Elqueeness - Chapter 45

It was a artifact from the G…golden age…

I dumbly stared at Lapis as my mouth dropped open.  This guy…is he in his right mind?

“Hey, Lapis…”

“Well, stop moving around and stand still. It is inconvenient when I’m trying to put his on you.”

“I don’t know anything about artifacts, but isn’t this too eye-catching?”

“……”

“Are you perhaps trying trying to complicate my life by making me run into thieves at every road I take?”

“……”

I knew it.  Lapis immediately lost the words he was about speak.  As I looked at Lapis, I felt the murderous intent I thought I had long buried surge up.  This shiny thing would also be quite noticeable!  How are you any different from Elwien!

I don’t care if his intent was good.  He wasn’t being of any help.  I frowned as I immediately pushed away the circlet he was trying to put on me.

“Put it away. I’ll just buy something else at the closest store.”

“Chet. This isn’t much.”

“Isn’t much?  The gem stone is currently emitting a bright light around a 1m radius yet you are saying it isn’t much?  You try wearing it for one day.  Every person passing by would stare at you!”

“Hmmm.  All right.  You have a bad temper.  Wait a little bit.  I think I have something that is plain.”

After saying this, Lapis started waving his hand in the air like before.  He waved his hand for a long time, and when I was about to get tired from waiting, his hand finally dropped.

“Well, how about this one?”

The second one he took out had a simple silver band at it had a coin-sized sapphire on the circlet. The sapphire was a bit different from normal ones where it had a slightly dark and murky color.  The color was closer to a dark blue instead of a normal blue.  I could also occasionally see golden colored engravings within it.
It didn’t have any other work done.  It seemed the circlet was made using only this gemstone as the center piece.  I looked at it with amazement in my eyes, and a slightly embarrassed Lapis opened his mouth.

“Lapis Lazuli is my gemstone.”

“Huh?”

“I’m talking about the gems adorned on the circlet.  The gemstone is called ‘Lapis Lazuli’.  It allows one to have success, prosperity and luck. It’s price had fallen, because of the sapphires. However, it was a very high class gem only 1500 years ago.”

“Ah, this is Lapis Lazuli?  This is the first time I’ve seen the real thing.  It isn’t fancy, so I think it should be ok?”

I thought I could walk around wearing this without much problem. I  looked at it with satisfaction as I received the circlet.
A sudden thought came to my head, so I asked a question with a quizzical expression on my face

“By the way, your parents must be pretty eccentric. They named a red dragon after a blue colored gem?”

“I chose it myself.”

“Eh?”

“I chose my own name.  After a hatchling is alive for 300 years, the hatchling will receive a name from the tribe’s leader.  At the time, I argued for my name to be ‘Lapis Lazuli’.”

“You were allowed to do that?”

“What?  I wanted to do it, so what could they do?  If I like it, then that’s that.”

Lapis seemed to have an obsession with the color blue since the day he was born.

Even though there were a lot of name he could have picked, he chose to name himself after a dark blue gem.  The meaning behind the name wasn’t bad, but he had blood colored eyes and his red hair looked like it was burning.  The name didn’t go well with his appearance.
It would have been best if he was born as a blue dragon.  If I looked at it from that perspective, this dragon’s live was quite pitiable.

“Don’t look at me like that. I know my appearance and name doesn’t match.  Also, are you sure you are ok with that?  It looks plain, but it is more expensive than the other circlet.”

“Huk. Really?”

I had already put on the circlet, but I froze when I heard this unexpected truth.

It did feel very high-class, but it didn’t look to be more expensive than the shining diamond…
Was he trying to prank me? I looked back at him with a distrustful expression, but his answer was very sincere.

“I told you. Lapis Lazuli is considered to be a very high class gem.  It is so rare that it is known as a holy stone that is capable of blessing the owner. I obtained it in the past when the price was at an all time low. Now it is harder to obtain than diamonds.”

“Then this is also a royal family’s treasure?”

“No.  It is a temple’s treasure.  There should be a record left somewhere?  The priests of the Demon god used it to decorate the altar.  I took it.  For a while, it caused a quite a stir.”

“……”

He really is crazy. He stole a god’s treasure?

I was appalled, so I yelled at him to put it away.  However, Lapis was stubborn.
He said no one would recognize it since 2 thousand years had passed.

After he had his coming-of-age ceremony, he had swiped it as a token of remembrance for his first vacation, and even he had totally forgotten about it.
He boldly lifted his head as my half-frightened gaze landed on Lapis.

“Isn’t the Demon god’s church still going strong? If some records were left behind, then at the very least, one or two priests would recognize this. If it was known I had this, then I’ll be on a direct collision course with Chronos’ temple.”

