Thud!

Sprout of the Aftermath

[Quest Complete]

<Reward> Blue Lightning ()

Looking at the collapsed thunder wolf dragon, Callius exhaled harshly. His heavy panting slowly subsided as his breath turned to white steam where it met the chill air.

Quickly, a dim light rose from one part of the corpse of the thunder wolf dragon, the place where the power of thunder was concentrated the most.

Its heart.

The place where the lightning was condensed to the extent that it could be seen with the naked eye, however faintly.

Callius stabbed there right away.

Snikt.

The power of thunder rises significantly.

As soon as he stabbed the heart with the Thunderbolt Sword, all the energy seeped into its blade.

At least twice as much.

Thats how much stronger it had become.

He could feel it straightaway.

Spark, crackle!

It got a little cloudy.

The dark red blade that symbolized a spirit sword, had turned a little darker.

How unexpected.

With this quest, the rank of the Thunder Sword had risen, albeit only a little bit.

Certainly, it didnt turn into a vision sword or anything.

But raising the level of a sword in itself isnt very common in this game.

Even for quests related to a specific sword, unless theres some clear connection to its rank, that fact holds true.

Of course, not common meant quests like that did exist, but one thing was for certain

There wasnt any for this guy.

But it still happened.

This was something thatd never been set, an unwritten past behind the current status quo.

This wasnt a pleasant change for Callius.

The fact that there were parts that he didnt know about, created variables.

In this world, variables could spell his death.

And where do you think youre going?

Hic!

Ryburn had turned into a handful of dust.

Druma had gotten his head chomped off by the thunder wolf dragon.

Orcal had gotten stabbed, but he wasnt dead. Although, to say it more precisely

He wasnt dead yet.

I havent killed you.

Roving Worm[1] Orcal.

His specialty was in aspects other than battle.

As his nickname reflected, he was more useful for scouting and infiltration using his worms. Because the sword hed made a sheath of was the Worm Soul.

He was a paladin whod unified with a sword that materialized worms that it could control.

Unlike the rest of the captains, he was quite useful in a utility role.

Bruns.

Yes! Here I am! Master!

Bruns, whod been hiding in the bushes, came out. At Callius order, he pulled out a rope from his double cloth bag and bound Orcal tightly with it.

No matter how hurt a paladin might be, for him to get tied up by a guy like Bruns it was quite a sight.

Ugh Damn it! What are you planning to do with me!!

Master, what should we do?

Be quiet.

Yeah! Be quiet, you bastard!!

Puff!!

Kgh! Bastard, you dare!

Sure I dare, you bastard! Only the count can order me around!

Thud!! After being hit a few more times, Orcal fainted and the quiet returned.

Killing Orcal would be the usual approach here.

But Callius hadnt made a final decision yet.

It wouldnt be too late to decide his fate after considering the future clearly.

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Callius grabbed at the air and pulled out several glass bottles.

As with the blood of a troll, the blood of a dragon was also treasure in itself.

Hed come here to hunt the beast down in the first place, so he was carrying a lot of glass bottles with him.

Master! Ill do it!

Forget it.

The thunder wolf dragon had a little trace of dragons blood.

It was mixed with impurities, that is, demonic energy, but if it could be purified, it might be possible to extract a little bit of blood essence.

Dragons blood could be used in various places.

Artifacts were a basic usage.

A more complex use was for carcasses.

If its dragon blood essence, it might even be possible to create a relic, although its grade would definitely be lower than a true sacred relic.

It was really worth the effort.

Even if you dont use it for anything, spirit crafters would line up to buy it.

The blood had to be stored as much as possible before it could congeal.

Bruns, whod finished tying Orcal tightly, rushed back to help.

As the blood of the thunder wolf dragon was poured into containers little by little, a voice came near.

Are you going to sell it to me?

Ugh! What the!

It was Helena.

Shed been standing silently in the shadow of a nearby tree.

Leaving Bruns to his startled trembling, Callius answered.

