Chapter 290
Episode 91: Power, and the Worship of Power (Part 1)
The Volta estate was in the midst of a major renovation.
Workers swarmed every corner of the once-dilapidated mansion, which had looked like it might collapse at the slightest gust of wind.
The lord and his household still couldn’t quite believe this dream was real, wiping tears from their eyes repeatedly. Meanwhile, the villagers who had fled in despair during the famine were gradually returning one by one.
Vin Blanche, Volta’s steward, spent his days distributing free rations to the villagers and his evenings discussing with the lord how best to allocate the aid funds sent from Runcandel.
Petro had granted the support funds on Jin’s orders, “within reasonable limits,” but even that was enough to breathe new life into this small territory and help it plan for the future.
Vin Blanche felt a deep sense of pride. Without a doubt, he had never enjoyed life as much as he did now.
“All of this is thanks to Your Grace. Since becoming steward of Volta, I’ve never seen the territory so vibrant and full of hope!”
He smiled warmly as he handed over a freshly brewed barley tea.
“When the repairs on the Volta estate are complete, workers from Tikan will come to build your house anew. We’ll install a special soundproof forge in the basement. If there’s anything else you want added, just say the word.”
“Oh no, I don’t need anything like that. Just having my own house is more than I could have hoped for. Thank you so much!”
“You’re the one I should be thanking.”
Jin took a sip of the barley tea, but Murakan scowled in irritation. In fact, since arriving at Vin’s house, Murakan had been visibly displeased for over an hour.
“Hey! Pikon Minche, come out here already! You must be kidding me, mustache boy. How long do you plan to keep us waiting?”
Pikon had yet to make a sound.
On top of that, Murakan was still fuming over Pikon’s failure to properly warn Jin about the dangers when first revealing information about Temar’s first tomb.
“Uh, um… Murakan, I’m sorry. I’m the contractor, but I don’t have the ability to summon Pikon at will.”
Vin scratched his head awkwardly.
Pikon finally appeared three hours later—just as Murakan’s patience was about to snap.
Vin’s eyes rolled back, and he convulsed—a sign that Pikon was about to possess him.
“Ugh.”
Moments later, a light glimmered in Vin’s white eyes, and Pikon’s voice echoed.
[You lot sure are noisy. I’m about ready to lose it.]
“Pikon.”
[Yeah, yeah. Welcome back, Jin Runcandel. By the way, Murakan, you’ve always been clueless. You do realize I stayed silent because I didn’t want to talk to you, right?]
“What? You don’t want to talk to me? Why?”
Pikon’s eyes widened as he glared at Murakan.
[Have you forgotten how much you harassed me while forging Barisada and Bradamante? Coming by every day asking when they’d be finished, spouting nonsense about your mustache growing faster…]
“What are you talking about? When did I ever do that!?”
Murakan genuinely looked confused.
[Hah, you don’t remember? You probably don’t recall how Quikantel and Temar came to apologize to me several times behind your back. I seriously considered quitting the Barisada and Bradamante projects more than once because of you.]
Pikon’s outburst made Jin click his tongue at Murakan.
“Murakan, you really messed up.”
[That’s not all. While you were camped out in my forge causing trouble, didn’t you also beat up any dragon that flew over our village? Do you know how terrified the blacksmiths were? They begged me to stop you.]
“W-what? That’s nonsense! Your forge was in some backwater village in the southern Wilmer Kingdom. That was far from the Storm Fortress and outside my territory. Why would I attack dragons just passing through?”
[Where I am is my territory. That’s what you always said, isn’t it?]
Jin suddenly recalled what Murakan had said when they first visited Quikantel in the Bimont Sea.
-[Anyone who enters my territory gets hit first, no questions asked. That was the rule back then.]
In his prime, Murakan’s personality was far from what it was now.
He was arrogant, overbearing, and ferociously fierce—the strongest being anyone could imagine.
Those who knew the prime Murakan remembered him as such.
Even Latrizo, who had never met him, had trembled upon hearing the stories.
It was well known that most dragons had bad tempers, but Murakan back then was exceptional.
Pikon exhaled angrily, clearly still steamed from his past torment.
[Because of you, the blacksmith village in the Wilmer Kingdom was filled daily with the screams of dragons. Bards even composed songs about it. Rumor had it I was a blacksmith gone wild, riding on your and Temar’s backs!]
Murakan blinked in confusion for a moment.
“Pikon, if I really did all that, then I apologize. I’m sorry.”
Pikon flinched and met Murakan’s gaze.
His true thoughts were: “You just said you’re sorry? Is that even something you’re capable of saying?”
[What did you just say?]
