Swordmeister of Rome

"Heee-yah!!!"

Sian unlocked his power as soon as the monster took a bite at the hook. The monster would've run if it wasn't for the chain, but it couldn't anymore. Sian began sending Bander into the chain and pulled it with all his might.

The tug of war between the monster and the small human began. Under the law of physics, even if the human was much stronger, the sheer mass of the monster was enough to drag the human off the ground, but the sand which Sian was standing on didn't even move.

Stiel was surprised. This boy was beyond her imagination. It didn't even seem like Sian was the same as a Ra-Bander after all. Ignoring all those laws of physics… a Ra-Bander had no way to control the way one ignored the laws of physics. It all depended on the Ra-Bander's power and the <Way>. Stiel could've won the pulling war, but even she would've been dragged out to the sea. She was thinking of helping Sian if that happened, but she had nothing to do.

"Wow, this is pretty fun! Hahaha! I guess this is why people do fishing!"

"…"

The monster was now running rampant as it couldn't break free from the chain. If Sian didn't protect Lamran with Bander, he would've been crushed to death by the force of the movement. But he probably was feeling enough pounding even then.

As the monster was dragged in, the depth grew shallower and the tremor destroyed all the nearby islands. One roll to the left and there was a crater on the beach, and one roll to the right destroyed an entire island built for a vacation mansion. It all was being witnessed by the city of Margaran on higher ground.

"Oh Gods…"

"This is terrifying…"

It was as if an island was being dragged toward the land. However, the rage was becoming less powerful. The resistance was becoming weaker as the monster was dragged closer to the beach. Sian was now pulling the monster with more room and the beach was left with a huge trace of the monster being dragged in.

Everyone felt a chill run through their spines. As monster was dragged up from the sea, they were able to see the monster in full detail. It did look like a marine animal, but it had six legs that could've been used to walk the lands and it was breathing with its large mouth. People thought they were safe when they moved to higher ground, but that was not the case.

Then they noticed the five big horns and one small one growing on the monster's head. The monster was on the verge of becoming a Six-Horned Harijan. This was, without a doubt, the monster <Bakuron> that killed the Grand Bander a long time ago.

Then people became curious about who was at the other end of that chain. Was it Broxian, the legendary Emperor, who had returned to save their city?

Even though they could see the unmoving Harijan on the beach, they couldn't come down. They were now more afraid of the person at the other end of the chain. They could not do anything but watch the monster and their half-destroyed city.

"Yeeeyah."

Sian opened up the monster's mouth. The monster had no sign of resisting as it only rolled its eight eyes. It tried to resist when it was far away, but the sheer terror made it freeze and it was unable to think. The monster also remembered provoking Sian, so it did not dare to make a move.

Sian took out the hook from its mouth and opened up the door to take Lamran out. He was unconscious but still alive as Sian had protected him. He was covered with bruises, but it seemed okay as he was still tightly holding onto the crown.

Sian thought about taking the crown, but he figured it was useless as the artifact made the user dumb, so he decided to leave it be.

After putting Lamran aside, Sian turned up to the fish he just fished up.

"Heh, you have a job to do now."

Sian mumbled that Stiel was really a genius and began to walk up to the monster with a chain. The fish, Bakuron, could not dare to move. At least Sian didn't seem to want to kill him.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

As Sian walked up, he stopped in the middle and summoned his Chrona-Phon.

"You need some beating up first."

"We're finished."

"You sure have talent in fighting."

"Is that a compliment? What I just did is a craft."

Bakuron, or Fish No.1, was all bruised up with chains wrapped around its back. It wasn't done to capture it. At the top of the chain was a small steel box the size of a small house. The chains were wrapped around to affix the box on the back of the monster. It was created by molding the hook and the leftover chains by Sian.

"Anyway, thank you, Miss Stiel. How did you think of using him to travel across the sea?"

The box was for them to stay in while Sian and Stiel traveled across the sea on the back of Fish No.1. The monster would repel any Harijans and would probably be faster than any ship. If they needed to eat, this fish was the best among any meat available so that was also solved. They just needed to take some part of the meat next to the box.

