Episode 173 – Mermaid’s Tears
Even if I wanted to reject it, what could I do as I am still only a human being?
Please, I have no choice but to take him with me hoping that there will be no accidents.
Yes, I would rather say that her demon lord is playing the role of monitoring her so that she doesn’t get into an accident.
In the first place, there is no one who can stop the demon lord at this point.
If she made up her mind to go to her academy, she’ll go anyway, no matter what I say no to.
So, I only volunteered to monitor and manage the demon lord from the side so that I could take even the bare minimum.
It does not mean that he is committing a senseless act of betraying humanity by becoming a paladin.
“… Siwoo? What have you been mumbling about since before?”
“Yes… ? Nothing….”
She didn’t understand the current situation, so Dina seemed rather strange to me.
She is aware that she and the girl in front of her look suspiciously similar, but she probably thinks it’s just a coincidence.
In the first place, the appearance of the demon king is not known in the world, so it is only natural that he does not know.
So, I am the only one who can mediate this situation… !
*
“This is Star City.”
“… ? Siwoo? Why are you using honorifics for him?”
Ugh! That kid! You are the Demon King!
I’d like to say that, but… If I just let Dina know, things will get bigger, right?
“There is such a thing.”
“… ?”
On the other hand, the demon king didn’t care about us and was looking around with his eyes sparkling.
“Wow.”
And then, wherever he is going, he moves with random strides.
“Go, go worth it….”
I can’t let the demon king wander freely around Star City alone.
As I followed the demon king with a teary face, Dina looked at me with a disapproving expression.
And yet, without saying anything, she follows me.
The first place the demon king headed… No, I just walked as I walked, so it would be more correct to say that I arrived at the place rather than heading.
Anyway, the first place I arrived at was surprisingly not a restaurant, but a blacksmith’s shop.
It is not a place where mass-produced weapons for academy students are made as if they were being printed, but a place where each student makes custom-made weapons according to their wishes.
It can be said that it is a place where a hidden artisan who is hidden in a fairly remote place, only those in the know, is hiding.
‘I used to come out from time to time even in foreign filming.’
After making weapons and presenting them, Dina (fake) often custom-made weapons in order to please her.
When she first possessed it, she thought that I should make a sword here too….
‘At first, I didn’t have any money, but the Sinam Sword was useful, so I didn’t have anything to buy.’
After that, I had to go to custom-made later, and I put it off every day, but a while ago, I was suddenly able to summon Durandal.
‘Even if it is a sword made by an artisan… It’s because it’s not enough compared to the sword that the goddess herself shined.’
It was a smithy that I had never heard of before, so it wasn’t bad to come and see it like this.
… If this hadn’t come with the Demon King, it would have been really good.
“Oh.”
The demon king admires the extension and snoops at the various weapons hanging in the smithy.
“Is there anything you might be interested in?”
The old blacksmith looked at the demon king and asked in a blunt tone.
Talking to the Demon King with such a disrespectful tone!!! Yes this guy!!!
But the demon king, who didn’t seem to care about the way he spoke, pointed to an object while nodding his head.
“I like this.”
A necklace with only black jewels dangling from it.
It was something subtle to say that it was sold at a blacksmith’s shop.
However, only the energy that radiated from it was real, but it was full of mysterious energy that was neither magical nor magical.
“You must have eyes to see.”
The old man who was sitting at the counter got up and walked over.
But the size… Uh….
Certainly, the white hair and the fine wrinkles are like that.
His height was as tall as if he was a head taller than me, and his wriggling muscles were so full of muscles that he felt like crushing a watermelon with brute force alone.
The tall old man strode forward and carefully lifted the necklace.
It was a timid movement that did not suit his size.
‘I’m sure he’s doing that because he’s too strong and he’s afraid he’ll break.’
Certainly. Because that person looked like he would be on par with a caring man just by looking at his size.
“Tears of a mermaid. They say that if you wear it, that person will be blessed with the protection of a mermaid.”
“It’s too black to cry.”
“It’s been a while.”
“Aha.”
No, what kind of conversation is this?
