episode_0191

Ding~♪ Diri Ring~♪

The pleasant sound of a lyre rings through the marketplace.

In response, people stop in their tracks and turn their gaze towards the source of the lyre music. The minstrel, feeling he has drawn sufficient attention, uses his dazzling hand techniques to create diverse melodies from the lyre, and opens his mouth.

“Do you know~♪ The name of the warrior who fought for the world while burdened with false accusations~♪”

A voice befitting a minstrel, easily capturing people’s attention.

Since no one disliked the minstrel’s storytelling blended with song, everyone stopped completely and focused on the minstrel.

“He is the warrior Leon~♪ Willingly accepting the false accusation of incompetent warrior, deceiving bandits and everyone else, continuing his solitary fight alone~♪”

The protagonist of the minstrel’s story is none other than the warrior Leon.

Recently, stories about the warrior Leon have become quite famous in the Central Continent.

As time passed, the stories became embellished, differing greatly from the complete truth, but that was not important to the people.

What mattered was that the warrior Leon had the achievement of defeating the fragments of the Demon King.

“They were careless of the bandits~♪ About him, called an incompetent warrior~♪ They were careless, thinking he was nothing~♪”

If we were to examine the differences from the truth, the biggest one would be that Leon was not actually so weak as to be called an incompetent warrior, but he deliberately pretended to be weak in order to deceive the fragments of the Demon King and their followers.

“The warrior Leon crossed the brilliant golden desert alone~♪ Breaking through the waves of wriggling monsters~♪ He crossed over to the East Continent~♪”

In any case, the minstrel’s story gradually moved towards its climax.

“On top of Mt. Cheon, where countless mountains gather~♪ He cut off the head of the demon who disturbed the sky~♪ A true warrior who subdues demons according to the will of the goddess~♪ That is the warrior Leon~♪”

As the story concluded, the minstrel slightly removed the hat he was wearing and greeted the audience.

It was a story they had heard many times, but the stories, each with its own embellishments by different minstrels, felt new every time, so the citizens each threw in some money.

“Thank you~ Thank you~”

The minstrel smiled inwardly as he looked at the coin box quickly filling up.

‘As expected, nothing is as popular as warrior stories~’

Especially if it is the story of a warrior who is currently building history in real-time. Thinking such thoughts, the minstrel, having collected enough money to live on for a few days, was excited at the thought of visiting a tavern and drinking a cold beer.

Clang Clang Clang!

“?”

“Everyone, move aside~!”

At that moment, several guards dispersed part of the crowd.

Wondering what was going on, the minstrel and the people gathered there turned their gaze to the guards, who were affixing the papers they were carrying to a bulletin board.

“What does it say?”

“Wait a moment…. Let’s see…. Huh?!”

On the bulletin board, along with the emblem of the Holy Kingdom, the following sentence was written:

【The warrior Leon defeated the , a fragment of the Demon King who attempted to corrupt the World Tree left by the goddess in the West Continent, after a fierce battle.】

【In the process of subduing the , the warrior Abel met a noble death.】

* * *

Bang!!!

“Damn it!!!”

A handsome man slams the desk violently.

The warrior Ragna scowls as he glares at the letter in front of him.

It was engraved with the emblem of the Holy Kingdom, and at the same time contained the facts that ‘the warrior Leon has subdued another fragment of the Demon King,’ and the story of ‘the death of the warrior Abel.’ Finally, it contained the message ‘We hope that the warrior Ragna will also do his best.’

“That bastard got ahead again?! And Abel is dead?!”

Unbelievable, he wanted to think so, but the emblem of the Holy Kingdom engraved on the letter told him that it was not a lie.

At least within this Central Continent, there are no bold people who would play around with the emblem of the Holy Kingdom.

“When I was…, when I was wasting my time in the North, that bastard!….”

At that moment, a girl flashed through Ragna’s mind.

She was a party member of the incompetent warrior Leon, but he took her into his party instead of him.

He had taken her in because he had heard that she was a promising prospect….

