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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0005.txt
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Prologue
IT WAS THE FIFTEENTH DAY of the seventh lunar month, and the sky was still dark.
Night owls large and small had already returned to their nests. At this time, even the busy streets of Dragon City had begun to empty. Only the occasional insect call emerged from the bushes—sometimes there, sometimes not, making you feel nervous and jumpy.
It was 2:30 a.m. Dew began to appear and the air grew moist, sticky with humidity.
Perhaps it was the wind that made it appear as if the shadow of something constantly hovered in corners. Walking down the street, it seemed like something was always behind you, staring.
It was at this hour that Guo Changcheng walked into the courtyard of 4 Bright Avenue, clutching his notice.
Guo Changcheng, having lost both of his parents at a young age, had been brought up by relatives. He had an unremarkable appearance, had stumbled through a third-rate university, and in terms of personality, was unsociable and cowardly. Unable to find a job after graduation, he had stayed at home doing nothing for the larger part of a year. Some time later, his second uncle, who’d begun to rise through the ranks in the Ministry of Public Security, had forged the necessary connections to find a useless job for his useless nephew, to at least give him something to do.
Guo Changcheng had assumed his future would involve wearing a uniform, parking himself in the gatehouse, making a pot of tea when he got there, working nine to five, and welcoming and bidding farewell to visitors…until this peculiar “Letter of Acceptance” arrived.
When Guo Changcheng first received it, he’d thought someone had made a mistake. In very official Communist-red print, it declared:
Comrade Guo Changcheng,
Congratulations on your acceptance into our department. Here you will enjoy the benefits of a State Civil Servant, while also bearing the weighty responsibility of serving the people. We hope that from this day forward, at this new job, you will be passionate about your work, respect your position, forge ahead with determination, obey your leaders, love and stand in unity with your colleagues, and contribute to the social stability and national prosperity of the country.
On August 31 (the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month) at 2:30 a.m., please bring your Resident Identity Card and this Letter of Acceptance and report to our department in a timely manner (Address: 4 Bright Avenue, first floor, HR Department).
On behalf of all the employees in our department, we welcome you as our good comrade.
People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Public SecuritySpecial Investigations DepartmentX year, X month X day
Usually, when asked to report at such a bizarre time, a normal person would assume there was a typo and would at least call ahead to confirm. But Guo Changcheng had always been terrified of social interactions, and staying at home for more than half a year had given him a severe case of telephone phobia. As soon as he even thought about having to call someone, he felt so stressed that he couldn’t sleep for nights on end.
He procrastinated in this way until midnight on the day of August 31, and he still hadn’t made the call.
And so Guo Changcheng came up with an idea that he thought would be the best of both worlds: he decided to pull an all-nighter. At 2:30 a.m., he would go take a look. If no one was there, he would go to the nearby McDonald’s and make do for the night. Then, at 2:30 p.m., he would go back. Either way, he would be there at the correct time.
In the middle of the night, all public transportation had stopped running. Guo Changcheng’s only option was to drive himself. With much difficulty and the help of a GPS, he finally found the right place.
It turned out that 4 Bright Avenue wasn’t right on a street but rather in a well-hidden courtyard. Guo Changcheng stood at the yard’s gate and examined it closely for a long while before using his cell phone light to find the house number on a little plaque under the thick ivy. Below the building number, a tiny row of words carved into the rock said: Special Investigations Department. Under that was a Public Security logo.
The landscaping inside the courtyard was very well done. At the entrance was a parking lot, and when you walked in, there was a row of pagoda trees with leaves so thick and dense they resembled a small forest. Only a narrow path was left open. After Guo Changcheng passed through, he finally saw a little building that looked like the gatehouse.
There really was someone inside—the lights were still on. Through the window, Guo Changcheng saw a uniformed silhouette wearing a police hat, with a newspaper in hand. Once in a while, they flipped the page. Guo Changcheng took a deep breath, so nervous his hands were sweating. His empty brain didn’t even have time to consider why the doorman was still at work at this hour.
“I’m here to report, this is my letter of acceptance. I’m here to report, this is my letter of acceptance. I’m here to report, this is my letter of acceptance.”
Guo Changcheng mumbled to himself like he was reciting a textbook, the lines tumbling around and around in his mouth dozens of times. He finally gritted his teeth, walked over, and knocked shakily on the gatehouse window. Before the person within had fully looked up, Guo Changcheng said, in a breath as weak as thread, as if uttering his last words, “I-I’m here to acceptance… This is my letter of report…”
Confused, the middle-aged man in the gatehouse put down his newspaper and asked, “Huh?”
In spite of his efforts, he’d still managed to mangle his lines. Guo Changcheng wanted to cry, but he didn’t have the tears. The stress turned his face into a purple sweet potato.
Mercifully, the man saw the letter of acceptance in his hand and immediately understood. “Oh… Oh! You’re our new comrade, right? How should I address you? Oh, I see it! Xiao-Guo! We haven’t had a new person in quite a few years. So, not easy finding this place, is it?”
Guo Changcheng finally let out the breath he had been holding. He loved people like this, warm and brimming with enthusiasm. As long as the other person’s mouth was moving, he only had to nod or shake his head. No need to string words together.
“Let me tell you, you’re in luck. It just so happens that our boss is here tonight as well. Come, I’ll take you to meet him.”
As soon as Guo Changcheng heard that, his hair stood on end. He didn’t feel lucky at all—rather, he felt a puff of misfortune float up from his head like a ghost.
Guo Changcheng was good for nothing. Powerful people, such as bosses, were his greatest fear. Ever since childhood, the mere sight of a teacher made his calf cramp. If he saw the principal, even from twenty meters away, he would still change paths to avoid them. He was clearly a law-abiding citizen, but every time he saw the armed police who stood guard on National Day, he reacted like a mouse who’d spied a cat, which made other people throw suspicious glances his way.
Meet the boss? You might as well ask him to go meet a ghost!
Just as cold sweat began to pour out of him in buckets, there came the sound of footsteps. A young man walked out of 4 Bright Avenue’s little garden with long strides. There was a cigarette in his mouth, and his hands were shoved in his pants pockets. He was tall, with upright shoulders, thick brows, deep-set eyes, and a defined nose. He was very handsome, even if his expression was a little dark.
The man’s brows were furrowed, and he walked so fast that wind seemed to rise in his footsteps. The message on his face was clear: “Don’t block the way, don’t bug me, and fuck off.”
In a stroke of misfortune, Guo Changcheng happened to meet his gaze and was immediately terrified by those black eyes, beautiful yet cold. His instinct told him that this hot guy had a bad temper.
But when the hot-tempered hottie realized who Guo Changcheng was, he suddenly braked. In the next moment, his expression transformed, fluid as that of a master actor. That thunderous look was abruptly one of sunshine and open skies, with a kind smile that spread naturally across his face faster than one could turn a page. Along with that smile, two shallow dimples appeared on his cheeks. The cigarette still in his mouth made the corners of his lips seem a bit crooked. With his eyes crinkled a little, he seemed as if he might be up to no good—but just the right amount of no good, which lent him an approachable air.
“See, speak of the devil! Come, young man, and get to know him. This is our boss.” The doorman gave Guo Changcheng a shove. Guo Changcheng stumbled forward half a step and heard the person behind him say loudly, “Director Zhao, we finally have a new coworker.”
Director Zhao extended a hand toward Guo Changcheng, open and friendly. “Hello, hello! The warmest of welcomes.”
Guo Changcheng rubbed his damp palms on his pants as if his body wasn’t under his control and then, embarrassingly, extended the wrong hand. He shrank back at once like he’d been electrocuted. The armpits and back of his T-shirt were immediately soaked in sweat. A new world map slowly took shape on his shirt.
Director Zhao didn’t give him a hard time. Instead, he patted Guo Changcheng’s shoulder as if nothing had happened. Casual pleasantries rolled easily off his tongue. “Don’t be nervous; all the comrades who work here are friendly and united. Now, today’s your first day, so I should take you around and introduce you to everyone, but the thing is, today’s also a special day. We’re honestly just too busy. We might not be able to get you properly settled for a bit; I hope you don’t mind.
“Later, I’ll take charge of throwing you a welcome party. Though it’s the middle of the night now… Hey, how about this. I’ll get lao-Wu to take you inside to find Wang Zheng, our head of HR, and ask her to complete all your onboarding procedures. Then you can go home and rest for the day. Come back and report tomorrow morning, okay?”
Guo Changcheng nodded hastily.
For all that Director Zhao had been burning with impatience before, at this moment, as they stood there and talked, his speech was unhurried. It didn’t make his conversation partner feel iced out or dismissed. He was clearly very smooth when it came to dealing with people.
“Sorry, there’s something urgent I need to take care of, so I have to head off. If there’s anything you need, just come find me directly. Don’t be shy. From now on, we’re all family. Sorry for the trouble you took to make the trip today!” Director Zhao smiled apologetically at Guo Changcheng, then waved at lao-Wu before rushing off.
Lao-Wu had to be a loyal fan of Director Zhao. Even though he’d just listened to a round of empty bullshit that had nothing to do with him, he was as happy as a clam. As he led Guo Changcheng into the office building, he went on and on, “Our Director Zhao is young and capable, has an even temperament, and doesn’t ever throw his authority around with anyone or in any situation…”
Guo Changcheng, still fear-struck from the misfortune of meeting his boss, was too scattered to pay proper attention as he listened. Like an echo bug,1 he could only nod agreeably.
Because Guo Changcheng had always been too afraid to look people in the eye, he completely failed to notice that old Mr. Wu, who was leading the way, was as white as a sheet under the lights. His lips were bloodred, the corners of his mouth extended all the way to his ears, and as his mouth opened and closed, one could see that he was missing a tongue.
Inside the office building, people were coming and going, and they all looked extraordinarily busy.
At this point, the weirdness of the situation finally began to properly dawn on Guo Changcheng. Ordinarily, even if an urgent matter required working overtime until midnight, would the staff of the gatehouse and HR department need to keep them company?
Beside him, lao-Wu explained quietly, “Xiao-Guo, don’t get the wrong idea. In the future, as long as there aren’t any major cases, you’ll mostly be working during the day. It’s just these couple of days out of the year during the seventh lunar month when we’re so busy that night and day tend to blur together. You get something to show for it, though! Overtime pay is three times your usual, and your monthly bonus will be double too.”
Guo Changcheng was even more baffled. What was this stuff about “the seventh lunar month is so busy” supposed to mean? Did criminals have mid-year summary meetings and experience exchange conferences too? Following the lunar calendar?
But fear of coming across as stupid made him too embarrassed to ask. He just nodded, confused. “Mm.”
Lao-Wu continued, “I usually work the night shift. We have a different colleague in the gatehouse during the day. You probably won’t see me that often in the future.” He sighed. “The truth is, I’m happy to spend time with you young people. Did you just graduate? From which school? What were you studying?”
Guo Changcheng described his unimpressive academic background, ashamed. At the end, in a voice as thin as a mosquito’s buzz, he added, “I’m not very good at studying.”
“Aiya, what do you mean?! You’re a university student!” Lao-Wu hurriedly continued, “I just love cultured young people. I’d never be able to do it. When I was younger, my family was poor. When I was seven or eight, I attended a sishu with the xiansheng2 in the village for a few years. All these years later, I’ve pretty much given everything I’ve learned back to that xiansheng. I can’t even read most characters; I can barely read the newspaper.”
What year was this? A sishu?
Once again, Guo Changcheng didn’t understand, but he was still afraid of seeming stupid, and embarrassment kept him silent.
Happily, lao-Wu said, “Here we are!”
Guo Changcheng looked up to see “Department of Human Resources” in large text on the door, written in red on a white background. The red struck him as off somehow, but he had trouble putting a finger on why. After giving the words a long stare, it suddenly clicked: that rusty red was the color of dried blood!
Standing beside Guo Changcheng, lao-Wu knocked on the door. “Is xiao-Wang here? I brought a new comrade who’ll be joining us. Can we bother you for a second to complete the onboarding process?”
After a beat of silence, an airy, female voice came from inside. “Mm, coming.”
The voice seemed awfully distant, but also as if it was floating right by his ear. When Guo Changcheng heard it, he shivered reflexively. A chill brushed the nape of his neck.
But lao-Wu, seemingly oblivious, chattered on. “I’m so sorry, xiao-Guo, making you come all this way in the middle of the night. But there’s no helping it—our xiao-Wang is just like me. We can only work the night shift, so all the new employment procedures need to be done at this time.”
Wait…
What did he mean they could only work the night shift?
Why couldn’t they work during the day…?
A fresh layer of icy sweat gushed out of Guo Changcheng’s back. Trembling with fright, he finally steeled his nerves and swept his eyes across the passing employees. With a single glance, he saw a person wearing a uniform float past him, his feet unmistakably not touching the ground…
Or rather…he…h-h-he didn’t have feet!
The door to the office creaked open in front of them, the hinges emitting a hoarse moan. A young woman in a white dress appeared. In a wisp of a voice that made Guo Changcheng erupt in goosebumps, she said, “Did you bring your letter of acceptance and your ID?”
Cold, gloomy wind billowed out from the office. Guo Changcheng’s heart felt like it was suspended in his throat, no longer beating. He held his breath and looked up slowly. His gaze slid across the white dress, unsullied by even a single speck of dust, and finally landed on the girl’s bare neck…
A gurgling noise rose from Guo Changcheng’s throat as if he were being choked. Mouth agape, eyes so wide that they threatened to fall out, he took a step back. Fear coursed through him.
Upon closer inspection, he saw what looked like a red thread around the woman’s neck. But it was no accessory—it lay too close to her skin… Rather, it was a tight line of stitches that held her head to her neck!
A frigid hand came to rest on his shoulder. From right by his ear, lao-Wu’s voice said, “Hey, xiao-Guo, what’s wrong?”
Guo Changcheng whipped his head around to stare directly at lao-Wu’s face—a face that looked as if it were made from papier-mâché, with a large, bloody mouth that reached his ears.
Earlier, Guo Changcheng had foolishly thought that meeting his boss would be worse than meeting a ghost, and now he was suffering the consequences of his words. Tonight he’d not only met his boss—he’d met some real ghosts!
His dear uncle truly had found him just the loveliest, most extraordinary job.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0007.txt
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THE STREETLIGHTS were no brighter than fireflies. They did little to illuminate the night through which a girl fled, darting across the uneven cobblestones. She suddenly tripped and fell, knees slamming into the ground.
Fingers twisting nervously in her shirt, Li Qian gasped for air. The summer night was so humid that it was like trying to breathe inside a steamer basket. All she could hear was the thunder of her own heart and the sound of approaching footsteps.
That rustling could only come from old soft-soled fabric shoes. There was a sluggishness to the steps, a shuffling that suggested an elderly person whose legs were no longer what they’d once been.
She whipped her head around, but other than tiny bugs flitting randomly under the light, there was nothing behind her.
Li Qian was a pretty girl with delicate features, but at the moment her hair was a mess; much of it had come loose and was plastered to her skin with sweat. Her lips were as pale as her face. No one could be beautiful under the circumstances, not even her. Her expression slowly contorted into something strange—a look of fear, or perhaps resentment.
She leapt up. “Don’t even think of following me!” Teeth gritted, she snarled, “I shook you off once, and I can do it again.”
The footsteps stopped.
Li Qian rolled up her sleeves. Her pale arms prickled with goosebumps despite the summer heat and humidity, as if she was chilled by something invisible. She snatched up a brick from the ground. The inescapable sound of the footsteps all around her felt like rot spreading through her bones.
There could be nothing more petrifying than seeing nothing.
Li Qian started screaming, flailing the brick around in a panic. It grew heavier and heavier, its rough surface rubbing her palm raw. Exhaustion spread black spots across her vision. Gasping, she bent over, leaning her weight on her knees. Her gaze drifted to the ground.
Her pupils immediately contracted, and her whole body began to shake. The brick dropped from her hand onto her toes, exposed in her sandals, but she seemed not to notice. With great effort, she backed up a few steps, then sat down hard as her legs gave out.
The shadow… The shadow!
She was right in front of the streetlamp. How could there be such a clear shadow in the pool of light it cast?
It was like a splash of ink on the ground. Who knew how long it had been there, watching her?
Li Qian lay paralyzed, but the shadow remained upright.
Are you guilty? If not, why are you afraid of the shadow?
She thought she heard a sharp laugh.
Early in the morning, before 5 a.m., the phone on the bedside table rang as if trying to wake the dead.
Zhao Yunlan had worked all night. After getting home, he hadn’t even undressed, just rolled straight into bed. It felt as if he’d barely drifted off before being dragged back to consciousness. Expressionless, he opened his eyes; his heavy lids accentuated them, making his double eyelids even more pronounced. He stared at the ceiling with something like hate.
Three seconds later, like a corpse reanimated, he finally lurched upright. His head felt like it was full of glue, but he managed to grab his phone from the bedside table.
To say Zhao Yunlan’s apartment was as messy as a doghouse would be a grave insult to dogs everywhere. Clothes were strewn all over the bed and floor; it was impossible to tell whether he planned to wash or wear them. All manner of junk was piled on the queen-sized bed, some of it almost beyond human imagination. The lone sock draped over the corner of a laptop was one thing, and the presence of sunglasses and an umbrella wasn’t wholly bizarre, but it would be a stretch to explain the tall hat folded from white paper or the huge jug of cinnabar powder.3
All of this clutter had been pushed into a heap, leaving only a nest big enough for one person to lie in—and he’d probably dug out that space just before lying down.
Zhao Yunlan answered the call, looking ready to unleash a torrent of abuse. “What now?”
On the other end of the line, Wang Zheng got right to the point. “Director Zhao, there’s been a death.”
“When?”
“Last night or early this morning.”
“Where?”
“University Street.”
“Mm…” Zhao Yunlan rubbed his face, expression savage. “Send lao-Chu to check it out.”
“Chu Shuzhi went to Xiangxi for a work trip.”
“What about Lin Jing?”
“He was lent to the Netherworld.”
“Then Zhu Hong—no, scratch that. It was the full moon yesterday, so she asked for leave. Who’s left?”
“Me,” Wang Zheng said. “But it’s nearly sunrise, so my shift is ending soon. Otherwise, there’s Daqing and the new intern, Guo Changcheng.”
Zhao Yunlan yawned and said, listlessly, “Have Daqing go with the intern to take a look. Let the kid get his feet wet.”
Almost inflectionless, Wang Zheng said, “Intern Guo Changcheng can’t go anywhere just now. When he came to report last night, he passed out from terror. He may simply be asleep now, rather than unconscious, but regardless, he still hasn’t woken up.”
Zhao Yunlan paused at that. Then he asked, “What scared him into passing out?”
“Lao-Wu and I.” Wang Zheng gave a scrupulous report, concluding with, “I told you ages ago to have a professional funeral store make lao-Wu a proper body. Zhu Hong’s hands are clumsier than her feet. Even the beanbags she sews leak everywhere. No papier-mâché person she makes will ever pass for human.”
Zhao Yunlan sat silently on the edge of his bed. Recognizing his lack of available minions, all he could do was sigh sleepily. “All righty, I’ll be there shortly for a look. Tell Daqing to wait for me.”
After hanging up, he yelled in frustration, swore, then took three minutes to wash up before speeding toward University Street.
As Zhao Yunlan passed through the intersection and decelerated, a black shadow descended from the sky. Like a grenade, a round animal slammed into the hood of his car, nearly denting it. The metal clanged with the impact.
Zhao Yunlan immediately stomped on the brakes, sucking a sharp breath through his teeth. He stuck his head out the window. “This is a motor vehicle, sir, not your litter box! Could you please take it easy?”
Perched on the hood was an utterly black cat. Atop the mere suggestion of a neck was a face like a persimmon; his body was a perfect sphere. With great effort, he sucked in his belly while folding his hind legs beneath him. Only after overcoming those challenges could he extend his front legs—short compared to his round belly—and assume a dignified sitting pose.
This big kitty with his persimmon face took a quick look all around. Seeing no one nearby, his whiskers quivered as he slowly opened his mouth. A rather deep male voice emerged. “Cut the bullshit and get out here. Can’t you smell it?”
The smell in the air was indeed unspeakably disgusting. Zhao Yunlan parked on the side of the road and got out, then immediately covered his nose. Brow furrowed, he asked, “What is this stink?! Did you let one loose?”
The massive black cat ignored him and jumped down, hitting the ground with the force of a thunderbolt. Wiggling his butt directly at Zhao Yunlan, he prowled on ahead, radiating majesty and confidence.
Quite a few police cars were already parked on the other side of the road. Caution tape had been slapped across the entrance of a narrow alley.
Rummaging in his pocket, Zhao Yunlan finally found a tattered work ID. The young officer by the caution tape had his back to the crime scene, looking green around the gills. He took the ID and barely glanced at it before shoving it against Zhao Yunlan’s chest and making a dash for the wall. He leaned against it and threw up, unable to bear it anymore.
Zhao Yunlan grasped at his bird’s-nest hair, which looked like a horde of animals had stampeded through it. “Is my beautiful ID photo that revolting?”
The black cat had gone a few steps ahead. Seeing Zhao Yunlan dilly-dallying, he had to turn back, giving him a long meow. His fur stood on end.
“Okay, okay, okay, don’t rush me. Aiya, this smell could kill you from ten paces.” Zhao Yunlan ducked under the caution tape.
As soon as he was on the other side, someone hurried over to greet them. Voice muffled by the tissue clamped over his nose, he asked, “Are you the comrade from the Special Investigations Department?”
Within the Public Security System was a mysterious department called the Special Investigations Department. It was no low-level division, but no one knew exactly what those people did or what their procedures were. The simple fact was, whenever someone from the Special Investigations Department showed up, it meant the order had come directly from above and there was no room for argument.
But if they didn’t come, there was no way to find them.
They were within the Public Security System, but in many ways independent from it. The organization was very secretive, with no transparency as to what they did or why. Without special permission, the media couldn’t even catch a glimpse of the SID, never mind get close enough to interview them. No one knew what their criminal procedures were or how they built their indictments. The only thing that was clear was that once a case was handed to them, it vanished into a black box.
Nothing was shared with the public but the case’s conclusion, shrouded in mystery—and sometimes the staff of the SID were even more mysterious than the work they did.
Their case reports were comprehensive, detailing the cause, the course of events, the conclusion, the suspect’s identity, and the circumstances that led to apprehending the perpetrators. Every step they’d taken was plainly laid out with meticulous logic and clear formatting. There was no fault to be found.
The only problem was that by the time any given case was closed, the culprits were all dead.
The officer in charge at this particular crime scene was an older man by the name of Yang. He shook Zhao Yunlan’s hand, curiously looking him up and down. “What do I call you?” he asked politely.
“My name’s Zhao—Zhao Yunlan. Please, just call me xiao-Zhao.”
This was a shock for lao-Yang, who had certainly not expected the current SID director to make an appearance. Director Zhao looked to be about thirty years old, which was a little young for the job. He was tall, lean, and very good looking. But his shirt was wrinkled, its top two buttons undone and only half of the hem tucked into his pants. Between that and the veritable bird’s nest on his head, he was rather unkempt.
Lao-Yang exclaimed, “Aiyou! You’re Director Zhao! Wh-why, I should have realized. I just didn’t expect such a young, promising leader!”
Zhao Yunlan, accustomed to this reaction, smoothly offered a few pleasantries in return.
At the sound of a “meow,” lao-Yang looked down, barely in time to see a dark shadow race up to Zhao Yunlan’s shoulders via his pant leg. It was a black cat with deep green eyes. A green-eyed black cat materializing at a murder scene should have been extremely creepy, but this potentially creepy cat bro was so plump that he seemed more like a lucky cat beckoning fortune in.
The overall effect was that Director Zhao’s head seemed on the verge of being pushed off his shoulders, which gave the cat a bit of a comical air.
Lao-Yang and the cat stared at each other for some time. “This… This is…”
Zhao Yunlan awkwardly hiked up his pants, which had nearly been dragged down by the cat’s weight. Tilting his head, he laughed dryly. “This is our Director Kitty. Ordinarily, he supervises our work very closely, and since he saw us goofing off and chatting, he’s unhappy now.”
“…”
Lao-Yang was at a loss.
The black cat meowed smugly, his long tail swishing impatiently. When he lifted his head, Zhao Yunlan immediately understood. He grasped a little tag from around the cat’s neck and worked it free from the rolls of fat to show lao-Yang. “This is a special permit from the SID. It’s exactly like our work ID, giving him access to any crime scene. Don’t worry, he’s an old cat. He won’t cause any trouble.”
Still silent, lao-Yang was starting to think there was bullshit afoot.
After lao-Yang made a round of calls confirming that the man with the bird’s-nest head and the cat weren’t frauds, Zhao Yunlan and his master cat finally entered the crime scene.
The closer they got, the thicker the stench became.
A girl’s corpse lay inside the narrow alley, wearing a shirt that said “Dragon City University Orientation.” Her eyes were wide and unfocused, her limbs were splayed out, and her mouth was agape. Her abdomen had been sliced open by a sharp implement and the organs had been removed, leaving her like a big doll with its stuffing pulled out.
Lao-Yang had the tissue back over his nose, his features twisted.
The fat cat on Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder uttered a long yowl, jumped to the ground, and circled the corpse twice. He then stopped at a spot and sat, looking up at Zhao Yunlan. He seemed almost as well trained as a drug dog. Zhao Yunlan walked over, putting on wrinkled gloves pulled from his pants pocket. He felt around the area where the cat sat, then carefully lifted one of the corpse’s arms.
Lao-Yang craned his neck. On the ground, where it had been hidden by the arm, was half a bloody handprint.
The handprint was starkly inhuman. The palm was as small as a child’s, but the fingers were at least twenty centimeters long. Lao-Yang, a lifelong officer, had never seen such a thing. As he stared in shock, he heard Zhao Yunlan say in an unusually serious voice, “As of now, the Special Investigations Department is taking charge of this case. Follow-up procedures will be completed within two business days.”
Before lao-Yang could answer, Zhao Yunlan pointed at a small, dilapidated door on the wall next to them. “And what might this be?”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0008.txt
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THIS WAS A SIDE DOOR on Dragon City University’s perimeter wall.
Dragon City University was a renowned institution with a long history. Like many other schools, DCU had relocated its main campus to the city’s outskirts. Within the city proper, where land was worth more than gold, only a fraction of the administration offices and a few graduate departments remained on the old campus. As a result, the few students there were outnumbered by tourists.
Zhao Yunlan had been standing at the entrance to a dorm building holding the black cat for half an hour when Guo Changcheng finally arrived. That was when Zhao Yunlan began to realize that the intern he had so hastily greeted the night before was a useless embarrassment. Guo Changcheng shrank into himself when he walked, shoulders hunched; his head was always down as if he was ashamed, and his hair nearly covered his eyes. All of this, along with his funereal, all-black attire, made him seem lethargic. He resembled nothing so much as a mushroom swaying in the breeze.
Narrowing his eyes, Zhao Yunlan whispered to the cat in his arms, “What do you think Wang Zheng said to him? You’d think he’d been forced into a life of crime.”
The black cat yawned lazily. “Mama Zhao, you’re exaggerating.”
Guo Changcheng shuffled up to them, for all the world as if he’d been kidnapped and dragged into the mountains to be a bandit’s bride. On the verge of tears, he mumbled, “…told me to meet you at the crime scene.”
Very deliberately, Zhao Yunlan asked, “Sorry, who did you say sent you? Can you speak up, or do we need to get you a microphone?”
Guo Changcheng shuddered violently. “W-W-Wang, Wang—”4
“Meow,” Daqing put in.
Disappointment darkened Zhao Yunlan’s mood. The previous night he’d brushed past Guo Changcheng without registering that his new employee could barely string a sentence together.
He went through the motions in a tone that didn’t quite sound sincere. “You already know what we saw at the crime scene, right? This is the dorm the victim lived in. Come with me and we’ll take a look.”
He turned and entered the dorm as he spoke but didn’t hear anyone coming in behind him. Looking back, he saw that Guo Changcheng’s eyes had locked on to the fierce-looking auntie who oversaw the dorm; fear had struck Guo Changcheng silent and rooted him in place. Zhao Yunlan could only rein in his temper and gesture patiently, as if calling to a dog. “Why are you standing at the door like an idiot? I already spoke to her. You don’t need to announce yourself. Just come in.”
It would’ve been better if he’d kept his mouth shut. As soon as Guo Changcheng heard, he reflexively straightened up and announced himself, “I-I’m here!” Then, realizing he’d made a fool of himself, he went completely stiff; he became a blushing plank in the entryway.
This time, Zhao Yunlan bit his tongue. His first impression of the intern could best be summed up as “What a dumbass.”
Inside the girls’ dorm, room 202 was a standard double. The black cat jumped down from Zhao Yunlan’s arms and carefully inspected under the bed and cabinet, then leaped to the windowsill, where he lowered his head and sniffed. Suddenly, he turned his head and sneezed heavily.
Guo Changcheng had suffered a great scare the night before, but now, after some observation, he had confirmed that his attractive boss did in fact throw a shadow in daylight. Mustering up the courage to study Zhao Yunlan more closely, he concluded that, although the overnight shift had done a number on Zhao Yunlan’s appearance, he might be genuinely human. Thus reassured, he finally relaxed a little and stuck close to his boss’s heels, like a little tail.
Zhao Yunlan reached into the box of cigarettes in his pocket and took one with the ease of long practice. Putting it between his lips, he lit it, then went to the window and patted the cat’s backside in a signal to move over. Bending toward the windowsill, he squinted and exhaled a puff of smoke.
The smoke’s smell wasn’t pungent. It held a note of mint and a refreshing herbal scent, and combined with his subtle cologne, it had a relaxing effect. It took a special kind of talent to be so ragged and yet so provocative.
“Look,” he said. Guo Changcheng obediently looked down. A shudder racked him at the sight of a print on what had been an unmarked windowsill—the handprint of a human skeleton.
Zhao Yunlan leaned closer and sniffed it calmly. “There isn’t any stench. Only an old, experienced cat would be able to smell it.”
The black cat’s mouth opened. “So it wasn’t this?”
Suddenly hearing the cat speak, Guo Changcheng whipped his head around hard enough that his neck cracked.
Zhao Yunlan shook his head within the smoke, looking pensive. Disregarding Guo Changcheng entirely, he turned to the cat and said, “I’m afraid not. Things that can kill don’t smell like this.”
As he pushed the window open, his gaze inadvertently fell on Guo Changcheng, who was so pale that he seemed like he might drift away. It was clear that his entire view of the world had been toppled and his nerves were tying themselves in a bow. Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help wanting to mess with him. “Okay, kid, get up there and see what’s outside the window.”
“Um…” Guo Changcheng replied.
“What do you mean, ‘um’? Smarten up, young man! Hurry!”
Guo Changcheng swallowed hard. He stuck his head out and realized just how high up the second floor was, and his knees went weak. But the thought of turning to Zhao Yunlan and saying “I’m too scared” was clearly even further beyond his courage and communication ability.
Ultimately, the poor child was caught between a rock and a hard place. His boss was more frightening, so he could only climb onto the balcony window, slow as a snail. There he crouched, too afraid to stand up, clutching the lattice as if his life depended on it. Immobilized by fear, he found he could only move his neck. He turned his head with great effort, trembling as he surveyed his surroundings.
Just then, far too clearly, he saw a reflection in the window. Instantly, every hair on his body stood on end. Terrified and panicked, he realized that the glass wasn’t only reflecting him!
Impossibly, a skeleton lay where he was crouched. The bones of its hand went straight through his ankle, lined up exactly with the handprint on the windowsill, and it was peering into the room.
Guo Changcheng quickly looked down, but there was nothing there!
For a time, he couldn’t tell whether his vision or the window was lying to him. His chest went cold. Even his breathing trembled. Then the skeleton turned, meeting his gaze in the glass…and in the skull’s empty eye sockets, Guo Changcheng saw what seemed to be a person.
The person’s head and body were covered by a cloak and wholly shrouded in black mist, and there was something in their hand…
Before he could get a good look at what the person was holding, a man spoke from below. “Hey, are you a student?! What are you doing hanging out the window?”
The voice badly startled Guo Changcheng, whose nerves were already shot. In a stroke of misfortune, there was a bit of slippery moss on the windowsill; he lost his footing and fell victim to gravity. Zhao Yunlan leaped into action and made a grab for him but only managed to catch a fistful of Guo Changcheng’s helmet-like hair. Guo Changcheng screamed. In shock, Zhao Yunlan lost his grip and just let him drop.
The black cat sat on the windowsill, tail a-swish. “Meow—”
Director Zhao cursed as he raced down the stairs. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
Seeing Guo Changcheng falling, the person who’d spoken up made a hurried attempt to catch him. He was a man with a lean build who, even at the height of summer, was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. He looked clean cut and gentle with rimless glasses that contributed to an elegant, intellectual air. He’d been holding his lesson planner but had dropped it when he reached for Guo Changcheng.
“Are you all right, Tongxue?”5
Thankfully, having only fallen from the second floor, Guo Changcheng was fine, if a bit shaken. Panicked, he turned to look at the windowsill he’d fallen from, only to find it completely empty. It was as if the skeleton hanging outside the window and the black-cloaked figure in its eyes were figments of his imagination.
Legs turning to jelly, Guo Changcheng plopped onto his backside.
“Did you twist your ankle?” The bespectacled man bent down slightly to check on him. “School rules strictly forbid climbing on buildings. It’s too dangerous. Now, I won’t give you any demerits this time. Let me take you to the school clinic?”
Guo Changcheng replied, “N-no need, I’m n-n-not…”
Nervousness always left him tongue-tied, even less able to speak clearly than usual. He felt that he’d probably been born a useless lump of wood. What path could he take through life that didn’t require leeching off a partner? Here he was, first day on the job and already losing his mind.
Zhao Yunlan, having bolted down to the ground floor, grabbed Guo Changcheng by the collar and yanked him upright. What he really wanted was to take off his shoes and dual wield at this precious boy’s face, but with someone else present, he could only swallow his temper. He turned to the man in the glasses and extended a hand. “Hello, we’re from Public Security. The last name’s Zhao. And with whom do I have the honor of speaking?”
Their gazes met, and they both froze.
Out of nowhere, Is he an instructor or the school hottie? flashed across Zhao Yunlan’s mind.
Something flickered over the hot…instructor’s…face. He seemed to instinctively avoid Zhao Yunlan’s hand but quickly recovered. Clearing his throat, he touched his hand to Zhao Yunlan’s for the merest fleeting instant before letting go. “The honor is all mine. The name is Shen—Shen Wei. I teach here. I’m sorry, I mistook that officer for a student staying behind for the summer.”
Shen Wei’s hand had the chill of a corpse fresh from cold storage. Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help giving him another glance, but Shen Wei refused any eye contact, using the excuse of picking up his scattered lesson plans to avoid his gaze. Zhao Yunlan began to help, and the two of them reached for the same piece of paper at the same time.
Under the circumstances—one of them reaching for his own paper, the other simply trying to help—Zhao Yunlan should have been the one to withdraw. Instead, it was Shen Wei who hastily pulled back, as if burned. His lips were pale, but a trace of crimson tinted his cheekbones.
His entire reaction was peculiar for a first meeting. It was as if he feared Zhao Yunlan, but it was more than that. If a criminal with a guilty conscience came face-to-face with a police officer, in addition to being nervous, they would try to sneak peeks at the officer’s reaction rather than fully avoiding their eyes.
It was all rather baffling. Zhao Yunlan started to observe Shen Wei carefully.
The world held all kinds of beauties. Sunny, refreshing, dashing, delicate—the possibilities were endless. But there was one type, like fine porcelain, that at first glance seemed pleasant enough to look at, but not entrancing. Such gentle, elegant beauty didn’t brashly demand attention, but someone with a discerning eye would be drawn in, captivated by the exquisiteness before them.
That was the nature of Shen Wei’s appearance. The longer you looked, the more his beauty was revealed.
Zhao Yunlan had no preference between men or women, and what’s more, he’d been single for a few months. His suspicious gaze changed as lust crept in. His heart, despite the inappropriate timing, skipped a beat.
Just then, the massive spherical black cat wriggled his way over to Shen Wei’s feet. It almost seemed like he was under the influence—after sniffing Shen Wei carefully, neck extended, the cat glued himself to Shen Wei’s leg, meowing piteously. This lordly cat, normally gluttonous and lazy, noble and cold, had never carried out his obligations as a cat so earnestly before. Zhao Yunlan froze at the sight of him shamelessly nuzzling into Shen Wei’s pant leg. Daqing even looked up, as if kissing up to Shen Wei, and stretched his laughably short front legs toward Shen Wei’s knees, begging to be held.
He picked up the cat, who didn’t mind the chill of his touch. With a softer meow, the cat curled into a ball, purring and nuzzling against Shen Wei’s hands.
Shen Wei petted the cat’s head. “What an intelligent cat. Does he have a name?”
“Yeah,” Zhao Yunlan said. “His name is Daqing. Pet name: Fatty. Nickname: Big Dumb Fatty.”
The black cat yowled, fur standing on end as he scratched at Zhao Yunlan. Zhao Yunlan easily evaded his claws and scooped the cat into his own arms, giving Guo Changcheng a look.
Guo Changcheng steeled himself and approached. Opening the document folder he held, he withdrew a female student’s ID, trembling as he passed it to Shen Wei. Speaking to a stranger was intensely difficult for him, but he said, “Sh-Shen-laoshi, h-hello. Could you take a look? Does this person look familiar?”
Shen Wei pushed his glasses up, masking the faintest trace of panic and smoothing out his expression. “I don’t know her. I don’t think she’s taken any of my classes. So the rumors that something happened to a student last night are true?”
Zhao Yunlan studied him, alert to every microexpression. “Yes. This ID was found on the deceased. Where can we find more background information on this student, Shen-laoshi?”
Shen Wei avoided his demanding gaze. “You can try asking at the registrar.”
“Where might the registrar be?” asked Zhao Yunlan immediately. “Would you be so kind as to take us there?” Shen Wei stiffened, but Zhao Yunlan pressed on. “Or is it too much trouble?”
Tightening his grip on his lesson plans, Shen Wei paused. Finally, he reluctantly said, “Follow me.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0009.txt
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DRAGON CITY UNIVERSITY’S original campus had been built during the Chinese Republican era, and it bore the weight of a century of history. There were ancient trees everywhere you looked, creating a canopy that practically blotted out the sky. The architecture of the school buildings hidden within dated back to the days of European Concession; they seemed incredibly old and somehow desolate. Only the administrative office buildings near the west entrance had been built in recent years. They were tall enough to stand out among the older buildings—a sore thumb that ruined the ambiance of the campus.
As soon as they entered this brand-new admin building, Zhao Yunlan’s eyelid twitched reflexively. The building had eighteen floors.6
There had been a time when some real estate developers avoided the number eighteen when numbering floors for residential buildings. But as housing prices skyrocketed and the market boomed, no one could afford to care about that kind of superstition anymore.
A cold, eerie draft came from up ahead. It might have just been the air conditioning. From his place on Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder, Daqing shivered, sharp claws unsheathed and hooked firmly into Zhao Yunlan’s shirt.
Once on the elevator, Shen Wei said, “That student’s ID said she was in the math department. Their faculty office is on the top floor.” He pressed the button for the eighteenth floor.
Out of nowhere, Zhao Yunlan asked, “Shen-laoshi, are you not curious about what happened? Most people have a few questions when they stumble into something like this.”
Shen Wei lowered his head slightly. “It’s the victim who’s important here,” he murmured. “I’m just doing what I can to help you investigate. As for the rest of it, what matters is that you know about it. Whether I know or not isn’t important.”
Zhao Yunlan touched the cat’s back, absentmindedly stroking the black fur. “Not many citizens are so willing to cooperate with our work these days. Our Daqing never gets close to strangers, but he took a real shine to you.”
Shen Wei smiled. He spoke sparingly, as if every word were as precious as gold. “Anyone would do the same.”
Just then, as the elevator reached the fourth floor,7 it suddenly shook and jolted to a halt. The overhead lights flickered twice, perhaps due to faulty wiring. Panicked, Guo Changcheng looked up at Zhao Yunlan, but the man seemed oblivious; he didn’t even blink, just continued to study Shen Wei, deep in thought.
A man’s voice came faintly from the intercom. “Shen-laoshi, what takes you to the eighteenth floor?”
Shen Wei’s expression remained unchanged. “There’s been an accident involving a girl from the math department. These two are police. I’m taking them up to the math department to gain a better understanding of the situation.”
“Oh.” The person speaking seemed slow to react. There was a pause before they continued, voice weak and sluggish. “Okay. Please be careful.”
He’d just finished speaking when everything returned to normal. The lights steadied, and the halted elevator continued upward with a creak, as if nothing at all had happened.
“Scared?” Shen Wei turned around, still only looking at Guo Changcheng while surreptitiously avoiding Zhao Yunlan. “That was probably the building security guard. Last semester, a student died by suicide, jumping from the roof. Since then, if anyone not from the math department wants to go to the top floor, the security guard stops the elevator and asks a few questions to keep such a thing from happening again.”
Guo Changcheng released the breath he was holding, looking faintly nauseated; Zhao Yunlan, however, gave the intercom a considering glance.
The elevator reached its destination, shaking the whole way. The eighteenth floor was desolate, with not even a mosquito or gecko present to provide a spark of life.
Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help but sneeze a few times.
Shen Wei immediately stopped. “Officer Zhao, do you have a cold?”
There was a kind of gentlemanly righteousness to the way Shen Wei lowered his head. Just looking at him was so pleasant that it was nearly impossible to suspect him of anything.
Rubbing his nose, Zhao Yunlan said, “No, no. It’s just that I took one step into this hall and smelled the miserable scent of math homework. Allergies, you know?”
Shen Wei’s eyes crinkled politely at the joke.
“Don’t laugh,” Zhao Yunlan said seriously. “Not that I’m afraid of you laughing. When I was a student, teachers were my mortal enemies. One homeroom teacher confidently predicted that I’d grow up to be a little thug. No one ever would’ve imagined that I’d become a cop. But when I ran into him at a school anniversary and wanted to show off a little, guess what he said?”
“What?” Shen Wei was looking down, watching where he was going, but somehow his side profile gave the strong impression he was listening attentively.
Zhao Yunlan quipped, “That old cynic said, ‘You think I was wrong, Zhao-tongxue? Look at you now—a typical thug in a uniform.”
Zhao Yunlan was used to dealing with all manner of people. He was chatty and articulate, with a silver tongue, and now he quickly dispelled the awkward atmosphere. As the trio walked on, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei continued chatting, still subtly probing each other for information. The echoes of their steps rang off the walls. But hidden beneath the sound of their voices and casual laughter was another noise: the footsteps of a fourth person.
Quiet steps dragged along the floor, rustling like the soft fabric shoes of an elderly person.
The administrative building was constructed in a tower style. As with most such structures, an elevator stood at its center, encircled by the floors’ hallways.
Guo Changcheng couldn’t help noticing that Zhao Yunlan’s watch was silently changing in a peculiar way. Color was spreading from its center, where the hour and minute hands met: a smudge of crimson, darker than vermilion but lighter than ruby, expanded across the watch’s face like ripples on water. This metamorphosis made Zhao Yunlan’s watch seem like an expensive piece of art. The metal straps buckled around his slim, pale wrist gave a strangely uncanny impression of luxury.
Guo Changcheng hesitated. In a small voice, he said, “Director… Director Zhao, your watch…”
“What? Is it turning red?” Zhao Yunlan, who was walking ahead, turned back with his signature smirk. “Know why?”
Guo Changcheng shook his head in total honesty.
Still smiling, Zhao Yunlan said, “Violent ghosts like to wear red. This building’s feng shui isn’t very good. Something filthy could be hiding just about anywhere. Maybe that’s what’s being reflected.”
Guo Changcheng paled as he glanced reflexively at Zhao Yunlan’s watch. This time, the glass showed him a person: an old woman of average build, maybe a bit plump, dressed entirely in black…and looking expressionlessly back at him!
Guo Changcheng’s footsteps stopped abruptly.
But Zhao Yunlan only laughed, as if he hadn’t noticed a thing. He twisted a small knob on the side of his watch, and a cloud of mist erupted within, washing the redness away in a heartbeat. When he looked again, he saw a clean men’s watch of very ordinary design. Its display showed no trace of either creepy red or reflected female ghosts.
“Haven’t you seen those balls under computer mouses that can change color? Same principle. This silly kid—you can tell him anything and he’ll buy it.” Zhao Yunlan abruptly stopped teasing and turned to Shen Wei. “Shen-laoshi is an intellectual who believes in atheism. I’m sure you don’t believe in ghosts, do you?”
