NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16
Chapter
Out of nowhere, a Dwarf cursed loudly, her eyes fierce.
What met her gaze was a cheeky little Human brat and a bewildered Elf.
A rough picture formed in her mind.
The Dwarf blurted out immediately.
“What’s this, my son? Not this again, who did you inherit this impudent behavior from?”
“Wha, what? I’m not your son!”
“Not your son?”
At his age, he must have found a partner, so who could he be?
“*Sigh…*”
Rionne let out a long sigh and introduced Enok.
“He’s my apprentice. It’s been about three years.”
“Apprentice? You?”
Ignoring the astonished Dwarf, she then spoke to Enok.
“That brat, the Dwarf is Riraum. An old friend from back in the day.”
“Friend? With a Dwarf?”
Enok’s eyes widened as if he’d heard something utterly outrageous.
Rionne closed her eyes tightly, as this situation was clearly her own doing.
“Whoa, what’s with that brat? If he says something like that outside, his head would get smashed right away.”
“N-no… it’s my fault…”
“Aha.”
Riraum chuckled.
“You still haven’t kicked that habit, huh? What on earth have you been doing all these years?”
“W-what’s wrong with my age?!”
“Why would the Thousand-Year Swordmaster act like this? Ah, is it because you want to keep your purity for a thousand years? You’re not the Thousand-Year Swordmaster, you’re the Thousand-Year Virgin!”
“Y-you crazy woman! I’m not that old…!”
From beside the violently shaking Rionne, Enok’s eyes were wide open.
A tugging sensation at her sleeve made Rionne turn her head.
“Uh, yeah, Enok? What’s up?”
A bit embarrassed by the sudden curse that slipped out, Rionne slightly reddened her face.
However, Enok’s attention was elsewhere.
“Rionne, are you a thousand years old?”
“……!!”
The Elf, betrayed by her once-trusted apprentice, could only open and close her mouth in shock.
But Enok was serious.
Being a thousand years old would mean about nine hundred eighty-s… No, it seems there’s not much difference, so simply about a thousand years apart.
With that age gap, wouldn’t she look like just a squirming lump of flesh in his eyes?
As she contemplated this seriously, Rionne earnestly rebutted.
“Listen carefully, Enok. Sister is a bit older, but not by that much. Okay? A thousand years old? Nonsense.”
Riraum laughed in disbelief.
“Sister? Sis-ter? This is insane. How old are you!?”
The Elf, who had just overpowered the Dwarf, started to walk briskly.
“Okay, okay! We shouldn’t be doing this here; let’s go somewhere to talk.”
“Sure.”
Enok silently followed behind, pondering what he should do to overcome the age gap.
*
A volcanic area.
Naturally, it wasn’t somewhere densely populated.
The few who lived there were a handful of Dwarves doing some mining work.
Rionne barged into Riraum’s workshop, letting the Dwarf down onto the floor.
“This brat, seriously…”
The angry Dwarf grumbled as he straightened out his disheveled clothes.
Standing at her chest level, with bulging muscles and strikingly fiery red hair, Rionne made an impression.
Enok watched the Dwarf he was seeing for the first time, carefully noting the differences from his mental image.
Well, there wasn’t much.
“By the way, what on earth are you doing? Jayura occasionally shows his face, but it feels like I haven’t seen you in nearly a hundred years.”
“Jayura?”
“Yeah. He was just here two months ago.”
Hearing a name he had never heard before, Enok looked at Rionne.
Come to think of it, hadn’t she mentioned it?
Rionne briefly explained.
“Riraum was a friend from back in the day, you know? Jayura was the same. The three of us used to wander around here together.”
“That’s when she got the title, the Thousand-Year Swordmaster.”
“Hey.”
“Uh…”
At the authoritative voice, Riraum shut his mouth.
Rionne sighed deeply and got to the point.
“Anyway, I came to ask a favor.”
“What? A favor? You?”
“Yep.”
With confidence, Rionne boldly required.
“Just make one weapon for Enok. Something like gloves would suffice.”
“I don’t want to.”
“…Is there something you want?”
“Qualifications.”
Rionne narrowed her eyes.
“Are you still following that outdated tradition?”
“…Is your age supposed to be a reason for this?”
A whopping four hundred years ago, many Dwarves still adhered to that tradition, and Rionne had already been quite aged back then.
“Shut up.”
Rionne growled.
“And that brat doesn’t seem particularly interested in weapons either?”
“Eh?”
At Riraum’s words, Rionne glanced at Enok.
As Riraum stated, Enok was sparkling with excitement, completely captivated by Rionne, who was now a complete stranger to him.
“Hey, brat.”
Riraum leaned against the wall, eyeing Enok.
He was pint-sized and admittedly not very cool.
“Dwarf-made weapons. Don’t you want one?”
“Not really?”
Enok tilted his head.
“A Dwarf-made weapon? Isn’t that something a little earthy and childish?”
Riraum gasped, turning to look at Rionne in shock.
Rionne held her head in her hands.
“What have I gotten myself into…!”
“You crazy Elf woman, did you really think I’d get into such a mess someday?”
Crazy Elf woman?
Enok’s eyebrows shot up.
“…I don’t need some Dwarf’s weapon. I think Rionne carving it out of wood would be much better.”
