“Very well. I’ll go ahead and investigate the western area of the courtyard while we wait for your investigation of Amman’s remains. Don’t worry, I’ll inform you if there anything noteworthy, ‘Lord Brendel’.”

Veronica had gotten the answer she wanted from the youth, so she started to cut back on revealing her intentions and started to hide behind a smile.

[I can’t relax around her.]

Brendel’s lips twitched a little. For some reason, Veronica was quite tolerant of his greedy act and even played along by making fun of him. If he was to put aside her status as someone from the Empire, he was actually quite impressed with the way how she did things.

Having a personal relationship was with someone of her strength was quite advantageous, but if there was politics involved, then they would be destined to scheme against each other.

[A brief respite is what I need to grow stronger. This reason is enough to be temporary allies.]

Both of them had a satisfactory result from cooperating with each other, so it was quite pleasant.

Veronica led Faena way with long elegant strides, walking towards Mephisto who dragged Andesha along with him. Once the female commander was next to him, she scribbled something on the ground with her sword and wiped it away after a moment. When the famous Sword Saint of Ashes read what Veronica wrote, he actually glanced back at the youth.

Brendel and his group were the only people left in the area. Sifrid had waited patiently for the youth to finish his conversation with Veronica, and he was suddenly worried that the girl was going to grow up to resemble Scarlett. The little girl had a face that was dirty from dust, but she did not even complain or show that was scared of the earlier battle.

He wiped Sifrid’s face and pondered. A meek and quiet personality combined with bouts of earnest enthusiasm was an attractive point to some people, but he was quite worried about Scarlett’s behavior.

Scarlett found that her lord was looking at her strangely. Was there a mark on her face? The red-haired girl frowned and rubbed her face with her sleeves, but her hands suddenly stopped.

[Is my lord going to offer to wipe my face? Should I refuse or accept it?]

But Brendel’s eyes eventually moved away, and she hurriedly wiped her face again with considerable embarrassment.

Amman’s body was gone, and so were his equipment and artifacts which were most likely turned into worthless dust. The fragments of the fake Mavekart’s Grimoire top-grade materials were probably the only things left, and Brendel paid strong attention to them.

The fragments of the grimoire had continued to suck in the area after it fell towards the ground, leaving behind a deep smoking crater.

Brendel was feeling unused to the fact that the area was silent. This was the moment when all the gamers wanted to snatch away the best loot from the boss.

He slid down the crater and discovered three black orbs floating in the air.

[These orbs are materials made up of powerful Laws. Chaos, Entropy, and Vigor.]

Brendel felt stumped when he approached the orbs. There was a powerful force that simply blasted at his face when he moved towards them.

Even if it was in the game, he rarely had the chance to handle such materials. It was especially difficult to handle the Laws of Vigor, and it would simply break the containers unless it was an artifact with the Laws of a powerful Dimension Space to counter it.

[Well, Bahamut’s Grasp is a creation of the Dragon King, so it’s something that inherits powerful Laws and I can hold these orbs.... Huh?]

Brendel reached out for the black orbs and his eyebrows were raised. He was momentarily stunned before his emotions changed to intense delight. The orbs had similar properties to Soul Gems, and in other words, these things could be absorbed by his system as XP.

[Oh. Ohhhh?! A boss’s XP, and it’s on a level of a half-divine god— Which means the fake grimoire contains XP that’s even higher than a level 160 boss!!]

Andesha in this generation could actually be considered as a World Boss, but she was still lower than Brendel’s original level in the game.

The players in the game were stuck at level 160, but the World Bosses in the distant past or future wars a hundred-odd years later were over level 200.

“Should I pinch myself to test it out? Ah, no, what am I doing, just absorb a little XP from the orbs to test it out— Hohoho, twenty thousand XP just like that?”

Brendel took in the vapors and estimated the amount taken from the orbs. There was at least ten million XP packed into each of the orbs.

[Oh shit, oh shit, what kind of luck is this? It’s the first time I got something this good with my own hands!]

