A house located in a remote rocky area.
Rick woke from sleep, stretched, and left his room.
Ever since that mysterious group had visited, the island of Famiran, the land of sacred artifacts, had been in an uproar.
He didn't know exactly how things were unfolding, but he decided not to care.
Whatever happened, it had nothing to do with him, right...?
After finishing his yawn, Rick rubbed his eyes.
Was he still half asleep?
A chubby little thing was inhaling the bread he had saved for breakfast.
Even though their eyes met, the chubby creature showed no surprise whatsoever and kept moving its hands.
Bang!
"Mom, look at this! There's jerky in the basement too...?"
Even the crazy bell-rat came bursting in, holding the jerky Rick had hidden away to savor slowly.
Still, that chubby thing was better.
At least it seemed aware it had been caught, its ears twitching nervously.
"Good morning!"
"What's so good about it?! Who are you people?! What are you doing in my house?!"
"Mom isn't a thief like Kancho, so she was just quietly eating bread!"
"Don't say that so proudly! That's my bread too!! Hey, you bell-rat! Stop sneaking away and give me back my jerky!"
"Hoo."
Kancho let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
"The Commander-in-Chief told me. He said chuunibyou can't be cured with words. He said it requires financial therapy."
"What nonsense is that! Just give me back my..."
Click!
"Do you want financial therapy?! Raise your hands!"
"Eeek!!"
Cold sweat ran down Rick's back.
She was terrifying.
That crazy bell-rat was the type who would actually follow through.
"Stand up straight and face the wall..."
As his body was lifted up, Kancho raised his head.
Twitch, twitch!
It was the Commander-in-Chief.
"Commander! Deputy Captain of the Yodel Rangers, Kancho! We were in the middle of occupying the base and subduing the giant!"
Jinhyuk swallowed dryly.
Anyone could see we were the invaders, yet he called the homeowner a giant.
What would Rick think of us?
"Were you surprised? Sorry for letting Mom and Kancho barge in like that."
Rick's eyes shook violently.
This guy had just picked the locked door and walked in as if it were nothing, yet he was talking about others.
"Come over here and sit. Let's eat jerky together."
'It's my jerky though...'
He didn't say it out loud.
Because that crazy bell-rat might actually shoot him.
As he chewed the jerky with a sour expression, Jinhyuk spoke up.
"Rick, I need to tell you something about the ruins."
"Forget it. I'm not curious anymore. It's just the delusions of a father consumed by madness."
"They weren't delusions."
Rick, who had stopped chewing, looked at Jinhyuk.
"What did you say?"
"I said they weren't delusions."
He slowly told the story.
His father wasn't trapped by delusions or madness—he had simply seen a truth no one else could see.
He had done it to truly save the island of Famiran, the land of sacred artifacts.
"In a country of one-eyed people, a two-eyed person is bound to look abnormal, right?"
Hearing Elia's words, Rick furrowed his brow.
"Then why didn't he just say that honestly? Why did he have to hide it even from me...!"
"That's because he was worried you might be in danger."
"Danger?"
Jinhyuk shrugged and continued.
"No one believed him, right? And what his father recorded was the shame of the Edilen family, who held absolute power on the island. It was a situation where he could be attacked at any time, anywhere. That's how dangerous the truth was."
It was a relief that Rick was safe, but honestly, it was a bit puzzling.
The Edilen family hadn't harmed Rick or his father at all.
The simplest method would have been to just erase them without a trace, ruins and all.
"But... even so, that doesn't justify abandoning me for so long."
Rick clenched his fists and lowered his head.
"Kid."
Elia placed a hand on Rick's shoulder.
"No matter the circumstances, the fact that you were left alone as a child doesn't change. Of course, we have no right to tell you to forgive him or not. But as someone who has lived a long time, I have one small wish: I hope you don't think of your father as a terrible person."
Meeting Rick's eyes, Elia continued.
"When you're young, everyone wants to become an adult. But once you actually become one, there are so many difficult things. What you learn as you age is mostly about enduring things, moving forward without breaking, and the desire to protect the world for someone precious—things like responsibility and duty."
Elia let out a low breath.
"Your father was probably the same. Not for personal greed or some grand cause, but just to preserve the home where his precious son would live. He was just an ordinary father who wanted to protect his son's happy future."
This was the first time since they'd met.
Rick's eyes had shaken so violently.
"...W-Wait a moment."
His eyes welled up with tears, then he stood up and ran to his room.
A brief silence settled over the table.
After a moment, Kancho shuffled over and reached a hand toward Elia's forehead.
"This old hag is done for. She's a goner. I saw it on NewTube. People do things they never do right before they die. Judging by the performance the old hag just put on, it's not tomorrow or the day after—it's right now. Everyone, say your goodbyes..."
Smack!
Elia swiftly swung the back of her hand and smacked Kancho.
With a whoosh, Kancho flew off the table and tumbled down the stairs.
"Where's that fly buzzing around?"
As if by some unspoken agreement, Jinhyuk and his group stood up from their seats.
Based on past experience, this place was about to turn into a fierce battlefield.
