I got into school for nothing - 262
I got into school for nothing (262)
Lesson 51. A Solid Alliance - 4
“Wow, that genuinely startled me.”
[That's exactly what I was thinking! How did he appear at that precise moment?!]
The instant they plunged through the dimensional barrier, Lilyth and Eve, having returned to Ban Yuwon's side by employing the spatial transfer ability linked to his Giwon Sword, were buzzing with excitement.
It was no wonder; they had just successfully infiltrated, disguised as an Exodus executive, enthusiastically wielded Requiem to breach the pirate fleet, and declared, “Alright, objective complete, I'm returning!”—only for the man himself to appear from the dimensional barrier, leading an entire fleet.
It was fortunate that they'd swapped out at such a perfect moment that the Crimson Spear scoundrels hadn't noticed; otherwise, they would have been caught in a concentrated barrage from both sides.
“You both worked hard, Eve. Lilyth, too. It was dangerous, but thanks to you, the stage is perfectly set.”
“Sssiiishit.”
By this point, it wasn't a suspicion but a certainty that she could speak, yet Ban Yuwon saw no reason to press her if she preferred not to.
Besides, they could communicate perfectly well with just tongue flicks and breaths.
“My mercenary career might be brief, but this is genuinely the first time I've encountered a request as frantic as this.”
As she watched Crimson Spear and Exodus clash in real-time on the video feed provided by Tikke—with the Guardian Alliance caught helplessly between them—Kiira shook her head.
The earring dangling from her ear swayed captivatingly.
“Though my body was overwhelmingly comfortable.”
As if preparing to fully immerse herself in the space battle, Ban Yumi remarked nonchalantly, tearing open a snack bag beside him.
Only moments before, she had been tensing every muscle, poised to leap into battle against the pirates; now, she looked ready to sprawl out completely on the floor.
From her readiness for combat to her immediate relaxation the moment the fight vanished, she resembled nothing less than a wild beast.
The earring dangling from her ear gleamed with brilliant light.
“What's the point of a comfortable body? We're flat broke, after all. Because someone decided to loot the entire ruin on a whim.”
“Broke? Not at all.”
Anneri retorted, flicking the earring that dangled from her ear in response to Seldon's grumbling.
Unable to endure the three women's blatant and irritating earring flaunting, Seldon finally shot to his feet.
“Oh, you're that happy just because you each got an identical earring as a gift? Sis, I'll buy you a ring with a massive diamond, so just sit tight and wait right there!”
“No, I don't need yours. Sit.”
“I've truly been wronged...”
“Seldon, quiet down for a moment. It's getting exciting, isn't it?”
At the opportune moment, Kang Eunyoung silenced Seldon's bluster.
Since Kang Eunyoung was practically the only one in the mercenary group who treated Seldon like a human, he couldn't raise his voice further and grudgingly slumped back into his seat.
However, he noticed the bracelet on her wrist swaying.
Seldon turned to Ban Yuwon, an incredulous expression on his face, and spoke.
“...Hey, am I the only one who didn't get one?”
“Am I mad? Why would I give a gift to a guy?”
“Woah...!”
Seldon, glancing nervously at Kang Eunyoung and Anneri, couldn't bring himself to shout, settling instead for a look of utter disbelief.
Conversely, Ban Yuwon was dumbfounded as to why Seldon would even expect a gift from him, but he decided not to point it out.
However, there was an element of truth in what he'd said.
“I haven't distributed what we acquired from the ruins yet. Here are your shares.”
As he spoke, Ban Yuwon produced a gold ingot crafted from rare metals discovered in the ruin—half of what he'd found.
All the Dragon-Slaying Sword replicas had been absorbed by Requiem and were gone, and as for the books, they wouldn't be able to read them even if he gave them out, so this was all he could offer.
Even so, it was fundamentally a portion of the metal that comprised the Dragon-Slaying Sword, mixed with materials utterly unobtainable in the current world, even if one died and was resurrected; its value was undoubtedly immense.
“I may have taken a considerable share, but you wouldn't have been able to enter the ruin without me, so I suggest you be content with this.”
