That same night, Almin’s group returned with tired eyes. All five women in that group were covered in sand, with some injuries and burns. Almin himself was in a pitiful state, even more injured than when he fought against old Dyen.
They entered the walls and heard only sounds of flesh being torn and violently crushed. All the newly arrived women saw the whale devouring a giant beast with extreme aggression and fury.
Once only bones remained, the whale threw everything onto a nearby pile of bones before speaking, still sounding very irritated. "Seems like you came back alive and managed to win in some idiotic way. At least you served as a meat shield for the girls."
Almin heard that and lowered his head in self-disappointment. Soon, one of his women spoke, a bit irritated. "Our weapons are too fragile. We tried to kill it, but they were quickly destroyed without causing any damage."
The whale then responded curtly, "Want to bet that Ruri holding a wooden stick could injure the beast?"
The woman fell silent, clenching her fists.
"Almin, why did you fail?!" the whale shouted.
"Uh..." Almin mumbled, and the whale cut him off, responding, "Because you still think you have to take care of them, you idiot!"
"They are fighting by your side and giving their best effort. And you belittle them and don’t trust their abilities. This goes far beyond an incompetent leader."
All the women in the group lowered their heads in silence. It was a gentle reprimand.
"In a real fight, you should fight side by side, trusting your backs to others. If you don’t have such trust, then don’t even waste time entering a fight with them in the first place. Otherwise, they are nothing but useless burdens. Since you decided to fight with them, you must put all your faith that your ally will block the mortal blow coming your way, so you can kill the enemy in the opening. Stop trying to act like the alpha male protecting them. Your hesitation and lack of confidence in them almost got them killed." The whale concluded, spitting out the words harshly.
So the whale turned toward the building and focused on lifting it again. At that moment, the group with lowered heads joined the rest. Loeus and Langrum were also there, silent.
"He... is very mad, isn’t he?" Loeus innocently commented.
Immediately, Ruri, Almin, and Langrum looked in the direction of the whale. They sighed; he seemed not to have paid attention to those words.
"My master... probably failed to forge something, and he’s a bit frustrated. Even if I talk to him now, he won’t get better." Ruri murmured.
"What? Forge, he’s a blacksmith? He could..." one of the women commented, astonished, but she stopped her words midway. They were already in great debt; they had no right to ask for anything more.
"Yes. But he only does something if he has some excuse to pretend he’s doing it for his benefit. My master doesn’t know how to be sincere." Ruri replied, understanding what the woman was thinking, lightly laughing in the end.
At that moment, Langrum became extremely thoughtful as she looked at Loeus, who was eating non-stop until he passed out again. The whale eating before seemed like a show he wanted to replicate. But Langrum didn’t complain; he deserved to eat as much as he wanted to compensate for his past sufferings.
A new building was quickly constructed in the crudest and most rudimentary way possible; the whale didn’t care about any aesthetics. It was just a giant stone with an entrance hole.
Shortly after, Almin received the Lower-Level Spatial Technique. It was the first technique that Alm and Bruno learned from the system, designed to create an inventory. It was simple and served for Almin to carry Lyra with him. After creating new fire runes for Alm and Bruno, Almin dedicated his free time to studying the spatial technique away from there.
When they turned back to resume training in the forge, Langrum entered the newly built building. "Hey... brought the first batch," she said coldly.
"Great, where is he?" The whale replied, still seeming irritated.
Langrum didn’t respond immediately and looked piercingly at the whale. "What do you intend to do with the boy?"
"Hm? Are you thinking stupid things again?" The whale’s voice was filled with anger.
"I’m going to take him as a disciple. You bought him, so I want to compensate you," Langrum spoke confidently and firmly.
"What? I paid a high price for him... maybe if you give me back the..." The whale suddenly stopped talking, leaving Langrum confused.
Then, with a forced cough, the whale continued. "I mean, he’s a free person; I don’t own anyone. Do as you wish. Just don’t let him see things he shouldn’t yet," he commented, looking directly at her in the last part.
