The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Long before now, Vivian had more than once brought up the fact that the knights were extremely interested in the supposed powerful magic item that Shien had.

That was only natural after all.

Although it was a success born from a sneak attack, a magic item capable of letting a level 10 newbie adventurer defeat a level 77 elite demon is, no matter how one looks at it, someone extremely attractive, right?

If they had such a powerful magic item, then no matter who it was, they'd feel a certain amount of safety no matter what they do.

This was especially true for nobles like Balon and Markray. If they could get their hands on such magic items, it would definitely become a major advantage for them.

If those magic items can be mass produced, then how much profit and favors it can generate is something that doesn't even bear thinking about.

Take Markray for example. When his father heard about Shien, he spoke in an admiring and envious tone something like, "If I had such a powerful magic item, I would have been able to defeat the Old Demon Faction criminal too."

That was only natural. If that kind of magic item could be mass produced, then whether it's used to strengthen the power of the territory's knights or be sold for money, all the profits that could result were beyond imagining.

Unfortunately though, such powerful magic items were basically all super valuable class merchandise. Just to make a single one requires who knows how much valuable materials. Plus, it requires an extremely outstanding magic item crafter's abilities to successfully create, and most of them are one use items at that. Thus, producing them in any real numbers was something very difficult.

Thus, when Vivian and Leili stated in Shien's place that those magic items were already all used up, everyone who had their attention on this matter, including Balon himself, were all quite disappointed. That said, they had long since anticipated such an answer, so they were basically able to accept it right away.

At that point, there was only one question left in those people's minds.

And that was, if she had such a powerful magic item, then why didn't Leili use it for herself, and instead managed to bear handing it out to a complete stranger of a newbie?

Even more, the newbie was only level 10, and he was already 20 years old. He also hadn't learned so much as a single skill. With such mundane, or rather, low, potential, just what was it that made Leili have him a magic item of that level for self defense?

That didn't make any sense.

However, Leili just stayed silent on the matter. All she did was just confirm the matter. Beyond that, she didn't give out any information at all, so everyone else could only give up on investigating further.

Thus, to the outside, Shien's magic item as considered a self defense item given to him by Leili. For Lumia and Melika, that magic item was given to him by Diere. Even though Lumia and Melika heard the stuff passing outside, Diere could still use the explanation that "guildmaster Lieli gave it to me to hand over to him, just like with the support money last time" to help cover Shien's lie.

However, just what was Shien saying now?

He said that the magic item had been successfully mass produced.

That made the eyes of Balon, Markray, Leon, and even the lone daughter of a magic item merchant Eudrice all light up.

"That?"

Only Vivian and Diere, who knew the truth, showed a confused expression.

In response, Shien gave the two of them a glance. The who of them had a shift in expression, gave each other a look, and then finally, after a brief moment of hesitation, chose to remain silent.

At this point, Balon took a deep breath and focused on Shien.

"Is that really true?" Balon stared at Shien with severity, "This isn't something that can be done on a whim. That's something that you should know full well, right?"

"That's right." Leon also spoke up from the side. It was unknown if it was on purpose, but he too stared at Shien just like Balon did, and with an elegant smile, spoke, "Putting aside whether or not it's even possible to mass produce magic items of that level. Even if it was possible, it's quite uncertain whether or not the crafter's ability is enough for that you know?"

"The material too. A magic item of such power must require very valuable material to make." Eudrice was born in a family of magic item merchants. Her identity itself lent to the validity of her words. She looked Shien over while giving a half grin, "You're not trying to say that you're capable of fulfilling those conditions, are you?"

Shien was only a level 10 new adventurer after all. No matter how one looks at it, there's no way that he could satisfy those conditions and produce such powerful magic items.

Thus, although everyone had their own thoughts on this matter, it did arose quite a bit of suspicion.

To those words, Shien just chucked and gave a reply.

"Of course there's no way for me." Shien spoke without a hint of nervousness, "However, Lamdrion does have a very powerful mage capable of this much."

With those words, everyone stopped for a moment. Then, several people's expressions completely changed.

"Do you mean by that one?"

Balon asked as if he had an epiphany.

"Indeed." Shien also answered with complete seriousness, "Otherwise, why would that one refuse to meet anyone except for me? It was because her interests were sparked by that powerful magic item!"

As for who it was that Shien meant, it doesn't need to even be said anymore. It was obviously Leisha.

In other words, Shien tossed the blame again.

The rest of the people also more or less knew about Leisha's situation, so they didn't dare to say anything for the moment.

After all, if it was that one, perhaps she really could end up reproducing magic items of this level.

That was because if that one really was the one who acted, then it would unquestionably be quite difficult to get massive amounts of magic items or even the creation method for those items.

As he thought that, Balon was somewhat disappointed. Eudrice also couldn't hide her disappointment. Even Markray looked like he was crushed. Only Leon seemed to be spinning up some kind of ideas, and he kept on muttering something like "that one seemed to be a beautiful girl too."

Only Lumia and Melika still didn't seem to understand, but Vivian and Diere didn't say anything and kept their silence. Neither of them wanted to speak up, so they just quietly observed.

"So then, you were asked by that one to test out the magic items here?"

Balon pushed down his disappointment and continued to question Shien.

"That's right."

Shien clearly replied.

Then, in the next second, Shien suddenly changed the topic.

"Now, these magic items will seriously be coming in use, so of course it needs to be properly tested out first."

That statement once again made everyone blink in response.

"Come in use?" Markray spoke without any subtlety or beating around the bush, "What do you mean by that?"

In the face of Markray's impolite attitude, Shien just continued grinning as if he didn't notice at all.

However, the next words that came out of his mouth completely overturned the expressions on everyone's face.

"It can't be helped. After all, that one had been chased by the Old Demon Faction for a whole ten years. She had been forced to run all that time, so now that she finally got her hands on such powerful magic items, of course she will want to take revenge, right?" Shien spoke such terrifying words as if it was only natural, "And it just so happens that such a good chance appeared. Originally, Lamdrion had to cover for everyone's secret quest and trick the Old Demon Faction into thinking that Jillian was still in town, thus drawing them there."

"Originally, based on what guildmaster Leili said, Lamdrion needed to buy everyone here a certain amount of time after we've set out, and only release the information that Jillian had already been transported away after we cannot be caught up to anymore. This way, the Old Demon Faction can be drawn away from the town. However, now, there's no more need for all that." Shien stated happily, "With such powerful magic items, Lamdrion could just directly counterattack and defeat the Old Demon Faction and capture more of their members. Why, that's an even greater merit than even capturing Jillian!"