Chapter Four: For the Family (Julius’s POV)
“What kind of person was this ‘F-rank’ alchemist Karen?”
Immediately after returning home, Julius was called by his older brother Helfried to his office. As if waiting for Julius’s arrival, Helfried sat on the sofa. Taking a seat on the sofa diagonally across from him, Julius replied:
“She was more reasonable than I expected. Apparently, her marriage proposal to me was an impulse after being rejected by her fiancé. She wants to change the reward.”
“Isn’t she just presenting difficult conditions upfront, making us reject them, then stating her real wishes—making it easier to get what she wants by making us feel guilty about refusing once?”
“Who knows? She says she hasn’t thought of a reward yet and will consider it until completion.”
“Until completion…”
Seeing his brother’s somewhat dazed expression, Julius gave a wry smile.
“She seemed sincere to me. I can’t help but feel hopeful.”
“…Karen. A commoner. The F-rank alchemist who was once rumored to be a genius.”
Helfried read from the documents in his hands with vacant eyes.
As soon as they received notice of the request’s acceptance, they investigated Karen. This was the investigation report. Julius had read it countless times and could practically recite it from memory.
“Former fiancée of Lyos, who suffered from the Bloodline Blessing in childhood. Recently rejected, she got drunk and impulsively accepted our request.”
“…At the celebration of her fiancé becoming a knight, she was told their engagement was over, and she shouted, ‘You got better because of me!’”
“If those weren’t just desperate words, there’s hope.”
“If this turns out to be just a ploy to get close to you, I’ll kill this girl myself.”
Julius frowned at Helfried, whose hands trembled as he gripped the documents.
“Was what I did excessive? I thought by drawing attention, we might find some clue to cure Sieg…”
“Excessive? Thanks to your victory at the swordsmanship tournament and your conquest of our domain’s dungeon, rumors of this long-forgotten request have finally reached neighboring countries.”
“But those coming from neighboring countries are all suspicious characters. Some are even trying to get close to me. I’m terribly sorry for making you deal with them, Brother.”
“We knew from the start we’d get both good and bad candidates. Don’t worry about it, Julius. Thanks to you, Alise can hold onto hope.”
Helfried and his wife Alise had married for love.
She came from the Marquisate of Wallach and had a higher magical rank than Helfried. Partly because of this, she blamed herself for Sieg’s Bloodline Blessing and spent every night crying.
Though she never showed tears in front of Julius, she had been getting thinner. It was painful to see her stubbornly refusing to treat her swollen eyes with potions, trying instead to hide them with powder.
“I will definitely conquer the capital’s dungeon and negotiate with His Majesty for an artifact that can suppress magical power.”
Artifacts.
They were magical tools with great power that couldn’t be created by human hands. They could be obtained by defeating monsters or opening treasure chests in dungeons, also known as the Goddess’s Trial Grounds. These dropped items were called the Goddess’s Gifts.
A "Magic Seal" artifact from the deeper levels might be able to save Sieg from the Bloodline Blessing.
Whether to receive one from the royal family or obtain one himself—
Either way, he needed to reach the dungeon’s deepest level.
“I’m sorry, Julius. Even though I know it’s dangerous… I can’t stop you from conquering the dungeon.”
“It’s for your child, so it’s only natural. Sieg is my beloved nephew too. So please, rather than trying to stop me, support me, Brother.”
Helfried, who had been hanging his head, looked up. His usually calm and composed brother’s face was contorted as if in pain. Julius couldn’t bear to put any more burden on his brother, who couldn’t even maintain his composure.
With a fixed smile, Julius took Helfried’s hand.
“Brother, please leave everything to me. Even if that alchemist proves useless, I will save Sieg.”
Julius understood this was not as simple as his words suggested. The capital’s dungeon had fifty floors. Long ago, the royal family’s founder had defeated the Red Dragon ruling at its depths, suffering many casualties in the process, and then came to rule this land.
Monsters appear out of nowhere at random, except inside and around the dungeon. Thus, people have settled in towns close to the dungeons. They build settlements near dungeons to survive.
However, dungeons periodically "collapse." When a dungeon collapses, monsters overflow from within, causing a phenomenon called a "Stampede" that ravages the surrounding area. It’s said that defeating monsters inside the dungeon extends the time until the next collapse.
Conquering a dungeon would significantly prolong the period before such a collapse and expand the area unaffected by monster appearances. The more dungeon-influenced areas without monsters, the more places people can live.
Using this as leverage, they might be able to extract even the royal family’s precious Magic Seal artifact.
That’s why this was an extremely difficult feat, even at the cost of Julius’s life.
The dungeon in Ehlertt’s domain he had already conquered was still young, only twenty floors deep. That’s why he had managed to do it.
Could he really conquer the capital’s dungeon, more than twice as deep?
Would Sieg’s life last until then?
“I’m sorry… Julius, I’m sorry…”
“For now, let’s place our hopes in that alchemist’s work.”
For Sieg’s sake, for his apologetic brother’s sake, and for Karen’s safety as well—
Julius sincerely hoped that Karen’s abilities were genuine.
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