Despite Enok’s words, which broke the impeccable facade he had maintained until now, Rionne was too flustered to care.
“N-no, Enok…! Her weapons are far better! I might be better at everything else, but she excels at this!”
“Wow, this brat won’t stop…”
Enok refused to relent.
How dare he insult Rionne?
“I won’t use it, anyway. I think my hands are stronger.”
“Hahaha…”
“It’s just restrictive; if made of metal, the gloves would be stiff. That wouldn’t help at all.”
Rionne rolled her eyes, and Riraum chuckled.
Suddenly, he leapt to his feet.
“Just wait! I’ll show you what a real weapon is. Not some poorly made trinket from that Elf.”
“I don’t need…”
“You brought something with you, right?”
Rionne sullenly handed over some Mithril.
“I’ll be back before it cools down.”
“But I didn’t make it cold yet…”
*Bang!*
Riraum disappeared into the workshop.
Undine, who had been eavesdropping from the side, slowly peeked in.
[Oh, the brat. Pretty sharp, huh?]
“Huh?”
[Huh?]
Undine tilted her head.
[Weren’t you trying to provoke him intentionally?]
“Huh?”
Enok tilted his head in confusion.
[You meant that seriously…!?]
Of course, it was one hundred percent sincere.
*
After being summoned back while messing with Rionne, it wasn’t unusual for Undine to sneak into the Middle Realm.
Enok thought that if someone were a high-level spirit, they’d come out like this occasionally.
During the downtime while Riraum crafted the weapon, Enok presented Eri to Undine.
[Kuh?]
[What about it?]
“Learn by watching?”
Anyway, one thing Enok was certain of was that Undine’s skills were genuine.
Just the skills, though.
Everything else… not so much.
[What could you learn by watching? Is that even possible?]
“Not possible?”
[Now that you mention it, he does seem like he learned that half-heartedly, huh?]
Reflecting upon it, wasn’t it Rionne he simply mimicked while picking up magic?
From the moment he pierced through to the Central Dantian while attempting to create a basic Dantian, he had always been a strange one.
[…] “Fine. I’ll just teach him myself.”
Undine took Eri aside and started explaining something far away.
Seeing Rionne lost in serious thought, Enok casually picked up two cups nearby.
“Water, arise.”
Pachut—! With a weak spark, a fist-sized sphere of water formed.
Pleased with his improved magical abilities, Enok began scrubbing the cups clean.
“…Enok? What are you doing?”
“Uh? Just pouring water?”
“That’s already been cleaned, hasn’t it?”
“It was used by the Dwarves, right?”
“……”
Rionne truly realized.
This wouldn’t do.
Clearly, Enok had promised not to make any racially discriminative remarks.
Yet, he made such comments without hesitation?
He was a good child who kept promises made to her, no matter what.
That meant he had no awareness that such remarks were racially insensitive at all.
“Oh, dear God…”
Rionne, who had never sought God in her lifetime, finally tapped on an empty chair.
“Enok, come sit here.”
It seemed the time had truly come for a proper lesson in discipline.
*
“So, Enok, you shouldn’t say things like that. Got it?”
“Yep.”
It was a failure.
Rionne felt powerless staring into Enok’s wide, doe-like eyes.
It was a disaster entirely of her own making.
Even if she sighed skyward, Rionne had no words left.
‘…This is serious!’
What was going to happen like this?
A simulation began to play in Rionne’s mind.
Enok’s talent was exceptional.
Not just exceptional, but it would be fair to say he possessed a once-in-a-lifetime type of talent.
If time passed smoothly, wouldn’t Enok likely conquer the continent?
Now, let’s imagine if that hypothetical scenario became reality.
The grown Enok, having earned the title of the continent’s greatest, ruled over a perfect world alone.
Rionne vividly painted the scene in her mind.
A colossal royal palace. Subjects bowing their heads.
Enok sat on the lofty throne, gazing down arrogantly at all beneath him.
“Hmm, those filthy beings are disturbing me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty! We’ll take care of it right away!”
Humans went extinct.
“Hmm? Were those Dwarves still around? These thieving creatures must be eradicated.”
“Absolutely!”
Dwarves went extinct.
“Dragons? Annoying.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Dragons went extinct.
“Haha, those Beastmen are also bothersome. Damn beasts.”
“Understood!”
Beastmen went extinct.
Ultimately, only Elves remained in the continent.
Rionne shuddered at the horrific future she had just envisioned.
“Yikes…!”
This wouldn’t do.
‘No matter what, that’s going too far, Enok…!’
Rionne squeezed her eyes shut.
Somehow, she needed to give him a stern talking-to, but she felt inadequate.
She had truly turned into someone who couldn’t scold Enok.
And understandably so; how could she possibly reprimand that adorable child…!
Of course, she knew it shouldn’t be this way.
Overly indulging a child would only pave the way for their downfall.
“Ugh…!”
Rionne steeled her resolve.
Just then, *BANG!* The workshop door burst open.
“Hey! Look! I’ve finished it! This is Dwarf-made weaponry, you brat!”
“Riraum!”
“Eh?”
“Help me out!”
Rionne urgently appealed to Riraum for backup in her parenting efforts.
“Wait, why all of a sudden…?”