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"Now then. It's my turn. First, I'll let you have this."
Lecan knew what Shira took out the instance his eyes fell on it.
"Oy."
"What is it now. Shouldn't you be ecstatic. Especially after I've gone out of my way to make your impossible request a reality and all."
"What is this."
"Can't you tell by looking. It's an overcoat made from Argent Flame Wolf's pelt."
"I asked you to turn it into an armor."
"I did give it a try. But it was no good. Cutting it up or pulling the fur out would cause its magic defense to vanish."
"What?"
"This thing's biggest strength is its magic impermeability. On top of that it's almost nigh invulnerable to physical attacks, and supplying it with mana will restore damaged sections."
"Hou. So it's got some high magic defense huh."
"'High' is really underselling it. This thing jams magic. That said, shockwaves produced from magic gets through pretty much as is, and it can only blocks a bit of heat and stuff."
"Jam? That's good."
"I mustn't cut it apart if I wanted to keep that trait intact. Or rather, even turning that pelt into that overcoat required some outrageously large-scale processes and procedures. Armor is simply out of question."
"Must be true coming from you."
"Just put on some highly defensive armor below that. I've made it a bit larger for that purpose."
That's perfect. Great Flame Dragon leather armor should be arriving at Mashajain soon. Lecan simply needs to combine them.
"Got it. My bad for complaining. This thing is exactly what I wanted. I agree that this is the best possible result. You've really done lots for me. Please accept this."
Lecan pushed the magic stone of Sovereign Dragon Atrocia on the desk toward Shira.
"My oh my. You sure you don't mind giving such a valuable object?"
"Like I told you before, these magic stones are only good as mana storage in my hands. I'd like to give this to someone capable of extracting its full worth, you."
"Okay then, with pleasure."
Shira held and stared at the giant magic stone for a while before making it disappear all of a sudden.
"Kinda hard for me to ask this after getting such a nice present. But I need you to do something."
"Shoot."
"Please go see Yacklubend."
"No."
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
"Oh don't say that now. That girl didn't mean any harm, you know."
"You mean she meant nothing but harm."
"It was just a little joke."
"She threatened to bomb the royal palace and even my family."
"She's kinda bad at communication, see. It turned into that big mess cause she wanted you to accept her invitation, but she didn't have even a peck of desire to hurt Norma or Eda. To begin with, I had warned her way ahead of time. Don't you dare mess with them."
This is news to Lecan.
He's still got no grasp on Yacklubend's motives, offense, defense, or even just what kind of being that thing is, but not even that could escape unscathed if Shira went all out. Which means Yacklubend must be careful herself not to enrage Shira.
(Was that threat a bluff then?)
(But she bombed the royal palace.)
"The moment I set foot in her mansion, she bound and poisoned me."
"That was a medicine."
"What?"
"I had her show me that medicine. It is for sure a medicine. Used right, it has the effect to relieve fatigue. It'd even strengthen your muscles once the recipient had an overnight sleep, it's really some good stuff. I was impressed."
"That thing was gonna do something to me while I'm out cold."
"No denying that yep. She was fully planning to check up your whole body."
"What's trying to examine my body and belonging without my consent if not a hostile act."
"Sorry about that. There's no excusing that. It's my bad."
"What's the point of you apologizing. Wait, why are you even apologizing?"
"I was the one who told Yacklubend about you and even handed over your broken sword to her. Yacklubend also gave me the result of <Self Repair> analysis. As that would surely grant me extremely valuable knowledge. And if allowed, I would like her to analyze more objects from your world. Yacklubend possesses the power to achieve that."
Lecan realized that he was getting pretty high strung, so he ate some jerky and drank his wine.
He calmed down a tad as he relished the flavor.
(I ain't gonna trust Yacklubend.)
(But she's undoubtedly an outstanding researcher.)
(My trusty sword got restored.)
(Something not even Shira is capable of.)
He poured his goblet full of wine and gulped it down in one go.
(I can't trust Yacklubend.)
(But I trust Shira.)
(Shira should have a huge interest in.)
(My belongings and me myself.)
(And yet she never attempted to dig it out of me.)
(She never pressed me to show my belonging either.)
(Still, why's Shira.)
(Covering for Yacklubend to this degree?)
"What's your relationship with Yacklubend anyway?"
"We've been at this for so long, I'm not even sure how to answer that. There were times where we were at each other's throat, vying for lives. And times where we joined hands to tackle something. And today, she's the only individual left I could ask opinions on my research whenever I hit a roadblock."
"Hmph."
Lecan poured a gobletful of wine and gulped it down again.
"I'll go see her. But with some conditions."
"And what are those?"
"First of all, I ain't entering her mansion."
"No helping it. I got it."
"You'll be present during our meeting, you've got to make her promise not to do anything weird."
"Yep, that's only right. Got it."
"If she were to make a promise to me during the course, you will be the guarantor."
"I was gonna ask you to do just that actually. Got it."
"And then this."
Lecan took the remains of <Overking Bear Overcoat> and put it on the desk.
"Uwaaa. It's a wreck."
"Repair this thing if she can do it. That'd make up for what she did back then."
"Got it. I'll take it with me."
Lecan ate out and then stayed overnight at Shira's hideout.
Afternoon the following day, he met Yacklubend in Shira's hideout.
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