Ch.163163. The Reason It Was Good

“Did you eat a lemon?”

“No time for small talk.”

As I turn my body to leave Findenai behind, a subtle voice comes from behind me.

“Why does it feel like you’re avoiding me?”

[Caught red-handed.]

The Dark Spiritmaster, who has reappeared, grumbles beside me, but I ignore him and approach the rescue team member and the old man who appears to be a Black Mage.

Before that, Aria and Elenoa naturally run toward me.

“P-Professor. What a coincidence to see you here! I came here as a tourist!”

“…To a detention camp? Do you think Deus would fall for that?”

Aria is anxious because she ignored my advice to simply enjoy her winter break.

Next to her, Elenoa makes a snide remark, and the two immediately start bickering.

As I stare at them blankly, they naturally turn their heads toward my gaze. Looking in opposite directions somehow made them seem even closer.

Thump.

Perhaps that’s why.

I carefully place my hands on the heads of these small, anxious girls.

“Ah.”

“Oh.”

The two stare at me blankly while letting out exclamations. Why is it that today, a smile that doesn’t usually come easily forms as naturally as if it were oiled?

Perhaps, clearly, a change has come to someone like me.

And these two probably contributed to that change.

“Thank you.”

“Pro-fessor…”

“Deus…”

I couldn’t pat them for long. The enemies waiting behind me seemed to have reached the limits of their patience.

“From now on, believe in me and watch.”

At my words, the two children immediately nod and try to hide their blushing cheeks.

As I slowly withdraw my hand, I look toward the source of the buzzing insect sound that’s bothering my ears.

A hunched old man was looking in this direction with a snake-like smile, holding a cane.

“Hehehe, so the Spiritmaster has come. Rather than a place like this, you should go to a cemetery…”

“Shut up.”

Whoosh!

I raise my mana to materialize the soul hanging on his back and convert it into magic, and the soul immediately rushes at the old man.

But the old man had already transformed into an insect and naturally appeared in another location.

“Huh.”

The old man sticks out his tongue, genuinely surprised. Aria, who was behind me, whispers a hint.

“He introduced himself as Barkterus Nikolai, a Black Mage affiliated with Dante. He seems to handle insects.”

“…Dante?”

A being I’ve never seen or heard of. Aria nods in agreement.

“I never saw this man when I was attacking Dante. He said it was his side job… I don’t think he was involved when Dante fell in my past life.”

A Dante-affiliated Black Mage I don’t know.

Moreover, he possesses the extremely rare magic of handling insects and even receives support from the Republic of Clark.

That’s not all.

‘He’s similar to a necromancer.’

Just as necromancers hide their true bodies while handling corpses, he too is pretending to be himself using insects, but he’s not.

Probably even if I kill him several times, that old man would still be standing here.

Strictly speaking, I would have to kill all the insects flying around nearby, not the old man.

Barkterus twitches the hand holding his cane and laughs.

“The miracle you showed in the Great Forest of Marias was very impressive. Well, will you show that explosive killing intent again?”

“…”

“You must have the souls of Black Mages affiliated with Dante too? The Marias tribe’s shaman, the monster handler Dina. What else is there?”

“…”

“Hahaha! Would you like to take this old man’s soul too? Wouldn’t it be valuable! A spiritmaster who handles both monster and insect magic at the same time! You’d surpass even the head of Dante!”

As I watch Barkterus giggling, I sigh tiredly and urge him.

“Don’t be too afraid.”

“…!”

“I won’t let you escape just because you’re provoking me.”

“H-hehe.”

Barkterus nervously taps the ground several times, as if finding this ridiculous. Beads of sweat form on his forehead.

It seemed like he was trying to buy time somehow, wondering if there was another way.

[Ah! Ah! Aaaah!]

[Is this a chance! A chance to take revenge on this land!]

[Fatherrrr!]

[Detention camp! Cursed building that became my tombstone!]

