Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 124. New Tool (1)

“You twisted bastard.”

At Anagin’s nonsense about “the intent’s different,” Irida’s patience finally reached its limit, and she spat out a curse.

And honestly, wasn’t it understandable?

She had gone out of her way to think it through and make a sincere offer, only for him to respond like that.

She had even said something as embarrassing as calling him a friend.......

For a moment, Irida genuinely wondered if he was making a fool of her.

But that feeling quickly subsided.

Because of what Anagin said next.

“I’m sorry.”

Surprisingly, Anagin apologized.

It was the kind of guy who seemed like he’d just brazenly say, “So what?” even if he was in the wrong—and yet he apologized.

Caught completely off guard, Irida blurted out that thought honestly, and Anagin grumbled as if asking what nonsense she was talking about.

“What kind of image do you people even have of me in your heads....... Anyway, I know you’re saying it because you’re worried about me, and I’m grateful. But I’ll refuse. Sorry.”

At first glance, his tone sounded light.

But there was weight behind it.

The weight of sincerity.

Irida instinctively realized that his gratitude and apology weren’t just empty words.

With that, the irritation that had been rising in her settled down again.

She was curious. Why had he refused? She had a rough guess, but still.

“Is the reason you’re declining... related to your method of practitioner training?”

She was asking whether it had to do with his path—becoming a god through his own power, Jacheon.

Originally, she had wanted to ask if it was related to something precious he had failed to protect, but she changed it midway. That felt like digging too deep.

“Hm....... Well, something like that. I’m still not sure exactly how I’m supposed to go about Jacheon, but at the very least, I feel like I shouldn’t place myself under someone else.”

It was a statement based purely on instinct, but there was a strong conviction in Anagin’s voice.

If he was trying to become a god through his own power, then being under someone else didn’t quite make sense. At the very least, he was certain it wouldn’t be something so trivial.

“Joining the New Argonaut Expedition Team doesn’t mean being under someone. We’re all equal companions.”

“But you’ve got a master.”

Irida was left speechless.

She couldn’t exactly deny it—everyone, including herself, had followed Chiron’s guidance.

Of course, Chiron was a good master and not an official leader, but that wasn’t the point Anagin was making.

After thinking it over, Irida eventually gave up on persuading him any further.

She had worried enough and given enough advice. Anything more would just be overstepping.

Though she felt some regret, she decided to stop here.

“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll just say the last thing.”

“There’s still more? What is it?”

“I have something to ask of you. It’s not a personal request, it’s an official request from the Kingdom of Arcadia.... No, a commission.”

“Official request from the kingdom? What is it?”

Irida pulled out a heavy pouch from her chest.

It was a pouch made with magic—a valuable magical tool that suppressed the power of whatever was inside.

“Take the Coins of Greed and go to the Temple of Delphi.”

“Uh, no thanks.”

* * *

Coins of Greed.

As already mentioned before, they were both a mystery and a mysterious object.

A type of magical tool...... though there were parts that made that description questionable, but that wasn’t important to Anagin, so he let it slide.

The key point was that through the Coins of Greed, one could obtain “blessings” that could normally only be received from the gods.

Superhuman strength, youth, health, long life—there were many kinds of blessings, and they were convenient enough to be used simply by possessing them.

Because of these two factors, even a dozen years ago, there were more practitioners searching for the coins than those seeking blessings.

The gods’ blessings were fickle, whereas the coins could be reliably used as long as you had them in hand.

As a result, once the existence of the coins became known, countless schemes and bloodshed erupted all across Hellas over their possession.

Not only practitioners, but even royalty and nobles, who coveted the blessings of the coins, joined in, pushing the chaos to extremes. In the process, the coins came to be called the “Coins of Greed.”

Eventually, the Temple of Delphi could no longer stand by and declared that they would purify the coins themselves, under the pretext of eliminating blasphemous objects stained with sin.

It wasn’t something for Anagin to get involved in, but he agreed to a certain extent.

The coins’ function was impressive and certainly desirable, but the fact that they were made using people meant they were something that should be destroyed.

And now, more than a decade later, the true nature of the coins had been revealed to the world.

“Oh, there’s an article here. ‘The True Nature of the Coins of Greed.’”

Sphinx said this while reading a newspaper inside the carriage provided by Atalanta.

Inside the carriage were Anagin, Sphinx, Kori, and Pais.

“Mr. Ponytail really made the most of this one, huh? It says right here what the Coins of Greed are made from—something that’s been a mystery all this time.”

Sphinx pointed at the article with claws as sharp as a cat’s.

The article written by Junior Reporter Klephthys mentioned the Coins of Greed found inside Hippomenes’ stomach, strongly asserting that the coins were made using practitioners.

Judging from the circumstances, it was practically certain.

“Perhaps the true winner of this Groom Tournament might be this person.”

“Is it that impressive?”

Kori asked cautiously. She had always been interested in this kind of thing, but now even more so.

“Yeah. There have always been rumors that the Coins of Greed were made using practitioners, but there’s a difference between speculation and seeing it firsthand.”

In other words, that Ponytail bastard had managed to uncover, at least circumstantially, the origin behind the coins that had long been shrouded in rumor.

“He might even get promoted from a junior reporter to a mid-level reporter.”

A Talaria reporter who writes an outstanding article and receives blessings based on it. Considering that, Sphinx’s evaluation wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

A promotion meant more blessings and favor from the gods. And more blessings and favor were directly tied to wealth, honor, and safety.

“Is it really that big of a deal?”

“A mid-level reporter? It’s a huge deal.”

“No, I mean, is that article really big enough to get promoted right away?”

