RSHW-Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Enhancement

◆  

All the feelings Princess Illia has towards the human named Gray Chasefield can ultimately be summarized in one word.  

Scary.  

…No, more than that—dangerous.  

There are times when being next to her makes Illia feel her life is threatened to the point where she can’t even deny it.  

So, it’s understandable that she might recklessly break the suffocating silence after enduring it all day.  

“How about we talk about someone we like?!”  

“……”  

Gray, who had been lying on the bed reading a book with her monocle on, turned her emotionless eyes toward Illia.  

“……”  

“……”  

…Did I make a mistake?  

Illia broke into a cold sweat as the thought crossed her mind.  

No, but she couldn’t stand Gray treating her like she was invisible even though they were sharing the same room. But judging by Gray’s reaction, her flesh was trembling…  

“U-um, no, I just meant that when girls gather, they usually talk about things like this—”  

“Shut up.”  

“……”  

“Don’t talk nonsense.”  

“Y-yes.”  

…Of course, this was how it would go.  

Illia fidgeted in front of the line drawn before her chair.  

It was a boundary Gray had drawn, warning that she’d kill Illia if she crossed it.  

“……”  

…Hmm.  

To treat a member of the Imperial family like this…  

Isn’t this just bullying?  

But it was clear Gray wasn’t entirely heartless.  

“Do you have one?”  

The fact that she responded at all proved it.  

“Huh?”  

“Someone you like.”  

“……”  

Illia hadn’t expected an answer at all, so she broke into another cold sweat.  

Someone she likes…  

“I don’t have one yet…”  

As Illia trailed off, Gray firmly closed her mouth and fell silent.  

…Desperate to keep the conversation going, Illia forced herself to continue.  

“Ah, but there was someone who liked me!”  

“Oh? Who?”  

“My mother!”  

The moment those words left her mouth.  

Illia’s expression gradually darkened.  

“…She’s not here anymore.”  

A heavy silence fell.  

The fact that this princess, who always maintained a timid but bright demeanor, could become so somber spoke volumes about what had happened to her birth mother.  

“……”  

Watching her, Gray silently got up from her seat.  

As Illia flailed in confusion, Gray wiped away the line drawn in front of her.  

“You can come over.”  

“…Huh?”  

“…Wanna sleep together? On the bed.”  

“………Huh?”  

“………If you don’t want to, forget it.”  

Huh.  

Huh?  

Illia’s mind spun as she tried to process the situation.  

In other words.  

This was the hero’s way of comforting her.  

Returning to the bed and pulling up the covers, Gray spoke nonchalantly.  

“…I miss my mom too.”  

“……”  

“Pitied you. I’ll sleep with you.”  

Her tone was stiff, and the words weren’t exactly warm.  

But without a doubt, it was an attempt to comfort her.  

…Ah.  

I see.  

This person… Has wounds too.  

Illia hesitated, then approached the bed.  

Sitting demurely in front of Gray, she smiled faintly.  

“I-I’m okay now! Thanks to you, Hero, and everyone else who has become my friend.”  

Gray’s eyebrow twitched.  

“…I’ve never been particularly nice to you.”  

She meant it.  

Unlike Carlisle or Vespa, who always looked out for her, Gray had never shown any particular interest in Illia.  

If anything, she’d been harsh and intimidating more often than not.  

But.  

“You’ve taught me so much!”  

Maybe it was childish stubbornness, or perhaps an innate purity.  

Whichever it was.  

“You’re my friend, Hero!”  

The words she spoke with a bright smile directed at Gray.  

Were undoubtedly filled with sincerity.  

“…Sure.”  

Gray replied flatly.  

Though her voice seemed slightly softer, maybe just a trick of the mood.  

“Then, go ahead and finish what you were saying.”  

“Huh?”  

“About liking someone, or whatever. You brought it up. Say something, anything.”  

At Gray’s words, Illia tilted her head.  