“I said I’m sorry. Honestly, the only thing I remember is teasing your mustache, but looking back, I suppose I could have done those other things too.”
[Are you really Murakan?]
“I think my memory got a bit fuzzy after sleeping for a thousand years. As you can see, I’ve lost a lot of my strength too. Anyway, if I’ve done anything to upset you, I apologize.”
Just as Murakan was about to bow his head, Jin was so surprised he instinctively grabbed his shoulder.
Pikon also caught Murakan, looking utterly dumbfounded.
[Hey, no need to go that far… Hey, hey, Murakan. We were friends in our own way. I was just annoyed and acting bratty. This is making things awkward.]
Now it was Pikon who looked uncomfortable.
“Pikon Minche.”
[Yeah?]
“Was I really an evil dragon a thousand years ago?”
That was Murakan’s pride.
Though he was arrogant and the strongest, he prided himself on never having done anything worthy of being called an evil dragon.
[No, you weren’t evil. You never harmed humans, and, uh, you even played well with the village kids. Remember? When Eli was kidnapped by Ziphl, you found her… Damn it, why am I defending you?]
“This time, even Silderei called me a villain when we met at the tomb. At first, I thought he’d lost his mind, but judging by your reaction, maybe there was some truth to it. In my memories, I only have good times with Silderei and you. After all, you were all from Temar.”
Jin had never seen Murakan like this before.
He truly didn’t remember. His memories before falling asleep were hazy, and he was aware of that.
But he didn’t think those blurry memories were important. If they were, he wouldn’t have forgotten them.
Still, meeting people who knew or claimed to know his “old self”—like the Kinzel leader, Silderei, and Pikon—left him with a nagging feeling that something was off.
[Look, Murakan. You’re not an evil dragon. It’s true you gave me a hard time, but there was a reason. The Temar sword had to be completed for Runcandel to strike Ziphl.]
Pikon shrugged and added,
[And yes, you did beat up dragons often. But trespassing on your territory was a valid reason. Plus, since the weapons we made in my forge were for Temar, security was necessary. After all, 90% of the dragons in the world belonged to Ziphl.]
Murakan lifted his head.
[No one doubted the sacrifices you made for Runcandel and Hupester. I was just being bratty because I was happy to see you. What am I supposed to be if I act like this?]
“Yeah, I thought something was off. Neither you nor Silderei had any reason to hate me, so it was baffling. Did Silderei say anything to you? He called me a villain, can you believe it? That polite guy!”
[Silderei hasn’t been seen since he made the greatsword Tamur. He probably just said that on a whim, like me.]
“Silderei even went so far as to call Solderet a traitor. The kid saw it in the past through a spirit-based recording device there.”
Jin explained the recording device for a while, and Pikon’s eyes went wide.
[…There was such a thing? I thought only the guardian modeled after Silderei existed for Solderet. That’s why I tried to strengthen Bradamante by obtaining a piece of the greatsword Tamur there.]
The spirit orb wasn’t used in blacksmithing, just as Murakan had suspected.
Pikon examined the orb from all angles and said again that he’d never heard of such a thing from Solderet.
[More importantly, I can’t understand why Silderei called Solderet a traitor. That friend respected Solderet more than any of the ten knights. He always showed you proper courtesy too.]
“Pikon, you were alive even after I fell asleep, right?”
[I lived about three more years. Was it five?]
“By any chance, did Solderet do something bad in Runcandel while we weren’t looking? Do you remember anything like that? I asked Quikantel and Misha, and they said nothing happened.”
[Oh, so you met Quikantel too. Lucky to see you’re still alive. Anyway, as far as I know, nothing like that occurred. You know as well as I do, Runcandel was defeated by Ziphl and forced into a pact afterward. If you and Temar had both led that war in one piece…]
Pikon cut himself off, glancing cautiously at Murakan.
He knew all too well how deeply that event had wounded both of them—and Runcandel itself—with shame and humiliation.
[…That was a careless thing to say. Sorry, Murakan.]
“At first, you were quick to call him a villain the moment you saw him, and now you’re apologizing? Honestly, even if you mustache guys became gods, you’d still lack any dignity.”
[Anyway, here’s what I think. The reason Silderay said that is probably because we need to find more of the record devices Solderet left behind to understand the full story.]
“Pikon, do you happen to have any more of the keys Solderet left?”
Jin asked, and Pikon shook his head.
[That’s all I have. But I do know who holds the key to the second tomb. Like the first, the second tomb will have a guardian, and there should be materials there to strengthen Bradamante.]
“Who has it?”
The name of the person holding the key to the second tomb was truly unexpected.
[Olmango, the God of Shells.]