Ch.108108. Night Parade of a Hundred Yokai

After the performance ended, the monsters’ festival began.

They formed a procession to circle the entire city, and people watched their march as if viewing a parade.

[Over here! Come this way! Don’t go anywhere else, just follow behind me!]

Of course, since the monsters couldn’t be left unattended, the Dark Spiritmaster led the procession from the very front.

Even though people couldn’t see the Dark Spiritmaster, the monsters could see him clearly, so there was no problem.

The monsters enjoyed all the attention they received—people looking at them with curiosity, being startled, laughing because they found them amusing, or cursing because they found them disgusting.

Delighted, the monsters voluntarily joined the procession and were enjoying the attention from people.

It was truly a night of monsters.

This sight of a hundred monsters walking through the night could only be described as a night parade of a hundred demons.

“Excuse me, Spirit Master.”

Owen approached me as I was seeing off the monster procession in a place where most people had already left.

“That performance just now…”

“It was your grandfather, Oster Baltani. He has fallen back into sleep now, but I granted his wish to play one last performance for you.”

It was quite an impressive experience to become a pianist despite not knowing how to play the piano at all.

“I thought so…”

Owen answered calmly, perhaps because he already knew about my abilities.

I asked the boy:

“So what did you learn?”

“…”

“Oster sat at the piano to show you the joy of performance once more. Even after death, his skills didn’t seem to have rusted at all.”

“Yes, grandfather was really… amazing.”

It would be strange to call it a dying flash of brilliance since Oster was already dead, but nevertheless, his performance before returning to rest was truly intense and explosive.

It instilled deep emotion and anticipation for the festival not only in the monsters but in people as well.

“I couldn’t do the same in the end.”

Owen slumped down, immersed in sadness. I shared my thoughts with the boy who had been doubting his own abilities since before.

“Why do you think you and Oster were given such abilities?”

Owen said he had always been able to see them when playing piano with his grandfather, but it was different for Oster.

One day suddenly.

While playing the piano, he saw them, and they received comfort from him and disappeared, he said.

In the end, these abilities that came suddenly like fate could be said to have unclear origins.

“I think I know why you gained such abilities.”

“What?”

Owen looked at me in surprise, seeking an answer. But even if I told him, the boy wouldn’t grow at all.

Just like now, when he thinks there’s only one correct answer because he saw his grandfather comforting monsters.

The boy would continue to live with a narrow perspective, thinking there’s only one correct answer, as if he had seen the answer sheet.

“Watch carefully as you follow that procession. By the time the festival ends, you’ll be able to figure out the reason.”

“M-me?”

“Yes, you.”

After ruffling his hair once, I turned around.

Findenai and Illuania were waiting for us in the distance, but I had somewhere else to go.

“What? Aren’t you coming with us?”

“If you have separate business, we can help.”

“No need. It’s nothing important, so I’ll go alone.”

At those words, Illuania bowed her head and said she understood, but Findenai smirked with a sly smile.

“Going hunting? Well, with that appearance, no woman would resist you.”

“Oh my! There you go again with your old habits…”

Illuania immediately covered her mouth in surprise at Findenai’s words.

“Are you going to nudge them with your elbow and say, ‘Do you know the Spirit Master? That’s me’?”

“That’s too tacky. These days, there are other methods…”

The two suddenly started discussing how I could hunt efficiently.

I sighed in irritation, and Illuania quickly apologized, while Findenai just shrugged her shoulders.

“You really can’t take a joke. Fine, we’re going. Call if you need us.”

“…Try to stay near the front of the procession.”

“Huh? Alright.”

Findenai headed toward the festival procession with Illuania and Owen.

I know she noticed I wanted to act separately and didn’t try to hold me back, but I wish she would just keep quiet and go.

‘She always adds unnecessary comments.’

That might be typical of a woman like Findenai, but it was noisy anyway.

“Sigh.”

The festival had begun, the monsters were enjoying themselves and showing off, and Owen was following them to gain insight.

Now I had one thing left to do.

It was time to find the mastermind who wanted Owen’s ability.

The one who had tried to forcibly make Owen his own by bringing in loan sharks.

