Ch.312EP.66 – A Night of Knights and Campfire(3)

That day, a miracle occurred in 630 households residing in Wales.

“So, have you been well?”

“Do you think I would be, if I were you?”

“…I’m sorry for coming so late.”

“Yes, you’re too late.”

“……”

“Still, you did come.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Forget the apology….”

“……”

“You haven’t eaten, right? Somehow I made a lot of trout sandwiches today, your favorite.”

“Huh?”

“It’s what you like best, hehe.”

“…Right. It was….”

A knight laid down his sword and returned as the head of a household.

“I’m home.”

“You’re back?”

“…Yes.”

“Well, as long as you’re healthy, that’s all that matters….”

“…I’m sorry it took so long.”

“I said it’s fine.”

There were soldiers having tearful reunions with their families.

“Honestly, I thought you’d forgotten me and married another man by now.”

“I wanted to, but I’m loyal, you know.”

“…Yes, you really are.”

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to hug me? Then I’ll do it.”

“…How could I not?”

There were lovers who confirmed their feelings for each other despite being separated for a long time, embracing and not letting go.

The 630 young men safely returned to their hometowns and met their families, and that day the territory was filled with sounds of crying and laughter.

A vacation granted after 5 years, no, after decades.

The soldiers, regardless of rank or age, laughed and talked, not sleeping even as night passed and dawn came.

They wanted to feel this dreamlike rest, the warmth of family, for just a little longer.

They were happy.

…And so.

“Why are you the only one here, sir? Why not go on vacation with the other gentlemen?”

“At my age, vacation doesn’t feel like vacation anymore. I’m more comfortable just working.”

“But how can a soldier give up his vacation? Especially one that comes once in decades?”

The old knight’s choice was incomprehensible.

Despite the intention to take care of all the aftermath for him, he refused and stayed behind.

In reality, he was a soldier refusing reward leave and voluntarily performing additional duties in the army.

Anyone would find this behavior absurd.

“Haha, don’t be too harsh. Modred’s side needs at least one person in charge, and I’m quite a suitable figure, aren’t I?”

Former head of the Modred family, current Order Master, and reportedly a powerful figure in the royal capital in his prime.

These were the titles that described him, and he was someone who overwhelmingly outranked the current Margrave in both influence and authority. He had stayed behind for a somewhat valid reason.

“Don’t you want to see your granddaughter?”

“I do. But I don’t want to neglect my duties either. Besides, my son and grandsons will surely take care of that child without me. I’m not really needed.”

“That’s not what I meant by my question….”

“More importantly, where did you get that teleportation scroll? The magical power to move hundreds of people at once… Even dozens of wizards would take hundreds of days to infuse enough magical power for that.”

Ganok Douglas de Modred asked, seemingly changing the subject.

He had never seen a scroll with such powerful abilities before.

It wasn’t just a change of subject, as Ganok knew that teleportation, or spatial magic, was classified as high-level magic.

Moving just one or two people was already remarkable, yet he had teleported over 600 people.

That was a treasure comparable to an artifact, no exaggeration.

“…Is that all?”

“It was your item, didn’t you know its value?”

“……”

“Why that expression? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, it’s not that. I just feel the weight of affection is heavy…”

“Hmm?”

“There are such things, sigh….”

“??”

Ihan Turtle somehow looked troubled, and Ganok blinked.

The man who hadn’t shown a trace of fear even before a High Demon was now sweating.

* * *

Rumble.

Modred’s hidden chamber showed unstable tremors.

The space itself showed signs of collapse.

“It’s only natural. After all that commotion.”

This hidden chamber was merely a space where time and space had been distorted by the Great Archfiend’s power.

With the source of that distortion, the Great Archfiend, gone, it was natural for the distortion to revert to its original state.

Moreover, while it would normally take a few days to naturally restore itself, this battle had been particularly intense.

The space would collapse as soon as the distortion was restored.

…Of course, it wouldn’t collapse immediately.

Even if it did collapse, they would have about four days.

In other words, this meant:

“Gather the important byproducts first!”

“Focus on collecting the troll’s blood! With this amount, we can fund the Order’s activities for three years!”

“Make sure to get the tendons, claws, and magic stones from the higher monsters!”