“As the old saying goes, ‘Even the most esteemed of scholars does not speak outside the bounds of his knowledge,’” Shen Wei said. “No one can say for certain whether or not ghosts actually exist. Personally, I think that if they exist, then they exist; if they don’t, they don’t. There’s no need to investigate too deeply. ‘Ask not of the people, but of ghosts and gods’ was only done by incompetent rulers in ancient times. If people can’t even figure out their own problems, isn’t it an absurd waste of time to wonder whether ghosts and gods exist?”
He spoke in a very scholarly manner, but his answers danced smoothly around the question. Seeing no use in probing further, Zhao Yunlan smiled and moved on as if nothing had happened. “Shen-laoshi, you teach the humanities?”
“Mm. I teach language classes, as well as a few humanities electives.”
“Ah, that explains it. You know, I heard from a friend in real estate that residential buildings are rarely built like this anymore. Nowadays, it’s usually only commercial office buildings over a hundred meters tall that are built in this tower style. Apart from how hard they are to clean, they don’t have open space to allow for natural lighting, so they aren’t too comfortable to live in. I think that’s the meaning of ‘bad feng shui.’”
Zhao Yunlan took his pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket and shook it. “Oh, right—is smoking allowed here? Do you mind?”
Shen Wei shook his head. Zhao Yunlan flicked the pack with one hand, his other hand in his pocket, and fished a cigarette out with his lips. Eyes slightly downcast, he lit it. A few seconds later, he exhaled a cloud of white smoke with the casual air of an experienced smoker.
Shen Wei had seemed determined not to speak much, but evidently this was a final straw. Brows furrowed, he said, “Smoking and drinking are bad for your health, and Officer Zhao is still so young. It’s best to do such things in moderation.”
Zhao Yunlan smiled but didn’t respond. Hidden by the cloud of smoke, his expression was impossible to make out. Fine ash fell from the cigarette’s tip; intentionally or not, some of it landed on Shen Wei’s shadow. Zhao Yunlan’s gaze swept across the floor, and then he wafted the smoke back toward himself. “In our field, day and night run together sometimes. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but that does make it easy to develop bad habits.”
It seemed Shen Wei wanted to say something else, but as the words reached his lips, he bit them back forcefully. When he spoke again, it was on another topic entirely. “There aren’t many departments on the old campus, so there isn’t much faculty presence. On all eighteen floors here, only the south-facing offices are in use. Most of the other rooms are empty. Turn here and you’ll reach your destination.”
Mold and moss liked to grow in lonely, empty corners, but so did other things.
For whatever reason, the looping hallway of the building didn’t have curved corners; instead it had abrupt sharp angles, which were a huge taboo in feng shui. Superstition aside, it was visually jarring, and anyone approaching a turn had no view at all of what was around the corner. If two people happened to be walking toward the same corner from opposite directions, they would be on a collision course.
Shen Wei led the way, Zhao Yunlan followed closely behind, holding the cat, and Guo Changcheng brought up the rear. As they came toward a corner, Guo Changcheng had the sudden feeling that something was about to lash out of those dark shadows. He could no longer pay attention to the conversation, focused only on that corner ahead. There, dim light shone through a window that was open at a very uncomfortable angle. Its lattice shadow spread across the floor in a stark delineation of light and darkness.
At the edge of that shadow, Guo Changcheng noticed something moving, as if a person were hidden there and stealthily poking their head out. And then…a shape like a hand emerged!
The shadow hand’s fingers suddenly splayed wide, making a fierce grab for Shen Wei’s feet.
Shen Wei appeared oblivious, but Zhao Yunlan grabbed his arm and dragged him back half a step.
“Right, I just remembered something,” Zhao Yunlan said, tapping some cigarette ash into the shadow. The shadowy hand recoiled as if burned. “Where is my mind? We got this case in a rush, so I need to speak to the chancellor or their administrative assistant about what the school needs to do to cooperate. Would you be able to help us get in touch?”
Now, finally, Shen Wei looked at him. The corners of the professor’s eyes gently tapered into a line, slender and elegant, like a delicate brushstroke trailing off. The way his gaze slanted out through his glasses verged on seductive, in an otherworldly way.
He could have stepped out of a supernatural tale, like a scholar who stole the heart of a female ghost and whose image she’d lovingly captured in ink. In such stories, even if the subject of the portrait was as clear as the moon and as smooth as jade, this image of them would still inevitably be tainted by the artist’s sinful aura.
Shen Wei looked down, smiling shyly. The dark seductiveness had evaporated. “You’re right. I really can’t be of any help here, and I might even be a hindrance. The offices on the southern wall are all the math department. You can just go in and inquire. I’ll go speak to the chancellor.”
“Thanks.” Zhao Yunlan extended the hand he’d been keeping in his pants pocket and shook Shen Wei’s hand with a smile. After an unremarkable goodbye, he waved Guo Changcheng along and strode arrogantly into the office area, intern in tow.
For some reason, after a few steps, Guo Changcheng looked back.
Shen Wei had yet to take even a single step from the spot. He’d removed his glasses and was absentmindedly wiping them with the corner of his shirt. In the dim hallway, his shadow stretched out, long against the floor, looking lonely and dejected. The eyes that had so determinedly avoided Zhao Yunlan were now fixed on his back.
There was a dark distance in that intense gaze. His expression held both a sort of restrained yearning and an affection that was almost palpable…but at the same time, there was deep, crushing pain.
Out of nowhere, Guo Changcheng got the feeling that the man had been standing there for thousands and thousands of years.
Shen Wei watched Zhao Yunlan until he turned the corner, then finally noticed Guo Changcheng looking at him.
A polite smile spread across the young professor’s face. He put his glasses back on, as if donning a nonchalant facade. He nodded at Guo Changcheng in acknowledgment, then disappeared into the elevator, as though everything Guo Changcheng had seen was only the misconception of an apprehensive young intern.
“Director Zhao, that man, he…”
“Haven’t you realized that, wherever this is, it’s not the math department?” Zhao Yunlan interrupted. He reached out to wipe the heavy dust on a windowsill, carelessly rubbing the dust between his fingers. “We’re being taken for a ride,” he said evenly. “Do you think it’s a coincidence? Or did that Shen-laoshi do it on purpose?”
Perhaps because Zhao Yunlan looked relatively young, or perhaps because his attitude had been easygoing and warm the entire time, Guo Changcheng gathered up enough confidence to ask, “Then why did you let him go? If he brought us here on purpose, why…”
With one hand holding his cigarette and the other back in his pocket, Zhao Yunlan turned and looked at Guo Changcheng through the swirling smoke. Guo Changcheng’s mouth snapped shut.
“He’s an ordinary human—I checked. You’re new, so it’s okay if you don’t understand these things. We’ll teach you as you go.” Zhao Yunlan’s voice lowered. “In this country, we basically have the same authority as our colleagues in other departments. Even without proof, we can interrogate citizens, ask them to cooperate, suspect them, or even lawfully detain them and bring them in for questioning. But there’s one thing above all that: we absolutely do not have the right to keep an ordinary human in a dangerous situation. If anything happened to them, the consequences would be more than anyone could bear.”
His tone wasn’t harsh—quite the contrary. He was speaking very gently. Perhaps it was the shadowy frigidity of the hallway that made Guo Changcheng shiver.
Zhao Yunlan had already turned away. “As you can probably imagine, the cases that come to us don’t often go through the usual public prosecution procedures. Under certain circumstances, we have the right to deal with those particular wrongdoers on the spot. That kind of authority can be a dangerous thing, so there are rules we must abide by. Do you know what the first one is?”
Guo Changcheng shook his head slowly, then realized the other man had his back to him and hadn’t seen. He flushed in fresh embarrassment.
“Whether dealing with a human or a ghost, without conclusive proof, you must assume they are innocent.” Zhao Yunlan seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. Having answered his own question, he patted the black cat’s rump. “And you, Big Dumb Fatty—what was all that earlier? You were sucking up like a stupid dog!”
The black cat swiped rudely at him and jumped out of his arms, then strode aggressively to stand in front of them. “I just think there’s something strange about that Shen-laoshi. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but being close to him makes me very comfortable.”
“You also feel comfortable when you get close to wandering ghosts, and you especially love hiding dried fish in subterranean caves where corpses were hidden,” Zhao Yunlan pointed out icily.
“You know that’s exactly what I mean, dumbass human,” said the cat disdainfully with a fwip of his tail.
Guo Changcheng had no idea how to respond.
The hallway grew dimmer as they walked, as if they’d entered a dark, endless tunnel. Zhao Yunlan reached for his lighter. It lit with a flick, and the small flame danced restlessly, silently ripping a tiny hole in the boundless darkness. His smile had disappeared. In the firelight, his face had an unhealthy pallor, making him seem tired, but his gaze was intensely focused—darker, in a way, than what surrounded them. A rotting smell came up from the depths of the darkness. Guo Changcheng couldn’t help covering his nose.
“I hate circular halls like these,” Zhao Yunlan said softly. “I hate everything that circles around and around—life and death, again and again, unending.”
Hearing that stretched Guo Changcheng’s nerves as far as he could bear. And then there came a cracking sound, one that immediately made him think of the sound of a gun being cocked on TV. Before he could even ask, he felt the sudden sensation of a light exhalation over the back of his neck. He jumped.
“Get out of the way,” Zhao Yunlan said, as calm as if he were holding a plate of hot dumplings and asking someone to move over.
Guo Changcheng had already flung himself to the ground, nearly wetting his pants. A gunshot rang out in the darkness. A piercing scream came from behind him. If he’d had fur, it would have been standing up more than Daqing’s when someone touched the cat’s butt. His heart beat with such ferocity that it seemed to echo in his chest. It felt as if he’d been terrified into a heart attack.
As he sat on the floor, disheveled, he looked behind him. The weak glow of Zhao Yunlan’s lighter showed a shadow on the wall the size of a five- or six-year-old child. At first glance, it might have been ink someone had smeared there. And at the center, in what would be its chest, there was a bullet wound. A pool of crimson was spreading from it in all directions, as if it were capable of bleeding.
“What is that?” Guo Changcheng asked. There was a shrillness to his voice that even he didn’t recognize.
“Just a shadow. Don’t get worked up over nothing.” Zhao Yunlan reached out and wiped at the black shadow. The bloodred substance began to flake off the wall at his touch, like old, damp paint.
“The… The shadow of what?”
Zhao Yunlan paused, then snapped his head halfway around with a creepy smile. Guo Changcheng could almost feel his soul being dragged in by the man’s frighteningly black eyes. Then, in a bone-chilling whisper, Zhao Yunlan said, “You know, sometimes a person can have more than one shadow.”
Without a sound, Guo Changcheng slid down the wall like a limp noodle.
Zhao Yunlan was speechless.
“It’s all your fault.” Daqing’s tail stood straight in the air as he circled the unconscious Guo Changcheng. This poor little intern was adding fainting into his daily routine. The cat flicked his tail unhappily. “What good does scaring him unconscious do?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Zhao Yunlan kicked Guo Changcheng lightly. The intern slid down further against his leg with absolutely no reaction. “Who knew this fella was sound activated and would faint from a few sentences? I figured at worst he’d piss himself or something.”
Daqing was pointedly silent.
“That way, I can pay his bonus with adult diapers.” Zhao Yunlan reached down, picked Guo Changcheng up, and threw him over one shoulder. He looked like he was carrying a sack of potatoes that jostled with every step. His movements were nimble, but his tone was acidic. “Tell me, whose relative is this, that he just got shoved under my eyelids? What a pain.”
“Apparently an important leader who recently arrived in the ministry is this kid’s uncle,” Daqing said.
Zhao Yunlan asked, expressionless, “Someone who just arrived? Doesn’t he know the Special Investigations Department doesn’t answer to the Ministry of Public Security? Sticking some mortal here with me—does he want his nephew to earn the honor of perishing in the line of duty?”
Daqing meowed. “Why didn’t you say anything when the order came? What’s the point of complaining at me now, you shameless kiss-up?”
“Who cares if I’m shameless? What matters is not dying of hunger.” Zhao Yunlan stubbed out the butt of his cigarette, slapping the kitty’s head lightly. “Also, those of you who have nothing to do all day but pretend to be high and mighty, ask your conscience this: where do you think your jobs, your pay and bonuses, the benefits during holidays, and even the right to do your work without being affected or disturbed by any other departments come from? Do you think they were blown in by the wind? Don’t I have to go make those connections? What is shame? Can you eat it? Does it taste good?”
Daqing, whose steady diet of imported cat food had gradually given him a more international body type, closed his mouth.
“Besides, as soon as he was assigned, his name was on the Soul-Guarding Order. I thought he’d have some special powers! How was I to know the Soul-Guarding Order is as susceptible to politics as I am?”
The black cat listened as he ran his mouth, but daring to joke about the Soul-Guarding Order was too much. “Enough nonsense!”
The Soul-Guarding Order had existed since ancient times. It served to conduct Netherworld business in the mortal world, act as a medium between yin and yang,8 and coordinate the Three Realms.9 Historically, it had fallen under the Imperial History Bureau. After the People’s Republic of China was founded, the Soul-Guarding Order came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security. That was when the Special Investigations Department had been established.
The current director of the Special Investigations Department, Zhao Yunlan, was also the Guardian. This Guardian was equally comfortable in the Netherworld or in banquet halls. He was talented and smooth, able to hold his alcohol and exchange cups with anyone in the Three Realms. Eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, or putting on a show—he was an expert at it all.
The old cat looked on coldly. If Zhao Yunlan hadn’t had the dubious fortune of inheriting the Soul-Guarding Order, those skills alone would have been enough to guarantee him a bright and promising future.
“What happened in the hall just now?” Daqing, unable to bite the hand that fed him, could only cough dryly and change the topic. “Why did your Clarity watch sound the alarm like that?”
“There’s something following us,” Zhao Yunlan said. “But it ran when I shined the light on it. It probably isn’t malicious.”
“It’s not the killer?”
“No. You think I can’t tell the difference between a newly formed ghost and something so tremendously evil?” Zhao Yunlan lugged Guo Changcheng as he paced up and down the hallway. “You saw the handprint next to the corpse, right? ‘Bones thin as a match, fingers long as a whip.’ So far I can’t say for sure what it is, but I do know it’s not human. This intern sure is solid—he weighs a ton. I have to dump him somewhere.”
As he spoke, Zhao Yunlan came to a corner and tossed Guo Changcheng down, but he still had enough conscience to not leave him for dead. Hiking his pants up, he squatted down and took a little bottle from his pocket. After pouring its contents in a circle around Guo Changcheng, he bit his own middle finger and smeared a drop of blood between Guo Changcheng’s brows. The moment the blood touched Guo Changcheng’s skin, it was completely absorbed. The poor intern’s complexion improved at once.
Having done all that, Zhao Yunlan gave Guo Changcheng a fierce smack on the head and cursed under his breath. “Useless thing.”
“Enough fooling around, Yunlan. Look at your watch.”
Zhao Yunlan glanced down just in time to see the face of his watch, Clarity, turn red again. A sharp yowl from beside his feet signaled him to follow Daqing’s gaze.
An old woman clad in her graveclothes stood behind them. For all he knew, she’d been there for some time.
As soon as her eyes met his, she turned to leave. But after only a few steps, she stopped again, as if wanting to lead them somewhere.
“This is the new ghost you were talking about? A new ghost out in broad daylight like this?” Daqing extended his stumpy legs and gave chase, meowing in complaint. “Are you blind, you gay fool?”
Zhao Yunlan hurried to catch up. “Fuck off. Can’t you see she can’t speak? Can’t you see there’s still some life to her? Can’t you see she’s walking with two legs, not floating in midair? Who’s the blind one here, Big Dumb Fatty?”
Still bickering, they turned a sharp corner. The old woman disappeared. What she’d led them to was a flight of stairs heading to the roof.
Daqing sniffled and sneezed. “What a massive amount of resentment.”
Bending down to pick him up, Zhao Yunlan said, “Looks like it was her who brought us here, not Shen-laoshi. Maybe he really doesn’t have anything to do with this. Let’s go check it out.”
Carefully, they walked up. The stairs felt soft underfoot, as though made not from cement but from some living thing—or rather, countless “living things” that now reached from the shadows, clawing at whatever dared to enter their territory. But the moment they touched the hem of Zhao Yunlan’s pants, they were thrown back.
“It’s a given that every school is allotted a quota of suicides each year. As long as the number isn’t higher than that, it’s not a huge problem,” Zhao Yunlan said. “But I’ve heard that Dragon City University has had far too many for three years in a row. Most buildings here on the original campus are old and not very tall. Only the newer ones are high enough to guarantee no one can survive hitting the ground, so they’re a magnet for suicides. The other buildings aren’t so bad, but this building is where darkness and shadows converge. It’s all corners inside, with lots of large L-shaped rooms and hallways, so once impurities are drawn in, they’re stuck. Since they build up over time, a ton of resentment must be accumulated here.”
They reached the top of the stairs as he finished speaking. The small door to the roof was locked, with only a weak sliver of light managing to filter through. Zhao Yunlan took a transit card from his breast pocket, thrust it into the lock, and gently turned it. The metal door, nearing the end of its life, creaked open. Holding his lighter aloft, Zhao Yunlan slowly walked through.
The roof of the eighteenth floor offered a wide view. Down on one side was Dragon City University’s greenery, like an old-growth forest; on the other was the heavy traffic of cars and people crowding the city’s main street.
At the roof’s edge stood a girl with her back to him.
Zhao Yunlan opened his mouth carefully. “Hey…”
He’d barely begun to speak when she suddenly, with no warning, climbed over the railing and jumped.
Out of sheer reflex, Zhao Yunlan lunged forward to grab her. By anyone’s standards, it was a swift response. He clearly managed to catch the back of her clothes, but his fingers went right through. Then she was gone, as if she’d been nothing but a mirage.
The cat bounced over like a rubber ball. “What is it? Was it human?”
“She was too fast.” Zhao Yunlan subconsciously rubbed his fingers together. “I didn’t have time to figure out whether she was…”
Zhao Yunlan had been born with his third eye open. Since childhood, he’d been able to see ghosts as plainly as he could humans, so a fleeting glance hadn’t been enough to tell him whether she was human or something else. Before the cat could speak again, there were hurried footsteps behind them. Zhao Yunlan turned and recognized the same girl, now walking slowly up to the roof, head down. Her features were too blurred to make out her expression.
This time, her pace quickened before he could get a single word out. She raced to the edge as if trying to beat the lunch rush to the cafeteria and flung herself over. Zhao Yunlan reached out and grabbed her shoulder, but the same thing happened again. His hand passed through her, and she vanished into thin air.
After that, it was like jumping to your death was the latest craze. Girl after girl, each one blurry-faced and rushing as if to get to the market, appeared and then dashed to leap from the roof. Zhao Yunlan made grabs for all of them, but not a single one was corporeal. Beads of sweat began appearing on his forehead.
At first, Daqing was at Zhao Yunlan’s side for each girl, but after the eighth jumper, the cat sat off to the side. His tail swished impatiently behind him, left to right, like a pendulum. “Give it up. These are either earthbound spirits or lingering consciousnesses from suicides here.”
Zhao Yunlan ignored the advice. He was strong in short bursts and had some martial arts training, so beating up the occasional thug wasn’t a problem. But overall, years of poor habits and a lack of exercise meant he wasn’t all that fit. After only a few rounds he was already a bit winded.
The black cat sighed. “One can be fooled once or twice, but not a third time. Eight times now and you still can’t tell she’s not human?”
“How do you know all eight are the same person? Can you prove there’s no human here but me? How do you know that when the next one runs out, we’ll still be in the same physical space as we were a moment ago? Will you be able to discern whether or not she’s human the moment she runs out? Remember, the third regulation is ‘Never assume.’ Or did you gobble that one up with your cat food?” Zhao Yunlan gave the cat a stern look.
The black cat, who was often annoying and rude, twitched his tail sheepishly. “Scolding me…?” he muttered. “This old cat’s lived for thousands of years, yet you dare act like a boss and scold me, you brat?”
Zhao Yunlan erupted. “If you don’t shut up, I’m taking away your cat food!”
Daqing was a cat who knew how to pick his battles. His tone changed at once. “Meow—”
Just then, a ninth jumper appeared. As soon as her face was visible, Zhao Yunlan yelled, “Miss, wait!”
But the girl turned a deaf ear. Like all the others before her, she hurled herself toward Mother Earth like an arrow shot from the bow.
“Fuck!” Once again, Zhao Yunlan’s hands closed on nothing. He slapped the icy-cold railing fiercely.
“Mm…” Daqing came closer and rested his front paws on the railing, sniffing carefully. “Actually, what you’re saying makes sense. Some earthbound spirits, like Aunt Xianglin10 relentlessly repeating her tales of woes, do reenact their deaths over and over again. But they’re usually not in such a rush to die.”
“Then what is it?” asked Zhao Yunlan.
“Resentment.” Daqing took on a solemn expression—no small feat for a cat with a face like a pancake. “Suicide is a type of death seen as defying fate. There’s a high chance that souls that die this way won’t enter the reincarnation cycle. Even worse, some souls become incomplete when crossing the chasm between life and death, yin and yang. That leaves them wandering the mortal world long after they’ve forgotten how they passed on—confused even in death.”
“Places where resentment is concentrated often make people feel uncomfortable, but can it actually hurt someone?” Zhao Yunlan asked. “I’ve never heard of a case like that.”
The cat paused. “No, I’ve never heard of that either. But resentment is caused by incomplete souls. Like will consume like, and once they’ve reached a certain amount of power, they can manifest physically. That’s why I suspected the girl we saw was a manifestation of resentment from the shards of countless suffering, devoured souls.”
“What can the physical form do?”
“Nothing, really. Resentment isn’t the same as evil. It’s not as aggressive. Anyone who can be misled or even hurt by resentment is often guilty of something to begin with,” said the cat. “But these ghosts don’t have the innate power to touch the victim’s body, let alone slice her open. There’s nothing to investigate here. Let’s leave.”
Zhao Yunlan hesitated.
The black cat sighed. “When you should have some shame, it’s like an alien concept for you; when you should be flexible, you’re stubborn. The Soul-Guarding Order has been passed down for millennia now. The regulations were reduced to nothing but a page of hollow words ages ago. Why do you keep clinging to them?”
“No, I still think—” Zhao Yunlan broke off. A tenth girl was approaching the roof.
Human and cat tensed at the same moment.
The girl’s eyes passed over them, unseeing, as she slowly made her way to the railing. Like the nine previous phantoms, she abruptly hoisted herself up onto the railing and jumped. But Zhao Yunlan, suspicious from the moment she appeared, made a lunge for her and got his arms around her waist. The sudden weight made the veins in the backs of his hands stand out. He’d caught a living, solid person.
Green eyes wide with shock, the cat leaped onto the railing.
Zhao Yunlan’s hold on the girl was precarious. He couldn’t bring all his strength to bear. In that position, holding on with only the strength of his arms, even a child would have felt heavy, never mind a grown adult. He had one leg jammed between the bars of the railing while the entire top half of his body dangled over.
Hanging below the railing, the girl suddenly seemed to wake up. With an ear-splitting shriek, she reflexively began struggling. Zhao Yunlan could only yell in her ear, “If you keep squirming, you’ll fall and there’ll be nothing left of you but a flat dried persimmon! Settle down!”
A loud snap came from the railing. Perhaps it hadn’t been repaired in years, or perhaps their weight was just too much for it, but regardless, it started to give way.
Zhao Yunlan seemed oblivious, still talking to the girl. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, just hang on—”
Another snap rang out, interrupting him, as the railing finally broke.
There was weird laughter by Zhao Yunlan’s ear, like the roof was mobbed with people—spectators indifferent to his plight. They cackled, enjoying the show.
“Meow!” Daqing yowled as if someone had stepped on his tail.
At that critical moment, as the railing fully collapsed, someone kicked the little door to the roof open. A figure rushed out in a blur of impossible speed.
Zhao Yunlan had managed to shift his weight to his heels and lean back. He wrenched himself around with the girl still in his arms and shoved her toward the new arrival—then he stepped wrong, his foot finding only empty air. One now-free hand found a grip on the ledge, leaving him hanging from the eighteen-story building.
Only then did Daqing finally recognize that it was Shen Wei who’d burst onto the scene, long after they’d thought he’d left.
Shen Wei immediately pushed the suicidal girl behind him, knelt, and grabbed the arm by which Zhao Yunlan was dangling. “Your other hand! Give me your other hand! Hurry!”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0010.txt
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ZHAO YUNLAN HESITATED, but then, despite the fierce wind atop the tall building, he met Shen Wei’s eyes and saw himself in their depths—himself and, somehow, the night sky, impossibly intermingled. For some reason, looking up into those eyes, Zhao Yunlan instinctively let go and placed everything, including his insignificant little life, in Shen Wei’s hands.
He regretted it the moment he let go. Is lust rotting my brain?
In the next second, Shen Wei hauled him up by sheer force. His unimposing, scholarly appearance belied an unusually powerful grip—Zhao Yunlan’s wrist was rapidly going numb, his fingers purpling. The friction pushed his sleeve up to the elbow, scraping a layer of skin from his forearm.
Then he was being held tightly in Shen Wei’s arms as they both collapsed on the roof—tightly enough that his bones creaked in protest, as though Shen Wei were hugging something he’d lost long ago. A strange feeling stirred in Zhao Yunlan when he glanced at his wrist and saw the bruises from Shen Wei’s hold on it.
Zhao Yunlan struggled lightly, and Shen Wei seemed to come back to his senses. He released Zhao Yunlan, adjusting his glasses as if taking refuge behind a mask.
As a worldly and experienced man, Zhao Yunlan had an exceptional gift for reading even the subtlest nuances in someone’s expression. His eyes glinted. Shen Wei’s awkward reaction had betrayed that he too had felt a certain…pull.
A certain attraction…
Ah. So Shen Wei hadn’t been afraid of him when they first met. The stiff body language and reluctance to meet his gaze seemed more like unease rooted in shyness.
“You were in the nick of time. Thanks to you, I’m not swinging from the building like a pendulum for the university clock tower.” Zhao Yunlan pulled a pack of wet wipes from his pocket and handed one to Shen Wei as he wiped the blood and grime off his own arm. “Here—for your hands.”
The brush of his fingertips against Shen Wei’s could have been accidental. Shen Wei’s fingers were like a touch-me-not plant, shrinking back at the barest touch.
The burgeoning desire Zhao Yunlan had been feeling turned into a lit firecracker. It exploded spectacularly, leaving behind a sea of red paper that spelled out “love affair.” Every nerve in his body was alight. But the dance of romance was one he knew well; there was an art to its push and pull. After that delicate overture, he pretended not to notice anything.
Turning to the girl on the ground, he asked, “What’s the deal here, young lady? Going through a breakup? Got yelled at by a prof? Failed your thesis defense or an exam? Look at you brats here—your families provide for your every need, but you’re all so bored out of your skulls that—”
The girl’s sudden wail interrupted him as she burst into tears.
Shen Wei regained his senses at last. Very low, he said, “That was too dangerous.”
Zhao Yunlan continued without missing a beat. “Exactly! Do you hear your professor? Don’t you know how dangerous that was? But come on now, stop crying. We’ll talk once we’re downstairs. We’ll have the school clinic look you over, and then we definitely need to have a chat with your parents.”
Shen Wei stood and glared at Zhao Yunlan, then turned to the girl, face darkening. For a good half a minute he said nothing, only stared sternly until her sobs died down from fear, leaving her sniffling and hiccuping.
It reminded Zhao Yunlan of his grandpa, who’d passed long ago. His grandpa had also been a traditional, well-educated man who was friendly and cordial to others and always accommodating. He never would have scolded anyone by swearing or raising his voice, let alone raising a fist. But any time he’d genuinely gotten angry, that dark look on his face had been enough to bring every one of the family’s younger brats back into line.
“If someone else were hurt because of you, would you carry that guilt to your grave?” Shen Wei insisted.
Falteringly, she said, “I… I’m sorry…”
Zhao Yunlan rubbed his nose awkwardly. “Well, no harm done. But you do need to reflect on this properly, young lady. Think about yourself. Think about your parents. At your age, what’s so hard that you can’t get over it? Come on, stop crying and get up now. Let me take you to the clinic.”
He glanced at Shen Wei to see if he had anything to add, but Shen Wei didn’t react. Zhao Yunlan went to the girl and bent down, helping her to her feet. She seemed barely able to stand, so he supported her weight as they descended.
Back inside on the top floor, he saw Guo Changcheng lying exactly where he’d been left. But before the boss could say anything, Daqing eagerly ran over and landed a barrage of “Meowvenly Meteor Paw” against Guo Changcheng’s face.
The girl’s suicide attempt had alarmed a lot of people. The previously desolate hallways seemed to have suddenly returned to the realm of the living, and many of the teaching staff poked their heads out to ask what was wrong.
Under so many curious eyes, Guo Changcheng slowly came to, letting out an inhuman wail. Face covered in blood, he opened his eyes and found his boss standing close by, supporting a young lady and looking rather the worse for wear.
Pointedly, Zhao Yunlan said, “Young people like you need to exercise more. It won’t do to let your blood sugar crash so easily in our line of work.”
Under the crowd’s watchful gaze, Guo Changcheng didn’t dare make a sound. He looked down in shame.
After a moment’s consideration, Zhao Yunlan said, “How about this. I’ve still got some work to take care of, so take Daqing and look into the victim’s background. Will you be okay if you’re the only person I send?”
He emphasized the word “person,” while Daqing, off to the side, licked his paw smugly. The cat meowed annoyingly, making Guo Changcheng shudder. Zhao Yunlan gave Guo Changcheng a benevolent pat on the head and turned to leave.
Shen Wei’s expression was still dark, but he said nothing. Someone tried to ask him what had happened in a small whisper, but he only shook his head absentmindedly. It wasn’t until they were out of everyone’s sight that he subconsciously pressed his fingers to his collarbones. Something like a pendant’s outline was faintly visible through his thin shirt. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, then hurried to catch up.
As they headed down, Zhao Yunlan asked, “What’s your name?”
“…Li Qian.”
“Which department are you in? What year?”
“Foreign Languages department… First-year graduate student.”
“Are you a local?”
Li Qian hesitated before nodding, half a beat late.
“What was that all about just now?”
This time, Li Qian didn’t respond.
Zhao Yunlan glanced at her pensively. This girl named Li Qian had an unmistakable smear of heavy darkness under her eyes. Her gaze was empty, her eyes bloodshot, and her forehead ashen, as if she were knocking on death’s door. From head to toe, she radiated misfortune.
Shen Wei suddenly said, “The Foreign Languages program has a high grade requirement for students who want to take humanities electives. Have you been in any of my classes?”
After a careful glance at him, Li Qian nodded.
Shen Wei spoke like a born lecturer. His voice was low and pleasant to the ear, words coming at an easy, steady pace. He sighed and said gravely, “Life and death are of great significance. In all of my classes, I tell my students that in this world, there are only two acceptable reasons to give your life. The first is to die for your home and country, by which you fulfill your duty. The other is to die for someone who truly knows you. In that way, you fulfill yourself. Outside of those things, treating your life lightly is an act of cowardice. Do you understand?”
“I…” Li Qian’s voice trembled, but she regained control of herself and pursed her lips. “I’m sorry, Shen-laoshi. I was… I was really just acting on impulse. I wasn’t thinking clearly. The blood just went to my head, and I rushed out there and almost dragged…”
She looked at Zhao Yunlan, then hung her head again. Director Zhao was incredibly handsome and his expression appeared kind, but somehow Li Qian was still a little scared of him. When their eyes met, she unconsciously shrank back against Shen Wei’s side.
Zhao Yunlan got out a cigarette and lit it, then gave her the faintest hint of a smile. “You don’t know what came over you? Miss, I’ve only ever heard of someone killing somebody else on impulse. Someone killing themselves on impulse is a rare sight indeed. What, were you possessed?”
At the word “possessed,” Li Qian immediately paled.
Zhao Yunlan refused to go easy on her. “What were you afraid of? Tell us the truth. What exactly did you see up on the roof?”
Li Qian let out a dry chuckle. “Just… Just the roof. What else is there to see?”
“Well, I saw…” Zhao Yunlan gazed straight ahead and exhaled a languid breath of smoke. “When you jumped, I saw a lot of people up there. They were all watching you and laughing.”
Li Qian hugged herself as shudders racked her body. She was clenching her teeth so hard that from up close the grinding was audible. Zhao Yunlan observed her for a moment, flicked his cigarette, and then reached out to push her shoulder. “All right, in you go. We’re here.”
After greeting the teacher on duty at the clinic’s entrance, Zhao Yunlan passed Li Qian over to Shen Wei, then went to stand near the entryway, cigarette still dangling between his lips.
Right out in front, there was a man-made creek with a small bridge over it. Zhao Yunlan leaned against the wooden railing lazily. Slowly, he blew a puff of smoke over his watch. The white smoke dispersed quickly, leaving a thin haze within the watch face. An old woman’s face faded in and out of view, as if she were meeting his gaze through the watch.
“The old cat wasn’t wrong. A newly made ghost who died within the last seven days, showing up on Clarity in broad daylight? Not even a neighborhood committee official in life would be that fierce, usually.” Zhao Yunlan raised a brow as he muttered to himself. “So, Granny, where did you come from?”
At the sound of footsteps behind him, he gently wiped the watch plate. The silhouette within vanished. Unhurriedly, he blew a few smoke rings, then turned to see Shen Wei approaching with a small tray of first aid items. Setting the tray aside, Shen Wei caught hold of Zhao Yunlan’s scraped arm without leaving him room to protest. Eyes lowered, he rolled up Zhao Yunlan’s sleeve carefully before reaching for some distilled water.
“I can do that myself,” Zhao Yunlan said.
“How would you propose to do that?” Shen Wei kept his head down. After rinsing the scrape with the distilled water, he cleaned it with cotton, a bit at a time. All the while, he held the arm as if it were a fragile treasure. “Let me know if I’m too heavy-handed.”
“A quick rinse with tap water would’ve been fine.”
Still not looking up, Shen Wei said, “In this heat, there’s a risk of infection if it’s not cleaned properly.”
Shen Wei’s eyelashes were very long. With his head bowed, his features appeared delicate. The shape of his eyelids was so perfectly defined that they might have been drawn on. With every blink, his lashes fluttered ever so slightly, and Zhao Yunlan’s heart fluttered along with them.
Zhao Yunlan had extraordinary self-confidence, but he wasn’t confident enough to think he could make anyone fall in love at first sight. Besides, Shen Wei looked virtuous, with a hushed, tranquil air—not the sort of shallow person whose heart could be stolen by appearance alone.
Then why…
Shen Wei cleaned the scrape and applied ointment, but when he attempted to bandage it, Zhao Yunlan put his foot down.
“It’s just a scratch. Who’d wrap something so minor in gauze in such hot weather? Anyone who saw it would wonder what’s wrong with me.” Zhao Yunlan put out his cigarette, then slung an arm naturally around Shen Wei’s back. “I’m going to check on that girl. Shall we go together?”
The gesture turned Shen Wei as rigid as a board. He staggered for a few steps as Zhao Yunlan steered him, flushing from his neck to the tips of his ears. Then he scrambled out of Zhao Yunlan’s hold, smoothing his shirt in an attempt to appear composed.
“Why are you like a girl?” Zhao Yunlan smiled nonchalantly, but he switched gears before Shen Wei could catch his breath. “Shen-laoshi, have you ever seen me before today?”
Surprised, Shen Wei met his gaze, mind going blank. For two full seconds, he could only stare at Zhao Yunlan, unable to look away. Finally, his throat a little dry, he said, “I… Yes. I saw you before.”
Zhao Yunlan raised an eyebrow and waited for him to finish.
“I…” A conflicted expression flitted across Shen Wei’s face. Just as Zhao Yunlan thought he was about to tell a fantastic story of how incredibly their lives were entangled, Shen Wei’s tone lightened. “Actually, I saw your team working on a case.”
Zhao Yunlan felt a sudden pang of disappointment, as though his hopes had been lifted just to be let down gently. “Oh? When was that?”
“Five or six years ago, during that string of twelve suicides at the twin towers near Wanqing Bridge. It was when I was about to graduate. I’d just moved off campus and happened to be looking at apartments in that area. Because of the deaths, business was bleak for that building, so the rent was cheap. I was one of the few people who felt brave enough to live there.”
Zhao Yunlan tried to recall. “I was there, but I’m sure I’d remember seeing you.”
“You didn’t see me, but I was living on the top floor. I saw you, and I also saw…” Shen Wei paused, schooling his face into an expression of disbelief at just the right moment. “I saw you capture a black shadow from one of the rooms up there. You stuffed it into a bottle, then turned to someone and said, ‘I’ve caught the suspect. Everyone can wrap up.’ Except…you were clearly the only person there.”
Astonished, Zhao Yunlan asked, “You not only dared to live there but lived on the top floor? You sure had a lot of guts.”
“At the time, I didn’t believe in that kind of thing. I was a poor college student.” Shen Wei lowered his head. Then—not making himself sound any less suspicious—he said, “You can check the records. I’m telling the truth.”
From Zhao Yunlan’s glance, it wasn’t clear how much he actually believed. “That’s negligence on my part,” he joked. “Regulations say we should’ve wiped the memory of any bystanders, but the success went to my head and I didn’t notice you. My sincere apologies. Did you feel like your whole atheist worldview completely collapsed back then?”
Shen Wei offered a strained, reserved smile but didn’t answer.
When the two of them entered the clinic, they found Li Qian sitting up in bed in the room she’d been put in, holding a glass of hot sugar water the doctor had given her. She was backlit against the window, making her expression seem even gloomier.
Zhao Yunlan raised a hand and knocked on the door. Li Qian looked up in alarm. Recognizing him, she slowly let out a breath of relief.
He checked his watch. It still reflected the old woman’s shadow, but the watch’s hands hadn’t turned red. Bizarrely, the new ghost’s vitality seemed to be getting stronger.
If signs of death appeared on a living person, it meant their life was about to be snuffed out like a candle. But what could it mean to see life blooming on someone who was dead?
Was she about to reincarnate?
As Zhao Yunlan pondered it, he boldly sat on the bed across from Li Qian and got out a notebook. “Okay, Tongxue, I still need to ask you a few things.” Li Qian looked at him, her face pale.
Since Shen-laoshi had made it plain that he knew the nature of Zhao Yunlan’s job, there was no need to beat around the bush. Bluntly, Zhao Yunlan asked, “Have you recently been able to see things you shouldn’t have?”
Li Qian’s expression of utter terror was all the answer he needed.
“I understand now.” Zhao Yunlan stared at the spot between her brows. He leaned forward slightly, hand resting on his knee. “But I can tell your third eye hasn’t been opened. Theoretically, you shouldn’t be able to see anything. Were you touched by these things because your birth chart11 is too troubled, or did you mess with something you shouldn’t have?”
Li Qian bit her lip. Her fingers twisted together until her knuckles whitened.
“Oh? Seems like it’s the latter. Tell me, what did you touch?” Zhao Yunlan kept his voice low. When she didn’t reply, he laughed coldly. “If you don’t tell me, you’ll be haunted by it for the rest of your life. Haven’t you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat? Some things shouldn’t be messed with.”
“A sundial,” Li Qian eventually said, breaking her silence. “It’s a family heirloom. It had already turned black from being there for so long. On the back, there’s a round plate with lots of inlaid stones that look like fish scales. They’re black crystal—similar to wujing stone, the elders said.”
Zhao Yunlan’s pen stilled. “A sundial?”
Li Qian nodded.
“The sundial goes around once a day; the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, over and over, symbolizing life’s endless cycle of reincarnation.” Zhao Yunlan sat deep in thought for a while before continuing. “But there’s another way of looking at it. Some people believe reincarnation is an endless cycle of killing, the old replaced by the new. What’s lost will be lost forever, and what has passed will never return. With a turn of the clock, one can look back, but not go back. With a turn of the reincarnation cycle, though, even if one tried to look back, they wouldn’t know which way to look.”
Behind him, unseen, a sudden tremor went through Shen Wei.
“What did you use it for?” Zhao Yunlan asked.
Li Qian bit her lip again.
“Okay, let me rephrase. Did you do anything bad with it?”
Her eyes grew wide. “I didn’t!”
Zhao Yunlan stared at her in silence.
“I really didn’t!” Li Qian curled up, reflexively trying to protect herself. “How could I use something passed down in my family to do something bad? You’re full of shit! You…” She coughed, worked up to the point of choking. More harsh coughs followed.
Shen Wei’s forehead creased. He walked over and blocked Zhao Yunlan’s penetrating gaze, patting Li Qian’s back. “Take your time. There’s no rush.”
To Zhao Yunlan, he said, “She’s just been through a significant shock. Whatever it is you want to ask, Officer Zhao, can you not push her too hard?”
Zhao Yunlan raised a brow. “Okay, I’ll stick to the most relevant things. One last question. After that, I’ll fuck off.”
He pulled a picture of the dead girl from his pocket. “Have you seen this student recently?”
Li Qian’s gaze swept over the picture. First, she shook her head. Then, as if suddenly recalling something, she grasped the photo and examined it carefully. Finally, she ventured, “I think… I think I saw someone who looked kind of like her yesterday…”
Zhao Yunlan’s expression turned serious. “Yesterday when? Do you remember what she was wearing?”
“In the evening.” Li Qian thought about it. “Last night, I’d just returned after the library closed. It was probably after 10 p.m. I left campus to buy some stuff. At the entrance, I think I saw someone who looked like her, but I don’t really remember what she was wearing… Oh! No, I do remember. She was in an Orientation Week T-shirt. I noticed because I have one too.”
“Were there a lot of people wearing that shirt yesterday?”
“Pretty much only students from our school,” Li Qian said. “I wouldn’t say a lot of people. Most students are at the new campus. There aren’t a lot of people here at the old one to begin with.”
“Were you wearing your matching shirt?”
“It hadn’t been washed, so I didn’t want to wear it against my skin. At first, I wore it over my own T-shirt. When the weather got hot later, I took it off and stuffed it in my bag.”
Zhao Yunlan considered that. “When you saw her, was anyone else around?”
“Yeah, there were a lot of people passing by, and cars too.” Li Qian, realizing he was trying to get at something, asked, “Why?”
“I wasn’t asking about the main road. I mean that little alley outside the side entrance to your school. That’s where she was walking, right? At the time, was there anyone else in that alley?”
Li Qian began to feel uneasy. Her gaze drifted to the side. She nodded, then shook her head, confused. “I… I don’t remember. Maybe…? I think she went that way, but I didn’t follow her. That alley’s a dead end. Only people who live in the dorms on the east side of campus would take the shortcut through there, so it’s usually fairly quiet…”
“You didn’t go that way?” Zhao Yunlan interrupted.
“Huh? Ah… I didn’t…”
“Why not? Don’t you also live on the east side?”
“I…” Li Qian didn’t know what to say. She mumbled to herself and then, panicked, she said, “I was taking the long way to go buy something…”
“Didn’t you just say you’d already finished shopping and had just left?” Zhao Yunlan interrupted again. His tone was harsh now. “Tongxue, there’s nothing I want more than to be a friendly neighborhood Mr. Policeman. I don’t want to scare you. But you need to do your part to cooperate with the investigation, so tell me the truth, okay?”
Freshly nervous, Li Qian clutched the hem of her shirt. “I-I am telling the truth.”
“Her name was Lu Ruomei. She was a graduate student at Dragon City University too. You’re asking me what happened yesterday? I’ll tell you: your fellow student was murdered last night.” Pausing after every word, focused intently on Li Qian’s expression, he said, “The estimated time of death is last night at 10 p.m. That means you may very well be the last person who saw her alive.”
Li Qian’s pupils contracted as the glass she was holding fell and shattered on the floor. She seemed as if she were in a trance: the corners of her eyes twitched nervously and her fingers, which she had unclenched unconsciously, were trembling. Her lips paled until they were nearly blue.
Zhao Yunlan leaned back and crossed his legs. Lacing his fingers together over his knee, he looked at her. “Why are you so shaken? If the victim’s death has nothing to do with you, and you didn’t even know her, why are you so afraid right now? Why did you take a detour last night instead of going through that alley?”
A short scream escaped her. Li Qian slumped down, fingers in her hair, and hid her face.
Taking one of her wrists firmly, Zhao Yunlan pulled her hand away. Sternly, he said, “It’s no use trying to evade this. Look at me and tell me exactly what you saw.”
