Chapter 42: Training

Most warlocks are human.

Most humans are afraid of enemies with swords, and that’s why I wanted to interrogate him.

Solmay have been a bit complacent.

For the sake of Demon King Bel Pegor.

Self-destruction.

He casted the Bone Explosion, a time explosion magic on himself.

To be exact, it was a magic that ‘exploded bones.

Although it was impossible to explode other people’s bones, it was possible to do so on corpses or one’s own body.

Evidence destruction.

Since everything was blown up without even leaving a mouth, there was no way to interrogate Shax.

Forcibly summoning a soul would also probably be impossible.

“Shax is not his true name: If I knew his true name, I could force a soul into a doll or a skeleton and interrogate them, but unfortunately, the necromancy called ‘Shax’ failed immediately. It wasn’t because he was Lucius’s body. Even if he had enough mana, strength, and skill, it wouldn’t be effective unless it was his ‘true name.”

Still, he’s amazing.

If he was the Demon King’s army.

The organization called Acedia is not my organization, but if my subordinates survived and truly inherited the legacy of the Demon King’s Army.

Those who keep in mind several times a day that using all means and methods to devour the enemy in the most vicious way is the foundation of those who walk the path of the devil. I forgot for a moment.

The Demon King’s Army is a being that, rather than becoming a s*ave and surviving when captured by the enemy, they try to defeat the enemy and become one more person as a captive.

“I got hit hard.”

Yes.

I was hit.

This Belphegor lost the enemy right in front of me.

I, Belphegor, who had been using necromancy to capture the soul and put it in a doll and tortured it to extract information in preparation for the suicide, lost track of Acedia right before my eyes.

“Damn it!”

Did I back down too much? Or was I not prepared enough? Or was Shax’s actions exceeding my expectations because they inherited the legacy of the Demon King’s Army?

The bastard’s self-destruction was so destructive that if it weren’t for Lucius, he would have died from the explosion with pieces of flesh and bone embedded throughout his entire body.

“…”

“Arthur!”

Fortunately, Lucius’s body was fine.

Although Rosemath was making a fuss behind him and was surprised, Lucius’s body was completely fine despite Shax’s self-destruction.

“I’m fine. I am.”

Wind Protection.

A technique that uses the power of the Holy Sword to surround the entire body as a protective shield, similar to the technique that deflected the first shot.

Shax exploded without causing any damage.

Blood and bones splattered everywhere, but it didn’t affect Lucius’ body at all.

“For now… it seems like the enemy is completely gone, so I think we can rest easy.”

“Are you really… fine?”

“Of course. No matter what the situation, I can’t let this precious body get hurt carelessly.”

I approached Rosemath.

Fortunately, Rosemath was guarding my body well, and I approached my unconscious body.

“Would you mind putting me down for a moment?”

“Huh?”

“Lie flat on the floor.”

“Oh, I understand. Arthur.”

Rosemath gently placed my body on the floor, and I knelt down on one knee toward my body.

And.

Molkang,

“!!”

Everyone was surprised.

That was understandable because I grabbed my heart-chest without any hesitation.

“It’s quite big, you know.”

Despite my small body, my chest was solid.

Unlike the time when I was a sacrifice, this lump of flesh was my magical power pouch.

But the number of children has decreased so much in 500 years.

If I looked at it from the perspective of 500 years ago, my body was quite small.

However, as I walked around the Adventurer’s Guild and watched others, I realized that humanity had degenerated over the past 500 years.

What seemed small to me was average size in this era.

If the Crimson Magician were to come back to life and roam the world, everyone would probably kneel in amazement at the enormous amount of magical power.

I’ll leave the impressions aside.

I firmly pushed my palm toward my heart and closed my eyes.

“Arthur! What, What!!”

“Release.”

I release the ice.

I push my soul into the core contained in my heart.

Saaaa.

As if being sucked in, my soul returned to my original body.

My consciousness slowly moved through my hand to my heart, and for a moment the world darkened and then brightened again.

“…Hmm.”

I came to my senses.

Possession, complete again.

The magic core embedded in my heart became active again, and the mana that had been flowing minimally began to spread from my heart through the tubes to my entire body.

“…..”

As soon as I opened my eyes, all I saw was Lucius, staring at me with a blank face and blue eyes.

“Lucius.”

“…..”

“Lucius?”

“Ah, yes, yes!”

Lucius got up in surprise.

“What’s the heck…?”

He still had a blank face, as if he had just woken up from sleep, not feeling well.

“Lucius, are you awake?”

“What happened to me?”

“Hmm….”

“It must be vague, like a dream.”

Since he had completely surrendered his body to me and was moving, Lucius must have felt like I was dreaming while I was moving his body.

I let him experience how to use the Wind Sword firsthand, but since it was his first time giving him his body, there’s a high chance that he didn’t get to see it properly.

