Ch.61Burning Machine (5)

*

Balder.

In the past, he was an adventurer.

Adventurers who traveled around the world were, by the nature of their profession, mostly unknown for their achievements or names, except for a very special few.

To become famous as an adventurer, one needed either legendary accomplishments demonstrating exceptional valor, or to amass great wealth by selling rare items collected from travels around the world.

Driven by the determination not to live as a servant to nobility like his parents and brother, Balder ran away from home and wandered about, making efforts in his own way, but his skills were far from sufficient to make a name for himself.

However, Balder didn’t particularly mind.

If he had possessed outstanding skills, he might have been dragged into a journey to defeat the Demon Lord and died a miserable death.

Of course, while his abilities weren’t enough to become famous, Balder had sufficient skill to make a decent living.

The experiences ingrained in his body from a childhood spent wandering through all sorts of hardships allowed him to function as a sufficiently skilled adventurer, even if it wasn’t his true calling.

Balder himself assessed that “while he couldn’t slay a dragon, he had enough skill to steal an egg from a dragon’s nest and escape.” This was neither an exaggeration nor modesty, but an accurate evaluation.

When an expedition led by a hero was advancing toward the Demon Lord’s castle, Balder and his companions secretly followed behind.

He had no desire whatsoever to fight the Demon Lord, but rather aimed to steal the treasures and eggs of the earth dragon said to be in the Fallen Tree Forest.

The shallow idea that the expedition ahead would drive away all dangerous monsters, allowing them to safely travel to and from the dangerous forest by secretly following behind, surprisingly worked perfectly.

Balder and his companions entered the Fallen Tree Forest with ease, almost humming to themselves.

As they ventured deeper into the forest, Balder and his companions began searching the woods, leaving behind the expedition party that was taking a break to regroup.

The area where the earth dragon lived wasn’t far now, and they were confident in their stamina since they hadn’t engaged in a single battle on their way here.

Moreover, the eyes of an adventurer honed by years of experience could quite accurately pinpoint traces of the earth dragon, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.

Just as everything was going smoothly, at that moment.

Balder accidentally encountered the Demon Lord, who had come out to scout and assess the hero’s abilities.

The heads of Balder’s companions rolled on the ground without even having a chance to scream.

“At that moment, I realized. That we couldn’t win.”

Balder murmured, recalling the time with an expression of awe.

Alice carefully took a deep breath, gathering her strength, while snapping harshly at Balder who was immersed in his memories.

“Huh, an idiot like you would think that.”

“…No, I mean humanity.”

“…hm”

“Whether hero or champion, whoever it might be, I instinctively realized that we, mere humans, could never defeat this overwhelming being.”

“…hmph”

“So I bowed my head, trampling over the severed heads of my companions, and thanks to his mercy, I became a loyal servant of the Demon Lord.”

“Hmph! You’re proud of that.”

“Indeed I am. Because I can survive, looking down on humanity that will soon perish. But what have you been doing all this time?”

“Hah… So, did you brutally murder Maria’s parents, your brother and sister-in-law, for the Demon Lord? You disgusting bastard!”

Alice, who had been quietly regulating her breathing and gathering strength, burst out in anger to divert Balder’s attention elsewhere.

Balder mocked Alice without any particular suspicion.

Whatever she was trying to do, she could never escape from those chains.

A curse utilizing demonic energy bestowed by the Demon Lord and wicked forbidden knowledge.

It was a powerful binding spell that consumed the twisted souls of eighteen people, tempered in unspeakably horrific pain.

Those unbreakable chains didn’t simply bind her arms but penetrated deep into her bones and flesh, firmly intertwining with them.

Essentially, the arms and chains became one.

No matter how much holy power she poured out, she could never break those chains.

Balder continued speaking with a relaxed smile.

“Feel free to rant all you want. Soon, you too will…”

“Don’t they even have newspapers in that stinking idiot neighborhood where demons live? The Demon Lord already died yesterday evening. What are you trying to accomplish now, you moron?”

“…hahaha,”

What a foul mouth this impudent woman has.

Balder concealed his ridiculous, vulgar attitude and growled in a low voice.

“You may find me disgusting, but I find you so revolting that it’s hard to bear. The Demon Lord is dead? To a snot-nosed girl who just graduated from the academy?”

