READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 17 - First Capture! You're Mine!
✦ Chapter 17 – First Capture! You’re Mine! ✦
「Translator – Creator」
As I stepped into the garden, the maid who had been acting as Somnia’s stand-in approached me. She wore a helmet identical to Somnia’s, covering her face; her name was Gremory, if I recall correctly.
“Daniel, did the conversation go well? How is the young lady?”
“I’ve put her to sleep for now. She seemed to be rambling nonsense, drunk on sleep.”
“Sleep… I see. Now I understand why the young lady shows interest in you.”
Swackk—!
Gremory removed her helmet. I was startled by her face, which was covered in scars, making her look more like a battle-hardened warrior than a maid. One eye, presumably severely injured, was completely closed, with a large scar over the left side.
“You should know. Being with Lady Somnia means getting hurt. Her skills have become so formidable that even I, one of the Empire’s Five Swords, find her challenging.”
I looked around. The Paimon family mansion was grand, befitting its history and name, but there were no maids or servants in sight. Seeing sword marks etched here and there, I began to understand why.
“Everyone who worked in this mansion has quit, and now I’m the only one left. But even I don’t know how long I can stay by the young lady’s side. My weakness will surely sadden her.”
“Weakness? You don’t seem weak to me.”
“Daniel of the Dantalian family. You might be someone who could make the young lady sad. Would you mind if I test your strength here? To see if you’re worthy of being her partner.”
Sliiing—!
With a metallic sound, Gremory drew a massive greatsword from her back as if it were an extension of her own body and pointed the steel blade at me.
“Swordmaster Gremory. Daniel of Dantalian, I challenge you to a duel.”
“Are you sure? I won’t refuse a duel. And I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a woman.”
“You’re making me angry. Since the day I promised the previous head to serve the young lady, I’ve forgotten that I’m a ‘woman’. And if you underestimate me, you’ll regret it.”
“I’m not underestimating you. I’m just stating facts.”
Clickkk—!
Gremory gritted her teeth, seemingly provoked; then she charged at me with incredible speed.
“How dare you, looking even prettier than me!”
With a whoosh, she leapt into the air, raising her greatsword high above her head.
“If you fall to me here, it means you were never capable of married life with the young lady who injures people in her sleep!”
I see.
I realized that this confrontation was the final test and trial given to the hunting competition’s winner. If I couldn’t overcome Gremory here, it would be impossible to live with the “Sleepwalking Swordmaster” who might explode like a bomb at any moment.
“Gaia Crash!”
Swaang—!
With a thunderous roar, the powerful greatsword came crashing down, capable of not just cutting an opponent but shattering the earth itself. However, the sword stopped abruptly in mid-air, not touching my head.
This is because I had grabbed the blade with my bare hand.
“Blade catching…!?”
Sliiing—!
Taking advantage of the moment when she was immobilized, I drew the dagger that was hanging on her waist and pointed it at her throat.
“How about it? Do you surrender?”
“…I was careless. This isn’t my full strength.”
“I know. If you hadn’t controlled your strength, this mansion would have collapsed. It was an unfavorable battlefield for a swordsman who fights using weight by holding a greatsword. I was just lucky.”
“Luck… Even if I had controlled my strength, you wouldn’t have been able to catch my blade by luck. When did you steal my dagger? Who taught you that technique?”
“Poverty did.”
Gremory looked at me with eyes full of dissatisfaction.
She soon withdrew her greatsword and let out a sigh.
“Luck is also a skill. I admit defeat. You’re indeed worthy of being called the son of Nimrod Dantalian.”
Nimrod? How did Nimrod’s name come up here?
“You know my father?”
“I know him well. Though we didn’t have many personal conversations, when you cross swords with someone, you learn a lot whether you want to or not. That man used to handle some of our affairs as well.”
“Really? I didn’t know my father had connections with Paimon.”
I was momentarily at a loss for words, not expecting to hear about my father here. As an awkward silence filled the garden, Gremory put her helmet back on and added—
“He knew about his physical condition from a relatively early stage. During our last assignment with him, he said this — If he were to retire, we should rely on his son.”
“He said that?”
“Yes, he definitely did. He said we’d recognize his son at a glance because he resembled him greatly. But he was a liar. You don’t look like him.”
“Well, we’re not blood-related.”
“Does family have to be blood-related? From the day the young lady was born, from the moment she tightly grasped my finger, I became her family. Family is formed by vows.”
“…………..”
“There is a legacy that Nimrod Dantalian left us. It was something he asked us to give to him if his son ever came looking for him. It is a heirloom of the Dantalian family. You should take it.”
⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆
“This is Paimon’s treasure room. Normally, no one outside the Paimon family would be allowed to enter, but I’ll make an exception this time.”
Giiing—!
With a loud creak, two massive doors swung open.
The treasure room of the Paimon family was impressive from the building itself, but when I saw the interior, I was a bit taken aback.
“…There’s nothing here.”
The shelves, cabinets, and boxes were all empty.
Just as I was wondering what was going on, Gremory chuckled.
“After the Emperor’s invasion, we learned about Avalam’s defensive weaknesses. So we had to use a vast amount of money to build underground shelters. We also spent money hosting the hunting competition.”
“So, you’re saying the Paimon family is practically broke now?”
“Not broke. We just have very little money left.”
Clack—! Clack—!
I walked through the empty treasure room for a while, the sound of my footsteps echoing loudly. And finally, I came to a shelf where a box was placed. It was lacquered to the size of a chocolate box and looked quite valuable.
