Episode 163: Making Excuses (3)
There is no connection between the Great Devil and the Ednium Minor Lord.
However, since the subjugation war took place in the forest of Ednium territory, he had no choice but to pay attention as the lord of the small castle.
It is in the same context that the lord of the castle sent 30 soldiers as a sign of cooperation and that the Archmage continued to report the outline of the incident not only to the temple but also to the castle.
“i look forward to.”
For that reason, when the news came that the body of the great devil had been swallowed up by the grassroots, I—or, to be more precise, the temple people who had decided to go there with me—was the first to ask Lord Minor to accompany me.
No matter how you think about it, Biryuho is the only being capable of doing such an extraordinary thing.
Also, the only person (as far as I know) who can figure out Biryuho’s intentions without a fight is Soseongju.
He had no choice but to go with me and the temple people to find out the truth in more detail.
“I was planning to ask Biryuho about the devil as you requested… but I never thought it would turn out like this.”
Oh, by the way, that’s what I’m talking about. The Archmage asked me to ask him about Biryuho’s devil credit blah blah blah.
In the end, four months passed away before I even asked.
“…Why does Lake Biryu have the corpse of a devil…”
Well. Because I’m used to clichés, I’m not a prophet.
Still, the most likely possibility would be that the two formed an alliance. Even putting off Biryuho’s attitude, I wonder if there are benefits for both of them by signing an agreement.
“…that adventurer.”
After thinking about my title for a long time, Leon Sosungju somehow found the right word and called me.
My eyes glanced at him. As always, there was no answer.
Although the Deathbringer, who would cover up my social skills, and the Inquisitor, who would allow me to pass through the halo, were passed out in the temple, I now had a business card showing that I had caught the Great Evil.
As expected, no one tripped over my rudeness.
“I heard that a total of three people, a warrior, an adventurer, and another person, fought against the great evil and achieved victory.”
After all, So Seong-ju asked cautiously.
“…Was the Great Devil very strong?”
I don’t know what thought process was involved in asking the question, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t answer.
“The strength of something that is already dead is meaningless.”
Because I’m the one who won!
“Is that so.”
Of course, this side also suffered some damage… but honestly, you have to understand this.
Most of the injuries were not from the devil, but from the peculiarity of being thousands of meters above ground!
If the fight had been fought on the ground, the Inquisitor would not have fallen. I’m not bragging, it’s real.
“I heard that both the hero and the adventurer fell…”
No, I’m crazy, but I’m pointing this out.
Hey, Lord Seong! Climb up to thousands of meters! Do you think it’s easy to build a foothold and fight on your own without any help from the system? Do you know what it feels like to be hit by the human body’s inevitable limitations called altitude sickness?
This is really unfair! I was never a weak Inquisitor!
I chuckled inwardly and looked back at Soseongju.
Did selfishness get into my eyes? As soon as his eyes met, Xiao Chengzhu trembled.
“If he had been on the ground, it would have taken less than 10 minutes for his head to fall off.”
This is a bit of an exaggeration, but twenty or ten minutes is what it is, so it’s okay, right? There will be no need to catch the Great Devil again.
With such naive thoughts, I looked at the pile of grass that was slowly getting closer.
It wasn’t like Jack and the Beanstalk, but I saw vines several meters in diameter intertwined to form a huge garden. It was very easy to distinguish it because it was different from the vegetation in the existing forest.
“If you do that, can you kill Biryuhodo?”
But what now?
“Can you kill Biryuho without harming others?”
I not only turned my gaze, but also turned my head and pelvis that way. Su Seong-ju made direct eye contact with me.
“Dang—.”
“sorry. “Please pretend I didn’t hear you.”
And when I was about to give an answer, Soseongju struck first.
Huh. I’m not kidding. Now that I’ve said everything I have to say, are you going to pretend I didn’t hear anything? Hey, Lord Soseong? Can’t you see the skull mark near me right now??
I know that people’s lives are at stake, so I take care of it.
“Lord Xiaocheng!”
“Are you here? “Are you here too?”
After that, So Seong-ju and I walked without talking. Fortunately, the arrival point was close, so there was no need to remain in awkwardness for that long.
“I’m sorry. “I can’t believe you made me come to such a dangerous place.”
“no. “It was the right thing to do.”
“I’m sorry to you too. “I wanted to let you rest a little more, but…”
Well, it wasn’t the Archmage’s intention, so why should he apologize?
I approached the vine, listening to the Archmage’s words.
A Berserker holding a halberd was chopping down vines while possessing a woodcutter.