“Hmm… I didn’t expect you to be interested in this kind of conversation, Hero!”  

“…I’m not.”  

It was just that Lionel’s constant nagging about finding a good partner or bringing someone along annoyed her.  

So, she figured she might as well learn a thing or two, even if she didn’t really care.  

“I was just curious… What it feels like for a man and a woman to like each other.”  

For her.  

It was still an unknown emotion.  

To the point where she had no idea what kind of man could make her feel that way.  

“……Hmm……”  

The problem was, being asked such a question by a 7-year-old girl meant Illia couldn’t give a clear answer.  

Tilting her head, Illia sat beside Gray, resting her chin on her hands.  

Liking someone.  

Liking someone…  

Even for her, it was an unfamIliar emotion.  

But if she had to compare it to something similar, she could roughly approximate it.  

“Don’t you think Carlisle is cool?”  

“……”  

“He’s reliable, always treats me warmly, he’s handsome, and also…”  

Before she could finish, Gray kicked Illia off the bed, sending her tumbling to the floor with a crash.  

“……”  

“Sleep on the floor.”  

Gray’s cold words left Illia speechless.  

“…Huh?”  

“I’ll hit you if you come back up.”  

“……”  

“That guy’s not cool at all.”  

“……”  

“Not even a little bit.”  

“……”  

“So stop liking him. Got it?”  

…Why?  

  ◆  

When it comes to memories of the Imperial Armory, mine are actually pretty decent.  

It’s a famIliar place for Carlisle too.  

Even when the empire began to collapse, they stubbornly refused to open it until the very end.  

Of course, once humanity was pushed to the brink, they ended up emptying it completely.  

A warehouse holding all the empire’s arcane secrets. The culmination of treasures accumulated over a thousand years of history.  

“-Welcome!”  

Standing at the entrance of such a place, Siona Rebel smiled brightly.  

“The grand finale of our field trip! You’ve been granted permission to take one item each!”  

…What kind of field trip lets you take something from the Imperial Armory?  

At this point, it’s less a field trip and more an outright advertisement that something terrible is about to happen.  

Except for Gray, who was casually looking around like she was familiar with the place, everyone else’s faces had turned pale.  

Given that every item piled up around them looked incredibly valuable, their reactions were understandable.  

“…When you say we can take one item, does that mean we can choose anything?”  

“That’s right, Carlisle!”  

But.  

The moment he received that confirmation, Carlisle began striding through the armory without hesitation.  

He looked as though he’d been here many times before.  

“…Huh? Don’t you need a guide?”  

“I studied hard.”  

Dismissing Siona’s question, Carlisle began scanning the area with fiery eyes.  

[…Had you been to the Imperial Armory before?]  

At the Holy Sword’s question, Carlisle scoffed.  

What kind of question was that?  

‘How many regressions do you think I’ve gone through?’  

Memories from when the empire was intact required the Holy Sword’s assistance to recall.  

But for places where knowledge was ‘shared’, Carlisle felt as comfortable as if he were in his own home.  

Especially since the Imperial Armory was a place he visited at least once every regression.  

How could he not know what was here?  

[For someone like that, your discernment isn’t exactly impressive…?]  

The Holy Sword muttered as it watched Carlisle pass by countless artifacts without a second glance.  

It was a fair comment.  

The sword of the first emperor, an amulet carved from the horn of an evil god, the shield of the hero who defeated the first calamity…  

Everywhere he looked, there were legendary artifacts.  

But what Carlisle was searching for was very specific.  

‘I don’t need any of those right now.’  

[What?]  

‘I need to find something I can use immediately.’  

No matter how powerful an artifact was, if he couldn’t wield it, it was as useless as a pearl necklace on a pig.  

Those items were undoubtedly powerful, but they demanded an extraordinary level of skill from the user. They weren’t essential for Carlisle at the moment.  