The problem is.

“Lucius, do you remember what I said a little while ago?”

“Uh, um, what’s the situation here…?”

“Haa.”

Lucius didn’t remember at all.

To be exact, he didn’t see my gorgeous and beautiful battle at all.

“Lucius. Do you remember how you fought?”

“……Something, it seems vague.”

Lucius grabbed his head with his hand.

He looked at me and the other two with a genuinely complicated expression.

“What happened?”

“I don’t think you remember.”

That’s too bad.

I should have seen it with my own eyes to get a feel for it, but I guess he couldn’t stand the thought of a being on the level of the Great Demon King using a single weapon in the spirit world—even me acting like the owner of the room.

My ego was so strong that Lucius’s soul fell asleep.

If I had seen it with my own eyes, I would have been able to roughly figure out how to use it.

I didn’t think I would learn it all at once, but I still feel a little disappointed.

No.

My body will remember.

If I can make my body remember, if I just teach it the trick, I will definitely be able to use the other powers of the Holy Sword.

What’s important is now.

For now, I will think about the traces of Acedia that I missed later, and the important thing is to conceal the information.

“Mr. Morzen.”

“Yes, yes…”

To Hora Morzen, who was doing nothing but screaming in panic behind me,

“I would like you to keep what happened here a secret.”

I politely and respectfully requested her.

“Lucius’s power is unstable. I don’t want to get caught up in a difficult situation by recklessly revealing his power.”

“Ah, that…”

“T-Teacher…?”

“Let me explain it simply.”

Hwaruk.

I lit a flame on my hand.

“I can forcibly draw out Lucius’s latent power. What Mr. Morzen saw was only a fragment.”

“A fragment…?”

“Yes. Although he has not yet reached it, Lucius has the qualities to become the world’s strongest swordsman.”

“Me, me?”

“Of course.”

There is no way he would not reach it if I taught him.

“I don’t understand. With these skills, why…?”

“I would like to make it clear to you that we need achievements, and that we would like to quietly build up our achievements in Normandy.”

“….. Understood.”

Since Morgen has dealt with many adventurers, he must have experienced many things like us.

“…I will keep it in my heart. Your true…strength.”

“…True strength.”

Lucius looked around with a bitter expression.

Did he stand there so confusedly because he thought the Holy Sword was his true strength?

“… Next time, a little more.”

No.

While admiring the feat he had done—it was me—he seemed genuinely upset that he himself didn’t remember it.

“Lucius.”

I approached Lucius and patted his back.

“No one is good from the start. You’ll do well in the future. Don’t be too discouraged. Okay?”

“But.”

“You didn’t feel it properly this time, but try to feel it better next time. The true you inside you. Okay?”

If you were watching from behind in spirit form, it meant that you should not lose consciousness and watch closely.

“Rosemath did well too. Your technique was truly amazing.”

“…Thank you.”

It was a sincere compliment.

Shooting arrows of mana into the ceiling and making them fall in all directions.

It was a technique that I wouldn’t have attempted without precise mana control and enough mana to kill the enemy even if it spread out.

Morgen…

“It’s enough that I yelled hard from behind.”

It was good for safety to participate in the costume that wanted to receive the protection of the Goddess of the Moon as much as possible, but it was inadequate in dealing with sudden situations.

“Let’s just meet Morgen as a receptionist.”

I don’t know what Lucius will think, but if the receptionist is an acquaintance—or if she is not a party member but can maintain a good relationship as one of the people involved—Morgen is not such a bad woman.

If I tell her right now, it might have a negative effect on the judging, so I’ll tell her later.

“T-T-Witch…?”

“Why, Rosemath?”

“That was just now…”

“Oh. I’ll tell you later when I go to the dorm.”

I tell Rosemath about Lucius’ secret power.

No matter how much I said indirectly, Morgen seemed to fully understand what I meant.

“Then…”

“But Witch.”

Rosemath opened her mouth quietly.

“When you first gave Lucius power, you held his hand, but when you released it later… why did you grab his chest?”

“Huh?!”

Lucius was startled and terrified.

“No, I, I grabbed Master’s chest?!”

“…Ah, that.”

I lightly crossed my arms and shrugged.

“…Really? Lucius, what happened?”

“Yes, yes?! I, I don’t know!”

Yeah. I don’t know.

Because I just touched my own chest.

“…Hmm. Are you unconsciously touching Master’s body without even remembering?”

“Ah, no. Master! This is unfair!!”

“Hmph. You don’t even touch it normally, but you’re so reckless when you awaken… Are you, an animal?”

“No, no! I don’t remember!”

Watching Lucius’ flustered appearance.

“This is funny.”

The annoyance at losing Shax seemed to have subsided a little.