The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations Chapter 758

Episode 758 Let’s do that too. (2)

The whole party was surprised by Giselle’s words.
Yulien widened his eyes and asked,
“That looks really hard? Are you really going to do it?”
Giselle snorted.
“What’s so hard about that? From what I’ve seen, it’s not that hard.”
Everyone looked at Giselle with suspicious eyes. Then Kyle asked with an understanding expression,
“You trust Astion, right?”
Yulien and Deneve nodded at those words. Astion is usually a bit blind, but he’s still a magician.
Before Giselle appeared, Astion was the one who led the party with his various knowledge.
The other mercenaries also nodded.
There were very rare times when Giselle would quietly study at night. In fact, it was when Astion took over her body and learned magic.
The mercenaries all thought that was Giselle’s other personality.
Erenes, who heard their conversation, trembled slightly and muttered to himself.
‘Really? Is it really a multiple personality?’
Of course, they were still suspicious. So Erenes decided to observe a little more without saying anything.
Astion also shouted in Giselle’s consciousness.
― A smart wizard wouldn’t just let that go. You’re such an arrogant dwarf.
Astion said in a confident voice. But Giselle looked indifferent.
Then Osval suddenly raised his hand.
“Brother! Manly Osval! I’ll go first!”
“……You?”
“What’s with your expression?”
“……No.”
Osval politely held out both hands.
“Just give me 1 gold.”
Giselle was still managing the money. Giselle readily took out 1 gold and gave it to Osval.
The dwarf looked at the fierce-looking Osval and asked,
“Are you really going to challenge me?”
“No, why do you say that? The elven chieftain said you don’t judge people by their appearance.”
“Pfft! Have you met the elven chieftain?”
“I have.”
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you have to understand that humans are bragging.”
The dwarf laughed and handed the device to Osval. Osval took the device with a grin.
Of course, he didn’t think he could solve this problem. It was too difficult at first glance.
However, there was a reason he confidently challenged it.
‘This is something that can be solved with just force. The elven chieftain said that the inside is important.’
To him, ‘the inside’ was just force.
Despite the dwarf’s warning, he didn’t believe it. How could such a small device withstand the strong strength of a man?
In a way, Osval might have been the man who accepted Giselle’s solution the fastest. Even though it was a little distorted.
Osval held a metal rod and forcefully inserted it into the device’s hole.
Chin!
Of course, the rod didn’t go in any further. However, Osval forced the rod in, drawing up even his mana.
Kick!
Anyone could see that he was forcing it in, even using his mana. Sparks flew from the device that touched the metal bar.
Everyone watched nervously. However, the dwarf laughed leisurely.
‘Idiot. Do you think that can be done with strength? Feel the great dwarf’s technology with your whole body.’
Osval, who had been exerting his strength, gradually showed a look of bewilderment.
‘What, what is it? Why isn’t it going in well? What kind of metal is this?’
No matter how much strength he exerted, sparks flew and it didn’t go in well. It seemed like it would take a long time to insert it as much as he wanted.
It didn’t make sense. If this kind of metal really existed, it would have been used to make weapons and armor all over the kingdom long ago.
Giselle, who was watching the scene, narrowed her eyes as if she found it amusing.
‘That’s… … .’
It seemed that they mixed runestones when refining the metal.
Runestones also have the property of absorbing mana. That machine was using that property to withstand Osval’s strength.
If you think about it, it’s a simple principle. The armor worn by the knights of Fenris also utilized the properties of runestones.
The runestones embedded in the armor absorbed the user’s mana to activate magic, but they also had the function of absorbing and dispersing external shocks.
Of course, applying it precisely to such a small device is impossible with ordinary technology. It meant that the dwarf who created it was extremely skilled.
The dwarf who had been watching Osval for a moment shouted.
“Stop! It’s not working! What are you doing now! If you do any more, it will break, so stop!”
“Profit! You said you have three chances!”
Osval stuck the staff anywhere in his haste. However, he failed both of his remaining chances.
Osval returned to his seat with a sullen expression. He had only lost 1 gold for stepping forward for no reason.
The other mercenaries just clicked their tongues with looks of anticipation.
This time, Giselle asked Yulien.
“Do you want to try it too?”
“No, I don’t know much about that kind of thing.”
He asked Kyle, Deneve, and Erenes, but they all shook their heads. The other mercenaries were the same.
Not just anyone could do something that difficult.
At that moment, an unexpected person stepped forward.
“I’m not bragging, but I… was the top graduate of the Imperial Academy.”
Lionel brushed his hair back. Anyone could tell that he was bragging.
