Ch.386Chapter 386 – To the Land of Beast-men (2)

In a certain location within the Trigiena New Kingdom.

Silver dust was gathering inside an abandoned, silent church.

If a cleric had seen it, they would have quickly launched an investigation, claiming it was a sudden convergence of holy power.

But fortunately—or unfortunately—there were no passing clerics in the vicinity.

Thus, no one witnessed the scene of holy power gathering.

The silver holy power, which had been swirling like dust, came together to form a sphere.

Moments later, an elderly man with a kind face emerged from within it.

“Really now. I had to recreate myself after all.”

Somnus muttered as he looked down at his arm.

Instead of the prosthetic that should have been there, a whole arm was attached.

“This would raise suspicion, wouldn’t it? Next time, I must remember my body’s condition.”

Somnus spoke with a light chuckle, as if it were a minor mistake.

Soon, he turned and headed toward the center of the church.

With a snap of his fingers, a box containing prosthetic limbs identical to the ones he used to wear appeared.

Picking up one for each arm, Somnus muttered:

“It’s somewhat comforting that I prepared spares to save myself the trouble.”

Somnus muttered in a slightly chilling voice.

It was unclear whether “spares” referred to his body or the two arms.

After examining the prosthetics briefly to confirm they still worked, Somnus nodded and said in a light voice:

“Now, shall we cut?”

As he spoke, something flashed across Somnus’s left arm.

His left arm fell limply to the ground.

The flowing blood was immediately healed by his holy power, and showing no sign of pain, Somnus hummed lightly as he fitted the prosthetic.

“This goes like this.”

Holy power activated again, forcibly embedding the prosthetic into Somnus’s arm, and thus his left arm was replaced with the prosthetic.

After cutting off his remaining arm and attaching the other prosthetic, Somnus moved both arms.

-Creaking sound

“Attached well.”

He nodded with satisfaction.

Then he casually snapped his fingers, and the two severed arms lying on the ground began to burn, spreading an acrid smell around.

Shortly after, the incinerated arms turned back into silver dust and disappeared.

“Let’s finish cleaning up.”

With another snap of his fingers, even the acrid smell vanished.

Then Somnus, showing no emotion, sent the box containing the prosthetics back to wherever it came from and turned around.

He walked across the abandoned church and pressed a spot on the wall.

Soon, with a heavy sound, something in the church floor opened with a ponderous noise.

Somnus approached without any caution, stepped onto the stairs, and descended underground.

For a while, only the sound of Somnus’s shoes echoed around.

“I failed to defeat him after all.”

Somnus spoke bitterly, recalling what had happened recently.

“I would have preferred to eliminate him at the laboratory. I thought I had a decent hand to play.”

Somnus muttered regretfully.

He had deployed every card he could at the time, but ultimately failed to defeat his target.

Instead, he himself had died once.

Creating an avatar wasn’t difficult, but the fact that he couldn’t win was quite serious.

‘This body is the one that can best channel my true self’s power.’

To others, he might appear to be just an old human, but Somnus saw it differently.

This current body was the one that best received his true self’s power.

And that body had been defeated.

It meant that with the maximum power his true self could currently muster, he couldn’t stop them.

“I suppose it’s now impossible for me to eliminate them directly.”

Somnus stated calmly.

The option of handling it personally had been eliminated.

Now he needed to consider other options.

‘What should I do?’

Somnus’s mind worked rapidly.

The dying test subject would be relatively easy to eliminate.

His body was falling apart.

Without special intervention, he would self-destruct naturally.

The fight with him was simply a matter of time, and time was on Somnus’s side.

But his companions were the problem.

There was the fake goddess, and the mad dog who had once taken his arm.

Both were issues, but there was also the Demon King.

“If possible, I’d like to make the Demon King and the fake goddess fight each other.”

The fake goddess, even as a half-deity, would likely feel disgust toward demon-kind.

Conversely, the Demon King would harbor hostility toward a half-goddess.

That was his initial plan.

“But in reality, they’re companions with that test subject.”

Perhaps because of this, the two didn’t show hostility toward each other.

