A servant told me that Epona was asking to see me.
As I was dressing myself, I spoke up.
[Tarte, can you come with me?] (Lugh)
[Yes! Always happy to serve.] (Tarte)
[As for me, I’ll stay here and wait.] (Dia)
Tarte and I left the room.
From the look of it, Epona would use her skill to lend me some of hers.
…Such a bait was too good to be true, but I probably couldn’t refuse it, and I did trust Epona to a degree.
I made up my mind and stepped out.
***
In this castle, the height of the floor levels was proportional to the rank of the nobles who occupied them.
The top floor could only be used by royalty, and the floor below was used by the people who were next in the hierarchy, such as the duke.
We were taken to the second level from the top.
It was a place I, the son of a baron family, would have normally never set foot in.
I guess that’s just how much importance they give to the being known as the hero.
As I walked down the corridor, I attracted the attention of a lot of onlookers.
It seemed that they knew who I was.
[Are there portraits of me going around or something?] (Lugh)
Although I disguised myself by changing the color of my hair and my facial impression whenever I carried out assassinations, I wasn’t fond of this situation.
Then, we were brought to a garden that was arranged so it stuck out of the castle.
The floor and ceiling were all made of special grass, making it look like there was a flower bed in the sky.
At the center of it was Epona the hero.
As soon as she saw me, she ran to me and bowed her head.
[Lugh, I’m so sorry! I know you told me to keep quiet about it, but I got carried away and opened my mouth! Because of that, you’re in such an alarming position!] (Epona)
Epona bowed her head multiple times.
[Don’t worry about it. I don’t blame you.] (Lugh)
[Still, I’m sorry.] (Epona)
[Really, I’m not mad at you.] (Lugh)
I understood that Epona was the sort of person who would get emotional while addressing those kinds of topics, and I decided that I would handle her on that basis next time. Never again would I make the same mistake.
[Um… So, you know… Well… I thought just saying sorry wouldn’t cut it, so I decided to make use of one of my skills. It’s called【My loyal knights】.] (Epona)
Moving on to the main subject, huh.
[What sort of skill is it?] (Lugh)
I asked her anyway since it seemed like a legitimate reaction.
[Well you see, I can lend my power to up to three people in my lifetime. Though I say this, it doesn’t mean that my power will be gone once I lend it, it means that I can make others stronger while remaining strong myself. More specifically, I can increase their physical strength and mana, and they will be able to use some of my skills.] (Epona)
[That would be a great help. Since I’ll be fighting demons, I’d better get as strong as possible.] (Lugh)
[But there are a few conditions. If you go against my orders, the effects of【My loyal knights】will wear off, and if you lose a battle where something important is at stake, you will lose that power. Also, you can’t use it if I die. And once the power is gone, I can’t use it on the same person again.] (Epona)
The description was as I remembered.
If I disobeyed her orders, the power I borrowed would disappear, so it would be a hassle to do as Epona says, even if her demands were a bit unreasonable.
However, the main problem with this would be that in case of defeat, the effects would be gone.
Once you had this skill, you couldn’t lose.
…However, I wasn’t aware of that part about fighting for something important.
If what Epona said was correct, then losing during training or regular fights was most likely not a problem.
[Have you ever used it on someone before?] (Lugh)
[Actually, only once. When I had my awakening as the hero, I used it on a man with massive blue hair near the border of Swoigel.] (Epona)
A man with massive blue hair?
I could only think of one man that fits the bill, but was it really him?
[Since the power I lent him hasn’t returned yet, I’m sure he’s doing fine.] (Epona)
[By the way, what kind of skill did you lend him?] (Lugh)
[【Berserk】, among a few others. Apparently, I don’t get to decide what skills I give, it’s【My loyal knights】itself that chooses what skills are best suited for the other person.] (Epona)
…It was only a hypothesis, but could it be that Setanta, the guy I fought to protect Dia, had actually been empowered by Epona?
He said that he’d never had a decent fight in his life, so he must’ve been incredibly strong to begin with.
Then he received Epona’s power and became monstrously powerful.
When I confronted him, I thought that his perfect combination of【Berserk】and a skill that allowed him to maintain his sanity even in a violent state was too good to be true.
But it may have been the other way around. It could be that【My loyal knights】, which grants skills that suit its targets best, chose to grant him【Berserk】precisely because he already possessed a skill that allowed him to remain sane in any situation at any time.
If so, then this was bad news.
Somehow, that guy was still alive, and he hadn’t lost his powers.
I would probably run into him somewhere sooner or later.
…Something important was at stake in that duel I had with him. Does the fact that he didn’t lose his power in spite of this mean that he didn’t think of it as his loss because I hit him with a surprise attack? If so, then losing power due to being defeated seemed to be a pretty loose condition.
[I see. So that’s how it is. But are you really sure about this? This is a skill you can only use on three people, isn’t it?] (Lugh)
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