* * *

Bang!

The door of the Wolfras office bent like a bow, then shattered and tumbled to the floor.

In the dark room.

As I entered with blue flames around my hand, a face emerged from the darkness and swung a club.

But of course, it didn’t reach me and remained suspended in the air. When I released blue mana, the interior lit up brightly, and the loan sharks who had been waiting to ambush me flew and tumbled to the floor.

No matter how lacking my combat experience might be, I wasn’t going to be overwhelmed by ordinary thugs.

“Ugh.”

“My, my tailbone! I think it’s broken!”

“Ahhh! You said a surprise attack would work!”

They writhed in pain, looking like caterpillars.

I was about to move to interrogate the thugs separately. But the opponent’s next flashy move was already coming.

Grrrr!

A strange howl from outside the room. I could hear four-legged beasts drooling and running toward me.

“The thugs were bait.”

The opponent had anticipated my arrival and set a trap in advance. Was the plan to use the thugs as bait to lure me into the office and then hunt me?

Vicious dogs with two heads entered the room.

The battle itself was simple.

I cast basic protection magic on myself and shot flames at the monstrous dogs as they lunged at me.

Since the flames were made of mana, there was no risk of fire spreading.

But the monstrous dogs kept coming endlessly.

“W-wait, I’m on your side!”

“You crazy bastards! Stop biting!”

“That black mage bastard! I told you we shouldn’t trust them!”

The loan sharks who had tried to ambush me also became prey to the monstrous dogs, turning into pieces of meat.

I had no reason to save them, so I moved my hand indifferently while sighing and glancing out the window.

“Are they stalling for time?”

For such a dramatic entrance, this was an absurdly hollow battle. The situation clearly showed they just wanted to keep me here.

But I couldn’t escape from here either.

I drew upon my mana once more. I had deliberately avoided using souls in combat to gain practical experience.

But this wasn’t some game grinding; this wasn’t combat but mere labor.

“I’m breaking through.”

I awaken the souls of the monstrous dogs that died burning in my flames.

With Lemegeton’s help, I had handled demon souls before.

I could easily handle the souls of magical beasts who died following orders without their own will, even without Lemegeton’s help.

Grooooowl!

[Graaaah!]

Translucent monstrous dogs rose like mushrooms among the corpses.

Living monstrous dogs and dead ones clashed and tore at each other.

A frenzy of madness as they focused solely on grabbing each other’s necks, disregarding their own bodies.

‘Is the opponent a beast master?’

Seeing the monstrous dogs following my orders without hesitation, even though I had just killed them, gave me an uncanny feeling.

The fact that I killed them didn’t seem to matter to them at all.

They seemed like emotionless beings, trained to recognize me as their current master and follow accordingly.

These were magical beasts raised in pain.

Just as necromancers typically tame evil spirits by inflicting pain, beast masters control the minds of magical beasts, inflict pain, and suppress their instincts.

In any case.

These spirit forms were like zombies that wouldn’t die when bitten and would rise again even if killed.

Though individually weaker than living monstrous dogs, their numbers kept increasing.

As the number of spirit monstrous dogs gradually increased, all the living ones eventually became cold corpses.

The corpses of monstrous dogs covered the office floor and corridor so completely that they couldn’t be seen.

Every step I took on them squeezed out blood like water from a sponge.

Leaving the second-floor Wolfras office, blood was flowing from the stairs, gradually soaking the surroundings.

People seemed to be calling the guards at this grotesque sight.

In the distance, my eyes met with a woman who was looking down at me from the rooftop, giggling.

She waved her hand in greeting, wearing a familiar robe.

“So it’s Dante after all.”

Since Dante was the only skilled Black Mage in the kingdom besides me.

I had thought that a beast master of this level would naturally belong to Dante.

The crimson-haired woman turned her body swiftly and disappeared into the building, as if inviting me to play tag.

Since I didn’t particularly like the way she wagged her tail for me to follow her.

“Chase her.”

I released the souls of the monstrous dogs I had been holding.

Like Santa’s reindeer.

Numerous translucent monstrous dogs flew through the sky and began charging toward their former master.