Ch.170Chapter 170. Monstrosity

# Sacred Realm of Frigalagh.

It was a place where very few humans had ever entered directly.

After all, it was a place where only the noble ones who had sworn to dedicate themselves to Friga, the god of humanity, were allowed to enter.

One of the Heroes I know did set foot there once, but… no, I shouldn’t think about her. That woman whose lower body was devoured because of her pride.

“Something to see after becoming a Hero. Going to receive blessings at a sacred realm when I’m not even a clergy member.”

Thinking this would be an experience anyway, I chuckled and glanced over at Cheska, who was seated on the opposite side of the carriage.

Usually her hands would be fidgeting with documents, but now that our return day was approaching, they were empty.

With nothing particular to do, she just stared vacantly at her empty hands.

“Aren’t you happy? You’re also going to receive the blessing with me.”

“That’s right. From my position, receiving a blessing from humanity’s god would be considered an honor.”

A faint smile gradually appeared on her lips.

But what it revealed was not joy, but bitterness.

“…Does it bother you?”

It would be a lie to say her expression didn’t bother me.

What she was showing now taught us that what awaited us later would be something neither of us could overlook.

“What do you mean by ‘bother’…?”

“What we’ll have to do after we return.”

“……”

Yes, we needed to prepare ourselves.

For a situation where we might become enemies to protect what each of us wants to protect.

“…You said you were a guardian of humanity, right?”

Still, if possible, I hope such a thing wouldn’t happen.

The question I was asking now was accompanied by such a modest wish.

“That as humanity’s guardian, you’ve fought all kinds of dangers standing before humanity.”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

“The reason you operate independently after leaving the imperial court is… because there’s something in the imperial court, isn’t it? Some intervention that isn’t humanity’s choice.”

Though I hadn’t seen it clearly, there were clues to make an educated guess.

The avatar that had separated from the Crown Prince, the current power of the empire, had been operating voluntarily after my ability weakened its loyalty to the original body.

From that, it wasn’t difficult to guess that the empire’s exterior and interior were completely different, and what drove that certainty home was none other than the girl in front of me.

If she, who specialized in hunting aberrant beings, was operating independently from the imperial court, the most likely possibility was that the interior had been infiltrated by non-human entities.

“Vivian is…”

And the core of what they’re plotting is Vivian’s research, and even today, the human leaders who are being manipulated by them are overworking the humans gathered in the empire.

“Is she being used in the plans of these non-human beings?”

Perhaps I could use this point to make Vivian an exception to her calling.

With such expectation, I gathered the clues I had collected and made a plausible inference, but Cheska didn’t deny it and just maintained silence.

A silence that probably meant affirmation in itself.

“Do you remember what I said when I first started accompanying you?”

But that was only for a moment.

Cheska, who finally opened her mouth, soon began to look up at me carefully.

“At the beginning?”

“That all the calamities in this world originated from beings called witches.”

-Clatter, clatter.

The sound of hooves coming through the carriage wheels is clearly audible.

It’s the same silence as back then.

“Witches…”

As I gradually recalled the memory from that sense of déjà vu, Cheska soon told me about witches.

“Witches are beings who inherited knowledge from another world.”

“Knowledge from… another world?”

“It’s also called forbidden knowledge. Just by understanding knowledge that shouldn’t exist in this world, one can see what shouldn’t be seen, and touch what shouldn’t be touched.”

Saying this, Cheska raised her hand slightly and made a gesture by pressing her fingers together.

“And the power they create at the end easily distorts the laws that exist in this world.”

A snapping sound as her fingers flicked.

Though no phenomenon occurred from it, my body was rapidly stiffening.

Because what happened right after that action was something I couldn’t forget even at this moment.

“I don’t know exactly where that knowledge was passed down from. I only know one thing for certain. Once beings step outside common sense, they can only mock and disparage the order that’s taken for granted in the world.”

That stifling feeling continued afterward.

Because every word that followed was so closely related to her that it reminded me of the her I knew.

“And that’s the most dangerous aspect of witches. They don’t care how their power appears to others. Nor do they care what impact it has on this world, or how it will collapse in the future…”

A fanatical obsession focused solely on their research, disregarding everything else.

A cruel and cold temperament that eliminates those who interfere with them like trash, without any consideration.

“If such witches cause problems from time to time, it’s not hard to imagine what would happen to the established order in the world.”

Because such beings once ran rampant, calamities never cease in this world.

Monsters that awakened instinct and life as the environment twisted, the space called dungeons created as regions twisted, the Undead that rose from death, and the Demon Tribe that tore through and crossed the dimensional wall…

All of these are rooted in the disturbances caused by witches who were devoted to forbidden knowledge and lacked ethical consciousness.

“And Beastmen are also beings born from witches’ research. More precisely, they are byproducts derived from research that tears apart and rebuilds the foundation of the human body in order to become the ‘ultimate being’ that witches dream of.”

“Ultimate being…?”

“Witches have an ultimate goal. To know what the starting point of the knowledge they inherited is, and whether they can truly become ‘higher beings’ like them with their own power.”

Cold hatred and contempt gradually appearing in her sharpening eyes.

And sympathy directed at someone else.

