The Great Forest (3)

,Pordil. If you absorb any more, the Elves will notice.”

“…Alright.”

A sound like scraping metal emanates from his throat. Pordil answers while replacing the bandages wrapped around his body with new ones. If he absorbs any more of the earth’s essence, the Elves will notice the anomaly and start tracking him. He needs to roam widely, avoiding detection, and nibble away bit by bit.

Of course, he’s already being pursued… It’s a stroke of luck that the World Tree is erasing the demonic energy, preventing them from pinpointing his exact location. That stupid tree. But, the erasure of demonic energy also means he can’t use his powers.

“…”

Damn it. He spits out a curse. Pordil trembles with rage as he looks at his reflection in the water. Bandages cover him from head to toe. Except for the holes for his eyes and nose, every part of his body is wrapped. If not for the clothes over the bandages, he would resemble a mummy.

‘That red-haired bitch…’

The attack he suffered at the top of the tower still hasn’t healed. There’s no reason why sealing his demonic energy should delay his physical healing. How did she use magic within the Exorcism Incantation in the first place? And even if she did, her attack clearly didn’t contain any divine power, so why?

Kordil managed to save his life by freezing space-time, but he couldn’t restore his hideously burned skin. When he pulls on the bandages, they stretch and fall, soaked with pus. The melted skin beneath the bandages becomes more twisted and grotesque with time.

Pordil felt a strange sense of relief when he looked at the sightless Kordil. At the same time, he fell into an absurdly deep self-loathing.

He whispers inwardly. Ah, Kordil, Kordil. In your empty eyes, in your world devoid of light, I am so selfishly relieved. Because you can’t see my hideous appearance, because I don’t have to show you this version of me, because I don’t have to reveal my heart to you, I’m a little happy.

And so he whispers again. It’s all because I lack strength. What am I even happy about? His love for his own flesh and blood is so deep and profound that he whips himself even harder. Shame. Pordil didn’t bother trying to explain his appearance to Kordil, who couldn’t see.

-Kwajik! Kordil muttered, stepping on withered grass. The grass, drained of its essence and vitality, crumbled weakly like dry twigs.

“The plan we initially set up has gone up in smoke… but it wouldn’t be a problem to bloom in the Elves’ land, would it?”

Bloom.

He will bloom a flower of hatred in the sky. He will darken the world in exchange for all the essence he has gathered so far. All living things will hate each other. He will manifest hell in this world. Chaos. They only wanted chaos.

The plan was messed up by the existence that broke through the Exorcism Incantation and launched an attack, but the overall framework was intact. The essence he had gathered in the tower was still there. Kordil whispered, looking at the withered land.

“…It’ll be fun.”

He was so excited about the world falling into chaos. Just imagining it made his whole body heat up. At first, he started this to avenge the humans who took his eyes, but he couldn’t hide the sadistic nature unique to demons. As the end of the bloom approached, excitement dominated his body more than revenge.

“Are we going to run away as soon as the bloom is over?”

Pordil asks. He had no intention of fighting that red-haired bitch. That bitch is crazy. In many ways. He didn’t think he could win the fight at all. Even if he set up an Exorcism Incantation, if she caused an explosion with overwhelming Mana like she did then, he might really die. Kordil stroked Pordil’s head, who was filled with anxiety, and said.

“We’ll have to live quietly for a while. And.”

“And?”

“That red-haired human. We have to kill her, even if we have to get other demons to do it. So I’m thinking of asking for cooperation from other comrades. Our strength is not enough.”

Demons act on the basis of extreme individualism, so there is very little cooperation to be found, but if a situation arises where all demons are threatened, they temporarily join forces. When a hero chosen by God appears, or when an irregular with overwhelming power like now goes hunting for demons.

“Is there no option to ignore her and live?”

“Even if we run away, if we attract the attention of humans again, we’ll run into her someday. Are you confident that you can fight and win against that mage? Or do you want to hole up in a cave for years like you did then?”