In any case, he was a talented person with both literary and martial arts backgrounds. He had a background that made him confident.
Lionel confidently stepped forward and picked up the device. But the dwarf shouted urgently.
“Oh my! You have to pay first!”
“…….”
Lionel paused for a moment and reached out to Giselle.
“Just 1 gold.”
“……Okay.”
Lionel didn’t have any money either. He had given all his travel expenses to the mercenary group as the youngest.
In the first place, it was not he who had received a large amount of travel expenses from the Pope, but Giselle.
Anyway, Lionel, who had paid the money, carefully examined the device. His eyes were unusual.
“Hmm, I see.”
He had discovered a certain pattern. The structure of this device began to unravel in his head like a puzzle.
His eyes sparkled for a moment, and he confidently inserted the rod into the device.
Click.
The rod fitted perfectly, and the device made a cheerful sound.
Lionel closed his eyes and brushed his hair again.
“Huh. First attempt, success.”
At that moment, exclamations erupted from the surroundings.
“Wow, it went in!”
“Did you really get it right?”
“If you knew how to solve it, you could get them all right, right?”
Everyone who was watching was excited. Even people passing by came in, and the crowd grew even larger.
Lionel opened his mouth with an extremely confident expression.
“This is solved by arranging the symmetry of the shape. Using rotational symmetry, the insertion order of the metal rods is calculated using the golden ratio, and then arranged……”
“That guy really talks too much. He looks so serious.”
“……”
Lionel licked his lips at the dwarf’s rebuke. He felt a little hurt, but decided to ignore it.
It’s true that his attitude of trying to save face had become dull after being with the Yulien mercenary group recently.
Lionel, who had suppressed his anger, focused again. He inserted the rods according to his calculations.
Chin.
“Failed once!”
‘… … What? My calculations should have been perfect?’
Lionel was flustered. However, he soon pulled himself together and tried again.
A little more carefully, with the feeling in his fingertips sharpened… …
Chin.
“Failed twice!”
The dwarf’s shout was loud and annoying. The dwarf watching from the side couldn’t hold it back and burst into laughter.
A cold sweat ran down Lionel’s back. His hands were now shaking.
The dwarf laughed bitterly at him as he watched him.
‘You stupid humans. You can never solve that.’
In fact, that wasn’t something that could be solved by simply finding the rules for numbers and symbols. He had to figure out the exact weight of the metal bar.
Only then could he find the correct rules.
However, there was no way to figure out the exact weight of the metal bar here. No matter how good his senses were, he could only sense that there were slight differences.
‘How could he find the rules and do the calculations if he didn’t know the exact weight?’
In the end, this was just a scam planned by the dwarf.
After all, the dwarf was the only one who knew the exact weight of the metal bar.
Chin.
In the end, Lionel failed on his third attempt.
“Three failures! The end!”
Lionel turned around sullenly. His shoulders were already slumped. He
had tried to show off, but ended up being embarrassed again.
His self-esteem was falling further and further.
The dwarf shouted with an arrogant expression.
“Isn’t there anyone else who wants to challenge? Huh? Is it too hard for humans? Is this hard?”
The people looked displeased at the dwarf’s provocation. However, they couldn’t come forward courageously. It was too difficult to solve.
Moreover, elves traditionally do not get along with the dwarf race.
That’s why Erenes flinched several times as he tried to leave with a resentful expression.
Seeing that, Giselle asked,
“Do you want to try it too?”
“……No.”
The spirits move with the mind, not calculation.
Erenes tried to rationalize it and turned his head away.
Looking at those people, the dwarf laughed again.
“There’s nothing we can do if there’s no more. This is the end of our business today. Who would have thought everyone would be this stupid.”
“There’s still more left?”
Giselle stepped forward. The dwarf handed over the device with a relaxed expression.
Then, he deliberately raised his voice toward the people around him.
“I’ll stop here today, so you all know that! If you want to try again, come back tomorrow at this time! Do you all understand? Let’s spread a lot of rumors!”
The other dwarf was collecting the money that had piled up next to him. It seemed that he thought Giselle would fail anyway.
While he was busy cleaning up, Giselle stared at the device.
Astion spoke in his consciousness.
―Giselle, let’s analyze the structure for now and find a rule. If the dwarf succeeded, there must be some hidden condition. So first, slowly… … .
‘Oh, I don’t know about that.’
― What are you talking about! Then what are you going to do?
“Like this.”
Jiselle suddenly picked up a metal rod and thrust it into the device with all her might.
Crunch!
