Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 349

TL: Elphie / PR: Mikan

As she was dangling from the tendrils, Irene gave Michael an awkward smile as he stared at her in disbelief.

A few hours earlier Irene had used the artifact she pulled from her bag.

It was one she and Michael had discovered together in a dungeon, just before leaving the Fortress.

Back when Irene was living her second life, there were times when the dungeon wouldn’t produce the necessary artifact or something entirely different would appear instead.

Naturally, that had been Michael’s doing.

“Back then, you looked like you were ready to leave the Fortress the moment you got the artifact. As if someone like me didn’t matter at all…”

That’s why he acted in haste.

Back then, he had been the Monster King, which meant he could summon any artifact he wanted or send others away.

Even now, in this new life, he could still do that to an extent.

But unlike before, his mana was lacking, and as a result, the artifacts he wanted didn’t always appear reliably.

This particular artifact had been one that Michael had summoned back then.

According to the Hand of Appraisal, its name was the ‘Malice-Stained Guide’.

The name sounded ominous, so Irene had checked to see what kind of power it held, but it simply teleported the user to the nearest monster in the vicinity.

“…Why does it have such a scary name then?”

Irene murmured, puzzled, as she glanced at Michael, who was watching her cautiously, probably feeling guilty for having swapped out artifacts without her knowing back in the day.

Come to think of it, if this artifact had been in Michael’s hands back then, it really would’ve been a nightmare for monsters. No need to search—he could just keep activating it and eliminate them one by one.

With that in mind, she could kind of see why it was called The Malice-Stained Guide.

After that, Irene had figured the artifact wouldn’t be of much use and was planning to send it back to the Monster Realm soon.

[I’m booored.]

While Irene and Michael were busy clearing a dungeon, Chomp-chomp had been left alone and inevitably caused trouble.

Messing around with the artifacts they’d left behind, he ended up swallowing one.

[Ptuh! Ptuh-ptuh!]

He spat it out in a panic, then carefully washed the artifact with water and put it back where it had been.

He thought that would be the end of it. But the next day, they noticed something was wrong with the artifact.

– Hey, why is this thing imprinted with you?

The Hand of Appraisal, floating around the room, fiddled with the artifact Chomp-chomp had returned and then wrote out its observation, puzzled.

At that, Chomp-chomp thrashed his tendrils wildly and yelled,

[W-what are you talking about?! Imprinted on me? I—I didn’t do anything! Seriously!]

Hearing Chomp-chomp’s obviously suspicious voice, Irene and Michael approached. The two of them examined the artifact.

On the surface, there seemed to be nothing different, so what did they mean by ‘imprinted’?

“You imprinted it with Chomp-chomp? What does that even mean?”

– It means that if you use this bracelet now, you’ll automatically teleport to wherever Chomp-chomp is.

“That’s… actually possible?”

Standing next to the surprised Irene, Michael sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Great. So it’s turned into a useless artifact.”

[Useless?! That’s so mean!]

Chomp-chomp protested, waving his tentacles furiously.

While the two bickered, Irene quietly examined the artifact.

Even after hearing the explanation from the Hand of Appraisal, she found it hard to believe. So she decided to test it herself.

She took the bracelet, went into another room, and slipped it onto her wrist.

The next thing she knew, Irene found herself in the room where Chomp-chomp was angrily chewing on Michael’s clothes, shouting, “I hate Your Majesty! I’m gonna rip this to shreds!”

“…It really works?”

Curious to try again, she later went grocery shopping, got Michael’s permission, and used the artifact once more.

Then, Irene was suddenly transported right in front of Chomp-chomp, who had just been about to bite into an apple he’d prepared in advance.

[I wasn’t trying to eat it all by myself—ack! Hrk!]

Startled, the apple got stuck in Chomp-chomp’s throat. Irene sighed as she watched him choke and flail. She began to seriously wonder what to do with the artifact.

“If we send this one back to the Monster Realm like the others… something strange might show up, don’t you think?”

If they returned it and some unknown being got a hold of it, it was entirely possible that entity could suddenly appear in front of any of them without warning.

In the end, they couldn’t risk sending it back, so the two decided to keep it.

Just in case, Irene had tucked it away in her bag, not expecting she’d ever actually have to use it.

But now, she had.

After activating the bracelet, the warped scenery around her settled, and soon, Chomp-chomp and the Hand of Appraisal came into view.

“Chomp-chomp!”

[Your Majesty!]

It had only been about two days, but Chomp-chomp rushed toward Irene, wrapping his tentacles tightly around her arm and clinging to her, tears streaming down his face in joy.