Rather, they seemed to treat each other as equals. There appeared to be no reason for them to fight each other; they would more likely join forces.

“That test subject has done something unnecessary.”

The option of inducing internal conflict between them had also been eliminated.

‘Then should I provoke the mad dog to cause discord?’

Somnus briefly pondered, recalling Beatrice, the black-haired witch who had lost her reason to revenge against him.

But this prospect also looked bleak.

“The old mad dog might have fallen for it, but the current one would be difficult.”

In the past, Beatrice would have lunged at him in a frenzy just at the sight of him.

It would have been possible to lure her in just by showing himself briefly.

But the current Beatrice had changed significantly.

Whether through contact with someone or something else, she now maintained her composure even with him right before her eyes, unlike before.

“This is also because of the test subject.”

Somnus sighed.

‘This and that. All because of that test subject.’

Though it had gone through someone else, the being that was essentially his creation had become his greatest obstacle.

Somnus sighed at this unimaginable turn of events.

If he wasn’t careful, he would have to completely revise his plan.

But Somnus wanted to avoid that if possible.

“There’s no time.”

It would be difficult to completely revise his grand plan.

In the end, he would have to use his power.

“I had hoped to avoid revealing it completely.”

It would be troublesome if he lost it due to some unfortunate mishap.

But his power was the maximum force he could deploy.

As he quietly acknowledged this thought, Somnus reached the bottom of the underground passage.

“It’s been a while.”

When he opened the door, a massive cylinder appeared.

A person was sleeping in the middle of green liquid.

And beside it lay the Dragon Slayer with closed eyes.

Compared to the lifeless body of the Dragon Slayer, the body of the man in the center of the cylinder was gradually becoming more vigorous.

“The transplant is progressing well.”

Somnus said as he approached the cylinder.

A body created by grinding up various otherworlders and replicas of the Saint.

A body stronger than anyone else’s, optimized to receive divine power.

That body was there.

“This is all I have left.”

Somnus said quietly.

The hero’s body containing the Dragon Slayer’s swordsmanship and spirit.

Though it hadn’t achieved the most important awakening yet, it could reproduce almost all the power of the hero recorded in history.

Even without awakening, it was a force equal to an awakened hero.

And Somnus intended to give it wings.

“Even if left alone, it would be completed sufficiently, but…”

He took out something like a blood-stained needle from his pocket.

It was the greatest harvest from the laboratory battle.

“Let’s see how much of the Demon King’s power I’ve obtained.”

Somnus smiled as he looked at the needle that had once pierced Sia’s body.

And the man in the cylinder quietly opened his eyes.

+

After the incident at the New Kingdom’s laboratory, we were able to reach the Kingdom of Pirenche without any further trouble.

As soon as we arrived at the port, everyone quickly gathered their belongings and disembarked. Beatrice immediately transformed the ship back into a small boat.

Meanwhile, Diana had gone to meet her subordinates stationed at the port and soon returned to us.

“It seems the Magic Tower representatives visited while we were sailing.”

Diana said, handing us a box containing scrolls and letters.

Beatrice nodded as she received it and said:

“Ah, looks like the signal we sent from the ship arrived on time.”

“You did that?”

“We needed to stick to the schedule. Serra and I used some magic to ensure we could depart immediately.”

Beatrice tapped the scroll and said:

“This scroll can’t take us directly to Bestia, but it can get us to the vicinity. It’s for the border region, as I’ll explain later.”

“Will we have enough time?” Eve asked quietly.

Recognizing what kind of time Eve was referring to, Beatrice nodded and answered:

“We should reach our destination before the Helmet collapses. I’ve explained the situation to Asam and asked for all the help he can provide.”

“That Asam must have quite some free time to help you, considering how busy he must be.”

At Diana’s quiet remark, Beatrice briefly tapped her forehead.

Then she grinned and said:

“The kind-hearted Green Tower Master, the pride of our Magic Tower, is probably helping with all his might.”

“You mean Master Lucian.”

Beatrice nodded at Chris’s words.

Come to think of it, Lucian was the one who had once expressed anger toward the Order, saying they were doing nothing helpful with their purple crystals that could potentially lure monsters away from towns.