“Come to think of it, it was from that time. Everything I did started to go wrong!….”

Currently, Ragna’s position as a warrior and as the successor to the kingdom has been weakened. His runaway younger sister has returned to the royal palace and is increasing her influence in his absence, and before he knew it, she was right behind him.

In addition, his position as a warrior has reached its worst point, as he has not even been able to properly subdue the ‘followers of the witch’ who occupy the North, let alone properly subdue the fragments of the Demon King.

And in the midst of all this, that incompetent warrior has subdued another fragment of the Demon King?

“Kuhhhh!!”

Crack!

In the end, Ragna, unable to contain his anger, destroyed the desk.

Still unable to shake off his anger, he roughly got up from his seat, put on his coat, and left his office.

While passing through the hallway, he saw a woman passing through the hallway with several guards.

“…Emula.”

“Hello, brother.”

“…Tch.”

“Did you hear the news?”

As if to stop Ragna, who was about to pass by, Emula, Ragna’s younger sister, opened her mouth.

“There’s a story going around that the warrior Leon has subdued another fragment of the Demon King.”

“…So what?”

“No, I was just thinking…, now that there are only ‘two’ fragments of the Demon King left, you should hurry up too, brother.”

“….”

Grind.

Ragna gritted his teeth.

But he was not so foolish as to spit it out so openly, in a place where many people could see.

Ragna simply resumed his steps without a word, and Emula quietly watched his back.

‘It’s just as Auntie Shir said.’

Emula.

She once ran away from this kingdom and worked in a brothel called ‘Pleiade’s Shelter’.

She had a close relationship with Shir, the madam of the place, but one day, she said.

‘The warrior Leon will definitely be great.’

At first, she wondered what that meant.

The warrior Leon was a insignificant warrior who was called an ‘incompetent warrior’.

But after hearing the story that he had subdued one of the fragments of the Demon King, , in the East Continent, she thought this was an opportunity and returned to the kingdom.

‘I will bring you down. Ragna. You will fail as a warrior and as the successor to the kingdom…, and you will meet a miserable end.’

Emula closed her eyes for a moment.

Then, the image of a woman smiling brightly and reaching out to her came to mind.

‘Sister…, I will definitely avenge you.’

* * *

Clang…

“…Haa.”

A woman sighs deeply.

A woman whose hands are bound by chains. Around the woman, as if to prevent her from leaving, or to prevent anything from coming to her from the outside, black chains were intertwined.

The purple-haired woman in this strange place opened her eyes slightly and muttered.

“How long has it been since I’ve been made to wait like this…. It’s not a good choice to make a woman wait, Prince.”

She could instinctively feel it.

That one being equal to her had disappeared.

There was no need to think deeply about this phenomenon. The warrior killed the fragment of the Demon King.

It would just be that.

“To go to another person even though I seduced you so much…, my pride is a little hurt, but…. Well, whatever.”

Woo Woong

As she tried to draw out her power, the surrounding chains resonated and suppressed her.

The seal here is still doing its job properly.

“If you don’t come soon…, my patience might run out too? My Prince.”

* * *

This is the East Continent.

Jo.

Swaaaaa!!

An island nation visible only after traveling by sea for 10 more days. 『Tayo Kingdom』.

On the beach there, crows were pecking at corpses scattered with terrible bloodstains.

“How many humans are left who will resist from now on?”

“Who knows?”

Two monsters, whose appearance was hard to imagine as human, were wiping the blood from their weapons.

“Anyway, these humans are so annoying. How much easier would it be if they just obeyed us quietly.”

“That’s right.”

Chuckling, they stepped on the human heads rolling at their feet with their feet and completely crushed them.

“Speaking of which, what happened to that tiger that the guy who went outside the sea brought with him?”

“He’s probably meeting with the Shogun directly.”

“Hmm…. I never imagined he would be so concerned about stories coming from outside the sea.”

“I know, right? After all, a human is just a human.”

The two beings, having finished grooming all their weapons, turned and walked into the island.

Waiting for the time when they will cross this sea and head to that vast continent someday.