“Oh, of course. Revealing how the Coins of Greed are made is a huge scoop. But the real point is something else. The Coins of Greed have appeared again.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You might not know, but the number of Coins of Greed dropped a lot about a dozen years ago.”

“Because the Temple of Delphi collected them?”

“That’s part of it, but the supply also suddenly stopped. Normally, just when people start to forget, new coins would appear and stir up conflict here and there.”

“What? You’re saying there’s someone making and spreading Coins of Greed just to cause trouble?”

“I don’t know about that. But the fact is, they’ve appeared again....... It might actually get really chaotic.”

Sphinx spoke calmly, but she couldn’t completely hide the anxiety buried deep in her voice.

Well, that made sense.

After all, she had lived hiding her identity while moving through the human world—she was bound to be sensitive to things like this.

Right now, being a familiar meant it wasn’t a major issue, but feeling uneasy was a separate matter.

It seemed Anagin wasn’t the only one who thought so, as Kori and Pais also tried to comfort Sphinx.

‘But these little brats… It looks like they have something to say.’

Anagin thought as he watched the two kids subtly glance at him.

It felt like they had something they wanted to say, but it didn’t seem like they were scheming or thinking too hard about it.

“By the way, why did you refuse the commission?”

While Anagin’s attention was on Kori and Pais, Sphinx asked. The commission she was referring to was.......

“The Coins of Greed. The priests said it would be best if you carried them to the Temple of Delphi, brother.”

It was the delivery request Irida had mentioned.

Apparently, the priests said it would be best if Anagin handled the transport.

Honestly, he hadn’t really been paying attention in the middle of it.

“Why? Should I say, ’Yes, I understand,’ just because it’s a request from those people called priests?”

“That’s not it, but there’s nothing to gain from having a bad relationship with priests. Is there some special reason? Like a bad feeling or something?”

“No, just.”

“Just what?”

Sphinx asked again, sounding incredulous.

She had thought he refused because of some ominous intuition or calculated reasoning, but “just”.......

Seeing her reaction, Anagin added an explanation.

“If I had to give reasons, there are two.”

“I’m afraid to hear this, but go on.”

“First, I have a habit of refusing when people ask me for something.”

“Good grief.......”

Sphinx reacted as if she had expected as much, but Anagin was actually serious.

“If you accept requests too easily, people develop bad habits. Later, it gets out of hand. You need to know how to refuse when you can.”

“Hm.... And the second reason?”

“It’s the same idea as the first. If I accept easily and something goes wrong later, what then? Better to refuse as much as possible in advance. If something comes up later, I can accept it then. Remember this, all of you. This is how I live.”

Sphinx wondered whether she should tell the kids not to listen to that, or whether she should tell them to take it to heart since it wasn’t entirely wrong.

It wasn’t something she could dismiss outright as crooked thinking.......

“Um, um.... Then what if Lord Tramachus just decides to carry it himself? The Coins of Greed, I mean—to the Temple of Delphi?”

Kori brought up Tramachus, who was traveling with them.

Currently, Tramachus—who was riding in another carriage with Thyreos and Lynceus—was holding onto the Coins of Greed in Anagin’s place.

Meleager, Atalanta, and Irida were still in the Kingdom of Arcadia, and in their stead, Tramachus kept asking Anagin to take the commission.

Telling him to carry the Coins of Greed to the Temple of Delphi.

He really had it rough.

“What do you mean, what happens? Then that’s it.”

Anagin answered without hesitation.

To him, it really was that simple.

If it was something that could be dropped after asking him a few times, then it wasn’t that big of a deal to begin with.

“Wouldn’t he feel bad, though, brother?”

“If he’s the kind of guy who’d feel bad over something like that, then he’d feel bad no matter what I do, so it doesn’t matter.”

“......What if he doesn’t feel bad?”

“Then that means I can do whatever I want without issues, so that’s fine too.”

Whether he liked it or not, the result was the same—at least according to Anagin.

Sphinx felt a bit dizzy hearing that, but at the same time, it oddly made sense.

“Let’s not think too deeply about it. We have to go to Chiron Tower anyway, right? We can think about what comes next after we get there.”

Anagin recalled the Giant’s Bed, the Infinite-Length Magic Rope, the self-repairing cloak, and the Interspatial Bag he had left behind before departing.

Before leaving, he had given instructions based on the functions he wanted for each magical tool, and Grumbal had said he’d take care of it.

They hadn’t spent a short amount of time in the Kingdom of Arcadia, so unless something went wrong, they should be finished by now.

Honestly, he was a little excited. The Beast Devourer had exceeded his expectations, after all.

“Ah, finally.”

Anagin spoke as he looked at Chiron Tower in the distance.

Seeing Chiron Tower from a carriage rather than from an airship gave it a different feeling.

Even though it looked no bigger than a finger due to the distance, it still had a certain grandeur—

“Doesn’t it sound kind of noisy?”

Sphinx, with her keen hearing, picked up faint sounds coming from the distant Chiron Tower.

The wide-open grasslands helped carry the sound.

For a moment, Anagin felt a bad premonition.

Like how whenever you say, “It’s peaceful today,” something always ends up happening.

Still, as he thought, No way, inwardly—

Boom—!

Something massive burst out through the building of Chiron Tower and fell down.

From roughly the height of the fifth floor.

It was a boar.

Thud!

The boar crashed down from the fifth floor of Chiron Tower, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

The kind of impact that should have shattered its body to pieces.

And yet, unbelievably, the boar emerged from the dust completely unharmed.

Seeing that, Anagin instinctively knew.

That’s my Interspatial Bag.

“Hm, I guess I’ll have to carry the coins after all.”