With This Treasure, I Summon Primordial Weapons
Chapter 23: Unexpected Arrival

Chapter 23: Unexpected Arrival

The people of the settlement acted fast. Especially Astrea, who unexpectedly took charge of dealing with the injured and acted with professionalism Godric hadn’t seen from her before.

The way she took control of the crowd around her was more than impressive. Within seconds of the injured man’s arrival, she already had people working on putting up a makeshift tent for him to lie in.

Godric remained silent the entire time, watching this unfold.

His mind raced, trying to scramble a way of getting out of this situation.

The injured man was a student at his academy, and he couldn’t allow him to tell anyone about the downfall of his House.

Bribe could work.

Especially with Raven by his side, who belonged to the wealthiest house on the planet. The only problem was they were inside dungeon gates where credits had little use.

Next, he pondered over the idea of calling the student’s memories flawed. It would’ve been him and Raven against the word of a single newcomer. The problem was Daren, whose cautious nature would probably bring him to execute all three of them, which wouldn’t work.

The last solution that struck his mind was different from the previous two. It was final in a way he didn’t want to consider.

"Godric?"

Raven had come to stand beside him. They were outside the tent now, close enough to hear someone tend to the student’s injuries.

"I know," he said, aware of what exactly she was thinking.

The student was a problem waiting to unfold.

Just as he was about to tell her he would deal with it, just not sure how yet, Astrea stepped out of the small tent.

"He’s unconscious... but stable." She said in a way that offered encouragement. "You guys wear the same uniform as him."

"He’s from our academy," Raven said.

Astrea nodded, and something in her face went gentle in a way that Godric found he could not look at directly.

"I’m sorry. Let’s hope he wakes soon."

"Yeah", Godric murmured, though his mind went elsewhere.

"Astrea," he suddenly called after the girl who had already begun to walk away.

"Huh, yeah?"

"Could you let us know when he wakes up? It might be best for us to tell him about... everything."

"Oh right. Yes, of course."

"Thank you."

The girl waved her hand and walked away.

The next stretch of the morning went slowly.

Godric expected the injured student to either wake up or succumb to his wounds soon, so he and Raven stayed near the tent.

To their surprise, however, the student remained stable and unconscious.

He spent the time telling Raven everything important he learned from the council meeting and the expedition to a place called the ’sanctuary’, which he knew little about.

Somewhere in the middle of the day, Astrea came to give Godric and Raven their rations.

They were larger than what most people got. Thanks to Godric’s quick ascent to a member of Daren’s council, both he and Raven got the amount of monster meat equal to that of the settlement’s lieutenants.

"What’s with the pale water bottles?" Godric asked Astrea, who decided to eat with him and Raven.

"Oh, it’s not water. We call it Cave Wine. It’s made from fermented mushrooms we find in the caves."

Godric blinked. "Wine?"

Astra took another bite of her food, and with her mouth too full to speak, she nodded.

Alcohol.

It sounded almost ridiculous, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. For those stuck inside the dungeon gate for years, this was probably the only ’leisure’ they had.

The meal itself wasn’t too bad.

In fact, the familiar chewy taste of the meat made Godric question what exactly he was eating back in the outskirts.

Raven, on the other hand, left her food untouched.

To someone eating from golden plates from birth, the idea of monster meat must’ve sounded as bad as death, if not worse.

’She’ll eat when she’s hungry,’ Godric told himself as he took another bite.

A few moments of eating in quiet later, Astrea threw her back onto the crimson sand. "Ahh, that was a good meal! I could really use a nap right now."

Godric, who finished his meal shortly after, turned to the newest lieutenant of the human settlement to notice dark circles around her eyes.

"It’s not like there is anything to do out there," he said.

"Maybe for you two," she retorted in a tone that was more joking than accusatory. "There are some old beast logs I need to sort out. Torr is really out to get me, you know? He was the only one who voted no on me becoming a lieutenant. Can you believe that?"

Godric could, in fact, believe it. Seeing the girl’s personality for barely a day, he saw enough to know that keeping her around was quite a nuisance.

Which coincidentally brought him to a different question.

Why was she promoted?

Other than her people skills, which were clearly her strong suit, knowing Daren, it was quite clear that he wouldn’t promote anyone for something as trivial as people skills.

"What’s your beast like?" Godric suddenly asked, catching both Raven and Astrea a little off guard with how straightforward the question was.

The girl frowned slightly. "You should know better than to ask a girl about her summon," she paused, then her frown turned into a grin as she burst into laughter.

"It’s nothing special," she said between her slow chuckles. "It’s basically an oversized rabbit."

Just as her chuckles died down, the girl propped herself up and rose to her feet. "Anyway, I need to go. Those logs won’t sort themselves."

She was about to turn and leave when Raven spoke up. "I can help you."

Immediately, Astrea’s face lit up. "Really? I mean, yeah sure, I guess you can help."

"Time’s really been dragging on in this heat. I could really use something to take my mind off it." Raven said, though something in her expression made Godric think there was a little more to it.

Then, just as she rose to her feet to go and leave with Astrea to wherever those logs were, she glanced back at Godric in a way that confirmed his suspicion.

’She wants to check out those logs... Good thinking, maybe there’s something useful there.’

With both girls gone, Godric leaned back on the sand behind him, put the jacket of his uniform over his head to stop the blazing sun and decided to get some rest.

There wasn’t really anything he could do for now.

With the injured student still unconscious and the expedition to the sanctuary waiting until the moon rose, all he could do was wait.

Godric let time pass in short, broken stretches of sleep. Nothing long, not with the constant commotion of the human settlement all around him.

It was only when the sun dropped low and basked the sand with its deep gold rays that a faint sound pulled him fully awake.

He frowned and looked around, only to find nobody nearby.

’Did I imagine that?’

Just as the thought entered his mind, the sound returned, this time clearly coming from the tent where the injured student lay.

Godric’s eyes went wide as he jumped to his feet.

He looked around for the second time and, confirming nobody was there, he entered the tent.

The tent was dim, barely tall enough for him to stand with his back bent. The student lay flat on the ground, eyes open but unfocused and disoriented.

Godric approached with another step, the sun piercing through the thin hide and casting heavy shadows over his face.

"H-huh?" The injured student’s face turned toward Godric. "You... you’re that Blackstar trash! What the hell did you do to me?"

"Calm down—"

"Damn bastard, get away! Help!—"

Before his screams could continue, Godric’s hand found his mouth, sealing it shut with a single grip.

"I told you to be quiet."

The student’s eyes went wide, his body straining weakly against the hold, but the bandages and the damage beneath them left him with nothing to fight back with.

’There goes bribing him to stay quiet...’

There was no way someone like him could keep that mouth of his shut.

Godric dealt with people like him his entire life.

They might play along at first, but then the demands would start again and again, and the second they stop, the truth of his house’s fate would unmistakenly be out.

Outside the tent, every footstep felt as though it was headed straight for him. Creeping in from every direction and coming right for the tent.

’There’s no time...’

Godric’s expression darkened.

"I won’t ask you to forgive me." His voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper. "But you should be proud..."

Something flickered in the student’s eyes. Something between dread and cold realisation.

"...Your sacrifice will bring my house one step closer to its former glory, and for that, I thank you."

At that moment, something shifted in Godric’s grip, something that appeared only visible when the golden rays of the sun caught the edge of its blade, something that hadn’t been there a second ago.