Book 17 Chapter 19
113화
“Mon…… ster…….”
Rin muttered.
January, 1105 AE, lower basin of the Bellisor River.
Rin muttered again.
“Monster…… Monster, monster…… Monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster……!”
What kind of crazy madness is this!
Friede’s face became serious.
“Damn, this is serious. Rin’s [Strongest Mage Stat] is about to hit rock bottom!”
“What’s that, Friede?”
“It’s a phenomenon that occurs when one can’t satisfy their desires by defeating the strongest enemies…… If we don’t fix this in time, she’ll go mad!”
“What? No! Rin, snap out of it!”
“Just kidding. I actually don’t know what it is. She’s probably just crazy. It’s not like she’s only been acting like an idiot for a day or two, so what’s new about it?”
“New, new, new, Rin is an idiot. Yes yes.”
As Friede cackled, Pipi cawed with laughter. The smile vanished from Rista’s face.
“Are you joking around in a serious situation where our comrade might be in danger? You’re not, are you?”
“N-no, of course not! I was just trying to change the mood a bit! I thought maybe even a joke like this would make Rin smile a little. Right, Pipi?”
“Corn, corn, corn.”
Pipi pretended not to understand for survival! Master!
“Gyoong, gyugyoong, gyugyugyugyoong!”
On the other hand, Sval earnestly implored Rista to save Rin!
Rista had no choice but to take this situation seriously.
Rin had always been in that state since the labyrinth exploration 32 days ago.
‘Rin wants to enact justice.’
Is it possible that she’s exhausted because she has a burning desire for justice but can’t act on it (absolutely not)? It seemed like something had to be done.
“Kies, isn’t there a suitable monster somewhere? Let’s spread out and search!”
Kies, who always went ahead of the main party to secure high ground and provide visibility, was just then nocking an arrow on her bowstring.
[☜(ㅇ-ㅇ)]
Could that mean there’s a monster there?
Rista, who dashed onto the branch Kies was standing on, exclaimed in surprise.
“Rin, this is your chance to enact the justice you’ve been so desperately wanting! A monster is about to attack helpless and weak people!”
Then, drool completely dripped from Rin’s mouth, who had been continuously muttering in madness.
“Hey, wait a minute. Her condition is strange. Kies, you just catch it! This crazy person is definitely going to cause trouble!”
Friede hastily tried to stop her, but Rin was already making a mad dash, even her eye whites rolling back completely white!
“Monster? Monster, monster! Monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster, monster!!!”
From the rock staff strapped to her back, a dazzlingly brilliant clear sound jingled! Having arrived at the hilltop, Rin pinpointed her target.
“Ugh, uwaaaaaaak!”
At the beginning of the lower reaches of the Bellisor River, there exists a place called Lake Beltino.
It’s a mysterious land where the terrain suddenly lowers and water rapidly flows in, causing the water depth to suddenly deepen and marine and freshwater creatures to interact.
In that lake, a gigantic shadow was wriggling beneath a barge laden with supplies, crossing the river.
“A, a River-Serpent!”
“If we want to live, we have to jump!”
“Even if we jump, we’ll all die! We’re finished!”
The River-Serpent, boasting a terrifying level of danger comparable to the size of a medium-sized merchant ship, is even rumored to be a commission that even top-tier gold-rank mercenaries would never take unless they were starving.
Powerful and cunning too!
To hunt it, one must dig an innovative trap capable of striking its back, and even if it’s barely lured out, it’s still a powerful monster in a head-on confrontation.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha-ha, a-ha-ha, a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Monster, monsteer, it’s a monsteerrrrrrr!”
Three people are about to die, and yet she’s erupting in villainous laughter. Oh, is this mad lunatic really the mage of the hero’s party?
Unfortunately, yes.
However, in her defense, Rin’s [Strongest Mage Stat] was at 0.1%, on the verge of complete depletion, so nothing but the monster was visible to her eyes!
“Osarius Rosary Deployment.”
Chwa-reureureureuk…… The constellation of power dazzlingly unfolded around her left hand, instantly manifesting immense power into several formalized frameworks.
Electrification (電).
Field (場).
Cast (投).
Drop (落).
Flash (閃).
At that moment, the moment the River-Serpent finally revealed itself, surging above the water to simultaneously destroy the barge, its cargo, and the sailors!
“?”
A dazzling flash, so bright that the River-Serpent’s retina literally burned, not figuratively, blazed in the sky, and then…….
Kurururururururu───!
……by the time the thunder roared menacingly, its colossal body was already a pile of charcoal, floating black on the river.
“Ah, refreshing. This is magic. Yeah. An extra 1 point for my [Strongest Mage Score] for becoming stronger than before.”
Burruteu, burruruteu…… Rin shed tears of admiration as she gazed at the scene. A pipe forcefully slammed down on her crown!
“You just used a 5-star spell out of nowhere and want bonus points? What kind of crazy talk is ‘bonus points,’ you lunatic! If I hadn’t put up a barrier over that lake right now, there would’ve been a flood in this entire area and then some!”
“Calm down, Friede! Rin only wanted to enact justice!”
“Don’t talk nonsense! If *this* is justice, is it also justice for me to charm ten handsome guys each and have them pour me drinks?”
“Hmm, that’s not it.”
“Look how serious you’re getting! It’s the same thing. This one is just being true to her own desires!”
No way! This group of lunatics, laughing and chatting after killing three people along with the River-Serpent, are they really the hero’s party?
Yes.
The reason it’s possible lies in the barge that just now surged up above the charred remains of the River-Serpent!
“Un-unbelievable…….”
“Huh, how could she take down that River-Serpent in one go…….”
Did Rin just pretend to be crazy, while deeply cherishing human lives in her heart?
It was part of her instinct.
Just before the River-Serpent swallowed the barge, just before the ‘Brainfield Hemorrhage’ incinerated everything at the coordinates! She had cast an ‘Electromagnetic Permeation Field’ around the barge.
It was a double-casting instinctively performed by her desperate desire not to be scolded by the dean! Master!
“What kind of nonsense is this? If I hadn’t put up a barrier, they’d all be dead right now!”
“Ahem.”
“What ‘ahem’! You owe me, you hear? If it weren’t for me, you’d be a murderer with a bounty on your head across the entire republic, you punk!”
Then Rista struck her palm with her fist, a chilling smile on her face.
“So Rin wasn’t trying to enact justice just now? She almost committed evil if it weren’t for Friede?”
In terrifying dread that made her hair stand on end, Rin’s brain spun at 902 revolutions per second, finding a way out.
‘Rista is a stickler for justice, a justice-freak, in a word.’
Master!
‘Having learned from Friede, roughly fitting justice with sophistry will solve it.’
Rin then raised an eyebrow with a strict, solemn, and serious expression.
“What are you talking about? This was simply 『Trust』 towards my comrade. If trusting one’s comrades isn’t justice, then what is?”
Then Rista’s eyes seemed to widen, before she soon burst into tears.
“Ah, I see! Believing that Friede would enact justice is also justice!”
“Hey, that’s just her spouting nonsense to get away with it. Don’t believe her, Rista.”
“I’m sorry, Rin! I got too agitated because human lives were almost harmed, so please forgive me for thinking that this time, just a push-up wouldn’t be enough for Rin, and you should ‘bow your head down’!”
Rin and Friede trembled like aspens.
Friede considered continuing to tease Rin, but a premonition that a comrade might die made her stop.
It is said that Rin never did such a thing again after this. Indeed, there’s nothing quite like violence for instilling etiquette.