I, Who Came From the Abyss, Will Save Humanity Again Today - Volume 2 Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Thieves

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“Peipei, what do you want a weapon for? It’s very dangerous.”

Pagos looked at my face with a suspicious expression, his eyes fixed on me.

Being stared at by such a bear-like man made me uncomfortable, and moreover, he was so annoying, so I chose to ignore his words and turned to look at the Duke.

“Moon Blade, what is it?”

The Duke smiled slightly, but before he could speak, Pagos jumped in.

“Let me tell you, Moon Blade is, uh, a weapon designed with Moonstone as the main material, this sounds like stating the obvious, haha! Anyway, Moonstone is very rare, the extraction is, uh, very difficult, the manufacturing process is also very complicated, and the requirements for craftsmen are very high, so, in over 100 years until now, the workshop has only made 12 of them, which is the so-called Workshop Twelve Moon Blades.”

I understood, which means this thing is very powerful and rare, the highest achievement of the Central Workshop.

A simple explanation would have been enough, why say so much nonsense.

“Pagos, where did you put the blueprints and pencils… it’s so messy. Parsifal, you go to the warehouse first and find someone to bring some quality steel and dragon bones.”

“No, Scalliger, why do we, uh, need to make a weapon for Peipei? Are you thinking of letting her join the Shanter military to become a Workshop Hunter? Don’t joke…”

“Yeah, old man, I’ve been wanting to say this, why make a weapon for Peipei? This is very strange.”

“She’s just a little girl, wouldn’t it be better if she could, uh, marry well in the future and have children? What are you messing around with here?”

After hearing the last sentence, I immediately widened my eyes.

What, wanting me to have children!?

Why don’t you go have children yourself!

The more I looked at this red-nosed strong man, the more displeasing he became to my eyes. I glared at him fiercely and said: “You dare say that again. I’ll pluck off, all your hair.”

Pagos immediately put on an innocent expression.

“What did I do wrong?”

“You’re annoying.”

At this point, the Duke finally became impatient.

“She’s a Pontifical Knight.”

“……”

“……”

One sentence, and there was a moment of silence in the air.

A few seconds later, the two looked at me with incredulous eyes.

“What? Why? Impossible?”

“Scalliger, I think my ears have gone bad, what did you say Peipei was again?”

“Old man, what kind of joke is this? How could Peipei possibly be a Pontifical Knight? Isn’t she afraid of dead people? This doesn’t make sense, how could…” Parsifal was somewhat incoherent, “That’s a Pontifical Knight! A hero, what kind of joke…”

“I’ll explain the details to you later, now go do your work.”

“…Oh.” Parsifal responded dazedly, turned back at the door, “Peipei, are you really a Pontifical Knight…”

“Mm.” I nodded.

Looking at their still disbelieving expressions, I suddenly felt a wave of annoyance in my heart.

What’s wrong?

Is it because I’m shorter than you, looking down on me or what, why can’t I be a Pontifical Knight?

Am I eating your rice by being a Pontifical Knight?

…Uh, well, I actually am.

“What are you still dawdling for? Go quickly!” The Duke’s words woke up the dazed Parsifal, who ran out in a flash.

Hmph.

I rolled my eyes, then feeling it was tiring to just stand there stupidly, I slowly walked to the table, kicked away several empty bottles at my feet, smoothed my skirt under my bottom, and sat down in the chair.

“Oh, you rest there for a while.” The Duke said to me, then patted Pagos’s shoulder, “Stop daydreaming, give me the blueprints and pencils first.”

“…Alright, they’re in the drawer here. Haha! Thirteenth Moon baby, wait for me Pagos to forge you out!”

Looking quite carefree, typical of someone with strong limbs but a simple mind.

I thought rather boredly, opened the paper bag to take out some desserts, while savoring the sweetness melting in my mouth, I watched the Duke and Pagos spread out blueprints on the work table opposite, occasionally putting their heads together to discuss something.

After a while, Pagos took out a completely black stone from a sealed box behind him.

“Too small, and this piece has some impurities…”

“Probably won’t find any bigger ones, if one piece isn’t enough we’ll have to remelt it, the impurities don’t matter, they can be removed.”

“Mm, how much Moonstone is left.”

“Should be enough, but this will probably really be the last one. The scythe blade is too big, the stock will be used up…”

“……”

It seems like there’s nothing for me to do after this, suddenly feeling a bit bored.

Should have gone to the parish with Carlos instead, feels like it would have been more interesting than here, might even have found some good food along the way.

I remember he said he was going to the underground prison when he left… wonder how those arrested merchants are doing.

I don’t know if there are any heretics, but those people selling guguo grass must still be mixed in there.