“No, Master Yuwon did everything anyway, how can we possibly accept this?! ...Newbie, you're dead meat later.”
Anneri, shooting Seldon a look that genuinely promised his demise, pushed the offered spoils back towards him.
But Ban Yuwon didn't take them, and instead, he spoke.
“I've been continuously analyzing the books excavated from the ruin, and it seems... True Dragon material is mixed within this metal.”
“What did you say?!”
It was comical how Anneri, who had just been pushing the material away, instinctively yanked it back towards herself.
As Ban Yuwon chuckled softly, Anneri belatedly realized the instinctual act she had committed and looked flustered, yet the strength in her grip on the metal never faltered.
It was a material so precious she couldn't yield it, even in front of Ban Yuwon, her ‘ultimate bias’.
At the mention of a “True Dragon,” Kiira, who had darted over to their side, also examined the brightly gleaming silver metal with a fresh, wondrous expression.
“A True Dragon... how could a True Dragon? Their very existence is now doubted. A Dragon-Slaying Sword? To slay a dragon, you'd need to use material made from a captured dragon, is that the idea?”
“Something to that effect.”
Ban Yuwon produced a research book he'd found inside the ruin and opened it.
It was written in a mixture of an ancient language and another with a distinctly different grammatical system, which he suspected was Draconic.
A top-secret document, so potent that an unqualified person would be repelled by a powerful curse the moment they even attempted to open it, let alone read it.
Of course, such defenses were useless against Ban Yuwon, the master of the Authority of Language, and the document was now, albeit slowly, being translated page by page.
“It's clearly stated in Asha's ancestor's research records concerning the creation of the Dragon-Slaying Sword. They would grind the bones and scales of their own kind, boil them in blood, and then begin experiments, mixing that concoction with various metals. Each individual step of such an alchemical process holds profound magical significance, so it would be difficult to replicate carelessly.”
Ban Yuwon pointed to a drawing that prominently filled an entire page of the book and spoke.
It was an exaggerated illustration, in the same style as the one drawn on the ruin wall, depicting a colossal dragon being thrust into a furnace, with metal being extracted from it.
As an alloy, it would naturally contain other metals beyond just the dragon material, but those likely wouldn't be ordinary either.
The book also warned that to melt and process the gold ingot, one must adhere strictly to the sequence described in the text; any other method could provoke a horrific curse or a magical explosion.
“Even if, by some miracle, someone unconnected to Camelot or a True Dragon managed to acquire this metal from the ruin, they would undoubtedly have brought about a terrible disaster by handling it without consulting the book.”
“Isn't this book more terrifying than the metal? It's like an otherworldly Necronomicon.”
“Sis, you really need to shed those Earthling sensibilities.”
“Yumi, if you're going to pursue a mercenary life, you need to learn what's truly valuable.”
Unlike those born in other dimensions, Ban Yumi, having been born on Earth, still didn't grasp the immense significance of True Dragons, and wore an unconcerned expression. But Kang Eunyoung gave her shoulder a sharp slap.
It seemed even her mother, who had weathered countless storms and remained unfazed by most matters, couldn't retain her composure this time.
“If it's truly True Dragon material, then this is... not something a fledgling mercenary group should be handling.”
“Don't worry, Lady Seira. In the first place, no one would be able to recognize an alloy made from True Dragon material anyway.”
“We'll need to find a blacksmith with a sealed mouth.”
Even if it was only half, having been acquired by scouring the entire ruin, it would be enough to satisfactorily arm every member.
As the members were all equally surprised and delighted, Seldon, too, was ecstatic. However, he soon became aware of Anneri's piercing gaze upon him and immediately bowed 90 degrees to Ban Yuwon.
“I apologize, Big Bro!”
“The man who wouldn't call me Big Bro even after getting hit... No thanks.”
And for some reason, his behavior was oddly thuggish, which Ban Yuwon didn't appreciate.
Sighing, Ban Yuwon turned his attention back to the video feed. Suddenly, he sensed a change on the screen and tilted his head.
“What's that ship?”
“A ship?”