He didn’t seem like the type to withhold help in situations like the Mikea Kingdom’s soul-draining incident or its aftermath.

He was more likely to step forward than to back away.

“He might intuitively feel that helping you is the key to ending this whole situation.”

Kara said quietly, as if she had met him before.

Following Kara’s words, Diana looked at us.

“So you’re planning to go straight to Bestia without even resting.”

“Time is precious… And moving quickly is to our advantage.”

Chris quietly replied to Diana.

For a moment, Diana looked at Chris, seemingly lost in thought.

Then, she quietly said:

“Platina, that child also had remarkable drive.”

“I see.”

“…Go then. When everything is over, come back and tell me about your journey.”

“Yes.”

For a moment, Chris and Diana looked at each other.

Even though Chris hadn’t yet revealed to Diana that her mother was Platina, did Diana somehow sense it?

As the two gazed at each other, Diana smiled and grabbed Kara’s shoulder, who happened to be standing next to her.

“I’ll take care of this child and the other sisters, so don’t worry, Christina.”

“Thank you for your help.”

As Chris bowed her head, Diana smiled.

Kara didn’t push away the hand on her shoulder but pouted slightly and said:

“I’m not a child.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Compared to my age, you’re the child.”

“So I have no allies.”

After a moment, the three women started laughing.

“Thankfully, she’s brightened up a bit, Chris.”

“Yes.”

I nodded in response to Serra’s words.

I was relieved to see Chris looking a bit brighter.

It would be better to let the three of them spend more time together.

“So, Captain Kurs, what are your plans now?”

“If possible, I intend to serve Lady Diana and the Saint. Having worked in the same Order before, I find it comfortable to serve them.”

Kurs added that Diana had already suggested it.

“And first, I plan to try convincing my colleagues from the Mikea Kingdom.”

“The holy knights of the Emiris Order?”

“Yes.”

Kurs nodded, and Sia, who had been listening to the conversation, quietly asked:

“Do you think they’ll be convinced?”

“To be honest, I’m a bit worried. Those who become holy knights have very deep faith, so revealing the truth about Emiris to them might not be readily believed.”

They weren’t ordinary fanatics.

Honestly, convincing them would likely be difficult.

“But I’d rather try and fail than give up without trying and regret it later. There’s always a chance of some success.”

Kurs said quietly.

“And there’s also the matter of the residents who escaped from the New Kingdom. With their testimonies, I plan to plead that the current Order and New Kingdom have gone completely mad, and that they should change their minds for their own survival.”

“I see.”

I nodded at Kurs’s words.

Indeed, it was better to try something than to give up thinking it wouldn’t work.

In that case, maybe I could lend a hand.

“Beatrice, do you have any collected information on the Order’s corruption or such?”

“I’ve prepared it.”

She’s quick with her work.

I thought she might have gathered information since she worked as an information broker on the side, but I didn’t expect her to have already organized it.

Seeing my thoughts, Beatrice grinned.

“Actually, it was a gift for Diana and Kara. Diana requested it first.”

“Then I’ll receive it through her later.”

Kurs nodded and said.

Then, after hesitating for a moment, Kurs looked at me.

“Do you have something to say?”

“…Yes.”

Kurs looked at me with serious eyes.

“I don’t think this will be much consolation.”

Soon, Kurs bowed his head to me.

“As someone who once belonged to the Emiris Order, I speak on behalf of the righteous people among them.”

Kurs bowed his head.

“I apologize for what was done to you and people like you.”

“……”

Someone must have told him about what happened at the laboratory and what had happened to me.

As I remained silent, Kurs continued:

“I won’t be so shameless as to ask for forgiveness. I pray that you will be able to collect all the debts owed to you.”

After watching Kurs apologize silently, I quietly said:

“That’s enough. What’s done is done. It’s hard to undo.”

“…But.”

“And there’s no need to ask for forgiveness.”

Looking at the sea, I spoke quietly:

“I already know exactly who to collect my dues from.”

The one from whom to collect:

God-King Emiris.

A god perpetrating atrocities.

I had to collect my dues from him.