Let me think about it.

Even if we buy at the best price?

Callius glanced at Helena.

Then Helena tilted her head as if in puzzlement.

What, what is it?

Arent you going to ask?

Callius had just killed two captains of the Inquisition.

One more had been captured, and hed even used a demon sword to do it.

There were several questionable points, but Helena spoke calmly as if she didnt know anything.

If she wasnt curious, Callius wasnt going to bring anything up either.

How much, do you think?

Hmm well. The leather is shredded. The meat is quite burnt, too, so itd be difficult to sell. Still, the horns are fine.

Ill take the horns.

What, really? Then I guess the claws and the teeth are fine at least ah! The tail fur is also in good condition. Then

Helena, nodding, picked up a tree branch and wrote down some numbers on the ground, then glanced at him askance.

How about ten thousand?

Ten thousand gold coins for all the materials except the horns.

What kind of a wastrel do you take me for?

It was a dragonblooded creature.

Not a simple beast that only wielded lightning. A dragons blood ran in its veins.

To buy its corpse for ten thousand?

This is why merchants cant be trusted.

But the meat and the leather are in terrible condition Considering the transportation costs and handling fees, thats just the right price.

Dont be silly. In the first place, its true that the beasts meat is useless and the leather is badly damaged, but its not that they cant be used at all. Besides, the other parts are intact enough to be used for anything.

The internal organs might have been unusable, but the eyes, claws and teeth were fine.

And above all

Even if you sell only the bones of the thunder wolf dragon, youll get ten thousand gold. Dont you even know that much?

Not just that

Among the wealthy aristocrats, there were those whod buy the whole corpse and have it stuffed.

For such cases, the story behind the corpse would make its price soar much higher.

For example, itd hunted down and eaten multiple captains of the Heretic Inquisition, but in the end had lost its life in the hands of Callius, the famous scapegrace of the kingdom who was also called the Hero of the North.

Im not sure if youre doing it intentionally. But youre looking down on me too much.

Hmm, Id forgotten for a moment.

Callius wasnt somebody to accept such a lie and move on. He spread out three of his fingers.

Thirty thousand.

Thats too much! Twenty thousand!

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Even for a dragonblooded beast, thirty thousand was far too much.

The price would vary depending on how much dragons blood remained Thats how bargaining worked.

Thirty-five thousand.

No, were bargaining, why are you going up!

Bargaining takes time. Of course, the price goes up if you waste my time.

No, who came up with that formula? Do you think this makes sense!?

Forty thousand.

Alright, I get it, thirty thousand!

Forty thousand.

Hell no! Why would I!? I dont even know if its really the descendant of a dragon or not, I dont know how much of the blood its inherited, thats too much!

Forty thousand!

No, buddy, come on! And look at it. Its a female! A female huh?

Helena, who was being noisy, became quiet.

Giving the corpse a once-over, she spoke in a strange tone.

I think she mightve been pregnant. Did she give birth recently? Look, here. Theres milk.

Truly.

There were indeed traces.

Did this bitch beget another bastard?

Looks like she had a cub. Ah whats got you so cautious?

Its unlikely, but Ill have to check.

Callius pulled out the Thunderbolt Sword.

He made a sharp incision across the belly of the beast.

The blade had definitely gotten sharper.

But that wasnt important right now.

The blade caught on something. Callius ripped off the leathery skin covering the corpses stomach and began rummaging inside.

He pulled out something like a pouch, and tore it open it to find what was hidden inside.

It really had cubs, looks like.

After cutting the thunder wolf dragons belly apart, what looked like its cubs came out.

About five in number.

They looked like wolf cubs.

Unlike the thunder wolf dragon, their bodies werent covered with scales, and they just looked like normal wolf cubs.

Did it mate with a wolf-type beast?

Since the thunder wolf dragon had cubs, it had to have a mate.

If both were of the same species, that wouldnt match with the quests name, Sprout of the Aftermath.