The screams of souls that are now starting to be heard by ordinary people. As always, I don’t handle them.

If you were expecting a battle where I abandon my beliefs like I did in the Great Forest of Marias, I’m sorry.

The resentment of the dead was too deep and strongly set against this land and the Republic, to the point where I didn’t need to lift a finger.

Gulp.

I could tell how tense Barkterus was by the sound of his swallowing, audible even from here.

The insects begin to move in unison, as if predicting an impending disaster through hypersensitivity.

“Hehehe, D-Dark Spiritmaster.”

Perhaps that’s why the name Barkterus uttered was somewhat unexpected. Dante already knows about the Dark Spiritmaster.

They saw everything when I faced the monster handler Dina.

“Do you know what kind of woman the Dark Spiritmaster is and still keep her around?”

[…..]

At those words, I glance at the Dark Spiritmaster beside me. She was glaring at Barkterus with her lips tightly sealed, as if ready to tear him apart.

“There’s no spiritmaster as steeped in madness as that woman.”

“…”

“You’ve learned spirit magic from a woman who is the exact opposite of your beliefs. Dante? Our ultimate goal is still to save the continent. Well, personally, I joined out of curiosity.”

The viper’s smile forms again.

Barkterus judged that he had regained control of the conversation through this dialogue.

“You would condemn us? Don’t you hear the screams of souls and the blood thickly smeared on the robe of the woman you call your teacher?”

I slowly looked at the Dark Spiritmaster. She was trembling with her fists tightly clenched, without saying a word.

Her neck was stiff with tension as she deliberately avoided looking at me.

“Yes.”

I nod calmly and extend my hand toward Barkterus.

“I heard you well.”

Souls appearing from all directions turned into blue flame hounds and began to tear at him.

“But it’s not more convincing than her silence.”

[…..]

At those words, the Dark Spiritmaster looks at me with round eyes. But I was already walking forward.

And matching my pace, Tyren Ol Belokus stepped forward as if to protect me.

“Tyren, please take care of the princess, my students, and the escort of the prisoners.”

He refused, saying it was unnecessary, but he wore a worried expression.

“No matter who you are, it’s dangerous. We don’t know what forces they might have.”

“I’m not the one you should be worried about right now.”

“…”

“Go, before you get involved.”

At my words, Tyren hesitated for a moment but then agreed and turned around.

Then he stopped walking and turned only his face to speak to me.

“I’m sorry about the attack on Norsweden. Fortunately, there were almost no casualties, and I heard that Margrave Darius Verdi is seriously injured but not in danger.”

“…Attack on Norsweden?”

I stop in my tracks at this completely unknown information. I had simply come here to rescue Findenai, but thinking about it, it seemed excessive for the kingdom’s princess and Mage Judges to move just for Findenai.

“You didn’t know?”

Tyren then briefly explained what had happened in Norsweden.

After hearing everything, I nodded and gestured for him to leave.

“As long as the Margrave didn’t die, it’s fine.”

I had heard that something happened in Norsweden, but I didn’t think it would be related.

Probably Erika and Deia, who sent me here, didn’t know the details either.

“Yes, as long as he didn’t die, it’s fine.”

I tried to hold back as I repeated this to myself.

“Huff.”

Usually when people think of anger, they imagine emotions that flare up like fire, but for me it was a bit different.

Even though I tried not to let it affect the battle, the anger that slowly and coldly surged through me froze my heart and left a chill with each exhale.

“Why is that stupid eldest son getting beaten up somewhere.”

Barkterus appeared again in the distance with a new body.

The sound of the Republic’s elite soldiers’ uniform footsteps approaching the main gate of Detention Camp No. 1 could be heard, but I was already beyond caring.

A black jewel forms in my right hand.

Lemegeton emits a soft light, infusing power into the souls.

The souls touched by Lemegeton’s light are no longer just resentful beings, but become magic that traverses the sky.