“…”

Pordil trembled. The more he thought about that bitch’s face, the more anger welled up, but an equal amount of fear consumed his body. The pain of his body burning alive. When he closed his eyes, he vividly remembered the pain and it gnawed at his mind. If Kordil hadn’t saved him, he would have died on the spot. She gritted her teeth and said.

“…Who are you going to go to? Artania? Pluton?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“Three-Headed Cat Kud.”

Three-Headed Cat 三頭猫 Kud. Pordil tilted his head and added, “Why?” Three-Headed Cat Kud was a well-known, talkative, low-ranking wandering demon. Moreover, he was a mongrel among mongrels with the body of an animal. On top of that, he had three heads, making him three times as noisy.

“That talkative cat? Why?”

“If you want to spread rumors, you have to borrow the mouth of a jester, don’t you?”

Three-Headed Cat Kud is an excellent storyteller and master of directing. Although he is despised by everyone for having the body of a beast, he possessed a talent that covered it. The talent to captivate others with stories. The stories of Kud, with three heads taking turns speaking in different tones, were in considerable demand among demons whose only entertainment was killing living things.

“…How are you going to find him?”

Pordil asked again. Okay. Let’s say that’s true. But how are you going to find him? Three-Headed Cat Kud is a fast-footed demon who can cross mountains and seas in a single day. However. Kordil, who received Pordil’s question, shook his head, saying it was okay.

“Storytellers come to where there are stories. If the bloom starts, he’ll come on his own.”

He stroked his sightless eyes as if he regretted it.

“If the bloom starts and the Ain go berserk en masse, a dazzling story that can’t be found anywhere will unfold.”

What’s the difference between a blind man and someone who has no reason to discern even if he opens his eyes? Pordil and Kordil stopped absorbing essence and moved. There wasn’t much time left until the bloom.

Chaos is coming.

I sometimes fell into strange thoughts. I wondered if I was actually a crazy bitch who thought she was a man in her past life. Or just a damn strong woman with the memories of a man. But when I think about these things, a mental illness similar to ego fragmentation develops and my body tries to sublimate into Mana, so I forcibly cut off my mind and stop thinking.

“Is this the place you were talking about?”

“Yes, yes. It’s especially popular with women…”

I was on the first floor of the inn that the raccoon boy introduced. I sat at the dining table and continued my thoughts. I haven’t had anything stressful lately, so my mental illness seemed to have improved a lot. Maybe people need to meet people. Usually, suicidal impulses came as standard when I worried about my identity, but these days, even that was gone.

“I’ll take this place. Hey. How many rooms are there?”

“There is currently one large room and two small rooms available. The price is in this local currency…”

“I’ll rent the entire inn for today. Is one gold coin in Imperial currency enough?”

“…Huh?”

“I said one gold coin.”

“…Y-Yes, of course.”

Shuriel handed a gold coin to the raccoon boy and went up the stairs. Even the most expensive accommodation in the Empire didn’t exceed thirty copper coins, but one gold coin. It was truly a waste of money.

The raccoon boy, who had received a large sum of money by chance, shone his eyes and put the gold coin in the water. Then he washed it several times. After washing it, he didn’t forget to hide it in his pocket so that no one would steal it.

“Food. When is it coming out? This looks delicious.”

“Yes! Please wait a moment!”

The hungry Elf ordered as many as five meat dishes. When I asked if she had ordered my food too, she said she would eat it all herself. Geez.

“Keueung. I’m going to rest for a bit. Enjoy your meal.”

Calvert, exhausted from the long investigation, left us behind and went up the stairs. Shuriel was still upstairs looking around the room… Lania, who was left alone with me, held a fork in one hand and said.

“Friend. Are you perhaps a half-elf?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. There’s no one here but you.”

“Why all of a sudden…?”

