The winter morning carried a faint damp chill, and the world lay hushed in silence. A thin thread of light crept along the distant horizon, gently bathing the pale blue sky, as a new day dawned.
Barrett and EeDechi lingered just outside the castle walls for a moment, breathing the crisp air laced with thin mist. Nearby, on a stone step, a silver-haired half-elf priestess in a white cotton robe stood with her hands pressed together. Leaf-shaped emerald jewelry coiled around her arms as she bowed her head in morning prayer.
A young man in a dark red short robe squatted beside her, chewing idly on a sweet grass root he had just dug from the earth. The two of them were adventurers hired by the lord, and that naturally granted them permission to stay within the castle.
The half-elf girl's gentle prayer drifted on the breeze. "…Elariontha, my most revered goddess above, in the journey of life you grant us the light of hope, and your loving kindness endures through all generations.
"You support us with your merciful hands and shelter us in your warm embrace. In sorrow there is comfort; in hardship there is aid; in sickness there is healing. We walk the path that pleases you, blessed by your grace…
"…O mightiest Dragon Progenitor, let your scorching light shine upon me and drive the darkness from my heart. Let your bloodline cleanse me and wash away my filth. Grant me the power to spread my wings and soar into the heavens, so I may rise above every limit…
"I gaze upon your boundless might and thirst for you to set my blood ablaze. I offer my soul and my life in sacrifice, that I may claim the raging power that surges within boiling blood…"
When the priestess finished her morning prayer, she hopped down from the stone step and greeted the two "travelers" with a sweet smile.
Barrett called out to her, puzzled.
"Just now I heard your prayer. You seemed to be praying to two gods. The second one was 'Dragon Progenitor'? That isn't part of the elven pantheon, is it?"
The young man in the dark red robe answered before she could. "She's praying for me. My dad worships the Dragon Progenitor, so I do too. But all the praying business is a real pain, so I let the professional handle it."
The youth in the dark red robe, Dravenir Drakos, rubbed his deep brown hair and broke into a sheepish grin. He had once mentioned to Barrett that his father was a dragonborn bandit.
"He's just too lazy," the half-elf girl, Emily Darcy, said with a helpless shake of her head. "Anyway, the Dragon Progenitor's prayers are short. Might as well knock one out for him while I'm at morning devotions."
"Can you even pray for someone else?" EeDechi asked, realizing this world really was full of oddballs—even if she counted herself among them. "This 'Dragon Progenitor' god doesn't have anything to do with the elven deities, right?"
"'Dragon Progenitor' is a god some dragonborn folk worship—probably some ancient Dragon Lord from way back," the half-elf girl answered casually. "Besides, the Dragon Progenitor has never shown any divine signs anyway. By the goddess above, Elariontha won't mind."
"Don't you dare insult my faith," Dravenir declared, puffing up with pride. "Legend says that if your devotion is strong enough, you can offer everything you have and summon the Dragon Progenitor himself. He'll descend with unmatched power and save the dragonborn people."
"Then from now on you can do your own prayers, and I won't insult your faith anymore," the half-elf priestess replied with a laugh as she walked off. Dravenir hurried after her, quickly adding that she could insult the Dragon Progenitor all she wanted.
EeDechi sighed. "Looks like this god called 'Dragon Progenitor' really doesn't have much clout."
...
The lord, his eldest daughter, his wife, the two adventurers, and the two "travelers" sat together around a long table, eating the breakfast the cook had just brought out.
The meal was generous. Loaves of wheat-flour bread had been baked to perfection, their golden crusts still warm and filling the air with a mouthwatering fresh-from-the-oven scent. Stacks of cured ham, slices of cheese, and shredded-potato pancakes fried crisp in oil were piled high on porcelain plates.
The chilled milk had been thawed and stirred with maple syrup, then brought to a boil and cooled to room temperature, leaving it sweet and richly aromatic. There were also bowls of oatmeal porridge, hearty mutton soup, and plates of fried cured meat—more than enough to go around.
A small porcelain bowl of butter sat beside each person. Everyone took their time slicing open the warm bread, spreading the butter with their knives, then dipping the pieces into the steaming mutton-bone broth before chewing slowly and savoring every bite.
...
The food on the table had only been half cleared when a servant pushed the door open and hurried in. He leaned close to Martin Smith's ear and whispered something. Martin Smith's face darkened at once. He offered a quick apology to everyone at the table and left his seat.
Raised voices soon followed from the hallway as Lord Martin Smith argued with a man. Then an arrogant tone cut Martin off mid-sentence.