"Hey, old hag! Did you just hit me?!"
Sure enough, Kancho came flying up from the bottom of the stairs.
Jinhyuk turned his head away from the two of them as they started smacking each other.
Sometimes, looking away is the better choice.
And then, a little while later.
Creak.
Rick walked out, his eyes swollen from crying.
He looked much calmer than before.
After steadying his breathing, Rick looked up at me.
"You came because there's something I need to do, right?"
Unbelievable.
After crying his eyes out, his perceptiveness had skyrocketed.
"Whatever it is, I'll do it. Just tell me."
Then I won't hold back.
"I need a pure, uncontaminated sacred artifact. And on this island of Famiran, the only person who can make one is..."
I placed my hand on Rick's shoulder.
"You."
Raghar von Edilen, in return for saving his life, had told him the only way to remove the contamination.
And that method required a sacred artifact.
A sacred artifact that was both uncontaminated and extremely powerful.
* * *
Rick, who had been standing still, cautiously raised his hand.
"Um... I have a question."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Excuse me, but are you guys like, professional burglars? I didn't even know this was in my house. How did you know?"
Instead of answering, I pointed to one side.
Puff, puff, puff.
Kamelia was blowing smoke, unconcerned that the storage room was completely sealed.
It was a good thing Kancho from the surveillance squad wasn't here, since she was busy fighting Elia.
Feeling his gaze, Kamelia spoke.
"I just felt a strong divine energy. Energy like this doesn't come from just anywhere."
About ten minutes ago.
When asked to make a sacred artifact, Rick had nodded bravely.
I had also thought, 'Well, that's one thing settled,' and given a double thumbs-up.
But then...
-So, what kind of sacred artifact do I need to make?
I was at a loss for words.
Raghar had said that when the Black Sea's contamination was pushed back, a divine beast would emerge.
So he said a pure, uncontaminated sacred artifact was needed.
But he hadn't told me what form it should take or what mechanism it should have.
So I was racking my brain over how to make the request to Rick, when Kamelia pointed to this basement with her pipe.
She said there was something there.
And where we arrived, there was an unfinished sacred artifact that Rick's father had apparently been making.
Thud.
Rick approached the artifact and bent down.
"I thought I knew all the sacred artifacts my father made... I never expected something like this to be here."
"What's the condition? Can you continue working on it?"
After examining it for a while, Rick nodded.
"It's possible. It was made using the method my father taught me. It's about 80 percent complete. I can finish it in four or five days. As for its function... just a moment. My father always kept a journal when working on artifacts."
He rummaged around and found an old notebook.
Rick opened the notebook, and his eyes widened.
"Unbelievable. The function is almost exactly what you said you needed earlier."
Rick's father hadn't known the exact method to remove the contamination, even up to the moment of his death.
That was a secret known only to Raghar, the head of the Edilen family.
So why was something like this already made?
It was proof that Rick's father, through his exceptional intuition and inference as a master artifact maker, had predicted this situation long ago.
"Ah... oh no."
As he read through the notebook, Rick let out a heavy sigh.
"There's a problem. My father didn't stop making the artifact because he ran out of time."
"Then?"
"The artifact itself was impossible to use from the start. To activate it, you need an absurd amount of energy to push back the contamination. But Famiran doesn't have any artifact that generates that kind of energy... and even if it did, it could never meet the amount this artifact requires."
"Phew. And here I was getting scared for nothing."
Jinhyuk patted his chest, and Rick's eyes shook.
Had he not heard correctly?
He was saying that even if they finished the artifact, it couldn't be used!
"The energy this artifact needs to push back the contamination would be pure, clean divine energy, right?"
"Th-That would be the case, yes."
"Let me introduce you."
Jinhyuk walked over to Kamelia and respectfully raised his hand.
"This is a goddess who possesses an absurd amount of divine energy, purer and cleaner than anyone else's."
Whether he introduced her or not, Kamelia just kept blowing smoke.
Watching her, Rick swallowed dryly.
Jinhyuk and his group constantly switched between playfulness and seriousness.
That's why it was confusing.
He couldn't tell if they were being serious or joking right now.
After blowing out another puff of smoke, Kamelia subtly curled her lips.
"Trust me and finish it. I will not let the artifact you and your father made go to waste."
Rick nodded.
He had only just met these people, but for some reason.
He felt a conviction that he could trust them.
Above all, those eyes that seemed to know everything and that unique calmness... Creak.
"Huh?! What's this?! Is it a raccoon den?! Is it that cultist old hag again?! This is bad, this is bad! Where is she?! I need to beat her with a slingshot!"
Startled, Kamelia quickly put out her pipe.
So even someone like her was afraid of that crazy bell-rat.
Sacred artifact maker Rick took a deep breath.
An unfinished artifact imbued with his late father's will.
Beyond Jinhyuk's request, motivation welled up inside him.
He wanted to complete it.
And with it, he wanted to protect everything his father had tried to protect.
Grrr.
He'd put his all into making it.
----------
T/N:
Just for being a free member, you'll get 5 advanced chapters every week!
Access 35 chapters in advance on my Patreon:[email protected]//towerup