“Amazing. It’s the first time I’ve seen a human circulating Mana externally. Even Elves have a hard time with that technique…”

Mana circulation. A technique that circulates Mana in the body to temporarily increase Mana sensitivity. It was a technique that anyone who had learned magic could use, but there was another reason why Lania was surprised.

External circulation. I was drawing in Mana floating in the air and circulating it. The same way a dragon accumulates Mana in its heart. The difference between me and a dragon was that I didn’t accumulate it in my body, I just released it. My Mana sensitivity was already at its maximum, so circulating it was meaningless.

“I’m human. For now.”

I vaguely nodded. Lania came up to me and poked my cheek, and even fondled my chest… She didn’t seem to be aware that it was sexual harassment. I didn’t want to defend her, so I just shut up and accepted Lania’s touch.

“Heueut… La, Lania?”

“Baby. Did you have one? Your belly is full.”

“Ah, euut. Ye, yes. So please take your hands off…”

A race that thinks of sex as a means of preserving the species would not have received proper sex education, and the hands of the silver-haired Elf who was fondling my body were the result of a terrible sex education.

At that time, the wooden stairs creaked. Shuriel, who had checked the room, came down. He smirked when he saw me making a suggestive expression while giving my body to the Elf.

“What are you two doing?”

“I-It’s not like that.”

“Friend’s body. Amazing. I’m investigating.”

“Stop, that’s enough. Heueut.”

I forcibly pulled away Lania, who was still trying to touch my body even though Shuriel had arrived. A breath filled with regret touched my skin. At the same time, I heard a sneer. Shuriel, who said that ‘that kind of thing’ could be done later, roughly sorted out the situation and pulled out a chair and sat between Lania. I was quite upset, but I had nothing to say.

“I’m going to talk about the investigation policy. Calvert came up and talked about it and came out…”

Shuriel placed four scrolls on the table. It was a map of the Beastmen’s city. When I asked where he got this map, he said he bought it from the raccoon boy who had it for sale. He put one map in his arms and said.

“It’s not efficient for four people to stick together and investigate. The city is too big for that.”

The map I glanced at was certainly too large to investigate together. It would take more than the three weeks Sertia warned about.

“Are we going to split up?”

So are we going to split up? We didn’t bring the soldiers who came with us, so we were short on personnel. If we brought troops belonging to the Empire into another country without permission, it could lead to diplomatic problems.

“I don’t think so, but those guys might be disguised as humans and walking around. It’s better to have fewer people. And each of you can protect your own body, right? Isn’t that right?”

I send a silent agreement. Even if I’m deliberately attacked, I’ll probably never be pushed back by skill. I doubt there’s anyone who can beat me. The magic nullification technique was a little, no, a lot dangerous, but I have no intention of being hit twice.

“I’m going to go to the 3rd Barrier Garquina District to meet the tribal chiefs. What are you going to do?”

I look at the map. We are currently in the east, the Barhaia District where the Red Wolf Gate is located. There were three other districts. I mentioned a particularly noticeable area.

“Yellow Tiger Gate?”

The Lexen District, which is in charge of the north of the city. The name of the North Gate was Yellow Tiger Gate 黃虎門. A district ruled by tigers with golden manes. I was intrigued. Lania, who heard my question, said.

“It’s dangerous. The residents have fierce tempers, so I don’t recommend it. But if you’re okay with it, I won’t stop you.”

The Yellow Tiger 黃虎 tribe, which received the instinct of the survival of the fittest the most intensely, was a progressive race that could be called the Imperial Tiger 皇虎. When I think about it, the first Ain priest I met at the Saint Mihail Temple was also a Yellow Tiger. How did he become a priest? Anyway. The Yellow Tiger tribe has a strong tendency to solve everything with fighting, so it was a terrible city for tourism.

“…”

…Awesome, isn’t it?

“I’ll investigate the Lexen District.”

Good.

I’ve decided on this place.