Chapter 57

Chapter 57 – Lunatic Wave (3)

After the ambush by the Demons, the Lunatic Wave had arrived.  It was said that unfortunate events happened in series.  It perfectly described what Frate was facing

“Luantic Wave!  I’m sure it’s the Lunatic Wave!  Lord!  Where’s the lord!?”

“He’s already at the port······ I see!  The lord had already foreseen this!”

“I believe a Lunatic Wave happened during the summer time several hundred years ago at a different port city!”

All the port cities had guidelines for what to do in a Lunatic Wave.  Even the guests visiting the city knew it.

However, even if one wanted to follow the guideline, it was impossible to do so with the Demons in their way.  The knights finally realized the intent of the Demon King’s army, and they quivered in anger.

“My god.  Did the Demons use the curse to induce the Luantic Wave!”

“The Demon King is sacrificing his subordinate Demons to bring Diaz to ruins?  How laughable!”

Of course, the Demon King had no intention of sacrificing his subordinate Demons.

However, there was no need for Artpe to step forward, and say something like ‘In truth, I’m the one that made the Demons go crazy!’

“Koohk.  Those damned Demons!”

“Die!  Die!  We won’t let you do as you like!  You won’t bring ruin to Diaz!”

The people were going to die by the Lunatic Wave, while they were fighting off the Demons.  Of course, their heart was in the dumps.

Artpe had all killed all the Demons that were weakly affected by the curse.  Those were the Demons that would have gone off script.  Now the remaining Demons surged forward as they matched the intensity displayed by the humans.  The Demons rampaged as if they had lost their minds.

“I was hoping the Lunatic Wave would be delayed, but those were merely hopeful thoughts.”

Artpe clicked his tongue as he looked over the battlefield….  When Maetel and Sienna had joined the fight, the battle had tilted completely towards the humans.  After he confirmed this truth, he nodded his head.

“It’ll all work out somehow. As expected, Maetel is a cheat.”

Since Maetel and Sienna was at this site, everything would wrap up quickly.  It would be good for him to stay here and earn EXP from killing the Demons, but Artpe’s abilities would be more effective elsewhere.  Instead of the small confines of the auction house where he couldn’t move without getting into a fight, he would be able to borrow the power of nature to create a miracle at the port!

“Ajumma, I’ll be going to the port…….”

“······ooh ooh.”

After he made a quick plan of action, he was about to move when Mycenae firmly grabbed the sleeve of Artpe’s robe.  She had her head turned away to avoid facing Artpe, yet she had a firm grip on him.  Artpe was dumbfounded, so he asked her a question.

“······what are you doing?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.  Shouldn’t we move after we wrap things up here….”

“······.”

It was a busy situation where every second counted, so why was she acting as if she was weak?  He was about to yell at her, but he caught sight of Mycenae’s ears.  Her ears were fluttering delicately.  Artpe’s eyebrows furrowed.

‘She’s been weirdly afraid, since a while ago.  Maybe….’

Did she perhaps have Demon-phobia?

Artpe tested his theory as he took a step away from her.  She let out a gasp, and she gripped him tighter.  It was a completely different sight from the brave figure that had been firing her ballista by his side.

“You······.”

“Maybe you can take me with you?  Yes?”

“Ajumma, how were you able to function as a Dungeon Merchant until now······?”

Artpe let out a sigh. The tremble in her ears became worse when he moved away from her and when the screams of the Demons increased in loudness.  He knew he couldn’t do anything about this.

“Yes, I guess nothing will change if you leave this place.  All right.  We’ll go together.”

“Hoo-ooooh.”

She let out a sigh of relief as she put away the ballista.  Afterwards, she looked over the auction house one last time.  There were people screaming their hearts out as they fought with their lives on the line.  Then there were the people that couldn’t exit the auction house.  They couldn’t fight, so these people were hiding…..

Then there were the pathetic humans that were trying to find the missing auction items with bright eyes.  She also caught sight of the Greed Beast that let out a happy cry as it ate all the curse and evil energy.

“I’ll see you later.”

[Mee-ahhhhhhhhng!]

Artpe whispered in a low voice, and the Greed Beast gave a rumbling answer.  He had feared the worst case scenario might have come true.  He had wondered if the Greed Beast would consider Artpe, who was the owner of the egg, as an enemy.  Fortunately, the Greed Beast had acknowledged him as its master.

“Hooo.”

When he heard its reply, he smirked as he grabbed Mycenae’s hand.  Then he lightly pushed off the ground.

In the next moment, the two arrived at a location far away from the auction house.

“Huh······?”

Mycenae blinked her eyes when her surrounding suddenly changed.  She looked around as she spoke in an accusatory tone towards Artpe.

“I wasn’t able to sense you activating your magic.”

“Usually, the magic spells infused into Artifacts can be activated in a stealthy manner.”

“Customer, you have an artifact with Teleportation magic….. Uh-muh?”

Mycenae felt Artpe grip her hand again.  He once again pushed off the ground, and they traveled a distance of several hundred meters.  Her eyes widened when she saw this.

“Did you perhap use Blink right now!?”

“After I reinforced it, I’m able to move bring along another person.”

“This doesn’t make any sense.  Blink was a spell developed as a means for a caster to escape from danger by himself-kyahhhhk!”

Artpe didn’t give Mycenae time to reply as he used it once more.  For reference, the boots worn by Artpe had reached this state.

[Blessing of the Wind Spirit’s Boots+2]

[The black leather boots is infused with wind.  It was reinforced twice with a special skill to be made into a legendary artifact.  The user can use Blink five times a day without consuming any Mana.  The Blink can also be activated when the user is being attacked, and anyone in contact with the User can be moved too.  Additional Mana can be used to activate Blink.  The additional Mana increases the travel radius by a significant amount.]

