Kapitel 50: Chapter 50: Suspicious Companion Part 2
he onlookers were gleefully anticipating my failure.
"..."
After taking a moment to draw a deep breath, I stood before the Sage's Flask.
It was hard to believe that this small flask which was barely the size of my palm had plunged thousands, no, tens of thousands of people into despair.
Well, that ends today.
With a light smile, I grasped the flask.
And then…
– Pop!
I opened the lid and pushed it aside.
The flask, which had been teetering, fell over, and the legendary water that Sage Ilodia had sipped at his last moments before death was spilled just like that onto the ground.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The square fell silent at the sight, which was beyond belief.
And then I casually picked up the flask with a broad grin.
"Is that all?"
"..."
The person dispatched from the Echaits Council stood gaping at me with a dumbfounded expression on his face and was unable to utter a word.
And understandably so.
The wisdom left by Ilodia had just vanished into thin air.
"Mad, madman…"
Murmurs began to ripple through the crowd and they were growing louder by the moment.
"Has he lost his mind?"
"To waste Ilodia's wisdom like that!"
"Crazy bastard!"
The shouts grew louder. I looked around at the agitated crowd and threw out a challenge.
"If you value it so much, why don't you try licking it off the ground? It's still pooled there."
"...!"
"Hurry up and lick it before it dries up."
At my words, the crowd gasped in shock.
"It's mine!"
"Move aside! I will, I will savor Ilodia's wisdom!"
In an instant, the square turned into a frenzy. I retreated to the back to avoid the crowd of people and spoke to the person who was supervising Ilodia's trial.
"May I leave now?"
"That, that, that is…"
He stammered and was at a loss for words. I sighed deeply and then slowly explained it to him.
"The condition was to lift the flask by any means necessary, wasn't it?"
Indeed.
By any means necessary, the task was to lift the Sage's Flask.
That was the sole condition of this trial.
"But, but still…"
The man looked around in confusion, his face a picture of turmoil. Yet, there was no one around to offer him any useful advice.
With a relaxed smile, I patted the man on the shoulder.
"Well then, I'll be on my way."
I left the testing grounds unobstructed. With the Sage's Flask in my arms.
***
"You're crazy…"
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
I took a sip of the fragrant tea Katharina had poured for me and smiled gently.
"I was wondering what all the commotion in the square was about. I never imagined it was all your doing."
"I merely solved a problem that has persisted for centuries."
"..."
Katharina looked at me with a look of disagreement on her face.
"So, has Ilodia's final wisdom just vanished?"
"Well…"
"Do you know something?"
I just grinned.
Of course, I knew.
The water contained within the Sage's Flask was not the wisdom left by Ilodia as many had thought.
It was merely ordinary water.
Just plain water, with no special effects whatsoever.
In reality, the Sage's Flask had been the subject of great controversy.
This was because no player had been able to lift the Sage's Flask for quite some time.
As the months went by without anyone completing the festival quest, players would come together every festival and wrack their brains for a solution.
Even the most renowned guilds and the most notable players had tried to obtain the Sage's Flask, but none had succeeded.
Then, one day, a newbie broke the quest in a rather anticlimactic manner.
The newbie had simply used a [Throw] skill.
Instantly, the Sage's Flask became the property of the newbie and this event became a huge topic within the AOE community.
Being such a famous incident, I too was well aware of the story.
The content of the Sage's Flask was indeed just ordinary water.
The real significance lay in the Sage's Flask itself!
The quest for the Sage's Flask was a test of wisdom that rewarded only those who made unconventional choices.
There was a detailed anecdote in the item description of the Sage's Flask about a trial of wisdom left by Ilodia, but I saw no need to go into detail explaining this to others.
After all, obtaining the item was all that mattered.
The Sage's Flask was a unique item that absorbed pure magical power from its surroundings to create highly concentrated magic potions.
The potions produced by the Sage's Flask were of the highest quality, with no cooldowns or side effects like poisoning.
Moreover, once the filled potion was used, the Sage's Flask would again absorb the ambient magical power to replenish itself,
In other words, you get an endless supply of high-grade magic potions that do not exist anywhere else in the world.
The only downside was that it was a bound item, meaning only the owner could use it.
Should someone other than the owner attempt to use it, the magic potion would revert to mere water.
However, this limitation was more of an advantage to me.
If others saw it as just an ordinary water flask, it would attract fewer greedy eyes.
I took another sip of my tea and turned to the curious Katharina.
"In the end, Sage Ilodia wanted to leave his legacy not to the mightiest, but to the 'wisest' among us."
"…So, you're saying you're wise?"
"Well, one could say that."
