Chapter 758

Chapter 758
The proclamation from Ghislain left the entire assembly in a state of shock.
Julien’s eyes stretched wide as he questioned his leader.
“That contraption looks incredibly complicated. Are you truly intent on attempting this?”
Ghislain merely chuckled dismissively.
“There is nothing complex about it. From my perspective, it doesn’t even qualify as a challenge.”
Skepticism mirrored in the eyes of everyone watching. However, Kyle, appearing to grasp a hidden thread of logic, spoke up.
“You are placing your confidence in Astion, aren’t you?”
Deneb and Julien both signaled their agreement with a nod. While Astion could be eccentric, his status as a mage was undisputed.
Prior to Ghislain’s arrival, Astion had been the primary source of intellectual guidance for their group.
The rest of the sellswords concurred.
They had often observed Ghislain engaged in quiet nightly study sessions. In reality, those were the moments when Astion assumed control of the physical form to pursue magical research.
The mercenaries had simply rationalized this as Ghislain possessing a fractured, multi-faceted persona.
As she listened to their exchange, Ereneth’s expression faltered, and she whispered under her breath,
‘Wait, is this for real? Does he actually have a mental disorder involving multiple identities?’
She remained wary, choosing to stay on the sidelines and watch the events unfold.
Deep within the recesses of Ghislain’s mind, Astion gave a confident shout.
— A sophisticated practitioner of magic cannot simply overlook such an insult. That dwarf is insufferably conceited.
Astion’s tone was brimming with arrogance, yet Ghislain’s face remained a mask of boredom.
Suddenly, Osvald thrust his arm into the air.
“Captain! Osvald the Mighty is here! Permit me the first attempt!”
“…You?”
“Why do you look at me with such doubt?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Osvald reached out with both palms open in a formal gesture.
“Kindly lend me 1 gold piece.”
Since Ghislain held the purse strings for the unit, he didn’t hesitate to produce a gold coin and place it in Osvald’s hand.
The dwarf surveyed Osvald with a judgmental scowl.
“You honestly believe you have a chance at this?”
“Watch your tongue! The High Chief of the Elves taught me that one should never judge a book by its cover.”
“Ha! So now you’re claiming to be an acquaintance of the Elf High Chief?”
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Sure, sure. You humans are all talk and no substance.”
With a mocking grin, the dwarf passed the mechanism over. Osvald accepted it, huffing with indignation.
Truthfully, he had no illusions about solving the riddle through logic; it looked far too daunting.
However, his bravado stemmed from a different philosophy.
‘A puzzle like this just needs a good shove. The High Chief said it’s what’s on the inside that counts.’
In Osvald’s worldview, “the inside” was synonymous with raw power.
Despite the dwarf’s earlier cautions, Osvald dismissed them entirely. How could a mere trinket resist the might of a true warrior?
In a strange way, Osvald was the first to try and emulate Ghislain’s philosophy, albeit in a clumsy, distorted fashion.
He gripped the metallic pin and forced it into the opening of the device with immense pressure.
Thud!
The pin stopped dead, refusing to move deeper. Undeterred, Osvald channeled his internal mana, pushing with every ounce of his strength.
Skreeeeee!
The use of mana was blatant to everyone watching. Bright sparks erupted from the friction where the pin met the machine.
The onlookers grew tense, but the dwarf merely wore a self-satisfied smirk.
‘Moron. Do you really think that will work? You’re about to learn the strength of dwarven smithing the hard way.’
As he strained, Osvald began to feel a creeping sense of dread.
‘What is going on? Why won’t it budge? What kind of metal is this?’
Despite his exertion, nothing but sparks filled the air. At this pace, he would be there until the end of time.
It defied logic. If such a resilient material existed, the military would have already converted it into standard-issue gear.
Ghislain watched the display with narrowing, amused eyes.
‘That has to be…’
He suspected the metal had been infused with crushed rune stones during the smelting process.
Rune stones were known for their ability to nullify mana. This machine was likely engineered to utilize that trait to negate Osvald’s brute force.
Once the principle was understood, it was quite straightforward. The armor utilized by the Fenris knights operated on a similar mechanic.
The integrated rune stones would draw in the wearer’s mana to power enchantments while simultaneously absorbing and neutralizing external kinetic force.
Naturally, fitting such a sophisticated system into a handheld object was a feat beyond ordinary blacksmiths. It proved the dwarf’s craftsmanship was exceptional.
After watching Osvald’s futile struggle, the dwarf finally shouted,
“Enough! What do you think you’re doing? You’ll ruin the mechanism! Step away!”
“Hold on! I’ve still got two tries left!”
Frustrated, Osvald jammed the pin into random slots. He failed both remaining attempts in spectacular fashion.
He slunk back to his spot, looking dejected. His only reward for his confidence was the loss of a gold coin.
The other sellswords made clicking noises with their tongues, silently saying “we told you so.”
Ghislain then looked toward Julien.
“Would you like to give it a go?”