Li Qian shoved his hand off. In her struggle, the hospital bed shifted. Its metal legs scraped the floor with a rough grating noise.
“I don’t know!” Hysterical, she kept yelling, “I don’t know! I don’t know! Don’t ask me! I don’t know!”
“Your campus isn’t very large.” Zhao Yunlan lowered his voice. “Perhaps you passed by her when eating breakfast one day. Maybe you’ve shared the same study room, borrowed the same book.
“Do you want to know how she died? When we found her, her corpse was lying all alone in the alley. Something sharp tore her open and half of her organs were dug out. We don’t know for sure what happened to them, but there was a chunk of her intestine with teeth marks on it, so it’s reasonable to think her killer ate them. All that blood… Tch, it was all over the ground. The bloodstains are still there. Also, did you know—”
Li Qian began to scream wordlessly.
Zhao Yunlan was unmoved, as if he had a heart of metal or stone. He didn’t let up. “She was still alive when her belly was ripped open. She had to see her own liver, kidneys, and stomach lifted out of her body. She would have been able to hear the chewing as her organs were eaten. Can you imagine what that must have been like?”
Already hoarse from screaming, Li Qian crumpled to her knees on the floor, curling into a ball with her arms around her head.
The doctor on duty heard the commotion and hurried over. “What happened? What’s going on?”
Zhao Yunlan thrust his work ID under the doctor’s nose, then reached out and shut the door in his face. “Sorry, police questioning. Give me another five minutes. Thank you.”
Folding his arms, Zhao Yunlan leaned against the door. He looked at Li Qian again and repeated himself a third time. “Tell me. What did you see?”
Abruptly, this time she answered him. “A… A shadow.”
His expression went solemn. He went back to her in large strides and squatted beside her. “What kind of shadow?”
Shen Wei couldn’t help but speak up. “Both of you be careful of the glass.” He grabbed a broom from the corner and swept the shards off to the side. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Should I leave?” and turned to his student. “Here, how about I get you more water?”
Zhao Yunlan waved the offer away. “No, it’s good that you’re here. Don’t leave. I don’t have a female coworker with me, and it’s against regulations to question her alone.” As he spoke, he helped Li Qian uncurl and sit up, then handed her a packet of tissues from the little side table. “What kind of shadow? Take your time.”
“When she passed by me, I saw her school T-shirt and realized she was a fellow student. So I greeted her, even though we didn’t know each other. She just said, ‘Excuse me,’ and rushed past. That’s when…” Li Qian looked up, shuddering violently. Her eyes were bloodshot. “That’s when I saw her shadow—her shadows. She had more than one.”
Softly, Shen Wei said, “Multiple light sources will create multiple shadows. Perhaps…”
“That’s not it. It wasn’t like that!” Li Qian cut him off, voice trembling. “It wasn’t that kind of shadow. It appeared out of thin air where there was no light. It was so much darker than the other shadows, and…and worst of all…it didn’t move with her!”
The room was suddenly eerily still. Li Qian shook as if her bones were about to come apart. Shen Wei paused, bent over, and patted her head comfortingly. “Tongxue, please try to be calm.”
“I saw it, Shen-laoshi. I swear I saw it.” Li Qian grabbed the hem of his shirt and burst into tears. “It kept following her. I saw. The second she walked into that alley, it suddenly…it suddenly stood up, like a real person. I was so afraid. I ran for my life.
“I thought I must have been dreaming or having a hallucination, you see? But then you—you just had to ask me. You had to tell me that she…she’s already…”
At that point, she seemed to remember Zhao Yunlan’s description. She jumped up, pushed Shen Wei away, and bolted to the corner, where she threw up.
There was a rebuke in the look Shen Wei threw Zhao Yunlan.
“Uh…don’t worry,” Zhao Yunlan said. “This is a pretty minimal reaction. You weren’t at the scene this morning. One of our newbies puked so much he practically turned into a sea cucumber.”
Shen Wei’s gaze turned helpless. He shook his head and went into the hallway, where he got a bottle of water from the doctor, who’d kept looking inside. Then he let Li Qian rinse her mouth and helped her back up. Li Qian couldn’t quite stand on her own, but she stumbled back to the bed with Shen Wei’s help. Eyes dull, she looked at Zhao Yunlan. “It killed someone, and it’ll kill me too. I saw it. It won’t let me go, will it?”
Zhao Yunlan didn’t answer the question. “Can you describe it for me?”
“I didn’t get a clear look, but…it was human shaped. When it stood up, it must have been about this tall.” Li Qian gestured with her hands. “All black and a little short, so it looked a bit fat.”
Zhao Yunlan’s pen stopped moving. Brows furrowed, he repeated, “A little short and a little fat?”
She nodded.
“Is it possible that it’s not actually short? Could it have run off as soon as you saw it, so it hadn’t managed to stand up fully?”
Li Qian stilled, her reaction even more delayed than before. Then she lowered her eyes, evading Zhao Yunlan’s gaze, and nodded again. “It’s… It’s possible.”
Something odd entered the look he was giving her. “And then?”
“Well, then I ran.” She kept her head down and Zhao Yunlan scrutinized her in silence. Her fingers were tangled together, the tips turning white.
Finally, Zhao Yunlan let it go. He ripped a page from his notebook and wrote down a string of numbers. “If there are any clues, or if you remember anything new, please contact me as soon as possible. My phone is on 24/7. Thank you for your help.” He shoved the note at Li Qian and stood up.
“I’ll see you off,” said Shen Wei.
“No need,” Zhao Yunlan replied. “I’m going to have a smoke outside first. You talk to her. I was a tad brusque just now, so I might have scared the kid. My apologies.”
Shen Wei looked at Li Qian. It was impossible to know what she was thinking; she showed no reaction to Zhao Yunlan’s words.
Once Zhao Yunlan was gone, cigarette already between his lips, Shen Wei asked Li Qian, “Are you hungry? I can get you some food from the cafeteria later.” He kept his voice as gentle as possible.
With Zhao Yunlan’s departure, the oppressive feeling he’d brought with him also dissipated. Li Qian found it easier to breathe, and exhaustion finally caught up with her. She shook her head weakly.
Shen Wei said, “Then I’ll get the doctor to come stay with you for a while. Rest here for a bit. Once you feel better, you can go back, okay?”
Li Qian nodded.
He began to leave, but after two steps, a thought struck him. He turned back. “Do you have any money on you? If not, how about I leave some with you for now?”
It was clear he meant well. With great difficulty, Li Qian mustered a smile. “Thank you, but there’s really no need.”
Shen Wei sighed, as if there was something on his mind. Eventually he said, “Some lies are told deliberately, Tongxue, while some are not. The former serve to deceive others, while the latter deceive oneself. Either way, it’s very sad.”
The words were general enough, but Li Qian froze. Shen Wei dropped his gaze. “Never mind. I wish you well.”
Having said that, he acquired a small bottle of ointment from the pharmacy next door, then hurried outside.
Zhao Yunlan was still in the hallway, in the middle of a call.
“I looked into it. This time it’s the other side’s problem, not ours.” It was a woman’s voice on the line—but not Wang Zheng’s. This woman spoke in a sibilant way, dragging out her final syllables in a faint hiss. It gave her voice a flirtatious note. “Last night, as soon as the Gates of the Netherworld opened, a dozen registered Netherworld souls went missing. Most of them were newly dead, not even seven days postmortem. One, they still yearned for the mortal world, and two, they didn’t understand the rules. But it’s fine—they can’t cause too much trouble. What is a real problem is that a Hunger Ghost apparently also escaped in the chaos.”
“I’m sorry, a what escaped?” Zhao Yunlan thought he’d misheard.
“A Hunger Ghost.”
“How could they let a Hunger Ghost loose in the Mortal Realm? Are they trying to lose their jobs?” If fury could burn, Zhao Yunlan would be a fire hazard.
“The Netherworld’s current government really isn’t up to the job. The other side’s always been like that. They’ll show up if they think it’ll benefit them, but they’ll vanish into thin air at the first sign of trouble. It’s not like any of this is news to you.” The woman paused. “One more thing—we got a message from him. I think he’s probably going to stop by personally, but I don’t dare open it to be sure. Hurry and come back.”
“Why would he be coming?” Zhao Yunlan’s brow creased. “Okay, got it. Meanwhile, I have a few tasks for you. First, the murder happened right across from University Street, and there’s a security camera at that intersection. Maybe it caught something, so get that footage. Second, look into Li Qian, a first-year grad student at DCU. She’s studying Foreign Languages. And third, see if the other side can tell us about an old sundial made of black stone with fish scales carved into it. Find out what exactly that is.”
Glimpsing Shen Wei’s approach from the corner of his eye, Zhao Yunlan lowered his voice. “That’s all for now. I have to go, so I’ll talk to you later. Keep me posted on any developments.”
In the blink of an eye, Zhao Yunlan banished the irritation from his face as he turned, an old pervert magically transforming into a young bohemian. Gently and with great courtesy, he said, “Ah no, Shen-laoshi, you’re much too polite. No need to walk me out.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0011.txt
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SHEN WEI SHOVED the ointment he’d picked up toward Zhao Yunlan. “You forgot about this, so I brought you some.”
As he spoke, he looked at the scrape on Zhao Yunlan’s arm. His brows drew together. “Once you’re home, please be careful. Make sure to keep the wound dry, try not to eat anything too spicy, and…” He trailed off. Zhao Yunlan was staring at him in silence. Uneasy, Shen Wei asked, “What is it?”
Zhao Yunlan responded by changing the topic entirely. “Shen-laoshi, are you married?”
Shen Wei froze and answered reflexively. “No. Why…?”
“Oh,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Then is there a girlfriend in the picture?”
There was an invasive edge to how he was looking at Shen Wei. It somehow made Shen Wei feel that there was no right answer to the question.
Zhao Yunlan took the chance to accept the ointment, turning it over in his hands. With a hint of a smile, he said, “Forget it. I’d just think someone so young and successful, not to mention meticulous and considerate, would be very popular. But it’s none of my business. I’m sorry.”
Shen Wei was embarrassed, but Zhao Yunlan only smiled, revealing two dimples, as he added, “Oh, right. Can I borrow your phone for a sec?”
He got his phone out, but Zhao Yunlan didn’t take it. Instead, he lifted Shen Wei’s hand and gently held the back of it while he casually entered his own name and number into Shen Wei’s contacts. He saved it, dialed the number, and then hung up after one ring.
“Just making sure you have my contact information,” he said, pretending to be serious. “If anything else comes up related to the case, feel free to harass me.”
Then he tossed the little bottle up in the air, caught it, and waved to Shen Wei. “Thank you so much. I have to go, but after I’ve closed this case, I’ll be sure to treat you to a meal, Shen-laoshi.”
This time, he was in no hurry to leave. He shoved a hand in his pants pocket and swaggered off. His silhouette was casual, even careless, but the lines of his body were curved and angled in all the right places. It gave his leisurely stride an air of grace. He was like a peacock with its tail spread, seizing every opportunity to display his colorful plumage and spread his hormones around.
It wasn’t until he’d gone a good way off that the bashful unease faded from Shen Wei’s face. There was a maelstrom of barely leashed emotion in his eyes. After one last look at Zhao Yunlan disappearing in the distance, he headed in the other direction.
But only a dozen steps later, Shen Wei couldn’t help looking back, even though the person he wanted to see had already disappeared from view. When he looked through his phone’s contacts, he found a flirtatious “a-Lan” innocently displayed on the screen. As he silently drank in those two syllables, he felt as if a knife were slipping cleanly through his heart, turning the softest part to a bloody pulp. Finally, his narrow lips locked the words away where no one could hear them.
Shen Wei lifted his fingers and caught the faint scent of Zhao Yunlan’s cologne. Closing his eyes, he took a slow, deep breath. He didn’t know what cologne it might be, but from the very first whiff, it was as if the scent had been haunting his dreams for years on end.
The only sound on the quiet campus was that of bright green leaves falling to the ground. Nothing could have been gleaned from Shen Wei’s expression. After a while, the corner of his mouth quirked up in something like self-mockery. Then he looked down and hurried away.
For that brief moment as he glanced down, the faint desolation evaporated. His face tightened, as if carved to reveal a silent, murderous intent.
As for Guo Changcheng, the stupid kid had been tasked with getting a sense of the situation. But since he genuinely didn’t know what exactly he should be getting a sense of, all he could do was suck it up and talk to people, stammering the whole time. He was keenly self-aware when it came to his own professional capabilities: in his mind, even the parrots in the flower and bird markets were more eloquent than him.
Close to noon, he finally received a call from Zhao Yunlan. Dejected, he led the weird, talking black cat to the school entrance, squatted down, and waited for their boss to come collect them.
Even the way Guo Changcheng squatted was different from everyone else. He curled into a ball, his hair half covering his face. He and the double-chinned fat cat sitting upright beside him were blatantly out of place, periodically drawing glances from curious passersby. The embarrassing display finally ended half an hour later when Zhao Yunlan arrived. Guo Changcheng, whose legs had gone numb from squatting, limped along in Zhao Yunlan’s wake.
As they walked the campus’ beautiful, quiet paths, Guo Changcheng kept sneaking glances at Zhao Yunlan’s tall, lean figure. His own expression and mannerisms were akin to a sad, worried little wife who had accidentally set the kitchen on fire.
In the half hour he’d spent squatting by the wall, Guo Changcheng had reflected deeply on the series of events that had unfolded in the twelve hours since he’d joined the Special Investigations Department, and now he was overcome with despondency. Hadn’t it been just a slightly eerie hallway? Hadn’t it been just a little dark and creepy? Hadn’t his boss just said something ambiguous? How had it all made him faint?
All along, Guo Changcheng had felt he was woefully unqualified to join the Special Investigations Department, which offered higher pay and better bonuses than anywhere else. And yet somehow, in some unworthy way, he had gotten in. If he wound up unable to keep the job, never mind losing face—how could he possibly tell his uncle?
As these heavy thoughts worried away at him, he looked at Zhao Yunlan, who was carrying Daqing on his shoulders. Due to the cat’s great bulk, Zhao Yunlan had to walk with his neck bent, as if he’d suffered a stroke. Yet despite that, he looked handsome and elegant—a handsome, elegant stroke victim. Director Zhao clearly wasn’t that much older than Guo Changcheng, but he always seemed so sure of himself, as if he wasn’t afraid of anything.
Just then, Zhao Yunlan glanced back. Guo Changcheng hastily averted his gaze.
“What is it? What do you want to say?”
Guo Changcheng looked at the ground. The bangs covering his eyes were a little greasy, resembling a tidy row of black lines.
“If you have something to say, just say it. From now on we’ll have to communicate a lot for work. As you get to know me, you’ll realize that I’m very good-tempered and straightforward. Even if I get really upset about something, I’ll forget about it after a night’s sleep.”
Zhao Yunlan lied through his teeth without even needing to make notes. Daqing, listening beside his head, nearly threw up from disgust.
“I… I… I…” Guo Changcheng tried to answer but couldn’t manage to speak at first. His eyes were red before he finally blurted, “I just think I’m useless!”
Oho, Zhao Yunlan thought, delighted. So you do have some self-awareness!
But he maintained his two-faced act, determinedly putting on a warm, affectionate expression. “Okay, young man. This is your first time out in the field. Why worry about a little setback? Who among us hasn’t made mistakes? Let’s take it slow. Don’t worry, I believe in you. Don’t overthink things. Now tell me, what did you find out from the teachers?”
“Oh… Oh!” Guo Changcheng hurriedly produced a notebook from his little crossbody bag. “I found… The victim’s name is Lu Ruomei. She was a postgraduate student from the math department, a local from a middle-class family. There aren’t many girls in the math department, so everyone usually looked after her, which also meant she got along well with people at school. I didn’t hear about her having conflicts with anyone. Recently, she’d been applying for admin positions at the university. She spent quite a lot of time on off-campus activities, so her grades weren’t the best…”
He spewed all of this bullshit at length, and for once, Zhao Yunlan actually heard him out patiently. When he finally wound down, Zhao Yunlan even asked, “So what do you think?”
“I think…her grad school application could have given her competitors motive. Or maybe she offended someone during her off-campus extracurricular activities. We can start by investigating her social connections. Perhaps the culprit is among them.” Guo Changcheng stopped there and peeked at Zhao Yunlan anxiously, showing no confidence at all. “I… For the time being, this was all I could come up with.”
Not addressing whether he was right or wrong, Zhao Yunlan nodded slowly. “Then how do you think she died?”
Guo Changcheng wasn’t sure what to make of the question. He could only say cluelessly, “Murdered?”
Zhao Yunlan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Alas, Comrade Guo Changcheng probably didn’t even know how to write the words “read the room.” He let out a breath of relief when he saw Zhao Yunlan laugh and broke into a timid, foolish smile.
Director Zhao had never had to deal with such a weirdo. There was no way out of this excruciating situation but to push through, no matter how much internal damage he had to suffer in silence. He forced himself into an enigmatic, leaderly stance and said, “You did great. That was very detailed. You have potential.”
Guo Changcheng’s head snapped up. The man before him was gazing down with a pleasant, kind smile wreathing his face. His eyes and brows were more beautiful than Guo Changcheng could express. Those few words flooded him with warmth and strength, and his face went red. His boss was way too good to him—so good that Guo Changcheng suddenly understood the ancient saying, “A man is willing to die for the one who truly understands him.” If Director Zhao cherished and valued him like that, even his life wouldn’t be too great a sacrifice.
And so, Guo Changcheng voluntarily took on a task even more difficult for him than dying: calling and interacting with strangers. “Then… Then I’ll go investigate her social connections!”
“What’s the rush? Zhu Hong is still on duty at the office. I’ll give her a call later and ask her to do it,” Zhao Yunlan said with the false sincerity of one deceiving a child. “How about this? I’ll give you another task that should be a great learning experience. You saw that girl who tried to commit suicide earlier, right? She’s an important eyewitness, but I think she’s hiding something. I want you to follow her and find out why she’s keeping something from us.”
Eyes aglow, Guo Changcheng snapped up straight. “Yes, sir!”
“Mm. Go on, then,” said Zhao Yunlan with a nod.
Guo Changcheng turned and ran, blood singing in his veins. With his puffed-up chest and gallant movements, one would have thought he was about to throw himself toward enemy fire, not tail someone.
Zhao Yunlan watched the intern go. To the black cat on his shoulder, he said, “Mortals.”
Daqing raised his large pancake face. “Doesn’t get any more mortal than that.”
“The Soul-Guarding Order must’ve blue-screened.” Zhao Yunlan patted the kitty’s rump. “I need to go back to the office to check something. Keep an eye on him.”
Daqing meowed lazily, sprang from his shoulder like a ball shot from a bow, and rolled away at the speed of light.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0012.txt
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WHEN SHEN WEI ARRIVED back at the clinic with food from the cafeteria, he found Guo Changcheng standing anxiously at the entrance. The young intern was looking to and fro, clearly wanting to go in but just as clearly too afraid. Daqing, the precocious cat, sat off to the side, blatantly ignoring everything. His gut bulged as he groomed his shiny black fur.
“Aren’t you…” Shen Wei paused awkwardly. Earlier, precisely none of his attention had been on the person before him now. “I’m sorry, but how should I address you?”
This gave Guo Changcheng a fright, but then he recognized Shen Wei. Facing him, Guo Changcheng felt a lot less nervous. It was clear that Shen Wei was a good person. His presence didn’t give off the sense of constant pressure that Zhao Yunlan’s did, no matter how kind the boss was being. Perhaps that’s the charm of an intellectual, Guo Changcheng thought admiringly. Shen Wei could stand shoulder to shoulder with someone with a powerful aura without seeming weak, and yet when standing beside someone like Guo Changcheng, who was a lifetime member of the Church of Uselessness, he didn’t seem at all high and mighty.
“My surname is Guo,” Guo Changcheng said sheepishly.
“Officer xiao-Guo, then.” Shen Wei smiled. “What brings you here?”
Guo Changcheng hesitated, unsure if he could tell anyone about the task his boss had given him. Unable to decide, he looked down and searched for a clue in Daqing’s expression. Daqing, however, was a long-haired cat with a face of glossy black fur. There were no answers to be found there.
Daqing silently face-pawed. In broad daylight, you’d rather consult a cat than form a coherent sentence?
Fortunately, Shen Wei recognized the problem. Seeing Guo Changcheng’s internal conflict, he immediately said, “My apologies—I spoke without thinking. I was just asking casually. Sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry.”
Guo Changcheng lowered his head in shame, even though he didn’t understand what he should feel ashamed about.
“Have you eaten?” Shen Wei asked. “I bought a lot. If you’d like, why don’t you come in and have some too?”
Guo Changcheng was about to refuse when his stomach growled. The last time he’d had anything to eat or drink had been the previous night—almost an entire day earlier.
While he wavered trying to decide, Shen Wei successfully lured Daqing. “Come, kitty. I bought milk. The doctor on duty probably went to eat too. We’ll be quiet and not let anyone see.”
Since Daqing was the only source of courage Guo Changcheng had, seeing the cat succumb to sweet temptation left him no choice but to follow.
Perhaps hoping to keep Guo Changcheng from feeling too awkward, Shen Wei tried to make small talk. “Officer xiao-Guo, you look very young—not much older than my students. You haven’t been working for long, have you?”
“Today’s my second day,” Guo Changcheng said truthfully.
Shen Wei smiled. “Then you really must be right around my students’ age. How does it feel to join the workforce?”
It didn’t feel so great, to be honest. But Guo Changcheng still considered his words carefully. “It’s…all right.”
As he led them, human and cat, down the school clinic’s narrow hallways, Shen Wei’s gaze flashed behind his glasses, but he continued as if nothing were out of the ordinary. “Do your coworkers and your…boss…treat you well?”
“Director Zhao’s pretty good to me. Oh—he’s who was here this morning. My coworkers…” And here Guo Changcheng’s expression contorted slightly as he thought of lao-Wu’s papier-mâché-like face and how it seemed as though Wang Zheng’s head had been chopped off and sewn back on. Painfully, he said, “They’re… They’re also fine.”
“‘Director Zhao,’” Shen Wei echoed quietly, before asking, “Is your Director Zhao normally busy?”
Guo Changcheng scratched his head. “He… Probably? I-It’s my first day. I really don’t know.”
“What do you think of him?”
“He’s great,” Guo Changcheng replied automatically.
Shen Wei looked at him. “Then why are you a little afraid of him?”
Shocked, Guo Changcheng said, “He’s my boss! Of course… Of course I…”
As they reached the room where Li Qian was resting, Shen Wei burst out laughing.
He arranged the food on the table quickly and divided the utensils, then ripped the lid off a single-use container, filled it with some warm milk, and pushed it toward Daqing. “Everyone eat. Don’t just sit there.”
Hunger made his stomach feel like a gaping hole, but Guo Changcheng still didn’t have much of an appetite. Back in school, he normally never ate at the cafeteria—not because he was spoiled and looked down on the food, but because as soon as the cafeteria got crowded, someone inevitably came to sit at his table. That was all it took to make him uneasy and kill his appetite, never mind this situation, eating with two strangers in a hospital room.
Li Qian had even less appetite. Given her current mental state, if the doctor hadn’t pronounced her fine, Shen Wei would almost have suspected she was on drugs. He also realized that if he didn’t say anything, the only sound in the entire room would be Daqing drinking milk, which was painfully awkward. There was no choice but to keep up the small talk. He asked Li Qian, “You said you’re a local. Do you live far away? If so, you should go home and rest for a few days. I’ll talk to your advisor for you if necessary.”
Her chopsticks paused imperceptibly as she hesitated. Finally, she said softly, “My family… My family is making funeral arrangements at the moment. There are a lot of relatives coming to stay, so there’s no room for me.”
Shen Wei stilled. Li Qian poked at the rice in her bowl faintly with her chopsticks and added, “My grandma passed away two days ago.”
He apologized at once. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. My condolences.”
Li Qian lowered her head without responding. She picked at the plain white rice, ignoring the side dishes.
Shen Wei commandeered an extra pair of chopsticks to use as communal serving utensils. Putting some food in her bowl, he said, “I bought some dishes at random. I don’t know if it’s to your tastes, but try to eat some, at least.”
Guo Changcheng, who had been pretending not to exist, suddenly butted in. “When I was younger, I was brought up by my grandma too. She passed away when I was in eleventh grade. Because of that, I took half a year off school.”
Both Shen Wei and Li Qian looked at him. He fell silent again before continuing, voice muffled. “I’ve always been a disappointment. When the other kids bullied me, I was too afraid to hit back or even cry. Any time my grandma found out, she’d take me along when she went to confront the school, then scold me when we got back home. She’d take me to buy yogurt, chocolate, candy, and Qingfeng’s veggie buns. But then at home, she wouldn’t take a single bite. She left all of it for me. I’d put it to her mouth, and she’d only have a tiny nibble.
“As a kid, I always told myself that when I grew up and made lots of money, it would be my turn to take care of her. I thought I’d buy her yogurt, chocolate, and buns, but…she didn’t live to see that day.”
Something in his words struck a chord with Li Qian. Tears started to form in her eyes, but Guo Changcheng didn’t notice. It was like he was talking to himself.
“One night she passed away in her sleep. No one knew. The next morning, she didn’t get up, so I went to wake her, and found…found her. For the next few years, I always dreamed of her. When I wasn’t in school, I’d dream she was pushing me every day, telling me, ‘Go study, study well.’ I finally returned to school. Sometimes, when I got a good grade, she smiled at me. When my grades fell, she sighed and looked tense. Then I finally got to university.”
Guo Changcheng looked as wilted as a frost-beaten eggplant. Shen Wei couldn’t help patting his head.
Smiling shyly at him, Guo Changcheng said, “I received my letter of admission later than everyone else. I was in the third round of acceptances; everyone else had already accepted their offers—it was September by then. That night was the last time I dreamed of her. She told me, ‘You’re all grown up now. Grandma can rest in peace. I’ll be leaving.’ When I asked her where she was going, she just shook her head and said it was the place dead people should go, and the living shouldn’t ask about it. It’s been years, but I haven’t dreamed of her again. Not even once. My uncle said she reincarnated.”
Silent tears rolled down Li Qian’s cheeks, like beads from a broken string.
“What I mean is…” Guo Changcheng tugged foolishly at his hair. He’d been able to say so much for once out of sympathy. He was on the verge of admiring himself. “Come on, don’t cry. When my grandma first passed away, I thought my world was collapsing too. I remember thinking, now I’ll never get the chance to be a filial grandson again, so what’s the point of studying and working hard? Back then, I would even have traded my life for hers, but…” He sighed. “Anyway, I’m not good with words. I just mean don’t be sad. Our relatives who have passed away are still watching over us.”
It would’ve been better if he’d stopped talking while he was ahead. At his last sentences, Li Qian began to shake and sob loudly. It was quickly clear that she was unable to stop, so badly out of it that her hands and feet were twitching unconsciously. Shen Wei hurried to get the doctor. Guo Changcheng, who had never seen someone so utterly devastated, could only stand aside helplessly.
The clinic doctor normally only prescribed medication for colds or diarrhea. He didn’t have any experience injecting sedatives. Seeing the state Li Qian was in, he immediately ordered, “Transfer her to the Second Hospital!”
All Guo Changcheng could do was accompany Shen Wei and help take Li Qian from the clinic to an actual hospital. Sitting in Shen Wei’s car, holding a girl he didn’t know who was practically at death’s door, Guo Changcheng watched Dragon City University fade into the distance through the window. More than ever, he felt that working just sucked.
Shen Wei wasn’t Li Qian’s advisor, her guidance counselor, or someone responsible for overseeing her political ideals. As someone who’d simply taught her in an elective, he had truly gone above and beyond—or at least Guo Changcheng had never seen such a good professor at his own sad little school. It was Shen Wei who checked Li Qian in at the hospital and paid up front for the visit. Once she’d been admitted to the emergency room, Guo Changcheng even saw Shen Wei in the hallway calling his colleagues to get contact information for Li Qian’s family.
His tone remained even and scrupulously polite, but Guo Changcheng could still tell there was a problem. While Shen Wei was on the phone with Li Qian’s father, he kept stopping mid-sentence, as if constantly interrupted. Eventually, Shen Wei lowered his phone helplessly, then pinched the bridge of his nose and dialed another number.
Call after call after call went exactly the same way.
As Guo Changcheng looked on, he thought that Shen Wei didn’t look like a professor informing a student’s parents about her health but like a petitioner begging for action. He was speaking to Li Qian’s birth parents, her uncles, and her aunties, and every one passed her along like a hot potato. Ultimately, not a single person said they’d come to see her.
Even Guo Changcheng was a little angry. What the fuck?
Domestic woes were outside the jurisdiction of even an honest, upright official. If that was simply what her family was like, there was nothing Shen Wei could do about it. After the final call ended, he folded his arms and leaned against the wall, frowning.
The professor had broad shoulders, a slim waist, and long, slender legs. His shirt cuffs were securely buttoned, and a pair of rimless glasses perched on his nose. All in all, he looked like a perfume ad model, exuding an air of forbidden sex appeal.
He stood there quietly for some time. Guo Changcheng half expected him to open his mouth and curse, but Shen Wei still said nothing. Eventually, although his brow was still furrowed, he looked up and smiled amicably at Guo Changcheng. “Thank you, Officer xiao-Guo. You’ve worked hard today. Why don’t you head on back, and I’ll take care of things here. I don’t want to get in the way of your other work.”
“I… I don’t have any other work,” Guo Changcheng mumbled. His eyes happened to meet Daqing’s as the cat was trying hard to stick his head out of his bag. Under that dark green gaze, he suddenly blurted, “Director Zhao just told me to follow her. He didn’t say what exactly he wanted me to investigate and didn’t tell me when I should go back…”
After the burst of resolve that Zhao Yunlan had tricked out of him had faded, Guo Changcheng had come to a realization about the arbitrary task he’d been given. He was slow, not stupid. Tailing a sickly young lady wasn’t some kind of challenging assignment. Director Zhao probably thought he was underfoot and had found some way to get rid of him. It was true that he had no skills and could be nothing but trouble. Only nepotism had gotten him into the SID, and in less than twenty-four hours he’d already messed up more things than he could count. Who would want such useless trash around?
“Your Director Zhao doesn’t think that,” Shen Wei said, his attempt at comfort tinged with exasperation. “Don’t overthink it.”
Guo Changcheng’s depression turned him into a mushroom-shaped storm cloud.
Just then, the doctor came out to inform them that Li Qian had suffered too much shock; that, combined with relentless negative emotions, malnutrition, and low blood sugar, had resulted in her extreme reaction. He had already administered a sedative, so she was asleep. He suggested that she stay at the hospital for observation. Shen Wei had no choice but to fill out yet more paperwork for an overnight stay.
The unlikely trio—two humans and a cat—stayed with Li Qian until the sun set heavily in the west, and still not a single family member came to see her.
“Shen-laoshi, does her family not care about her?” Guo Changcheng asked quietly.
Shen Wei didn’t know what to say. He only sighed.
Guo Changcheng sat at Li Qian’s bedside and suddenly grasped why she was so sad, why her emotional reaction was so extreme, why she’d sobbed to the point of convulsions and had even tried to jump off a building. Perhaps the only person in the world who’d loved her was no longer there. From now on, there was no one to care about her happiness, anger, sadness, or joy. No one would be watching over her, encouraging her to test her wings while also wishing she could stay a little longer in the nest.
That was how night found them when it fell.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0013.txt
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“RIGHT HERE. Rewind it.”
After parting ways with Guo Changcheng, Zhao Yunlan drove back to 4 Bright Avenue. Once there, he headed straight in and watched the security footage from the intersection outside DCU’s main entrance three times, start to finish.
By daylight, the office looked far bleaker. The only person on duty in the criminal investigation unit was a female officer who might have been in her twenties. A simple ponytail highlighted her pretty forehead and a clear complexion that was accentuated with light makeup. She was in uniform—at least from the waist up. Her lower body was covered by a blanket, and she sat very still in her seat. All that kept her from looking like she was convalescing was the rosiness in her face.
Half-closed eyes and a lazy expression made it seem like she might drift off at any moment, but her hands were working busily. The blanket on her lap was large enough that one edge reached the floor. When Zhao Yunlan accidentally stepped on the trailing edge, the other side of the blanket slid up. For a moment, it revealed the tip of a python tail, which quickly withdrew. The woman’s attention remained fixed on the security footage. Without looking, she reached down absentmindedly to adjust the blanket.
The nameplate on the corner of her desk read “Zhu Hong.”
The security footage wasn’t very clear. Some sort of magnetic field had caused interference, so the recording stopped and started erratically, and sometimes bursts of static obscured the video. What could be seen wasn’t terribly revealing, since the murder had taken place in the small alley by the school’s side entrance and the camera was filming the intersection outside the main gate. It caught only the brief moment when Li Qian and the victim, Lu Ruomei, had passed each other on University Street.
The footage timestamp put it at 10:20 p.m. the previous night. Things played out just as Li Qian had described: she left the school and crossed the road to a small supermarket, went inside, and came out after five minutes. On her way back, she happened to cross paths with Lu Ruomei, at whom she nodded politely. At Zhao Yunlan’s request, the footage was now paused just moments later. Lu Ruomei had crossed the street and was about to enter the alleyway.
Li Qian seemed to glance casually at Lu Ruomei. The poor quality of the video made it hard to see nuances in her expression, but what she’d seen in that glance had sent her reeling, staggering back in shock.
Zhu Hong stared at the screen for a while, and then her eyes finally came fully open. The pupils in those otherwise-ordinary almond eyes were inhuman vertical slits; the effect was deeply unsettling. “Is she looking at what’s under the streetlight?”
Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Can you make the area around the streetlight any clearer?”
Zhu Hong zoomed in, but it didn’t do much. “No. I’ve tried my best.”
“In a few days I’ll send you to start a part-time graduate degree. Go upgrade your technical skills.”
Zhu Hong patted her lap—what would have been a human woman’s thigh. “That would take at least two or three years, and I’m like this once a month. How exactly would I explain being absent so often?”
Without hesitation or batting an eye, Zhao Yunlan said, “You’d tell them it was menstrual cramps, dumbass.”
She absorbed this in brief silence, then said, “You’re always destroying my romanticized fantasy of you, boss.”
“You’re the one who has the nerve to fantasize about your boss.” Zhao Yunlan lightly pushed down on her head. “Are you trying to lose your bonus?”
Her eyes narrowed even more. A long serpentine tongue flicked out between her lips. “If you take me to bed for just one night, you can stop paying me entirely. I’ll work for free.”
Zhao Yunlan gave her an artificial smile. “Really?”
Zhu Hong was silent again, struck by the feeling that their shameless boss might really be capable of selling his body for profit.
“Propositioning your boss during work hours…” Zhao Yunlan pointed at her. “Very good, Comrade Zhu Hong. You’ll be our department’s representative to the Party seminar this year. Get ready to work on your thinking and awareness.”
Wishing she’d shut her mouth sooner, Zhu Hong hastily tried to move on. “If whatever’s there isn’t visible on the footage, it must not want to be seen, except by someone with a third eye. That girl was probably only able to see it because she’d used the Reincarnation Dial.”
“You managed to find something about that old sundial?” Zhao Yunlan asked.
“Mm-hmm—actually, when you mentioned the old sundial this afternoon, it made me think of something.” She bent over and took an old, thread-bound account book from a drawer. “I borrowed this from the Netherworld. You can take a good look through it when you have time. Legend has it that the first of the Hallowed Artifacts from the Netherworld is called the Reincarnation Dial. Its base was made from shards of the Three-Life Rock, and the scales on its back were from a kind of black fish found in the Wangchuan River. The fish are three chi, three cun12 long; their fins are hard as crystal and all point in the same direction.”
Zhao Yunlan nodded for her to continue.
Zhu Hong flipped the account book open. “Only the so-called ‘Four Hallowed Artifacts of the Netherworld,’ including the Reincarnation Dial, are mentioned in here. It doesn’t explain where they came from or what became of them, but based on recent events, it seems like they’ve ended up in the Mortal Realm.”
Her tapered fingers slid across the page, and Zhao Yunlan’s gaze followed. Under the words “Reincarnation Dial” he saw a little note in a smaller font that said “life lending.”
“Life lending?” Zhao Yunlan’s brows creased as the unusual new ghost following Li Qian came to mind. “What did you find out about Li Qian? Did anyone around her die recently? Someone who hasn’t yet passed their first seven days?”
“Yes,” Zhu Hong said. “Li Qian’s grandma passed away at the end of August.”
Zhao Yunlan leaned back and slowly lit a cigarette. “That must be it, then. No wonder the old lady’s soul can appear in broad daylight if the Three-Life Rock is blocking her soul’s passage. I wondered why that girl was spewing lies, but borrowing life from the elderly? How could she do such a thing?”
“No, that’s not it,” said Zhu Hong. “The Reincarnation Dial represents the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. Just like how the scales of the black fish in the Wangchuan River only lie in one direction, it’s only possible for an older person to borrow time from someone younger, not the other way around. Director Zhao, I think you’ve misunderstood her.”
Zhu Hong reached out a hand. Out of nowhere, a piece of rice paper drifted down and landed in her palm. Li Qian’s name was written on it, followed by her birth chart in smaller text, and then two blurry lines. It was hard to make out what exactly was written there, but it was clear that the words had somehow been changed.
“The Netherworld looked into it for me,” she said. “Li Qian’s date of death was altered, yes, but her life span wasn’t lengthened. It was shortened.”
Zhao Yunlan arched an eyebrow, mildly surprised.
“Reincarnation Dial, Reincarnation Dial, thrice around the Stone of Three, half your life for half of mine, born apart but die intertwined,” Zhu Hong recited, then continued. “It means someone with the Hallowed Reincarnation Artifact can use it to exchange half of their own remaining life to bring back someone who’s already dead. After that, when one of them dies, so does the other.
“Two years ago, Li Qian’s grandma was coming to the end of her life. That was most likely when the girl used half of her own life to bring her back. After you called, I dug into her background. Li Qian’s address is registered locally, but before that, she and her grandma lived in the countryside. I called the local village officials, and they told me Li Qian was raised by her grandma. Her parents were always busy with work out of town and never really went back. And what’s more, Li Qian has a younger brother. This was all back when the one-child policy was at its strictest, so…you know.”
In a family that valued sons over daughters, where the parents desperately wanted a son but didn’t want to pay the fine for exceeding the birth limit, the daughter they already had became invisible. Everyone pretended she didn’t exist.
Zhu Hong continued, “The village head said the old lady had a sudden stroke two years ago. No one thought she’d make it, but she had a miraculous recovery, just with some side effects. She was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s—what used to be called elderly dementia. I think it was probably caused by nerve damage from the stroke. At first, she was just forgetful, but it kept getting worse. She began to have trouble recognizing faces, and her intellectual capacity declined.
“Then, six months later, Li Qian was accepted into her master’s program here in the city. Her parents had no choice but to bring the aging grandmother and their kid here.”
“So this ‘life for life’ probably happened when Li Qian’s grandma was sick.” Zhao Yunlan flicked his cigarette. “Somewhere back in her hometown, she came across that ancient heirloom, passed down through the generations. It all adds up, but I don’t see why she can’t talk about it. Why did she need to lie to me?”
“Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances.” Zhu Hong spun her chair around with her wrist on the armrest, split-pupiled gaze coming to rest on Zhao Yunlan. The frightening eyes of a cold-blooded creature somehow seemed unusually warm and gentle on her face. “Think about it. If there were someone in this world you loved enough that you’d sacrifice half of your life for theirs, how would you feel if they then started vanishing from your life again?”
Zhao Yunlan’s forehead creased. He seemed unmoved, as if still unconvinced. In the face of such a heartrending story, he was not only untouched but examining it for cracks, as if he wouldn’t rest until he found something suspicious. Zhu Hong had to wonder which of them was the real cold-blooded one. She sighed quietly.
With a shrug, Zhao Yunlan said, “Okay, Miss Zhu. Lay it out for me.”
“Li Qian did a lot of online shopping. I’ve looked through her purchase history. Almost all the things she bought were health products for the elderly. She didn’t have a lot of money to spare, and most of it was earned through tutoring or helping her advisor. Other girls spend far more than that on clothes or makeup, but she rarely bought anything for herself. That alone makes me think she’s a good kid. If it’s clear that she has nothing to do with the case and she doesn’t want to talk about some things, then just leave her be. Don’t keep pushing her.”
“Material goods don’t prove anything,” Zhao Yunlan countered. “Sometimes you buy things to make up for not caring for someone anymore…”
He trailed off at Zhu Hong’s expression, which said, You cold-blooded, heartless man as clearly as any words.
“Fine,” he said. “Let’s pretend it happened like that. But if she gave half of her life to the old lady, why is she still walking around while the old lady’s dead?”
“In a situation like this, it’s possible that an accident happened. The old lady may have passed even though her life span wasn’t up,” said Zhu Hong. “Lin Jing sent me the list of spirits that went missing yesterday. I checked—she’s not on it. She’s just floating around out there, and it’s very likely the Netherworld doesn’t even know yet. If her soul is connected to a living human through the Reincarnation Dial, that might be how she got past the reapers.”
Zhao Yunlan considered that. “Mmm.”
“What is it?” Zhu Hong asked.
“I just had a thought. I don’t know if you noticed, but Li Qian and Lu Ruomei have a very similar build at first glance. Similar hairstyles too. If a stranger saw them from behind, it’d be almost impossible to tell them apart. Then yesterday, they happened to be dressed the same way, and Lu Ruomei just happened to die after they crossed paths. Think about it! There must still be some trace of a Hallowed Artifact on Li Qian from the Reincarnation Dial. And if the grandmother really can evade the reapers, maybe the escaped ghosts think…”
“You’re saying that Hunger Ghost might have been after Li Qian all along!”
Zhao Yunlan put out his cigarette and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket. “It’s almost dark, and I only left our new useless little thing there with Li Qian. I have to get over there.”
“The intern who fainted from fright on his first day?”
Zhao Yunlan gave her an exasperated look, not wanting to discuss it. He was about to leave when he remembered something. “Oh, right. Where’s the message from the Soul-Executing Emmissary? Give it to me.”
Zhu Hong tilted her chin toward the corner of the desk, too afraid to touch what he was asking for.
It was a small pamphlet. The outside was pitch black, with the words “To the hands of the Guardian: A Lone Soul Sends Notice” written in cinnabar. The interior was an exquisite satin. It opened with a few lines of polite but wordy pleasantries, then briefly mentioned the Hunger Ghost’s escape before finally getting to its main point: “Tonight at midnight, this one will pay you a visit. Deepest apologies for the disruption.”
The whole message was written in neat calligraphy with long, slender strokes. It was practically a work of art.
Zhao Yunlan flipped open the letter. Frightened, Zhu Hong edged her chair away.
The Soul-Executing Emissary had come into existence in the depths of the Netherworld, but he was not a ghost immortal, nor was he subject to the Ten Yanluo Courts.13 Legend said he had originally been a mere wisp of fiendish energy from the darkest bowels of the Nine Hells. But from this inauspicious beginning, in a rare stroke of serendipity, he evolved to attain a physical form.
He wielded the Soul-Executing Blade, and gods, humans, or any other being, whether from the thirty-three levels of Heaven above or the eighteen levels of Hell below, could be executed by that blade if found guilty. Deities and demons alike bowed their heads to him, and all beings feared him…all but Zhao Yunlan.
Whether he was thick-skinned or boneheaded or just missing reflex tendons14 others had, Zhao Yunlan not only failed to fear the Emissary but found him gentle and refined with a good personality. His only shortcoming was that, whether speaking or writing, the Emmissary’s language was just a bit archaic—too refined and flowery.
Zhao Yunlan could tell Zhu Hong was uneasy, so he quickly skimmed the “Lone Soul’s Notice” and stuffed it into his bag. “If there’s nothing else, you can go home. Leave everything for Wang Zheng on the night shift. Now, you won’t have legs again for a few days. You could slip down just hitting the brakes, and it’s inconvenient for you to go anywhere. So once you leave work, try not to fuck around. Make sure to get some rest. And oh, right—reach out to Lin Jing for me before you go. If he’s finished up what the Netherworld wanted him to do, tell him not to have too much fun and to get back quickly. What is there to do in the Netherworld, anyway?”
As soon as Zhu Hong heard that she didn’t need to stay behind and greet the Soul-Executing Emissary, she nodded as if a weight had lifted.
“I’m heading out, then.” Zhao Yunlan strode out, dialing Guo Changcheng’s number.
When Guo Changcheng realized it was his boss calling, he instinctively stood at attention.