“Ah. You don’t have to worry about tha t. The current Demon god church rose from the ashes after the previous Demon god church collapsed.  The 2 thousand year old record was probably all destroyed.  Moreover, so what if they recognize it?  You just have to argue it isn’t the same item.”

It had a comparatively simple design, and since he stored it well, it didn’t have any scratches or damage. I would have believed it if someone told me the item was made recently.
No matter who saw it, no one would think this item had a 2000 year history.  When I heard his words, it made me think it wasn’t a big deal to receive the circlet from him.  Still, I couldn’t erase the uncomfortable feeling I felt.

“Anyways, most of the temple’s treasures were stolen when the Demon god’s church fell. This one circlet won’t even be missed.”

“What?  Is that so?  You should have said that in the first place.”

“You are being too timid. You are a Spirit King yet you are shaking over something like that.”

Isn’t he more ridiculous for speaking so boldly when he was the one who stole someone else’s property?  Even if it happened 2000 years ago, theft is theft.
This place wasn’t like Korea where a crime was remitted when the statute of limitations was reached. I grumbled inside for a moment. Then I calmly accepted the circlet from him and I put it on my forehead.  The gem was of the right size as it perfectly covered the god’s crest.  Even the color was similar to my hair color, so it didn’t’ feel too awkward wearing it.

Lapis casted a magic on me, so no one except I could take off the circlet.  He worried my forehead would be revealed if the circlet accidentally fell off.
Even though, he was willful and rude, it seemed he knew how to be considerate of the needs of his companions.  Or maybe he was just worried I would lose it.

I heard an unexpected news when I was making plans with the priests about my departure from the temple in the morning.
Mr. Kai wanted to travel with us, so he consulted with me.
He still had around 2 years left before he could return to the temple from his healing duties. He truthfully revealed his intent of wanting to help me during that period of time.

“Now that you have received Elwien’s crest, you can’t only think about yourself.  You are an influential person in the temple now.  You should travel with at least one disciple.  It would spare the temple’s pride.”

He spoke in a joking manner with a smile on his face.  I turned to look at Isana with a questioning expression.  I wanted to hear the opinion of the person, who was the primary decision maker of this journey.
His eyes met mine, then he spoke to Mr Kai with a calm expression on his face.

“This journey won’t be easy. To tell you the truth, we are in a position where we have to hide our identities…If it was know that two high ranking disciples of Elwien was part of my party, then I worry the temple may be harmed from the backlash. ”

“I am not ignorant on what you are worried about.  However, you don’t have to worry about that point.  For a while now, our temple have been preparing ourselves after that event.”

“……?”

We didn’t know the meaning of his words, so we looked at him with a questioning look.

He let out a brief laugh, then he answered by saying, ‘the Three Days of Miracle’.
Now that I think about didn’t Felix’s excuse involve some being?  He might have been talking about Elwien.  Isana’s face started to turn white from guilt.

“Ah…please, please forgive me.  It never occurred to me that the temple might face a backlash…. No. Before we talk about that, do you perhaps know who I am?”

It was after his appearance was changed with magic, but we still called him ‘Rai’.  It wasn’t too hard for Mr. Kai to deduce the identity of this person.

Was he trying to ask for permission to speak the truth?  Without giving an answer, Mr. Kai looked towards me.  Once I gave the nod, he smiled brightly as if he was relieved.

“It hasn’t been long since I realized the entire truth, but I was able to piece together all the hints.  Emperor Isana.  Priests only kneel to our own god, so I ask for your understanding in this matter.”

“…I understand. Everyone already knew about me.  So why…”

As if there was a turmoil going on within, Isana’s eyes twitched.  However, he had already been surprised before by the Champagne Mercenary, so he wasn’t as affected as before.
For a long while, he couldn’t bridge words together, and in the end, he silently agreed to Mr Kai journeying with them . I thought he would be worried about the grand duke harassing the temple, but he seemed to have an uncaring attitude about that possibility.  Still, they probably weren’t afraid since the army could just march through this harsh environment.
If there was going to be a problem, it was the temple located at the capital, Herica.  However, the Demon god’s priests backing the grand duke didn’t want to antagonize Elwien’s temple, so I was told there wouldn’t be any big problems.

“To tell you the truth, Elwien’s temple never openly expressed being on the Emperor’s side, so they won’t be able to find any fault with us. You don’t have to worry about that.”