Harijan meat was known for its taste and it tasted even better if they had more horns.

Sian was ashamed that he hadn't come up with the idea first. If he killed the monster, he was left with no choice but to walk to Kiara either by land or sea.

"I told you, I'm genius in every way."

"Then you should've made that box also."

"Hey, don't you know about teamwork? I gave you an idea. It's your job to do the labor."

"…Whatever. But it does look crude."

The steel box was made larger than what Sian originally intended. It was because Stiel wanted to keep the enormous bed from the mansion. Sian liked the bed too, so he agreed and made the box larger.

"So, what happened to that Lamran?"

"He wasn't okay. The Peacekeepers took him."

Sian felt bad, but it was Lamran who brought this upon him. The damage that Margaran received was too great. There was the entire destruction of the beach, the city near the coast was half-destroyed, all noble retreat homes were destroyed, and the pedestal had come to a stop.

The last part of the damage was the biggest. Margaran was no longer able to work as a trade center and it would lose its charm as a tourist location. It had no way to regain its fame with no Lagaopora. It was lost by a young man's foolish action.

The Peacekeepers began investigating the accomplices of that man as they could not believe a man who ran a circus at the city would know the secrets of the pedestal. But Lamran's brain was dumbed down to that of a child, so it proved to be impossible.

The bigger problem was that placing the crown back on the pillar didn't work. All the Magic Priests from the area gathered to solve the mystery, but they failed to find a resolution.

Margaran was under despair.

Marquis Talruk thanked the gods that he still had his people, and he tried his best to rebuild the city, but the future didn't look too bright.

Sian then stopped thinking and kicked Fish No.1 to haul the supplies. Fish No.1 then began using its tentacles near the tail to haul the supplies onto its back.

"He's smarter than he looks."

Fish No.1 looked terrifying, but it acted like a small puppy.

"Harijans are smarter when they are stronger. Dumb ones can't survive."

"Oh, I see."

"And everyone listens when they get beaten up."

"…Right. Let's go then."

Sian and Stiel hopped into the steel box and kicked Fish No.1's back and it began swimming across the sea, allowing the box to sit above the sea surface.

"I have no idea how this works."

Babil let out a sigh. They couldn't find anything out about the crown. The person who could've known was now too dumb so it was impossible to ask.

"I should get some sleep too."

All the other Magic Priests were already back in their rooms to sleep. They placed the crown on the pillar and went away.

After a while, a strange swirl appeared at the front of the pillar and a hand came out from it. The owner of the hand looked at the empty space in front.

No, there was something this mystery man could see.

[Quest: <Find the crown made from ???>]

-Use Lagaope's descendant to get your hands on the unusable crown

-Reward: <Crown made from ???>, 380,000 Exp

"…Good."

The mystery man, Kal-Kirat, smiled.

She was so excited when she saw the reward the first time, but she didn't dare to use the item herself because of the terrible effect it had.

<When used, it deteriorates user's intelligence.>

Besides, the crown needed Lagaope blood to change its current command and reset it. That was why she came up with a complicated scheme to get her hands on it, to make Lamran get his hands on the crown and reset the command. The command to keep Lagaopora open wasn't of any use to her.

It all worked perfectly. The command was reset and she was watching over Lamran with her <Party> ability, so she was able to find the crown quickly enough.

There was another reward.

'…he was here…'

Kal-Kirat thought about getting revenge by hurting his family, but she gave up after hearing advice from the Great Elder.

<Family doesn't mean anything once you reach that level. Don't take it lightly and just aim for the man.>

It was from the Great Elder, so she believed it to be true. His voice trembled a bit, but it probably was because he was excited for her to fulfill her people's long-sought goal.

This crown would surely work as her tool of revenge.

The man had no way to utilize the crown, but Kal-Kirat knew she could utilize it to its full potential while minimizing the penalty with her skills.

She then took the crown and disappeared into the void.