Chapter 1917 – 1917. Dark Moon
Merlin’s Numbers.
This refers to the artifacts Merlin used. Only two Numbers are known in the present era, and both are priceless treasures of Neo London.
“Th-that’s a Number?!”
Professor Hemmington shouts in disbelief. Her wide eyes are filled with both skepticism and anticipation.
The two known Number artifacts are both Grade 10 artifacts. Grade 10. That unbelievable level of power is contained within an artifact. That alone makes it priceless, but it’s one of Merlin’s Numbers? If it were offered to Neo London, she could gain immense wealth and perhaps even a seat at the Neo Round Table.
‘That’s what she’s thinking.’
No.6 Phantasm.
A Grade 10 artifact.
‘Originally, it’s a disposable item.’
It drops as a disposable artifact under the tattered name of No.6 Phantasm. But the Phantasm in my hand now isn’t tattered. It’s so clean that you could believe it’s brand new.
‘Someone, I don’t know who, figured out that you can get a complete Phantasm by using recovery on the Red Dragon and killing it, and spread the word.’
The downside is that the combat difficulty increases a bit. But the fact that you can easily obtain a Grade 10 artifact makes that downside negligible.
‘The only downside is that it’s a bit ambiguous for combat use.’
Still, it’s an incredible item. If I sell it to the right person, I could aim for a title higher than a Count.
‘This is mine. I can’t just give away something this precious.’
I was about to put on the Phantasm, a navy blue cape coat, when—
“Put that down right now!!”
Professor Hemmington shouts. Her reason consumed by greed, she was like a starving beast.
“What if I don’t want to?”
Professor Hemmington bites her lip.
“…Calm down. Calm down and listen to me. It’s hard to dispose of something of that level. Unlike you, a mercenary, I have excellent connections. I have many people working in the council, so I can sell ancient relics for their true value. 7 to 3. You get 7 and I get 3. Doesn’t that sound tempting?”
“Tempting? No way. Even 9 to 1 wouldn’t be tempting.”
“If I can’t have it, you can’t have it either. With the Devil’s Hand, I can eliminate you and that item at the same time. Please, don’t do anything foolish.”
“Haha. Who’s being foolish? The Phantasm is mine. No matter what you do, the Phantasm will never be yours. Kill me with the Devil’s Hand? Go ahead and try.”
“You little…!!”
A burst of sound erupts from Professor Hemmington’s arm, followed by a fountain of blood. A massive amount of energy is generated in her palm, turning into a beam that flies towards me.
I used the Phantasm’s ability.
The only ability of Phantasm, Merlin’s Grade 10 artifact, was this:
Absolute Polymorph.
It allows you to transform into a target if you deeply understand it or have its genetic information. In other words, if the conditions are met, you could even transform into a dragon.
And right in front of me, I had the genetic information of a dragon.
The blood spilled by the Red Dragon touches my toes.
[Absolute Polymorph]
My body grows larger, and scales sprout on my skin. My sense of taste and hearing are slightly dulled, but my other senses are even sharper.
KWAHAAAAANG!
The beam fired by Professor Hemmington hits my chest. It stings a little, but there are no other injuries.
“Krrruurr…”
I exhale in dissatisfaction. I don’t need to look in a mirror to know. I must be a Red Dragon hatchling right now.
“N-no way… A human transforming into a dragon…! Is, is this Merlin’s Number?! G-give it to me! It’s mine!”
Professor Hemmington, having used the Devil’s Hand and lost an arm, approaches me, bleeding. Blinded by greed, she doesn’t seem to grasp the situation.
I open my mouth wide. If I’ve become a dragon, it’s only natural to use a breath attack. I was about to inhale when I paused. I tried to heat my chest with air and mana, but the cold prevented it from heating up.
‘Then…’
I use my power.
Fzzzt.
Lightning gathers in my mouth, resonating with the Dragon Heart. My lungs tingle, and a massive force gathers in my mouth.
I hold it in until the limit and then exhale.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The lightning breath engulfs Professor Hemmington.
‘I never thought the day would come when I’d use a lightning breath.’
Thump thump!
I take a step forward, approaching Professor Hemmington’s corpse. It’s my first time being a dragon, so my steps are very awkward and unstable.
Only two of Professor Hemmington’s shins remain. The rest seems to have vanished, as if annihilated.
‘Hmm.’
With this, all the members of the Hemmington expedition and the mercenaries are dead, except for me.
‘There were some variables, but it went according to plan in the end.’
I transform back from a dragon to a human. The sensation of being a dragon was amazing, but it was awkward and hard to endure since I was originally human.
Back in human form, I casually dusted off the Phantasm I was wearing.
