Three months later,
Orsted had gone on and proclaimed that if a challenger could make him draw his sword, they could request his help once.
It was a scam through and through - even if someone strong appeared, he could use magic or dragon slayer magic instead of his sword.
'I don't want to get tangled into something pointless, without any benefits. But for the chain quest, I will need a lot more challengers.' Orsted walked towards the middle of the forest, which was called the challenger's ground now.
[Chain quest 1: Defeat a hundred challengers - {56/100}.]
The progress of the chain quest was going well. Orsted and Zarestia had defeated 56 challengers in the past three months - there were a few deaths, but they were in the minority.
[Dragon points: 11,234] - Orsted's dragon points rose quickly in the beginning, but reached a kind of stalemate at this point too.
Beside fighting challengers, Orsted, Roswaal and Ram had travelled to the sanctuary once.
Unexpectedly, Orsted had no qualification to take the trial set up there and neither could he enter the [castle of dreams].
According to the system, Orsted's magic resistance was too high and he would have to use [Rewrite] to decrease his resistance if he wanted to enter the [Castle of dreams].
There was no way Orsted would waste his lifespan on something like that, so he couldn't meet Echidna in the end.
Therefore, all Orsted was able to accomplish by that trip was smashing the young Garfiel's face into the ground. And hearing Ram's: "Hmph, well deserved." - while looking at Garfiel.
Orsted was able to analyze the seal and the trial using [Tear stigma], so it wasn't like he gained nothing. He even comprehended dream magic to a degree.
'I was able to see Ryuzu Shima, one of the clones who was exiled due to saving Garfiel around 3 years ago. She would come to call herself 'Omega', after being taken over by Echidna's soul, when Emilia clears the sanctuary trial in the future.'
When Ryuzu Shima enters the trial ground to save the young Garfiel, Echidna had taken advantage of the situation and transferred a piece of her soul into her. Then, Echidna would continue to transfer her soul into this new vessel for years.
It was truthfully funny, knowing that Roswaal wanted to resurrect Echidna with both her perfect body and soul. While Echidna took over Ryuzu Shima and set out to satisfy her curiosity by travelling the world.
And it was nothing like a fraction or a piece of her soul, Echidna poured her whole soul into Shima's body - getting practically a rebirth. She even took all the other witches' souls along in her journey.
'Even if I don't do anything, she might get resurrected one way or another.' This was Orsted's conclusion.
"Hyaaaa!"
Clang~!
Orsted could hear the sound of fighting from afar.
"Ora! Ora! Ora! You gotta aim better than that!" Zarestia spoke with a smile while throwing back the chained henge-ball back, also known as the morning star.
Bang!
The morning star crashed beside Rem, who was gritting her teeth with a sharp fighting spirit. The oni horn began growing from her forehead, erasing the prudence that existed in her eyes.
"Haaaa!!"
The morning star swung towards Zarestia non-stop, only to be easily parried by the wind.
"Why are you gettin' all excited by yourself, Horn girl." Zarestia's body appeared beside Rem at some point, half-smiling right at Rem's face.
"Take a nap." Zarestia's fist connected to Rem's stomach with precision.
Thud!
"Uuhgh...."
Rem was laying flat on the ground the next second. The challenger's ground was marked from the numerous battles it experienced.
Orsted shook his head: 'How pointless.... Fighting and getting knocked multiple times a day, her stubbornness is hard to get past.'
In the end, Rem felt that she was improving by sparring against Zarestia, going at it everyday without missing a single chance.
Zarestia's sharp eyes softened once Orsted entered her vision.
"Oh, Welcome back~" Zarestia clung to Orsted's body naturally.
'I just went back to check who was trying to break into my room for a few minutes...' Orsted rubbed her smooth hair and thought.
It turned out to be Beatrice, who got curious about the barriers Orsted set. Unfortunately, she kept asking weird questions to satisfy her curiosity after he appeared before her.
To which, Orsted answered a few correctly and others with whatever random bullshit that appeared in his mind intuitively.
'My magical prowess is strong, but I don't have a solid knowledge of this world's magic in theory. I couldn't comprehend what she was asking after the first few questions. In the end, I was able to deal with her by allowing her to research my barrier.'
Orsted never felt lacking in a while like this.
"....Be a good girl and drop the maid back into the mansion." Orsted patted Zarestia's head one final time and ordered.
"Can I not? She will probably wake up soon anyway..." Zarestia looked at Rem with squinted eyes.
"Then, move her to a safe place and stay near her. I have a feeling something interesting is going to happen." Orsted's intuition was going off for a while.
Looking at the sun reaching towards the horizon, Orsted predicted there was still around an hour before the sunset.
[Ding! You have acquired a special quest!]
Orsted's eyes shone slightly, it had been a while since the system released a new quest - that too a special quest.
'Show it to me.' Orsted ordered the system impatiently.
[Special quest: Defeat Chisha gold and Cecilus Segmunt in a duel.]
[Reward: unlock a chain quest, +3% template, 200 years of lifespan.]
[Time limit: three months]
'A big fish seems to have bitten the bait I threw out.' Orsted chuckled internally.
Both Chisha Gold and Cecilus Segmunt were Vincent Abellux's subordinate - the future emperor of the sacred Vollachia empire.
'Now that I think about it, the fight for the throne would start in a few months if it goes according to plot. But, I don't think my strength is really necessary for Vincent to send his precious subordinates this far away.'
After thinking of a few possibilities, Orsted's intuition leaned towards a particular idea.
To maintain the balance of power.
'There isn't a single member of the seven great powers in Vollachia, I see now. He must wish to pull me into the Vollachia empire...'
Vincent might even have considered using Orsted to deal with the future great disaster, he read from his father's diary.
Orsted didn't really care, he would follow along if there were benefits to be gained. He never planned on staying solely in Lugunica after all.