Overgeared

“Is there another way to ascend to Asgard?”

Light descended from heaven and small angels appeared blowing their trumpets. Golden clouds spread through the gaps in light to form a staircase. That was the road to Asgard. A path that opened only when the heavenly gods desired it. It was a passage available only to a few chosen beings who were born as gods. It was a symbol of the highest authority, or discrimination.

“There is one more way.”

Grid’s office—it looked very strange to be a space where an emperor ruling a great empire handled his affairs. The nib of the pen was dry without a trace of ink and not a single piece of paper could be found.

‘It doesn’t change.’

The Great Robber of the Red Night had a hobby that had become a habit because he was too old. It was his hobby to infiltrate the king’s office every time a new king of every kingdom ascended to the throne. Since each king held at least one of the kingdom’s greatest treasures, it was fun to steal the treasure while also figuring out the king’s disposition and predicting the fate of the kingdom.

Even the previous emperors of the Saharan Empire had their offices robbed by him. Of course, this meant that Grid’s office wasn’t safe either. The Great Robber of the Red Night had sneaked into Grid’s office twice so far. The first time was when he founded the Overgeared Kingdom, and the second time was when he took control of Saharan and expanded the Overgeared Kingdom into an empire.

Every time, Grid’s office was empty. It was a truly absurd sight. Even the terrible rulers, who had no interest in governing, had a few things in their offices. Meanwhile, Grid had no such pretenses. It wasn’t a sign that he turned away from his responsibilities.

He entrusted his work to competent and trustworthy servants and reviewed them often. This might not be the right answer, but it wasn’t bad either. At the very least, he knew it was impossible for him to reign with his own ability, so he came up with countermeasures. It was a hundred times better than the terrible rulers who ruined the country due to their useless attempt to save face or their stubbornness.

‘I’m sure he has met all types of people due to the experience rapidly accumulated in a short period of time.’

Did he still believe in humans? Eventually, even this thief—

The old man was weighed down by the weight of time, even if he was transcendent. Grid’s strong will as a young man before he even became a god was truly astonishing.

‘What does Chiyou feel when watching him?’

“Are you saying there is another way?”

The Great Robber of the Red Night shook off his brief thoughts and answered, “The dragons.”

The outside of the window in his vision was still red. It was the faint remnants of the aftermath of the super large furnace’s explosion. The flames that burned the sky were a mixture of Fire Dragon Trauka’s energy and Red Phoenix’s flames. It was truly the most powerful flame in the world, so it wasn’t easily extinguished. If it hadn’t been for Euphemina, some of the flames would’ve fallen to the city.

“...Dragons?”

“You know the story of Trauka hunting the celestial gods.”

“Ah.”

“To be able to freely move back and forth between dimensions. This is one of the powers that dragons are born with. Even Asgard, which rises as high as the nose of the gods, was an object they could look down,” the Great Robber of the Red Night spoke clearly to Grid.

Carry me to heaven.

It meant that Grid could do it.

“Do you mean riding up on Nefelina?”

It wasn’t okay. Nefelina was a hatchling. If she transcended her limits, she could show the flying ability of a dragon, but that was only for a short time. It was only one minute. He didn’t know what the concept of ‘crossing dimensions’ was, but if it was based on physical distance, then it would be difficult to ascend to Asgard in one minute.

Sure enough, the Great Robber of the Red Night shook his head.

“That isn’t it. I have heard about the greatness of the hatchling, who transcended the limits while communicating with you, but I can’t call her a dragon...”

“Do you have another way in mind?”

It wasn’t a matter for Grid to worry about.

Indeed. There was no way the Great Robber of the Red Night would’ve offered a deal if he hadn’t thought of a plan. He must’ve suggested it because he had his own ideas.

Grid listened calmly, only to spit out the tea that was in his mouth. It was precious tea brewed by Irene herself...

Grid was deeply shocked by what he heard.

“We need to reach Asgard quickly enough that it isn’t detected by the gods. Borrowing the back of an old dragon would be the most ideal,” the Great Robber of the Red Night explained while calmly wiping away the tea from the wrinkles on his face with a handkerchief.

‘An Absolute is different.’

The Great Robber couldn’t keep up with the speed at which the tea was spat out. By the time he realized and reacted, the tea was already on the verge of covering his face, so he allowed the water attack.

‘As expected of the Only One God... he has become more reliable in terms of his abilities.’

Unlike the Great Robber of the Red Night, who had a comfortable expression because he was inwardly satisfied, Grid’s face was rotten.

“Borrow the back of an old dragon?”

“Yes, it is something that only you, the Dragon Knight, can do.”

“What nonsense are you saying? How am I supposed to do that?”

Bunhelier, Raiders, Nevartan, and Trauka—this was the list of old dragons, apart from the Transparent Dragon whose existence was unknown. They were all lunatics. The four of them resembled each other to the point where Nevartan, who suffered from madness, didn’t look particularly special. It was in a bad way.

In the first place, Grid wasn’t acquainted with them. He wasn’t in a position to ask for something from them.

“Don’t joke and tell me the right method.”

He was trying not to show it, but Grid was feeling nervous. The plan to mass produce dragon weapons from Trauka’s arm had gone badly from the beginning. The whole purpose of defeating Baal and leveling up further to finally rescue Khan and Hexetia went completely off track.

He wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. It was quite unpleasant that the person with the solution in his hand was delaying the time with a joke.

“Do you think I came here to see you to make a joke?”

The following words of the Great Robber were very shocking.

“Soon, two old dragons will appear. One is Bunhelier. I’m sure you are expecting it, but he will try to cooperate with you after sensing the signs of the Baal subjugation expedition.”

