That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.18 Lutz

Lutz' pov: 

Rimuru had announced himself as a demon lord, however. While we were on our journey back, we had heard in Blumund that the Holy Empire had signed official relations with Tempest. Along with that there had been murmurs of a church opening in Tempest only this morning. I was just left in a complete state of confusion really, how could such events even take place? Did it involved Myne and Tuuli? 

For now I decided to ignore that. I was sitting with Benno, across the table from me. He was reading a report for me from the progress of the construction of the factory he had requested, "The building is already built and the new paper machines are already completely assembled. We will need monsters to operate them, though I can't complain about that really. If it improves the production speed and lowers the price, it is more than worth it. It says in the report a spirit girl was  seen assisting the dwarves in assembling the machines, as well that the wood types we had purchased were selected by her. Well, who do you think that is, Lutz?" He snorted a bit in a rare moment of losing his composure. 

I was starting at him with a bit of an agape expression, it had taken us months to build our manufactory in Ehrenfest, and the scale was much smaller. "I know Myne is strong as she is now, but is it really safe for her to be doing hard work like that?" I immediately got to the point I had thought up, taking a serious expression. 

"I don't know that, though I would assume she can use magic properly now." He continued while waving it off a bit, then he looked me in the eyes. "She isn't a human anymore, keep that in mind. It may affect how she thinks." He then released the tension on his face and leaned back in his chair. 

Responding to this I had a bit of an uneasy twitch along my spine, while thinking on it more deeply. "I can still do my best to achieve her wishes." I concluded while dropping my head a bit, I then turned out to see the leaves of the trees outside. The red flowers of the trees were wilting, though the tree stayed. 

Benno tracked my gaze and then started again, "Relax. I am just giving you a bit of advice, just don't expect everything to be the same. Alright?" He leaned over the table to put a quick hand on my shoulder, squeezing it a bit. Then he leaned back in his chair again. 

I nodded softly, then looked back to him. "Do you think when we get there we will be able to buy some better food?" I asked, getting a bit cheered up by the idea myself. 

Nodding he bent the collar of his coat so it would lay across his shoulder. "That is the first thing we will do, boy." He stood up and walked to the doorway while reorganizing the folder of parchment he had unfolded. "We are leaving in an hour, so you best get yourself ready. He finished before leaving the room. 

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It was a caravan, some traders form Ehrenfest agreed to carry the belongings of Gunther and Effa if we agreed to lead them to Tempest. Of course that was really a steal, so we happily accepted and signed a contract with each of them for how much they'd need to carry. Benno was just left smiling for hours in private afterward, he really can be a real demon sometimes. 

It was somewhat amusing seeing the traders shiver when when saw the first patrol along the road. Gunther was also clinging to Effa like a small child, I had a hard time restraining my chuckles seeing it. I wonder how he'd react to Myne herself now. 

For now though, my focus was on the road. I was sitting on the sled of our cart, as Benno had let me lead the cart this time. I had to keep going, and inform everyone in the caravan of any stops. It was actually a lot to keep track of, and I wasn't quite used to it yet.

One particularly important part of the caravan was the Carriage in the middle of the caravan, which was one that Ferdinand had been given after requesting a chance for "official relations" with Tempest. It wasn't that simple however, another visitor had forced his way into this visit, to Ferdinand's immense annoyance. Which was the reason for the pair of knights on horses of their own on each side of the carriage, though they  were really the most embarrassing in reaction to the patrols. Their armor clinked and clanked as they shivered. 

Luckily we were already close, so I'd think they'd get their ideas of what monsters are like shattered. I certainly got those ideas destroyed myself, the last time I was here.

Suddenly the small wooden valley the city was nestled in came into view, and I though I could see some figure hovering high in the sky above the city. I looked up and squinted to try to confirm it was just my imagination. I couldn't focus on something that far away though, so I just ended up hurting my eyes with a glance at the sun while doing it. 

abruptly I could hear a small rumble in the forest nearby, along with a loud chittering sound. I shivered lightly as I looked around carefully into the thick brush. I wasn't quick to the point I'd signal a stop, it could be anything. Benno had told me to be responsible with the signals I gave, and a stop signal on the middle of the road should be an emergency signal. 

The chittering was causing me to panic though, and I felt a pressure nearby. It was the same kind of pressure you could faintly feel from strong monsters, when you were around them. It felt different than the monsters in Tempest, somehow. 

The chattering getting louder finally pushed me over the edge, I held out my hand and set a stop signal. 

Before I could get off the sled while stopping the horses, I suddenly heard a loud piercing screech. It made me covered my ears in pain and I let my arms and head fall into my lap. Then through scrunched eyes I saw as a massive stinger shot out of the brush and into the neck of one of our horses. 

I almost screamed. I forced myself to stay calm though, I then slowly held out my arm to give a danger signal. Then crawled back from the sled into the cart, putting my hands over the back of my head while staying low. 

Benno seeing the sudden commotion peeked over the hold and saw me there. Then he cursed under his breath while climbing over and crawling up to look out of the flap that led to the sled, he grimaced before coming back to me and whispering something. "You gave the signal?" 