“The Beastman we encountered that day was a byproduct of such research… After the witch hunts of the past, a certain group that preserved that research secretly used it to overcome an imminent calamity.”

Relying on research used by witches to resist calamities that started from witches.

Although it might have been an inevitable flow, it couldn’t have been publicly revealed if it was for salvation.

Especially since it was forbidden knowledge that couldn’t be accepted by common sense, and even more so if the result destroyed the framework of humanity.

“And of course, the news was kept strictly confidential at the time, and stories about those who failed in the experiment were thoroughly concealed. Even to the point of expelling them from the realm of humanity, cutting off their connections, and branding them as monsters.”

That’s how they were abandoned.

That’s how the Beastmen who hate humanity and consider themselves superior beings were born.

Although humans were involved in the trigger, the biggest reason stemmed from the calamity that started from witches, from research born from witches.

“Then you… heard such stories from Phobia at that time?”

“……”

Cheska lowered her head silently.

It seemed like it would lead to a nod, but the fact that she remained frozen in place was probably because there were still many stories piled up inside her.

Stories she couldn’t tell right now, and didn’t want to tell.

“…From my perspective, witches shouldn’t even be a necessary evil.”

But that silence was actually adding persuasiveness to her current words.

If there are more stories piled up that I shouldn’t know, if she doesn’t deny that, I can’t just stubbornly say no without reason, can I?

“Witches harbor a greater danger than any weapon. Especially if non-human beings are controlling such witches, we must stop them even more.”

Facing me, who understood this point and remained silent, Cheska narrowed her eyes and stared at me as she spoke.

“If I served you for that purpose, and tried to prepare a path to that place while hiding my identity… what will you do?”

As it was directly related to her mission, she should have been cold and detached…

That’s certainly how she should have been, but her brows were furrowed and her hands on her knees were tightly clenched.

From her position, she might have to oppose a human she should protect in order to deal with someone she must exclude.

Having spent time with her, I too had developed unique emotions.

So I only wanted to point a sword at her during training and nothing more.

“…All together.”

But before meeting this girl, I had the experience of having Vivian in my heart.

I learned that even after parting with me, she continued to remember me and regarded me specially.

“Isn’t there a way for all of us to live peacefully together?”

Even though her ethics might be twisted, as she said.

She taught me that someone could develop a caring heart for others through my existence.

“All together?”

“Witches, Beastmen, invaders like the Demon Tribe, and other heterogeneous races… If there was a way for everyone to live comfortably together, we wouldn’t have to worry like this.”

It’s not just Vivian.

Irie, Merilyn, Tashian… and all others who have formed bonds with me, I wish they could all live together regardless of race or calamity.

I realized that such a wish had existed in my heart the moment I heard these words.

Because I realized that this is what I truly desire, I’m not satisfied with the strength I currently possess.

“Such a thought… is wrong after all, right?”

To wish to live fully with the people I love in this chaotic world.

Isn’t that in itself foolish and arrogant enough?

“It’s not wrong, just…”

Cheska hastily expressed her regret at my disappointment.

At that moment, I noticed her body flinching, and I too stiffened my breathing and prepared to draw mana into my body.

The atmosphere had changed from just before. An attack?

“We’re under attack!!! Everyone, get ready!!”

As if to confirm my prediction, shouts began to be heard from outside the carriage.

Thinking there was nothing more to see, I quickly materialized my weapon and went outside the carriage to look at where the expedition members were.

Although fog surrounds us in all directions, fortunately I can confirm that the formation is properly in place.

The key is what kind of beings they are facing.

-Grrrr, grrrk!!

Shadows begin to approach from beyond the fog, making growling sounds.

I felt the appearance of the one at the front becoming more prominent as they gradually closed the distance.

A hairy body with bones protruding from the skin, and organs and fresh blood flowing between them…

“Shit, what the hell is that…”

It was such a grotesque being that such words came out involuntarily.

Clearly standing on two legs but with a form closer to a beast, its body is peeled and twisted all over as if it were a corpse.

An undead Beastman? No, there was vitality felt from its body, unlike such things.

Clearly it should be dead, yet vitality could be felt… Yes, that orc from half a year ago.

That one too should have died with its neck cut off, yet it moved around alive, wreaking havoc.

-Grrrr, kaeuuu…….

To borrow Cheska’s expression, a being that has undergone vampirization and gained immortality.

But what appeared before us now was a “monstrosity” that deserved to be called such, much more distorted than back then.

-Kyaao, aaaaaaah!!!

Soon that monstrosity charged toward the vanguard of the expedition with a strange cry.

The moment the charge, imbued with heavy power, collided with the shield, the vanguard struggling with the power contest shouted toward the rear.

“Only one came to the front! Surround it calmly and kill it!”

-Thud! Slash!

The infantry who went to the sides upon receiving the signal surrounded it, stabbing with swords and dismembering its limbs, and the monstrosity that struggled in place finally collapsed to the ground and began to gasp.

The same applied to other monstrosities that came afterward.

“Good! These guys are surprisingly weak!”

“Maintain the battle line so we don’t get surrounded! Keep pushing!!!”

The unexpected attack of the monstrosities was resolved surprisingly easily.