Chapter 461: Those Who Wish to Remain Unchanged and Ordinary
Haulon turned out to be an accidental mad scientist. No, more like a mad Mage. Please stop cutting yourself for experiments! Given the context, he definitely just cut off his arm, didn’t he!?
While glancing at Haulon’s arm, I prepared some coffee.
“If we’ve gotten stronger because Gene burned it with Spirit, then it’s definitely the Dragon Meat that’s made us a bit more resilient,” Haulon said, sounding rather cheerful.
“Your ‘bit’ is a huge change for me,” Retze replied, half-lidded, as he slumped into a chair.
“I’m glad you’re having fun, but experiments involving pain…”
I was taken aback by Haulon’s unexpected enthusiasm for research.
“I agree. Gene, it’s good that you have some common sense about this—what do you mean burned it with Spirit!? Hey!” Retze was also against human experimentation, but it seemed my cheeks were about to be violated again.
“Stretching, stretching!”
I protested while squirming.
“It’s fine, that’s just temporary. It seems to be coming out stronger than usual. Dragon bodies are easily influenced by Spirit’s Power, or they can store it well,” Haulon said, tilting his head with one hand on his cheek and the other holding a cup.
Why does Haulon look so happy while watching Retze? He’s not planning to use them as test subjects, is he? At least make them mere subjects of observation!
But it makes sense; Dragons are easily influenced by Spirits. That’s why the ancient Dragon Shields were so powerful.
I recalled the Dragon Shield that had been lying in the Earth Folk’s storage, which Gamri had demonstrated by smashing it with a Spirit Axe—no, a Spirit Sword. Even without a Spirit attached, the Spirit Axe didn’t leave a scratch on the shield.
It was a bit strange to realize that it was far stronger than the Spirit Iron that had been influenced by Spirits. So, they’re more susceptible than metals. That clears things up a bit.
“…”
“Whoa!?”
Just as I was lost in thought, my cheeks were stretched again! Sorry, I was distracted!
“There was a rare Dragon, and even a dazzling Great Sage. While draining the blood was unavoidable, don’t use Spirits in cooking. If you use them for everyday tasks, you’ll get addicted,” I was scolded.
I’ve already gotten quite addicted.
“I’m sorry.”
At first, I tried not to let Spirits into the cooking area, but after learning about the Changeling and the Spirits’ taste, my restraint has been shaky. Before I knew it, I was unconsciously relying on Spirits to help me without considering who I was serving the meals to.
“Isn’t it fine? It makes the food taste better,” Haulon said, looking as if he might faint from pulling dishes out of [Storage], but it seemed he had an epiphany.
Oh. Could it be that Haulon is also getting help from Fandor—the Fire Maiden Spirit by his side—in cooking? It would be easier to adjust the heat with her assistance.
“If you’re using them knowingly, that’s one thing, but Gene, you’re just using them on a whim, aren’t you? It’s concerning,” Retze sighed, finally releasing my cheeks.
Being worried about makes me a bit shy, and also a little happy. Just as Retze said, I felt like using Spirits in cooking was normal. I need to be more conscious about it; otherwise, I might unconsciously use them during Guild requests or in front of others.
“Well, since you’ve gone through the trouble of extracting the Spirit from the Dragon, you’ve called another one to attach to it. You really haven’t thought this through,” Haulon laughed.
Guh! Now that you mention it, I hadn’t realized until you pointed it out!
“That said, if Retze has gotten stronger, isn’t that a good thing? —Or is it that you’d be troubled if others asked about how you got stronger?” Haulon glanced at me.
“Of course, I’d pin the reason on the Great Sage. If that doesn’t work, then it’s on Dinoss,” Retze replied.
“Then it’s fine, isn’t it? Why do you resist?” I asked, realizing I could pin the Dragon thing on Haulon. That’s good to know.
“One, it’s beyond my means. Two, I want to understand my own abilities. Occasionally, I might incorporate getting hurt into my actions to gain trust or deceive others. The biggest reason is that it’s not power I’ve earned myself, so I struggle to handle it,” Retze said, taking a sip of his coffee while looking off into the distance.
“Can you both stop with the premise of getting hurt or harming yourselves…?” Can you please stop putting your bodies on the line?
“Right now, it’s probably because we just ate Dragon Meat, and the effects are significant, but whatever we eat will show up in some way. Even if the effects linger, it’ll likely be just a little,” Haulon said, addressing Retze.
“Your ‘little’ seems huge to an ordinary guy like me,” Retze shrugged.
“I’m starting to blur the lines of borrowing power from Spirits too. Maybe I should attach a Spirit for distraction like I planned before and have that Spirit keep an eye on things,” I said, planning to have a small Spirit nearby, like Dean, Dinoss, or Ash, to hide my strange physical abilities and other oddities.
“Having a Spirit as a stopper… Is there a Spirit that seems to have good compatibility?”
“I’m thinking of making something cool with the ‘fine one’ extracted from the red Dragon.”
“…”
“…”
Both of them fell silent!?