He tried to absorb the XP all at once but realized there was a strong resistance from the orbs. He had to control his Element Power and peel off the surface bit by bit, and it would take a considerable time before everything was absorbed.

[A single person receiving all the XP of a boss, I’m sure no one in the game has experienced that before. I’m not sure I can sleep tonight since my face is already feeling cramped from smiling too much.]

The great exhaustion coupled with the intense emotions made him stumble when he raised both hands in triumph.

[S-shit. I’m too tired. I need to find a way to keep these orbs safely. I can’t be holding them in my gloves all the time. Maybe I should ask Veronica if she has a Bag of Holding. It’s the Empire after all, and they are rich enough to give her one for this trip. Or perhaps Mephisto? Hunting down all the people from Kirrlutz, I imagine he has to secure something of convenience. It might be difficult to ask Veronica for the bag, but negotiating with Mephisto should be fine. I’m the one who’s going to help restore his lands, and it’s going to be something like a deposit.]

He was prepared to find Mephisto and check if he had a Bag of Holding, but a familiar voice called out in his mind.

“Huh? A fragment of a divine artifact? Where did you get this, boy?”

“Ser Orthlyss? You did not respond at all after.... Did you fall asleep?”

Brendel thought the Dragon of Darkness had done something to her. She was a subordinate of the four Holy Saints who sealed the Dragon of Darkness, and he might have sealed the Ring of the Wind Empress as revenge.

[But even if that’s not the case, what is going to happen if she discovers that I had taken the Dragon of Darkness’s power? I need to confirm it.]

“Fool. I know what happened.” Orthlyss’s haughty voice scoffed in his mind.

Brendel’s lips trembled.

“Then....?”

“You received his Legacy.”

Orthlyss did not sound angry at all and Brendel sighed inwardly with relief. The Wind Elves were quite open in displaying their emotions. If she was upset with him, that it really meant that she did not mind that he received the Dragon of Darkness’s Legacy. Still, he was puzzled over her reactions. In a way, she had chosen him to inherit her Legacy, so why would she be fine with him inheriting the Legacy of her sworn enemy?

“There’s no wrong or right on gaining power. What is important is the person wielding it. Surely you don’t think that this noble one is a narrow-minded person? I chose you because I have confidence in your character. Besides, I’m interested in that stupid dragon’s Legacy—”

“It sounds like you’re impressed with him.”

“Hmph.”

Orthlyss did not avoid the topic at all and spoke with a bit of reflection in her voice:

“He was the strongest opponent after all. He definitely had personality and charm since he reached the pinnacle of strength. But we ultimately stood in different factions and our ideals are different. It is just like how good and evil cannot co-exist. Now we’re all figures of the past and no longer alive. Our enmity has disappeared long ago, and the only thing that’s left is the respect for each other.”

Brendel was silent. He did not really understand the past events very well and simply watched them unfold with the eyes of a bystander. The things that he felt for Aouine’s factions were simply disgust and frustration. Was the Royal Faction really worth respecting when they simply fought for their ideals? To sacrifice people in order to achieve a greater good? Or should he admire the opposition for lusting after pure power?

“Did the Dragon of Darkness do something to you?” Brendel asked after a few seconds of thought. The Dragon of Darkness was still an infamous figure of pure evil in history.

“Not anything bad if that is what you’re wondering, but he passed down part of his Legacy to me. I wasn’t able to get used to it for a while.”

[He passed down his Legacy to his enemy? Respect is respect, but you’re his enemy.... Is this some kind of revelation or achieving higher morals after death? No matter how I think about this, it’s too strange. Is that guy scheming something....]

But Orthlyss did not seem like she was interested in discussing over what she received: “Hmmm. That dragon has somehow awakened your blood? I sense a familiar kinship to you. You feel like someone who was born in my era. I even feel like calling you ‘little brother’.”

“Hah?”

“I’m quite certain that your potential has gone up. Maybe I can teach you a few of my swordsmanships and you will be able to pick them up easily. Hmm, or maybe that particular Sword Arte.”

Brendel muttered a few ‘huhs’ and ‘ohs’ and his eyes glittered as though the sky was raining diamonds.