Hard Carried by My Sword

Chapter 255

“Khm, ahem! That’s enough. Don’t pry any further.”

Albion awkwardly cleared her throat, realizing she had somehow ended up telling the story of her first love. As a Dragon, she was used to awe and reverence from other races, yet the eyes watching her now were warm and gentle instead.

Elahan had clasped both hands together and was sparkling with excitement over the “romance” of the Holy King. Karen couldn’t stop grinning either, her lips twitching uncontrollably. The majestic presence Albion had shown at their first meeting had melted away, replaced by something shy and youthful, and the tension in the room unraveled.

Only Leon looked at her with sympathy. Of all people, she had to pick this hopeless jackass...

Although El-Cid only carried a fragment of Rodrick’s soul, the Holy Sword perfectly replicated the original’s personality; Leon couldn’t imagine Albion having any flower-adorned future with Rodrick even if they reunited. Their compatibility was catastrophically bad.

A dragon who only knows how to look down on others and cannot express her own feelings, and a genius so overwhelmingly capable that he can’t empathize with anyone or even notice their emotions, Leon thought about their characters.

Rodrick and Albion were a pair whose issues couldn’t be solved simply with time. If they could, some progress would have been made three hundred years ago. But Albion was embarrassed to even hint at her feelings, and Rodrick treated her with responsibility instead of affection, oblivious to everything.

To fix this stalemate, either Albion had to be more honest, or Rodrick needed actual social awareness—even a little would help. Unfortunately, Leon knew there was no chance of either of those happening.

“It’s hopeless,” he accidentally let his thoughts slip out.

“What was that?” Albion asked.

“N-nothing.”

When Albion reacted to his muttered thought, Leon quickly brushed it off and shifted the topic. “Then, Albion, have you stayed inside Ground Zero ever since Rodrick’s ascension?”

“Mhm.” Albion lowered her eyebrows and nodded. “All of my kin left for the Upper Heavens. What purpose would it serve for me alone to wander the world? I couldn’t disrupt the land Rodrick restored to peace for my own amusement. So I turned this place I once treated like a vacation home into a proper dwelling, let the dwarves attend to me, and waited for the day that fool would return to claim what he made me promise to him.”

“By promise, you mean...”

“The cursed burden he called a debt and forced onto me.”

A wave of pressure rolled off her again, but no one flinched this time. By now, the people present knew that it wasn’t genuine hostility.

Albion looked toward the Holy Sword and asked, “Is that why you’ve come to me, Rodrick?”

Leon loosened his grip, urging El-Cid to answer. Finally regaining speaking rights, El-Cid grumbled.

“Yeah. The promise to repay your life’s worth in gold, he sent my disciple to settle it on my behalf.”

Albion’s expression soured as she shot back, “You could’ve asked for my scales or bones instead. No matter how much gold you pile up, it won’t match their value.”

“What good is that? They grow back in a few months. Look at you trying to cheat me to avoid a loss.”

“You son of a...”

Watching their exchange, even Elahan couldn’t side with him this time. She closed her eyes and prayed silently.

Albion had hoped to give a part of her body as a meaningful gesture, to keep a part of herself with Rodrick, yet El-Cid’s miserly worldview twisted her intention into something so materialistic. A thin sheen of cold sweat crawled down Leon’s neck, but fortunately, Albion didn’t explode again.

“Fine. Let us reaffirm the promise. I pay you an amount of gold equal to my body weight at the time you saved me, correct?” Albion asked.

El-Cid replied, “Great memory. And don’t worry, I won’t charge three centuries of interest.”

Leon instinctively went to grip the sword hilt, then stopped himself so he wouldn’t interrupt. But how could one person be so irritating with every word? The others looked the same, their idealized image of Holy King Rodrick shattered to pieces. No one thought it strange of Albion’s temple twitching with a thick vein.

“How... Generous... You idiot ascended without a word and left no trace for three hundred years, so my storage rooms were on the verge of bursting.”

“Idiot?”

“I’ve prepared all fifty tons. Not a single coin missing. I even used an artifact to measure it, so you don’t have to worry about recounting.”

“Hey, did you just call me an...”

Albion ignored him completely as she rose to her feet. “For dragons, a vow made once is absolute. The promise was ‘my body weight in gold.’ But the pledge only specifies the amount, not the form or the method of delivery. So I thought long and hard. With centuries to spare, I considered all the ways I could use that gold to torment you.”

Leon felt a chill crawl down his spine. A familiar instinct whispered that something terrible was imminent. The others sensed it too. All four stood and drew their weapons, unable to sit there unguarded.

A heavy rumble climbed up from beneath their feet. Something massive was approaching—far heavier than an ogre, several times over. Leon used Wave-Reverberation Technique to probe beyond the vibrations and learned that the estimated mass was about fifty tons.

“What the hell did you do! You can’t even hand over what you promised to give without being an asshole, you damn lizard?!”

Albion ignored El-Cid’s shouting and spoke. “I retract my earlier words. Even if Rodrick recognized you, my recognition is separate. If you can overcome this trial, I will acknowledge your right to inherit his legacy.”

She gave Leon a look that allowed no debate. Whether he accepted or refused, she wouldn’t change her stance.

Leon didn’t rebel. Instead, he grinned. He’d been suffocating between Albion and El-Cid’s bickering anyway.

“Very well. I accept,” Leon said, drawing the Holy Sword.

As his eyes flashed, Albion’s expression shifted strangely. Then, she stepped aside to open the path without further comment.

