Chapter 47: The Most Reliable Tool
Once the little mix-up was cleared away, though it may not really have been one from Freya’s point of view, she told herself that, after all, who was she to judge a being the gods themselves regarded as a hero.
She put away the whole charade, all that childish side she so readily let spill over, to become the cold, calculating Freya once more, because she knew it, what was playing out with this hero could lead to something far greater.
Should I kill him? Or make use of him to reach my goals? It’ll all depend on him, I suppose.
"Right, to begin with, let’s pick up where we left off. Go ahead, girls."
At those words, the girls explained to him where they came from, what had happened, and how the village had been massacred, their own mother along with it, not by the Freya standing here, but on the contrary saved by her, once, before the baron sent his troops back.
They told him everything, except, of course, the true reason for the baron’s coming, keeping Nymeria secret.
That was what they’d agreed upon in advance, never to breathe a word of it, lest they draw far too much potential danger onto the dungeon’s lands. And for now, even if harvesting the bodies offered a definite economic advantage given the mana they yielded, doing so proved far too risky without Aria at their side.
Because the more Aria was gone, the more Freya and the girls came to realize it, she was this dungeon’s number one asset. Far more than that, even, she was its very core, juggling responsibilities, learning, knowledge, skills. She simply had it all.
And now that she was gone, the dungeon had, alas, lost that all.
When the girls had finished laying out the details for him, Aldric nodded, and seemed to grasp something. He straightened up, suddenly recovering a wholly noble stature and dignity, as if the last few minutes had never happened.
"Perhaps I was naive. It was the baron himself who sent me here. Perhaps he sought to use me, perhaps that oracle designating me, and your dungeon along with it, were nothing but a lie..." he said, as though clinging to that possibility with all his might.
Naive is an understatement! Does this boy have no parents? What did they teach him, for him to be this pure despite his noble rank? How could he ever get by in life, let alone survive his current predicament in this dungeon?
"That does hold up." Freya seemed to ponder something a moment, before going on. "But, little puppy, first things first, show me your status."
She knew from her source, Aria, that not only summons but every being in this world possessed a status, and could reveal it of their own accord.
So he stepped closer, having no other choice, held out his arms, and the status appeared.
[ Status — Aldric Paydragon ]
[ Level: 13 ]
[ Unique Skill: Blessing of the God of Truth — The hero can level up, but in exchange, he is incapable of lying. ]
[ Normal Skills: Charge of the Brave | Thrust | | Basic Swordsmanship | Sacrifice ]
[ Titles: Young Master | Future of the Paydragons | Apprentice Hero ]
"Good." she said, scanning it, analyzing it, while the girls leaned in around her to do the same.
Aria had also taught her that a system could sum a man up in a few lines, that you could read a person, and the life he’d led, from his status alone.
And so, her eyes settled first on the most ridiculous thing imaginable.
Wait. This man, standing before me, can level up?
She read the line twice, just to be sure she hadn’t misread it.
The kind of ability reserved for the protagonists of leveling systems, the ones who start at the bottom of the ladder and end up crushing everything in their path. The trope of the weakling destined to become the strongest. Except this one...
Her gaze slid down to the little blond heap still sniffling at her feet.
Except this one missed absolutely every memo. You hand him the ultimate cheat, the mechanic any player would dream of, and he finds a way to get knocked flat by a fountain pen.
How on earth can you be this weak with an advantage like that in your hands?
But she understood now, this man wasn’t chasing after strength. A thing she found ridiculous and pathetic, of course, but which, in its own way, had its importance.
Then came the drawback, right below, and there, Freya raised an eyebrow.
He can’t lie.
She let the information sink in, and a shiver of pure, selfish relief ran through her at the thought of never having to bear such a burden. She herself would hate it more than anything, even if she were offered colossal strength in exchange. What good was all the power in the world, if cunning, her sharpest weapon, became overnight impossible to wield...
But in his case, with his personality, perhaps it wasn’t such a heavy price. And in any event, the whole thing was nothing but a boon for her. She’d know how to make use of it.
"Tell me, can all heroes level up like you?"
He answered at once, without the slightest hesitation.
"To be honest, I have no idea."
I see... and since he can’t lie... so it really is the truth, that he knows nothing... a shame.
"Good."
She refocused on the status. Past a few low-level skills and titles of no great importance, her gaze came to rest on one of them, Sacrifice.
Yet more proof that this man was a good one, which suited her on one hand, and far less on the other.
