Chapter Seven: Isn't It True That the Protagonist Always Finds Treasures?

During the time that followed, Mayuna sat at the dining table, watching as Ruby busied himself alone. He took out a bag of flour, mixed it with water, kneaded the dough—a process that lasted quite a while—until finally it was time to roll out the wrappers. She saw him retrieve a brown rolling pin from the cupboard and steadily begin to roll the dough.

“This thing...”

Who was Mayuna? She was the supreme Archmage of the Holy Continent, incredibly sensitive to magical fluctuations. Which made her all the more perplexed: why did this wooden stick radiate such a powerful magical aura?

“A rolling pin,” Ruby replied.

“But...”

“It’s just a rolling pin.”

“Oh, oh, oh, right there! My body is rubbing against the soft, doughy surface, just like a girl's chest—how delightful!”

A young man’s voice emanated from the rolling pin, startling Mayuna. She didn’t even bother to question why it could speak; just from its words, she could tell this thing was a pervert.

“Is it normal for a rolling pin to say such things?”

“If you can hear my voice, you must possess considerable power, young lady.”

The rolling pin seemed to have heard Mayuna, and from its middle, a single purple eye opened, gazing at her as it spoke.

“You’re calling me ‘young lady’? What exactly are you?”

“Me? You can call me Dragon... Ah! My eye!”

The purple eye on the rolling pin winked at Mayuna, but her finger mercilessly jabbed it.

“Because you’re disgusting,” she said.

Seeing Ruby’s disgruntled expression, Mayuna withdrew her finger only after casting a purification spell on the rolling pin, as if she’d touched something unclean.

“He’s important to me, even if he is a bit revolting,” Ruby explained.

“Is that so? Dragon... Dragon... Now that you mention it, I think I’ve heard that name before. Wait, could you be Lust, one of the Seven Deadly Sins that the Demon Lord Satan used to tempt angels into corruption?”

Mayuna didn’t answer Ruby’s protest, but as she repeated the rolling pin’s name, her expression grew graver. After all, a talking inanimate object could already be considered a holy relic, and not all holy relics awakened their own souls. She had heard the name Dragon more than once from her companions. Her thoughts quickly connected him to the ancient War of the Gods. According to the legends preserved by the church, when Satan the Demon Lord was overwhelmed by the armies of the God of Light, he resorted to sinister means to corrupt a third of the angels—those infamous means being the Seven Deadly Sins.

“If you can guess my real identity from my alias, does that mean you’re acquainted with Satan? Or perhaps you know one of the other six?”

Dragon’s purple eye flashed with mischief as he retorted. In the legends of the Holy Continent, Satan was hardly a respectable figure. No matter how Mayuna knew his identity, she was already mired in trouble.

“I do not,” Mayuna replied coldly.

“That’s right, I am indeed the Sin of Lust, known as the Invisible Blade. As for your crime in angering me—let’s see you atone with your flat chest... Ah!”

Dragon admitted his identity without hesitation, his gaze so brazen it seemed to pierce Mayuna’s clothes. Once again, his solitary eye was poked blind.

“May I kill him?” Mayuna’s face was now dark as ink. While she might not be especially well-endowed, she was of standard build for a woman in her twenties. Being called flat by Dragon was infuriating.

“No, you may not.”

“Why do you have Lust in your possession? And is your relationship with him that of master and servant? So when you tried to undress me yesterday, it really was with wicked intentions!”

Seeing Ruby defend that accursed rolling pin made Mayuna bristle. Suddenly recalling details from the previous day, she took a step back to keep a safe distance.

“This guy pretended to be a tree at my doorstep for five whole years.”

Noticing Mayuna’s suspicion, Ruby didn’t rush to explain. He picked up Dragon and continued rolling the dough.

“?”

Mayuna couldn’t connect her question to his answer at all. After she pressed him for details, Ruby told her that when he first arrived, there was a bare tree in front of the cabin. Possessing vast knowledge, Ruby had immediately seen through the disguise but chose not to interfere. After five years, the tree finally broke its silence and spoke to him, thus entwining their fates.

“Yes, I observed him for a long time and ultimately decided to follow him for life.”

“That can’t be. If you’re really Lust, you shouldn’t need a master at all—you could easily destroy a nation single-handed. Why would you follow an ordinary, powerless human?”

Mayuna was still suspicious of Dragon’s motives. As Satan’s lieutenant, a being capable of challenging the God of Light’s angels, it made no sense for him to stay obediently in the hands of a regular person.