“Why did it take you so long to pick up?” Zhao Yunlan was already worrying. “Is everything okay over there?”
Guo Changcheng was too tongue-tied to speak. It was weird—that morning, he’d managed to speak directly to his kind-seeming boss, but now that Zhao Yunlan was speaking through a phone, that bravery was reduced to crumbs. As with many socially awkward individuals, he found phone calls far more terrifying than speaking face-to-face.
His breathing came faster and faster until Zhao Yunlan started to think answering the phone could frighten him into a heart attack. After listening to a minute of breathless stammering, Director Zhao sighed. “Is anyone there with you? If so, give them the phone. And if not, give it to Daqing.”
Guo Changcheng silently handed the phone to Shen Wei.
Fortunately, Shen-laoshi was reliable. He offered Zhao Yunlan a concise explanation of how they’d taken Li Qian to the hospital, including the hospital name and room number. Then he asked, “What, is Li Qian’s situation still—” Crackly static cut him off mid-sentence. “Hello?”
It sounded like Zhao Yunlan had said something, but Shen Wei couldn’t make out a single word through the static. He went to the window, seemingly in search of a better signal, but where Guo Changcheng couldn’t see, he gently opened the curtain to look out. Still showing every sign of being confused, he said, “What was that? Hello? Can you still hear me?”
This time Zhao Yunlan heard him clearly and had just enough time to snap out, “Fuck, get out of there! Right now!”
Shen Wei reflexively narrowed his eyes as a black shadow darted across the reflection of his night-black pupils. In the next moment, the room was plunged into absolute darkness. The glass next to Shen Wei shattered, and Zhao Yunlan’s cat let out a sharp yowl and jumped up. A gust of wind blew past the side of Shen Wei’s face, leaving a foul stench in its wake—something that reeked of decay, with the pungency of blood.
Zhao Yunlan seemed to have said something else, but it was unintelligible. Utter chaos broke out in the room. The cat was still yowling over the noise of things crashing into each other. Then a loud clash rang out as something flew through the air and slammed into a chair, knocking it over. Shen Wei backed up half a step to get out of the way, and the call dropped entirely.
He maximized the phone’s brightness and shined the light around. An unfamiliar voice said, “Be careful!”
It was Daqing who had knocked the chair over, and he was the one speaking now. Poor panicked Guo Changcheng had managed to trip over the toppled chair and had landed on his backside with his limbs in the air.
Shen Wei reached behind himself into the corner of the room and found a mop. Grabbing it, he thrust the wooden handle forward while swiftly leaning back. With a teeth-grating crash, a black shadow flew over his head at great speed. There was a sudden weight on the mop as the handle was chopped into two.
The black shape flitted past, as quick and silent as if it really were nothing but a shadow. It was too fast to make out clearly, and it headed straight for Li Qian, who was still lying on the bed and completely unaware of any of this, thanks to the sedative.
By now their vision was adjusting to the darkness. In the cell phone’s dim light, Shen Wei got a good look. The thing’s mouth gaped wider than ninety degrees, giving its head the appearance of a sliced-open watermelon.
Guo Changcheng didn’t even have time to pass out. He could only stare, eyes huge and mouth hanging open. His heart rate hadn’t even picked up, but his mind had gone blank as a whiteboard. His blood all rushed to his extremities, and his skyrocketing blood pressure made his head feel as if it had doubled in size.
There was only a voice inside wildly yelling, What is that? What is that?!
That shadow was revealed to have a human shape. Its long body and sticklike limbs resembled a skeleton’s, but it had a massive belly that bulged out terrifyingly. Its arms had become a pair of large sickles. As it roared soundlessly, they slashed down ruthlessly toward Li Qian’s abdomen.
Belatedly, Guo Changcheng’s scream found its way out of his throat. He gave three shrieks in quick succession: “Ah… Ahhhhh… Ahhhhhhh—!”
Shen Wei’s expression darkened as he took a brisk step forward. But before he could act, a human figure was suddenly interposed between the shadow and Li Qian.
It was an old woman who had appeared out of nowhere. She was stocky, with a laughable fake hair bun perched on her head. After materializing out of thin air, she flung her arms as wide as possible. Her round body stretched out like a clumsy old hen as she desperately tried to shield the girl on the bed.
Quick as lightning, Shen Wei stepped back as if he hadn’t moved. No one noticed as he hefted the metal chair that Daqing had knocked over and hurled it at the shadow.
The chair smashed directly into the shadow’s body, ripping it in half. The creature let out what sounded like a scream of rage.
The split halves of its body were still connected by something resembling sticky strands of lotus root, hanging to the side and swaying. Then bubbles of all sizes began to form at those points of connection, as though it were a pot about to boil over. Like a monster from a persistent nightmare, the two halves shook violently. Horrifying noises came from its mouth as its halves started to fuse into one.
“It’s growing back together! It’s growing back together again!” Guo Changcheng yelled pointlessly. He was either adding to the chaos or…well, adding to the chaos.
Shen Wei had no choice but to retrieve the chair from where it had ricocheted off the headboard, then brandish it fiercely at the monster. The mild-mannered Shen-laoshi, it turned out, was anything but mild when it came to fighting. Accuracy, steadiness, fierceness—he possessed them all in spades. While everyone around him was still frozen in fear and unsure what to do, he’d already gained the upper hand, striking first and smashing the thing into seven or eight pieces.
Finally, face un-flushed and breathing unaffected, he tossed the chair aside.
Silence reigned in the room for two full seconds.
Then Daqing sprang to the head of Li Qian’s bed. Whiskers quivering, he said, “Don’t just stand there! Hurry up and go. You can’t beat a Hunger Ghost to death with a chair. You were lucky just now because the room’s full of yang energy. Once you’ve really angered this thing, it won’t be fun.”
Shen Wei looked up. He and the cat had a brief staredown.
“That’s right, you’re not hallucinating,” Daqing said, expression solemn. “I am the one talking and you really did just batter a Hunger Ghost to pieces, so don’t give me any bullshit about how ‘one does not speak of the supernatural.’ Get moving!”
Whether it was due to mental fortitude or something else, Daqing hadn’t even finished talking before Shen Wei bent down and hoisted Li Qian onto his back. Valiantly, he even asked, “What about that old lady just now?”
“She’ll follow. You don’t need to worry about her. She’s a new ghost, not a living person.”
“Oh,” Shen Wei said and put atheism behind him. “Officer xiao-Guo, keep up!”
Guo Changcheng was still gawking, his neck stiff as he contorted himself into an awkward shape.
Shen Wei, carrying Li Qian, raised his voice sharply. “Officer xiao-Guo!”
Struggling to get his limbs under him, Guo Changcheng got up as if he’d just woken from a dream. “I… I-I-I…”
“Enough with the ‘I’s! Open the door for me!”
By this point, Guo Changcheng’s brain was fried from sheer overload, so he was only capable of obeying. At Shen Wei’s order, he stumbled to push the room’s door open.
There wasn’t a single thread of light in the hallway outside. The doctors and nurses on duty seemed to have evaporated from the mortal world. Every single room was empty. The whole floor had become a ghost town.
The cat raced ahead, more nimbly than one might imagine from his size. Shen Wei followed carrying Li Qian, leaving Guo Changcheng no choice but to bring up the rear.
Their footsteps echoed all around the empty hallway. A window must have been left open somewhere, because there was a constant eerie breeze blowing around them. It chilled the back of Guo Changcheng’s neck and slowly woke his brain from its state of frozen terror.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something behind him.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0014.txt
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FEELING OR NO FEELING, Guo Changcheng didn’t dare turn around. Having been raised by the elderly for much of his life, he had been fed a lot of superstitious beliefs, including the common one that said to never look back when walking at night. Doing so would extinguish the lamp on each shoulder, and then monsters would come get you.
He was doing his best to keep himself under control, but the scene that had just played out was still vivid in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more petrified he became, as if that thing were about to catch up to him. It didn’t look like lamps on his shoulders would keep it at bay. With a belly so engorged it looked pregnant and arms like a mantis’ pincers… Guo Changcheng touched his neck. With a head as delicate as his, the thing could decapitate five of him at once without breaking a sweat.
His brain then replayed the image of the corpse in that narrow alley. Guo Changcheng hadn’t seen the actual scene of the crime, but from photos, he knew how it had looked: that young woman on the ground, her abdomen cut open.
Look back… Don’t look back… Look back…
Guo Changcheng wiped away cold sweat and found himself walking faster. He quickly caught up with Shen Wei, who had Li Qian on his back.
Guo Changcheng had never been a confrontational person. For him, running away was as natural as a cat eating fish or a dog eating meat. It was practically part of his genetic makeup, and right now, his genes were telling him that the safest place was between Shen Wei and the black cat. Bringing up the rear was way too scary.
But at that moment, Shen Wei suddenly stopped walking. Li Qian seemed to have stirred, but she hadn’t woken up completely, so she started sliding down his shoulders. He had to stop to adjust his hold on her.
Guo Changcheng could have overtaken him, but for some reason, he instead came to a halt. In addition to not rushing ahead, he maintained his forward-facing position. Stiffly, without turning his head, he twisted his body sideways to take a quick glance back, then leaned against the wall.
It was a kind of protective, alert pose for the sake of the people in front of him. Guo Changcheng had finally remembered something. “I’m a police officer,” he said to himself. “I’m a police officer, I’m a police officer, I’m a police officer…”
He kept repeating it in his head, looping it again and again like he was a voice recorder, as if enough repetition would give him some sense of honor and courage.
Unfortunately, the words “I’m a police officer” weren’t enough to ward off evil. It accomplished nothing but wasting his breath. He was still on the verge of losing his mind from fear.
As he silently chanted, his vision began to blur. He belatedly put a hand to his face an instant before meeting Shen Wei’s shocked gaze…which was how Guo Changcheng realized he had actually started crying. Was it any surprise that Shen Wei was shocked? An hour earlier, Shen-laoshi had still been an ordinary university professor. But in the course of that hour, he had witnessed such bizarre things firsthand: a murderous black shadow, a talking cat, and a police officer who had been reduced to tears right in front of him!
The truth was, Guo Changcheng himself didn’t fully understand why he was crying. But then came the swift and unexpected realization that crying was the best possible option for venting his emotions and lessening his fear. It was certainly more useful than endlessly repeating “I’m a police officer.”
Taking a deep breath, he began to wail in earnest. But with the wailing came brave words. “H-hurry and run! I-I’ll bring up the rear! I-I will protect you guys…!”
Shen-laoshi said nothing. It seemed very probable that he was numb from everything he’d seen, and that was why a hint of a smile flickered in his eyes.
Maintaining their peculiar formation, the black cat rushed to the stairs and raced down toward the first floor. The two men with the unconscious girl were right behind him. Shen Wei was still holding Guo Changcheng’s phone to use as a flashlight, and as they ran, its light swept across the corner of the stairwell. Before Shen Wei could make out what the light had revealed, an inhuman scream exploded out of Guo Changcheng.
Even running flat out, Guo Changcheng was fully capable of screaming and crying. Clearly, despite the fact that he was a recluse, Officer xiao-Guo’s lung capacity was excellent.
Shen Wei took a closer look. What lay in the corner was a child—but no. No, it was more accurately a fetus, a tiny thing even smaller than a newborn baby, probably premature. Beneath the sparse hair on its scalp, its head was like a squashed ball, broken open in places to reveal the ruin of its skull and brain. Its features were crooked, and its empty mouth agape. It lay there quietly like a medical specimen, staring at them with warped, vacant pupils.
“What are you screaming for?” Daqing admonished loudly. “This is a hospital—of course it’s packed full of yin energy. There are plenty more where this one came from. Don’t act like some country bumpkin who hasn’t seen the world.”
“Wh-what is that?” Guo Changcheng managed.
“A little ghost of a fetus that was aborted before it was born.” Daqing swiped at the tiny ghost. It vanished, letting out a cry like that of a kitten. “Get moving! The Hunger Ghost is right behind us!”
In a previous life, Daqing must have been a doom-saying crow, not a cat. His words were still hanging in the air when that rotten stench hit Guo Changcheng and Shen Wei’s noses. They both picked up the pace. While talking, they’d made it from the second-floor inpatient area to the first floor, only to hear pounding footsteps behind them.
“What now?!” Guo Changcheng asked tearfully, his head somehow unusually clear. “Isn’t the Hunger Ghost like a shadow? How can it have such heavy footsteps?”
“I already fucking said, this is a hospital! There’re all kinds of things here—the cycle of life and death plays out here every day, not to mention the impurities of all kinds!” Daqing yelled. “Also, are you discriminating against overweight people? We fatties aren’t thieves! We don’t go around taking advantage of others! What’s wrong with being overweight? Being overweight is fine!”
Shen Wei had lost count of how many times he’d been left speechless that night. He couldn’t begin to imagine what Zhao Yunlan’s work environment was like with employees like these.
Despite having someone on his back, Shen Wei didn’t seem tired at all. He was still breathing easily. Now, seeing that the cat was about to explode, he could only coax, “Come now, you two. Don’t fight. Where’s the exit, kitty?”
Daqing’s explosion was undeterred. “Don’t call me something so stupid, mortal!”
“Divine cat…” Shen Wei smoothly switched gears. “It would appear we’ve been down this hallway already. Might the divine cat have some wisdom to share?”
Daqing slammed on his brakes, coming to a stop so abrupt that Shen Wei nearly stepped on him. Only a frantic sidestep prevented it. Guo Changcheng, meanwhile, slumped against the wall like a dead dog, hyperventilating and letting out the occasional tearful hiccup.
Daqing’s ears pricked up as he tilted his flat face to the side. In the cell phone’s dim light, his feline eyes glowed eerily. After some consideration, he turned back and calmly said, “We’ve been going in circles.”
This time, the heavy footsteps approached from up ahead. Something seemed to be squirming inside the blurry shadows on the wall. On closer inspection, it was dozens of intertwined, humanoid shadows…shadows locked in constant, writhing struggle. They screamed soundlessly, ripping and biting at one another but eternally joined…
In this place, lives came to bitter ends every single day. Those who had lived those lives could only wander its corridors aimlessly, unable to leave. They were consumed by envy for the living, greedy for the scent of life but unable to approach.
Such resentment, such despair…
“Run!” Daqing felt like he’d been yelling the same instruction constantly throughout the evening. All he needed was a starting pistol and he’d be ready to officiate a track meet.
The three humans and the cat managed to stumble into a small storage room. Guo Changcheng, the last one inside, slammed the door shut as if his life depended on it. He plastered his entire body against the rusty-smelling door, holding it closed until the lock clicked. Only then did he finally have time to snort back the snot bubble that had escaped along with his tears, unable to believe he was really still alive. He’d just felt a ghostly hand on his neck, and the dark chill of the touch seemed to linger.
Shen Wei set Li Qian down to the side and hurried to join him. Between them, they moved all kinds of things in front of the door as a makeshift barricade.
But before they could even catch their breath, there was a forceful impact against the door from the other side. The clang was loud enough to drive Guo Changcheng to his knees.
There were two or three more powerful blows, and then silence…until there came the sound of sharp nails scratching at the metal door.
Guo Changcheng had slid all the way down the door, but he was so startled by the noise that he flung himself away as if electrocuted, goosebumps rising all over his skin. Crying, he turned to Shen Wei. “I haven’t even gotten my first month’s salary yet! Can’t I at least see the money I won’t even get to spend before I die?”
Thinking it would be somewhat impolite to laugh under the circumstances, Shen Wei adjusted his glasses to hide his amusement.
Guo Changcheng kept sobbing. “Shen-laoshi, do you have any unfulfilled wishes?”
Perhaps hoping to ease Guo Changcheng’s terror, Shen Wei gave the question careful consideration before nodding. “I do.”
Through tears, Guo Changcheng choked out, “Like what?”
“There is someone I met only by chance. There are no connections between us; to him, I must only be a stranger with whom he’s exchanged a few words.” Shen Wei spoke gently against the background noise of scratching nails. “But I very much want to see him one more time.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0015.txt
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THE MAN WAS MAYBE thirty years old—a guy with an average build, wearing wide-framed glasses and a string of sandalwood Buddhist prayer beads. Once out of his car, the first thing he did was fish his phone out of his pocket, turn on the camera, and aim it at his own face with the hospital in frame behind him.
There in the darkness, he began recording. “Special mission: September 1, 20XX, 9:23 p.m. Baota Road East, Dongcheng District, Dragon City Second Hospital,” he muttered. “Mission executor: Lin Jing. Over.”
A black SUV screeched up behind him. Zhao Yunlan tore off his seat belt and leaped out. “Unclog your brain and follow me, quickly! We’re up to our ears in trouble and you’re standing around taking selfies!”
“Oh,” said the man called Lin Jing.
“How the hell did I land myself in this situation?” Zhao Yunlan seethed. “Why is my entire team made up of non-humans and dumbasses?”
The whole hospital was shrouded in a black haze, and its immediate vicinity was deserted. None of the bustling passersby on Baota Road East even seemed to see it.
Zhao Yunlan dialed Guo Changcheng and Shen Wei’s numbers, neither of which were in service. Cursing to himself, he kicked the front door of the hospital open. Black fog rushed toward him as he intruded, but he barely broke stride even as he drew a palm-sized dagger from under his pant leg, sidestepped, and slashed the shadow in two.
More black shadows came racing out of the hospital. Lin Jing, right on Zhao Yunlan’s heels, pulled out a gun and started firing, picking them off without a single wasted shot or a hitch in the Buddhist scriptures flowing off his tongue.
“Is there something seriously unlucky about our useless newbie’s birth chart?” Zhao Yunlan looked at all the shadows clogging the hallway. It was like entering a drainpipe blocked with hair. “At the school he attracted a resentful spirit, and now he’s attracting ghosts at a hospital. If you dropped him into Investiture of the Gods, he’d just be a Soul-Beckoning Flag.”15
“‘Form is emptiness,’”16 Lin Jing recited, then he said, “I’ll conduct a ritual for him later.”
“‘Form,’ my ass! Either speak normally or shut up!”
Serenely, Lin Jing continued with his recitations… “‘Emptiness is form.’”
“Fuck your mother’s second uncle!” Zhao Yunlan snarled.
After a moment of silence, Lin Jing pleaded sincerely, “Boss…my mother’s second uncle has long since passed, so please forsake these empty forms of wrath and lust.”
Zhao Yunlan had nothing to say in response.
His loathing for work could be blamed directly on having people like this as coworkers.
With a deep breath, he tucked his little dagger between his teeth and took out a yellow paper talisman and his lighter. Holding the talisman aloft, he lit it. The tiny flame immediately swelled to a ravenous blaze.
One shadow was sucked in before it could escape. The flame, having fed on a dead spirit, reached a meter in height and surged down the corridor, swallowing the countless little ghosts that didn’t manage to escape. It crashed through like a dragon of flame, consuming everything in its path with the force of a gas explosion.
“Amitabha, our Buddha is merciful…” Lin Jing murmured.
Zhao Yunlan’s expression was dark. “Enough already.”
In less than a minute, nothing remained but a pea-sized flame at the end of the hall, as if the towering inferno had been an illusion as ephemeral as fireworks. Zhao Yunlan strode over, bent down, and lit a cigarette with the tiny flame. Cigarette between his lips, he beckoned to Lin Jing and pushed open the door in front of him. They headed deeper inside.
Meanwhile, the trio taking refuge in the storage room were unaware that salvation was close at hand. As the scratching at the door grew sharper and more frantic, so did Guo Changcheng’s breathing. He was teetering on the edge of a breakdown.
Shen Wei could only ignore him. Looking down at the cat, he asked, “What should we do now?”
Daqing was plainly a cat wise in the ways of the world. Calmly, he answered, “I’m sure your call told Director Zhao enough about the situation. No need to worry. We just have to hold out a little longer until he comes to save us.”
Shen Wei frowned. “By himself? Is that safe? How will he get in?”
That was the part the professor focused on? Daqing’s tail gave a tired swish. “Don’t worry. He’s got thick skin and tough flesh. A handful of puny little ghosts won’t be able to chew through him.”
Leaning against the wall, Shen Wei thought about it. “Can’t we figure out a way to save ourselves?”
Daqing glanced up at him, a little confused. This Shen-laoshi was far too calm.
“How?” He began to list off what they had to work with. “A mortal; useless trash; someone sedated to the gills; and me, a mascot. Even if the four of us offered ourselves up in a steamer basket, do you think we’d be more than an appetizer for the Hunger Ghost?”
Shakily, Guo Changcheng asked, “Didn’t Shen-laoshi smash it into pieces with that chair earlier?”
“Earlier it was famished and desperate to feed, so it didn’t watch its back,” Daqing said impatiently. “You two are young men, so you have strong yang energy. That weakened it enough for you to get the upper hand. But with the overabundance of yin energy in this hospital, it’ll be like it chugged several cases of energy drinks while chasing us. It could even be suffering from over-nourishment by now—oh, fuck, another one?”
The cat was cut off by a child’s shrill laughter coming from the corner. Shen Wei looked over and saw a small girl around five or six years old with a sickly, pale complexion. She was squatting on the floor letting out creepy peals of laughter as she merrily grabbed at the black cat’s tail.
Before Shen Wei could check to see whether this little ghost had a monstrous face and oversized fangs, a sudden weight settled against his legs. Guo Changcheng was wrapped around them like a koala.
“Save me!” The young officer who had moments ago vowed to protect Shen Wei was now holding on for dear life. He was shaking, his face a puddle of snot and tears, but was still able to yell something he’d been holding in all day. “Ghost! There’s a ghost!”
The little ghost had died young enough that her intellect hadn’t been fully developed. The mere sight of people was a thrill, and this was a tremendously entertaining development. She let go of Daqing at once and giddily floated over to Guo Changcheng, finding this bear-hugging man highly interesting.
When Guo Changcheng cracked his eyes open and risked a peek down, the girl stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes back. With her face still tilted upward, her head spun 360 degrees on her neck, leaving it dangling in midair while still connected perilously to her body.
Guo Changcheng’s eyes rolled back into his skull a full three times, but he gasped for half a minute without managing to pass out. He seemed to take Shen Wei for a real tree, hugging his legs tightly and attempting to climb. A scream arose from the pit of his stomach. “Ghost! Aaaaaah!”
Shen Wei sighed and held on to the waistband of his pants to keep Guo Changcheng from dragging them down and costing him his dignity. He even managed to see the strange humor of the situation, caught between a Hunger Ghost clawing at the door behind him and a little ghost girl dangling her head in front of him.
By the time Zhao Yunlan was only a dozen meters into the hospital, his watch, Clarity, looked like it had been dyed with blood. The watch’s hands deviated from their usual course and started spinning wildly, like a compass needle. But no matter how it tried, it couldn’t settle on anything. The sheer number of impurities was interfering too badly.
“Hey, fake monk, my stupid watch is acting up again!” Zhao Yunlan yelled to Lin Jing. “If you’ve got any tricks, hurry up and use them! We’ve got people waiting for us to save their lives.”
Lin Jing promptly sat cross-legged on the floor. Closing his eyes, he started counting his Buddhist prayer beads. His lips moved steadily as he recited scriptures, for all the world like an old monk meditating, then his eyes snapped back open. “Got it!”
The sandalwood beads in his hand rustled. Face blank, he stood and pointed in one direction, every inch the confident charlatan. “This way.”
Zhao Yunlan immediately headed in that direction. “How come you were so fast this time?”
Behind him, Lin Jing spoke in his unique, leisurely way. “They’re both young men, so their yang energy is naturally abundant. Even with Daqing’s black cat yin energy with them, they stand out from this place’s ocean of raging yin energy.”
Zhao Yunlan froze. “Only two men? What about the girl?”
“There’s a girl? Oh, then she’s not with them.”
Zhao Yunlan frowned. It was hard for him to say what Guo Changcheng would do in this situation, but Daqing was there. Lazy and gluttonous the cat might be, but he still had some professional ethics. Besides, Shen-laoshi was with them.
“That’s not possible,” he replied reflexively. “There’s no way Shen Wei would leave a student behind.” They had only met by chance, but he was certain Shen Wei wasn’t the sort of coward who’d abandon his student.
“Who’s Shen Wei?” Lin Jing asked. “Isn’t the new kid’s last name Guo?”
Zhao Yunlan couldn’t be bothered to explain. “No one you know.”
“Mm-hmm,” Lin Jing said. “The last time you brushed me off like this, you were dressed up like a suave asshole going off to see the prettiest girl at your university. Every time you get stingy with details and hide something, it means you’ve definitely met a beauty. Will you at least tell me if this Shen Wei is a man or a woman?”
“Amitabha, ‘form is emptiness,’” Zhao Yunlan threw back at him darkly.
Lin Jing had nothing to say to that.
Zhao Yunlan entered the dark, narrow hallway and held up his lighter to survey his surroundings. The hallways branched in all directions, like the deathly silent maze of a trapdoor spider’s nest. Why did Lin Jing think Li Qian wasn’t with Shen Wei and the others? Had they really had a reason to leave the girl behind, or…
Or did they only think they’d brought her along with them?
At that moment, in a corner of the storage room, Li Qian’s eyes opened.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0016.txt
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GUO CHANGCHENG heard a noise. Turning to look, he saw that Li Qian had gotten up, entirely without assistance. There was something awkward and disjointed about her movements—almost like a marionette. It was indescribably creepy. But she’d just woken up and the drugs she’d been given could still be affecting her, so Guo Changcheng didn’t think too much of it. He even let out a sigh of relief. “Li-tongxue, thank god! You’re finally awake!”
Li Qian didn’t answer. She only stood there, staring at him blankly.
It dawned on Guo Changcheng that something wasn’t quite right. “Li-tongxue?” He took a step forward, only to be stopped by Shen Wei’s outstretched arm.
And then Li Qian smiled. Her mouth split into an uncanny curve as a strange gurgling came from her throat. The motion of her shoulders was slow and clumsy, as if they’d rusted. Her entire body swayed in place a few times, but just as Guo Changcheng began to wonder if she’d been paralyzed, she rushed forward, inhumanly quick. It was Shen Wei, who’d placed himself between her and Guo Changcheng, whom Li Qian ran into, hitting his chest like a firecracker. She immediately attempted to take a bite out of his shoulder.
The phone’s light fell across her face, showing rows of crooked teeth in her gaping mouth. With her nose scrunched up and her eyes so wide that the whites showed all around her irises, she looked like a grotesque fanged monster.
“Oh no! She’s been possessed by a malevolent spirit!” Daqing’s black fur stood on end. “First she summoned a Hunger Ghost, and now a malevolent spirit?! Shen-laoshi, what is up with your student? Why is she such an impurity magnet?”
Guo Changcheng’s head emptied of everything but a faint buzz. Acting on pure instinct, he whacked at Li Qian with both his hands and feet, using all sorts of bizarre techniques—pulling her hair and scratching at her face. He might’ve even wanted to pounce and sink his teeth into her.
One of his doggy-paddle-style attacks got lucky: he managed to hit her in the face hard enough that her head snapped back. In his wild panic, he even stepped on her a few times. Despite this heroic display, Guo Changcheng carried on in his own idiotic style, yelling through the omnipresent snot and tears. “Don’t come near me! Don’t come near me! Help! Don’t come near me!”
To Shen Wei, caught between them, it seemed the situation could hardly get any more chaotic. He could only push Guo Changcheng away with one hand and fend Li Qian off with the other, twisting her arm behind her. Li Qian seemed completely feral, flailing and biting at everything her mouth could reach. Shen Wei freed one hand to grab her by the back of the neck, then turned and pinned her against the wall, seizing her hands.
Commotion reigned within and without. Inside the storage room there was a strange, hissing girl, a little ghost girl wrapped around the leg of a young officer whose nose and eyes were constantly streaming, and a yelling, cursing black cat; outside, a monster relentlessly clawed at the door.
Even Shen Wei’s preternatural calm couldn’t keep him from being swept up in the chaos of it all. “Someone get me a rope so I can tie her up,” he said.
But everyone was too busy crying or cursing to pay him any attention. Shen Wei was obliged to raise his voice, patience wearing thin as he turned to Guo Changcheng. “Stop crying, Officer xiao-Guo. That little thing doesn’t bite. Please come give me a hand.”
As if to illustrate his point, the little ghost girl opened her mouth, which had only three teeth left, and chomped down on Guo Changcheng’s thigh. Guo Changcheng immediately keened like a dolphin, earning himself a slap on the forehead from the cat, who had jumped onto him.
“Fool, take a closer look!”
Guo Changcheng obediently opened his eyes just a sliver to look down…and realized the little ghost’s teeth and hands had gone right through him. She couldn’t even touch him!
Li Qian began to struggle harder. Shen Wei was on the verge of a cold sweat from wrangling the useless duo. “Officer xiao-Guo!”
Guo Changcheng scrambled up from the floor and whipped off his own belt. He helped Shen Wei tie Li Qian up, all the while squeezing his legs together to keep his pants from slipping down. It looked as if he were trying to hold in the urge to pee.
Just then, the old lady, who’d been gone for some time, reappeared. She floated off to the side, barely visible and seeming much weaker. She was clearly frantic to touch Li Qian, but her hand kept passing through the girl’s body. With each attempt, she became a little more transparent.
Guo Changcheng couldn’t help trying to stop her. “Granny…” But his hand went right through her.
When the old lady looked back at him, Guo Changcheng saw her face clearly. She had deep smile lines and pronounced bags under her eyes, and her sparse white hair was poorly secured with a fake bun, revealing an ugly, dry scalp. The wrinkles on her forehead weighed down the corners of her eyes until they drooped, squished into triangles. Her eyeballs were murky.
She seemed desperate to communicate, but no sound came out of her mouth. As her efforts at touching anything proved futile, desperation turned into despair.
But gradually she calmed down. She looked at Li Qian blankly and simply stood there, at a loss for what to do. Finally, soundlessly, she began to cry.
Her tears were as murky as her eyes, like mud-tinged rainwater. Guo Changcheng could only stand there uselessly. He gave Shen-laoshi and Daqing a helpless look, then pointed at Li Qian. “What… What exactly is wrong with her?”
Shen Wei’s head was bowed; it was impossible to know what he was thinking. Daqing hmphed. “She’s been possessed by something impure. But bugs don’t feed when there’s no rot. If she’s possessed but you’re fine, that means she’s even worse off than you.”
Guo Changcheng couldn’t tell if that was praise or insult, but he had no time to ponder it. There was a great screech as a huge hole was ripped through the small door of the storage room, and a mantis-sickle claw reached in!
Shen Wei ducked tidily, pushing Li Qian to the side as he moved. The Hunger Ghost’s claw slashed past him, just barely grazing his scalp. Then the door tore completely open, revealing the Hunger Ghost in all its grotesquerie. The thing seemed to have gained a full ton of mass since they’d last seen it.
It threw itself at the living creatures inside the storage room, passing through Li Qian’s grandma. The old lady’s soul didn’t have time to dodge, and the contact vaporized her. Only her shocked, frightened expression seemed to linger.
Daqing roared, “Get out of the way!”
Guo Changcheng fell on his ass as Daqing leaped up to a high place. The cat’s body abruptly doubled in size, and his eyes turned to piercing gold, like a little leopard. An inaudible sound wave flowed from his mouth, carrying an invisible energy aimed straight for the Hunger Ghost charging around the tiny room.
The energy was palpable. It sliced past Guo Changcheng’s face like a blade, making him fear for the safety of his nose. The Hunger Ghost was hurled into the air and slammed against the wall. In the dim light, Shen Wei and the others could see tiny cracks from the impact.
The Hunger Ghost abruptly stopped moving, like a gecko nailed to the wall. In the next moment, Daqing’s body dwindled to its normal kitty size. He stumbled forward a few steps before going still and toppling from his high perch. Shen Wei quickly reached out to catch him.
The black cat looked at him as if on the verge of death. He subconsciously rubbed his face against Shen Wei’s hand, then closed his eyes and was still.
Guo Changcheng quaked with terror, sure that the cat had died. It wasn’t until he saw the regular rise and fall of his furry belly as Shen Wei smoothed a hand over it that he realized Daqing had only fallen asleep.
“What do we do?” asked Guo Changcheng, dragging himself upright. But before Shen Wei could answer, there was an earth-shattering roar of fury.
Yet again, Guo Changcheng’s ass met the floor.
The two of them simultaneously looked toward the flattened Hunger Ghost in shock, only to find that it no longer resembled a dumpling wrapper slapped onto the wall. It had reinflated itself!
Countless globs of shadows like low-grade cotton were being sucked in from the hallway and into the Hunger Ghost’s wide mouth. Its stomach ballooned rapidly until its roundness let it roll off the wall.
The Hunger Ghost landed easily on its stick legs, still reminiscent of a huge mantis. It even swayed a little as it walked. Then it shook its head and opened its mouth a full hundred and eighty degrees, like a watermelon cut in half.
As the room filled with a terrifying sound of wind, Guo Changcheng felt his feet sliding forward of their own volition. He looked back, astounded, and realized Shen Wei was getting farther from him by the second.
“I’m being sucked in!” Guo Changcheng’s voice changed pitch. Somehow, embroiled in such absolute chaos, a metaphor popped into his head. “It’s sucking me up like jelly in a vacuum pack! I’m going to be eaten!”
With great difficulty, Guo Changcheng twisted and began to doggy-paddle in midair, movements contorted. As he tried to reach for Shen Wei, jumbled words spilled out of his mouth. “I… I’m a police officer! I’m going to be eaten! I’m a police…”
He’d completely forgotten about using those very words to encourage himself. But it appeared that even the Hunger Ghost thought this particular morsel was too noisy. It roared again.
It was as if an invisible hand clamped around Guo Changcheng’s neck, abruptly cutting off his voice. He shook his head desperately, neck extended as he instinctively clawed at it. Veins protruded on the back of his hand, and a horrific sound came from his throat, like a leaky old bellows.
Then Shen Wei grabbed his hand and held on with such unexpected strength that Guo Changcheng feared he might be ripped apart.
Daqing was unconscious. Li Qian was still struggling on the floor, eyes glazed over. The Hunger Ghost was sizing them all up as prey while an array of little ghosts leered at them. Things could hardly be worse.
Then a whistle suddenly carved the darkness open, stabbing at their eardrums.
An expression of utter horror crossed the little ghost girl’s face. At some point, she had hidden herself in the corner; now she screamed silently, dove into the floor, and disappeared.
A moment later, a pitch-black dagger cut through the air. It flew between Guo Changcheng and the Hunger Ghost as though cutting an invisible rope. Something seemed to shove the Hunger Ghost, slamming it against the wall. The force pulling Guo Changcheng stopped so abruptly that momentum sent him crashing into Shen Wei.
He fell to the floor, landing on his back, and might have brought Shen-laoshi down with him…had someone not caught Shen Wei.
Zhao Yunlan had an arm around Shen Wei’s waist, drawing him half a step to the side. The lighter’s glow illuminated his face: handsome and cold with sculpted, if slightly gaunt, features. His eyes gleamed from bottomless shadows, reflecting the tiny flame.
Zhao Yunlan, the deceptive wolf, held this pose and deliberately deepened his voice. Gazing into Shen Wei’s eyes, he murmured, “Shen-laoshi, are you all right?”
Not a thought was spared for the little intern wailing at his feet.
For a few seconds, Zhao Yunlan thought Shen Wei’s expression was understandably dazed. But compared to Guo Changcheng, the well-mannered Shen-laoshi was the epitome of calm and collected. He recovered in no time at all, then he looked down, removed a certain someone’s wandering hands from his waist, and pushed his glasses up. “I’m fine, thank you.”
Guo Changcheng had never been so overjoyed at anyone’s arrival in his life. Still kneeling, he stretched out his neck and screamed, “Director Zhao, save me!” His appearance was as comical as it was wretched.
Zhao Yunlan quickly assessed the little room, ascertained that there had been no casualties, and relaxed. Even in the midst of it all, he managed a jokingly theatrical tone. “What woes have befallen you good folk? Quickly now, have you written an account? Share it with me, that I may know of your tribulations!”
Guo Changcheng flattened himself fully against the floor.
Shen Wei reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose to hide the beginnings of a smile.
Then the re-defeated Hunger Ghost got up yet again, as if it was set to automatically respawn. Shen Wei’s head snapped up as the creature waved its giant claws and charged at Zhao Yunlan’s back. “Watch out!”
Zhao Yunlan twisted his body to the side. One huge claw after the other swiped just past his face with a faint icy wind. He crossed his forearms above his head to block the attack with his short blade, then grabbed the Hunger Ghost’s wrist. The quick, powerful movements betrayed well-trained precision and sharpness.
There was still a smile in his eyes when they met the Hunger Ghost’s and his dimples were still visible, but something about that smile was chilling.
A deep male voice rang out behind the Hunger Ghost. “Namo Amitabha—”
There was a distant sound of a large bell being struck, a reverberation that seemed to travel along one’s bones and all the way to the soul. Guo Changcheng felt a ringing in his head and saw stars; Meanwhile, Li Qian, who had been struggling against her bonds the whole time, suddenly stiffened and went still.
The Hunger Ghost reacted as if shot in the head. It flung its head back with an agonized scream, shedding clouds of black shadow. By the time Zhao Yunlan let go, the ghost had been reduced to the size of a skeletal human, stomach bulging. It was as weak as a shadow that a breeze could blow away.
Only then did Zhao Yunlan lazily take out a palm-sized glass bottle. There was a cold gleam on the bottle’s lip. The Hunger Ghost shivered violently as if wanting to flee, but Lin Jing stood behind it, blocking the door. Pressing his palms together, he deftly formed a vajra seal; suddenly this average-looking man became an immovable presence. The Hunger Ghost was shoved back from the doorway, unable to pass.
Zhao Yunlan had already removed the cork stopper, aiming the bottle’s opening at the Hunger Ghost. Instantly, the Hunger Ghost’s large, bald head contorted into Munch’s painting The Scream. With a hysterical display worthy of being immortalized in art, the monster was sucked inside. The clear glass turned black.
Zhao Yunlan screwed the cork back in tightly and held this crude prison with its terrible lack of amenities up to his ear. He gave it a few rough shakes, then cheerfully said, “That’s that!” to Lin Jing, still behind him.
Daqing regained enough consciousness to crack his eyes open. As if with his dying breath, he said, “You guys used violence to uphold the law again. I couldn’t sleep through all the racket.”
Zhao Yunlan stuffed the complaining cat into his briefcase, but Daqing was undeterred. In a weak, thready voice, he asked, “What took you so long?”
“Traffic on the southeast side of the Second Ring Road was a nightmare.” Zhao Yunlan patted his furry head. “Later I’ll give you a bonus for all your hard work. Just go to sleep now.”
Daqing’s eyes drooped shut, but the nagging continued as if he were talking in his sleep. “I… I want to eat pan-fried little croakers…”
Zhao Yunan had nothing to say in response.
Guo Changcheng gave Zhao Yunlan a bewildered look. “Is… Is that it?”
Zhao Yunlan’s expression was shadowed with impatience, but he remembered Shen Wei’s presence in time not to fuck up his good-tempered act. Rearranging his features into a smile, he said, “Just about.”
As he spoke, he walked past Guo Changcheng and touched Shen Wei’s elbow. “You’re really not injured? I’m so sorry for dragging you into this. We should still go get you checked out.”
Shen Wei allowed Zhao Yunlan to take his hand, completely unguarded. “I’m really—” He broke off, expression going blank, and lost consciousness.
He fell right into Zhao Yunlan’s waiting arms. Zhao Yunlan caught him effortlessly and then, half kneeling, slipped one arm under the crook of his knees. Leaning close to Shen Wei’s ear, he quietly said, “Today, a female student named Li Qian attempted suicide by jumping off a building, but she was unsuccessful. You took her to the hospital, where a doctor saw that your blood sugar was low and kept you here for a day for observation.
“Also, back when you lived in the twin towers, when a series of suicides occurred there, you saw officer Zhao Yunlan, who was in charge of the case. It turned out that the victims belonged to a cult, and it was a mass suicide. Despite the rumors, there was nothing supernatural about it. Remember that.”
With a significant look at Zhao Yunlan, Lin Jing pointed at Li Qian.
Zhao Yunlan continued murmuring into Shen Wei’s ear. “As for Li Qian, she’s involved with a murder case, so the police took her in for questioning. You don’t remember anything else.”
Shen Wei’s glasses were askew and had slid down his nose, revealing the exquisite lines of his eyes and brows. He was completely insensible, head pillowed on Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder. Zhao Yunlan leaned down, picked him up, and walked out.
Lin Jing lifted Li Qian and slung her over his shoulder. After a few steps, noticing that Guo Changcheng hadn’t budged, he turned back and asked politely, “Benefactor,17 this humble monk has another shoulder. Do you need to be carried out as well?”
“No, no, no, no…” Guo Changcheng said numbly. “No thank you.”
Lin Jing held up a hand in front of his chest and bowed his head. “Amitabha. You’re welcome.”
With that, he strolled out of the room.
At some point, all the nurses on duty had reappeared. Zhao Yunlan carefully avoided them as he took Shen Wei back to Li Qian’s room, where he removed the man’s glasses thoughtfully and set them aside. Then Zhao Yunlan tucked him into bed and turned the heat up.
After a moment’s thought, he took hold of Shen-laoshi’s right hand and drew an invisible calming charm on the back of it with his forefinger. That done, he grinned smugly and planted a light kiss in the same spot. Having allowed himself this indulgence, he said gleefully, “Good night, sleeping beauty. When I’m done with the case, I’ll ask you out properly.”
“Let’s go.” He waved to Lin Jing and Guo Changcheng. “We’re expecting an honored guest at midnight and can’t keep him waiting. Time to go back and wrap this up.”
After the sound of their receding footsteps had completely faded down the hall, Shen Wei, who should have been sound asleep, opened his eyes. He sat up, all traces of sleepiness gone. Raising his right hand, he slid a finger gently along the skin, revealing a soft golden charm.
He stared at it for a long while, his gaze tender, but the subconscious smile at the corners of his lips was all too fleeting. His brows had knit together again, as though he were worried, or perhaps in pain.
Shen Wei muttered something under his breath, and the golden charm lifted lightly from his hand like a slip of paper, floating in midair. He caught it tightly and carefully stowed it away. Then he rose, straightened up the hospital bed, and leapt easily from the second-floor window, vanishing into the night without a trace.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0017.txt
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IT WAS NEARLY MIDNIGHT when Zhao Yunlan and the others got back to 4 Bright Avenue, so lao-Wu was once again the doorman on duty. At the sight of Guo Changcheng, lao-Wu opened his large, fierce mouth and greeted him enthusiastically. “Hey, xiao-Guo! You’re back! How did your first assignment go?”
Compared to an evening of being chased by the Hunger Ghost, scurrying and clambering all over the place, lao-Wu’s papier-mâché face seemed downright kind. Guo Changcheng smiled weakly and kept his real feelings to himself. “I-It was great…”
Lao-Wu laughed, bright and clear. “It’s okay if you’re not used to it at first. Work hard and learn. You’re alive! You have potential!”
For the first time, Guo Changcheng realized that even he had an advantage in this workforce: he was alive.
Zhao Yunlan motioned to Lin Jing and Guo Changcheng to go on ahead with Li Qian. He parked, checked the time, and then spoke to lao-Wu privately. “You know about this case, right? An escapee from the other side. Since we only have the authority to make the arrest but not to interrogate or pass judgment, the Soul-Executing Emissary will be stopping by personally. Please make sure to welcome him.”
Taken aback, lao-Wu unconsciously stood taller and lowered his voice. “That… That lord?”
Nodding, Zhao Yunlan patted him on the shoulder. Then, somewhat tired, he lit a cigarette to wake himself up a little before walking into the office.
Lao-Wu didn’t dare go back into the gatehouse to sit and read the newspaper. Like a soldier standing guard, he stood at attention at the entrance.
Zhao Yunlan waved at Guo Changcheng and led him into the office. Pointing at a new desk, he said offhandedly, “That’s your spot. Ordinarily, if nothing unusual comes up, the workday is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We don’t do card punching. If you’re occasionally late or need to leave early, just let me know. When and if you come to work depends entirely on your self-discipline. Lunch hour is from noon to 1 p.m. The cafeteria’s on the second floor, and employees eat and drink for free. You get paid vacation time, and your comprehensive benefits will be set up shortly. Everything is included, so don’t worry.”