Martin returned to the dining hall looking resigned, followed by a fully armed man wearing a gleaming half-plate of armor and a longsword at his hip, along with a gaunt old mage whose temples had gone white. The man's half-plate was clearly a high-end piece forged from mithril and adamantine, inlaid with a gold-trimmed family crest that looked both lavish and finely crafted.
Martin Smith made the introductions. The man was Marquis Angus Waverly, and the old mage was a high-ranking wizard. Marquis Angus Waverly had heard that the stone guardian protecting a treasure in the nearby forest had awakened and been defeated. He had therefore brought a company of his family knights and mages to claim the hoard for himself.
Angus Waverly held the title of marquis, two full ranks above Martin Smith's viscountcy, so Lord Martin had no choice but to greet him with the utmost respect.
Martin Smith spoke politely. "Marquis Waverly, you've arrived so early. Would you care to sit and join us for breakfast?"
"No need," Angus Waverly said, casting a disdainful glance over the food on the table. "I drove my men hard through the night to get here. I didn't come for peasant fare."
He tilted his nose to the ceiling and swept a contemptuous gaze over the "travelers" and adventurers in the room. "We leave at once. I hear your hired travelers defeated the stone golem. Have them fall in and lead the way."
Angus flicked the red silk cloak draped over his armor, spun on his heel, and strode out. The high-ranking mage, eyes half-lidded, said nothing as he followed him from the dining hall.
"This guy's bad news," EeDechi grumbled, shoving another spoonful of oatmeal porridge into her mouth.
"Isn't he just some bored noble with nothing better to do after stuffing his face?" Barrett asked under his breath. "What's Angus's Justice Value?"
"I haven't checked his Justice Value yet," EeDechi mumbled around her mouthful of porridge. "But I'm pretty sure anyone who ruins someone else's breakfast is bad news."
Still, since Lord Martin Smith had given them excellent food and lodging, Barrett and EeDechi—the two "travelers"—along with Dravenir and Emily—the two adventurers—set out with the rest of the party. They headed for the spot where they had smashed the stone golem the day before.
Marquis Angus Waverly had brought a small but well-equipped company of knights and a single old mage riding alone on a white horse, looking perfectly unruffled.
By contrast, Martin Smith's side had only a handful of scattered knights and eight or nine yawning squire militiamen. When Angus glanced at their ragtag appearance, the sneer on his face deepened.
According to the old mage, centuries ago a legendary wizard had tried to turn himself into a lich. The ritual failed because the magic crystals he bought from a shady merchant weren't pure enough.
On the brink of death, he refused to let his life's collection of treasures be divided up. With his final ounce of power he scattered his wealth and magic items across every corner of the world like shooting stars. The relic guarded by the stone golem in the forest was one of those treasures.
The group soon reached the edge of the forest, where the stone golem had once stomped around with its massive feet. All that remained was a scattered pile of stone fragments. Only a few deep, solid footprints pressed into the frozen ground proved that the rubble had once formed the body of the stone giant.
"Kid, I hear you're the one who defeated the stone guardian and got hailed as a hero?" Angus Waverly rode up in front of EeDechi and asked coldly.
EeDechi turned her head away in disdain and ignored him. She tugged her scarf higher, covering her face more tightly so that only a pair of bright black eyes showed.
Barrett quickly explained that his companion wasn't much for talking.
"Hah, I get it. People who haven't seen much of the world tend to get a bit full of themselves," Angus said, spurring his horse onward. "In a backwater little town like this, beating some no-name stone golem is enough to earn you the title of hero. That honor comes a little too easily."
He drew the longsword from the silver-handled scabbard at his waist, twirled it in a flashy flourish, and the blade gleamed with the cold glow of high-level enchantments. "If I faced a stone golem construct, I'd slice it into four pieces with just three swings of my family's holy sword, Breath of the Frozen Wind."
His retainers immediately chimed in with timely flattery, saying the Marquis had begun training in martial arts at age eight, that his horsemanship was superb, and his martial skills outstanding, and so on.
Angus raised his sword to silence the retainer. "Enough. I've heard enough bootlicking to last a lifetime. A true strongman becomes strong not because of others' praise, but through his own power."
EeDechi let out a loud "Tch" and, together with Barrett, skirted around the pile of rubble and stepped into the forest.
"Adventurer, you take the lead," Angus said, pointing his sword at the young man in the red robe, Dravenir Drakos. "I hope your brain isn't too pickled by alcohol and you still remember the path to the treasure…"
Before he could finish, a thunderous crash like a meteor slamming into the ground shook the earth. The knights and militiamen looked up and saw the colossal figure. In a panic they yanked their horses around and fled.