Click—
The maid Gremory took out a flower and a stone that shone very brightly from the box.
“What are these?”
“The ‘Sunflower’ and ‘Moonlight Stone’. These are items imbued with strong ‘contract’ mana, which the Dantalian family has kept as heirlooms for a long time. Daniel, son of Nimrod, these are now yours.”
“…My father entrusted these to you?”
“He was very worried about whether his family line would continue after his death. He predicted that many would target his family and that Dantalian would fall in the face of a great war.”
“That makes sense.”
“That’s why he entrusted them to us.”
It was amusing. To think that the items I had been searching for were Dantalian family heirlooms.
“Could I have received these items even if I hadn’t won the hunting competition?”
“They were your legacy to begin with. But we would have tested you a bit. Perhaps ‘collecting 10 traces that look like Hel’s footprints in the snowy mountains’ would have sufficed.”
Ah, so that was the original quest line!
I had anticipated that this 「Hel World」 wouldn’t follow the game’s content exactly due to the variable of me becoming the Emperor. But I never imagined I’d clear the tutorial quest in such a complicated way.
“Because of these, we incurred the Emperor’s displeasure. For some reason, the Emperor and Barbatos are after these items. Be careful, as you might attract the Emperor’s attention from now on.”
As I received the box from Somnia’s stand-in’s hands, text appeared before my eyes.
『Moonlight Stone 1/1』
『Sunflower 1/1』
『Crafting Hel Ball: To survive in Hel World, you must know how to use various tools. Let’s craft a tool using the item crafting list.』
Hel Ball Crafting!
As I wondered what the item crafting window was, words started pouring out in front of me. It was an “item crafting window” where various items were listed along with their descriptions, just as the name suggested.
「Hel Ball」 – Craftable!
「Beginner Armor」
「Beginner Weapon」
「Locked」 – Can be unlocked by raising your level further.
「Locked」 – Can be unlocked by raising your level further.
It was already fun. It felt like my life had become a game.
I pressed 「Hel Ball」 in the crafting window.
「Crafting Time – 30 seconds」
The 「Sunflower」 and the 「Moonlight Stone」 in my hand began to shine, and eventually turned into something round, about the size of a billiard ball, with a flower drawn on it. It really took exactly 30 seconds.
As I was marveling at this strange experience, Gremory exclaimed in even greater surprise.
“That’s… a ‘Hel Ball’!”
“You know what this is?”
“The ‘Hel Ball’ is said to be a magical tool developed long ago to capture and subdue the ‘Hels’ rampaging in this world.”
“A magical tool, huh.”
“To think its ingredients were the ‘Sunflower’ and ‘Moonlight Stone’. What an amazing discovery. No wonder the Dantalian family treasured them. I wonder if the Emperor knew about this?”
“Who knows…?”
I trembled with excitement, wondering what kind of Hel I could catch with this 「Hel Ball」. It had been a long time since I felt this excited.
I wanted to go out and catch a Hel right away. Where could I find one?
Suddenly, I remembered receiving ‘Hel Dumplings’ from the Hel Hunter Findman, which were said to be useful for luring Hels.
⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆
The Paimon family had many gardens.
I scattered ‘Hel Dumplings’ in the garden as bait and waited for Hels to be lured by the smell. Soon, something rustled in the bushes.
“Daniel.”
What? I thought it was a Hel, but it’s Somnia.
As I was feeling slightly disappointed, Somnia chuckled.
“I slept for five hours straight! It’s been so long since I’ve slept this soundly! Could it be because you massaged my shoulders? Hmm?”
“You certainly look better than before.”
“So, I’ve been thinking clearly. Daniel, it seems harsh to push my opinion on you. About the marriage talk… should we forget about it?”
Somnia’s expression looked quite calm and serious.
She was speaking as the head of the Paimon family.
As Daniel of Dantalian, I should respond seriously too.
“Well then…”
Just then, creatures burst out from the bushes.
— Woof! Woof!
— Krrrrr!
— Yip yip yap.
Three creatures appeared.
One was a squirrel as big as a dog, but the peculiarity was that it had no tail. Squirrels’ fluffy tails are supposed to be their charm point, aren’t they?
‘Is it injured? Looks like its tail was cut off.’
Another animal was a spider.
It was a spider the size of a palm, but it only had six legs.
Its color and size were a vivid purple, strangely beautiful and mesmerizing.
The last creature was like a bizarre cloud.
— Yip yip yap.
Its blue color made it look just like cotton candy, making me doubt if it was really a living creature. Anyway, these three animals that appeared from the bushes started fighting over a single ‘Hel Dumpling’.
— Growl!
— Growl!
— Growl!
“They’re Hels! Hels have appeared in our Paimon garden! They’re cute! But they’re fighting!”
As Somnia exclaimed in surprise, covering her mouth with her palm, I steadied my breath like a beast eyeing its prey.
“Shh, be quiet. They might run away.”
This was an opportunity.
A chance to catch a Hel.
I threw the hard-earned 「Hel Ball」at one of the entangled Hels.
“You’ll do! You’re mine!”
“Eek!”
Bang!
The problem was that the 「Hel Ball」hit Somnia instead of the Hel I was aiming for. I had controlled my strength to avoid breaking this hard-to-make tool, which apparently ruined my aim.
Whoosh.
“W-what’s happening!”
Somnia was enveloped in a white light and then sucked into the 「Hel Ball」.
— Whirr, whirr.
The 「Hel Ball」started shaking left and right, making an unstable sound, and the world fell dead silent.
— End of Chapter —
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Translator’s Notes :-
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