‘The Phantasm is one thing, but the most valuable thing in this ancient ruin is this door.’
I walked towards the door in the center of the ancient ruin. The large door where the Red Dragon had emerged was now tightly shut.
A single large door with a total of five doors overlapping it.
‘World Door.’
Players called this door the Anywhere Door. It was a door for convenience, allowing you to go anywhere in the world. With this door, you could go anywhere in the world.
I reached out towards the door. Specifically, towards the center of the door, the part with the round hole. I put my hand into the hole without hesitation. Something caught on my fingertip. I pulled it out as if drawing it out.
A key.
It was a roughly designed key, as if carved from stone.
If this were a game, this information window would probably pop up:
No.9 World Door.
An artifact favored by Merlin.
You can go anywhere there is a door with a designated coordinate.
There were five small beads embedded at the end of the key, three gray and two blue. It can store five coordinates, but currently only two coordinates are stored.
As in the original story, one location is here. The other is supposed to be in the north.
‘If there’s a door, I can move to the designated coordinates anytime.’
In the original game, it was an essential artifact to obtain for convenience. With this, you could move from one end of the continent to the other in one second.
‘The downside is that you have to go to the location yourself to designate the coordinates.’
I take the key.
I’ll leave the ancient ruin alone for a while. The main body of the World Door is the large door in front of me. If I try to move it carelessly and it breaks, it would be a disaster.
‘I’ll go back and report. I’ll say the expedition was annihilated due to internal strife.’
Miskatonic knows about the corruption that Professor Hemmington and Cliff committed. That’s why they cut off funding for the expedition. Even if I say the expedition was annihilated due to internal strife, they won’t doubt it. They’ll think Professor Hemmington was capable of that.
‘Miskatonic University has already decided to get rid of Professor Hemmington, so they’ll probably think it’s a good thing. If Professor Hemmington were alive, she would have dragged them into a messy fight with lawsuits.’
Those who lent money or invested in the expedition would be annoyed, but that’s all. There’s nothing they can do.
• • •
“So, the Hemmington expedition was annihilated due to internal strife at the ancient ruins? You expect me to believe that?”
“Yeah. The ancient ruins were empty. That made Professor Hemmington go crazy. You can go back and check.”
“You didn’t kill them all, did you?”
“Why would I do something like that?”
“……Haa. This isn’t good. Anyway, you failed the request. It was a mission to escort the client, and the client died.”
“I’ll have to take that into account.”
“Tsk. In the end, you just wasted time without getting anything.”
“……”
I gained an enormous profit compared to the time I invested. I held back the urge to blurt it out.
It’s not that I don’t trust Rose. But what I gained was too big to reveal everything based on trust alone. It’s best to keep my mouth shut in case things go wrong.
“Haa. Just thinking about restoring my reputation makes my head ache. It’s harder to rebuild a reputation than to build it in the first place.”
“I don’t care about reputation.”
“It’s not about your reputation, it’s about mine. If you fail, my reputation as a broker will naturally drop.”
“……I see.”
“Anyway, I have to take comfort in the fact that I received an advance payment. What are you going to do? Are you going to take another request right away?”
“I’m going to rest for a while.”
“Are you hurt?”
“It’s not that. I have something to do.”
“Ah. Business related?”
“Something like that.”
I said goodbye to Rose and returned to my mansion in District G.
I approached the cherry tree in the center of the garden.
‘It seemed to be growing fast… but after a few days, nothing has changed.’
The bare branches, like a winter tree, had not a single leaf. It was exactly the same as before I left.
‘It seemed to grow several centimeters a day when I was here. Do I need to maintain a constant mental connection?’
I placed my hand on the cherry tree. My mana seeped into the cherry tree. I opened the astral and resonated with the cherry tree. The cherry tree asked irritably why I was so late.
‘I was working.’
It said it was hungry and wanted food. It whined that it wanted chicken. Even though I’m a chicken restaurant owner, I could feed it as much chicken as it wanted. I ordered the butler and maids to bring chicken.
While listening to the cherry tree’s grumbling, I moved my hand to stroke it. The cherry tree came to life. Pale pink cherry blossoms shyly bloomed on the bare branches. The scent of cherry blossoms filled the surroundings.
Fzzzt.
Sparks flew between the cherry blossoms.
‘I am your master. I am your master. I am your master.’
The cherry tree lamented that it was too noisy.
• • •
Entering my office, I took out the World Door from my pocket and inserted it into the keyhole. Turning it to the right would connect to the stored coordinates, and turning it to the left would store a coordinate. I turned it to the left. This was my residence, so I needed to store the coordinates.
One of the three gray beads at the end of the key turned blue. With this, there were a total of three coordinates designated on the World Door.
‘Shall we go?’
