The Final Trial

After eating a light breakfast.

Once I opened Puchi Eli in the Royal Capital, I went outside with Liricia.

Naturally, our destination was the slave trader. I wanted to become young again as soon as possible.

The three kinds of items were inside my magic bag.

“At last.”

“Yes, Master!”

Liricia and I walked while holding hands.

Before I knew it, our steps had become so light they were almost skipping.

When we arrived at the slave trader’s, I immediately asked for Cordelia the witch.

After waiting for a while on the sofa in the reception room, Cordelia came in, her robe swaying suspiciously.

“What brings you here today? Surely you don’t mean…”

“It’s exactly that. —I gathered all three, so make me the rejuvenation medicine.”

I lined up the Philosopher’s Stone, the Jewel of Light, and the Bust of the Evil God on the table in front of me.

Cordelia’s wrinkled face snapped wide open in shock.

“What! You gathered all of them in such a short time!? —Just as I expected, Alec, you truly are the sort of man I thought you were… kakaka!”

“Enough of the preamble. Come on, give me the rejuvenation medicine. You were supposed to make it for free the first time, remember?”

At my words, Cordelia abruptly stopped laughing.

She looked at me with a fearless smile.

“Very well. I shall make it for you… however, I never decided the time frame, did I? If I were so inclined, it could be ten years from now, or twenty… hihihi!”

“What!? That’s not what we agreed on!”

“That’s right! This is too much, Cordelia-san!”

When Liricia and I protested, Cordelia suddenly changed her attitude.

While gazing longingly at the items on the table, she scratched her head apologetically.

“I was joking. However, though I truly would like to make it for you, and I also want to try using the three secret treasures… I used up one material, you see. It is a consumable.”

“What is it? …Wait, you’re not going to tell me?”

“It is an item obtained from a certain monster, but there have been no sightings of it at all for the past few years.”

“Is it expensive?”

“Yes… it does not circulate on the market at all either. It seems impossible to buy no matter how much money you pile up. So if it comes in again, I will certainly make the medicine. However, I do not know whether that will be decades from now.”

I looked at Cordelia.

I wondered whether she was lying to overcharge me, but she truly seemed troubled.

I turned to Liricia and asked.

“What do you think? Does she look like she’s lying?”

“No, judging from the part where she said even piling up money would not work, she probably truly does not have any on hand.”

“That consumable is used for reviving the dead and repairing missing body parts, you see. I am at my wits’ end… ahh, to have legendary items right before my eyes and be unable to use them!”

She stretched out her wrinkled hand, trying to touch the evil god statue and the jewel of light.

I pulled the three items closer to myself and looked Cordelia in the eyes as I spoke.

“Hey, I won’t tell anyone, so tell me what that item is. If it’s a consumable, I’ll go get extra and hand them over.”

“Mmm… well, it is a request from Alec. I suppose I may tell you. But do not tell anyone, understand?”

“Got it. I won’t. Trust me.”

Cordelia gave a big nod, then leaned forward over the table and spoke in a low voice.

“That item is Phoenix feathers.”

“What!?”

As I stood there shocked, Cordelia explained at length.

“The Phoenix is an A- to S-rank monster, but there is no need to defeat it. In fact, killing it would be a great loss. Feathers shed around the nest, so while it is out hunting, all you need do is search the nest and bring back only the feathers. As a collection mission, the difficulty is around C-rank. And once you find one, you should be able to make money from it regularly… or so it should have been. But where they have gone, I have no idea at all.”

Looking at Cordelia’s grave expression, I was inwardly stunned.

—I know. I know Phoenixes!

Recently, I saw around three of them!

Back then in Rubel’s dungeon, there was one big one with a magnificent crest beside her near the front, and around two Phoenixes a little smaller than that farther in the back, I saw them!

So it was them. Had she monopolized them?

No, she probably had not thought that far ahead.

She had probably just gathered them to strengthen her forces, and as a result, they stopped being seen.

Doing my best to hide my inner agitation, I spoke.

“Understood. So I just need to bring back a lot of those, right?”

“Hooh. You say that quite easily. Can you do it?”

“I’ll try. How many do I need?”

“You said fifteen years, did you not? Two to three.”

“Got it. I’ll bring back around ten.”

“How generous. …Could it be that you know where the nest is?”

“Even if I don’t, I’ll manage somehow… Liricia is good at search magic.”

I gestured toward Liricia with my hand. She had looked a little surprised too, but she quickly shook her silver hair and nodded with a serious face.

I was not lying. It just had nothing to do with this case.

Cordelia nodded.

“Very well. If you bring them back, I shall begin preparing the medicine immediately. In fact, I shall get everything ready.”

“Yeah, I’ll bring them back right away, so wait for me. And this is the last time, got it? No more extensions or extra charges after this.”

“I understand, Alec.”

Cordelia apologized apologetically, so after making sure, I put the items back into my magic bag.

“Well then, Cordelia, I’m off. …Oh, and prepare one other thing while you’re at it.”

“What do you mean by one other thing?”

“Immortality. That’s expensive too, right?”

“…Immortality is one million Gort.”

“What, cheap! No, no, wait, that makes no sense at all!? Rejuvenation and reviving the dead cost hundreds of millions!”

I cried out in shock.

Cordelia frowned unpleasantly with her wrinkled face and said,

“Do not misunderstand. If you drink the immortality medicine, I will give you one million Gort.”