There are three stumps at her feet, as if how many vines had been cut down before I came.
“First of all, that vine is what called you two. People say it suddenly grew and enveloped the archdemon’s body without leaving any space.”
“That…”
Boom boom boom!
Whack, whack, whack.
For some reason, the vines grew to be close to an oval shape.
But where does this gnawing sound that can be heard between the sounds of chopping wood come from?
“Berserk keeps cutting down the vines to check the inside…”
I feel a little sorry for the Archmage, but I listened more to her gnawing than to her words.
If it wasn’t because of my mood… it sounded like it came from inside the vine.
“If I had known this would happen, I would have brought more soldiers. “It will be difficult to cut them down with this number of people.”
“That’s not it. “If that were the case, I would have told the messenger.”
“if?”
“Move it quickly before it falls!”
But I couldn’t focus on just that.
Not only did they have to receive the information provided by the Archmage, but the sound of the priests and soldiers working together to move the vines was too loud.
All the things that were knocked down earlier must have been moved, so there are five vines piled up on one side.
“The vines grow so fast that cutting them down is usually useless.”
…wait for a sec. Five stems?
There are three stumps?
“It grows again!”
My doubts were answered the next moment. When Berserker cut the vine halfway, a new vine grew in the place where it was cut.
And it invaded the existing stump and pushed Berserker away.
“Something like that.”
The Archmage shrugged his shoulders and the sweaty former Berserker screamed. Dang. He was so angry that he even threw his halberd.
“Ah, welcome, comrade!!”
At that time, Berserker, who was ripping my hair, found me and shouted.
“Try flying with that scoop!”
It flies away with a swipe. The extremely cheap expression of the slash has been updated.
“…Don’t say too much about the devil knight. “I decided to call you because I thought your abilities would be of more help.”
However, I can understand that feeling. Berserker may be stronger in each attack, but I have more wide-range attacks.
If they keep sending him to Taecho Village like that, I might want to use my powers to cut down the body where it is all at once.
“Is it impossible to burn it with magic? Oh, I’m afraid the body will be damaged…?”
“no. I already tried it but it didn’t work. “It didn’t even have a scratch on a fairly large scale.”
“Ah…”
I took a decent seat, ignoring the Berserker who was waving his hand vigorously.
If you cut it too low, you’ll cut down the archdemon’s corpse, and if you cut it too high, you’ll only see a cross section of the vine, so you had to position it well.
“Everyone get out of the way.”
People were bitten, considering the possibility of the vines falling down. I didn’t even worry about whether I could cut it or not.
My physical condition wasn’t completely improved, but it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t even use a skill.
“You can cut around here.”
…Help me with this? While the people were leaving, I stopped measuring the position of the bell and checked the height Berserker was pointing at.
Unlike me, who was unconscious and unable to see the body, she must have been watching all night, so I thought it would be better to follow her opinion.
“good.”
“okay!”
Still, I can’t leave it there forever. After kicking out the Berserker, I held the two-hender tightly. Whack, whack, whack. Something is constantly rustling under the vine I stepped on.
“I don’t know what kind of trick it is, but…”
If you don’t know the identity of that sound at all, that’s not the case. But you will know exactly when you see it anyway.
“I’ll expose you.”
I suppressed my speculation for a moment and swung my sword. The pitch-black magical blade started from the blade of the Twohender and grew steadily until it became a blade tens of meters long.
Suddenly! The taste was felt exactly. I cut it.
“Is that a human…?”
“It’s huge….”
“But why doesn’t it fall?”
I cut myself, but why doesn’t it go over? I blinked my eyelids once, looking at the faint cut marks left behind.
…It’s not like they cut it too sharply and it can’t be separated, like they often do in that cartoon, right?
“Acho!!”
At that time, a huge figure flew over me. thud! Berserk was throwing a very powerful kick at the vine.
Tilt.
Even that worked. The unwavering vines began to fall like dominoes. Because of the weight, it was extremely slow, but it fell anyway.
“let’s go!”
“….”
Still, I fell slowly, so I had enough time to avoid it.
I kept a safe distance from Berserker. It wasn’t too wide open. We had to keep our distance to observe the inside before the new beanstalk of Lake Biryu grew.
“Haha fun!”
It wasn’t that difficult. It was slower than the sea dragon.
Kwaangkwaang!
I quickly looked inside as the vine collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.
However, the inside that was revealed when the wall was removed was more serious than I thought.
“…!”
“Oh, the devil’s body is gone.”