It seemed Sage Ilodia appreciated the beauty of emptiness and fulfillment.
I smiled happily as I felt the weight of the sage water bottle grow heavier.
"Anyway, thanks to the Sage's Flask, conquering the deep-sea dungeon will be much easier."
"That's certainly a good thing to hear."
"The schedule is as I mentioned. When the tide is calm on the night of the new moon."
"We've already completed our preparations on this end. Let us know if there's anything else you need."
"I will do that. Then, I'll take my leave. The tea was delicious."
"Safe travels."
Having thoroughly enjoyed the festival and informed Katharina of the schedule, I left the merchant guild's mansion with a light heart.
To avoid getting lost while trying to cross the market like last time, I deliberately walked along the road on the outskirts near the sea.
By the time I noticed, the sun had set, enveloping the surroundings in darkness with only the sound of the waves audible.
The night air was brisk.
Perhaps I should have a drink when I get back. Grilled dried squid with soju would be perfect… But the inn likely only has jerky, cheese, and wine.
"Haaah…"
I sighed and walked slowly.
-Snap.
-Crack.
It was then.
Something was blocking the way in the darkness. Its shape was barely discernible, but I could make out that there were many of them and that they were large.
"..….."
Silently, I halted my steps and peered into the darkness. Hidden in the shadows, their eyes glinted, illuminated by the moonlight.
They were watching me.
It seemed unlikely they were here to share a drink.
I placed my hand on the hydra's fangs across my back and stared intently back at them just as they were doing to me.
"Mister."
When I didn't run away or attack them, one of them called out in a raspy voice.
"You seem to have come across something good today."
"..."
Of course, that would be the case.
There was no way there wouldn't be someone aiming for something as big as the Sage's Flask.
Especially after so many had witnessed me obtaining it in the square…
I didn't respond and just kept looking at them.
"If you hand it over quietly, we won't kill you."
"Kukukukuku!"
"Kikikikikiki…."
Like all villains, they resorted to clichéd threats.
Of course, their threats were no joke. Each of them brandished weapons like daggers, swords, or hand axes. The way their blades glowed in the moonlight was enough to tell me they were serious.
"And if I refuse?"
I asked back in a dry voice.
"What?"
"If I refuse, what will you do?"
They erupted into loud laughter as if amused by my audacity.
"Then we'll simply have to kill you!"
Is there a school somewhere teaching these clichéd lines?
I sighed deeply and gripped the hydra's fang in my hands.
Indeed, I had been thinking it was about time for some personal combat training. My training partners showed up just in time, and I'm so grateful that I'm almost in tears.
"Try and kill me then."
Two, three, five, seven, nine…
Were there nine of them?
Nine of them to take on a single druid?
Their courage was laughably small.
I immediately used the [Feather Walk] skill and began to dart agilely between the heavily approaching figures.
-Thud!
-Thwack!
Once, twice. I plunged the hydra's fang deep into their sides and then leaped into the air.
"Yo-you bastard!"
I easily dodged a brute charging at me with a hand axe. Perhaps it was thanks to my extensive experience sparring with Jamel, whose main weapon was an axe, that I found it so easy to counter this attack. After all, this fool's axe swinging was atrociously bad.
-Bang!
With a swift move, I kicked one of them in the chest with my knee and then drove the hydra's fangs into his skull. As soon as the fang was pulled out again, the guy fell down to the ground.
-Thud.
That made three down, six more to go.
"Die!"
Why do they always scream while charging? I was annoyed by the noise and I swung the hydra's fang directly at his throat.
-Poof!
– Shhhhhhhhh!!!!
The blood sprayed like a fountain and drenched my face.
What an unpleasant sensation…
Ugh, I spat out the bitter taste of blood that had gotten into my mouth.
One guy who saw this scene threw away his dagger and ran away. Yes, smart move. I turned towards the remaining four, who seemed frozen in place and made my move. I felt light as a feather. And then…
-Swiiiiish!
-Splat!
"....."
Before I could even swing the Hydra's Fang, their bodies burst apart all at once. Hot blood spattered, and the almost shredded torsos fell to the ground with a thud.
-Squelch…
And in the darkness, I saw eyes that glowed white under the moonlight.
"You are…"
Emerging from the long shadows was a tall figure wrapped in a pitch-black cloak.
"…Lloyd?"
Although he was soaked in blood, I knew it was him. He gave me a slight nod with an impassive expression on his face, then methodically cleaned his bloodied blade on a corpse's garment before sliding it back into its sheath at his waist.
"The patrol will be here soon."
"...."
"Let's head back."
Lloyd turned and disappeared into the shadows first.
After a brief glance at the cleaved bodies, I hurriedly followed him.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein