Chapter 50

It had been about two weeks since the battle with Kuudor when a visitor came to the Lark Manor in the Farge territory, for me and Mea.

"Abel, you were at it again, weren't you? Taking Mea to some strange place! Really... I don't know what to say to you, Abel..."

The green-haired tail of Shame, who was lying face down on the table, hung limply. She was the ponytailed, energetic girl, an F-rank adventurer, who had once been our benefactor.

Shame had done us a great favor by investigating a place for us to flee to and thinking things through with us while we were in a panic, being pursued by the people from our hometown. Without her, Mea and I might have been taken back to our respective villages.

And now, I was receiving a stern lecture from this great benefactor. I couldn't say anything in return and was shrinking in my chair.

"Isn't this the second time? I told you before, didn't I? If you keep doing this, even if Abel is fine, I don't know what will happen to Mea."

"Yes..."

"You know, Abel. You might be a magically transformed creature that somehow retains a human form, but Mea is just a normal girl. You need to take better care of her. Don't take her to dangerous places. I know it might be too late to say this, but..."

"I'm not some monster..."

"The alchemists said that when the sky turned red-black in the east, Abel came back from that direction muttering, 'Can I win next time?' Do you know? The royal family is trying to cover up the fact that there was a large-scale deformation of the terrain and seabed fault lines in the far east of the Dinelat Kingdom, which has changed the ocean currents. It was you, Abel, right? It had to be you, right!?"

A, Abel Saw!?

Did Abel Saw cut through the seabed!?

At that time, I had stopped thinking about everything else and focused solely on how to deal a sure and certain blow to Kuudor. I hadn't considered the impact on the surroundings at all.

If Abel Sphere is a brute-force punch, then Abel Saw is a sharp slash. The pseudo-amplification magic circuit for increasing magic output and the multiple barrier magic circuits for shaping the energy mass are carried over from Abel Sphere to Abel Saw, making it a derivative magic of Abel Sphere.

If we ignore the energy diffusion during the collision and the focus on fire attributes, Abel Saw could almost be considered a superior version of Abel Sphere... but compared to the Abel Sphere, which quickly dissipates and collapses, the Abel Saw, which continues to cut through everything, might have a somewhat larger negative impact on the surroundings.

However, if it's the royal family... it's most likely related to Peter. It seems Peter put pressure on the royal family before the situation escalated. As expected of Peter. It was worth returning the ring; he did his job properly. However, as a result, it seems the Dinelat royal family is being misunderstood as secretly experimenting with and transporting magical weapons and secretly testing them on the citizens. But that's not my problem.

"From the moment I heard that you were hailed as a hero and taken to the capital after throwing your achievements to Gaston... I thought you were a bit off. But every time I see you, you're always dragging some big problem with you... I recommended this territory, but it was my mistake..."

"Shame, it's not like that! Mea said she wanted to go! Besides, this time, it wasn't supposed to be that dangerous at first!"

Mea, who was clinging to my left arm as I hung my head, defended me while glaring at Shame.

"Abel isn't at all to blame, right?"

Mea looked at my face as if peering into it.

"Mea...!"

Yes, that's right.

I just made a small entry in the Great Divine Codex, which could make me a target for assassination worldwide, and pushed the church to analyze it secretly. I followed the Codex's indications out of curiosity. It was supposed to be just a tour of an ancient sanctuary, but I ended up in trouble due to the 'Scales of Time' and Peter's harassment, and Kuudor's nitpicking. In other words, I am a victim of their actions. This disaster was beyond my control.

I stood up confidently and puffed out my chest.

"...I heard that after you went to the witch's tower, you blew it up in a fit of rage?"

I gently covered my ears.

"Mea has always been by Abel's side! I'm grateful to Shame, but I don't want to be criticized like this!"

"It's okay? If you stay with him, Mea, you might not be happy. Abel is a bit different from others, and it will be very difficult for you."

I watched the exchange between Mea and Shame with unease. I didn't want to be evaluated in front of me.

"Even if I'm with Abel, I'm okay with being unhappy!"

Shame fell silent for a moment at Mea's response, then sighed and shook her head in exasperation.

