Chapter 40 - 040_Sage's Disciple and the Statue of Yulin
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040_Sage's Disciple and the Statue of Yulin
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"Hey, Rodney. Who is that boy?"
Sage Daguldor asked in a voice only Rodney could hear, staring at Bajis, who was waiting in the corner of the room, with a sharp gaze.
"He is Bajis. He's Yulin's younger brother and currently my page," Rodney answered cautiously, thinking that Bajis might have done something from Sage Daguldor's sharp gaze.
"Oh, Yulin's younger brother?" Sage Daguldor stroked his chin and thought.
"Alright, I've decided! I thought Rodney would be my first and last disciple, but I'll make Bajis my disciple!"
"Huh?" Rodney let out an incredulous voice at the sudden news.
"May I ask the reason?"
"I sense immense magical power from Bajis. It's not enough to match me, but it's considerable. I'll hammer magic into him as my successor."
"A successor...?"
"If Bajis masters magic, I'll make him my heir."
Sage Daguldor was a court noble without land, but he had been granted the title of Count by the royal family. He had no children with his wife Melisa, and as things stood, there would be no one to inherit the Count's house.
He was saying that if Bajis mastered magic to a level that satisfied Sage Daguldor, he would let Bajis inherit the Count's house as his successor.
"Rodney, raise your rank by your own efforts. To Bajis, I will bestow everything I have."
It would be a lie to say he had no interest in the Count's rank. However, even as a disciple, he had no intention of inheriting the title from Sage Daguldor. If he was going to raise his rank, he wanted to win it with his own power.
"R-right... Let me discuss it with everyone."
Bajis was the head of the retainer house. If Bajis became the adopted son of the Count's house, his own house would become extinct. However, for a near-commoner like a retainer from the lowest-ranked knight noble family to become the heir to a Count, this was an excellent offer.
Of course, whether he could inherit the Count's rank depended on Bajis.
Rodney immediately gathered the involved parties: Bajis himself, Yulin, Riti, Bajis's mother Claris, Sharume, Rodmel, and all the other retainers.
There, he told them that Sage Daguldor wanted to make Bajis his disciple.
"Master-sama said that when Bajis grows to a level that satisfies him, he will have Bajis inherit the Daguldor house."
"If Sage-sama is a Count, I don't think there could be a better offer than this, Riti-dono," Rodmel urged Riti, Bajis's grandmother, to accept the offer. The other retainers were of the same opinion.
"That would reduce the number of retainers serving the Forvas House."
Leaving the Forvas House they had served for so many years to go to the Count's house. Probably feeling it would be disloyal, Riti had a very bitter expression.
But Rodney didn't care that much. If necessary, they could recruit new retainers.
Moreover, if two or more sons were born between him and Yulin, they could make one of them a retainer in Bajis's place.
"Inheriting the Count's house is a future story. First, you need to train under Master-sama and acquire Master-sama's knowledge and skills."
He did not say that those skills were magic. That was something only Rodney, the disciple, knew. If Bajis became Sage Daguldor's disciple, he would learn that they were magic.
"Riti, Claris. Don't worry about this house. We can just have the second son born from Rodney and Yulin inherit the retainer house," Mother Sharume also thought the same as Rodney.
"Mother, we haven't even had children yet..."
"You can do it right away. Make lots of children," Rodney said she was getting ahead of herself, but everyone there thought it was better to have many children. But this wasn't about Rodney and Yulin now; it was about Bajis.
"What do you think, Bajis? No matter what we say, it's ultimately Bajis's own decision."
"I... I would like to become Sage-sama's disciple."
When Bajis heard this story, he was naturally surprised. But soon he came to think that he wanted to become Sage Daguldor's disciple.
Because he was young, Yulin had started serving as a retainer, and he felt sorry about that. Things like inheriting the Count's house didn't matter. He just thought that he wanted to be of help to Rodney and Yulin.