"Don’t be stupid. But, I don’t accept that; I want to pay..." Langrum responded but was quickly cut off.
"Fine! You’re working as a miner, so we’re even. Give me the ore now; I want to practice," the whale spoke impatiently.
"About that... I also want some things for him. An armor made like Almin’s, and maybe a saber on the same level as my sword." She muttered.
"The ore is mine, don’t even think about... yours..." The whale stopped talking midway in a strange way.
After two seconds, he spoke again calmly. "I mean, I don’t have a very high chance of success. Even with all the ore you extracted today, maybe I can make something with luck."
Langrum nodded in understanding and then thought seriously for a moment. After a few seconds, she spoke, "My master gave me something besides the bone saber before returning to her home. She told me it was a rarely found lucky charm in the Abyss and would aid me in my destiny."
She paused and looked at the whale, noticing his curious eyes, and then continued, "You seem to have an interest in things from the Abyss. I can trade this amulet for the boy and your work in the forge."
"Can I take a look?" The whale spoke calmly.
Langrum then took out a small stone with a few centimeters. It had no apparent difference from any stone found anywhere, but a strange feeling filled the mind when looking directly at it. Langrum quickly took it back, and immediately, she saw the whale’s eyes tremble slightly, showing an emotion rarely seen.
’That... is divine Qi! A small and minimal portion, but it’s definitely it,’ Bruno commented astonished.
"Satisfied? Despite having a strong emotional attachment, it’s not very useful," Langrum calmly commented.
Visit freewebnoveℓ.com for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience.
"Accepted. But this is worth much more than you imagine... what else do you want?" The whale said thoughtfully.
Langrum mentally cheered but did everything not to show it. "Great. As I said, I just want to compensate for your cost with Loeus and some good weapons and armor for him."
"Hm... that’s too little. I’ll give you... a few... a few thousand abyss crystals, how about that?" The whale spoke, but his face twisted with each word as if he were feeling incredible pain or a demon were sinisterly cursing his entire family in his ear.
"I don’t want to trade my disciple for crystals... hm... why don’t you pay me by making weapons and equipment for all the girls? They need new gear, especially weapons," Langrum suggested lightly.
"You really just want this?" The whale spoke, and Langrum nodded, then the small stone floated in front of them.
The stone disappeared into the void immediately, and shortly after, a spatial ring, almost collapsing with so many raw ores, was handed to them.
"This ore is much easier to mine than the other. It seems to be very light, perfect for armor focused on maintaining maximum agility. The girls will like it, as will my disciple since he doesn’t have much strength yet." Langrum commented, clearly pleased.
"Alright. I’ll start the work, but let me tell you something important. This boy has some connection to the divine realm. And based on his fate and that of his family, I can say that the karma related to this is dense and cruel." The whale spoke seriously, and Langrum froze immediately.
"I planned to train him just enough so that he could defend himself, and then make him live peacefully and happily somewhere. If you really elevate him too much, the karma of the divine realm can fall on his shoulders. This karma can easily end his life, and some may fall on you."
Langrum didn’t know what to say in panic, but this whale was not joking. "If you are really sure of this, know that you might be taking him out of a long and peaceful life and digging your own grave... or maybe not... anyway, you can go," he concluded, turning without much interest.
Langrum stood still for a few seconds, then clenched her fists, turned, and said, "His fate... he will decide in the future. I will just give him more options. He cannot be limited by the will of the heavens or a law from the gods..." Langrum concluded and left.
’... indeed. If this boy really has a great karma because of his family, he should have the chance to fight against it,’ Bruno commented without much emotion.
’Well, you completely fooled me along with her. Now we just need to make some hollow weapons, and we’ll profit a lot from this.’ Alm said in approval.
’Hm? Hollow? We will fulfill the agreement perfectly, and we will make the best weapons we can, all with runic seals. It will be a great training for us too.’ Bruno replied lightly. And the demon began to curse in his ear again all night long.