“How shallow. You humans are all the same—coveting my power. After centuries of being fought over, I’ve had enough! But my partner is different. He has no magic and cannot command me to do anything. What exists between us is the purest friendship.”

Dragon’s eye flashed with anger. In the thousands of years since Satan’s disappearance, these powers had been scattered throughout the demon realm and exploited by the ambitious. Dragon had long grown weary of it all, so he’d become an inconspicuous fake tree, intending to spend the rest of his days in peace. As for following Ruby—it was out of curiosity about the peculiar items in this strange human’s possession.

“So what are you doing now?”

“Being a rolling pin.”

“Sigh...”

Mayuna was at a loss for words. True, Ruby couldn’t use Dragon for anything magical, but he was still using him physically. Wasn’t that exploitation all the same?

“All done. You can rest now.”

By the time their conversation ended, Ruby had finished rolling the wrappers. After thanking Dragon, the rolling pin changed shape, becoming slender and twig-like, and then stuck itself upright into Ruby’s head. From Mayuna’s perspective, it looked as if a branch was growing out of his skull.

“What are you doing?”

“Resting.”

Dragon replied simply, though it was hardly that simple. What he liked best was the knowledge stored in Ruby’s mind—knowledge from another world, inexhaustible in its variety, enough to occupy him for thousands of years. At the moment, his interest was focused on the more risqué publications.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk—humans in that world have invented such things? Compared to them, I’m as innocent as a newborn.”

Hearing the salivating sounds from his own head, Ruby could only sigh. Who knew what the self-proclaimed god was thinking when he bestowed “all knowledge” upon him? It included everything, even vast collections of games, novels, and Dragon’s favorite salacious magazines. Were these really the crystallization of human wisdom?

Ignoring Dragon, Mayuna continued to watch Ruby cook. He wrapped his homemade filling into each sheet of dough, and with practiced hands, crescent-shaped dumplings quickly took form. After making dozens, he tossed them into a pot of boiling water.

“Eat.”

Soon, Ruby placed a plate of dumplings on the table. Their translucent skins revealed the filling inside. Though lovely to behold, Mayuna had never seen such food before.

“Is this edible...?”

Mayuna picked up a dumpling with chopsticks—another skill she had just learned—and sniffed it. Unlike the fragrant noodles she’d tasted yesterday, these dumplings had little aroma from the outside. Deciding to give them a try, she took a bite.

Mayuna’s mind went blank. Her taste buds sang with joy as the rich broth, trapped inside the wrapper, flooded her mouth. She swore she had never tasted anything so delicious. Do not doubt Ruby’s culinary skills; with the wisdom of all Earth’s people, even his simplest dishes were extraordinary. The Archmage herself was utterly lost in the flavor.

“Ugh, I can’t eat another bite...”

No matter how powerful, Mayuna’s body was that of an ordinary young woman. After eating a dozen or so dumplings, she had to set down her chopsticks, gazing longingly as Ruby polished off the rest.

“If you eat like that, you’ll pay for it later.”

“Huh?”

One hour later.

“Ow, oww, my stomach...”

Mayuna lay on the couch, groaning. All dignity as an Archmage and her frosty beauty’s image lay in ruins. She could not understand why such delicious food now felt like poison in her stomach.

“Now you know why I gave you porridge. This is what happens when you binge after a stomach hemorrhage.”

Ruby regarded her coldly. No matter the world, lessons learned firsthand always cut deeper than advice.

“You villain! You knew this would happen and still gave it to me on purpose!”

Mayuna could hardly believe Ruby could be so devious. All she could do now was glare at him through gritted teeth.

“Yes.”

“Just you wait!”

Fuming, Mayuna buried her face in the edge of the couch, already plotting her revenge for when she recovered. Perhaps dumping him atop the perpetual snows for a few minutes would be a fitting punishment.

“Ruby, I want more dumplings.”

When dinner time arrived, Mayuna appeared at Ruby’s side right on schedule, making her request.

“Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?”

In the middle of preparing porridge, Ruby paused, looking at her in surprise.

“Even if I suffer afterward, the joy of eating them is worth it. I can handle it.”

“...Strange girl.”

Ruby was silent for a moment before replying. Indeed, no matter the world, there were always people who would never learn.

“You’re one to talk.”

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PS: When it comes to scholars, how can anything be called ‘lust’?