With a series of ground-shaking thumps, it came. From beyond the mountains of gold and treasure, something colossal advanced with terrifying speed. Each step crossed dozens of meters, perhaps even more than a hundred. Judging by the gait, the creature was bipedal like a human.

After several more seconds, it finally came into view, and Leon’s jaw dropped. It was the worst reaction to have before a battle, but nobody blamed him. The others were no different.

“Huh...?”

“M-Mr. Hero! This isn’t a dream, is it?!” Karen asked.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“This makes no sense! How can a chunk of gold that big even exist in reality?!”

Karen was the first to roll her eyes back and shudder. No wonder.

---That money-grubbing lizard...! I said I wanted the debt in gold, not a damn golem made of gold!

As El-Cid said, charging at them from beyond the horizon was a towering gold golem easily twenty meters high. It had no aesthetic appeal whatsoever, but its form and structure were so practical and refined that it was almost impressive. It clearly carried the touch of Dwarven craftsmanship—armor plates shaped with artistic precision and joints with no visible gaps to exploit.

Leon glanced to Irexana and asked cautiously, “Your Eminence, could this be...?”

Irexana answered, “I believe so. It is indeed my master’s work. I remember seeing some of the design sketches when I was a child.”

Irexana stepped back beside Albion with a bitter smile. His body still hadn’t fully recovered, and standing near Leon’s party would only make him a burden.

By then, the gold golem had closed the distance. The light scattered from all directions reflected off its radiant golden body, stabbing at their eyes like shards.

“Mr. Hero! Are we really allowed to break that thing?! If we have to compensate for it afterward, that’s at least twenty years of unpaid labor!”

“Don’t hold back! If this is this dragon’s trial, then even with all three of us together, it’s not going to be easy!”

“B-but the virtue of frugality...?!” Elahan stammered with concern.

Leon hurriedly bolstered Karen, who was horrified by the walking national treasury, and reassured the panicking Elahan. Thankfully, both regained their senses quickly.

Then, the golem spoke.

“Greetings, honored guests.” Coming from the massive chunk of gold was a little girl’s voice, completely unfitting for its source’s size. “I am Rodlin, an autonomous combat golem created by Master Albion.”

Leon, momentarily thrown off, repeated, “Rodlin?”

“Yes. As for the origins of my na—"

“Stop!” Albion, whose face had turned bright red again, cut her off.

The reason was obvious. The name was a mixture of Rodrick’s and Albion’s. Having no idea Leon’s party had already figured it out, Albion issued the combat order without hesitation.

“Until I give you a resume command, disable all meaningless chatter! Rodlin, neutralize the three targets ahead!”

“As you command, Master.”

The gold golem, standing twenty meters tall, resembled a bear in thick plate armor. The magic circles engraved all over its body were undoubtedly powerful, but its true limitation was the sheer fifty-ton weight that even advanced levitation or lightening magic couldn’t fix. It was built for power over speed.

We take out its mobility first. That’ll cut its tactical options in half. Leon chose the simplest approach and raised his sword.

His target was obvious. Since its mass couldn’t be magically offset, destroying the lower body would cripple it immediately. Golden light gathered along the blade and burst forth like a spray of stars.

“Grand Chariot, Heavenly Jade, Second Form: Merak.”

Large golems usually had weak joints, but there was no way something built by a former Grand Meister would share that flaw. So, Leon swung at the shin plate—broad, flat, and heavily armored.

The slash struck with a loud clang. However, his sword light scattered instantly. Leon’s eyes widened, and so did Elahan’s and Karen’s.

“It didn’t go through?!” Leon said, shocked.

“I didn’t sense any defensive magic activating...” Elahan added.

Her ability to sense magical energy, which was distortions of natural law, was sharper than Leon’s. If she didn’t detect magic, then it simply meant that none was used. In other words, the golem had tanked a Grand Chariot strike with raw durability.

Its armor was absurd. As if being woven tight enough that not even a needle could slip through wasn’t enough, it was even sturdy enough to deflect an Aura Blade. Karen and Elahan launched probing follow-up attacks.

“Pitch-Black Dance, Projection, First Form: Venomous Serpents.”

Dozens of daggers accelerated through the shadow like striking vipers. They had enough piercing power to punch through a full plate cuirass like paper, but every blade bounced off with ringing impacts. Next came Elahan’s Holy Iron Breaker, descending in a whirlwind of divine force.

“Goddess above! Grant your blessing to a frugal and diligent heart!”

Her battle cry carried an oddly personal emotion as she spun like a top and drove her attack in. This time, even Rodlin couldn’t fully withstand it. The golem took three heavy steps back and reset its posture. Leon’s party immediately checked the strike zone, but what they found was shocking.

“No good, huh...?”

“It seems so...”

Far from dented, the armor shone as smooth as polished glass. Then, light flashed across Rodlin’s faceplate, the slit-eyed helm shifting as circuits ignited.

“Circuit, now online,” Rodlin said.

Brilliant magic circuits spread across the gold golem’s entire body. They resembled the mana lines from the White Peak Palace but were reinforced with dragon craftsmanship into something several tiers higher. Its structure rivaled ultimate-tier spells in both quantity and quality. The golem’s entire body shifted as mechanisms unfolded.

“Switching to ‘Destroy’ mode. Commencing engagement.”

Twelve cannons opened along its shoulders and torso. Thirty-six remote weapons launched from its back like a flock of metallic predators. Faced with an enemy that seemed almost unreasonable, Leon’s party froze.

“No, wait, this is a bit...”

There wasn’t even time to complain. With Rodlin’s shout, a storm of overwhelming firepower erupted through the depths of Ground Zero.

“Full Burst!”