“…I ate.”
I couldn’t believe it, but my prediction turned out to be correct.
The crunching sound was a gnawing sound. And the corpse of the Great Devil was given to something else.
“Are the vines no longer growing?”
Well, I guess there’s no need to raise it anymore, whether it’s because you get caught or because you’re done with the shopping.
Personally, I think it is the latter. The only traces of Moby Dick left now were hair and a bit of silk fin skin.
“…?”
But what is that?
I jumped down, suppressing the rising fishy smell. The overflowing blood made my ankles sticky like a swamp, but I was able to hold on.
My leg went towards what was left of a few bones and pieces of fleshy intestines. Originally, this was where the devil’s upper body should have been.
“Did you find anything?”
Sigh.
And from the center, I grabbed something.
“I didn’t know that tigers even eat dead bodies.”
The tail of a white tiger, probably belonging to Lake Biryu, was held in my hand. It was bigger than a human’s upper body, as if it were an ancient animal.
* * *
“I’m sorry, Lord Soseong.”
Camburgh again.
“It was my fault for not being able to stop him even though I was there.”
Residents who obtained fragments of the truth naturally tried to reveal the truth.
The fact that it ended up being a moderate protest was probably out of consideration for Soseongju’s reputation and not for anyone else.
This is the reputation of Soseongju, who silently fought for the residents while covering up their nonsense even while Seongju and his son were causing mischief.
“I will gladly accept any punishment.”
However, even if this is the case, the fact that the inability to control information caused a useless dispute does not disappear.
Johanna pleaded guilty to her master.
“There’s no need to apologize, Johanna.”
no. Even though she said it wasn’t her responsibility, she was also at fault for not being able to stop it even though she was there.
Rather than overlooking it just because they were friends, it is more appropriate to punish them harshly.
“no. “Take responsibility…”
“Oh, it really wasn’t your fault, so don’t apologize.”
“But…”
“I personally told him about the Biryu Lake in the first place.”
“what?”
I was so embarrassed that even though it was a public event, I spoke informally in a friendly manner. Johanna slapped herself on the cheek and then looked at Xiao Chengzhu again.
Is it because of my mood? Mia seemed a little happy.
“There is no particular reason. “I’m just… curious about what will happen when people find out the truth of the situation.”
No, I wonder what will happen now that you have given people freedom and rights? Are you kidding?
Johanna suppressed her emotions again, thinking that if it weren’t for her master, she might have hit her. Then, instead of feeling bad, I imagined the future my lord would have wanted. I still haven’t quite figured it out.
“Is that why you intended…?”
“Intention… is true. It’s not like I know how to control that guy. I just… left it to fate. “Will he be talking about this or will he have brains and keep his mouth shut?”
“…What would you have done if you hadn’t told me?”
“I thought it was fate and tried to accept it.”
But the more I listened, the more the tendency became worse.
Johanna placed her hand on her temple as she felt her heart flutter in a different way. I wanted to grab his forehead or the back of his neck, but I didn’t have the courage to do so in front of my lord.
“So what are you going to do now?”
“Well, that’s fine. First, we have to let people know the truth they want. “Is Biryu-ho really the culprit and why did he do this?”
“Are you going to induce subjugation?”
“no. I’m just going to leave that to heaven. Your opponent is Biryuho, not anyone else. “We don’t know what damage it will cause, so if people don’t want it… we should give up.”
But no matter what Soseongju wants, this one thing is clear. Mia will completely follow people’s opinions.
Even if it means breaking something of yourself.
“…will people take risks?”
So Johanna asked as a friend. Su Seong-ju and Mia, who noticed the nuance, smiled faintly.
“It doesn’t really matter.”
“why?”
“Actually, I was just being grumpy because I knew they wouldn’t come forward. You know that you can’t just kill them even if you want to in the first place, right? “Because I don’t know what the repercussions will be.”
“…you you!”
“You ate very badly, didn’t you? Please watch it though. “They say pain and sorrow shared are halved.”
“…the person who usually shouts that it is twice as much.”
Mia did not respond to Johanna’s scolding. Johanna also stopped talking. My tongue was too bitter to hold my tongue.
“…What if Mia?”
“huh?”
“If people support the subjugation of Biryuho and there are no side effects from killing Biryuho. “What are you going to do then?”
However, the taste of regret is also bitter. She asked for the last time.
In response to Johanna’s question, Mia took out the liquor bottle and dagger she had kept in the dresser.
“What are you asking? Of course I should kill him.”
The dagger struck the bottle’s neck.