“No thanks, that’s not really my area of expertise.”
He extended the offer to Kyle, Deneb, and Ereneth, but they all declined. The rest of the mercenaries followed suit.
A riddle of this caliber wasn’t meant for the average person.
Unexpectedly, a new challenger emerged.
“I don’t mean to boast, but… I was the valedictorian of the Imperial Academy.”
Lionel smoothed his hair back. It was undeniably a boast.
Regardless, he was a rare blend of intellect and martial prowess. His pedigree justified his self-assurance.
With a confident stride, Lionel approached and took hold of the device. The dwarf suddenly barked,
“Hold it! Payment first!”
“……”
Lionel paused, then turned his palm toward Ghislain.
“One gold, if you please.”
“…Fine.”
Lionel was currently penniless. Having joined as the newest member of the squad, he had been forced to turn over his personal funds to the mercenary treasury.
Furthermore, Ghislain was the one who had been granted a significant stipend by the Pope, not Lionel.
Once the fee was settled, Lionel scrutinized the device with a piercing gaze.
“I see, I see.”
He spotted a sequence. In his mind’s eye, the internal clockwork of the device began to unfurl like a map.
With a glint of triumph in his eyes, he slid the pin into the slot.
Click.
The pin seated perfectly, accompanied by a satisfying metallic sound.
Lionel closed his eyes, once again smoothing his hair.
“Hmph. First try, a success.”
The surrounding crowd broke into cheers.
“Look at that, it actually fit!”
“Is he really going to solve it?”
“If he’s found the pattern, he might actually finish the whole thing!”
The excitement grew contagious. Even random pedestrians began to stop and watch, swelling the size of the crowd.
Exuding an air of supreme intellectual superiority, Lionel began to lecture,
“This is a problem of geometric parity. I’ve mapped the rotational symmetry and used the golden ratio to determine the insertion order, then…”
“This fellow loves the sound of his own voice. And he looks far too grim doing it.”
“……”
Lionel’s jaw tightened at the dwarf’s mocking interjection. It was an insult, but he chose to ignore it.
He had learned a measure of humility since joining Julien’s group.
Suppressing his ego, Lionel refocused. He attempted the next insertion based on his mental blueprint.
Thud.
“That’s one miss!”
‘…What? My formula was perfect…’
Panic flared in Lionel’s chest. He forced himself to stay calm and tried again.
He moved with extreme caution, focusing every nerve ending in his fingers on the task…
Thud.
“That’s two misses!”
The dwarf’s voice was gratingly loud and full of glee. The other dwarves in the vicinity joined in the laughter.
A cold sweat broke out across Lionel’s back. Even his hands began to show a slight tremor.
The dwarf wore a wide, mocking grin.
‘Foolish humans. They’ll never crack this.’
The secret was that the solution wasn’t found in symbols or numbers alone. One had to account for the minute weight variations of each individual pin.
Only with that data could the true rule be applied for a successful calculation.
But there was no equipment available to weigh the pins precisely. Even with the most refined touch, a human could only feel the vaguest differences.
‘Without the exact mass, how can they hope to calculate the sequence?’
Ultimately, the dwarf had designed a near-perfect swindle.
After all, the only individual aware of the pins’ exact weights was the dwarf who made them.
Thud.
Lionel’s third attempt was another failure.
“Three strikes! You’re finished!”
Lionel retreated with slumped shoulders. He had tried to show off and ended up humiliated yet again.
His sense of self-worth was taking a heavy beating.
The dwarf, now radiating arrogance, shouted to the crowd,
“Anyone else brave enough? Anyone? Is this too much for a human brain to handle? Too difficult?”
His taunting words brought scowls to the faces of the onlookers. Yet, no one moved. The challenge seemed insurmountable.
Historically, elves and dwarves were never on friendly terms.
Ereneth looked as though she were on the verge of stepping forward out of sheer spite, her face flushed with irritation.
Noticing this, Ghislain asked,
“Do you want a turn?”
“…No.”
Spirits responded to the whispers of the soul, not the cold logic of math.
Ereneth used that thought to talk herself down and turned away.
Surveying the hesitant crowd, the dwarf let out another sharp laugh.
“Well, if no one else is up for it, I suppose we’re done for the day. I didn’t realize everyone here was so slow-witted.”
“There is still one more person.”
Ghislain moved to the front. The dwarf, still wearing his confident smirk, passed him the device.
He then raised his voice, addressing the gathered throng,
“This is the final attempt for today! If anyone else wants a shot, come back at this hour tomorrow! Tell your friends!”
A second dwarf was already gathering the collected coins. It was clear they expected Ghislain to fail just as the others had.
As the dwarves began to tidy up their workspace, Ghislain peered deeply into the mechanism.
Within his consciousness, Astion began to speak.
— Ghislain, we should begin by deconstructing the framework to find the hidden pattern. Since the dwarf can do it, there must be a secret variable. So, first, we move slowly…
‘No. I’m not interested in any of that.’