“It would be great if I can reinforce it one more time.  However, if I want to reinforce it further, I’m going to need a Magic Stone.”

“I’ve heard about the legends regarding enchanters.  There are so many types of reinforcement enchanting skills.  They can be temporary or permanent.  There are ones that requires the user to fulfill a special requirement to activate it.  There also ones that can be used on humans, inanimate objects, the environment…..   Then there is the reinforcement skill that is above all other reinforcement skills.  It allows one to ‘overlap the reinforcement skill’ on the same item.”

“I didn’t know the Reinforcement skill I earned was that type of Reinforcement skill..”

Of course, he had gained this great Reinforcement skill in the Hero’s development Dungeon. It really was a bitter experience, but he couldn’t deny the fact that Maetel and he had gained many important things in there.

“In that sense, I’m going to Blink two more times.”

“Wait a m-kyahhhhhhhhk!”

The boots’ Blink activated, and he was used to using it now.  It really took them two Blinks for Artpe and Mycenae to arrive on the port’s barrier wall, which was facing the ocean.  The monsters were crawling in front of them.  There were more monster than there were high waves.

“We are here.”

“How can this be Blink?  What the hell is….”

“Huhk!  Magician!  Also, weren’t you the merchant from the Anywhere company?”

“As always, I am in your care….ah-yaht.”

The lord was tirelessly moving along the wall to encourage the soldiers.  He became surprised when he saw Artpe.  Even in such a desperate situation, Mycenae was trying to go into her business mode.  Artpe poked her in her side, so she would back off.  He surveyed the situation.

“Fortunately, we are still at the early stages of the Lunatic Wave, so the weak ones are coming to shore.”

“Y…you are correct!  However, we are faced with a problem.  This isn’t the only region where the monsters will try to invade.  Somehow we were able to raise the 1st tier barrier wall around the whole place….

“You encountered a problem when trying to raise the 2nd tier walls.”

They had built 3 stages of barrier walls to stop the sea monsters from entering the city.

Normally the 1st tier of barriers were buried deep within the water.  It was raised when the Lunatic Wave was about to happen.  It was easy to put in place, but it also meant that the wall was low.   Basically, it could take care of the minor monsters, but the monsters above them would break through it.

The ships in the dock had to be isolated in specific locations for the 2nd tier of barrier walls to be activated.  It was a barrier made out of magic.  It was a barrier made out of a large concentration of Mana, so it also had the effect was attracting the monsters to stay near the wall.  It was a fantastic barrier, but….

“Everyone’s ships are docked at the pier.”

“That is a problem…..”

They didn’t have the time to isolate the ships into their designated locations, so the barrier couldn’t be put up. The fact that they were even able to raise the 1st barrier wall was an effort to be commended.  The lord let out a deeper sigh.

“We tried to skip the 2nd barrier to raise the 3rd barrier.  However, the ships that were parked between the 1st and 3rd barrier prevents us from raising the 3rd.”

“Hmmm······ From my perspective, it doesn’t sound like a big problem.”

“What?”

Before Artpe spoke again, he turned his head to survey his surrounding. Everyone was busily moving around in an attempt to do their assigned tasks, so no one would be able to hear their conversation.

“Lunatic Wave is a natural disaster.  Even if all the customers here lost their possessions, they won’t be able to lodge a complaint against you.   Isn’t there a treaty between countries that specify this stipulation?”

“A…as expected of a magician, you are well informed…..”

“If you hadn’t defended against the Lunatic Wave aggressively like you are doing right now, it might be a different story.  However, you are doing your best right now, so they won’t be able to place the blame on you.  Isn’t it so?  You are working your heart out right now.”

Artpe’s words completely untied the knot within the lord’s heart.  A small smile returned to the face of the lord.

“That’s right.  You are right.  Yes, I was worried for nothing.  The lives of our people are the most important!  Absolutely! Then we have to put up the 3rd tier barriers….”

“No, why are you jumping to that conclusion?”

“Mmm?”

The lord tilted his head in puzzlement.  If the gesture was done by a cute girl, it was forgivable.  However, an old man was making such a gesture, and it was really creepy.  Artpe pushed down the urge to beat him up, and he continued his explanation.

“It is as I’ve said, lord.  If we do our best, no one will complain even if we destroy all their possessions.”

“That is why I said we should ignore the boats to put up the 3rd tier barriers…. Ooh-mmm?”

At that moment, the lord finally understood what Artpe was getting at.  The raising of the 3rd tier barriers weren’t their best option….  If they did their absolute best, they would be able to raise the 2nd barrier!

The lord’s face was filled with shock.  At that moment, Artpe smirked as he continued speaking.

“In the process of us fighting hard, we can destroy all the ships.  We can sink them all, and they wouldn’t be able must up a complaint.  Aren’t I right?”

“Y…you.”

Devil!  The Devil was right in front of him!  The lord’s face turned pale as he shook his head.  There had been a hint of a smile on Artpe’s lips, but now that smile deepened.  The words that drove the final nail in was spoken by Artpe.

“If we are to do this, we have to do it now, lord.  The figures from the foreign lands are all gathered at the auction house.”

“······d…did you perhap put all of this into your calculation!”

When Artpe heard his words, the corner of his mouth lifted as he smiled.  Yes, this was the moment he had been waiting for.  From a deep place inside his soul, the instincts of the Four Heavenly king boiled up to the surface.  He started bluffing hard!

“Of course!  From the beginning to the end, I’ve calculated everything!”

Of course, he was lying.

The lord’s whole body shook at such ruthless and evil calculations made by the magician.

However, it didn’t take him too long to nod his head.