“What do you want me to do about someone who’s already dead? Silvia was always a monster.”

“Really… you’re so arrogant, so impudent that I’m speechless,”

“Enough.”

Alice roughly cut off Balder’s words.

“…?”

“I don’t know if you’re trying to resurrect the Demon Lord or if the Demon Lord is hiding somewhere, but I don’t care anymore, and I’m not interested.”

“What—”

At that moment, with a tremendous roar that shook the entire basement, a flash of light burst from Alice, bright enough to illuminate the entire village in the middle of the night, piercing through the basement.

Balder groaned, covering his eyes.

“Trying to be clever!”

Balder gritted his teeth and waved his hand, spraying darkness before his eyes.

In the chaotic vision where light and darkness mixed wildly, he could vaguely see Alice.

Alice pulled and tore off her arms, which had been blown apart and were hanging in tatters.

The chains that had wrapped around her below the shoulders dangled in the air, and her body, having lost both arms, fell to the floor, losing balance.

And almost simultaneously, Alice’s body shot toward Balder.

Through Alice’s angry teeth that approached Balder’s face came a chilling voice.

“You’re going to be caught by me here.”

For a long time, only the sound of crashing and banging echoed in the pitch-black darkness where nothing could be seen.

It was the sound of Balder and Alice fighting.

After a while, as the light that had filled the basement gradually subsided and the sounds diminished, the figures of the two people standing at a slight distance from each other became visible.

Balder was staggering, standing with a gaping hole from the middle of his stomach to his chest, while Alice stood perfectly fine, with her lost arms somehow regrown.

Balder spoke with labored, wheezing breaths.

“You… crazy bitch,”

Those chains penetrate to the bone.

Alice had poured holy power into both her arms and caused an explosion, but it wasn’t an attack aimed at the chains.

She had severed her own arms.

He clearly saw her forcibly pulling and breaking the bones and tendons that dangled from her tattered arms after the explosion.

That mental strength or determination was terrifying enough, but what was truly frightening was what happened next.

The scene where her arms regrew instantly.

Balder clearly saw a white mist-like substance slowly rising from Alice’s severed shoulders, then suddenly transforming into her missing arms.

“…What kind of holy power is that? You’re no different from the undead…”

Alice responded curtly, seemingly unbothered by the insult.

“Seeing that you’re not dying despite the state of your body, it seems you’re not human either?”

“Ha, already…”

“Actually, I don’t care.”

Alice flew at him in an instant and kicked Balder’s head.

With an impact that felt like his head would be torn off, Balder flew and crashed against the side wall of the basement with a splat, collapsing.

Alice pulled out a sword from the fallen man’s abdomen.

Judging by the groaning sounds, he was still alive.

Alice shook the blood off the sword and approached Balder, saying:

“I’m tired of hearing your fucking voice.”

“Kuk,”

“All I want is for you to stay alive while I carve out every piece of your flesh, pissing yourself. Don’t even scream, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Ha, monster…”

“Calling me a monster,”

Alice pointed her sword at Balder’s neck and said:

“There were others among my classmates who were even more monstrous than me. Maria and Silvia.”

“…”

“You know them, right? One is your niece, and the other is the hero who took the head of the Demon Lord you so adore.”

“…you bitch,”

“I said I don’t want to hear your voice. Can’t you understand, you idiot?”

“Kahak!”

Alice thrust her sword right into the center of Balder’s neck.

Despite the pitch-black blood, clearly different from a human’s, flowing down the blade, Balder didn’t die.

She smiled with satisfaction at the sight and said:

“Very good.”

Balder exhaled rough breaths, twitching, and suddenly bit his tongue hard.

“What are you—”

Thud,

His severed tongue fell to the floor.

At that moment, Balder’s body disappeared without a trace.

The bloodstains and fragments of his body that had fallen like debris vanished as if they had never existed.

“…What?”

Alice withdrew her sword in confusion.

The black bloodstains that should have been on the sword had also disappeared.

All that remained was Balder’s tongue on the floor, slowly shriveling.

On the tongue, unintelligible characters were scrawled in bright red.

Given that nothing had been caught in the barrier she had spread around the mansion, it seemed to be a special kind of teleportation magic.

Alice struck the basement wall and shouted:

“Goddammit!”

She had lost him.

Like an idiot, she had let her guard down and he had escaped.