“…Isn’t that basically saying to take everything?”

It was time for farming.

Human greed knows no bounds. Even in a situation that could collapse at any moment, they were making sure to secure their gains. But no one criticized them for this.

Knights aren’t without greed, and if there’s no reward after giving their best in battle, motivation would be lacking.

Rather…

“I’m glad we can at least provide this much.”

Ganok told them that Modred didn’t need any share and they could take as much as they wanted.

While Modred had priority rights to the spoils from Wales’ land, they weren’t so unconscionable as to demand them, and rather felt fortunate to be able to give this as compensation to those people.

However, while some were gathering byproducts, elsewhere:

“Hmm, so that pervert, no… that vampire bastard is dead?”

“Cutting off his head didn’t take long. No matter how strong he was, he couldn’t handle us.”

Information was being consolidated.

Vale de Tristan, who had held off the vampire while Ihan was fighting, was reporting the results of the battle outside.

However.

“…But it felt unsettling.”

“?”

“We certainly succeeded in slaughtering all the vampires, including the ghouls. But the process seemed too easy.”

“The body? You checked it, right?”

“Yes, we secured the body. It was the main body, not a doppelganger. …But strangely, it didn’t feel like a victory.”

“……”

“So I left 50 Bloodhawks outside when heading to the hidden chamber. In case of any unforeseen incidents.”

“Good thinking.”

Ihan wasn’t particularly surprised that the vampire had been defeated.

No matter how legendary a monster might be, it couldn’t overcome the Bloodhawk Knights.

Especially since they had mastered air walking, giving them destructive power comparable to bombers that could devastate the ground.

Now even Ihan would hesitate if asked to fight a hundred of them alone.

So the vampire’s death wasn’t strange, but…

“…Indeed, it seems like he died too easily?”

He couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion.

The vampire’s death seemed too anticlimactic.

‘That guy died so easily?’

As far as Ihan knew, Number 2 was quite tenacious.

At the time, he didn’t know he was a vampire, just thought he was a pervert with strange abilities, but everyone acknowledged his tenacity and survival skills.

Yet the fact that such a persistent fellow died so unceremoniously felt oddly jarring.

‘He fought to the end without running away? No, the guy I know wouldn’t fight so honestly.’

He wouldn’t hesitate to flee if things looked bad. He wouldn’t spare any underhanded methods either.

Ihan found this point awkward, feeling it wasn’t like him.

As he was feeling suspicious:

“Did you check the vampire’s blood?”

“?”

“Was the blood black, or rather, rotten?”

“…Now that you mention it, the blood smell was strangely unpleasant…”

“I thought so…”

“??”

Lac de Duron had joined the conversation midway.

His already sharp gaze hardened, and his fierce red eyes emitted an even more intense pressure.

Indeed, the officially recognized Heavenly Killing Star.

It was a fearsome aura.

However, fortunately, none of those present were weak enough to be intimidated or overwhelmed by such pressure…

“Ugh!”

“Lord Aren, are you alright?”

“…Bring me some water.”

…Well, there was one exception, but the rest were fine, and they just looked at Lac.

“……”

Perhaps sensing the meaning behind their gazes.

“Half a year ago, when the Demon King was summoned.”

He revealed a piece of information he had been hiding.

“Galahad pursued the suspicious duo who summoned the Demon King, and eventually succeeded in capturing them… almost.”

“Almost?”

“…They died during the capture.”

“Isn’t that just a failure?”

“Our Galahad does not make mistakes! It’s just that…”

“?”

“…As soon as we succeeded in capturing them, their souls disappeared.”

“??”

…Suddenly wondering why an exorcism-like topic came up, Ihan tilted his head, and Lac frowned.

“I know it sounds crazy even as I say it, but it’s the truth. They have a ‘technique to abandon their bodies.’ In other words, they ‘escape’ by discarding their bodies.”

“……”

“And the evidence of the soul’s escape is the rotting blood. As the soul leaves, the blood instantly decays and emits a terrible smell.”

“……”

“…What does that look mean?”

“It means I’m looking at someone who can’t admit failure and is making excuses.”

“……”

Click.

Lac raised his spear, and Ihan deployed Bow Shadow of the Sky God.