— What are you saying?! Then how do you intend to complete the task?!
“Like this.”
With sudden violence, Ghislain seized a pin and slammed it into the device.
CRACK!
“……”
A heavy, chilling silence fell over the square.
The section of the device where the pin had been forced was completely caved in.
The dwarf looked on, paralyzed by shock.
“W-What… stop. You…”
Paying him no mind, Ghislain drove a second pin home.
Screeeeech!
Sparks showered the ground as the metal around the opening began to warp and liquefy. Not even the mana-absorbing rune stone could hold back that level of raw power.
“……”
The crowd stood like statues, their mouths hanging open.
Without a word, Ghislain hammered in a third pin.
CRACK!
GRKCH!
KRSSH!
There was no logic, no sequence. He treated the pins like nails and the device like a block of wood, driving them in with savage, random force.
With every strike, the device dented, splintered, and morphed into a mangled wreck of metal.
It was the polar opposite of the dwarf’s graceful solution. It was obvious to everyone that this was the “wrong” way to do it.
And yet, the dwarf had insisted brute force was useless. Everyone had watched Osvald prove that true just moments before.
Furthermore, if force was used, the device was supposed to detonate. But it didn’t.
It simply became a crushed piece of trash.
CRACK! KRAKKK!
Finally, all seven pins were embedded within the device.
It now resembled a piece of scrap metal salvaged from a battlefield, barely maintaining its shape.
Ghislain smirked and held the mangled object up to the dwarf’s face.
“Finished. That counts as a success, doesn’t it?”
“H-How? W-Who in the world are you?”
The dwarf was nearly catatonic, a bit of drool escaping his lips.
He had dismissed these travel-worn mercenaries as simpletons. He was certain they could never navigate his complex creation.
In truth, he had cheated.
He had specifically engineered the device to handle anyone who tried to force it.
‘Even a transcendent being shouldn’t have been able to bypass the safeguards!’
The dwarf wasn’t a novice.
He knew a superhuman of incredible caliber might try to use strength.
Consequently, he had designed the interior to trigger an explosion if the pins were inserted incorrectly—a trap that even the strongest warriors shouldn’t have been able to survive without knowing the secret.
And yet…
‘Why! Why didn’t the fail-safe go off?!’
Instead of an explosion, the device had simply yielded. What he was seeing contradicted the laws of his craft.
“You… how is this possible?! You were supposed to find the sequence!”
“When your body is in peak condition, your mind doesn’t have to work as hard.”
“……”
The nonsensical statement was met with another wave of silence.
Only Osvald roared with admiration,
“I knew it! It wasn’t my intellect that failed me—it was my muscles! Curse this weak, useless frame!”
The dwarf lunged forward, attempting to reclaim the ruined device. Ghislain stepped back effortlessly.
“What? Trying to hide the proof? Just admit you lost.”
“I—I won’t accept this! That isn’t a valid solution!”
“The objective was to get the pins inside, correct? Mission accomplished.”
“T-That’s blatant cheating!”
“How so? You claimed brute force was impossible and that it would blow up. It didn’t.”
“W-Well, that’s true, but…”
The dwarf was spiraling into a panic.
To admit defeat was to validate Ghislain’s methodology. To deny it was to admit his “unbreakable” craftsmanship was a failure.
Normally, he could just lie. Dwarves are stubborn—he could have claimed it was a disqualification. Even a master has to save face.
But the circumstances had changed.
“That’s right! Pay the man!”
“If you won’t honor the win, give us all our gold back!”
“You’re a cheat! We’ll call the guards!”
“He followed your rules! Why are you backing out?”
The crowd began to roar in protest.
In truth, they didn’t care about the logic of Ghislain’s win. They were simply delighted to see the arrogant dwarf humiliated.
The mercenaries joined the chorus of heckling, drawing an even larger crowd of curious onlookers.
The dwarf turned pale, taking a step back.
‘Where did this madman come from…’
The situation was becoming dangerous. If he didn’t settle this, his reputation in the city would be destroyed.
He was running a bit of a racket… but this was worse.
The eyes of the public were on him. And this titan with terrifying strength clearly wasn’t going to let it go.
Tangling with a lunatic was a recipe for disaster. A smart dwarf knew when to retreat.
Steeling himself, he sputtered,
“A-Alright. Fine. You didn’t fail. I’ll allow it. Here—take your 100 gold.”
He held out the purse, trying to look as though he were still in control.
‘Whatever. Monsters like him don’t come around often. I’ll fleece the next group of humans to make it back.’
He tried to soothe his ego, but Ghislain shook his head.
“Keep the coins.”
“What? Why? What are you after then? You just did all this to embarrass me?”
Ghislain smiled, his eyes landing on a weapon resting at the back of the stall.
“I’ll take that sword instead.”
To the crowd, the weapon looked like nothing more than a rusted piece of junk.
Only Ghislain understood the truth—he was staring at the incredible, hidden worth of Gramdir.