Certainly. Trauka had also said it. Soon, Bunhelier would ask for cooperation. Grid thought it was a plausible guess.

“Who is the other one?”

“Gourmet Dragon Raiders.”

“Raiders? Let’s see. You might already know, but there is still a long way to go before Raider’s appearance cycle.”

It was also known as the gourmet cycle. Raider’s food trip was repeated once every 100 years.

“The cycle doesn’t have to be followed. You have the ingredients to speed up Raiders’ schedule.”

“......?”

They were words he couldn’t understand. Where did he have such ingredients?

“It is Trauka’s arm,” the Great Robber explained to Grid, who looked like he didn’t understand.

“......!”

It was like lightning struck Grid’s head. He recalled the story of the Gourmet Dragon, who chewed the roots of the world tree in front of all the elves. In the first place, dragons were used to eating each other. No, more of them lived for the purpose of eating their own kind. It was in order to gain strength and protect themselves.

“Won’t eating Trauka’s arm make Raiders even stronger?”

“That’s not it. In order to directly gain an increase in power from eating another dragon, they need to eat the dragon heart. Other body parts have no value.”

That was right. Trauka had only eaten Xenon’s heart.

“The reason why Raiders covets Trauka’s arm is simply because of gluttony.”

“That is a dangerous statement. My advice to you is to never bring up the word gluttony in front of Raiders. He is a gourmet. For him, food is to be savored, not to be ravenously coveted.”

“......”

Grid cocked his head. He felt a sense of alienation as he imagined Raiders digging up the roots of the world tree and chewing on it.

‘I think he is ravenous enough.’

“In any case, Raiders’ visit will be a big opportunity for us. In exchange for taking some of Trauka’s arm, I will go up to heaven and steal what I want, while you will get Hexetia.”

“Um...”

Grid was grateful for the Great Robber’s visit. From what he heard, a reunion with Raiders was inevitable. If it was inevitable, it was better to know about it and prepare for it in advance.

“Can I just give him enough to cook a steak...”

The question was how much Raiders required. It was unfortunate that Grid had to share it with someone when he had limited materials.

“It is your responsibility to negotiate the details, not mine. I think it is better for you to leave for a deserted place before Raiders and Bunhelier comes,” the Great Robber of the Red Night gently urged. A dragon was a being who would cause violent winds with just one slap flap of their wings. It wasn’t good for it to show up in the middle of the city.

‘A good man is a good man.’

Grid was fond of the Great Robber, who was secretly worried about people, and rose from his seat.

“I know a place where there are no people.”

The Red Sea—if he went to a deserted island and waited, they would come to see him.

“By the way, I have a request.”

“What?”

“Rescuing Hexetia... no, when you are stealing Hexetia¹¹¹, can you steal another angel as well? I’m sure he is being treated badly...”

“...I will try.”

The Great Robber didn’t ask who the angel was. Putting aside his seemingly nonchalant attitude, he knew Grid well. He knew the story about Grid and the blacksmith named Khan and he guessed that Khan had become an angel. There was also a clear connection to the holy swords that appeared all over the world not long ago.

‘A world where those who deserve rest are suffering.’

It was off. It had been off for too long. It should be changed. He had been trying to change it. He had never shown a heroic side like the Absolute who built an invisible tower and suppressed dragons for a thousand years. Still, he was confident that he had tried.

It was like the Specter who worked hard while hiding deep underground. He stole and accumulated treasures representing each era while hoping there would be more people like him somewhere. It was to open up new possibilities.

“...Sigh.”

Grid—the old man sighed and shook off his nerves at being in the presence of the greatest hero he had ever met. Then he put on the mask of the thief that had been about to fall off.

“You can look forward to it. Stealing is my specialty.”

***

Deep in the mountains...

“Is it a dragon again...” a tall, white-haired middle-aged man murmured as he looked at the shadow that filled the sky and disappeared. This is the property of Nô-velDrama.Org.

The storm that came a step later shook the roots of the tall trees and tried to uproot them, but he spread out a red aura and suppressed it.

The power to control matter—the name of the man who inherited the ‘red energy’ used by the founder of the fallen empire was Juander. He was the old emperor whose final subordinate was an immortal wrapped in cursed armor.

“There are no more signs. This one looks like it has been sorted out,” Armored Cavalryman Chensler said. Thanks to the dragon that passed by and cleared the bushes, the search of the nearby area was quickly finished.

“Yes, let’s go ahead. I’m afraid Kujarak will be tired from waiting.”

“It will be fine. He is a man who is like wood.”

Not long ago, the dimensional gaps collapsed one after another due to the two Sword Saints. Grid’s apostles cleared up most of the beings from other dimensions that poured out, but some intelligent beings silently survived. It was a new threat. However, most people didn’t realize it and it wasn’t communicated to Grid.

Hayate and the tower members, Eve and the Great Robber of the Red Night, Hwang Gildong and Old Demon Sword—they all had different intentions and sometimes went the wrong way. Even so, there were more heroes fighting in the world than just Grid.

Grid was their hope and it was enough for him to focus on a greater cause.

Of course, Grid also wanted to focus...

“What? You want half?”

[Your words have lost their politeness when I haven’t seen you.]

“Politeness? Are you kidding me?”

[I think it is cheap as the price for the deal.]

At the Ruins of the Martial God...

As if to prove the fate of Zeratul, who was doomed, Grid reunited with Raiders in this place, which had become an empty, uninhabited island.

[If it doesn’t taste good, I’ll just take one bite and return it.]

‘Let’s bring Idan here.’

Grid always did his best. He had no intention of losing a profit in this transaction.