“Ugh… so that’s not the sale price, it’s the reward… that’s definitely something dangerous…”

I said, thoroughly put off.

Cordelia nodded.

“Yes. You would be a test subject. So I do not recommend it.”

Liricia furrowed her brows and tilted her head.

“Does that mean immortality has not yet been completed?”

“It is complete. However, it is too complete.”

“…What do you mean?”

At my question, Cordelia crossed her arms and made a sour face.

“Immortality means not aging. Aging means changing. In other words, if one becomes immortal, one stops changing.”

“Hm? Well, of course, right? If you’re immortal, then you can’t go aging, can you?”

I tilted my head, not understanding what she was trying to say.

But then Liricia’s violet eyes flew wide open.

“Could it be! If one can no longer change, does that mean one can no longer learn new things!?”

“Fufun, exactly so. For ten or twenty years, it would not be a problem, but after fifty or a hundred years, prices, common sense, social systems, and language all change greatly, and one can no longer keep up with the changes of the world.”

“Whoa, that would be rough… then no, that won’t do. I thought I’d only need one rejuvenation.”

When I grimaced, Liricia’s lovely face also twisted sadly.

“It seems it would be better to rejuvenate periodically, Master.”

“Yeah. Not being able to remember the time I spent with you, Liricia, would just be painful. I want to remember everything.”

“Thank you very much, Master. I am so happy!”

Liricia stood up and clung to my arm. Her large softness pressed around it.

Cordelia also stood up, saying, “Heave-ho.”

“Then I shall make preparations.”

“I’m counting on you—let’s go, Liricia.”

“Yes, Master!”

Still linked arm in arm, I left the slave traders with Liricia.

Now that I already knew where the Phoenixes were, my steps naturally quickened through the city.

The Adventurer Guild in the Royal Capital.

In the guildmaster’s office on the second floor of the large building, Liricia and I were meeting Rubel, the red-haired beauty.

Rubel leaned back in her chair, her many accessories jangling all over her body, and looked at me.

“What is it, Alec? Is it urgent?”

“Yeah, there’s something I want to ask of you. It’s something that would be easy for you, Rubel.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it.”

I wondered whether I should have come up with some kind of strategy for the negotiation, but I was bad at that sort of thing, so I said it plainly.

“There are Phoenixes in your dungeon, right? I want the fallen feathers scattered around their nests. Around ten of them.”

“I see. Certainly, that would be an easy job for me. It would not even take thirty minutes.”

“If it’s money, I’ll pay. I can also pay with something I can do.”

“…………”

But Rubel did not answer.

She looked at Liricia and me with probing eyes.

“Um, Rubel. I only need a little. Please.”

“I beg you as well. Could you please give us some Phoenix feathers?”

Liricia and I pleaded with her.

Rubel, who had been thinking with her brows knit, suddenly opened her mouth into a sharp grin.

“I see it now.”

“Huh?”

“Because I gathered the Phoenixes in my flame dungeon, Phoenix feathers stopped circulating. As a collection mission, it is C-rank, but once you find a nest, you can get several hundred at once, so I never paid it any mind.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s right… so please share a few with me.”

“What do you intend to do with Phoenix feathers?”

“—Sorry, I can’t say.”

I had promised not to tell, so I could not say it.

Though, well, it would probably be found out soon enough.

Rubel brushed up her red hair and snorted.

“Hmph, it is probably something like rejuvenation or eternal youth anyway. Very well. I shall fetch them for you—do you need them immediately?”

“If possible, I’d like them right away.”

“Understood… in exchange, what shall I have you do for me… slay a Dire Wolf, or slay a Great Boar? Since this was such a sudden request, I had not thought of anything.”

Rubel stood up, her cloak swaying. She touched her chin with her slender fingers and sank into thought.

“I’ll help with anything I can do.”

“Perhaps I should borrow you for one night and make a child. I had been wanting to hold my own child soon enough.”

““What!?””

At the sudden proposal, Liricia and I both cried out in surprise.

Liricia turned bright red and protested.

“N-No, that is not allowed, Rubel-san! Master is, my…”

“That’s right. I know you’re a beautiful woman, Rubel, but for me, having Liricia by my side is enough.”

“Hmph, you do say interesting things. Are you trying to make me jealous? A single night of playing with fire should be fine, should it not?”

Rubel struck a pose, twisting the waist she had placed a hand on. It emphasized her slender body, narrow waist, and shapely breasts tilted proudly upward.

A well-proportioned, slim, supple body. Combined with her fearless expression, she was beautiful enough to be intimidating.

I wrapped an arm around Liricia’s waist and pulled her close.

She pressed her reddened cheek against my chest and hugged me. At the sudden action, she let out a cute little sigh, “Hau.”

“Even so, no. I want to live up to Liricia’s trust. Sorry.”

“Hmph. What a shame. I shall think of another demand later—then wait in the hallway for a while. I shall fetch them right away.”

“Sorry about that. I’m counting on you.”

At my words, Rubel raised one hand in reply.

Then, just like that, she began taking off her cloak and even undoing the belt at her waist.

—Did the dungeon connect from this room?

Apparently, once Rubel removed her accessories, flames would burst from her whole body, so her clothes would burn up.

Even though we were still in the room, she showed no sign of caring and kept undressing.

Since I could not very well watch her naked, I immediately left the room.

After that, after only waiting around fifteen minutes, I was given about fifty Phoenix feathers.

Liricia and I thanked her and headed once more for the slave trader’s.