But this alone won’t be enough to burn all the insects.

Whoosh!

In my opposite, left hand forms a sphere of flame. The remnants of death left by a spiritual being that had been burning for nearly an eternity.

“…Horua?”

The insect master Barkterus immediately recognizes his natural enemy and trembles.

“You even command the soul of a spiritual being?”

As Barkterus laughs in disbelief, I extend my left hand toward him, and the flames pour out, burning him and quickly spreading to the surroundings.

Souls spread their screams in all directions, and the ground is flooded with fearsome fire.

I walked into a scene reminiscent of the hell described in the Bible.

“Where I come from, there’s a saying about burning down the house to kill bedbugs.”

I thought it was a saying that perfectly suited this situation.

“How much of the Republic do I need to burn to reduce your true body to ashes?”

“Are you really trying to start a war?”

“I’m not sure about a war.”

Barkterus appeared again through the flames. His body was already flickering as if burning in the flames, so I passed by him, burning even that.

“But I should at least see your Republic’s esteemed president.”

Because I wanted to see that smug face, I began walking alone to conquer the Republic’s territory.

* * *

“Wow, what is this?”

Findenai looks at the burning Republic Detention Camp No. 1 in disbelief.

The inmates who were already in the detention camp were escaping thanks to the disappeared Republic soldiers and collapsed walls.

Only the junk dealer and the children were under the protection of the Mage Judges along with Findenai.

Realistically, they couldn’t take care of everyone.

“Was the second young master this strong?”

“Is he going to conquer the Republic all by himself?”

Even the junk dealer’s members, who had just had an emotional reunion with Findenai, were sticking out their tongues in amazement.

“No matter how much of a professor he is, is that possible? There are many souls in the Republic, but it’s dangerous if he goes in too deep.”

“Right, we should maintain some distance.”

Aria and Elenoa were somehow mixed in with the junk dealer’s group. Though they said that, they too were open-mouthed in amazement at the sight of Deus leading hundreds of souls and flames that even allies couldn’t approach.

Separate from those two.

Findenai, who had been staring at Deus’s back from a distance, naturally looked up at the sky.

“Pfft.”

Realizing something, she let out a laugh of disbelief, and Aria and Elenoa rushed over as if they had missed something.

“Hey!”

“You!”

Both wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say, so they just looked at Findenai with curious eyes.

“…How was it?”

“W-was it good?”

The two, inexperienced in such matters, were curious about her experience.

Findenai just shrugged her shoulders and answered pleasantly.

“It tasted like lemon. Did the master eat a lemon?”

“L-lemon? Ah, I can’t eat sour things…”

“If the taste changes based on what you eat, I should feed him strawberries.”

“You’re both being ridiculous.”

Even as she criticized the two girls who had fallen into their own fantasies, the smile didn’t leave Findenai’s face.

Seeing this positively, one of the junk dealer’s members quietly asked.

“Are you in a good mood?”

“Huh? Ah, well, I feel like I said the wrong thing.”

“Pardon?”

“To Muse, I mean.”

Her friend Muse, who was the orphanage director.

Though she must have closed her eyes and entered rest by now, Findenai recalled that she had said the wrong thing.

“I told her I liked everything about Griffin. The sun, the wind, the clouds, the grass.”

“Well, it was certainly nice, wasn’t it?”

Findenai ruffled the hair of the member who couldn’t follow the conversation and smiled heartily.

“No, I thought I liked those things because it was Griffin.”

But that wasn’t it.

The sun of the Republic is really nice.

The harsh cutting wind blowing now is good, the clouds where souls float are pleasing, and even the barely visible weeds are nice.

“I was mistaken.”

Findenai looks at the back of Deus Verdi, who is still moving forward.

‘It was because you were there.’

That’s why I liked all those things.

You damn lovable master.

“Haha! This is crazy!”

She couldn’t hold back the laughter that kept flowing.