Having said all that, Zhao Yunlan took a bank card from his pocket and handed it to Guo Changcheng. “The default PIN is six ones. Change it yourself at the ATM. Your salary and bonuses will all be deposited to the account on this card. Payday is the fifteenth of each lunar month, and your first month’s pay is already in this account. If you need to be reimbursed for travel or work expenses, that’s through Wang Zheng. Just fill out the reimbursement form during the day and attach your receipts, then leave it on her desk. Ask the others how to fill it out. She’ll take care of it overnight, and in the morning you can get the money from her desk.”
Guo Changcheng accepted the salary card with both hands. In that moment, he forgot about the terrifying woman whose head was sewn onto her neck. Instead he felt an inexplicable pride: a salary card! Proof that he truly had his first job!
“I-I have an income now!” he stammered, eyes bright.
A dumbass on top of being a money-lover? Interesting combination. Zhao Yunlan smiled wryly. “You’re a nepotism baby, and your uncle’s a government official. You’re not hurting for money, so why the excitement?”
Guo Changcheng looked up, face serious. “I have a use for it! I really do!”
But what that use was, he didn’t say. He just carefully tucked the pay card into his wallet like some rare treasure. Zhao Yunlan was about to say something else when a snow-white light flashed across Guo Changcheng’s body.
Zhao Yunlan looked on in shock. How does this brat have so many merits?18 he wondered. Because of his ancestors’ blessings, maybe? Or was he someone impressive in a past life?
He stubbed out his cigarette, narrowed his eyes, and looked the overjoyed Guo Changcheng up and down. Then he pointed at the director’s office across the hall. “I’m usually over there. If you need anything, just knock.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, drawing Guo Changcheng’s attention to the dark circles under his eyes.
Grabbing a chair at random, Zhao Yunlan sat, sprawling forward on the table like a dead dog. “I’m taking a nap. Wake me when he’s here.”
Guo Changcheng had no idea who “he” was, but at least Lin Jing was there too. The poor intern hadn’t shut his eyes in twenty-four hours and had been under nonstop stress. It wasn’t long at all before he drifted off in the thoroughly air-conditioned office.
His nap seemed very brief. Guo Changcheng jolted back awake and instantly felt an indescribable chill.
It was an uncanny kind of cold. The very air seemed motionless. At some point, the office AC had stopped putting out cold air when the temperature plummeted in the entire building. There were even white specks of frost on the windows. The ghost employees stopped bustling around and stood politely with their heads bowed as if lining up to welcome someone important.
Zhao Yunlan had also woken up at some point and was now sitting up straight, pouring hot tea into four cups set in front of him. Seeing Lin Jing cautiously get to his feet, Guo Changcheng, who had no clue what was going on, followed his lead and stood up too.
There was a faint noise as the climate control automatically shifted into heating mode.
Then unhurried footsteps rang out in the empty hallway and came to a stop outside the criminal investigation unit. The door opened as lao-Wu led someone inside, radiating respect that bordered on deference. He escorted the guest all the way into the office, bowed, and pulled a chair out. During all of this, he didn’t even dare raise his head. “My lord, this way, please,” he said.
“My thanks,” the guest said politely.
It was a man’s voice, tremendously pleasant to the ear. His tone was gentle and courteous with a solemn note that made people unthinkingly lower their heads.
Perhaps Guo Changcheng still wasn’t fully awake. Everyone around him was frozen in place, but he did something truly audacious: he gathered his courage and looked up to sneak a peek at their visitor.
The guest’s slim body was entirely wrapped in a black robe that hid even his hands and feet, and his face was concealed by a veil of black mist. Nothing else could be discerned through all the inky blackness. He first stopped at the door, then bowed to Zhao Yunlan from a distance, hands together. His long sleeves swept the tops of his feet as he spoke. “My apologies for the disturbance.”
Zhao Yunlan held up a yellow paper talisman, lit it, and let the ashes fall into a cup of hot tea. The ashes dissolved in an instant, taking all the heat from the cup with them. In the same moment, a steaming cup appeared in the black-robed man’s hands.
“No rush. The journey here must’ve been freezing. Please make yourself comfortable, Lord-Executing Emissary,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Have a hot drink to warm your hands.”
Guo Changcheng, having watched Zhao Yunlan burn the talisman to pass the tea, couldn’t keep the words “burning spirit money to send it to the dead” from floating through his mind—and then his high-strung nerves processed what Zhao Yunlan had just said.
“Freezing”? he thought, confused. How could the hottest days of the year be freezing? Where did this person even come from?
A sudden memory made him shiver violently. When he’d been young, his grandma had talked to him about death. She had been very clear that when the elderly “move on,” one has to make sure that they’re fed and warm. Otherwise, the intense cold during their long journey on the Huangquan Road19 could pierce the very soul.
Was it possible that their visitor was…
With his head lowered, the Soul-Executing Emmisary took a sip. “This is good tea. Thank you.”
Then he walked past Guo Changcheng and sat in the chair across from Zhao Yunlan. As he passed by, Guo Changcheng caught a scent. It wasn’t the rotting smell they’d encountered at the hospital; it wasn’t foul at all. It was a very light fragrance that reminded Guo Changcheng of midwinter at the foot of the Daxing’anling Mountains far to the north. It was the scent that accompanies the first breath when you push open the door and walk out into the morning after a whole night of snow. It was the scent of endless, eternally unmelting snow: pure and impossibly cold, tinged with the last fragrance of dying blossoms. The scent carried far into the distance, all the way to the end of the road of life.
The Soul-Executing Emissary spoke softly and eloquently, like a scholar in a period drama. Objectively, other than the eerie black mist concealing his face, he was unremarkable. But as Guo Changcheng came fully awake, he was filled with an unforgettable fear—a fear that was baseless and irrational but rooted in his very soul.
Guo Changcheng finally understood why the sight of this man had made the ghosts in the hall react like mice seeing a cat.
He obviously came from the southern hemisphere, Guo Changcheng told himself. It’s winter there right now. He shut his eyes, too afraid to keep looking at the Soul-Executing Emissary, and tried to comfort himself with the logic of Core Socialist Values: Have faith in science, freedom, democracy, harmony…
There were four people in the office, including ghosts. The black cat was dead to the world, so he didn’t count. So Zhao Yunlan had poured four cups of hot tea, but even after its fragrance permeated the entire office, neither Lin Jing nor Guo Changcheng dared to step forward and take a cup. Only Zhao Yunlan sat calmly behind the table.
After the Soul-Executing Emissary had finished the entire cup of tea in peace, Zhao Yunlan finally asked, “Why did my lord personally come to deal with a mere runaway Hunger Ghost?”
“For a few reasons,” the Emissary replied. “The significant prison break in the Netherworld during the Ghost Festival was due to a certain object resurfacing in the Mortal Realm.”
A light bulb went off in Zhao Yunlan’s head. “The Reincarnation Dial?”
The Emissary nodded. “Ah, so the Guardian already knows. That is correct. The Reincarnation Dial, one of the Four Hallowed Artifacts of the Netherworld, had been lost for a long time. It is too soon now to know whether its sudden reappearance in the Mortal Realm will lead to fortune or calamity. I cannot allow its presence to go unchecked, so I came to see to the matter myself.”
Zhao Yunlan had further questions. “What exactly are these ‘Four Hallowed Artifacts of the Netherworld’?”
The Emissary paused. “A seal.”
“A seal?”
“Legend describes them as a Great Seal tied to the balance of yin and yang and the Six Paths of Reincarnation.20 Word of this seal has been passed down since time immemorial, and many sources that speak of it can no longer be verified. It may be real, or the stories may have been exaggerated over time. Regardless, the fact remains that living and dead souls alike are irresistibly drawn to the Reincarnation Dial due to its life-lending properties. It has already disrupted the order of reincarnation. If it falls into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, the results will be worse than we can imagine.”
No wonder Li Qian had attracted both a Hunger Ghost and a malevolent spirit, having touched the Reincarnation Dial.
Zhao Yunlan’s expression became serious. Standing up, he said, “I’ll take you to the interrogation room next door.”
The Soul-Executing Emissary followed, moving silently. Surrounded by humans and ghosts struck dumb by fear, he spoke as if making small talk. “The Guardian looks somewhat unwell. You must be working tirelessly day and night due to our folly. You should consider your health.”
Zhao Yunlan waved lazily. “It’s fine. Pulling an occasional all-nighter won’t kill me. And even if it did, it’d still be fine. I can go work for the Netherworld and keep coasting along as a government official.”
The Emissary clearly disagreed. “Life and death are of the greatest importance. The Guardian must not joke so carelessly.”
Zhao Yunlan gave him an unworried smile and pushed open the interrogation room door.
“Li Qian,” who had been locked in the interrogation room, had regained consciousness at some point and had been shrieking ever since. But the moment the Soul-Executing Emissary entered, the shriek cut off. When “Li Qian” saw the Emissary, she reacted like a hen grabbed by the neck. Her entire body trembled and she stared, petrified, at the doorway. Then her eyes rolled back in their sockets, and she collapsed bonelessly.
Guo Changcheng, following along behind, felt something fly straight at his face. He took a panicked step back. The Emissary raised an arm directly in front of him, the large sleeve carving a huge black arc through the air. The hazy silhouette of a ghost manifested in midair: a long-haired woman in a long, tattered dress. Her face was contorted, and she writhed, screaming endlessly in distress. In an instant she was torn into black smoke and sucked into the Emissary’s sleeve.
“Refused to see the error of her ways and attempted to take permanent possession of a living body,” the Emissary said mildly. “The punishment is execution.” He spoke in the exact same gentle tone he’d used when exchanging pleasantries.
Guo Changcheng shuddered.
Zhao Yunlan seemed oblivious, as if this were a regular occurrence. He turned to the side and made an inviting gesture. Four chairs had been brought into the room, and Li Qian was tied up next to the table, her face pale.
Lin Jing walked up to her with a spray bottle used for watering plants. With no more concern for the girl than he might show a skeleton, he spritzed her in the face with cold water. He clearly wasn’t going to go easy on her just because she was a woman.
When she slowly came to, he said, poker-faced, “We’re the police. We have some questions for you. You need to answer truthfully. If you don’t, there will be consequences.”
Li Qian’s eyes were glassy. She gave a great shudder as she looked around. When she recognized Guo Changcheng and Zhao Yunlan, she started to say something, then realized she was tied to the chair. Looking at the rope in shock, she asked, “What… What happened to me?”
Compared to Lin Jing, Zhao Yunlan could have been a public spokesperson on TV. He seemed far more personable and spoke gently from beside Lin Jing. “We’ve apprehended the person who attacked you and murdered your fellow student. Now we need you to assist us in corroborating the account of the incident by giving us a routine statement. That’s okay, isn’t it?”
Nothing about the situation seemed like they were taking a routine statement. It felt far more like an official interrogation.
Li Qian was no fool. She froze for a moment, then quickly got herself under control. “Then why do you need to tie me up?”
Zhao Yunlan raised an eyebrow, then snapped his fingers. The ropes fell off as if sound activated. Li Qian was startled, but looked up and feigned calm under Zhao Yunlan’s scrutiny. She still couldn’t keep herself from edging back even as she bluffed. “If you’ve caught the culprit, what can you possibly need to ask me? I’ve already told you everything I know. What time is it now? I want to go home.”
Lin Jing pounded the table, playing the “bad cop” role to the hilt. “Stop bullshitting and answer our questions! Or are you trying to cover up for them? What’s your motive? What’s your connection to them?”
With Lin Jing playing the bad guy, it was Zhao Yunlan’s role to put a light hand on his shoulder, as if restraining him. Amiably, he asked, “On August 31 at 10:20 p.m., you ran into the victim, Lu Ruomei, outside the school entrance. You saw the thing following her. We’ve already confirmed all of this and have a general idea of what happened, but I still have a few questions. To start with, when did you first begin seeing them? Was it after you touched that sundial from your hometown? The one with the reincarnation cycle carved into it?”
Li Qian gave Lin Jing a wary glance, then looked down and surrendered to the inevitable. She nodded quickly.
Zhao Yunlan’s slender fingers rapped lightly on the table. “Rumor has it that the Reincarnation Dial’s base is made from the Three-Life Rock and the back is inlaid with the scales of a black fish from the Wangchuan River. It can bring back the dead, pulling someone who’s already died back to the world of the living. But a living person exchanging their life for someone dead is like dipping your hand into the waters of the Huangquan. Ever since then, the yin and yang worlds have overlapped in your vision, haven’t they?”
Li Qian’s shoulders trembled slightly. She stared at Zhao Yunlan’s finger and nodded in silence.
Zhao Yunlan leaned back in his chair. “What a good, filial child you are.” His eyes slid half-closed. Thick eyelashes and deep eye sockets made his gaze look a little hazy. Almost sighing, he said, “So many people pay lip service to the principle of ‘when at home, be filial; when outside, be respectful.’ But how many youths in their prime, when confronted with the Reincarnation Dial, would really be able to give their life for someone else?”
At this, the Soul-Executing Emissary spoke up. “The Reincarnation Dial is among the Netherworld’s Four Hallowed Artifacts. It can disrupt the balance of yin and yang. It is not meant for mortal use.”
Like everyone else, Li Qian was too afraid to look up at the Emissary. Her fingers twisted together as he spoke, and she pieced her reply together with great difficulty. “I-I didn’t know what it was. I’d just heard that it was an old relic that grants wishes. When my grandma had a sudden cerebral hemorrhage, I was at school, so no one was there to notice. By the time someone found her, it was too late to treat her. B-by the time I saw her, she…she had already… Back then, she wasn’t just someone I happened to live with. My parents both saw me as a spare. She’s the one who brought me up. We depended on each other. Do you understand what that feels like? I couldn’t even cry. I couldn’t even convince myself she was gone. How could she die…? How can someone just die?”
“So you found the Reincarnation Dial,” Zhao Yunlan said.
“I thought I was crazy too, believing in something like that. But then it really responded,” Li Qian muttered. “What did I have to be scared of? I’m still so young. I could even live to be a hundred. I could give her fifty years and still live until retirement. With so many years left in my life, why couldn’t I give some to her? If mortals shouldn’t touch stuff from the Netherworld, then why did it happen to be there? Why did it respond to my wish?”
Her question made everyone fall silent. Eventually, it was the Soul-Executing Emissary who spoke. “Because at that moment, you sincerely wanted her alive again, no matter the cost. There are times when, if a person’s will is strong enough, anything can happen. But no amount of desire can make some things right.”
Li Qian’s eyes reddened. She stubbornly looked away, as if her feelings of being wronged were a vulnerability that shouldn’t be shown to anyone else. After a while, in a muffled voice, she said, “Yeah, I’m just an ordinary person. What does it matter what life throws at me? My only real family suddenly passes away, leaving me with parents who hate me. No one acknowledges my efforts. I have to desperately scrape tuition together every year, and even after working so hard, I still can’t find a single proper job in Dragon City. Other people must think I’m incredibly pitiful, right? I have to endure this constant stream of awful things. Maybe I never should have brought my grandma back. Maybe I should’ve died with her.”
Zhao Yunlan looked at her calmly, not interrupting.
Barely audible, she continued, “I feel like a turtle struggling to crawl across the ground. If someone passes by and gives me a little kick, I’ll end up on my back. Then they’ll watch my agonized flailing, and when I’m finally back upright and exhausted, they’ll kick me again. It’ll all have been for nothing. Hilarious, isn’t it?”
There was indescribable resentment and discontent in this girl, for all her apparent effort to hide it.
Guo Changcheng’s face felt hot. He didn’t think he was intelligent or hardworking. He had always drifted through life, never quite knowing what was going on, and then a job had fallen into his lap. Now he stood up and stammered ingratiatingly, “I-I’ll go get you some water.”
Li Qian, lost in her own emotions, ignored him.
Zhao Yunlan pressed, “The Reincarnation Dial responded to you. Your grandma was brought back, but her health was never quite the same. Were you the one taking care of her?”
“Who else?” Li Qian was expressionless. “Bringing her here was a huge sacrifice for my parents to begin with, but they had to keep up appearances.”
Zhao Yunlan nodded. “You had to study, earn your own tuition and living expenses, and care for your grandma on top of it all. It must’ve been really hard, huh?”
At this point, Lin Jing finally looked at his superior, caught off guard. He’d initially thought Zhao Yunlan had asked him to play along in order to trick the truth out of this young woman who’d lied about the Hunger Ghost case, but listening to the line of questioning, Lin Jing wasn’t sure exactly what Zhao Yunlan wanted to find out. How had they gotten so far off topic?
The Soul-Executing Emissary had been sitting to the side, back straight, with no sign of impatience. Lin Jing was in no position to butt in, so he could only sit there and listen in confusion.
Guo Changcheng keenly poured a cup of warm water and passed it to Li Qian. She accepted without thanking him. Her eyebrow twitched nervously as she stared at the cup in her hands. She looked calm, but tremors appeared on the water’s surface.
“She would wake up at 4:30 every morning because she wanted to make me breakfast. As time went on, she got more and more confused. Once she was boiling milk and didn’t even realize that it had boiled over and put the flame out. We nearly had a gas leak. I didn’t dare let her make breakfast again after that, but telling her was no use. You could tell her one day and she’d do it again the next day. So I had to get up at 4:30 too and make breakfast.”
“Then, during the day, I’m not home. I have to juggle my classes, helping my advisor with projects, and intern work. No matter where I am, the bus ride is forty minutes to an hour, so I had to rush home to make her lunch, then pour her hot water and make her take her medication. I didn’t have time to eat before rushing back. Once I came home in the evening, I’d have to get her settled before I could study for a bit, and I could never get much done. She was old, so she always wanted to talk, no matter the time or place. She interrupted me a lot. Once she went to bed around 10 p.m., I could finally do some freelance translation work, usually until midnight or later. Sometimes I’d be too exhausted and just fall asleep at my desk. And you ask if it was hard?”
Li Qian took a deep breath. Tremendous fatigue showed on her face, as if even speaking were a huge burden. Then a bitter smile replaced the exhaustion as she took a sip of water, hiding her expression. “There’s no point talking about all of that,” she said icily. “Let’s get this over with. What other questions do you have about the case? Hurry up and ask.”
Zhao Yunlan tapped lightly on the file. “This may sound heartless, but after your grandma passed away, things got a lot easier for you, didn’t they?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she spat, glaring.
“Just what I said,” answered Zhao Yunlan, unmoved.
Li Qian’s lips trembled. She stood abruptly, knocking over her cup and spilling the remaining water everywhere. “Is this how the police operate? You detain innocent citizens for no reason, then slander them however you want?”
“Sit down. Don’t get so worked up.” Zhao Yunlan pulled out a few tissues to wipe the table off. “I’m describing human nature, not slandering you. Even if you wanted to bomb the Pentagon, no one in the world could say you did something wrong as long as you didn’t act on it. We don’t have thought crimes here.”
Voice hard, Li Qian said, “I want to go home. You have no right to detain me.”
Zhao Yunlan glanced at her and nodded. “Okay, we’ll get back on topic for now. Let’s just chat about this morning. You told me you saw Lu Ruomei at the school entrance, along with the ‘shadow’ following her. Can you remember what it looked like?”
Li Qian’s brow creased. “I didn’t see clearly. I don’t really remember.”
He laughed, showing his dimples, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. His gaze was getting sharper. “It’s one thing to not remember a person who just passed by or whether the driver in a car crash was a man or a woman. That’s all normal. But to not remember something that’s got you this scared? If you don’t remember, why are you shaking right now?”
Li Qian froze, slim fingers clenching nervously. Zhao Yunlan’s tone turned severe. “Just this morning, you were describing its height—how it was totally black, a bit short, and a little chubby.”
The color drained completely from her face.
Zhao Yunlan narrowed his eyes. “Tongxue, changing your statement on a whim isn’t a good habit. Was that description accurate or not?”
Lin Jing had a lot of experience working with him. While Li Qian was still sitting in shock with no time to organize her thoughts, he seized the opportunity to pound on the table. “Tell us!”
Zhao Yunlan had been adding layers of pressure, pushing Li Qian’s nerves to their limits, and now Lin Jing slashed through them with one strike.
“So—so what if it was?!” Li Qian blurted.
“Oh, not tall, a little chubby.” Zhao Yunlan enunciated each word. He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands on the table. “Then was it a man or a woman? Old or young?”
Of everyone in the room, only Li Qian didn’t know what the Hunger Ghost looked like. None of those words—man or woman, young or old—applied to it. It wasn’t even shaped like a human. It was practically skin and bones other than its massive, bulging belly, and the size of a human but with mantis-like arms.
Guo Changcheng’s expression turned confused as he looked at her. The Soul-Executing Emissary simply sat there, radiating his terrifying presence. The plain fact was that Li Qian didn’t have much life experience, so she wasn’t hard to read.
To Li Qian, it felt like countless people were staring at her, faces cold as they scrutinized and ridiculed her. They all knew her secret, despite how well she’d thought she had hidden it.
She began to panic.
Zhao Yunlan’s voice fell almost to a whisper. “I was lying just now. The human memory can become fuzzy, especially after a sudden scare. That’s why eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. That thing was more terrifying than you could bear, so your brain protected itself by blanking out that moment in your memory. From there, your mind automatically filled in that blank. So what you described is what your imagination came up with—the scariest thing it could conceive of.”
Very belatedly, Guo Changcheng came to the realization that this was far from a routine questioning. This was an actual interrogation. Though he was stupid, sensitive, and unsure what was happening, he still had a bad sort of feeling. Between the Soul-Executing Emissary’s motionless presence and the relentless interrogation, he almost couldn’t breathe.
Li Qian’s deathly pale face turned ashen, and Zhao Yunlan dismissed his warm, pleasant smile. “Now, can you tell me why you wanted to commit suicide this morning?” he asked. Li Qian’s chest heaved. “You didn’t sleep last night, did you? When you ran to the rooftop, was there a moment when you thought that if you just let go and died, you wouldn’t need to be afraid anymore? That no matter what had happened, it would all be wiped clean?” Zhao Yunlan’s expression was somewhere between a smirk and pity. “Young lady, I’m a good few years older than you, so I’m going to call you a kid for now. Many kids your age think they don’t fear death. You’re young enough to not understand what it truly is, especially a stubborn, decisive, impulsive youngster like you. You think death doesn’t scare you at all.”
Li Qian’s instinctive retort was sharp, but her voice was weak. “How… How dare you say that? How would you know if someone understands death or not? I understand that feeling perfectly! I’ve seen it for myself! One day they’re still speaking, and then next thing you know, they’ve curled up into a ball somewhere you can’t see… Their heart stops and their breathing stops and they—they slowly get so cold, and then they’re just a corpse, a thing that isn’t human anymore, and you’ll never, ever be able to find her or see her again, not ever—”
“Li Qian,” Zhao Yunlan interrupted. “The thing you understand and fear isn’t death. It’s parting. You just can’t accept that your grandma suddenly left you.”
The entire room fell dead silent. Li Qian trembled like a fallen leaf tossed about by the autumn wind.
Zhao Yunlan broke the silence. “That night, what you saw at the school entrance, the shadow following your classmate, was it… Was she very old and dressed in simple cotton, with a fake bun on her head?”
As the words left his mouth, the confusion on the faces around the table turned to shock.
A short, hoarse scream burst out of Li Qian. Her features twisted into a frightening expression.
Has she gone insane? Guo Changcheng thought, his eyes and mouth wide. He didn’t understand what exactly was happening. When he looked over at his boss, he saw Zhao Yunlan’s fingers rubbing together subconsciously, like he was desperate for a cigarette but doing his best to resist.
His gaze was deep but calm. The light hitting his face and shirt—wrinkled but still snow white—suddenly gave him an otherworldly air. He pulled a picture out of his pocket: an old woman’s memorial photo. She had a kind, benevolent countenance with a smile lurking at the corners of her mouth, and her expression was at peace. Guo Changcheng immediately recognized her as the old lady who had rushed to place herself in front of Li Qian’s hospital bed at the most dangerous moment.
Zhao Yunlan pushed the photo toward Li Qian. Steepling his fingers under his chin, which was dusted with stubble from days of continuous overtime, he said, “This is Mrs. Wang Yufen, born in the spring of 1940. She passed away late last month. Cause of death: mistaken consumption of hypoglycemic medication.”
Li Qian stared at the memorial photo, eyes so wide that Guo Changcheng suspected they were about to fall out.
Zhao Yunlan continued, “Your grandma raised you. You two were always close. You used the Reincarnation Dial for her and gave her half of your life. But once she came back to life, her mind began to slowly erode. You took care of her the whole time. My colleague told me that nearly everything in your online shopping history is some sort of product for the elderly. And according to her doctors, even after her mind started to go, she was never remotely aggressive toward anyone. So tell me, what made you think your grandma would harm you after her death? Why are you so afraid of her?”
For all the reaction she showed, Li Qian might have been a human wax figure.
“Why won’t you speak?” Zhao Yunlan asked. “Li Qian, I’ll ask one last time. If you don’t tell the truth, you’ll never have another opportunity to speak honestly again. You’ll want to be free of this burden, but that will be impossible. A lie will always be a lie. Once you carelessly pick it up, you’ll be unable to put it down again for as long as you live.”
Just that day, someone else had told her something similar. Li Qian’s dull gaze gradually lifted, inch by inch.
Zhao Yunlan leaned forward slightly. Looking into her eyes and pausing after every word, he said, “My colleague told me that two lives connected through the Reincarnation Dial will live and die together, and yet somehow you’re still alive even though your grandma has passed on. That presumably means she died before her time was up. At first I couldn’t figure it out. How could she die prematurely? Did a reaper make a mistake, or did someone detain her soul illegally? Then I realized I was missing the obvious explanation: the connection between her life and the Reincarnation Dial it was tethered to was unexpectedly broken. In other words, the person who gave her that life was also the one who killed her.
“When an old person’s mind slips away, they’re like a child: they’re useless, they want to eat all sorts of things, and they tend to eat whatever snacks there are at home. So tell me, who put that bottle of hypoglycemic medication beside the box she so often ate candies from?”
In the silence that followed, one could have heard a pin drop.
Within the span of a few seconds, Li Qian’s face underwent a transformation. Her initial extreme horror swelled like a balloon being inflated, but just as it seemed unable to contain any more, a surprising calm settled over her features.
Guo Changcheng held his breath.
Li Qian’s voice, faintly hoarse, pierced the silence. Quietly, she said, “It was me.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0018.txt
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“WHEN I WAS LITTLE, my grandma would wake me up every morning, braid my hair, and take me to school. I was always still sleepy, so every day I leaned against her and dozed while she did my braids. Once she was done, she’d give me a gentle pat on the back of my head and say, ‘Wake up, lazybones.’ Then she’d drag me to school. On the way, she would tell me stories from Journey to the West, from Sun Wukong’s Three Battles Against the White Bone Spirit to Zhubajie Eating Watermelons. She had the entire Heroes in Sui and Tang Dynasties in her head, and was a better storyteller than the ones on the radio.
“Neither of my parents cared for me, so any time someone asked me who I liked best, I always chose my grandma.” Li Qian wasn’t speaking to anyone else in the room, only to herself.
Zhao Yunlan finally couldn’t take it anymore. He fished out a cigarette and began playing with it between his fingers, but he said nothing.
Uncomprehending, Guo Changcheng asked, “But then later…you stopped liking her?”
Li Qian gave him a long look. “I remember you said before that you’d have been willing to exchange your life for your grandma’s. Good thing your family didn’t have the Reincarnation Dial.”
Guo Changcheng stared at her blankly, then began groping for an explanation for what he couldn’t understand. “Did you think she was a burden? Was it too much pressure for you, and life got too…”
The rims of Li Qian’s eyes were so red that they looked like they were about to bleed, but her gaze was still numb and cold. They held an indescribable kind of cruelty, bordering on inhuman—and yet somehow perfectly human. She cut Guo Changcheng off. “Don’t insult me with such a stupid reason.”
Guo Changcheng’s face went red.
“She slowly became a different person. Every day, she nagged me constantly. She wouldn’t remember what had happened the day before and just constantly repeated the same thing over and over. Toward the end, she even started losing control of her bowels. Every time she wet herself, she’d give me a vacant smile. When she ate, she got grains of rice all over herself and the floor. Even just sitting there, she drooled. She couldn’t even tell time. No matter what you were busy with, she’d stumble around behind you, mumbling incoherently day after day, day after day! And every single day I’d look at her and think, ‘this is what I exchanged half my life for.’”
The corner of Li Qian’s lips twitched in an abrupt, frigid smile. Guo Changcheng felt like his heart was being crushed.
“The grandma I want will never come back. The thing I paid such a huge price for was just—” and Li Qian’s face twisted harshly as she spat out the cruelest words, “—a monster that looked like her.”
Lifting her red eyes, she stared into Guo Changcheng’s face. “I hate her. Every single day of the year, every time I saw her, I wanted to kill her. Despite all that, I still had to speak so patiently and kindly and ask if she wanted to eat anything, if she wanted to go to the bathroom, and whether she was tired or cold. And in return, she’d just give me that stupid smile.”
Guo Changcheng’s hand trembled on his knee.
“Do you get it? The Reincarnation Dial lied to me. Nothing in the world can truly bring back the dead. That person wasn’t my grandma. Before, she was afraid of me suffering even the tiniest bit. When I was little, there were no electric fans in our village. She’d stay up the whole night to fan me by hand. How could she turn into a monster? How could she turn into a monster who did nothing but hurt me?” Li Qian laughed sharply. “You don’t understand anything, so don’t you dare judge me! When she was alive, she harassed me nonstop. Now that she’s dead, she still won’t stop! I—”
“She won’t anymore.” Guo Changcheng interrupted in a stern voice he didn’t know he could muster. “She disappeared. You were possessed by something, and the Hunger Ghost was about to eat you, so she let herself be killed by the Hunger Ghost to protect you. We all saw. She died again. Everyone knows but you.”
Li Qian froze.
Guo Changcheng lowered his head, upset almost to the point of crying—but for whom, he didn’t know. In the end, very quietly, he said, “Even if you had seen, you still would’ve believed she wanted to hurt you, wouldn’t you? But she didn’t.
“She wasn’t harassing you at all. She didn’t blame you, and she never wanted to harm you.”
“You believe hearts to be fickle because your own feelings change so casually."21
“I think I understand it all now. But premeditated murder isn’t under our jurisdiction.” Zhao Yunlan stood up as he spoke, patting Guo Changcheng’s shoulder. “Let’s go. We don’t need to send her back. We’ll keep her here overnight, then tomorrow we’ll tell Zhu Hong to contact our colleagues who handle criminal cases in the city. If she needs to be taken away, then take her away. If she needs to be investigated, then investigate. Tomorrow morning, I’ll call Shen-laoshi to tell him—er, is there something else, Lord Emissary?”
The Soul-Executing Emissary had walked around the little table, stopping in front of Li Qian. She cowered instinctively in his presence.
“Do not be afraid. I do not trespass upon the concerns of mortals,” he said. “However, when it comes to the Hallowed Artifact, I must do my due diligence. You spoke of finding the Reincarnation Dial in your hometown. Where is it now?”
“I-It’s at my place.” Li Qian said quietly. “My parents rented a little spot for us to live. They rarely stop by.”
“What is the address?”
“XX South City Street, building X, room XXX.”
“Thank you.” The Emissary gave a courteous nod, seeming to look at Li Qian. Then he paused and said mildly, “One day we will meet in the Netherworld. On that day, I will await you with justice.”
Guo Changcheng followed Zhao Yunlan out, his mind awhirl. After escorting the Emissary to the door, he still seemed unsatisfied by how things had played out. He took one last look back at Li Qian, who was still sitting there, dazed.
The Soul-Executing Emissary departed quickly in order to retrieve the Reincarnation Dial before dawn broke. In his wake, the white frost on the windows visibly melted away and the temperature in the office rose quickly. The climate control switched back to cooling mode, but Guo Changcheng still felt wave after wave of chills down his back.
He followed Zhao Yunlan like a little tail, looking as if he wanted to say something.
Zhao Yunlan grabbed his car keys and bag, then glanced at him. “We’re done now. Aren’t you leaving?”
Guo Changcheng looked down at his toes. “Director Zhao, after the Hunger Ghost tears souls apart, can they still live—can they still reincarnate?”
Zhao Yunlan’s eyebrow rose. “It isn’t likely.”
“Then… Then that old lady’s really gone?”
Zhao Yunlan pretended to think about it for a second, then suddenly smiled and took a small bottle from his pocket. He beckoned Guo Changcheng over like a dog. “I almost forgot. Here, kid.”
Guo Changcheng came closer, confused.
“Take this. The Soul-Executing Emissary gave me this just now. On occasion, the Lord Emissary can be merciful and lenient.” Zhao Yunlan shoved the little bottle into Guo Changcheng’s hand. Then he walked to the office cat bed and reached out to pinch Daqing’s nose like the annoyance he was. He watched as Daqing, who was still sleeping, let out a noise like a snore and flailed with his paws, trying to scratch, at which point Zhao Yunlan cheerfully let go. “Whoever gets here early tomorrow morning, remember to ask the cafeteria to fry some dried fish and bring it over.”
Guo Changcheng looked down at the glass bottle, which was smaller than his palm. At first he was confused, but then his eyes widened—the old lady who had disappeared was inside!
She was the size of a fingernail, sitting there peacefully. She gave him a light smile, and then suddenly her wrinkled face smoothed out. Her hair grew longer, black flowing from its roots to its ends. Strong new teeth appeared in her mouth as her body straightened and became slender. The mature beauty of her thirties was restored, then the youthful prettiness of her twenties, and then, slowly, she became thinner and shorter. She was a girl now, a child…and finally, a baby curled up on her side.
The baby slowly closed her eyes, and then the tiny body was gone.
Shocked, Guo Changcheng exclaimed, “She… She disappeared!”
“That’s a Bottle of Rebirth. She’s reentered the reincarnation cycle,” said Lin Jing, who had come up behind him at some point. “From life to death, then from death to life. From youth to old age, then from old age back to youth, again and again, never ending.”
Having said that, Lin Jing looked down, chanted a quick “Amitabha,” and added, “We’re done. Go home. Work starts tomorrow morning at nine, but the cafeteria starts serving breakfast at eight. If you want some, come earlier. Don’t be late.”
It seemed that one of Guo Changcheng’s wishes had been granted. He carefully put the bottle in his bag and left, satisfied.
Having gotten rid of the gullible little intern, Lin Jing turned to Zhao Yunlan. “I didn’t see the Emissary pass you anything. Li Qian touched the Hallowed Artifact from the Netherworld without permission, so she must suffer this hardship. The old woman was willing to take it for her, so she died for a reason. It’s all just cause and effect, so what is there to be lenient about?”
“Hmph,” Zhao Yunlan said. “So you’re the only smart one here, the only one with a sharp eye? Are you happy now?”
“I heard you were completely dissatisfied with that intern—that he only got in here because he has connections and that you wanted to get rid of him,” said Lin Jing. “Why did you subtly comfort him like that?”
Lighting a cigarette, Zhao Yunlan waved at him impatiently. “Because I fucking wanted to. Why are you still here?”
Lin Jing shook his head and sighed, looking like he wanted to express some opinion about his boss. But when Zhao Yunlan’s sharp gaze cut toward him, Lin Jing’s opinion quickly became “wise men don’t go against the tide.” Grabbing the water bottle on his desk, he made his escape.
Zhao Yunlan locked up the office. He’d intended to go home and sleep but found himself thinking of the Emissary, who’d left in such a hurry. He couldn’t shake his curiosity about the Hallowed Artifact, so he headed to Li Qian’s address, telling himself that he’d just skip work the next day, even if it was a despicable move.
When Zhao Yunlan arrived, he found the entire building caged inside a pitch-black aura that thrummed with bloodshed. Unable to imagine what might have caused it, he parked on the roadside and hurried upstairs, gun drawn.
A huge black hole hovered above the building like the gaping maw of a gigantic monster. The elevators weren’t working, so Zhao Yunlan ran all the way up to the roof, which he found littered with corpses and bones.
He took a close look at the corpses, trying to figure out what kind of monsters had died there. Some had had three heads, some had bellies on both sides, and some had had human heads on skeletal bodies…but what they all had in common was that they’d been beheaded in a single stroke. The moonlight struck the ground like a coating of fresh blood.
Not far away, the Soul-Executing Emissary stood, Soul-Executing Blade in hand. The blade was held to a person’s throat.
Perhaps “person” wasn’t quite right. The being’s features were horrifically warped and warty, inspiring both fear and revulsion.
“What kind of monster is this?” Zhao Yunlan reached into his jacket. “My lord Soul-Executing Emissary, do you need a hand?”
The Soul-Executing Emissary waved at him without turning around. Speaking to the wart-covered creature, he said, “I will ask one final time. Where is the Reincarnation Dial?”
The monster turned its neck stiffly under the blade and looked in Zhao Yunlan’s direction. It replied to the Emissary but didn’t answer his question. “My master asked me to convey a message. My lord, you have performed your duties meticulously for centuries, each day like the one before. You’ve avoided the person enshrined at the tip of your heart much as you’d avoid raging floods and savage beasts. To all appearances you are the epitome of self-control, but don’t you truly fear being unable to control yourself?”
The Emissary said nothing, but the coldness emanating from him grew heavier.
“My master has tremendous sympathy for your deep feelings, my lord, and went to the effort of having him brought before you. He wished to see if you are truly without desire, without—”
This time, the Emissary didn’t let the creature finish. His blade flashed, turning the wart-covered head into a fountain of blood. The stench it unleashed was foul enough to make one’s head spin. Then a wind swept over the roof, so fierce that Zhao Yunlan was forced to close his eyes. When it died down, the roof had returned to normal, as if the corpses and monsters strewn over it had never existed.
Zhao Yunlan called out, “Wait, my lord—”
The Soul-Executing Emissary turned without approaching and bowed in farewell, hands clasped. Offering no explanation, he quickly ducked into the black hole. In that always-composed figure, Zhao Yunlan actually detected a hint of panic.
When the Soul-Executing Blade came out, even gods stayed away. Who would dare challenge him to his face?
Zhao Yunlan’s brows creased in thought. The Reincarnation Dial, said to wreak havoc upon the reincarnation cycle, had been stolen…but by whom?
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0020.txt
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THE OFFICES OF 4 Bright Avenue were far from being a cavern full of webs or a nest of bones. In daylight hours, there was no indication at all of any ghostly presence. The daytime doorman was a kindly old gent who seemed entirely ordinary, although Guo Changcheng eventually realized that the man wasn’t as normal as he seemed. His hobby was making bone sculptures, so there were often all sorts of bones stashed around the gatehouse. Throwing open a window in there would fill the air with a cloud of yellowish-white dust.
The criminal investigation unit’s office was bright and clean with excellent lighting. Every employee had their own desk and computer, and the office supplies were well stocked. The re were even plants. A part-time janitor came and cleaned every day at 2 p.m. sharp. The office had central air. A small side room was equipped with a fridge and cupboard; cat food was stored there, along with yogurt, fruit, and other snacks that staff could help themselves to.
Guo Changcheng had initially been mystified by the discovery of a freezer drawer full of the kind of sliced raw meat used for hotpot. Then one day he saw Zhu Hong, the office beauty, grab a pack. Once it thawed, she ate it the way other girls ate chips, dipping each slice in blood. The next day she called in sick due to the usual monthly trouble—except in her case, it wasn’t what one might assume. When she came back to work on the third day, Guo Changcheng gawked at the sight of her massive python tail. While she was in that state, Zhu Hong ate raw, bloody meat for several days, after which she was back to walking around on two feet and eating like a human again.
There was one more member of the criminal investigation unit besides the gorgeous snake lady, the fake monk, and the black cat. Two weeks after the Hunger Ghost incident, this last colleague finally returned from a work trip, worn out from his travels. He sat in the corner for a whole afternoon, silently filling out reimbursement forms, and then put his head on his desk and fell asleep until Director Zhao heard he was back and personally sent him home.
The nameplate on the man’s desk said “Chu Shuzhi.” Everyone called him “Chu-ge,” but Guo Changcheng didn’t have the nerve to strike up a conversation. Chu Shuzhi looked around the same age as Lin Jing. He was so skinny that his cheeks were hollow—just skin stretched over bone. It gave him a ferocious look. His brows were always furrowed, and it might have just been Guo Changcheng’s imagination, but any time Chu Shuzhi laid eyes on him, that furrow seemed to deepen.
Things were normally quiet at the Special Investigations Department. Once the flurry of activity during Guo Changcheng’s first few days settled, he realized it was a textbook case of a job that was “high pay, minimal work, and close to home.” In the course of a month, two or maybe three cases would reach the SID. When a case hit their desk, Zhao Yunlan dispatched one or two people to check it out, strictly sticking to their mandate of dealing only with supernatural business. More often than not, cases in the Mortal Realm that looked supernatural in nature turned out to just be humans fooling around, so whoever was sent to take a look would come back and write up a report, and that was that.
And when there wasn’t a case? Everyone sat at their desks and read, browsed online, or chatted, generally just killing time until the workday ended.
Guo Changcheng slowly came to understand how many steps were involved when the SID took on a case. The first step was that preliminary look by the team. Once they’d written a report and submitted it to Zhao Yunlan, he would use it to decide whether or not to take the case. If he felt it fell under the SID’s jurisdiction, he prepared a report of his own, affixed the official seal, and sent it up the chain. If the situation was urgent, his superiors gave their approval within a business day. At that point every office involved was sent an order clarifying each division’s rights and responsibilities to ensure that the SID was free to carry out their work. That was usually the point when Zhao Yunlan would finally show up in person and contact the Public Security departments involved with the case.
The murder of Lu Ruomei in Dragon City occurred during the Ghost Festival.22 There was no one on duty in the office, but it was a local incident, and while at the crime scene, Daqing caught a whiff of something from the Netherworld. Under the circumstances, Zhao Yunlan made the executive decision to act first and ask for permission later, going back to observe the formalities once the case was closed.
It resulted in so much paperwork that Lin Jing’s butt didn’t touch a chair for three days.
As for Guo Changcheng, despite not even having half a case to deal with, he survived his three-month trial period and was miraculously kept on.
The even greater miracle was that Zhao Yunlan seemed to have forgotten that he’d ever gritted his teeth against the urge to kick Guo Changcheng out. He was happy to sign Guo Changcheng’s application to become a regular full-time employee, and Guo Changcheng, now accustomed to the HR department being empty during the day, happily bounced over with his application to have it put in his record.
After watching him bumble off, Daqing jumped onto Zhao Yunlan’s desk, tail up. “Men sure are fickle. Not that long ago you wanted to kick him out like a ball, but now you’re keeping him.”
Without looking up from his texting, Zhao Yunlan said, “The merits on him are as thick as an Oxford dictionary, so he has stupidly good luck. I’m keeping him as a lucky charm. Besides, the kid’s pretty funny.”
Daqing was confused. “What merits?”
Zhao Yunlan pointed at his drawer. The black cat wiggled his butt over, opened the drawer, and dug out a large envelope. It contained documentation of Guo Changcheng’s contributions to the poverty alleviation program, volunteer photographs, and commemorative donation albums. The list went on. There was also a photocopy of a photo, which showed a postcard hanging on the wall of a mountain elementary school. In a disastrous scrawl, it read “Take care, you guys.”
Guo Changcheng, it turned out, had sponsored many, many impoverished students. The oldest documents went back ten years.
Shocked, Daqing said, “Guo Changcheng did all of this?”
“Mm-hmm. Thanks to his family situation, he’s probably never wanted for anything in his life. But for some reason, he’s done all of this in secret—maybe just because he’s shy. Even his family and relations don’t know. They all think his allowance is enough, so the kid’s been tight on money all these years.”
“Someone like that doesn’t come along every day.” The cat, who had gotten distinctly fatter, shook his head and sighed. Shamelessly invading Zhao Yunlan’s personal space, he peeked at the phone screen. His tone turned to contempt. “You still got it or not? You keep saying he’s secretly in love with you. Every single day you harass the man with all your flirting and asking how he is, but you’re only now asking him out for a meal?”
Zhao Yunlan hit send and flicked Daqing’s forehead, knocking him onto his butt. “Shows what you know. Slow work yields refined results! This is the thrill of the chase!”
Shen Wei’s reply appeared on the screen. “I’m afraid not. I have to attend a grade meeting tonight.”
The cat laughed so hard that he nearly rolled onto his back and off the table. “Grade meeting! A grade meeting! So much for your big talk! Didn’t you say you can land anyone you set your sights on? Something about how when girls see you, their eyes light up, and when bottoms see you, they drool? Look how gently he let you down! Tell me, Zhao Yunlan, does rejection hurt?”
Zhao Yunlan gnashed his teeth, feeling a sudden craving for cat meat.