However, seeing that the cubs didnt show any draconic characteristics, the mate seemed to be a simple wolf beast.

How pitiful. A savage killed all these children before they could even see the light of the world.

Just when he was about to stab his sword at Helena, who dared make fun of him

Wriggle.

One of the cubs hed thought dead, squirmed.

I think its alive! Huh? What are you doing!?

Callius brought the sword to bear down upon the cub.

Helenas eyes widened, as if asking how he could do that to something that couldnt even open its eyes.

You be quiet.

The tip of the sword quietly emitted a small spark of lightning.

The cub whimpered and wiggled towards the sword.

Its responding to the sound of thunder.

So?

Perhaps because the lightning came from its mother?

The young cub seemed to be sensitive to it.

It whimpered for a long time, squirming over its dead brothers, and touched the sword with its head.

After that, it leaned back as if itd gotten comfortable and began to breath quietly.

I was joking when I called it pitiful, you know? Its a beast.

Its aura was tainted with demonic magic.

Itd harm people one day.

The only beasts that do no harm are the dead ones.

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Right now, it was only a feeble cub, but itd grow up and eat humans one day.

Although faint, it had dragons blood, so itd have a vicious disposition.

Once it tasted human flesh, itd devastate village after village, and grow into a disaster thatd drown the northern lands, and perhaps even the world.

It was best to kill it right now.

Thus spake the God, Valtherus. Spare not the demon.

The remnants of the demons must be purged wherever they are found.

Indeed.

That was the right thing to do.

But

Whats that?

Trolls blood.

Eh!? Didnt trolls already go extinct centuries ago, where did you get the blood from?! Our family has searched for so long, but we never found any traces!

Unrefined troll blood.

Because its mixed with magic, if you just drink it, youll become addicted to magic and soon perish.

Generally speaking.

Itd be fine for a beast, though.

It was a baby thatd never even had milk.

The trolls blood would be enough to restore its energy.

Kiyaakiyaaa.

When Callius opened the bottles lid and started pouring out a drop of blood or two, it snarled as befit a beast.

On that head that wiggled even though the eyes wouldnt open, as soon as blood dripped, the young cub began to sip.

The Church will not allow it.

The Church doesnt allow those magical beasts the nobles keep as pets, either.

It was somewhat unusual.

But there were many nobles who kept magical beasts as pets.

Callius would just be another addition.

But why, all of a sudden?

None of your business.

It was just a simple curiosity.

Seeing the guy reacting to the lightning of the Thunderbolt Sword, Callius had gotten curious.

There was no other reason.

That sword. Is it because of that?

Helena.

Yes?

Pretending at ignorance is virtue for a merchant. Why are you pretending at knowledge instead?

Helena, startled, tapped her lips with a finger.

Ummm Then, how about thirty-five thousand?

Forty.

Damn it! At least shave it down a little!

I cant.

Ive got a lot to spend on.

Forty thousand. Ill take care of moving it, so dont even think about cutting the price.

Really?

Yeah. Dont worry, it wont get damaged if its inside my artifact.

Nice!

Helena, who agreed to the deal, didnt ask any further questions, as if she was feeling better already.

Maybe by raising this guy, I might be able to strengthen the Thunderbolt Sword further.

If that happened, the Thunderbolt Sword might rise in rank and become a vision sword.

It was a slim chance.

But if there was any chance at all, there was no reason not to try it.

And

Callius eyes as he looked at the thunder wolf dragon cub held a hint of compassion.

As soon as it was born, all its blood relatives departed and left it alone in the world, and it had to rely on a stranger itd met for the first time in its life in order to survive.

It felt like he was looking at himself.

Editors Notes:

[1] (lit. of the worms) is Orcals sobriquet. This clarifies why Druma was calling Orcal the only worm left earlier, since his nickname is literally worm. Poor guy. can also mean exploration which indicates his abilities as a scout. Roving Worm is a compromise so that both meanings can be preserved. Suggestions welcome.

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