If he became Sage Daguldor's disciple and inherited his knowledge and skills, he could be useful to Rodney and the others. Thinking that, Bajis strongly wished to become the Sage's disciple.
"I see. Master-sama is strict. Are you okay with that?"
"Yes. As Sage Daguldor-sama's disciple, I will make efforts that are not shameful."
Rodney nodded and looked at Riti and Claris.
"Bajis says so. Don't worry about the retainer house, just send him off with a smile." At Rodney's words, the two nodded.
He immediately asked Sage Daguldor about taking Bajis as a disciple. Sage Daguldor began the training right away.
First, saying it was necessary to feel magic, he grabbed Bajis's hands and poured magic into him. That was accompanied by intense pain, and Bajis screamed.
Now that Bajis had become Sage Daguldor's disciple, Rodney decided to watch over him without interfering at all.
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"Hmm... This is difficult."
"Ha ha ha. Even a 'Manipulate' wielder finds it hard?"
Rodney was making a stone statue of Yulin. Why was he doing this? Because Sage Daguldor had asked if he was making an effort to create a car, but Rodney had completely forgotten about that.
When Sage Daguldor realized he had forgotten, he scolded him, saying that even though he had Shape Processing, what had he been doing all this time?
So, why was he making a stone statue of Yulin when the plan was to make a car? That was because making detailed work with Shape Processing was quite difficult. Even Rodney, who had Manipulate, was struggling to master Shape Processing.
So, Sage Daguldor ordered him to make a stone statue of Yulin to learn detailed Manipulate before making car parts.
"Make a statue of Yulin. It's Yulin, whom you love so much. There's no way you'd compromise, right?"
Told to make the Yulin he loved while feeling an intense pressure from his eyes, he couldn't make something shoddy and compromise. As expected of Sage Daguldor. He was skilled with words.
At first, it took several hours just to make a 15 selm (30 cm) statue of Yulin. Moreover, the finished product didn't look like Yulin at all.
By working on it sleeplessly for three days, he became able to smoothly trace his image into Shape Processing.
The hard stone deformed like clay according to his image, and he raised his proficiency so that it took only a few minutes to form Yulin's figure.
"It's done! Yulin. How's this?"
"Is that me?"
Yulin looked around at the stone statue about 50 selm tall that closely resembled her.
"I don't think my chest is this big..."
"No, Yulin's chest is big! I've looked carefully, so there's no mistake!"
"Wh- Rodney-sama! Please don't say things like that in a place like this."
Around them were Sage Daguldor and his wife Melisa, vassals like Rodmel, and also Emilia.
"Ah, sorry."
"Really, Rodney-sama is..."
The atmosphere between the two was good. Truly, they were deeply in love with each other.
"By the way, Rodney."
"What is it, Master-sama?"
"How long are you going to let Yulin address you with 'sama'?"
"Eh... I've never even thought about it."
"She's your fiancée, isn't she? You're going to become husband and wife next year. There shouldn't be a 'sama', there shouldn't."
He noticed that Yulin had been calling him with '-sama'. He had forgotten when it started, but he felt she had called him without honorifics when they were young.
He hadn't thought anything of it since it was normal, but he thought Sage Daguldor was right, so he told Yulin to address him without '-sama', just by his name.
"But I am... a retainer."
"A retainer proxy. But that doesn't matter. Just call me Rodney without honorifics like before. After all, you'll soon be my wife."
"... Very well. R-Rodney..."
Yulin blushed and called Rodney without honorifics. Sage Daguldor thought it was refreshingly innocent, while Rodney himself thought the shy Yulin was cute.
"Alright, next I'll make a bigger statue of Yulin! Life-size!"
He took out stones collected from the bottom of the sea from his Storage Bag and turned them into a statue of Yulin with Shape Processing.
The resulting statue of Yulin had slender legs, a waist that formed a curve, breasts that seemed about to spill out, and dignified eyes.
"Beautiful! This is my Yulin!"