With that thought, his eyes finally landed on what he’d been searching for—a glass case containing a petrified eyeball.  

[…The Eye of the Watcher? It’s useful, but not exactly a legendary artifact.]  

Exactly.  

The Watcher, a magical beast that drained magic by sight, had the habit of storing all the magic it absorbed in its eye.  

Given that it was preserved in the Imperial Armory, it was undoubtedly a top-tier magic vessel, having absorbed magic for centuries.  

Still, compared to the other treasures here—like the Holy Sword—it was a modest choice.  

But.  

‘With just this, it’ll work.’  

With those words, Carlisle began moving again.  

He stopped in front of a necklace labeled ‘Tear of the Star’.

[…And what’s that? Isn’t that completely useless?]  

This was an item sent decades ago by the Magic Tower as a token of friendship to the empire.  

Since it was a national gift, it was stored in the armory out of respect, but no one knew its purpose.  

True to the Magic Tower’s notoriously eccentric nature, they had told the emperor, ‘Those who don’t recognize its value don’t deserve to use it’, which reportedly spiked the emperor’s blood pressure.  

Various experiments were conducted, but since no one could figure out its purpose, it became a forgotten relic.  

Well.  

Except for one person.  

Carlisle smirked as he picked up the necklace and pressed the Eye of the Watcher against it.  

Then, biting his finger to draw blood, he began drawing an intricate pattern beneath the Tear of the Star.  

He couldn’t remember which regression he’d learned this in. But he did remember the then-head of the Magic Tower begging him to take it to their grave.  

…They’d probably be mortified if they knew.  

[What are you doing?]  

‘Decrypting it.’  

[What?]  

‘This was originally sent by the Magic Tower head to spite the emperor. They didn’t want to openly defy the empire, but they also didn’t want to give them anything of real value.’  

They couldn’t send something completely worthless—that would’ve been an insult. But they also didn’t want to do the emperor any favors.  

That’s just how the Magic Tower was. Eccentric mages were hardly rare.  

So their compromise was to send an item that could only be used if its encryption was cracked.  

Something that looked impressive but was locked behind security so tight its true function couldn’t be accessed.  

And so deviously hidden that no one even realized it was encrypted.  

‘This is a national treasure. One of the Magic Tower’s greatest artifacts.’  

But if you could break through that encryption.  

This was one of the most insane pieces of equipment in the entire Demon Hunter world.  

[…How the hell do you know that?]  

The Holy Sword sounded incredulous.  

The Magic Tower was the epitome of decadence, isolationism, and elitism.  

There was no way they’d casually reveal such classified information. Even if the emperor demanded it, they’d sooner go to war than comply.  

‘I told you.’  

Carlisle smirked.  

‘How many regressions do you think I’ve gone through?’  

When it came to knowledge within his reach.  

In terms of breadth and depth.  

No one could surpass him.  

Absolutely no one in the world.  

[……]  

As the Holy Sword fell silent, Carlisle watched the blood he’d drawn seep into the Tear of the Star.  

This was the process of ‘registering’ the user.  

And now.  

To ‘activate’ it, he brought the Eye of the Watcher into contact with the Tear’s magic.  

Soon, tendrils of light from the necklace absorbed the Eye of the Watcher.  

Without a trace, as if devouring it whole.  

‘…This is insane.’  

What he’d just done was the equivalent of booting up a computer.  

In other words.  

This thing required the Eye of the Watcher—which had been absorbing magic for centuries—just to ‘boot up’.  

The message that followed didn’t disappoint.  

[System Message]  

▶ You have activated ‘Tear of the Star’!  

▶ This is a ‘Bound Item’. No one else can use it!  

▶ For a very short time, you can use unlimited magic!  

▶ The Holy Sword’s form-changing capabilities expand slightly!  

▶ The Holy Sword gains the skill – ‘Divine Descent’!  

…That’s right.  

Carlisle grinned.  

◆