After the Hunger Ghost incident, Zhao Yunlan had made sure to keep in touch with Shen Wei. At first, he’d used the excuse of his job and keeping Shen Wei up to date on Li Qian’s case. Then he’d become even more brazen, finding any reason to ask Shen Wei out. Whether Shen Wei was actually incredibly busy or just determined to avoid him was impossible to say, but for all the luck Zhao Yunlan was having, he might as well have been trying to meet the emperor.
Anyone else would have taken a step back by now, but Zhao Yunlan wasn’t just anyone. He was a first-class narcissist and still had the absolute conviction that Shen Wei felt a tug of attraction for him. He was tired of people throwing themselves at him, so Shen Wei’s behavior was a turn-on. The more reserved and passive the professor was, the hotter Zhao Yunlan’s heart burned.
The phone rang. Daqing leaned in to listen, eager for gossip. The voice on the other end was unfamiliar and nervous. “Hello… Mr. Zhao, right? You said you wanted to buy my grandpa’s collection of ancient texts. Was that a serious offer?”
Zhao Yunlan’s eyes lit up. “Mm-hmm, yes! Absolutely! When can we meet? If it’s convenient, sooner is better than later.”
The caller said, “Then the price… What do you think…?”
“I don’t see any problem,” Zhao Yunlan replied, for all the world as if he were rich. “Hurry and name a time, please.”
The person sounded very excited. Even after agreeing to meet that afternoon, they kept exclaiming things like, “You must have a real love of ancient tomes,” and, “I see you value our cultural heritage.” Finally, with great reluctance, they hung up.
“Nice,” Daqing said sarcastically. “If you can’t get him, shower him with gifts? You’re the model of a modern, rich, good-for-nothing young master, O Guardian. The poor kid selling the books must not realize you’re some illiterate youth who loves blockbuster films and wuxia novels.”
Zhao Yunlan gathered his wallet and car keys, grabbed the scruff of Daqing’s neck, and threw him out of his office while the cat yowled pitifully.
Everyone opposite the office heard the door opening. Chu Shuzhi looked up from his stocks in time to see someone rush by. Zhu Hong sighed. “There he goes, off to screw around again.”
That evening, Zhao Yunlan successfully caught Shen Wei outside a Dragon City University lecture building.
Shen Wei’s eyelid twitched at the sight of his car. He lowered his head and quickened his pace, feigning obliviousness as he walked to the parking lot. Zhao Yunlan didn’t call out to him, just hummed a little tune while tailing him in his car. Shen Wei kept up the act the whole way, and Zhao Yunlan followed him the whole way in turn.
Every student who saw what was going on watched curiously. Shen Wei’s skin wasn’t thick enough to endure a whole crowd of onlookers. Admitting defeat, he changed course and approached Zhao Yunlan. “Officer Zhao, are you looking for me?”
Zhao Yunlan rolled down his window with a sunny grin. Grabbing a huge wooden box from the passenger seat, he shoved it out the window and into Shen Wei’s arms. “For you.”
Shen Wei was speechless at the gift.
Opening the box, he took one look and pushed it back. “No, no, this is too expensive.”
“Hey, hear me out.” Zhao Yunlan stopped him and earnestly said, “These aren’t gifts from me. They’re from a friend who’s planning to emigrate. He owns so many ancient tomes! Some are even made of silk or bamboo strips. He can’t take them with him, and he couldn’t bear the thought of giving them away. What if they wound up with someone who didn’t appreciate how precious they are? But I thought of you immediately. It would be such a waste for them to fall into someone else’s hands. Giving them a good home would be a real favor, Shen-laoshi.” Like the silver-tongued devil he was, he kept a straight face while lying through his teeth.
“I—” Shen Wei began, but he only managed that one word before Zhao Yunlan cut him off again.
“What is it? You and I are so close now, but are we even friends if you won’t do this little thing for me? Now, I have dinner plans, so I have to go, but I’ll see you soon! Take care of the books for me and I’ll buy you dinner tomorrow. Make sure you show up!”
He stepped on the gas and drove off without giving Shen Wei a chance to speak. The plan had worked beautifully: he’d given the gift and scored a date. He even started to whistle.
A man with real taste could never be satisfied with common, vulgar beauty, Zhao Yunlan thought. It was the way of things. Anyone who became rich would have to become cultured and get some antiques and paintings. But ah, Shen Wei… Zhao Yunlan contently looked at his own reflection in the rearview mirror and turned the name over in his heart. Shen Wei was like a famous, expensive blue-and-white vase. Even if you couldn’t own it forever, it was worth it just to display it at home for a few days and bask in its glory.
Below the Huangquan, in the Netherworld…
The Soul-Executing Emissary flew into the Netherworld in a black mist. The ghostly immortals all immediately rushed out to bow in greeting as if welcoming an evil god. Some garments were nearly soiled from fear. The Emissary gave a slight nod, then looked up as the crowd parted.
The Magistrate, red-robed like a groom, dashed forward with dainty, trembling steps. He stopped ten meters away, hurriedly wiping his lowered brow. The words “my lord” passed his lips, but before he could launch into the pleasantries he’d prepared as he ran, the Emissary raised a hand.
“Let us speak only of important matters. Is there any news of the Reincarnation Dial?”
The Magistrate bobbed his head, tripping over himself to report. “Additional searches have been carried out all over. Every reaper of the Netherworld has been dispatched, but I fear there are still no leads. That evil bastard may have used some sort of trick. But my lord, please rest assured: the very moment we have news of the Reincarnation Dial, you will be notified.”
The mist over the Soul-Executing Emissary’s face concealed his expression, but his gaze was as sharp as his blade. “I am certain you all realize this is of utmost importance. The Four Hallowed Artifacts hold up the Netherworld and all other worlds alike. I fear the Mountain-River Awl may resurface at any time.”
Terrified pandemonium broke out before he finished speaking. “What?” blurted the Magistrate.
“The Four Hallowed Artifacts appearing and the Chaos King of the Gui23 escaping are signs that the Great Seal is already weakening,” the Emissary continued, not acknowledging any of them. “We must gather the Hallowed Artifacts together to reinforce the Great Seal before it shatters completely. Failure to do so will have unimaginable repercussions. The Reincarnation Dial is already in the Chaos King of the Gui’s hands. We can afford no delays.”
Solemnly, the Magistrate said, “This lowly one will report to the Ten Kings at once. We will work together with the Three Realms and do all we can to track down the Chaos King of the Gui and his faction.”
Having said his piece, the Emissary bid them all farewell and turned to leave without another word.
The Magistrate hesitated, then called out, “My lord, are you returning to the Mortal Realm?”
“Yes.” The Emissary was meticulously courteous but always aloof. He spared a final glance for the Magistrate. “Goodbye.”
By the time his voice faded, the Emissary was gone—vanished like mist.
The Magistrate’s smile evaporated just as quickly, like a joyful newlywed groom abruptly learning he had married a dead bride. He gave a great sigh.
“Your Honor, this…”
“Any time something happens with the Great Seal, it never ends well,” the Magistrate said slowly. “When the Seal was first formed, the Great God Fuxi fell. The Great Seal loosened twice more after that: once when Sovereign Nüwa fell, and again when Shennong passed away.24 The Mountain God of the Great Wild entered the Cycle of Reincarnation. Now, at the end of time, the power of the stars grows dim and the signs of the Primordial Gods are nowhere to be found. What will we do when the Seal loosens this time?”
“Isn’t the Soul-Executing Emissary the protector of the Great Seal?” a reaper asked.
“The Soul-Executing Emissary?” The Magistrate’s laugh was cold. “The Emissary comes from the same place as the Chaos King of the Gui. The only reason he wasn’t trapped behind the Great Seal with his Chaos King brother was that the Mountain God of the Great Wild elevated him to demigodhood. Do you really believe he’ll stand against his own kind? We don’t even know how the Chaos King of the Gui laid his hands on the Reincarnation Dial.”
The reaper’s expression changed. “But all those years ago, the Mountain God asked him to look after the Great Seal…”
“How weighty is Almighty Fuxi’s Great Seal of Heaven and Earth? Who but the Primordial Gods could carry that burden? Back when the Pillars of Heaven collapsed and the power from Pangu’s25 creation of the world started fading, spiritual power became rarer and rarer in the Mortal Realm. The wu26 and yao27 tribes declined one after another. There is no one to rely on after the Mountain God.” Very low, the Magistrate added, “And back then, the Mountain God had no choice.”
The reaper was aghast. “But in essence, the Soul-Executing Emissary is half a Primordial God. The Mountain God was the last one who could control him. If he ever betrays us, what do we do?”
The Magistrate said nothing for a while. The toll of the death bell sounded from the banks of the Huangquan. There was no breeze, but countless red spider lilies swayed and rustled. A bone-piercing cold emanated from the Netherworld, and thousands upon thousands of souls were flung about in the endless Cycle of Reincarnation.
A sigh came from the Yanluo Courts. “Then we can only try to wake the Mountain God.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0021.txt
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THE TEMPERATURE in Dragon City dropped practically overnight as winter arrived that year. The leaves were still caught between green and yellow when they fell. Zhao Yunlan didn’t mind at all. He’d finally managed to get a date with Shen Wei and was riding high, as if buoyed by a spring breeze.
He’d styled his hair early in the day, and his knee-length coat was crisply ironed. The stylish look highlighted his broad shoulders and slim waist, lending him the gallantry of an immortal tree standing against the wind. Just as he was about to set out, this fine specimen of a tree remembered the final touch and gave his neck a quick spritz of Oud Wood cologne. Satisfied that he was a feast for all the senses, he strode off to inflict himself on the world.
He reached the restaurant precisely on time. It was an upscale Western spot designed with exquisite taste. A small band played leisurely in one corner, filling the space with pleasant, laid-back music. The tables were spaced for an intimate dining experience. The room was dim, but each table sat in a single soft pool of light that made their vases of Peach Avalanche roses glow. At this time of year, there was a steady procession of Western holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas ushered in the busy season for Western restaurants, and this one, while it didn’t go easy on the wallet, was bustling. Each beam of light illuminated a table with a couple whispering to each other.
Zhao Yunlan spotted his date immediately. Shen Wei was seated at an isolated corner table, staring at the edge of the tablecloth, lost in thought. The light and music didn’t quite seem to reach him somehow. Half of his face was shadowed, leaving only his blurred side profile visible. There was such a tinge of loneliness and melancholy about him that Zhao Yunlan’s breath caught in his throat.
His steps were silent as he walked over, moving in time with the violin, but his arrival shattered the bubble of quiet surrounding Shen Wei. “Have you been waiting long?”
Shen Wei twitched, tension overwriting his relaxed posture. Zhao Yunlan leaned forward slightly as he sat, making sure that the warm, woody fragrance in his scarf saturated the air around Shen Wei. Then he backed off into his own space at once, unbuttoning his coat. “Am I that scary? Why does seeing me make you so nervous?”
Shen Wei, studying him from outside the pool of light, forced a smile. He stole a few quick glances, then looked away. “Officer Zhao, you’re always teasing me.”
Zhao Yunlan casually accepted the menu from the waiter. “This restaurant has a nice atmosphere, but I don’t know if it’s to your tastes, Shen-laoshi? Are there any foods you don’t eat?”
Shen Wei touched a corner of the proffered menu, pushing it lower.
“Hmm?” Zhao Yunlan looked up from perusing the options, arching an eyebrow. He had very defined features; when his eyes were shadowed by the bridge of his nose and his brow, it gave an impression of tenderness.
Tension tightened Shen Wei’s cheeks. Seeming to come to a decision, he picked up something from beside him and set it carefully on the table: the box of ancient tomes Zhao Yunlan had given him the day before.
Zhao Yunlan was a smart man. Just from that silent opening, he knew what was coming. It was suddenly hard to maintain his cool, confident air.
“I, ah…” Shen Wei’s voice cracked. “I have only the greatest admiration for you, Officer Zhao.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “But I may have inadvertently—perhaps I somehow gave the wrong impression. I’m very sorry.”
All along, Zhao Yunlan’s narcissistic assumption had never wavered. Now he was broadsided by the declaration that it had all been in his head.
Shen Wei’s glasses must’ve been antiques. With no anti-glare coating, they reflected enough light that his eyes were effectively hidden. “It’s not a big deal,” he continued. “But I feel terrible that you spent so much money, Officer Zhao. I thought… I thought it best to clear things up as soon as possible.”
Oh, Zhao Yunlan thought. It was all in my head… I misinterpreted his attempts to turn me down.
Even in the mini-society of elementary school, he’d been clever and perceptive—an expert at dealing with other people. He could pick up on anyone’s intentions from a few words, and he’d always been right. It had been years and years since he’d been in such an awkward situation.
It felt like having a chunk of ice stuck in his chest, a hard, frozen lump he couldn’t swallow or spit out. The notes of oud wood now smelled like damp rot. In an effort to keep up appearances, he gave a self-deprecating chuckle and put a hand on the box of books.
“It wasn’t a lot of money, honestly. I really did get them from someone else, and I definitely have nowhere to put them. Please keep them. There’s no need to waste something precious.”
“I—” Shen Wei began.
Zhao Yunlan raised a hand to stop him. Half joking, he said, “Have you heard that awkwardness and embarrassment are the top two negative human emotions? Realizing that I just imagined there was something between us combines them, so it’s extra hard to swallow, Shen-laoshi. Can you give me some time to digest it? And take pity on me—taking these home would be even more awkward for me. Maybe you can donate them to the university library. I’ll think of it as a contribution to the education system.”
“…I’m sorry,” said Shen Wei.
“None of that, all right? It just makes me feel worse. We’re on the same page now, so everything’s fine.” There was a subtle transformation in Zhao Yunlan’s body language as he leaned back. There was no trace of ambiguous flirtatiousness left. With one casual gesture, he’d become a warm, friendly older brother. “After harassing you for so long, the least I can do is treat you to a meal.” Shen Wei opened his mouth, but Zhao Yunlan gestured for him to stop. He snapped his fingers to summon the waiter, leaving no room for argument. “Just go with it.”
Zhao Yunlan was a master at controlling the mood, turning candor on with the flip of a switch. Shen Wei was uneasy at first, but soon they were chatting about the aftermath of Li Qian’s case. By the time they’d finished eating, they seemed like a pair of friendly acquaintances. The excruciating awkwardness from earlier, like a slow-motion car crash, had been washed away.
When they went their separate ways, Zhao Yunlan even managed to joke around. “You had a little to drink, so I should take you home, but since you’re not letting me pursue you, I’ll just remind you to call a chauffeur service to get you and your car home. Speaking as a cop: don’t drink and drive, and if you’re going to drive, don’t drink. They’re extra strict about it at the end of the year. Don’t make me go looking for you at the station.”
Zhao Yunlan left with a flourish, maintaining his free-spirited image right to the end. It wasn’t until he got into his car that he deflated. Frustrated, he ran his fingers roughly through his gelled hair, then smoked three cigarettes in a row. He was genuinely a bit upset. He’d been overconfident about landing Shen Wei, and learning he was wrong felt like a slap in the face.
It was also clear to him now that his feelings for Shen Wei were sincere.
But falling for someone was no big deal, he reminded himself. In the big city, it could happen eight times a day. If someone wasn’t interested, you backed off. You didn’t get clingy or make a scene. That was basic social etiquette.
“Well, this is a shitshow,” he said.
When the light turned green, Zhao Yunlan stubbed out his cigarette in the car’s ashtray. His dinner was sitting heavily in his chest; between that and the cold wind, he was both uncomfortable and annoyed. When he was a little slow stepping on the gas, the car behind him honked repeatedly. Its horn sounded like a croaking toad. Zhao Yunlan cursed, opened his window, and gave the “toad” the finger.
After that, there were several days where Zhao Yunlan just wasn’t in the mood to go out. He went straight home after work each day and lazed around.
He had moved out of his parents’ home when he was fairly young and bought himself a little apartment—forty square meters or so—in the heart of the city. It was a classic bachelor existence: he made himself presentable to face the world, but the apartment was a disaster zone. Everything about his home felt frivolous.
When the weekend rolled around and Zhao Yunlan had been AWOL from everything but work for a whole week, his friends came and excavated him. They all drank until his soul left his body. Once he’d dragged himself home, he was out cold until noon the next day.
Then it was Sunday. Having no plans, Zhao Yunlan scrounged up half a piece of ancient stale bread and cold water and called that breakfast and lunch. Then he got comfy on his beanbag chair, which he shared with six or seven unmatched socks, and gamed online until well past dinnertime.
Finally, after it was completely dark out, there was a familiar stab of pain in his stomach. He surfaced from the internet and came back to the real world.
There were medications he usually kept at home, but he’d run out. He felt too lazy to move, so he just drank some hot water and decided to push through it. Unfortunately, his stomach had other plans. The cramping got worse and worse until he was drenched in cold sweat, leaving him no choice but to dig out his coat and a pair of pants. Zhao Yunlan yanked them over his pajamas without bothering with socks and ventured out into the world, not remotely presentable.
He followed the familiar route to the little restaurant at the entrance to his neighborhood, where he ordered a bowl of century egg and pork congee with a few side dishes. While the side dishes were being made to order, he headed to the nearest supermarket and pharmacy to pick up cigarettes and medication. It was only eight or nine hundred meters between the pharmacy and the restaurant.
Zhao Yunlan was badly underdressed and the icy wind kept licking under his sleeves and collar, so he decided to cut through a little backstreet that got him out of the wind. It took him past a cramped alley with three streetlamps, only one of which was lit. As he hurried by in the dark, shivering, he suddenly heard voices.
A man was cursing, sounding thoroughly drunk. “Get out your money! Move! Don’t fucking waste my time!”
Another voice said, “Don’t blame us. Times are hard. With nice clothes like that, you’re obviously rich. It’s almost Lunar New Year. I’m sure we all want to stay safe, right?”
Zhao Yunlan frowned. The New Year was approaching. Dragon City had residents of all stripes, both good and bad. Public Security clearly wasn’t doing so well if he was running right into a mugging.
He narrowed his eyes, counting three or four thugs, all carrying prohibited knives, surrounding a lone man—a familiar lone man, and not one he wanted to see: Shen Wei. What a fucking coincidence!
Shen Wei was clearly too good-natured. It was one thing to treat friends as warmly as he did, and quite another to react similarly when attacked. He was a fully grown man, yet he didn’t resist at all? He didn’t even speak a word of protest, just obediently took out his wallet!
The thugs exchanged glances, realizing they had a natural-born victim on their hands. Things immediately escalated. “Your watch too!”
Still without saying a word, Shen Wei removed his watch.
Zhao Yunlan sighed, unable to stand it anymore. Hands shoved into his pockets, he stalked over. His approach was silent and concealed by darkness.
A mugger grabbed Shen Wei’s watch and shoved him, making him stumble. When his back hit the wall, a red cord peeked out from his collar. “Hey!” one thug said. “What’s that around his neck?”
Another one grabbed Shen Wei’s collar, ripping it open. A small pendant was exposed between his collarbones. It was thumbnail-sized and made of a material he’d never seen before. Under the dim streetlight, it glowed in a blinding array of colors.
“What kind of gem is that?” The thug couldn’t tear his eyes from the pendant. He reached out to grab it.
This was a step too far for Shen Wei, who had shown childlike obedience so far. Wrapping his hand around the pendant, he said, “I’ve given you my money and watch. Don’t push your luck.”
His expression suddenly darkened, like a dough figurine coming to life. The thug gripping his collar belatedly realized that the eyes looking back at him were a bottomless black, glowing with a cold light. That gaze inexplicably struck fear into them, and the thug found himself letting go.
Seeing that, his companion raised a hand and aimed for Shen Wei’s head. Experience told him this was the best way to deal with people who wore glasses: an unexpected blow to the head, followed by a kick in the gut after their glasses flew off.
This plan was derailed when someone planted a fierce kick on his back before he could even swing at Shen Wei. Pain flared in the thug’s chest, nearly making him cough up blood. He flailed forward. Shen Wei twisted to the side to avoid him, and the thug smacked into the wall like a pancake, limbs askew.
Stunned, Shen Wei looked up to see Zhao Yunlan only three steps away, face pale from the cold. Zhao Yunlan shivered, blowing on his hands to warm them. “You guys sure have a lot of spare time if you’re pulling this on such a cold night.”
His kick had been powerful enough to send the man reeling. The thugs were briefly shocked into silence, but one finally opened his mouth. “Who… Who are you? I’m warning you! Mind your own business!”
Zhao Yunlan tilted his head, neck cracking. An icy smile spread across his face, revealing his dimples.
Five minutes later, he was on the phone with the nearest police station, telling them to hurry up and collect the perps. After hanging up, he nudged a fallen thug with his toe. “I was hustling while you were still in diapers. Make sure you know whose territory you’re in next time, okay?”
The thug he was stepping on screamed pitifully. “Aiyou! Da… Dage, we… We… Aaaaah!”
“Who the fuck are you calling ‘dage’?” Zhao Yunlan kicked him again. “You sure do know how to take any opportunity to save yourself, huh? Take off your belt! Hurry up!”
He bound the lot of them to a streetlamp with the ease of long experience, then retrieved Shen Wei’s wallet and watch. Handing them back, he asked, “Are you okay?”
Shen Wei dusted himself off elegantly as he took his things. “Thanks.”
Of its own volition, Zhao Yunlan’s gaze came to rest on Shen Wei’s pendant. It was a hollow crystal sphere, illuminated by something inside. It might have been made from some sort of fluorescent material. Zhao Yunlan had never seen such a warm, unique light. He almost felt as if the sphere contained a living flame. For no reason he could discern, his heart flooded with familiarity and fondness.
It wasn’t until Shen Wei covered it with a hand that Zhao Yunlan realized he’d been staring for far too long. He quickly looked away. “What a coincidence all this is,” he said lightly. “If someone didn’t know better, they’d think I’d planned this myself.”
Shen Wei shot him a confused look, not getting the joke.
Zhao Yunlan spread his hands wide. “So I could be the knight in shining armor saving the damsel in distress, to make sure you remember I exist.”
Shen Wei burst out laughing, then looked at the thugs Zhao Yunlan had strung up like kebabs. “They have it hard too.”
“If I don’t teach them a lesson, they’ll think they can go around biting anyone. Don’t worry about them. There isn’t that much space in lockup, so they won’t be in there long.” He turned to the thugs. “Don’t let me see you guys again! You’ll be in trouble if I do. You hear me?”
Having put the fear of god into them, Zhao Yunlan turned and let his arm hover near Shen Wei’s shoulders, politely avoiding contact. “I’ll walk you home. Do you live in the area too? How come I’ve never seen you around before?”
Shen Wei’s eyes shadowed. Quietly, he said, “In a city this large, two people could live in the same neighborhood and never meet. That’s what it means to not share fate, I suppose.”
As he spoke, Shen Wei fell half a step behind. Out of Zhao Yunlan’s line of sight, something unnatural entered his gaze. Behind his glasses, his eyes were dark and incomprehensible. He stared at Zhao Yunlan’s back in a way that was almost yearning, hinting at greed held barely in check.
But all he said was, “This area has always been quite safe. What happened was a rare occurence. There’s no need for you to walk me home on such a cold night, Officer Zhao.”
Zhao Yunlan didn’t insist. He just led him out of the dark alleyway to where the streetlamps offered more light. Here and there they were passed by a car or a pedestrian rushing home late in the night; in the distance, there was the occasional flash of a neon light in the business district.
With a wave, Zhao Yunlan said, “Okay, the areas ahead are less sketchy, so I won’t escort you. Get home safely.”
Shen Wei held his briefcase and nodded in farewell, maintaining a polite distance. “Thanks.”
The two of them parted ways at the intersection, heading in different directions like two lines that would never meet. In older times, people had lived in small, bleak villages or within city walls where everyone knew everyone else. But now, it took a hundred years of good karma to persuade fate to bring two people together for even a moment. In the modern world, millions upon millions of people inhabited the same city without ever making contact. Fate, it seemed, had depreciated over time.
Shen Wei headed down his own path for a bit, his expression cold. At the corner, he couldn’t resist a final glance back. With a start, he realized that Zhao Yunlan hadn’t left. Instead, he was doubled over, one hand resting on a wall while the other clutched the left side of his abdomen.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0022.txt
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THE PAIN in Zhao Yunlan’s gut came in waves. Maybe he’d overdone it while coming to a certain beauty’s rescue, or maybe he’d just been out breathing the frigid air too long, but whatever the reason, this flare-up felt like someone had taken a blender to his innards. His hands and feet felt like blocks of ice, and his vision was fading in and out.
He was starting to suspect he’d have to resort to calling 120 for emergency help when suddenly someone’s hands were steadying him. A panicked voice by his ear demanded, “What’s wrong?”
Shen Wei?
Cold sweat beaded on Zhao Yunlan’s temples. He couldn’t speak, but heard Shen Wei saying, “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Zhao Yunlan grunted and slid down to the ground, unwilling to move. Once the wave of pain passed, he gave his jacket pocket a weak pat. “It’s fine. I have medicine.”
“Absolutely not!”
Zhao Yunlan finally managed to catch a breath. Where was all this energy when he was getting mugged?
“It’s a chronic condition,” he explained evenly. “It won’t kill me, and there’s no quick fix. If I go to the hospital, they’ll just put me through an endoscopy and a biopsy, and once they’re done torturing me, they’ll prescribe the same kinds of medication I already have and give a speech about healthier habits. Trust me, I know. I’ve gotten the royal treatment there plenty of times. Just… Just help me up. Thanks.”
He made it back to his feet with Shen Wei’s help, wrapped his coat more tightly around himself, and started toward the little restaurant to pick up his food.
Shen Wei’s brow furrowed. “Where are you going in this condition?”
“To get the takeout I just…” Zhao Yunlan paused, then finished, “…ordered. How did you know I don’t live in this direction?”
Shen Wei startled. Under the ghostly white streetlight, there was so little color in his cheeks that he could have been sculpted from snow. Zhao Yunlan seemed to have realized something. A disbelieving look flashed across his sweat-drenched face. The air between them was suddenly charged.
After a solid half minute, Shen Wei said stiffly, “I didn’t…think anyone lived in that direction.”
He said this while pointing directly toward not one but three long-established residential neighborhoods. So many people lived in that direction, in fact, that it was one of the most notorious areas in Dragon City for traffic jams.
Zhao Yunlan’s response was even stiffer. “I see.”
“Let me take you home,” Shen Wei said. “Call the restaurant and have them pack everything up. I’ll pick it up for you later.”
“Actually—” Zhao Yunlan began, but Shen Wei interrupted.
“Stop dallying. Aren’t you cold?”
The walk home was an adventure in awkwardness. Shen Wei was clearly distracted, while Zhao Yunlan was ill at ease. Neither of them was feeling talkative. Mercifully, it was only several hundred meters or a couple thousand steps to their destination. Shen Wei took down the restaurant’s address and phone number, then told Zhao Yunlan to head upstairs.
It wasn’t until Shen Wei had almost turned and left that Zhao Yunlan finally called out helpfully, “I live on the ninth floor, by the way.” Shen Wei’s back went ramrod stiff. Accidentally making it worse, he added, “Apartment 902. First door on the left when you get off the elevator.”
Shen Wei straight-up fled.
Zhao Yunlan watched Shen Wei disappear into the night, then dragged himself to his apartment, practically at a crawl. Once inside, he sat on the bench in his entryway. He didn’t turn on the lights or pour himself a glass of water. He just lit a cigarette. Its orange glow flickered between his fingers.
The very first time they’d met, Shen Wei had avoided his gaze aggressively enough to seem suspicious. Then on the rooftop, Shen Wei had pulled him back up with incredible care. From then on, no matter how hard he’d tried to get close to Shen Wei, he’d been met with avoidance and finally a face-to-face rejection.
Calmer now, Zhao Yunlan mentally reviewed that scene in the restaurant. Had Shen Wei seemed to find it awkward? No. It had seemed much more like the rejection had hurt him.
And now it turned out Shen Wei knew where he lived.
What does this mean? Zhao Yunlan thought. Did he investigate me at some point? Or stalk me?
The what of the situation was unimportant. Zhao Yunlan’s address wasn’t a national secret. Anyone who wanted to find it out would be able to. But why did Shen Wei do it at all? Had he been so afraid Zhao Yunlan would do something indecent that he’d wanted to find Zhao Yunlan’s home base before calling backup to deal with him?
Or…
He was still smoking and rolling the whole question around in his muddled mind for the three-hundredth time when the doorbell rang. He startled, as though someone had struck his heart with a riding crop and made it break into a full gallop; that in turn made his temples throb painfully.
His hands reacted faster than his brain and pulled the door open. Only then did he realize that his limbs were numb from sitting for so long, and worse, that he hadn’t had a chance to clean up his pigsty of a home. It wasn’t remotely fit for guests, but it was too late for regret.
“You…” Shen Wei began, just as Zhao Yunlan said, “I…”
They opened and closed their mouths at the same time. Then, while they were staring at each other, the floor shook beneath them. The entryway’s hanging light swung dramatically, and a black cat figurine fell off the edge of the shoe cabinet. Only Zhao Yunlan’s fast reflexes saved it. “An earthquake?” he asked.
Dragon City was on a flat plain, nowhere near volcanoes or regular seismic activity. Most of its residents likely didn’t know even the most basic steps for disaster preparedness. The building’s hallway stayed quiet. No one even poked their head out to take a look.
The shaking lasted for what felt like an unusually long time. It wasn’t terribly strong, but it seemed to go on forever. An unspeakable feeling welled up in Zhao Yunlan’s chest—the sensation of jerking awake after stumbling in a midnight dream, heart skipping a beat.
Something…
Something had surfaced into the world.
Zhao Yunlan’s ears buzzed. He unthinkingly took a step forward, as though drawn by something. Shen Wei threw an arm across the doorway to stop him. Zhao Yunlan came back to himself with a start and met Shen Wei’s gaze, which was heavy with a bitingly cold light to it. He was a completely different person from the scholar who’d obediently handed his wallet over to muggers.
“The shaking’s stopped,” Shen Wei said. “Be careful.”
Zhao Yunlan eyed him suspiciously, and Shen Wei’s ears flushed bright red. He avoided Zhao Yunlan’s gaze stiffly. The intent in Shen Wei’s eyes a moment before might have been a trick of the light.
“I…” said Shen Wei, as Zhao Yunlan said, “Please come in.”
They spoke over each other again. Enough things had happened that day that Shen Wei seemed resigned to his fate. After only a moment’s hesitation, he nodded.
Zhao Yunlan hadn’t turned on the lights, so he tripped over the open umbrella at the door. Winter rain was unusual in Dragon City; it must have been at least a month since the last rainfall. An owner who hadn’t yet put it away was lazy enough that you might find mushrooms growing on him. Once the light was on, a second glance revealed a bag of laundry from the laundromat up on top of the shoe cabinet. The tag on it was two days old, and the bag hadn’t even been opened, probably because Zhao Yunlan hadn’t yet needed any of these particular clothes.
Shen Wei scanned the room without comment. There was a shirt, a pair of pants, and a knit vest on the sofa. The bed was covered with a variety of books, with a laptop in sleep mode under them. All in all it was a masterpiece of mess with barely any clear space to set foot.
Zhao Yunlan apologized quickly, casually unearthing a spot on the sofa to sit. Before he could straighten up, a fresh wave of pain started in his belly.
“Don’t worry about all that.” Shen Wei set the takeout on the coffee table, sighed, then began moving the books on the bed. “Where do you normally put all this?”
“On the bed during the day, then on the floor at night.”
After a brief pause of stunned silence, Shen Wei quickly sorted the books into two piles, after which he freed up some space on the equally disastrous desk and put the books there. Finally, he moved the computer to the nightstand. “Now lie down, and I’ll go pour you some water… Where is your water?”
Zhao Yunlan, who had curled up like a shrimp, pointed to a little water dispenser in the kitchen. Despite his obvious misery, he was still tightly bundled up in his coat as if ready to enter a beauty pageant for the sick. Exasperated, Shen Wei said, “Take off your jacket when you lie down. Aren’t you uncomfortable?”
“I’m afraid you’ll think I’m a pervert if I take it off.” The visible layer of cold sweat on Zhao Yunlan’s forehead, despite it being the dead of winter, betrayed how much pain he was in, but he was still a total smartass.
Shen Wei’s expression darkened. “Enough nonsense. Hurry up.”
Zhao Yunlan peeled off his jacket and pants with no further hesitation, leaving him lounging casually in front of Shen Wei in pajamas that revealed most of his chest and chiseled abs. Shen Wei’s face changed color as if it had been boiled.
Unabashed, Zhao Yunlan said, “You’re the one who told me to strip.”
Shen Wei looked away immediately. He put the pillow at the head of the bed and spread out the crumpled heap of blankets, eyes down all the while. “Give me your cup and I’ll go get—Zhao Yunlan, where are your socks?!”
Zhao Yunlan had taken off his shoes, revealing bare feet that were blue with cold. “I just stepped out for a minute to get medication,” he said matter-of-factly. “Wearing socks would mean I’d have to wash them.”
Any further explanation was cut off when Shen Wei bent down and grabbed hold of Zhao Yunlan’s feet. Shen Wei’s hands were always cold, but they were warm in comparison. Shocked, Zhao Yunlan instinctively tried to pull his feet back, but Shen Wei’s grip was too firm. Strong fingers began massaging his pressure points.
“Stop!” Zhao Yunlan yelped. “Stop, stop…! I-I haven’t even washed my feet today! Ah!”
Face serious, Shen Wei said, “Your qi and blood are stagnant and you live in complete chaos. That’s why you have stomach problems, you…” Suddenly realizing his tone was too familiar, Shen Wei dropped his gaze and shut up.
Zhao Yunlan’s feet were practically numb from Shen Wei’s massage, but wailing the way he wanted to would ruin his image. His lips went white from holding it in. After a while, though, his feet miraculously began to feel a bit warmer. Shen Wei finally released them and tucked them into his blankets.
Shen Wei went and washed his hands, brought over Zhao Yunlan’s medicine and some hot water, and watched as he swallowed it.
“Shameless” barely began to describe Zhao Yunlan’s pajamas. The top was only barely buttoned, lying open all the way to the bottom of his rib cage. When he pressed against his left side, the pajama top slipped even further and showed off his abs.
Shen Wei didn’t dare look again. To keep himself busy, he started opening the food, taking it to the kitchen to heat up.
The curtains of the apartment were all drawn. The garbage was essentially empty, with nothing inside but some torn-up bread packaging with an expiry date a week in the past. The fridge, upon investigation, was just as empty. There was only half a bag of cat food. Every pot and pan, piece of equipment, and appliance was brand new; some even still had their tags. Not a single cockroach could have survived in that pristine kitchen. It was practically a showroom model.
“You didn’t go out all day today,” Shen Wei said. “What did you eat?”
Zhao Yunlan pointed at the discarded bread packaging.
“For the whole day? What about yesterday?”
“I got blackout drunk yesterday,” said Zhao Yunlan, pressing his temples. “I don’t remember.”
Shen Wei wordlessly assessed the takeout. It appeared Zhao Yunlan had learned a few things from being sick so often—all the food he’d ordered was easy to digest and unlikely to cause further stomach problems. Shen Wei heated it all up, then prepared to leave.
At the door, he hesitated, then asked, “Officer Zhao, you aren’t getting any younger. You have a successful career. Aren’t you going to consider finding someone to take care of you?”
Zhao Yunlan spread his hands. “I considered you, but you declined.”
Shen Wei’s hands twitched nervously. He tucked them behind himself, where they curled into fists. “Stop joking. I’ll just… You get some rest.” Having said that, he made his escape.
Shen Wei seemed to be at the heart of a huge puzzle. After carelessly eating his fill, Zhao Yunlan took his laptop from the nightstand and logged into the Public Security internal system to search for Shen Wei’s file.
The file turned out to be both thorough and matter of fact. Shen Wei’s entire life was the very picture of “young and accomplished.” He’d attended a prestigious university where he’d completed his doctorate. After graduating, he was hired by his alma mater. He was unmarried. His father had passed away after an illness, and his mother had moved overseas after retiring. There was nothing remotely unusual about him.
By the time Zhao Yunlan abandoned his research, it was nearly midnight. The streets were quiet. Most of the neighborhood’s lights had gone dark, and there was almost no sound of traffic. The occasional light that reached the windows was blocked by the tightly shut curtains.
At the moment when the hour hand and minute hand aligned, a sudden sound came from Zhao Yunlan’s Clarity. It was followed at once by the noise of a dageng28 woodblock, signaling deep night. It grew closer and closer, louder and louder.
There came the sound of a man’s voice, sometimes closer and sometimes farther away. He dragged out his words as he spoke. “Reapers are leading the way; all living souls stay away…”
Zhao Yunlan’s curtains, which hadn’t been opened for an entire day, parted of their own accord to reveal frost-covered glass. Faint white light radiated through the gap, waiting quietly outside.
Zhao Yunlan tugged the wide-open collar of his pajamas closed and threw on a jacket. “Come in.”
As soon as he spoke, the window latch opened with a click. Piercing cold wind rushed in, blanketing Zhao Yunlan’s exposed skin with goosebumps. Something like a person, carrying a white paper lantern, was right outside his window—his ninth-floor window. The “person,” also made of paper, was the height of a human and had a pair of dull, drawn-on eyes. Their huge, bloody mouth opened almost from ear to ear. They could have competed in a beauty pageant with 4 Bright Avenue’s very own lao-Wu.
Zhao Yunlan was unfazed. He took out a little ceramic pot, spirit money, and incense from the bottom drawer of his bedside table, as though he had done it many times. He stuck the incense into the pot’s opening, lit the money, and finally nodded in greeting. “A small token of my respect.”
The paper reaper’s huge mouth moved stiffly, forming a semblance of a polite smile. Most humans in the Mortal Realm who could communicate with the dead had their sights set too high to pay attention to the little reapers of the Netherworld. This Guardian was more courteous than anyone else. Even if important, serious business slipped his mind, he never forgot these small formalities.
“Did Lord Reaper need something, coming this late at night?” Zhao Yunlan asked.
The paper reaper bowed, hands clasped, then politely said, “The Yanluo Kings were enraged by the Hunger Ghost’s recent escape. We were ordered to thoroughly investigate the Three Realms. One by one, we inspected and verified all the living, the dead, and the souls waiting for their sentence, recorded it all, and incorporated it in the Book of Life and Death.29 This lowly one has been sent by the Ten Yanluo Kings to bring a copy to the Guardian so that you might have something to refer to while upholding the law in the Mortal Realm.”
While speaking, the paper reaper brought out a black leather notebook and held it out to Zhao Yunlan with both hands. It looked like an ordinary notebook bound in soft cowhide, but once in his hand, it was extraordinarily light. Zhao Yunlan hefted it, gave it a small pinch, then sniffed the pages.
“Fusang paper and hailong ink, The Book of Life and Death and the Record of Merits—one can learn anything about a person from before their life until after their death, either by using an invocation talisman with their name and birth chart written on it or by burning a soul-tracking talisman wrapped around a strand of hair and letting the ashes melt into the book. Is that right?”
The paper reaper hastily said, “The Guardian is knowledgeable and has a good eye.”
“No, no, I’ve seen this in an ancient text. In fact, I’ve suggested it to the Netherworld many times.” Zhao Yunlan casually flipped through the notebook in his hand, faking a smile. “But nothing ever came of it, so I thought the materials might be hard to find or that the Lords might have some other plans.”
That was always the way of things with the current Ten Yanluo Kings. The bureaucracy was even more impenetrable than that of the Mortal Realm. If there was nothing in it for them, they wouldn’t rouse themselves to action; if anything happened, they’d drag things out. It was incredibly annoying. The Soul-Guarding Order and the Netherworld had bumped heads many times over the years, putting Zhao Yunlan in a constant tug-of-war with them while having to simultaneously work with them.
All that experience told him that the other side must be up to no good if they were suddenly being generous for no reason.
The paper reaper answered agreeably, pretending not to take his meaning. Zhao Yunlan gave them a piercing glance. Just then, a thin piece of paper fell from the book.
“An arrest warrant?”
The blank piece of rice paper changed the instant it came in contact with his hand. Black mist materialized on it, and then a face appeared within the mist. The face belonged to something like a human, but the head was large and hairless. Its back was hunched and its neck scrunched…and the face was full of warts. It was the creature the Soul-Executing Emissary had cut down on that rooftop while investigating the Reincarnation Dial.
So that was the real point of the visit. Face carefully blank, Zhao Yunlan asked, “What exactly am I looking at?”
The reaper rushed to answer, reciting obviously well-worn words. “This being is similar to a human, but is not human. It is called youchu and was born from the Chaos. It can speak the human tongue, but its disposition is violent and savage. It eats people and drinks souls for pleasure, and fears fire and light. Should the Guardian encounter it, you may kill it on sight, but please take extra care.”
Youchu—
The reaper kept talking, with repeated emphasis on how to kill a youchu when you encountered one, but almost completely glossed over the creatures’ origin. Zhao Yunlan was forced to interrupt. “Hold on—where did you just say they come from?”
Politely, the paper reaper repeated, “They are born from the Chaos.”
They might as well have said nothing. In Chinese mythology, “Chaos” described the state of the world before Pangu split the sky from the ground, when the Heavens, Earth, time, and space were muddled together in one mass. By that logic, the Heavens, the Earth, and people were also born from the Chaos. Any monster with mysterious origins could be explained by “born from the Chaos.”
Somehow the description “similar to a human, but not human” struck Zhao Yunlan as very interesting. “How come I’ve never heard of them before? Does it have anything to do with the ‘Great Seal’ that the Soul-Executing Emissary mentioned?”
“Evil is always one step ahead of good. These filthy things are endless.” It was clear that the paper reaper had frozen for a moment. Rather than answering the question, they were avoiding the topic. They lowered their head hastily. “This lowly one will take their leave.”
As the reaper finished speaking, the white paper lantern flickered a few times. Both the lantern and reaper vanished.
The cold wind immediately disappeared too. The curtains and windows closed themselves, and warm air soon filled the room. If it hadn’t been for the black leather-bound notebook in Zhao Yunlan’s hands and the little pot filled with ashes, everything might have been his imagination.
The Soul-Executing Emissary, the Four Hallowed Artifacts, youchu, the Netherworld’s evasiveness…
Zhao Yunlan lay face up on his bed. By now his blankets were no longer warm and he was once again covered in goosebumps. He found he couldn’t fall asleep. As the night deepened, so did his thoughts. Between the encounter with the paper reaper and his physical discomfort, he tossed and turned all night and didn’t sleep a wink.
So when the doorbell rang bright and early at seven o’clock, Zhao Yunlan felt like his eyelids had been completely glued together.
He crawled out of bed, so heavy-headed that it threw him off balance. His vision was dim, so he sat back down on the bed with great difficulty. His joints cracked and he ached all over. By the time he’d slowly made his way to the door, Zhao Yunlan had mentally skinned and slaughtered whoever was on the other side.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but he was something of a mad dog.
And then he opened the door, only to find himself face-to-face with Shen Wei, who was holding several large bags.
Zhao Yunlan froze for a few seconds while he tried to react. He immediately attempted to retract his man-eating expression and replace it with one more appropriate for welcoming the arrival of spring.
Unfortunately, he was still muddled enough that everything was just a bit…off. His features jammed, stuck between “man-eating” and “spring has sprung.”
If one had to describe it, they might say it bore an uncanny likeness to the Nian monster.30
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0023.txt
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SEEING THAT Zhao Yunlan didn’t look so good, Shen Wei freed up a hand to touch his forehead. “You’re a bit feverish. What are you still standing here for? Go back to bed and get under the blankets.”
Zhao Yunlan, dizzy, found himself being pushed into the bedroom.
Then Shen Wei grabbed his wrist. Zhao Yunlan was caught off guard and instinctively tried to pull free, but couldn’t break Shen Wei’s grip.
It was the second time that had happened. The first time had been on that roof at Dragon City University when Shen Wei had dragged him back up with only the strength of his arms. Shen Wei didn’t have the weak hands of an academic. Instead, they were icy cold and frighteningly strong, callused between the thumb and pointer finger—not the kind of calluses that resulted from too much time using a mouse.
Having been a bit out of it from the fever, being startled had made Zhao Yunlan break out in a fresh layer of cold sweat. He was much more awake now. Shen Wei, however, didn’t make any more unusual moves. He just checked Zhao Yunlan’s pulse with the air of someone who knew what he was doing, then put warm water and medications for fever and stomach problems on the bedside table. “Drink some water and take the stomach medication, then rest. Don’t mind me. I’ll make you some food, and you can take the rest of the medicine after eating.”