"Please don't say that, because it's embarrassing."
The statue of Yulin that the creator Rodney had praised himself was to be displayed in Rodney's workroom.
"Alright, next is underwater equipment. Rodney, make it with spirit."
While Rodney was training in Shape Processing, Sage Daguldor had been listening to explanations from Roxwell and Endever about conquering the Lake Bottom Temple. The problem he saw was the armor.
With normal armor, water resistance made movement difficult underwater. So they had planned to go in swimsuits with low water resistance.
Sage Daguldor said that since Rodney was training Shape Processing anyway, he should make iron armor with low water resistance.
There was a reason he said iron armor even though they had a stock of Red True Steel. Even when trying to process it with Shape Processing, Red True Steel barely deformed.
Originally, a smith needed considerable skill to handle Red True Steel. Similarly, they judged that a low proficiency in Shape Processing wouldn't work.
Even after he could make statues of Yulin, Red True Steel did not deform easily. Since it hardly deformed at all, they gave up on Red True Steel armor and decided to use iron armor.
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It took another three days to prepare iron armor for everyone, but they managed to get it into shape.
Rodney gave orders to his retainers and troops, declaring that this time they were really going to the Lake Bottom Temple.
"From here, we head to the 6th floor of the Abandoned House Labyrinth!"
"Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!"
The vanguard was the elite troops led by Rodmel. He had also mobilized the elite troops to provide support from the lakeshore. That was how determined Rodney was.
They arrived at the lake on the 6th floor of the Abandoned House Labyrinth.
"The number of Merfolk guarding the Lake Bottom Temple is estimated to be several hundred at the least. If you judge it to be dangerous, retreat without pushing yourselves. Alright, don't die in vain."
"Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!"
It would be good if they could conquer the Lake Bottom Temple in one go, but if he thought they lacked strength, he planned to increase the troops. So there was no need to force things. Even if they didn't open the Lake Bottom Temple, they wouldn't be especially troubled.
"Rodmel and his men, secure the safety of the shore."
"Understood."
Having the elite troops led by Rodmel secure the safety of the lakeshore, Rodney led Sage Daguldor, Emilia, Yulin, Roxwell, Endever, and ten mid-rank troops toward the Lake Bottom Temple.
Emilia, Yulin, Roxwell, Endever, and the ten mid-rank troops were wearing iron armor. The iron used in this armor was made into an alloy mixed with other metals by the smith Pelt, so it was rust-resistant. It could not compare to Red True Steel armor, but it boasted considerable strength for iron.
Rodney used composite armor of Red True Steel and Bermuda leather. Perhaps because Bermuda leather was used as a material, even the Red True Steel composite armor was easy to move in underwater.
Sage Daguldor also protected himself with his own armor. The long-seasoned leather and metal armor used metals that Pelt didn't know.
As they swam underwater toward the Lake Bottom Temple, six Merfolk came toward them.
"I'll take care of those."
"Are you sure, Master-sama?"
"Don't treat me like an old man! Watch my power."
Sage Daguldor also had Underwater Adaptation, so he could act without any problem underwater. He was a bit too energetic, but since it was Sage Daguldor, no one could say anything.
"Water Cyclone!"
A whirlpool formed and swallowed the six Merfolk. The way the whirlpool moved as if devouring the Merfolk looked as if the whirlpool had a will of its own.
The Merfolk were swallowed by the whirlpool and torn to pieces before disappearing, like dust, Rodney thought.
"Ooooh!" "Ooooh!" "Ooooh!"
The troops, having never seen the Source Power that created a whirlpool, were moved to see such a sight for the first time and to see Sage Daguldor's Source Power.
"No resistance at all."
"What kind of Serbanui can you obtain that Source Power called Water Cyclone from?" Rodney asked the smiling Sage Daguldor.
"That is not a Source Power. It's magic," Sage Daguldor whispered so that only Rodney could hear. Rodney was happy to see that power and to witness a different power from Source Power.
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