I yawned and rested my head on my arms on the table.

Didn’t rest well at all last night, starting to feel sleepy now.

Looking at the two people busy concentrating in front of me, my eyelids gradually started to fight each other.

After a while it seems Parsifal came back too… he seems to be helping out, looking very serious…

Thirteenth Moon, Moon Blade, exotic weapon. What will it look like in the end?

I thought hazily, and fell asleep without realizing it.

…………

In the haziness I heard unfamiliar people talking.

“…Duke, we caught several thieves who came to steal weapons.”

“Thieves? Who dares to come steal from the Central Workshop, don’t they know they’ll be charged with treason?”

“Master Pagos, they’re children.”

“Which family’s children are so bold?”

“Seems they ran away from the orphanage.”

“Duke, how should we handle this?”

“Children from the orphanage… bring them here.”

“Yes.”

What’s going on, who stole something?

I slowly opened my eyes.

Found I was still holding half an uneaten dessert in my hand, stuffed it into my mouth in two or three bites, looked around with confused eyes, just in time to see the backs of two Workshop Hunters leaving.

“What happened?” I rubbed my eyes, my voice sticky with having just woken up.

“Ah, little Peipei you’re awake!”

“Someone, stole something?”

“Mm, several thieves came to steal weapons, they’ve been caught.”

The Duke said without looking up, then continued studying the blueprints with Pagos.

“If we use metal to fix this part, will it affect the smoothness of ejection?”

“No, it can maximize the killing power… Parsifal, give me the ruler.”

I stretched and stood up, walked to the work table, and poked my little head over.

Several blueprints covered in dense drawings were already laid out on the table.

I squinted and looked for a long time, could only make out the rough shape of a scythe, couldn’t understand anything else.

“How much longer, will it take?”

“We can finish the design tonight, but because there are so many manufacturing processes, the actual making will take more time. If all goes well… about 2 months should do it.”

“Oh.”

Takes that long huh.

I pouted, not knowing how long they would stay here, wanted to find an excuse to slip away but felt embarrassed, after all everyone was busy working for my sake.

At this time, children’s crying gradually came from outside the door.

“Let me go! Damn it, let go!”

“Wuu… I’m scared…”

I frowned and looked toward the door, saw several children with their hands tied behind their backs, being pushed in by the hunters.

Most of those children looked terrified, but didn’t dare make any moves, just knelt in a row after coming in, only one boy kept struggling, trying to break free from the restraints behind him, and the hunter holding him also had a hot temper, seeing the boy so unruly, kicked him face-down on the ground.

“Behave yourself!”

The boy fell flat on his face, his eyes filled with hatred, his expression gritting his teeth.

“Ho ho, you dare glare at me, quite temperamental eh.”

The hunter raised his foot wanting to kick the boy’s face.

“Valarr!” The Duke called out, and that hunter named Valarr pulled his foot back.

“Let them stand up.” The Duke stood up and swept his eyes over the children, “Who wants to tell me why you stole things.”

Most of those brought in were half-grown children, how could they withstand the Duke’s pressure, immediately cried even louder.

“Spare… spare us! We didn’t come to steal——”

“You got the wrong people, wrong… waaah——”

“Don’t cry! The more you cry the more pleased they’ll be!”

“Waaah—waaah—— I was wrong, don’t kill me——!”

Among them there was even an 11 or 12-year-old little girl, now crying the hardest was her, her little face like a spotted cat covered in fear.

I took out two desserts from the paper bag, thought for a bit then put one back, then walked to the little girl’s front and offered it.

“For you, it’s very tasty.”

The little girl was probably a bit hungry, suddenly smelling the food’s fragrance, immediately stopped crying.

“Big sister… mm——” Her little hand had just reached out then immediately pulled back, her eyes hesitating, looking like she wanted to take it but didn’t dare.

I grabbed her thin wrist and put the dessert in her palm.

“Eat it.”

“Haha! Peipei is still so cute——!”

Pagos’s loud voice sounded from behind again, I frowned not wanting to pay attention to him, but caught sight of that hunter called Valarr showing a surprised expression.

“Peipei? You are…”

Seeing his manner of wanting to kick children’s faces, I had no good feeling toward him, naturally wouldn’t pay him any attention, just watched the little girl eating deliciously in front of me, tilted my head slightly and asked: “Is it good?”

“Mm.” The little girl nodded seriously, and added at the end, “Big sister, you’re really pretty.”

I smiled sweetly at her.

“Alright, stop crying everyone.”

The Duke’s voice sounded beside me as he walked to the front of that one boy who wasn’t crying.

“You tell me, what happened.”