Zhao Yunlan absorbed this in silence. What kind of shoddy east-meets-west doctor prescribed western medication after just feeling his pulse?
But everything Shen Wei had brought was common over-the-counter medication; Zhao Yunlan was well acquainted with them from being sick so often. A quick glance at the labels was enough for him to decide that taking the meds wouldn’t kill him. He washed them down decisively with water.
Shen Wei took some time to put away everything he’d brought with him. Then, once Zhao Yunlan’s empty fridge was more than half-full, he took out a little clay pot, washed it, and prepared his ingredients. Once he’d mixed it all together and brought it to a boil, he lowered the heat so the food could simmer. Finally, he washed his hands and warmed them on the radiator.
Looking across the apartment, he saw Zhao Yunlan leaning against the headboard, eyes closed. Shen Wei unconsciously held his breath, drinking him in from a distance.
Zhao Yunlan’s lips were a little dry, possibly because he was unwell and had slept poorly. Some of his hair was stuck to the pillow while some fell around his temples. It was softer than Shen Wei had imagined, giving Zhao Yunlan a tender air. Shen Wei’s gaze slowly traced over the corners of his eyes and the lines of his brows, entranced.
He was jolted out of his reverie by the sound of the pot boiling. He quickly looked down and removed the lid, not realizing that Zhao Yunlan’s eyes had opened.
“Shen Wei, you—” The unexpected sound of Zhao Yunlan’s voice nearly made Shen Wei drop the lid on the stovetop. Zhao Yunlan’s tone went stiff. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You’re sick and there’s no one to take care of you,” Shen Wei said. The unprompted explanation didn’t make things any less awkward. “Since we ran into each other, I thought I should at least come check on you, especially after you saved me yesterday.”
“So you’re here to repay me?”
After a pause, Shen Wei said, with some difficulty, “It’s what friends should do.”
Zhao Yunlan let himself thoroughly savor those five words. Whatever he tasted on them made him chuckle for some reason, leaving Shen Wei too nervous to do anything other than watch the pot on the stove.
It wasn’t until Zhao Yunlan had been quiet for a while that Shen Wei finally mustered up the courage to take another look. Zhao Yunlan, it turned out, had fallen asleep, perhaps because he was sick and exhausted, and possibly with an extra nudge from the medication.
Shen Wei exhaled silently and went to the bedside. Zhao Yunlan’s head was slightly tilted, and the shadows cast by his lashes gave the impression of even deeper sleep. Shen Wei reached out and caressed his face, then carefully eased him down to lie flat on the bed.
There was something like piety in Shen Wei’s gaze now. He clasped his hands tightly, as if to preserve the trace of Zhao Yunlan’s body heat on his palms. After a while, he smiled self-deprecatingly, then bent down and picked up a coat Zhao Yunlan had tossed aside.
That was when he saw an unusual ceramic pot on the floor. There was a layer of brown ash lining the bottom of it. Shen Wei pinched a bit of the ash and rubbed it between his fingers. The ash that fell from his skin turned white, as if the spirit of the wood had been sucked away.
“A reaper?” Shen Wei adjusted his glasses, looking at the tightly drawn curtains.
Zhao Yunlan hadn’t expected to fall asleep, but a deep slumber crept over him. When his eyes finally reopened, sunlight was already piercing his curtains. He was sweaty all over, and the blanket pressed stickily against him. It wasn’t at all comfortable. He even felt a little dizzy.
Eventually his nose registered the unfamiliar scent of food. He looked up and saw Shen Wei sitting nearby on the sofa, quietly leafing through an old book of supernatural folk tales. Fully absorbed in the book, Shen Wei was lovelier than words could describe. His face was like a painting given life.
Hearing Zhao Yunlan stir, Shen Wei looked up with a smile. “You’re awake. Do you feel better?”
“Awake” was a bit of an overstatement. Zhao Yunlan nodded, still in a daze. Shen Wei reached out and felt his forehead. “Your fever’s gone. Does your stomach still hurt?”
As he shook his head, Zhao Yunlan noticed that all the clothes he’d left scattered about were now folded and in a neat pile on the bedside table. He touched them experimentally and found them warm, as if Shen Wei had even heated them on the radiator. It felt unexpectedly comfortable.
“I figured you’d wake up soon,” said Shen Wei. “I’ve turned on the warming fan in the bathroom. You’ll feel even better once you’ve washed off all that sweat. I’ve cooked a few simple things for you to eat.” He sighed. “You should take better care of yourself.”
In an unexpected development, Zhao Yunlan felt a little embarrassed. Hugging his clothes to his chest, he got up and headed for the bathroom without a word.
Zhao Yunlan had moved out too young. His lifestyle was one of going out and rushing to social events or casually calling for takeout. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up to the smell of home cooking and the sound of someone urging him to go wash up.
Once he’d showered and come back out in fresh clothes, he realized, dumbfounded, that his doghouse of an apartment had been cleaned within an inch of its life. His curtains were open, letting in the light, and it seemed like the windows had been opened at some point to let in fresh air. The temperature was a bit cool as a result, but the air was crisp and clean.
Shen Wei was just fishing the bamboo chopsticks that Zhao Yunlan had never even touched out of boiling water. He gave them a rinse in cool water and put them in the chopstick holder. Then he opened the small clay pot and tasted the contents with a little spoon. A rich fragrance wafted out.
For a moment, it was as if Zhao Yunlan’s pounding heart had taken wing.
Shen Wei turned off the heat and carried two simple home-cooked dishes from the kitchen. Zhao Yunlan moved as if to take them from him, but instead of taking hold of the food, he grabbed Shen Wei’s hand.
Even holding hot plates, Shen Wei’s hands were abnormally cold. Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help pressing his own hands even more tightly around them. Shen Wei shivered fiercely and tried to pull away.
“You…” Shen Wei started.
“Do you really not like me?” Zhao Yunlan pressed himself close and set the food aside, keeping Shen Wei from running away. “Shen Wei, look at me. Look right at me and say it again. Tell me you don’t like me.”
When Shen Wei abruptly looked up, the usual gentleness in his eyes was gone. Backed into a corner, he spoke almost harshly. “A man’s role is to marry a wife and have children. You’re still so young. You shouldn’t go against the natural order of things and human nature. It’s absurd.”
Zhao Yunlan was floored by this serious accusation. “Why are we suddenly escalating to ‘the natural order of things and human nature’?”
Shen Wei pulled his hand free. “How will you explain to your parents one day that you’re always getting tangled up with men? If your family line ends with you, when you enter the autumn of your life, who will care for you in your old age?”
Incredulous, Zhao Yunlan asked, “Explain what to whom? When I’m old I’ll take my pension and live in a retirement home. It’s not my job to keep the human race from going extinct, Shen-laoshi. Are you a closeted homophobe? Wake up! We’re not in the Qing Dynasty anymore!”
Shen Wei only stared back at him.
Zhao Yunlan studied him, unable to believe that someone so beautiful, such a joy for the eyes and mind alike, was such a pedantic old scholar at heart. “Just because someone’s straight doesn’t mean they’ll find a suitable partner. Getting married doesn’t guarantee being able to have a child. Having a kid doesn’t mean they’ll make it to adulthood, and if they do, you have no way of knowing what they’ll be like when they grow up. Where’s the sense in taking such a huge gamble, investing in such a high-risk product just so it can bring honor upon your family and take care of you in your old age? You’re better off buying a lottery ticket. If you really like kids, you can sponsor a few needy children. Then during the holidays there’ll be someone willing to come see you.”
Shen Wei had nothing to say to this preposterous reasoning. His expression was wooden.
“We’re all human,” Zhao Yunlan continued. “When we’re in pain, we have to think carefully to keep from repeating the same mistakes. But when we’re happy, we need to think less, not risk ruining our joy by overthinking things. Imagine if the world was ending and everyone became zombies. Imagine how you’d feel as you closed your eyes for the last time and realized you’d never let yourself have what you really wanted. How much would that suck?”
Very low, Shen Wei said, “There aren’t that many times where a person can freely give in to their desires.”
“Exactly!” Zhao Yunlan spread his hands. “Other people will deny you things. Are you going to deny yourself things too? What’s the point in living, then? Why not just die and get it over with?”
“Don’t speak nonsense.”
Confident now, Zhao Yunlan said, “So you do like me.”
Shen Wei turned to leave, and Zhao Yunlan wasn’t able to keep a grip on him. “Shen Wei, what’s the point in running? Sure, you can run from what I’m saying, but can you run away from your heart?”
His words chased Shen Wei like wild beasts. If he could have, Shen Wei would have thrown a smoke bomb and flung himself to the ground.
As soon as Shen Wei was gone, Zhao Yunlan moved to the window to wait. About three minutes later, he saw Shen Wei hurry out of the building. Not afraid of the cold, Zhao Yunlan pushed open the window and leaned halfway out. He was suddenly certain that Shen Wei would turn back to look at him.
No sooner did he have that thought than Shen Wei glanced up at his window, caught red-handed. Zhao Yunlan shaped his hands into a heart and aimed it toward the man below. Hundreds of flowers of the heart, in full bloom, erupted from the corners of his pale lips. They rained down on Shen Wei, battering him.
Zhao Yunlan stayed there until Shen Wei was out of sight. Then he appreciatively ate his steaming hot food, comforted in heart and stomach.
We have plenty of time, he thought confidently. You can’t run.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0024.txt
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ON MONDAY MORNING, the smell of breakfast filled the office. Zhu Hong had bought three pounds of buns from the cafeteria, their delicate skins nearly bursting with filling. The aroma could have lured people from two miles away. Everyone who had missed breakfast after waking up late followed their noses over, even the elusive Director Zhao.
Shen Wei urging him to stop smoking, drinking, and eating greasy food was a distant memory. Zhao Yunlan scarfed down a bun in two bites, then rapped Guo Changcheng on the head with an oily paw. “Kid, go turn on the news.”
Guo Changcheng obediently darted off.
Watching him go, Zhu Hong said smugly, “Xiao-Guo’s a good kid who’s thoughtful and works hard. He’s just a little too nervous. He doesn’t dare eat food from anyone but me.”
“That makes sense,” Zhao Yunlan said. “He’s scared of humans.”
Zhu Hong started to nod and then realized what he was implying.
Just to be absolutely sure she understood, Zhao Yunlan kindly added, “He’s not afraid of you because he doesn’t see you as human.”
Zhu Hong had no reply for that.
Just then, she saw Daqing climb stealthily up onto the desk. Daqing watched carefully, and at the very moment Zhao Yunlan was about to gobble up another one, he delivered one speedy, perfectly aimed smack, sending the filling flying out of Zhao Yunlan’s bun. Daqing caught the filling in midair, then flipped backward 360 degrees and landed on the floor. The entire sequence of movements was as smooth and natural as passing clouds and flowing water. You could almost forget his massive bulk.
Then Daqing strolled off, butt swaying and tail upright. Zhao Yunlan was left gaping and holding the empty bun skin, dripping with oil.
“Damn cat!”
“You deserved that,” Zhu Hong said.
The TV morning news was talking about the earthquake that had happened Saturday evening. The office quieted. The earthquake’s epicenter had been in a sparsely populated mountain region. Not much had been affected. As of yet, there was no reported property damage or loss of lives.
Stuffing the bun skin into his mouth, Zhao Yunlan casually said, “The earthquake two days ago, right? The city sure shook. It must’ve been at least a level 4.”
When no one responded, he looked around and found everyone giving him strange looks. “What?” he asked.
“Boss, are you still half-asleep?” Zhu Hong asked. “The epicenter was in the northwest, and it was a level 5. It was way too far from Dragon City for you to have felt anything.”
Zhao Yunlan paid closer attention to the news report and realized she was right. It had been a small earthquake, half the width of China away from them. “Then maybe something else caused the shaking I felt? It was around 9 p.m. on Saturday and really strong. None of you felt it? I guess you all live on lower floors. I’m on the ninth floor.”
“I live on the sixteenth floor,” said Lin Jing. “I was still awake at nine and didn’t feel a thing.”
Zhu Hong said, “I’m on the twelfth floor. Xiao-Guo, did you feel anything?”
Before Guo Changcheng could respond, Chu Shuzhi glanced up. “Wang Zheng?” he said, surprised. “Why are you out during the day?”
Zhu Hong jumped up. “Close the curtains! She can’t come in contact with sunlight!”
Guo Changcheng and Lin Jing rushed to draw the curtains, tripping over each other. The office was suddenly so dark that it could have been dawn or dusk. After finishing his buns, Daqing hurled himself at the wall and kicked the light switch on.
Wang Zheng’s complexion was pale to the point of transparent. She only dared float in once every sliver of sunlight had been blocked out. Curled up in a chair, she looked like she was on the verge of dissipating. Lin Jing grabbed incense from his drawer, lit it, and held it under her nose. “Hurry, breathe some of the smoke.”
Once half of the incense had burned, she finally recovered a little. She exhaled lightly, looking a bit more substantial and less like a phantom shadow.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Zhao Yunlan smacked her on the forehead, girl or not. He actually made contact; the smack pushed her head back. “Are you tired of life or something? If so, I’ll book you in at a tanning salon to give you a beautiful glow!”
Guo Changcheng had never seen his boss angry like this. He shivered in fright.
With some difficulty, Wang Zheng raised an arm and pointed at the TV. The news report was now showing the rescue team and a reporter in the mountain village near the epicenter of the quake. They were taking stock of the situation.
The earthquake had been centered in the northwest. The roads in that area were very poor, and few people lived there. The screen showed a handful of scattered dirt houses. It was unclear if they were inhabited, but they all looked intact. The earthquake really hadn’t been very serious.
At the village’s entrance was an old, worn stone tablet that read “Qingxi Village.”
There was a certain mistiness to Wang Zheng’s gaze that always made her seem a little out of it, as if she couldn’t focus very well. Through that mist, her eyes were fixed on that stone tablet. It wasn’t until the camera panned away that she whispered, “That’s where my…”
Where her home is? Guo Changcheng thought.
“That’s where my bones are buried.” Her declaration sent a small, chilly breeze through the office.
“Director Zhao, I want to ask for some time off,” she continued, in her unique, wispy voice. “I want to be laid to rest.”
Zhao Yunlan’s brow creased. He took out a cigarette. “You—”
Wang Zheng leaned back. Flatly, she said, “Keep your secondhand smoke away from me.”
“You’re a ghost. What does it matter to you?”
“Ghosts can still smell cigarette smoke. At this rate, sooner or later you’ll become a human mosquito coil.”
Zhao Yunlan stuffed his lighter back into his pocket unhappily. “Your name is already in the Soul-Guarding Order. You’re never going to pass on. Even if you’re laid to rest, you won’t be at peace, so what’s the point? And your people don’t even do in-ground burials, do they?”
Wang Zheng didn’t answer. She just kept her head down and eventually repeated, “I want to go home.”
Zhao Yunlan sighed. “Wanting to go is one thing. How do you plan on getting there?”
“I haven’t decided.”
Impatiently, he asked, “Are you planning on thinking about it in broad daylight?”
Wang Zheng stopped talking altogether.
Zhao Yunlan glanced at the images of the dilapidated Qingxi Village. Somehow, that stone tablet seemed to call to him. The weird earthquake that none of the others had felt, that faraway sound by his ear…
He raised his hand, then lowered it. To Wang Zheng, he said, “Here, hide in Clarity for a while. You can come out at night. Let me think of something.”
Wang Zheng had already reached her limits. She immediately turned into a wisp of white smoke and vanished into his watch.
Curious, Chu Shuzhi asked, “Director Zhao, you’re usually lazy enough to grow sprouts, always sending other people on work trips. What’s making you go yourself this time?”
“Fuck off.” Zhao Yunlan grabbed another bun and stuffed it into his mouth. “This is what’s known as leading by example.”
Shen Wei had finished his final morning class, and the students were drifting out of the room. He stayed at the podium, organizing lesson plans on the table.
Sunlight came flooding in, momentarily blinding him. Shen Wei’s hands stilled. Looking down, he saw a golden thread of light hooking in from somewhere outside, wrapping itself around his pendant. He reached to block it, but his fingers passed right through. He couldn’t help gripping the radiant little sphere, his heart a tangled mess.
The whole day, it had been as if the sight of Zhao Yunlan leaning against the headboard, eyes closed, had been seared into his retinas. Any time he shut his own eyes, the image floated to the forefront of his mind. It haunted him.
It was as if, after freezing and starving for thousands of years, he had suddenly fallen into an untouchable, tender haven—a haven where everything around him held deathly temptation and swallowed his reason, no matter how he struggled against it. Every time the words “Zhao Yunlan” drifted into his ear, he sank an inch deeper into the bottomless quagmire. He was already in past his neck. Soon, he would drown…
“Shen-laoshi!”
Shen Wei’s eyes snapped open. He just barely managed to keep his expression neutral, forcing himself to focus. “What is it?”
It was one of his students. He opened a document folder. “Laoshi, here’s the itinerary for our ancient customs field research trip. Can you check it over?”
Shen Wei took off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s only been two days since the earthquake there. It’s probably not safe. Would you consider delaying the trip for a year?”
“We looked into it. It was only a level 5 earthquake. The houses didn’t even collapse.” The student pulled up the news on their phone, and urgently continued explaining. “All the young people from the area work in urban centers, so the only people still living in Qingxi Village are the elderly and disabled. There are so few people left to begin with. I’m afraid the earthquake will make those last few people want to move away too, and then how will we ever find them? We’ve already submitted our initial report and research plan, and we still have several other places to visit after this. If we delay any more, it’ll affect next year’s biannual review.”
Shen Wei’s gaze rested on the words “Qingxi Village.”
“Very well. We’ll follow the original plan and leave on Wednesday. Make sure you all prepare thoroughly, and don’t bring anyone who’s not directly involved. I can’t take care of you all myself.”
No one had seen Zhao Yunlan all day. In the evening, nearly at the end of the workday, he finally called the office. Lin Jing and Zhu Hong had already run off in the boss’s absence. Daqing lay sound asleep behind a computer’s cooling vents. Chu Shuzhi, expression stiff as a coffin, was playing Minesweeper and ignoring everything else.
That left Guo Changcheng to pick up the phone. “Hello?”
“Xiao-Guo?” Zhao Yunlan asked. “Are you busy? If not, do me a favor.”
“Of course!” Guo Changcheng replied quickly. “What is it?”
“The hostile energy inside Clarity—my watch—is too intense. Wang Zheng can’t stay in there for too long. I need to figure out a way to bring her out of town with me in a few days, so I need to find her a body. Go online and buy me a human-sized doll—something on the bigger side. It’d be best if it can move.
“Make sure you find one from a store right here in Dragon City and tell them it’s urgent. We need it delivered by tomorrow.”
Guo Changcheng nodded, phone jammed between his shoulder and ear as he did a search. “Director Zhao, I found one. Human-sized, flexible joints, can stand…”
Things seemed busy on Zhao Yunlan’s end. Clearly in a hurry, he interrupted. “Okay, okay, sounds great. Buy it. Tell them it’s a rush order.”
Guo Changcheng made an affirmative sound and was about to click Buy when his eyes fell on the shop name. It was a sex toy store.
The pure little nerd turned crimson, stammering into the phone. “D-Director Zhao… This… This is a little…”
“Don’t worry if it’s a little expensive,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Just remember to get a receipt. Okay, I can’t talk anymore. Gotta go. Don’t waste time!”
He hung up, leaving no room for argument.
Guo Changcheng stared at the screen and turned to stone.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0025.txt
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WHEN A LIFE-SIZED blowup doll was delivered to 4 Bright Avenue, the courier hadn’t even gotten out of earshot before Zhao Yunlan roared in fury.
“Guo Changcheng, is that a head or a chamber pot on your neck?!”
Daqing gave the large doll a curious swat, eliciting an indecent moan from it. The cat’s fur stood on end. Zhao Yunlan’s face turned so blue it was nearly black. He could only point a trembling finger at the doll, too enraged to speak for a solid half minute.
Guo Changcheng curled up into his best imitation of a mushroom. He stood blankly in a corner, not even blinking.
Zhao Yunlan finally swallowed the anger that was stuck in his chest. His throat hurt from choking on it. After a while, to Zhu Hong, he finally managed a weak, “Can you…clothes some find for it…”
Hearing what had just come out of his own mouth, he was overcome with fresh anger. He slammed the door shut, hand on his chest.
Zhu Hong turned to Guo Changcheng. “Congratulations! You’ve infuriated the public nuisance so badly that he’s lost the power of speech.”
Lin Jing patted him on the shoulder. “Xiao-Guo, I’ve just noticed what a warrior you are!”
Guo Changcheng was on the verge of tears.
Chu Shuzhi silently picked Daqing up and covered his eyes. Wearing his usual bitter expression, he turned away to avoid the whole offensive mess.
Zhu Hong dug up a huge military bag from somewhere and stuffed the doll inside. To the air, she said, “I’m sorry. You’ll have to stay inside Clarity a little longer, but you can come in once we’re off the plane.”
A wisp of white smoke emerged from Zhao Yunlan’s watch. It circled Zhu Hong once and stopped in front of her, becoming the blurry silhouette of a girl. Zhao Yunlan had too much yang energy. Even with Clarity’s protection, it was uncomfortable for a ghost to spend so much time around him. Wang Zheng looked far weaker than before.
“I’ll think of it as being airsick,” Wang Zheng said, breath thin as gossamer. Then she finally got a look at her prospective body. Her misty eyes betrayed her utter speechlessness.
At this point, Guo Changcheng was too afraid to even lift his head.
When they set out, no one had the nerve to bother Director Zhao—not even Daqing, who turned into a finger-sized kitty phone charm and hung obediently on Zhu Hong’s phone. Their boss, meanwhile, looked like he was heading to the airport to hijack a plane.
That lasted until they ran into Shen Wei and his students at the gate.
Zhao Yunlan’s expression had been as dark as the bottom of a pot. Right before everyone’s eyes, it cleared up in an instant. His icy gaze thawed, and the black aura that had been swirling around him moments before vanished as if it had never existed. Without a moment’s hesitation, he abandoned his colleagues and strolled toward the man at the center of a group of students. “What a coincidence!”
As coincidences went, this one was almost unbelievable. Shen Wei’s eyes flashed. It was the very opposite of a pleasant surprise. He nodded at Zhao Yunlan as if not in control of his own body. “Officer Zhao.”
Lin Jing recognized Shen Wei. Confused, he said, “Isn’t that Shen-laoshi? The guy who was trapped in the hospital with xiao-Guo that time? Didn’t the boss wipe his memories?”
“Not completely.” Zhu Hong snorted softly. “I don’t think the public nuisance has good intentions.”
“Hmm.” Chu Shuzhi studied Shen Wei’s face from afar. “I think his intentions all have to do with lust.”
Zhao Yunlan placed himself in a very particular spot near Shen Wei—not quite intimately close, but nearer than normal socializing distance, leaving Shen Wei unable to either avoid him or get closer. Dropped in the midst of a group who had stepped outside their ivory tower, Zhao Yunlan and his silver tongue quickly won the trust of the naive students. After only a minute or two of chatting, he’d learned their exact destination and the subject of their field research.
“You guys are going to Qingxi Village too?” Zhao Yunlan gave Shen Wei a meaningful look. “This really is an unbelievable coincidence! It’s written in the stars!”
The reference to fate set Shen Wei’s nerves jangling. His fingers curled tightly against his knees.
Zhao Yunlan put on a show of being worried. “The plane can only land in the nearby city. The drive from there to Qingxi Village is at least a dozen hours, all on winding mountainous roads. How are you guys planning on getting there?”
Shen Wei immediately saw what Zhao Yunlan was angling for, but unfortunately, none of his travel companions caught on. Before Shen Wei could open his mouth, the class leader, a young woman in red, responded. “By bus!”
“I know just the one you mean,” Zhao Yunlan said. “It only goes once a day, and it leaves at six in the morning, right? It doesn’t stop at Qingxi Village.”
The class leader said, “Yes, I checked the map. I think you can get off midway through the route and walk the rest of the way. It doesn’t seem far.”
“In some respects it’s not, but for you city kids it’ll probably take four or five hours.” Zhao Yunlan watched Shen Wei from the corner of his eye, keeping his cool. “In this country, there are prairies to the east and mountains to the west. Those mountainous regions are nothing like Dragon City. It doesn’t look far on a map, but you might need to cross several mountains with no roads or paths. And four or five hours is assuming you don’t get lost. Think about it. By the time you get off the bus, it’ll be evening. At that point, with a five-hour walk ahead of you, you’ll probably have to camp out. Given the season, it’s colder than you can imagine out there. Do you guys want to sleep in the snow?”
As expected, this turned the startled students into a flock of panicked chicks.
Zhao Yunlan gauged that they were adequately frightened. “See, it really is fate that we bumped into each other. You should come with us. I have some friends out there, so I’ll ask them to have a few cars ready. Since we’re all going to the same place, we might as well travel together. That way we can take care of each other. What do you guys think?”
The class leader hesitated. “That… Isn’t that too much trouble for you?”
Zhao Yunlan waved dismissively. He slung an arm around Shen Wei’s shoulder and winked at her. “Not at all. Do you know what kind of relationship we have?”
“Don’t mess—” Shen Wei began.
“Neighbors!” Zhao Yunlan smirked, not letting him go. “Remember this, students. In the future, when you go out into the world, you can’t count on distant relatives the way you can count on close neighbors. If you get along, neighbors can be closer than family. Right, Shen-laoshi?”
Shen Wei had nothing to say in response.
“Oh, right!” Zhao Yunlan said solicitously, straightening up. “I’ll bet you haven’t eaten yet. Hold on.”
He left and soon returned, carrying a few bags of fast food. As he passed by, he casually shoved two at Guo Changcheng.
Chu Shuzhi whistled at him. “That’s unusual. I thought he’d forgotten we exist.”
Lin Jing chanted a ritual apology to a piece of fried chicken. “Amitabha, apologies for my transgression.” Formalities observed, this sad excuse for a monk—a man who both drank alcohol and ate meat—eagerly stuffed the chicken leg into his mouth and reached for a bottle of Coke.
Guo Changcheng’s armload of food was gone in the blink of an eye. He was at a loss, when someone handed him a burger. Turning, he realized it was Zhu Hong, but she wasn’t looking at him. Instead, she was staring in Zhao Yunlan’s direction. Whatever Zhao Yunlan was saying made the entire group of students laugh. Some people were naturally the center of everyone’s attention, no matter where they were.
“Thank—” Guo Changcheng began.
“You’re welcome,” Zhu Hong said before he could finish. In a tiny voice, she asked, “That guy named Shen—who is he?”
Guo Changcheng followed her gaze. “He’s a professor at Dragon City University. He was a big help during the last case. Before Director Zhao got there, we dealt with the Hunger Ghost together, but Director Zhao said he wouldn’t remember that.”
Zhu Hong’s delicate eyes narrowed. “He’s already a professor?” she muttered. “He looks so young. Aren’t professors usually older? Is he married, then?”
Guo Changcheng scratched his head in confusion. “How would I know?”
Zhu Hong spared him a quick side-eye before looking back at Zhao Yunlan. Shen Wei had just taken a chicken nugget, and Zhao Yunlan was already holding the dipping sauce in easy reach. Even from this distance, she could see the softness in his gaze. He could have been an entirely different person from the grouchy comrade who’d spent all morning yelling.
“He must not have a family yet,” Zhu Hong said quietly after observing for a while. “The public nuisance is beyond shameless, but he wouldn’t start something with someone who’s spoken for. Ugh, my fucking eyes.”
Zhao Yunlan’s phone rang again, as if it were a hotline. Holding his drink in one hand and his phone in the other, he leaned down at lightning speed and stole a fry right out of Shen Wei’s hand with his mouth. He ate it in two bites and licked his lips, eyes locked on Shen Wei, whose fingers made a hasty retreat.
The SID’s boss abandoned them for three and a half hours. Once on the plane, Zhao Yunlan switched his seat, claiming he wanted to hear Shen-laoshi speak to his students about the customs in Qingxi Village.
Eventually they landed in the airport nearest the village. As they approached the exit, a fat middle-aged man bundled in a fur coat came into view. The man, holding a sign that said “Director Zhao,” was craning his neck in all directions. Zhao Yunlan strode over to him, both groups in tow.
The man’s hesitant expression cleared when it became obvious that Zhao Yunlan was headed his way. Correctly guessing who Zhao Yunlan was, he offered a warm welcome. “Director Zhao! You must be Director Zhao, right? I can tell by your energy that you’re not just anyone! No wonder you’re a leader at your tender age.”
“Leader? Me?” Zhao Yunlan took a step forward and shook the man’s hand in both of his own. “It’s so cold here! The only thing that kept me from being anxious the whole trip was knowing you’d be here to meet us.”
The man, whose name was Lang-ge, gave him a forceful handshake. “When Xie-laoge called and told me to arrange a few cars for him, of course I agreed! Xie-ge and I are sworn brothers—his friends are my friends. How does that saying go? If friends are coming from afar, I must welcome them myself!”
“You and Xie Si-ge are that close?” Zhao Yunlan feigned astonishment, eyes wide. He pointed at Lang-ge, face serious. “Us, friends? We’re brothers! Xie Si-ge’s brother is my brother too! Don’t treat me like a stranger or I’ll be angry.”
Lang-ge laughed, immediately accepting the offering. “Ha ha! I wouldn’t dream of it. From now on I’ll tell everyone I have a bro who’s an official in Dragon City! What a feather in my cap! Come on, let’s get you all settled, and then we’ll have a welcome dinner. Don’t be polite with me, now. Being polite to your laoge shows disrespect!”
The two of them carried on like that extensively, acting out the roles of love at first sight in front of everyone without even a blush. Just like that, strangers became brothers. Shen Wei and his students looked at each other before following along despite their confusion. Lang-ge feted them all with a true feast, then arranged for them to stay in the area’s only five-star hotel.
Before sunrise the next morning, three SUVs were ready and waiting outside the hotel. A look in the trunks revealed thick coats, camping gear, calorie-dense food, medicine, the works, all of it brand new. Everything had been thought of. It was almost enough to sponsor a professional research team.
Zhao Yunlan took it in stride, as if it weren’t far too great a gift. He had Lin Jing give each driver a carton of Chunghwa cigarettes, then launched into another round of affectionate bullshit with Lang-ge, who’d come to see them off. Lang-ge was overflowing with enthusiasm; the only indication that Zhao Yunlan had knocked him out with fourteen shots of baijiu31 the night before was the fact that his face was swollen like a pig’s.
After bidding Lang-ge a reluctant farewell, Zhao Yunlan quietly spoke to Shen Wei. “Driving on winding mountain roads is tricky. Why don’t you all come along with us? Lin Jing, Zhu Hong, and I will handle the driving. We can divide the students between us and regroup at Qingxi Village. What do you say?”
It was more than even a paid tour guide would offer. Declining outright would have made Shen Wei seem ungrateful. But one couldn’t just accept a favor for no reason, and Shen Wei didn’t have Zhao Yunlan’s shamelessness. He seemed incredibly apologetic even after he was in the vehicle. “This is all because I didn’t plan well enough. We’re causing you so much trouble. What’s more, I don’t even know Mr. Lang, yet he spent so much money. Once we’re back, do you think we should mail him some gifts?”
Zhao Yunlan gave an arrogant wave. “It’s all good. Don’t you worry about a thing. No one offers help for no reason; it’s all on my tab. Besides, there’s absolutely no need for you to be polite with me.”
Shen Wei had no reply. They happened to be at a red light, so Zhao Yunlan braked and turned to beam at him, dimples out in full force. Color suffused Shen Wei’s face. He took a quick look at the students in the back and seemed to exhale in relief when he saw them both excitedly looking out the window.
It occurred to Zhao Yunlan that he could try making another move. He reached over to gently smooth out a caught corner of Shen Wei’s collar. When his curled finger grazed the tender skin just below Shen Wei’s earlobe, it could have been unintentional.
“Just fixing your collar,” he said, straightening back up and adjusting the rearview mirror.
This time, Shen Wei’s blush reached his ears.
The light changed and Zhao Yunlan stepped on the gas. He focused entirely on the road ahead, but the corners of his mouth quirked up.
Shen Wei focused his attention out the window. He seemed embarrassed, but what Zhao Yunlan didn’t see, with Shen Wei’s back to him, was how his blush faded and he turned pale. His brows seemed constantly furrowed, as if the deep crease between them might become permanent. An indescribably cold harshness marred that gentle, scholarly face and gave him a lonely, distant air.
Driving up the winding mountain roads was strenuous. The ride was jolting and nauseating, and after six or seven hours, the two students in the back were slumped over, sound asleep. The farther they went, the narrower and more twisted the roads got. The edge of the cliff was less than a meter from the tires, without even a railing between them and the long, long fall to the bottom. Fortunately, the cars Lang-ge had provided were as good as they looked, and Zhao Yunlan, despite his unreliable act, was a steady driver. The ride had some tense moments but no danger.
As they got deeper into the mountains, the temperature dropped more and more. Heavy snow began accumulating along the roadside, and there was less and less sign of human life.
The three vehicles had stuck close together since leaving, but the distance between them had been increasing even as they drove more slowly. When Zhao Yunlan carefully downshifted and came to a stop, the two cars following in his wake did the same.
“The road’s getting a little iffy,” said Zhao Yunlan, opening the door. “I think we need to put on the snow chains.” To Shen Wei, he said, “It’s cold out here. Stay put.”
Shen Wei ignored him and jumped down to help. The wind in the deep mountains was harsh as a steel whip, strong enough to knock a man over. The cold was bad, but the truly frightening prospect was snowstorms. The wind was enough to cut through even an extra-thick down coat and chill you to the core, never mind the fitted jacket Zhao Yunlan was wearing only because it flattered him.
Awake now, the two students considerately offered to help, but Zhao Yunlan locked them inside. “Stay where you are and don’t add to the chaos. Catching a cold in a place like this is no joke.”
Between them, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan quickly got the chains onto the tires, but their fingers were frozen stiff by the time they finished. Zhao Yunlan straightened up and looked into the distance. The snowy mountains seemed endless, neighboring a huge glacier. The thin clouds and the mountains overlapped in an eternal expanse of earth and sky.
He called the other drivers and reminded them of what to watch out for when driving in the current conditions, then emphasized, “We’re entering glacier territory. Keep quiet and do not honk. If there’s an avalanche, there’ll be nothing left of the SID but the night shift.”
There was snow everywhere. The sun was starting to dip in the west, and the sky’s crispness was blurring softly. As the light faded, and there were fewer and fewer tire tracks on the ground, and the bleak, desolate cold gradually intensified. Even as they drew closer to the distant glacier, it became harder to make out. There was a final flash of reflected cold light from its tip, and then even that was gone.
Zhao Yunlan turned on the headlights. Shen Wei, afraid of distracting him, didn’t make a sound. The vehicle slowed to a crawl. Outside were thousands of meters of cliff face, sheer white in every direction, except for the occasional mottled grayish brown of mountain rock.
The white snow covering the dark mountain provided the last light in the southern sky. Once it faded, full dark descended.
The two students in the back were the red-clad class leader and a boy in small-framed glasses. Both were afraid to even breathe too heavily. Little Glasses quietly asked Shen Wei, “Laoshi, will we get out of the mountains today? Will we be able to find somewhere to sleep?”
Before Shen Wei could answer, Zhao Yunlan replied, “Don’t worry. Qingxi Village’s border is on the snowy mountain. After this stretch we should be almost there, but…”
A sudden tiny light blinded him before he finished the thought. Zhao Yunlan downshifted at once, then carefully braked to a stop.
“What is it?” the class leader asked nervously.
Shen Wei gave her a wave. “It’s all right. There’s some sort of light up ahead. You two stay here, and I’ll go take a look.”
“You saw it too?” Zhao Yunlan asked. They exchanged solemn glances.
The girl was sensitive enough to realize that something about the atmosphere felt wrong. “Is… Is it a streetlight?”
“No streetlights on this road.” Zhao Yunlan turned around. “You two, don’t leave the car. There’s chocolate and beef jerky in the back. If you’re hungry, just grab some.”
Having said that, he pushed the door open and got out, with Shen Wei close behind.
The wind had stopped at some point, but the cold and gloom had only deepened. It wasn’t the bitter cold of ice and snow but the wet sort that crept into the bones and lingered, radiating chill from the inside out. There was deep silence all around. Even that light a short way off was cold, flickering as if someone was holding a lantern.
It somehow evoked the image of white paper lanterns used in funeral processions in olden times. In the short time it had taken to get out of the car, the light seemed like it’d gotten even closer.
The sound of the wind and falling snow had completely stopped. They instinctively stepped lightly.
Zhao Yunlan’s eyes suddenly widened. He opened the car door and shoved Shen Wei inside, then waved to the people who’d gotten out of the other vehicles to see what was going on, signaling them to get back in and stay there. Diving back inside, he engaged the locks.
In that small span of time, the light had drawn close enough that a person’s silhouette was visible.
Zhao Yunlan gave the students urgent instructions. “No matter what you see, keep your mouth shut, don’t press your face against the window, and don’t make a sound.”
The windows had fogged up in the cold. Only the windshield was clear enough to easily see what was approaching: someone carrying a lantern, leading a large group toward the stopped cars. There were men and women among them, but they were outnumbered by children and the elderly. The people’s clothing seemed to be in rags, as if they were fleeing a great famine.
How was it possible that so many people were walking along a mountain road intended for cars?
“Who are those people?” the class leader asked. Her trembling voice was very small.
“Those aren’t people,” Zhao Yunlan murmured. “It’s a ghost army passing through.”
The girl clapped a hand over her mouth. At this range, the people’s dull-eyed faces were visible. Every one of them was covered in terrible wounds. Strangest of all was the “person” in the lead, holding the paper lantern. They wore a very tall hat that reached all the way down to their chin. If they had a face, it couldn’t be seen; there was only a deathly pale tip of chin peeking out. Their entire body was snowy white, as if made from papier-mâché, and as stiff as a kite being carried closer on the breeze.
The paper person wasn’t looking at the road but somehow managed to avoid the vehicle completely. In fact, as they passed by, everyone in the car saw them pause through the fogged window. They bowed to the car twice. Zhao Yunlan gave a slight nod of acknowledgment, returning the greeting. The paper person continued to float forward, followed by the crowd. They headed down the mountain road.
It wasn’t until the whole procession had receded into the distance that Zhao Yunlan got back out. Grabbing a flashlight from the trunk, he told Shen Wei, “Something might’ve happened up ahead. I need to take a look. You take care of these kids.”
Shen Wei’s brow creased. Zhao Yunlan grabbed his hand and was shocked by how cold it was. That one touch gave him the feeling that Shen Wei was desperately drinking in his body heat. His heart ached faintly in response.
“Don’t frown,” Zhao Yunlan said. “It’ll be okay.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0026.txt
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THE FIERCE WIND became even more aggressive. It whipped the snow high off the ground, lashing people’s faces. The sky and ground changed colors. The glow of Zhao Yunlan’s flashlight was no brighter than a firefly, and he quickly vanished from sight in the blustering snow.
Twenty minutes later, when he still hadn’t returned, Shen Wei could wait no longer.
“Stay put and do not get out of the car,” Shen Wei told the students. “Hand me a flashlight, and I’ll go check on him. I’ll be right back.”
“Laoshi?” The class leader stopped him, clearly worried. “Could something have happened?”
Shen Wei paused. Between the dim light and his thin glasses, his face revealed nothing. “No. What could possibly happen to him under my watch?”
Bundling himself up tightly in his coat, he pushed the car door open, got out, and set off in long strides.
A crow’s hoarse caw sounded by his ear. Shen Wei took off his snow-covered glasses and looked up to see a bird standing there in the endless snow. It looked as much like a crow as it sounded, but it was much larger than an ordinary one. Its long, slender tail dragged behind it, and it stared directly at him with bloodred eyes. It showed no sign of fearing humans. Instead, its examination of Shen Wei seemed keenly interested.
Shen Wei took a few more steps with great difficulty. The large bird kept watching him, then tilted its head back and cawed suddenly. After that long cry, it silently lowered its head until its beak nearly touched the ground, as if it were mourning.
The wind-whipped snow blurred Shen Wei’s vision. He felt as if he’d been frozen—not merely stiff but truly numb, as if the blood in his veins had stopped flowing and his nerve endings had iced over.
But miraculously, his frozen sense of smell picked up on something. It was unpleasant, but not overwhelmingly so. It was as if something foul were rotting under the deep white snow. He stopped suddenly, taking a closer look at a particular patch of snow. There was the slightest bulge beneath the surface. Something was moving, heading toward the mountaintop.
There was something underground!
For a second, Shen Wei nearly forgot himself. His hands instinctively clenched into fists as a terrible ruthlessness flooded the darkness of his eyes. The snowy ground began to boil under the weight of his gaze. The thing lurking below was on the verge of bursting to the surface…
But then a voice suddenly rang out behind him. “Didn’t I tell you to wait in the car? Why are you out here?”
Shen Wei twitched. The murderous intent in his eyes evaporated, leaving him looking a little lost. Before he could turn, something was being wrapped around him. Maybe Zhao Yunlan was truly oblivious to the cold, or maybe he was gritting his teeth and bearing it, but either way, he’d opened his own coat and drawn Shen Wei into it. The heat of his body was palpable, reaching Shen Wei through his thin knit sweater.
Zhao Yunlan’s face was nearly blue with cold, but the smile blossoming there was warm, if a bit stiff with the chill. “Did you come to look for me?” he asked.
Don’t respond to him! A desperate scream tore through Shen Wei’s heart. Don’t respond! But the fierce wind had sliced his reason to ribbons, thin as a cicada’s wing. Against his will, as if bewitched, he nodded.
Zhao Yunlan started to chuckle quietly. With his arm around Shen Wei’s shoulder, he drew Shen Wei into something like an embrace. They were suddenly so close that the tip of his nose nearly touched Shen Wei’s face. When Zhao Yunlan exhaled, the warmth of it brushed Shen Wei’s skin like a kiss.
Shen Wei held his breath. His heart beat like thunder. With the icy wind filling the air with snow, Zhao Yunlan might have been the only tangible thing in existence between the vast earth and sky.
“Let’s get going.” Zhao Yunlan backed off quickly, leaving the echo of a touch. His husky voice shattered the liminal atmosphere enveloping them, as if jolting them from a dream. Shen Wei followed silently.
They were close in height and tripping over each other’s feet as they walked, so Zhao Yunlan clipped the little flashlight to his collar and held Shen Wei’s hands.
Shen Wei struggled reflexively, but Zhao Yunlan just tightened his grip.
“Stop fidgeting,” Zhao Yunlan said, right by his ear. “And watch your step. It’s slippery.”
The large bird standing at the roadside suddenly shot into the sky. It circled twice, then flew off into the distance.
Zhao Yunlan followed Shen Wei’s gaze. “That’s a Mourning Bird. The elderly say massive crows like that with those really long tail feathers are called Mourning Birds. They only appear before a huge disaster. They’re inauspicious.”
He didn’t wait for Shen Wei to respond as his brows furrowed and his eyes flashed in a show of confusion. “Is your birth chart jinxed?” he asked. “How come you always run into things like these?”
“What happened?” Shen Wei, clearly not wanting to deal with his probing, changed the subject.
Zhao Yunlan didn’t pursue it. “I took a look up ahead. We probably need to find somewhere to spend the night. I think there was an avalanche a little further on. The roads are blocked.”
They’d reached the car. As he spoke, he tried to pull the door open, but his hands were too cold for him to apply any force. He tried twice, to no avail.
Shen Wei opened it for him. “Get inside and get warm.”
Once in the car, the heat made Zhao Yunlan feel a little dizzy. He massaged his temples and accepted a piece of chocolate the class leader handed him. “This road is about seven or eight years old. It’s a pretty niche road trip route, but there was a travel magazine feature on it. I remember that there are a few villages at the bottom of the mountain. Enough tourists visit that lots of villagers have turned their homes into inns, but we can’t get through using the road ahead and I can’t see anything under the mountain. Even with binoculars, I could just barely make out some large trees under the snow. There were only a few branches sticking out.”
Carefully, Little Glasses said, “Then the people who passed by—were they villagers who died in the avalanche? I’ve heard accounts from elderly folks of ghost army sightings during large earthquakes.”
Zhao Yunlan shook his head, then took out his phone and dialed a number. After exchanging a few simple greetings, he started asking about the monitoring of local geological disasters.
“Okay. Okay, thank you. No worries, we should be fine for a night… Mm-hmm, I know what to do.” He hung up. “Well, that’s a bit of a problem.”
“Was it really an avalanche?”
