Chapter 12

Perhaps it's only natural that he's awkward when dealing with people.

"Still, you don't have to be so mean to me every time..."

Olivia puffs out her cheeks.

She pokes Duk-Sung Kim's cheek again.

Kim Duk-Sung doesn't wake up.

"I can't let this go. I really need to teach you proper manners..."

Olivia pouts.

The image of Kim Duk-Sung holding Durandal in his hand comes to mind.

His appearance, wielding the same magic light, the same hair color, and the same sword style as her admired older brother.

"If you're going to be the owner of Durandal, a man who has the French Empire's princess as his exclusive maid, you need to have the appropriate dignity."

Olivia grumbles as usual and gently strokes Kim Duk-Sung's black hair.

This is the time when she, who is not honest, can freely vent her thoughts through monologues while he is unconscious.

"Well, it's not like it's the worst situation or anything."

She hears his steady breathing near her ear.

"Annoying..."

A faint smile appears on her lips.

*

A familiar headache is felt.

A soft touch is also felt at the back of his head.

His consciousness gradually returns.

Wait, a soft touch?

What is this?

"Ugh..."

A strange groan escapes his mouth.

He opens his eyes with difficulty.

His vision is blurry.

"Ah, are you regaining consciousness? You?"

A familiar voice comes from above.

Olivia's voice.

But why from above?

His vision clears up.

He sees Olivia's beautiful face, looking down at him, so close that their breaths touch.

A fresh, invigorating shampoo scent lingers at the tip of his nose, out of place in the dim cave.

He looks around.

The deepest part of the ruins, a damp floor, but the place where he is lying is dry, and he is resting his head on Olivia's thighs.

'Warm.'

A pleasant warmth is felt.

A platinum-colored fireball created by his flame ability hovers around him.

It's warm.

A comfortable environment, unlike anything in the cave.

It seems she was more considerate than he expected.

"Why are you suddenly so... What's gotten into you?"

It's a bit surprising.

She was probably going to just leave him there.

"That's nonsense! I don't need your delusions! I didn't take care of you because you're cute!"

Olivia's reply comes back.

Her neck is red.

"Right."

He closes and opens his eyes.

"Thank you."

Regardless of Olivia's dishonest personality, gratitude is gratitude.

Her face flushes at the words of thanks.

She turns her head and averts her gaze.

"Hmph. There's no need to thank me for something obvious. I didn't do it to get your thanks. I did it out of duty. I have no personal feelings for someone like you!"

Wow.

To hear such a line live, which just reading makes my face hot.

"Hearing that, I finally feel like I'm alive."

Indeed, it's clear that I'm still in this damn light novel world.

I'm going crazy.

He closes his eyes.

"What nonsense is this?!"

"Stop it. I'm about to die of embarrassment because of you."

"Be quiet! Seeing you talk nonsense, it's clear you're fine now! Get up immediately!"

"I don't want to. It's cozy here."

It's the truth.

The knee pillow is better than expected.

"Pervert! Shameless! Sea cucumber! Sea urchin! Squid! Get up now!"

Olivia, her face red, forcibly pulls him up.

He sighs and gets up.

"Ugh!"

Crack, crack.

As he stretches, his joints crack with a groan.

He loosens his stiff body on the spot.

He closes his eyes and observes his inner self.

He can feel the magic veins in his chest cooling down from the overheating.

He tries to move his magic power.

A thread of magic power from the magic veins flows through the magic circuit and heads to his right hand, which is touching the wall.

The magic power is spread thinly like a thread, and he expands his senses to detect the inside of the stone wall.

'I found it.'

He feels an empty space.

He opens his eyes.

"Olivia."

"Yes?"

"Break that wall over there."

He points to a part of the wall with his finger.

"Alright."

This time, without grumbling, Olivia picks up Flamberge.

Flame.

A platinum-colored magic flame attaches to Flamberge.

Olivia swings her sword.

The piercing strike cuts through the darkness and collides with the stone wall.

Boom.

A loud noise resounds, and the wall collapses with dust, revealing a hidden space.

There is the artifact.