Marquis Angus Waverly turned his head with a tremble. A towering stone giant filled his entire field of vision.
The suddenly arrived stone giant lowered its head slightly, fixing its enormous stone-pupil gaze on Angus Waverly. It stood no more than ten paces from the Marquis.
"HELP!" Angus cried in panic, unable to even steady the reins. Luckily the powerful stallion beneath him sensed the danger and bolted at full gallop. Angus clung desperately to the horse's neck, nearly tumbling from the saddle.
But he couldn't outrun the stone golem's reach. The majestic stone giant bent down gently, pinched the Marquis's luxurious red cloak between two stone fingers, and "picked" him up. The Angus who had just been strutting and showing off now dangled in mid-air from the golem's grasp, flailing his arms and legs wildly and screaming for help.
He swung his prized family holy sword, Breath of the Frozen Wind, hacking furiously at the giant's fingers, but it was useless—the blade left not even a scratch on the stone.
The knights who had fled in panic finally came to their senses. Shouting "Protect the Marquis!" they wheeled their horses around the stone giant and hurled spears at its legs.
The stone golem lifted its right foot and stomped hard. The impact was like an earthquake erupting; the massive shockwave sent knights and horses tumbling. The panicked horses scrambled up and galloped away, leaving their riders sprawled on the ground.
Fortunately, the suddenly appeared stone golem seemed interested only in Marquis Angus Waverly. It didn't trample the fallen people around it, but instead fixed its stone eyes on Angus, as if pondering what sort of creature he was.
The dismounted knights scrambled away on all fours. A few more cavalrymen rode up and hauled them onto their horses.
Poor Angus Waverly screamed his lungs out in the stone golem's grip, flailing his limbs uselessly like a monkey. His legs kicked wildly back and forth, and the crotch of his pants suddenly darkened as the fabric grew wet. The soaked patch kept spreading wider.
The Marquis had pissed himself.
Seeing that the stone giant had no intention of harming anyone, there were always people who loved a good spectacle and didn't mind stirring things up. The militiamen who had fled far away stopped in their tracks and began pointing and whispering about Angus as he dangled helplessly in the golem's grasp.
"HA HA HA HA HA!" Adventurer Dravenir Drakos was the first to burst out laughing.
Elite adventurers were the sort who looked down on nobles and royal power the most. Even if the person who had just pissed his pants had been a king, the adventurers would still have doubled over laughing.
Dravenir's laughter lit the fuse on the whole barrel of fun. The militiamen around them, spears and shortswords in hand, started roaring with laughter too, openly mocking the sorry state of Marquis Angus Waverly.
Lord Martin Smith pressed his lips tightly together, forcing back his own grin. The knights under his command did their best to follow the code of chivalry and refused to join the militiamen in open laughter.
The old mage who had been circling the stone golem finally couldn't stay still any longer. He pulled a staff from his spatial ring, raised it high, and chanted a long, winding incantation. A 4th Tier Magic: Thunder Punishment slammed into the stone golem's knee, but it only kicked up a puff of gray dust. The stone golem stood there unmoved.
EeDechi and Barrett, who had vanished earlier, suddenly reappeared beside the stone golem. EeDechi looked up at the giant, raised her arm, and a dazzling ring of magical light flared around her wrist.
5th Tier Magic: Mountain Collapse and Earth Split!
A blinding white light exploded at the stone golem's feet, flinging up a cloud of dirt that temporarily hid EeDechi from sight.
"It's 5th Tier Magic! You're a super-tier mage who's stepped into the Hero realm!" The old mage stared at EeDechi in shock, his upraised staff completely forgotten. "I… I've wasted all these years alive. I didn't even recognize a Hero right in front of me."
EeDechi watched Angus Waverly dangling in mid-air and flailing like a lunatic. She clutched her stomach and howled with laughter for a moment. Then she quietly pulled out the magic item she had recently obtained—the Constructs Storage Box.
Inside the Constructs Storage Box there had originally been a small metal figure and a small stone statue, but right now the spot for the stone statue was empty.
Taking advantage of the dirt and dust kicked up by the spell to block everyone's view, EeDechi gripped the Constructs Storage Box and silently commanded, "Return."
The towering stone golem vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. With nothing left to hold him, Angus Waverly dropped from mid-air and crashed hard onto the ground, knocked out cold in an instant. In EeDechi's hand, the small stone statue reappeared inside the Constructs Storage Box.
The knights Angus had brought circled the unconscious Marquis five full times before they finally believed the stone golem was truly gone. They lifted Angus Waverly and slunk away in defeat.