‘A mermaid’s protection rather than that.’
I know a little about mermaids.
It wasn’t a big deal in foreign film, but it was often mentioned casually, and it’s often learned at the academy.
Mermaids are a race that lives in the sea and has the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish!
‘… Cool.’
Of course, mermaids are not beings that can be roughly explained with these words.
In its heyday, it was a great race that had three warriors who reached the level of demigods.
In the distant past, a family of misfortune who helped a hero fight against the demon king, but were all annihilated without leaving a single member behind.
That was the race of mermaids.
Because of this, there can be no eyewitnesses among people in this world, and it appeared only as a mention in foreign films.
However, I have heard of mermaid tears a few times.
An artifact created by ancient mermaids.
It is an item that allows humans to breathe freely underwater and mermaids to come and go freely on land, and at the same time, it is an item that grants various stats and a unique effect of mental attack distance.
Since there are still not a small number of them, it is a good artifact that some people often carry around.
However, there are several grades for the mermaid’s tears artifact, which are determined by the color of the jewel.
The lowest grade is a translucent blue color that really looks like tears.
And as the grade goes up, it becomes more and more dark red, and eventually becomes completely black.
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And the higher the grade, the later it was made, and the reason was simple.
In the past, the lowest mermaid’s tears were enough, but as I dealt with the demon king, I felt that the existing mermaid’s tears were not enough.
So, while producing stronger and better mermaid tears, many mermaids even lost their lives.
That’s why it is also called ‘mermaid’s bloody tears’.
‘But I’ve never heard anything as black as that.’
If you compare existing mermaid tears with reddish mermaid tears, the difference in performance is well worth dozens of times.
But the black mermaid’s tears surpassed even that… I have no idea what kind of performance it will perform.
I want to be honest. But the problem is….
“Hmm.”
That the demon king is showing interest in that.
At this rate, there was a strong chance that I wouldn’t be able to get that thing.
‘I want to buy… !’
Even while I was thinking about this, the old man and the demon king were exchanging conversations.
“Not bad.”
“Yes. So will you live?”
“Ummm… how much is it?”
“56 Million won.”
“Oh….”
Then he suddenly looked at me.
“… What, what why.”
“… ….”
“I have no money.”
“… ….”
“……… ….”
Eventually, with tears in my eyes, I took out the card.
… I bought it It’s not what I write.
But it was fortunate that it was much cheaper than I thought.
If it’s an item with that level of spec, it’s sure to go over to the basics for billions.
But….
‘I bought an artifact for the demon king who has to fight someday… Is this right… ?’
This feeling that only increased the power of the enemy for no reason.
No, it’s not just a feeling, it’s true.
‘Because I can’t help it if I want to live right now….’
I think this is better than having me, a paladin, die here and have no hope at all.
*
‘… I don’t like it.’
It was perfect timing.
The training was completed safely, and all the other friends went home first.
Now all that is left is to go back leisurely with Siwoo alone.
In the process, we held hands, crossed arms… That and more…….
Just as I was thinking about that, something suddenly crashed.
I didn’t really like it, but being a hero doesn’t mean doing good only when you feel like it, so I had no choice but to go to the crash site with Siu.
And there… I met a girl who looked just like me, but looked a little younger.
To be honest, I was surprised for a moment, but the surprise did not last long.
There are various people in the world, and there may be people who are a lot alike.
Moreover, if you are a person like yourself, you have seen it many times in the past when you were captured by Pennheim and subjected to experiments to create clones.
That’s why Dina didn’t really care about anything until then.
But… As time passed, Dina’s mood worsened.
It was none other than Han Si-woo’s reaction.
Even though she is by her side, she cares too much about the girl in front of her and bends over.
Could it be that she likes the girl in front of her better than herself?
Maybe it’s obvious.
She herself has a bad personality, whereas the girl in front of her looks very nice.
… Although I ate a little too much.
Whatever she was, Dina nurtured her jealousy.
‘… Are you saying that Siwoo likes a girl that young?’
While thinking that it would be a subject of great controversy if it became known to the world.