She had tried to be clever, but at the very last moment, she had lost him right before her eyes.

Of course, she had never heard of such magic, so there was no way to be cautious about it, but she should have anticipated that he would have some means of escape.

It was a mistake to think that those fucking chains were his last card, thanks to the unidentified magic circle or the horrific scale of sacrificing the entire village’s people.

“…Balder, you son of a bitch.”

Alice clutched her pounding heart and gasped for breath.

“Calm down, calm down… damn it, how, how could he escape right in front of me…!”

She showed no signs of calming down.

Alice tried to organize her thoughts with her burning head, gasping for breath.

“First of all, Balder is no match for me. I can definitely subdue him if we meet. Learning that is a big gain. No matter what evil pagan sorcery he wields, I can handle it adequately.”

Her heated head wouldn’t cool down.

The blood vessels around her forehead and neck bulged and subsided repeatedly, writhing.

Alice muttered, frantically scratching her neck and forehead.

“Eeeegggh! Fuck, no. No, no, no, more, different thoughts. Different… Right, that fucking bastard doesn’t die normally, so if I just catch him, I can tear him apart for the rest of his life. I could pull out all the teeth from those pig bastards at the pig farm, make a saw with them, and slowly cut his neck and gouge out his eyes, and he still wouldn’t die. Yeah, fuck yeah! Think about that. Yeah, yeah, whew…”

She tried to imagine something pleasant, but the deep regret and disappointment ingrained in her skin wouldn’t disappear.

Alice hit her head repeatedly and said:

“And, and… right, all the villagers are dead, so I can’t get a ship. I need to return to the Papal State. I’ll postpone going to the border and report this fact. That the calamity the Pope mentioned is probably related to the Demon Lord…!”

And… and… wait.

“Demon Lord?”

Alice’s mind cooled down.

“Maria… Silvia…”

Perhaps, maybe…

Although it was a terribly disturbing thought, a suspicion crossed her mind.

“…No way… they didn’t fail to kill the Demon Lord…?”

If that’s the case, Maria… died for nothing.

Alice shook her head.

Suddenly, her blood was boiling in reverse.

A different kind of cold, sinking anger, unlike the hot rage from earlier, was trying to settle heavily in Alice’s stomach.

“Think of something else. Something different, different thoughts.”

It was then.

“Please… save me”

A thin, almost extinguished voice was heard.

Alice turned around at the voice.

“…Please save me… please…”

The man Alice had stabbed was still breathing.

Honestly, it was extremely annoying, but Alice couldn’t ignore him.

Although Balder had created the situation, it was Alice herself who had stabbed the man, and there was a note on the man’s chest that read “A gift for Lady Alice.”

She couldn’t just leave such a corpse to be discovered, as it might raise unnecessary suspicions later.

Alice approached the man with a slow sigh.

“Please, don’t… kill… me…”

“I’m sorry about earlier… but at least you survived…”

“I don’t… know anything… It was all, Balder… Balder Staff who made me…”

“…What?”

The man rambled, drooling.

“Balder… said he would… make me… king…”

“…Oh fuck,”

In the midst of such a horrific scene and a battle filled with rage, Alice hadn’t noticed, but the man had a face she recognized.

Baron Siord.

The third prince of this kingdom.

The suspected backer of the attackers who had raided various regions, including the Goldfield territory, and the person believed to be behind Balder.

“Ha, so this is the… gift?”

To thoroughly use a royal family member of an entire country and then discard him like this when he was no longer needed.

Alice was almost impressed by Balder’s audacity.

Of course, it could be seen as a gift.

Alice roughly lifted the man and said:

“Spill everything you know. If you want to die a little more comfortably.”

“Balder… everything, Balder did…!”

“Not here,”

Alice glared at him with chilling eyes.

Regardless of his royal status, if he had cooperated with Balder, she would definitely throw him into her pig farm.

The prince nodded, trembling.

So it was Balder, not this human, who was behind it all.

Balder had mentioned the Demon Lord.

It seemed certain that he was the one who would bring calamity to this world.

Alice felt an involuntary laugh escaping her.

“Ha…”

The Pope’s words and Balder’s disgusting voice echoed simultaneously in Alice’s mind.

Revenge and the greater good.

It was the moment when the two goals she needed to focus on merged into one.

“I will definitely kill you.”

.