No matter how strong the Arch Duke was he couldn’t crackdown on Elwien’s temples. His current position wasn’t strong enough, and he didn’t have a clear justification to do so.
No matter what god one worships, all temples were considered ‘holy ground’, and they had the right to condone a sinner in flight.
Even if the Arch Duke was angry, the temple could wield their authority to stop him.  This didn’t mean it would stop the pressure applied to Mr. Kai and I, since we were helping Isana directly.

After hearing this explanation, I mumbled bitterly.

“I don’t care about myself, but I don’t like the fact that Mr. Kai will also suffer.”

“No.  I’m already on my healing journey where I have to overcome hardships and sufferings.  Instead, I’m glad that I will be able to be of help to El-nim.”

After his mission ends, he’ll receive his title from the grand priest from the temple located in the capital. He had already been on his mission for 4 years, and he would have to wander around without a destination for a total of 7 years.
The more higher the rank of a priest was the mission process became longer. It was to erase the pride deeply rooted within one’s heart.

“Does that mean I have to go on a healing mission also?”

“If one grew up living in the temple then it would be so.  However, El-nim lived a long period of time as a civilian, so it shouldn’t matter.  Just by going on the location of your crest, you have already received the right to become a grand priest.”

However, I didn’t plan on acting like a priest after Isana regained his throne, so I politely declined.  Mr. Kai looked very wistful at my decision, but he understood I couldn’t stay in one place for long.  So he didn’t try to change my mind.

“Are you done talking?  When are we going to depart?”

Lapis hadn’t spoken up until now.  He was sitting in a lotus position, and he had an expression as if he was about to die from boredom.

By departing early, it just meant we’ll encounter hardship earlier….Lapis’ constitution didn’t allow him to sit around in one place for long.

Mr. Kai was barely acquainted with Lapis.  He was a companion who had suddenly shown up after we parted from the Champagne Mercenaries. He was very curious about him, but he refrained from directly asking any probing questions.  As if Lapis liked his attitude, he smiled. It was similar to the smile he made when we first met.

“Those, who are quick witted, live long.  Most priests don’t know about this, so they don’t die in their beds.”

“……”

Does he realize his words was applicable to himself?
If he was a little bit more quick witted, he wouldn’t have been hit by Elwien, and he could have avoided being knocked out for 4 days.
It was basically a pot calling the kettle back.  A guy like him was giving out such warnings.  I automatically let out a sigh.

Now our party grew to four members.  We left the temple as the grand priest Rooyan and his disciples gave a send-off.  The road down was much better than heading up the road. However, Lapis had already memorized the coordinates to the location near the base of the mountain, so he used a teleportation spell without permission.

“Teleport!”

“Ooaht! Wait, Lapis!”

Pah-aht!

I tried to stop him, but it was all for naught. After my words ended, we had already descended the mountain.
I worried there might be people around, but fortunatley, I realized no one was there.  I relaxed my rigid face.
However, the other two people in our party wasn’t used to traveling with magic, so they still hadn’t recovered mentally.  Mr. Kai, who did’t know about Lapis’ identity, was very shocked.

“A teleportation magic…Moreover, he didn’t materialize his casting.  This doesn’t make any sense…”

He mumbled as if he was losing his mind.  When I saw this, I immediately glared at Lapis.

“Why would you move us like that?  Everyone was surprised!”

“Do you really expect me to walk through the mountain again? I’m fed up with it. Also, I don’t have that kind of hobby. I would have had cast a Warming Spell on both of them. It’s more efficient to just teleport.”

“You are overflowing with mana, so don’t make a fuss about it. What if someone passing by saw us?”

“So what? Humans know how to use teleport magic.”

Still, it is too eye-catching!  I wanted to yell at him, but I was barely able hold myself back.  I approached Mr Kai, who still had a confused expression, and I patted his shoulder. I couldn’t guarantee him such an event would never happen again, but I knew I had to tell him about Lapis’ identity.

“You don’t have to be surprised. That guy is a dragon.”

“What? A d..dragon?”

“Yes. He does whatever he wants, so please be understanding.  He is a guy who thinks he can contend with a god.”

“Ha-ah. It seems I’ve joined an incredible party.”

Mr. Kai mumbled with a haunted expression, but he put on an awkward smile. Truthfully, it was a sentiment I also felt… The only ‘normal’ existence among us was Mr. Kai.
‘A red dragon who was crazy about the Water Spirit King.’ There was the 16 year old emperor who was chased out by his uncle. I was a ‘Water Spirit King who deludes himself into thinking he is a human’. How could we be incredible?  I couldn’t think of a more ragtag group than ours.
Still, I wished Mr. Kai would be able to hold out in this weird group.

-An Encounter-

“Really…This is going to be quite the headache.”

When they descended the mountain, the first thing that greeted them was a couple dozen werewolves.