I nodded while keeping my head low, though I was visibly shivering now. Whatever they were, I was sure I couldn't even do so much as scratch one of them. I crawled up closer to the opening and peeked out. What I saw was that both of the horses were gone, it seemed they had been dragged away. 

Though then I saw a massive dark blue carapace, it had 8 eyes. It also had six legs and two thin claws, along with a massive stinger that looked it could pierce straight through a grown man. It had yet to notice me. 

I pulled my head back down and tried to stay as quiet as possible, then I heard a shout as it seemed one of the knights had come to attempt to deal with the creature.  I heard the loud scream of his horse and a loud thud. I got closer to Benno.

After that I heard a familiar voice shout something, some meters behind us. "Step back!" It was Ferdinand giving a retreat order. I was shivering now thinking about what would happen to me and Benno. I understand this wasn't something Ferdinand wants either though, he had a family member to protect. 

I then heard the loud sound of bells, and the chiming was deafening. Though somehow reassuring. I couldn't restrain myself anymore, and peaked again. 

What I saw was Ferdinand himself standing with a sword and a fierce look on his face. He was standing in front of what was now a single one of the beast. He looked to be confident, and had a faint glow around him. 

A stinger had shot toward him, which was cut in half as quickly as it had shot out at him. He then send a swift strike in-between the eyes of the beast. Though there were more of them, and he was alone. 

I stared with a bit of a mesmerized look in my eyes. Like seeing something under the light of the moon for all your life, then seeing it in the radiant sun for the first time. I grabbed a staff from among the items in this section of the carriage while holding it tightly, just in case. 

Ferdinand seemed to be breathing heavily, though he had already offed quite a few of the monsters. His sword was swift and exact, targeting the vitals and nothing more. Only attacks did he respond to side from this. Though suddenly he coughed while taking a staggered position, his feet faltering under him a bit. 

I was quick to jump out of the cart and toward him, taking a place next to him while holding out the staff. I had heard a curse and a yelp from Benno as I did so, but right now I didn't care. Keeping the staff held low in front of me, I tried to swipe at one of the monsters. The staff was simply splintered into the tight grip of a claw. 

Ferdinand yelled something I couldn't hear while trying to swing his sword at something I couldn't see yet. 

My eyes went wide. Everything went into slow motion, as  saw it. The stinger was heading right for me. It seemed to be in slow motion, as it made it's way toward me. The soft dark blue shimmer in the light of the sun slowly disappeared as the tip of the stinger entered my own stomach. 

I felt a rush of pain and screamed out loudly as I heard a sharp cracking sound as it penetrated me right through  the center of my stomach, and into the lower spine. I felt as my legs lost their feeling and I wobbled, losing the ability to stand I fell onto the ground.

Falling onto my back I stared directly into the sun, feeling myself slip away.

Before I could think about that, I saw a figure shoot down from the sun itself in the sky. The flittering blue hair flashing past, and landing with a loud crack on the ground in front of me. I heard a horrible crunching sound from all around me. 

Then I felt light, and my body lifted to its feet. I could feel as my stomach was mended and my thoughts came back into focus. I could see a face staring at me with piercing golden eyes, and dark blue hair. Perfect skin, currently covered with tears. 

"You idiot! You aren't allowed to die! You can't leave me behind!" The perfect voice faltered as it yelled into my face, and the young girl turned away from me. I could feel a slight pressure as she was staring off along the road in front of us. 

'That is Myne.' My head finally registered the person standing in front of me completely as all of my senses suddenly rushed back to me completely. I was left there, shivering and unable to say anything. Not even able to move. 

Myne held her hand to her chest and sighed. "I will pull the cart, none of you are leaving my sensory range on the way back." It was a sharp cold tone, one I hadn't heard from her before. She refused to even look back to me and simply raised her hand. 

I looked around us, seeing the almost horrific scene finally. Every single one of the monsters had been compressed into small balls of flesh and carapace. Their blood and every other liquid had all been squeezed out, now staining the ground as puddles. Each one had one of those balls at the center. 

I saw out of the corner as my eye as the now horseless cart started moving along, I quickly turned around and gave a signal to continue. It seems the armored knights had already found seats on a few of the carts, however they were visibly shivering while looking at the person standing behind me. 

Ferdinand glanced at me with a bit of a raised eyebrow before patting my head and pointing to the moving cart in the front. He had already sheathed the sword on his belt. He then made his way back to the carriage and got inside. 

I was slow to do it, but I walked to the rolling carriage and shakily mounted the sled. Some way in the distance I could see Myne's figure simply floating there while not even glancing back at us. I could see that her hand was covering one side of her face from behind. 

I though to myself, '..What just happened?..' 

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--2273 words-- 

<The monsters that attacked the caravan in this chapter were Tempest Scorpions. A species of Scorpion born from the magicules released from individual Veldora. They are A- rank monsters.> 

--Ferdinand EP: 173,231(Unrestrained)--

--Unrestrained refers to when Ferdinand is not using a small artifact to release magicules, allowing them to collect to his limit within his body. This state is dangerous, and can cause him physical pain--

(AN: Totally didn't retcon Ferdinand's power scaling for the purpose of lining up more accurately with the later parts of the bookworm web novel. It was just your imagination. Hehehehehe. Please comment your criticisms or suggestions.)