Chapter 91: Debt 91 - Path to the City of the Dwarves

Now that the ritual had worked, Ryan was officially the elven king.

’But all of this is because of my mana, isn’t it?’

The elder approached Ryan while continuing to observe the surroundings.

"Since you arrived at the village again, young Ryan, it has been impossible for me to inspect you. I imagined what might happen once you held the relic, but this far exceeds my expectations."

The elder began to laugh out loud.

"Ha ha ha! And here we were, worried about space with the arrival of the beastmen, but now we could even take in more races! Ha ha ha!"

"Don’t get ahead of yourself, old man," Kenia replied.

"This settles the instability of the village, doesn’t it?" Ryan asked while putting the relic away.

"Yes, with this we can finally rest easy, and you can focus on the matters you have pending."

Thus, when the conversation ended, everyone gathered at the entrance leading to the exit portal.

Karol and Irina were by Ryan’s side.

"Alright, is everything ready?" Ryan asked as he turned his gaze to the girls.

"Of course," Karol said, readying her staff.

Irina placed a ring behind her back and also responded in the affirmative.

"Yes!"

Ryan observed her in detail.

’That bow, it’s basic, isn’t it?’

"Young Ryan. By now it must be obvious to everyone, but your power is incredible, even though you’re hiding your appearance by changing your hair and eye color. It will be a problem if they realize your true attributes."

The elder began to rummage through his pocket.

"So, take this with you." He extended his hand and gave him a medal attached to a chain.

"What is this? A relic?"

"Yes, and it will serve you well. When you put it on, your statistics will appear to be those of a Rank B. But don’t worry, your power will not decrease at all. It’s only in case someone tries to inspect you."

Ryan reflected for a few seconds.

’It makes sense. With my psyche being so high, my mana has become incredibly dense and vast. It will be very suspicious if they try to inspect me in the dwarven city and can’t.’

Then Ryan took the object and placed the chain around his neck, and the medal was covered by the fabric of his clothes, beneath his chest.

"Thank you, elder. This will be very useful."

When Ryan checked his stats, they indeed appeared to be those of a Rank B, although he felt no difference in his strength.

"The stats from the medal make you appear to be a swordsman without a title, and since you have that sword, it’s settled."

Then, the soldier who had given the whistle to Ryan in previous days asked for it back.

Now that he had the relic, the portal would simply open whenever he wanted.

So, with the conversation finished, Ryan said his goodbyes to everyone.

Mirian approached.

"Take good care of yourself, Ryan. Try not to take too long. And you, Karol, I hope you don’t try to take advantage of the situation."

"What are you saying? I don’t plan on doing any such thing."

"I don’t believe that for a second!" Mirian approached Irina. "I’m counting on you to keep an eye on this mana vampire."

"Who are you calling a vampire!"

"Enough!" Ryan protested. "We have to leave now. Mirian, I’m counting on you."

"Of course!" she responded with a smile.

Then Irina began to look around.

"Aren’t Helen and Beatrice coming to say goodbye?"

To which Ryan began walking toward the portal and replied:

"They must be very busy training. Besides, if they were here, I’m sure they would insist on coming with us again," he said as he crossed through the portal.

Irina followed him, and lastly, Karol.

They began walking through the forest, moving away from the portal.

Ryan looked at every detail of the forest.

"The elves did a good job. This place isn’t littered with corpses anymore."

After a couple of minutes of walking, a whistle resonated in the wind.

Bang.

The thunderous impact covered the entire area around Ryan in dust and smoke.

Then, voices and footsteps began to be heard approaching.

"You should have left at least one alive to interrogate them," a man’s deep voice said.

"Eh? But I held back my power. They were just cockroaches."

"Oh, you two, always arguing over nonsense..."

"Sorry, Captain!"

When the smoke dissipated, as expected, Ryan’s entire group was still intact.

Before them were three men and a girl. One of them stayed in the back and in silence. When Ryan inspected them, he saw that one was a healer, another a mage, and the other an axe-wielder.

Then Karol canceled the barrier.

"Captain, it seems they survived the surprise attack. That mage is very skilled."

The man with the staff took a step forward.

"How unexpected, but it works out for us. This way we can interrogate them."

"Surprise attack? Don’t make me laugh. I noticed you guys a long time ago, but you were so insignificant I thought about letting you go," Karol commented as she let the tip of her staff drop to the ground.

"Don’t get overconfident. Those two might be weaker, but that mage looks like she has a lot of power," murmured the woman accompanying them, and almost immediately she made a spear appear.

’That spear? Could it be that she is...’

"Hey, spear girl. By any chance, are you Captain Erika?"

"Eh? And how do you know my name? I’ve changed my mind. Kill the two girls; we’ll interrogate this man."

"Yes!" With that, the axe-wielder lunged into the attack. He struck with a powerful horizontal swing.

But Ryan stopped his attack with one hand.

"Tsk. Don’t interrupt when I’m talking, scum. I asked you a question, Lady Captain. And you decide to attack? Why are the holy knights all so violent?"

"No... I can’t pull my weapon back... this guy... he has so much strength..."

"What are you saying? He’s only a Rank B. Stop playing around and kill him!"

"But I can’t..."

"How noisy you are..." Ryan squeezed the axe hard and broke it into pieces.

"What did you do? How is it possible for a Rank B to have more strength than me..."

He backed away.

Ryan turned to Irina, who was standing still.

"I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but is that bow of yours basic?"

She looked at him, embarrassed.

"Yes... we don’t have many strong weapons, and I preferred to leave them in the village in case they were needed."

"I understand." With that said, Ryan pulled from his inventory the rare bow he had taken from the holy knight girl a few days ago and handed it to Irina.

"That bow belongs to... What did you do to Leonor!"

"Ah, so that was her name?"

"You bastard... you’ll pay for that...!" She bit her lip until blood came out and began to charge a wave of energy at the tip of her spear.

Ryan snapped his fingers.

"Debt Seal," he uttered. And the skill she was charging stopped.

"What the hell did you do? I can’t use skills... attack!"

And before any of them could take another step, Ryan invoked another skill.

"Debt Collapse."