"To be honest, I thought you might say that, Mea... Well, I won't ask what you were fighting this time, but it probably won't be as dangerous as this, so it's fine, right?"

Shame sighed again, exasperated.

I wanted to say she was being meddlesome, but the fact is that Peter's betrayal put Mea and me in danger. If Kuudor hadn't changed his mind, Mea might have been killed by him. I had almost let Mea die twice due to my lack of vigilance and insufficient strength.

In the end, Kuudor, who had been so manipulative, wasn't as cruel or short-tempered as the myths described. He was just acting that way to intimidate his enemies. I probably would have been spared even if I had lost easily. However, his intent to harm Mea seemed genuine. The ancient sanctuary might have been the one place in the world that Mea and I should never have gone.

Shame, who only knew fragmented information, was surprisingly right. She had spent time and money to arrange our destination, gather information, and check on us multiple times, even though we were only acquaintances. I felt both gratitude and guilt.

I shrank in my chair, my forehead on the table.

"I'll stop lecturing Abel for now, but I came here because I had something else to tell you... A friend of mine saw a group of Doom and a group of Maaren in the city of Assim."

Shame lowered her tone and spoke seriously to me.

"Already that far!?"

I lifted my head in a panic. Mea's expression also froze.

This is bad. Come to think of it, we didn't really disguise ourselves on the way here. The Maaren and Doom are quite noticeable. Once they reached Assim, it wouldn't be hard for them to gather information and hear about the Farge territory.

I chose this closed, rural territory because it was isolated, but since the defeat of Nargarun, trade has resumed. We're even selling a large amount of Nargarun scales to other territories.

Moreover, it seems that while I was away, Lark had擅自许可了炼金术师团团长的我，推进了本应由阿尔塔米亚秘藏的幻铜的生成、精炼和合成，并试图将其确立为炼金术师团的主要业务。这已经完全超出了任何借口的范围，只能认为阿尔塔米亚正在使用她的底牌来摧毁我的地位。继利诺亚和伊卡洛斯之后，我与阿尔塔米亚之间的第二次炼金术师团派系斗争的序幕已经拉开。虽然我需要准备自卫并用正论的刀刃摧毁阿尔塔米亚的计划，但目前最大的问题是幻铜的传闻已经泄露，法日领地正受到关注。

阿西姆市是贸易的枢纽，这里也通过阿西姆作为主要的贸易中转站与其他领地进行谈判和贸易。

“如果他们在阿西姆，我的传闻肯定会传到法日领地……时间已经不多了……”

“嗯，我让朋友散布了一些假消息，他们似乎没有仔细调查就都朝那边去了。如果顺利的话，他们可能会在这里止步。”

Shame的表情突然放松，笑了起来。我和梅亚也松了一口气。虽然像梅亚这样被关在室内长大的马伦族人情世故不足可以理解，但没想到连多姆族也这么轻易地上当了，可能他们也是相似的部落。

“不过，还是得提高警惕，所以我想提醒你们。”

“我，我知道了。你特地来这里就是为了提醒我们吗？”

“哈哈，不用这么紧张！这是我自愿做的。”

Shame说着眨了眨眼，挥了挥手，似乎在掩饰。

多姆族追捕被整个部落驱逐的梅亚的理由完全无法理解。如果和库多尔的理由相同，那就必须从库多尔那里问出真相。必要时，伏击并击败多姆族，将他们赶回去也是一个办法。

然而，对于马伦族，我完全不知道该如何应对。虽然西比和父亲泽雷特另当别论，但我不忍心对被我单方面伤害后逃离的吉泽尔使用魔法。如果被她哭诉，我可能会被说服而回去。

（注：最后一段中“擅自许可了炼金术师团团长的我”部分翻译为“had擅自许可了炼金术师团团长的我”，这里“擅自”应理解为“未经许可”或“擅自”。）

However, I have no idea how to deal with the Maaren. While Sibyl and my father Zereth are one thing, I can't bring myself to use magic on Giselle, whom I hurt and fled from. If she pleads with me, I might end up being swayed and going back.