“……”
In an instant, the surroundings became as quiet as if they had frozen.
The area where the rod had been inserted was crushed by the strong impact.
The dwarf looked dumbfounded at that.
“Uh, uh…… Wait, wait. You, you……”
Jiselle ignored him and thrust the second rod.
Crunch!
This time, sparks flew and the area around the hole melted. The rune stone couldn’t withstand the strong force either.
“……”
Everyone just opened their mouths and watched the scene blankly.
Jiselle silently thrust another rod.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
The rods were thrust in without any order or rules, roughly as if they were hammering nails.
The more they did this, the more the device became crushed and broken, becoming hideous.
It wasn’t inserted cleanly like the dwarf had done. Anyone could see that it was nonsense.
But the dwarf clearly said that it couldn’t be done with force. In fact, everyone had seen Osval fail.
And even if he tried to do it with force, he said that the device would explode. But the device didn’t explode.
It just became a mess.
Crunch! Crunch!
Finally, all seven rods were inserted into the device.
The device was now tattered and looked like a pile of scrap metal.
Jiselle snickered and held out a piece of scrap metal(?) in front of the dwarf.
“It’s done? It’s a success.”
“Huh? How? You, what are you?”
The dwarf was drooling and couldn’t even speak properly. It was
honestly funny how the humans who appeared in such a beggarly form were so stupid.
He was confident that such idiots would never be able to solve this sophisticated device.
In fact, there was a spoonful of fraud mixed in.
Of course, he had thoroughly prepared for the fools who tried to solve it with force.
‘Even a superhuman would have failed?’
Dwarves weren’t fools.
If you were a superhuman or someone of similar strength, you knew that you could insert it with force.
That’s why I made it so that if you inserted it incorrectly, the device would explode right away. If you didn’t know the elaborate internal structure, even a superhuman wouldn’t be able to prevent the explosion.
But… … .
‘Why! Why isn’t it exploding!’
The device had simply turned into scrap metal. Right before my eyes, something absurd was happening.
“How on earth did you do this! You have to break the rules to insert it properly!”
“If your body is good, your head will be at ease.”
“…….”
The surroundings were once again filled with silence at the strange remark.
Only Osval exclaimed with a moved expression.
“As expected! It wasn’t my head that was bad, but my body that was bad! You’re such a bad body!”
The dwarf tried to grab the device from Giselle’s hand in a hurry. However, Giselle dodged and said,
“What? Are you trying to destroy the evidence right now? Why don’t you admit it?”
“I-I can’t admit it! You didn’t solve it properly!”
“You’re inserting the device here? I did as you said, right?”
“Oh, that’s forced!”
“What’s forced? That was the condition. You can’t force it in, and even if you did, it would explode. It didn’t explode, right?”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
The dwarf felt like he was going crazy.
If he acknowledged that sophistry, it would be his own defeat. If he didn’t acknowledge it, it would mean that his skills were lacking.
It’s not hard to dismiss it as a success. Dwarves aren’t always perfect. Sometimes, you can give up your pride as a craftsman.
But it was hard to let it go like that here and now.
“Wow! Keep your promise!”
“If you’re not going to keep your promise, then give us all our money!”
“This is a total scam! I’ll report you!”
“I did everything you told me to do, so why aren’t you admitting it!”
Criticism erupted from the surroundings.
To be honest, the onlookers didn’t care what method Jisel used. They just liked the fact that the annoying dwarf was in trouble.
As the mercenaries joined in and jeered, more people gathered around him.
The dwarf stepped back with a pale face.
‘Oh, where did this crazy guy come from… … .’
The atmosphere was too bad. If things continued like this, he could really be accused of being a scammer.
In fact, he was halfway through committing a scam.
There were too many people watching. And it didn’t seem like that guy with that strange power would back down easily.
You shouldn’t be dealing with a crazy guy. Avoidance is the best policy. The wise dwarf knew that well.
He quickly decided to get rid of Giselle and stammered.
“Ah, I see. Anyway, I didn’t fail, so I’ll admit it. Here, take 100 gold.”
The dwarf tried to act calm and handed over the 100 gold.
‘This kind of guy isn’t common anyway. I can quickly earn money from stupid humans.’
He was trying to calm himself down when Giselle shook her head.
“The money is fine.”
“What? Why? Then what are you going to do? Are you just here to show off your strength?”
Giselle smirked and pointed to the sword hanging behind her.
“I’ll take it with that sword.”
The people gathered here knew nothing about the sword. They all thought of it as ordinary scrap metal.
Only Giselle
saw through the true value of ‘Gramdir.’