What Freya was after at that moment was a new pawn. A pawn who could become her face in human lands, help her set her conquest in motion, all the more so since, with Aria’s departure, she had to rethink the whole of her plans.
So, can I really make one of my pawns out of him, while dealing with the fact that he now knows the location of my dungeon?
Freya weighed the risks and the benefits, short-term and long, letting her strategist’s brain run at full tilt.
On one hand, this boy was exactly what she lacked. A noble with a known name, blessed by the gods, a face no one would suspect, where her own would never inspire anything but terror. A hero incapable of lying was a walking seal of credibility, a ready-made way into the human lands she could never force open herself.
On the other, a single real problem, but a sizeable one. He knew the location of the dungeon. Letting him leave with that in his head meant handing anyone at all the means to bring it all crashing down.
The question was whether the first side of the scale weighed heavily enough to cover the second.
All calculation done, under normal circumstances, she’d have killed him here and now, without hesitation. What saved him for the moment was precisely the drawback of his blessing.
Consider the irony of it. The god of truth surely thought he was blessing him, making him a paragon incapable of the slightest lie. And here that very gift, that very inability to lie, is the one and only reason I’m about to spare him. A man who can lie betrays you the moment it suits him. A man who can’t, on the other hand, is the most reliable tool in the world.
A true blessing, in the end. Not for him, who’d have to drag it around like a ball and chain his whole life, but for her, who intended to use it in the exact opposite direction from the one any god could have imagined.
That was how she made her decision. She knew how to go about it, and she had time. There was no sense in rushing. She’d play on the young naïf’s emotions, with the help of the girls and the distance from his sisters, to maneuver him and see how far it would lead her.
It was the best course to take, from her point of view at least. And if the affair proved inconclusive, well, she’d simply kill him.
Right, let’s leave it there for now.
"Tell me, would you help me conquer the Frarken barony?"
"No."
"Even if I spare your life, and your sisters’, and promise you all a fine future?"
There, he seemed to hesitate.
That’s it, human, tear yourself apart nice and thoroughly. A hero torn between his duty and the love he bears his sisters.
"I don’t know."
Good. So he’s not entirely against it. That’s already something.
And on top of that, her little maneuver had just borne fruit, because through those few words, she now had the certainty of it, the Sacrifice skill was indeed tied to his sisters. She’d know how to make use of it as much as it took.
"Good, he may go. Mei, you’ll alternate his close guard with the Mycofoxes. He is strictly forbidden from setting foot in this chamber again."
"Understood, Mistress."
The Soldier Mycofoxes, for their part, answered with a spirited "Kyuuu."
She gave a nod to Roku, who understood that he’d serve as a safety net, lurking in the shadows, in case the other managed to get past the first line.
"And above all, don’t hesitate to make the most of his blessing’s constraint! As for you, Mei, I also order you to keep sculpting everything you can! Turn my dungeon into a proper art museum!"
"Yesss...!" she answered, already all timid, in a striking contrast with the professional she’d been just minutes earlier.
And so it was that the matter of the invader closed on a door left ajar, leaving his own future in his hands.
"So... I’m really going to live?" Aldric breathed, still disbelieving, as Mei was already drawing him toward the exit. "You... you’re really sparing my life?"
"Tch..."
For all answer, Freya set the scythe back against the side of her throne, then stretched at length.
"Aaaah... that was exhausting..."
"It doesn’t take much with you, Madam." Naïa let out, beside her.
"My, you’ve gotten quite insolent, in the span of a few days."
"Isn’t that exactly what you wanted? Or, as you put it so well about Laïa, isn’t that just my charm?"
Freya was left momentarily speechless by the retort.
"I can see Aria taught you far too much."
"All I’m learning is arithmetic, cooking, housekeeping, how to write perfectly, how to keep accounts, how to set a table, how to mend a garment, how to tell the good herbs from the bad, how to stand up straight, how to speak properly, how to manage stock, how to calculate yield, how to—"
"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Freya cut in, waving her hands. "I get it, Aria’s the good influence, and it’s all my fault, all right?!"
Naïa broke into laughter, and Freya with her, before slumping down for good onto her brand-new throne, and thinking out loud.
"Aaaah... if only I had something to unwind with... a bit of entertainment..."
"In this world, hunting is a form of entertainment, you know. And besides, with the little feast, our reserves have run rather low."
Ooooh~~ What a lovely idea. Let’s go test out this new body, and while we’re at it, the skill I drew today, since I never got the chance to use it on that fangless puppy.