see a number of wounds there.

Without knowing what had just occurred, one human jumped down from above him.

The person who jumped down was looking at a chipped sword covered in blood as he stood.

"How tough."

The man seemed to be laughing.

He was wearing a helmet though, so Goaz couldn't see his face.

Goaz stretched out his right arm to grab him, when he suddenly heard something fall to the ground with a 'bump.'

His right arm was severed from the tip of his elbow.

"…huh?"

To his surprise, the small man in front of him had thrown away his blade.

In its place was a sword that Goaz recalled seeing before.

It was something that he stored in the room full of antiques.

It was a very valuable sword.

"Hey, you! That's mine!"

The man laughed,

"What, this? It's mine now. Besides, it looks like you were able to rampage just fine without it."

As the laughing man rested the sword on his shoulder, Goaz stretched out his left arm to grab him.

But this time it was his left arm that fell off.

"-?!"

Goaz couldn't understand what was happening.

Conversely, the man in front of him was looking over the sword in earnest.

He seemed to be quite pleased with it.

"Amazing, not a single drop of blood stained it. How interesting."

Goaz had now lost both of his hands.

While he was still in a state of confusion, black smoke started coming out of the cut surfaces, morphing into tentacle-like organisms.

"What the hell?!"

Goaz couldn't control his body, and attacked the man in front of him.

But the man was ignoring Goaz completely.

"I like this sword, I'll make sure to use this one from now on. I'm lucky I found that treasure trove."

The tentacles were then sliced into pieces, along with one of Goaz's feet as well.

Black smoke constantly emitted out of Goaz, who was now kneeling.

"Ah… ahhhhh…"

Goaz was trembling now, he couldn't understand what was going on.

Black blood was flowing from all the cut surfaces.

The soldiers had gathered into a formation to protect the knight.

"Lord Liam!"

When he heard that name, Goaz raised his head.

His eyebrows wrinkled as he gazed upon the visage of the demon-like man in front of him.

"So you're… you're that bastard Liam!"

The man was still fervently inspecting his sword and didn't even spare a look at Goaz.

"Yeah, I'm Liam. Also, that's 'Lord' Liam to you, trash. More importantly, who's this black person anyways? Is he a remodeled human or something?"

The soldiers answered his question, but seemed a bit doubtful,

"His skin colour is different from the reports, but we think that's Goaz."

"This person is?"

Goaz's left arm had taken the shape of a sharp horn.

"Don't ignore me!"

He thrust out his left arm to pierce Liam's heart- but his left shoulder was cut off this time.

Liam looked down at Goaz, who was on his knees.

He rested his sword against his shoulder and sternly inspected Goaz's face.

"Are you really Goaz?"

Goaz started to tremble.

(What the hell?! How?! This is impossible! How did my body get cut even when bullets bounced off?! Something's wrong here. Something is definitely wrong here!)

The panicking Goaz looked up towards Liam.

"…p-please, have mercy."

"Huh?"

"Spare me. Please, spare me. I'll never go against you again. If you let me live, I'll even give you all my treasure."

Liam smiled and started laughing at Goaz's offer.

He laughed and said,

"–I don't want to."