Kiira pressed herself against his back, her eyes on the screen, and her jaw dropped.
“What—what is this? Why are *they* here?”
“Who is it? Did one of the Ten Great Families show up?”
Even if the sky were to collapse, nothing could make Anneri rush at this moment.
Only after meticulously relocating the rare metals to the safest possible location she knew and completing the storage did she approach them.
In the cosmic expanse where the two dimensional pirate groups and the Guardian Alliance were locked in a three-way battle, a colossal spaceship suddenly materialized, its single hull dwarfing all of theirs combined. Upon seeing the musical note insignia carved into its side, she reacted no less strongly than Kiira.
“Melodia... It truly *is* one of the Ten Great Families?!”
The Ten Great Families are bound by a restriction that prevents them from directly intervening in events unfolding within lower-ranked dimensions.
During last summer vacation, wasn't there an outpouring of criticism and warnings even for Prominence's indirect maneuver of creating an Orc Wave to assault Earth?
To move freely, unburdened by these various restrictions, requires several conditions. Melodia either disregarded those conditions... or they fulfilled them. It must be one of the two.
“Oh my, I never would have imagined another faction would truly appear.”
Kang Eunyoung muttered with a troubled expression, then cast a sharp glance at Anneri.
“We won't be found out, will we?”
“Of course, Lady Seira. Even if the Melodia Family Head came personally, she wouldn't know.”
Erasing evidence is a ninja's fundamental skill.
Already, not a single trace of metal made from True Dragon material remained in this space.
Naturally, Ban Yuwon also gathered all the materials he'd brought out and then crammed the research book—which would undoubtedly drive anyone connected to dragons into a frenzy, though he wasn't entirely sure why—deep into his inventory.
Meanwhile, Melodia's spaceship unleashed a light wave, freezing and shattering dozens of vessels from the two dimensional pirate groups in the vicinity.
With just a single, effortless display of magic.
Of course, there was no telling how many mages inside the spaceship had jointly cast the spell, but in just one move—they had annihilated nearly 70% of the dimensional pirates' forces.
—Retreat.
The message broadcast from the spaceship was equally brief and clear.
The Exodus vessels that had miraculously survived, whether commanded by an executive or not, immediately turned their ships without a word, but Crimson Spear did not.
—This move seems too casual for one of the Ten Great Families. We might be easily handled, but what about those backing us?
A tone of extreme arrogance and self-assurance.
Was this the image of a fox running rampant, borrowing the tiger's might?
Perhaps a significant reason Crimson Spear had so rapidly expanded its influence was its willingness to openly display the existence of its powerful backers, rather than concealing them.
...But today, they had chosen the wrong opponent.
When Melodia's spaceship unleashed another wave, Crimson Spear's fleet, despite its evasive maneuvers, was utterly annihilated, leaving but a single vessel intact.
—Relay this to your master.
A voice devoid of pitch or inflection resonated through the vacuum of space.
—What we fear are only the One who sundered the worlds and the fundamental laws of this grand universe. As for foolish moths that preen even after losing their Unquenchable Flame, we can crush them at any time.
Indeed, it seemed they lacked the courage to repeat their provocation even in that dire situation.
With only a single vessel remaining, Crimson Spear obediently turned its prow and vanished beyond the dimensional barrier.
As Ban Yuwon watched, seriously pondering, “Could I do that, too?”, Kang Eunyoung let out a low groan and spoke.
“It appears something truly significant has happened that permits Melodia's intervention in this dimension.”
“A True Dragon. Melodia is a dimension that carries on the legacy of the True Dragons. Naturally, they possess special agreements related to them. Perhaps... Lady Seira, they might already have an inkling of what was excavated from the ruin this time.”
Anneri, who had just confidently declared that even the Melodia Family Head wouldn't know, was now muttering with a look of genuine fright.
Ban Yuwon, witnessing her fear for the first time, nodded, acknowledging that the Ten Great Dimensions truly were on another level. Then, he quietly opened his mirror and sent a distress signal.
—Me: Save me.
—Aire: I'll see you shortly.
I'm saved.
Friends truly are the best!
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