A long, rectangular device, like a tube, is half-buried in the wall, with pipes connected to it in a chaotic manner.

It's the Baptismal Tube.

Now, it's finally time to awaken my Gift.

Baptismal Tube

'It looks like an iron maiden.'

I felt the same when I saw it in the animation, but it looks even more like one in real life.

"This is the artifact..."

Olivia, who followed, trails off.

The reward from the ruins is one of two things: an artifact or a Lost Technology.

Artifacts are mysterious items that produce results beyond modern technology, and Lost Technologies are advanced techniques from another world that surpass modern standards.

The setting is that humanity has used artifacts and Lost Technologies to fend off invasions from another world.

Some of the artifacts are superweapons, which are Transcendent Armaments.

All the superweapons created by human civilization are inferior copies of Transcendent Armaments.

'Human-made Transcendent Armaments will appear later, but not yet.'

Recalling the original setting, Durandal feels even more reliable.

Securing the Transcendent Armament Durandal was indeed a good choice.

In a world where the quality of equipment determines half the battle, the value of a good superweapon is beyond imagination.

'To think she would try to take it just for a fight...'

Olivia looks more annoying than ever.

He turns his gaze to her.

Their eyes meet as Olivia touches the pipes half-buried in the wall.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Just, you're annoying."

"That's what I should be saying!"

The expected response comes back.

Looking at her continuously, she seems a bit cute.

Cute?

'Have I gone mad living in this crazy world?'

He shakes his head.

"What effect does this artifact have?"

Olivia asks.

"Gift awakening."

"Huh? What do you mean...?"

"A Gift awakening function that uses magic stones as fuel. However, those who are not suitable or have already awakened their Gift cannot use it to awaken their Gift."

It's an artifact that fits the rule of 'those who are meant to will, those who are not will not.'

In the original, the Baptismal Tube eventually falls into the hands of the New World League and is misused to awaken the Gifts of villains.

The setting is that the New World League was actually behind Mad Hatter.

There's an episode in the middle where they retrieve it, but that's irrelevant now.

'The setting book said that if Kim Duk-Sung awakened his Gift, he would have had dark powers.'

Strangely, in the official setting book titled "The Weakest Hero Has All the Powers of the World Saver," there is content about Kim Duk-Sung.

In his profile, which was inexplicably included, it was stated that he had a Gift aptitude and would have possessed dark powers if he had awakened his Gift.

'Dark powers.'

A Gift that can manipulate all forms of darkness, including shadows.

It's considered one of the top-tier Gifts in the story.

It's also the ability of the Black Prince and the final boss.

Why such a powerful setting was given to a mere extra character is unknown, but since the original Kim Duk-Sung couldn't even awaken his Gift and died, the potential abilities listed in the setting book have no real meaning in the story.

It's more like a hidden setting, or rather, the author's bad taste.

'That hidden setting might actually be useful to me.'

Of course, not in reality.

Now it's time to make the hidden setting a reality.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute. What do you mean by awakening your Gift? That's absurd!"

Olivia is startled.

"Artifacts turn the impossible into the possible."

"Even so, a Gift is an innate talent..."

"In the world after the Great Catastrophe, common sense isn't very useful. The same goes for common sense about Gifts."

"The Great Catastrophe..."

Olivia's lips tremble.

To her, who admires the hero who ended the Great Catastrophe, the Black Prince, the Great Catastrophe has a special meaning.

So she can't help but be drawn in by the keywords I throw at her.

As expected.

It's nice that it's quiet.

Leaving Olivia, who is lost in thought, he heads to the altar in the center of the room.

He places the green magic stone he was holding on the altar.

The altar shows no reaction.

'Not enough yet, I guess.'

He channels magic power into Durandal.

Hum.

The hilt shakes, and a gap in a dark space opens in the air.

A quantum storage space, in other words, an inventory.

He takes out all the magic stones he has collected from his inventory and pours them onto the altar.

The altar reacts.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

The room shakes with a loud noise.

"What, what is this?!"

Olivia's startled voice is heard.

The magic stones on the altar emit a dazzling, multicolored light.