“It was just on the news,” Zhao Yunlan said. “It’s a catastrophic natural disaster—much worse than the earthquake. Apparently several villages down below have been buried. The emergency squad is trying to figure something out, but I don’t think there’s any hope.”
The class leader asked, “Then where will we stay? In the car? Can we keep the heat on the whole night? What if we run out of gas?”
“We have enough gas, but it’s not safe to stay here overnight right after an avalanche. We need to get to higher ground. Don’t be afraid—just follow me. There’s a little house at the top of the mountain. I’m not sure what it’s for. But I took a look through the binoculars and saw that it at least has a roof, even if there isn’t anyone there.”
Feeling a little warmer now, Zhao Yunlan buttoned up his coat and got back out of the car. He opened the trunk and pulled out a huge bag of food and a few warm outdoor coats. He tossed them to the others. “Put the coats on and eat something. Whatever you can’t eat, bring it with you. I’ll tell the people behind us to come too. We’ll set out and carry the sleeping bags and tents. Young lady, you can just carry the food. I’ll carry your sleeping bag for you.”
Once Zhao Yunlan had filled the others in, they quickly bundled up, packed, and hurried over. Shen Wei, who had always had an eye for details, noticed that there suddenly seemed to be an extra person among them.
The person was at the back of the group, not making a sound. The figure suggested a woman, but between the thick layers of clothing and the face being covered, it was hard to be sure. There was something profoundly strange about her. It might have been because she was badly chilled, but there was a bizarre lack of coordination in the way she moved.
Zhu Hong occasionally fell back and spoke to her, getting only a nod or a shake of the head in response. Shen Wei also noticed that if her head moved, her feet stopped. She would only resume walking slowly after shaking her head, as if only one body part could move at a time.
While he was mulling it over, an arm suddenly hooked around his shoulders. The back of a hand touched his face.
The gesture was far too intimate. Shen Wei couldn’t allow it in front of everyone, but also couldn’t flinch away from it. He stood stock-still. Fortunately, Zhao Yunlan quickly took his hand away. “How come you’re so sensitive to the cold?”
Awkwardly, Shen Wei said, “I’m not cold.”
“What do you mean you’re not cold? Your lips are blue!” Zhao Yunlan interrupted. He took off the windbreaker he’d only just put on and wrapped it around Shen Wei, leaving no room for argument.
Shocked, Shen Wei grabbed his hand. “What are you doing? You said yourself that catching cold in a place like this is no joke!”
“I’m wearing a thermal undershirt.” Zhao Yunlan tugged his collar down. “Even if we were staying down there with the villagers, they wouldn’t have heating. I came prepared, unlike you guys. Hurry and put it on.”
When Shen Wei was still unwilling, Zhao Yunlan softened his voice. “Come on, don’t make me worry.”
Shen Wei had no defenses against that look and tone. In a flash, Zhao Yunlan had finished bundling him up in the coat and headed to the back of the group.
“Watch your step,” Zhao Yunlan called. “Hold on to each other. Xiao-Guo, get your Zhu Hong-jie’s luggage. Can’t you pay more attention to that kind of thing? What are your eyes for, breathing?”
With the memory of Director Zhao’s earlier fury in mind, Guo Changcheng shrank a little, wordlessly scampered to the back of the group, and took Zhu Hong’s bags.
Shen Wei’s eyes stayed on Zhao Yunlan’s back for a little while. His hand lingered over the fading trace of Zhao Yunlan’s body heat; he rubbed at it, unwilling to let go. Then he pulled up the zipper and pressed on the pendant hanging at his collarbone. It emitted a faint warmth that stood out clearly against the endless ice and snow.
It was so terribly faint, but it offered so much comfort.
The group walked for about half an hour before finally spotting the little house Zhao Yunlan had mentioned. But seeing it was only the first step—after all, one could have a destination in sight and still ride a horse to death before reaching it. Actually getting there took another half hour.
The house was made of stone, with a wooden frame on the outside. The roof was some sort of cow hide, making it windproof and able to withstand the weight of snow. A small garden surrounded the hut, and outside that was a worn old fence, almost buried in snow.
It looked old and run-down and lonely, jarring against the landscape on the mountaintop.
Just as Zhao Yunlan reached out to open the little wooden gate, Daqing, who had been hiding in Zhu Hong’s bag all this time, suddenly sprang out. Before anyone could even wonder where a cat had come from, he gave a sharp yowl, fur standing on end.
Zhao Yunlan grabbed hold of him. “What is it?”
Daqing’s eyes were locked on to the snowed-in garden. Behind them, a voice spoke up—Wang Zheng’s voice, almost sighing. “Director Zhao, Daqing wants you to know that there’s something buried in this yard.”
If Wang Zheng had still been alive, her voice would have been considered pleasant. But she was a ghost, and her voice, like the rest of her, was well past its expiry date. Her distinctive floaty tone could make anyone who heard it break out in goosebumps.
In this case, the suddenness with which she spoke scared everyone into silence.
Zhao Yunlan rubbed his hands together, warming them a bit. “Everyone wait here a minute. I’ll go take a look.”
He pushed the gate open, confident that his skills would protect him. When he entered, Shen Wei was right behind him.
The frozen ground was very uneven for some reason. Zhao Yunlan slowed his footsteps and circled the yard once. The black cat’s eyes glowed like two small lanterns, a faint red illumination in the dark. Suddenly he freed himself from Zhao Yunlan’s arms, raced to a corner of the garden, and started digging at a small bulge in the ground with his fat paws.
Zhao Yunlan quickly knelt beside him, grabbed him by the collar, and hefted him up. With no care for his jacket, he wiped Daqing’s claws on his sleeve. Then he shined his flashlight on the spot where Daqing had been digging.
At first, he only saw a glimpse of something ivory colored. He pulled out a little shovel he’d hidden in his boot and dug around roughly, exploring deeper…until a flattish forehead and half of an empty eye socket came into view. He’d dug up half a skull.
Shen Wei, having followed them in, surveyed the small garden. He took in all the bumps in the ground and had a sudden chilling thought: they were probably standing on countless human bones, just beneath the surface.
He turned back to look at the shivering students at the gate, then bent down and touched Zhao Yunlan’s arm. “Bury it for now,” he said quietly. “Don’t make a big deal of it.”
Zhao Yunlan covered the skull back up with the frozen dirt, then stood as if nothing had happened. He waved for the students and his subordinates to come in.
“It’s okay. There’re just some broken shingles buried all over the yard. Walk carefully and don’t twist an ankle. The ground’s uneven. Put up the tents once you’re inside and make sure to stay warm.” He tucked his little shovel away and lit a cigarette, shivering. Standing to the side, he waited for everyone to get in first.
Wang Zheng hung back as the others entered. She stopped in front of Zhao Yunlan and whispered, “You saw it?”
“…Mm-hmm.”
“It’s more than one layer deep,” she said.
Zhao Yunlan’s blood went cold. “I’ve never seen someone add a top bunk to a huge communal bed. It’s way too cramped here. If we squish in with them, will they complain to property management?
“It’s true that there are certain taboos here.” Wang Zheng paused. “I’ll go and tell them. As long as we carry out the correct rituals, it shouldn’t be a problem if we stay here for a night.”
Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Hurry,” he urged.
Wang Zheng counted her steps to the door, backed up slightly, turned, and slowly knelt. Raising her hands above her head, she prostrated herself in worship in the direction of the garden, performing the ceremonial gestures with great formality.
The curious students hovered by the door. Shen Wei shushed them one by one, then pushed them inside before they could see what he had just seen. The tip of Wang Zheng’s now-visible finger had the distinct look of plastic, and the short lock of hair peeking out from under her huge hood was clearly fake nylon hair!
Zhao Yunlan stood against the wall of the house and watched Wang Zheng.
She knelt by the door, speaking the language of an unknown ethnic group in a low voice. No one understood her, but there was a feeling—a feeling of notes flowing from her mouth like water. They resonated in the garden, as though awakening an ancient soul. The sound stirred something in the depths of the heart.
Everyone in the little house, including Shen Wei’s students, felt it. The youths all lowered their heads involuntarily, solemn and respectful. Only Zhao Yunlan, cigarette between his lips, seemed completely unmoved.
“What… What was that?” Zhu Hong couldn’t help asking quietly.
“The souls of my dead ancestors.” Wang Zheng stood up, stiffly brushing dirt from her pants. “I’ve greeted them, so it should be fine now. Let’s not all squeeze in the doorway. Come sit inside. Remember not to throw garbage into the garden and always offer a greeting before going outside. If you need to relieve yourself, stay away from the garden.”
Somehow, hearing her say that was reassuring. Everyone bowed toward the garden and went indoors to get away from the wind.
Wang Zheng waited until everyone else was inside before speaking to Zhao Yunlan, voice low. “Director Zhao, you were born with the ability to see into a different world. You have always associated yourself with things that other people don’t believe in. You have always acknowledged the existence of ghosts and gods. And yet, when passing by shrines or temples, you’ve never shown an ounce of respect. That’s not right.”
Zhao Yunlan carelessly flicked cigarette ash onto the window frame. With a smile, he nodded. “You’re absolutely right. My behavior is intolerable. No one should follow my example. Even the constitution recognizes the freedom of religion, and one should always maintain a certain level of respect for other people’s beliefs.”
Even coming from fake plastic eyes, Wang Zheng’s gaze was piercing. Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “Within the Three Realms and Six Directions,32 there will always be people and things you don’t understand. Yes, you may be capable, but can any living human, no matter how great their abilities, be more powerful than the Heavens and Earth? Can a human be more powerful than fate?
“A person can’t live too arrogantly, Director Zhao. If someone is too arrogant to even respect all the gods and buddhas, they may suffer the consequences one day.”
Zhao Yunlan’s smile dimmed slightly. He reached out and adjusted Wang Zheng’s hood and clothes where they’d slipped out of place. The gesture was careful and gentle, but his words were cold. “My conscience is clear and I have nothing to ask for. Gods or buddhas, demons or monsters—who dares judge me? They’re so lofty and great, but what does that have to do with me?”
Wang Zheng gave him a deep look, then sighed. She stretched out a plastic hand and tapped the air a few times, chanted something unintelligible, and then gently tapped Zhao Yunlan’s forehead.
“You’re a good person,” she said in her ethereal voice. “The gods are benevolent. May they forgive you and protect you.”
Zhao Yunlan didn’t avoid her touch. He even lowered his head so she could reach his forehead more easily. Once she’d finished, he said, “You were a good person when you were alive too. Did the gods forgive and protect you?”
There was a trace of sadness in the plastic eyes as Wang Zheng looked up at him.
He nudged her shoulder. “The wind is brutal out here, sweet girl, so hurry inside.”
Inside, Zhu Hong and Chu Shuzhi worked smoothly and efficiently together. In no time at all, they’d set up a small outdoor ethanol burner. They filled a little pot, around twenty centimeters wide, with clean snow. Zhu Hong had also set up a rack and put the vacuum-sealed beef jerky on it to be heated by the steam. Once the meat had softened a little, she skewered it and roasted it on the fire.
A few students had already taken out their notebooks. As soon as they saw Wang Zheng come in, their eyes lit up. They quickly surrounded her, and a boy who looked like a stick of bamboo spoke up, a little nervous. “Jiejie, would you mind if we asked about the customs of this little mountain house?”
As soon as he’d asked, he couldn’t help looking at Shen Wei and noticing a slight crease in his brow. Apprehensive now, the student added, “Sorry, I mean—only if it’s convenient for you. If there’s any sort of taboo, never mind. Please don’t be angry. We didn’t know.”
Wang Zheng sat down next to the little stove. Quietly, she said, “It’s okay.”
Keeping her hands inside her wide sleeves, she picked up a piece of chocolate from the pile beside her. It was unclear who had bought them, but the tiny chocolate balls were individually wrapped and rather exquisite. It seemed as if Wang Zheng really wanted to try one, but with her hands in her sleeves, despite passing it between them several times, she couldn’t open the packaging.
The red-clad class leader picked up another one and passed it to her. “This one’s good, jiejie. Eat this one.”
“I’m just looking,” Wang Zheng said softly. “I can’t eat…candy.”
She kept speaking. “There were several geological changes here, so the people living at the foot of this mountain went through many, many years of migration and integration. At the very beginning, a group of Khampas33 settled here. Sky burials are popular among Tibetans. When someone dies, their corpse is given to the Sky Burial Master to be dismembered. Larger bones are smashed to bits and then mixed with yak butter and barley flour, making them easy for birds to eat. That ensures nothing is left behind. If any of the body remains, it’s a bad omen, so the role of the Sky Burial Master was very important. This place we’re staying in was originally where the Sky Burial Master lived.”
The class leader shivered.
Wang Zheng didn’t notice. “Even though Sky Burial Masters were highly respected, their regular contact with the dead meant that they were also inauspicious. Despite their high prestige, other people ordinarily preferred to avoid contact with them.”
Hearing that made Guo Changcheng think of someone else: the Soul-Executing Emissary. Wasn’t he also respected but feared by everyone? Other than Zhao Yunlan, no one dared speak an unnecessary word to him. Even ghosts avoided him, as if he would bring some sort of fearsome bad luck.
“Over the next centuries, many other ethnic groups came. Most were herdsmen, but some were farmers. Several large conflicts erupted between the different groups. They would have a truce, then fight; fight, then have a truce again. After fighting, they would make off with people from the other tribes. After a truce, they would intermarry. Their bloodlines slowly began to mix. Other ethnic groups also began to practice Sky Burial, just slightly differently from the Tibetan way.”
Wang Zheng was like a history teacher. She spoke simply and straightforwardly, conveying information in a gentle voice that made it easy for listeners to nod off. Shen Wei’s students had an advantage here—after all, this was their field of study. They were all eagerly taking notes.
Zhao Yunlan, on the other hand, dragged his sleeping bag next to Shen Wei’s after eating a few pieces of beef jerky. Having claimed the best possible spot, he crawled into the sleeping bag and closed his eyes to rest.
“As time went on, the climate in the region grew worse and worse.” Wang Zheng added a little water to the pot. “Fewer and fewer people remained. Most of them gradually migrated to other regions. Later, around… Hmm, I can’t really remember when. I think maybe it was around the Song or Yuan Dynasties that a huge disaster occurred here. After that, the culture of multiple ethnicities cohabitating practically ceased to exist. Other than a small group of Hanga who hid in a cave, everyone either died or fled and never returned.”
The class leader asked, “Is there any historical record of this?”
Wang Zheng shook her head. “Back then, this area wasn’t part of the Central Plains and hadn’t mixed with Han culture. What’s more, the area was remote and the population was never large. News can’t make its way in or out. If you checked the history books, at most you might find a note about the local geology or astronomy. The government at the time didn’t even know there were people here. According to local legends passed down orally, that year the snow from the mountain transformed into fanged, clawed monsters. White monsters reached up from cracks in the ground and water sources. They grabbed people and livestock, tore their bellies open, and ripped off their heads.”
The class leader thought about it and nodded. It was unclear if she understood or not. “Sounds like an avalanche caused by an earthquake, followed by a series of natural disasters.”
Wang Zheng didn’t nod or shake her head. “Later, the Hanga people decided to hide themselves and live deep within the mountains, not far from where Qingxi Village is today. The ancient Sky Burial site fell into disuse after the Tibetans moved away, but after that great disaster, the Sky Burial Master’s little house became the place where the Hanga guarded the mountain. They believed one could see an impending disaster from high up, so every month, they would send a strong young man to come keep watch over the mountain. Gradually, the custom changed, and the person who kept watch over the mountain became the most respected person in the tribe. The Mountain Keeper’s hut became his home, and in turn, the hut became a very sacred place to the Hanga. At some point, if there was a major sacrificial ritual, the tribe would climb the mountain together and come to the hut to participate.”
Little Glasses asked, “How come I’ve never heard of the Hanga tribe before?”
“The tribe was always very small, and no one ever married outside. It ceased to exist long ago, leaving no records behind.”
The students all understood at once. The boy like a stick of bamboo concluded, “Oh, I get it. There weren’t many people and they didn’t marry outside the tribe, so hundreds of years of inbreeding caused their extinction.”
Wang Zheng just chuckled quietly. The class leader, sitting nearest to her, shivered.
Once their curiosity was satisfied, Shen Wei urged all of the students to bed. The only people still up were Wang Zheng, who didn’t need to sleep, and Daqing, who had stayed hidden during the day and was now coming out to stand guard during the night.
Shen Wei was the last one to lie down. He checked the windows and door, then took out a roll of tape from somewhere and carefully covered all the gaps. He quietly reminded the students one by one to stay warm at night, then asked Wang Zheng if she needed another layer of clothing. He even lowered the flame to keep the water in the pot from boiling over. Having taken care of everything, he got settled in his own sleeping bag.
During the history lecture, Zhao Yunlan had automatically blocked out the boring audio feed and gone to sleep, earbuds crammed into his ears. Now he was curled in a ball, head at a slight angle. One earbud had come a bit loose and was dangling from his ear.
Zhao Yunlan’s features were beautifully pronounced. He was vibrant when his eyes were open, but he was still pretty when they were closed. Only now, he was pale from the cold, looking faintly worse for wear.
Shen Wei’s gaze drifted to his face. Zhao Yunlan slept calmly and peacefully, as though he’d still be able to find a corner to sleep in even if the sky fell.
For some time, Shen Wei couldn’t look away. He watched Zhao Yunlan quietly for a while, expression softening. He carefully removed Zhao Yunlan’s earbuds, rolled them up, and set them aside. Then he took the coat Zhao Yunlan had thrown aside and spread it over him.
Guo Changcheng and one student had already started snoring mildly, as if in harmony. The soft sounds of puttering about came from where Wang Zheng was tidying up the little stove.
Shen Wei took a breath and lay on his side, his back turned to the group. Not long after that, his breathing slowed and steadied, as if he had fallen asleep.
But where no one else could see, his eyes were still open. In the faint light, his gaze stayed fixed on Zhao Yunlan, as if he were prepared to stare at Zhao Yunlan’s sleeping countenance for the entire night.
Shen Wei had been restraining himself for too long. In the perfect silence, he couldn’t help letting go for once. Lying there with Zhao Yunlan so tantalizingly near, his thoughts spun out of control. It was overwhelming. He imagined gathering that warm body close, pressing kisses to those eyes, that hair, those lips…tasting and partaking of every part.
He imagined possessing Zhao Yunlan utterly.
The fantasy alone was enough to make Shen Wei’s breathing unsteady. He yearned with the desperate fervor of someone dreaming of hot soup as they froze to death.
But he didn’t move a muscle. Just looking at Zhao Yunlan and thinking about him was seemingly enough.
Daqing curled up next to Wang Zheng, his tail sweeping back and forth. Once it had grown even later and he thought everyone was asleep, he asked quietly, “What exactly is buried in the garden? Corpses? Human heads? What kind of people are buried there?”
Wang Zheng’s plastic face was hidden within her hood. “Heads. Decapitation was customary among the Hanga.”
“How exactly did the tribe go extinct?”
Wang Zheng paused. “Didn’t that student say it was inbreeding?”
“Don’t try to fool me the same way you fooled those stupid kids. Even horses can avoid that problem, so eventually even you stupid humans would figure it out.” Daqing sniffled impatiently. “Besides, one husband having multiple wives is widely accepted among many ethnic minorities. The so-called ‘not marrying outside’ just means that girls don’t marry into other tribes and men can’t have women from other tribes as their primary wife. How could it be that strict? And it’s not as if a tribe is only two or three families—there would have to be someone more than five degrees removed. You can’t all be close relations.”
Wang Zheng looked down at him and stroked his head. “You’re just a cat,” she murmured. “You just need to eat your cat food and dried fish. Why are you thinking so much about human matters?”
She looked like a young woman and had the voice of one, but there was no trace of youthful vigor in the way she spoke. She sounded very old and very weary.
Daqing lay on the floor. Feline instinct made his eyes narrow in response to Wang Zheng’s comforting touch, but he didn’t close them completely. Instead he stared at a fixed spot and spaced out.
The night deepened.
Tranquility blanketed the little house on the mountaintop. Gradually, it emptied of all sound but soft, slow breathing and the chorus of snores.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0027.txt
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JUST PAST MIDNIGHT, with no warning, Zhao Yunlan snapped awake. Suddenly he was looking straight into Shen Wei’s tender gaze, without even the barrier of glasses between them. Shen Wei looked away in a panic.
Fortunately, Zhao Yunlan didn’t notice. He sat up silently, and after listening carefully for a moment, he pressed his index finger to his lips, signaling Shen Wei to keep quiet. Then he crawled out of his sleeping bag, picked up his flashlight, and headed outside. Daqing shot after him with a meow. Worried, Shen Wei got up too.
As soon as he stepped out, Zhao Yunlan realized there was no need for the flashlight. In the distance, the entire valley was ablaze as if fire had descended from Heaven. On one side was the frozen mountain, crusted in ice and snow; on the other side, everything was burning. Here on a mountaintop thousands of kilometers away, it was still as if they could hear pitiful screams from within the fire and feel the flames searing their skin. A whole expanse of sky was orange.
“What is that?” Zhao Yunlan said.
Daqing’s fur was standing on end. It was as if they were no longer in the Mortal Realm at all. The valley’s transformation into an inferno was a severe shock—enough to entrance anyone who saw it, distorting all sense of time and place.
As if in response, tremors spread through the entire garden. The frozen ground cracked open all over, exposing the buried skulls: large and small, new and old, in an array of pale shades. A series of clattering noises, like bone on bone, left the skulls all facing in the same direction, as if someone had arranged them.
More and more skulls surfaced, joining the others in their creepy, reverent stare in the direction of the fire.
Shen Wei had followed them outside. Zhao Yunlan pushed Shen Wei behind him, then grabbed Daqing. “Fatty, don’t run around!”
“That’s hellfire.” At some point, Wang Zheng had come up behind them. Her hood had fallen down, revealing the blow-up doll’s lifeless face. Before Shen Wei could take a closer look, she tumbled softly to the ground. Shen Wei made an instinctive attempt to catch her, but as soon as he touched the doll’s body, it let out an exaggerated fake moan. That was enough of a shock to poor, gentlemanly Shen-laoshi that his hand shook, dropping the doll.
A girl in a white dress materialized from the plastic husk. Wang Zheng’s familiar voice said, “‘Sinners passing through hell’s gates know that hellfire for them awaits.’ I’ve heard that the fire from hell only burns those who have sinned.”
Zhao Yunlan interrupted her angrily. “Keep that bullshit to yourself.”
Wang Zheng pointed. “Look if you don’t believe me.”
Every single skull in the garden had turned around. In tidy formation, they peered toward the little wooden house. The sight of so many empty eye sockets was impossibly chilling. The skulls’ mouths were open, jaws moving as if laughing. Suddenly the cat wasn’t the only one whose hair stood on end. Only Wang Zheng showed no reaction to the unusually lively skulls. “My tribesmen. They want to skin me, pluck my tendons, and drink my blood.”
Zhao Yunlan pulled a gun from his pocket and said evenly, “Wang Zheng, back in your body. Shen Wei, go back inside.”
Wang Zheng seemed dead set on mutiny today. She sighed as if she hadn’t heard him. “Except I’m already dead,” she said, bitterness seeping into her tone.
“Are you menopausal or something? Stop blabbering and get the fuck back inside!” Zhao Yunlan grabbed her translucent soul out of the air and stuffed her roughly back into the doll. Zhu Hong had been startled awake and came to check on things, and Zhao Yunlan snatched the doll from the ground and flung her into Zhu Hong’s arms.
Mouths suddenly wide, the skulls made a sudden rush for the door. Zhao Yunlan grabbed the door bolt, brought his arm up, and fired three shots. The skulls that had been shot let out human screams and dissolved into white smoke. Zhao Yunlan seized the chance to get the door closed.
One skull that had just hurled itself toward them got wedged between the door and the frame. Zhao Yunlan pulled a short knife from under his pant leg and brought the sheath violently down on the skull, which shattered like an eggshell. Zhao Yunlan slammed the door shut with a bang.
The skulls outside rose up one after another, bumping into the door in a relentless symphony of knocks. They jumped up high, nearly able to peer in through the cracks in the window. A few students jolted awake, but they stayed perfectly calm as they saw what was happening. How could such a scene be anything but a dream?
Even Guo Changcheng was calm. After all, this tiny mountain hut contained the all-powerful Director Zhao; a large, fierce talking cat; a fake monk who was capable of defeating the Hunger Ghost with just a small bottle; a snake yao who ate raw lamb slices; and Chu Shuzhi, whom Guo Changcheng was too afraid to speak to.
In the face of what looked like horrible danger, Guo Changcheng honestly thought it was quite safe. The poor kid had a lot of blind faith in his colleagues.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0028.txt
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“AMITABHA.” Lin Jing rushed forward to help Zhao Yunlan hold the door closed. Staring at the jumping skulls outside the window, the fake monk panted, “I despair for this world where even skulls are pretending to be cute! What the hell is all this?”
Zhao Yunlan turned to Wang Zheng. “What the hell are those things coming after you? Okay, fine, they bite. But why do they bite you? Aren’t they afraid of being poisoned from ingesting too much plastic?”
Lin Jing had the vague sense that Zhao Yunlan had let something slip. He gave his boss’s shirt a subtle tug. The class leader overheard and snorted with laughter, then clapped a hand over her mouth at the other students’ “now is not the time” expressions.
“In 1712, there was an uprising within the Hanga tribe.” With Zhu Hong’s help, Wang Zheng got to her feet, pulling her hood up tightly. “In the end, the rebels won. The man who had been chief died. His three wives, many children, and even the 112 brave warriors who followed him were all beheaded according to the old customs. Their bodies were burned, and their heads were buried in the Mountain Keeper’s garden. They will be enslaved forever, bound to obey. They will never find peace.”
Zhu Hong froze. “The ones in the garden?”
The knocking sounds grew more and more insistent. Zhao Yunlan exchanged a glance with Chu Shuzhi, who promptly unzipped his own windbreaker. The knit sweater he wore underneath was extremely peculiar. It had a seemingly endless number of pockets, making whoever wore it resemble a walking closet organizer. He felt through every pocket, as if counting money, until he found a stack of yellow paper talismans written in cinnabar.
Chu Shuzhi stuck a talisman on each corner of the door. As he applied each one, a faint white light shone around the yellow paper. Outside, things quieted down noticeably.
From there, he began slapping talismans onto the windows and walls by the handful, like someone plastering ads on a lamppost. In short order, the place was thickly covered in talismans on every surface.
The leaping skulls outside seemed to realize what they were up against. They all retreated a meter or two, now too afraid to bash into the wall or try to bite the windows.
Zhao Yunlan finally let go of the door. Despite the freezing temperature, he’d broken out into a sweat. He sat by the little stove thinking, then tore open a bag of milk powder, which he poured into a large bowl with some water and then put in the boiling pot. He looked at Wang Zheng, who had just gotten up, and ordered, “Boil it. Make sure everyone drinks a bowl, and after that, you need to explain to the group exactly what’s going on.”
“I’m sorry,” was Wang Zheng’s only answer. Her mouth might as well have been glued shut for all her willingness to reply; backed into a corner, she seemed more willing to give herself up than explain. “Just open the door and throw me out. If I’m not in here, they won’t bother you, no matter what happens outside.”
“Excuse me?” Zhao Yunlan asked. “Do you really think I’m the sort of person who’d do something like that?”
Wang Zheng’s appearance might be terrifying, but she was a gentle ghost. She rarely spoke much, but she was always polite to everyone. Saying something so hurtful was very unusual for her. Feeling as though she’d lost her composure, she lowered her head and decided not to say anything else.
Chu Shuzhi cracked the window open and looked out, verifying that the skulls had all retreated from the charms inside the house. He gestured to Zhao Yunlan. “It’s three hours until daybreak. My talismans should last for at least five hours. Leave someone to stand watch, and everyone else can get some sleep.”
“I can stand wa—” Wang Zheng began.
Zhao Yunlan interrupted. “If something goes wrong, you won’t be able to deal with it. I’ll stand guard for the rest of the night.”
As he spoke, he pulled a windproof lighter from a pocket. “Girls, are you worried about secondhand smoke? If not, Mr. Police Officer here is gonna find a cigarette to hook up with to stay awake.”
The students had suffered a huge fright without ever fully waking up. Hearing that, they all settled back into their sleeping bags. Soon the hut was quiet again, other than the sound of the skulls rolling around in the snow outside. Everyone’s flashlights were turned off, leaving only the soft white light of the mess of talismans on the door and walls.
Daqing closed his eyes, tucked into Zhao Yunlan’s arms. Wang Zheng sat in a corner away from everyone else, lost in thought as she leaned against the wall. Zhao Yunlan took up a position next to the window. The tiny opening Chu Shuzhi had made was letting in a small draft. He stood in that spot, covering the tiny crack with his back, and lit a cigarette.
Shen Wei silently came over and handed him a thick jacket. Zhao Yunlan accepted, wrapping it around himself and his cat. As Shen Wei turned to leave, Zhao Yunlan spoke, too quietly for anyone else to hear. “Earlier, were you watching me?”
Shen Wei stopped in his tracks.
When he’d been startled awake, Zhao Yunlan had seen how Shen Wei was looking at him. It hadn’t been the look of someone who’d just woken up or someone lying awake because they couldn’t sleep. Shen Wei’s expression had been calm and content, something complex but gentle simmering in his gaze. Just seeing it made the heart clench. Zhao Yunlan had had the distinct feeling that those eyes had been focused on him, unblinking, for half the night.
If the situation was that Shen Wei was simply deeply closeted—feeling something for him but too afraid to take the first step—well, that was perfectly normal. Zhao Yunlan was rather attractive, if he said so himself. He was financially secure. He didn’t let his beastly temper show in front of just anyone, so he often gave the impression of having a great personality and being easy to talk to. With all that, he had always had good luck when it came to romance.
But whether it was animal attraction or Zhao Yunlan’s personal traits, or even love at first sight…would any of those really make someone lie awake all night long just to foolishly watch someone sleep? That had to be several lifetimes of entanglement—a love with deep, deep roots.
“We knew each other before, didn’t we?” Zhao Yunlan asked quietly. “You told me that you’d encountered me once during a case, but that wasn’t all, was it?”
It was possible that this Shen-laoshi, with his excellent reputation and temperament, was actually a stalker who’d secretly been in love with Zhao Yunlan for a long time due to his good looks. But despite his limited self-awareness, Zhao Yunlan still figured that was basically impossible. In all honesty, it was more conceivable to imagine himself doing that than Shen Wei.
The alternative was that “Shen Wei” was just a disguise concealing someone who wasn’t an ordinary human at all.
A disguise that could fool the entire SID.
Shen Wei was facing the other direction. His back was so still that he seemed to have become part of the night.
Zhao Yunlan’s cigarette finally reached the end of its life. Distracted, he stubbed it out and rudely threw it out the window. It hit a jumping skull square in the forehead, and the white bone instantly turned black. The skull fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and stopped moving.
“After we get back, can we meet up to talk?” Zhao Yunlan asked.
Shen Wei said nothing for a long time. Just when Zhao Yunlan was resigning himself to not getting a response, a low voice came from the darkness. “All right.”
Three or four hours passed very quickly. When the eastern sky was just starting to lighten, before the pale predawn glow had properly arrived, the ghostly things in the garden had already calmed down. The unidentified eerie blaze in the distance had also vanished without a trace. It might have all been just a dream.
Zhao Yunlan opened the door and personally went out into the garden to confirm that the sun was indeed rising and that dawn had arrived. Then he went back inside, rubbed his face tiredly, crossed his arms over his chest, and took a nap against the wall, finally at ease.
First he’d driven through the ice and snow for an entire day, and then his nerves had been stretched taut the whole night. So it might have been because he was too tired, but somehow Zhao Yunlan slept more deeply than he intended to. An hour or so later, Zhu Hong nudged him awake.
Zhao Yunlan realized there was a blanket draped over him now. If someone had thoughtfully tried to keep him warm, it was most likely Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan began half-consciously looking around for him, eyes still fogged with sleep.
But before he could locate his target, Zhu Hong spoke. Her question landed like a blow, leaving him disoriented.
“Director Zhao, do you know where Wang Zheng went?”
“Wang Zheng?” Zhao Yunlan twitched and sat up, his head heavy. “I was asleep for less than an hour. Wasn’t she just here?”
Zhu Hong had known Zhao Yunlan for many years. No matter how tired he got, most of the time he only allowed himself to rest his eyes or doze lightly. Falling so deeply asleep out in the middle of nowhere while standing guard against a host of menacing skulls was wildly out of character for him. Not sweating the small stuff was one thing. Not having common sense was quite another.
Zhu Hong leaned in close and inhaled deeply. “What—” Zhao Yunlan began.
“Don’t move.” Zhu Hong took the blanket off him, holding it up by a corner. She took a close look through its fluff and then scraped up a trace of brown powder with her long nails. She looked up at Zhao Yunlan. “You’ve been tricked.”
He hunted fierce prey fearlessly, only to be bitten by his own hound!
And what’s more, it hadn’t been Shen Wei who left the blanket! Irrational fury washed over him.
“Get me a bottle of water,” he told Zhu Hong quietly. “Cold water.”
“There’s no hot water anyway.” Zhu Hong returned with a bottle of water covered in frost crystals. Face set with determination, Zhao Yunlan took a few sips and then dumped the rest of the water over his head.
Zhu Hong and Shen Wei yelled at him simultaneously.
“Are you crazy?!”
“What are you doing?!”
Shen Wei made as if to stop him, but he was too far away. He’d been assiduously avoiding Zhao Yunlan since he’d been caught watching him sleep.
“Lin Jing, stay here and take care of Shen-laoshi and the others.” Zhao Yunlan ignored everyone, his expression dark. Having rinsed his face with the cold water, he wiped it carelessly with his sleeve. He shook out his wrinkled jacket and draped it over his shoulders before striding out, kicking a skull that was in his way. “Everyone else, with me!”
“What about the bones in the garden?” Lin Jing asked hastily.
Zhao Yunlan didn’t even glance back. “Dig them up and smash them.”
Shocked, Lin Jing asked, “Won’t… Won’t that anger something…?”
“If no one bothers me, I won’t drop a single cigarette on their land,” Zhao Yunlan said coldly. “But if they come after me, I will absolutely dig up their ancestors’ graves. Last night we came in politely, and this is how they responded. Now that it’s daytime, the tables have turned. It’s my time now, and I’m telling you to smash them all. I’ll deal with any consequences.”
Zhao Yunlan had a bandit’s temper. Once it erupted, he was ruthless; no one dared provoke him further. Lin Jing wisely shut his mouth.
Panting with effort, Zhu Hong had to jog to keep up with him. Finally, she mustered the courage to say quietly, “Wang Zheng probably has her reasons.”
“No shit,” Zhao Yunlan shot back. “Do you have anything to say that’s not useless? If not, shut up.”
Zhu Hong managed to hold her tongue for two seconds. “Can’t you be civil? Do you normally talk like that when you’re hitting on girls?”
Zhao Yunlan finally glanced her way, only to provoke her further. “Do I look like I’m trying to hit on you?”
She desperately wanted to slap him, but didn’t dare. All she could do was lash out viciously. “No wonder you blow every relationship you ever have. I hope you die single!”
Moving fast, Zhao Yunlan led the team back to where they’d left the cars. He pulled a few backpacks from one trunk. “We can’t drive the cars up there, so we’ll go on foot from here. Take the calorie-dense food and the small water bottles out of the outside pockets and carry them all on you. Even if we get separated and you lose the backpacks, those should keep you going for a while in an emergency.”
He dug out a bunch more supplies. “And then there’s these.” He pushed them toward Zhu Hong. “Take all of this back to the house and divide it among the others.”
Zhu Hong stared at him, taken aback. “You’re sending me back?”
“Looking human doesn’t make you warm blooded.” Zhao Yunlan closed the trunk impatiently and locked the car. He called for Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng to follow him, then waved at Zhu Hong. “Go on, woman, before you’re frozen solid and have to hibernate. Hurry up and—oh, right. Take this too. Warm it up before you drink it.”
He threw her a small bottle. Zhu Hong found herself holding a bottle of yellow rice wine. It had very low alcohol content and was ideal for warming someone up. It was also produced in Jiangnan and therefore hard to find in the great northwest. Zhao Yunlan had obviously packed it as part of his original preparations, and its small size clearly indicated who it was intended for.
Zhu Hong pursed her lips, emotion flickering in her eyes. Zhao Yunlan had already wrangled the others and set off.
To conserve energy, Zhao Yunlan and the other two didn’t speak at all as they traveled. In a stroke of good luck, the sun was out. The wind was bitingly cold, but it was less bone-piercing in the sunlight.
Guo Changcheng felt like they’d climbed at least three or four mountains. They had long since veered away from their original destination of Qingxi Village. Sometime past noon, they finally reached a small mountain pass that sheltered them from the wind. By then, they were all nearly frozen solid. Chu Shuzhi ripped open a few packs of beef jerky and divided it between them. Then Zhao Yunlan dug out a map covered in markings and sat cross-legged on a rock to study it.
“Where exactly are we going?” Chu Shuzhi asked. “Do you have any idea?”
Zhao Yunlan made a new mark on the map. Without looking up, he said, “That multi-ethnic region Wang Zheng mentioned is not where Qingxi Village is now. To be honest, I thought that’s what she meant at first, but then I looked through her file.”
This was a surprise to Chu Shuzhi. He’d been under the impression that Zhao Yunlan had been too blinded by lust recently to think of anything else, and here the boss had actually managed to get some work done. He asked the obvious question. “What’s up with her file?”
“Wang Zheng is from the Hanga tribe. Her name used to be Gelan. ‘Wang Zheng’ is the name she gave herself the year she entered the Soul-Guarding Order,” Zhao Yunlan said. “The Hanga weren’t friendly or hospitable. Given how much they kept to themselves, they couldn’t have lived in a place like Qingxi Village, down on flat land where just anyone could pass by.”
Chu Shuzhi hadn’t been expecting that either. “There are actual historical records?”
“Not exactly.” Zhao Yunlan pointed to three spots on the map. “It’s in the Record of Ancient Sorcery.”
As he spoke, he spread the old map open and tapped a spot with his pen. Chu Shuzhi immediately recognized it as the location of the hut on the mountain.
Zhao Yunlan continued, “When I first went in, I thought the human heads in the yard were probably connected to the legendary Luobula Curse of Constraint. In the Hanga language, ‘Luobula’ refers to the souls of the dead. In this case, ‘constrained’ doesn’t mean ‘forbidden.’ It refers to imprisonment.” He paused. “Guo Changcheng, why are you all the way over there? Get your ass over here! You’ve passed your trial period, so as an official employee, can you be a little more engaged in your work?”
Guo Changcheng shuffled over with quick, small steps.
“In other words,” Chu Shuzhi said, “it means ‘technique to imprison the souls of the dead.’”
“Mm-hmm. Since ancient times, it was the custom of the Hanga to behead people and command the souls of the dead,” Zhao Yunlan said. “I think that likely had to do with how their society was structured. Right up to their extinction, the Hanga tribe always practiced slavery in some form. In the records of the Luobula Curse, the Hanga believed they had absolute dominion over their slaves in life and death. So slaves who died would be beheaded and their heads sent to the sacrificial altar at the top of the mountain. Up there, their souls would be imprisoned using the forbidden technique—forcing them to serve even in death.”
Chu Shuzhi asked, “Why does it have to be at the altar? Is there significance to burying their heads at the mountaintop?”
“Yes. The Hanga once lived among many other ethnic minorities. Even though they didn’t marry outside of their tribe, it was inevitable that they were influenced by other religions. A small amount of what was passed down in the Hanga tribe contained the ideology of Bon,34 although of course the core values were different. You can also see echoes of other groups’ malevolent deities among the gods worshipped by the Hanga.
“Unlike Bon beliefs, they clearly didn’t believe that all things had spirits, but they did believe that mountains had souls—maybe because they lived in the mountains and were familiar with avalanches. They even believed that the souls of mountains were powerful enough to suppress the souls of the dead. So they erected the sacrificial altar at the ‘Opening of the Mountain’s Soul’—the side of the peak that doesn’t face the light.
“At the same time, they were also influenced by the Buddhist belief in reincarnation. The Luobula Curse was rooted in the belief that the three points of a triangle create the world’s deepest well inside. Nothing within can escape its shackles.”
Chu Shuzhi was very sharp and caught on immediately. “That means there should be three altars. They must be near each other and at a similar height above sea level, creating an equilateral triangle.”
Zhao Yunlan nodded. The three dots he’d drawn on the map formed a near-perfect equilateral triangle. He circled a spot in the triangle’s center. “Imprisoning the souls of the dead here, so that they can be ordered about for lifetime after lifetime… I think this must be where the Hanga lived.”
“Let me see.” Chu Shuzhi had excellent spatial perception and a sharp sense of direction. He rotated the map to study it. “Look, isn’t this the burning valley from last night?”
“Then that should be it.” Zhao Yunlan quickly stuffed a few beef jerky slices into his mouth. “Hurry and eat, and then we’ll head off.”
Chu Shuzhi chewed the jerky thoughtfully. He was silent for a bit, then glanced at Guo Changcheng, who wasn’t following the conversation at all. After some consideration, he said, “Even though you said it was background research for this trip, you must have already had a certain degree of familiarity with sorcery to be able to put this all together so quickly, right?”
“If you can’t tell the difference between ecstasy and heroin, how can you be a drug enforcement officer?” Zhao Yunlan said lightly.
For once, Chu Shuzhi smiled. But bitterness was too entrenched in his appearance for any smile to really brighten his face. “In that case, why don’t we ‘drug enforcement officers’ receive employee training?”
Zhao Yunlan’s chewing slowed. He turned to stare at Chu Shuzhi, who blatantly stared back.
Guo Changcheng looked back and forth between them without a clue as to what was going on. He was too afraid of them both to ask. He could only shrink in on himself.
Finally, Zhao Yunlan said, “Lao-Chu, you’re smart. I’ve rarely met anyone smarter than you, so I’m not going to waste my breath. You know perfectly well why. Make of it what you will.”
Chu Shuzhi squinted at the beef jerky packaging for a while, as if it might hold the meaning of life. He didn’t reply, and his expression didn’t change. The entire conversation might never have happened. His thoughts were totally inscrutable.
Fifteen minutes later, they set off again. This time, Chu Shuzhi took the lead.
In the morning, the weather had been bright and sunny, but light snow had begun to fall at some point. The three headed west, winding down the mountain for nearly an hour, and then Guo Changcheng glimpsed something in the snow that seemed…very familiar.
He darted over and wiped off the heavy layer of snow with his thick glove. He was astonished when he realized what it was.
Zhao Yunlan only heard Guo Changcheng scream and then start shouting. “Director Zhao! Director Zhao! It’s Wang Zheng’s arm! Wang Zheng’s!”
The kid really is a lucky charm, Zhao Yunlan thought as he headed over with ground-eating strides. He grabbed the plastic arm and rewarded Guo Changcheng with a flick to the forehead. “Wang Zheng’s arm decomposed into dirt ages ago. This is the bootleg product your dumb ass bought. If this is here, where is the rest of her?”
Far too little snow had fallen to cover Wang Zheng’s footsteps, no matter how light her current body was. Zhao Yunlan searched for a while, then had a thought. His eyes snapped up. If she hadn’t walked this way, the arm might have fallen from somewhere above.
Chu Shuzhi followed his gaze, then looked down at the map. He immediately put the pieces together. He patted Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder and pointed upward. “Look there.”
On a slope less than three meters away was a large cave, half covered by wild grass and white snow. It would ordinarily be well hidden, but the snow that had accumulated at its entrance showed signs of being walked on, which disrupted its camouflage enough to attract Chu Shuzhi’s notice.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0029.txt
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THE FRIEND ZHAO YUNLAN had consulted earlier eventually got in touch with Lin Jing to say it would be at least three or four days before the roads could be cleared. Shen Wei had a quick discussion with his students, reaching the unanimous conclusion that under such horrid circumstances, even if there were survivors in Qingxi Village, they probably wouldn’t be in the mood to be interviewed. Shen Wei made the executive decision that they would return to Dragon City with Zhao Yunlan and the others as soon as they got back.
The class leader, in low spirits, heated some water and a small bottle of milk for Daqing as she prepared breakfast for everyone. At their professor’s request, the other students were all helping Lin Jing clear the yard. They approached it with a simple, crude method: under Lin Jing’s direction, they dug up every single skull that had tried to bite them in the night and placed them, one at a time, in a designated spot. Then the fake monk raised a huge rock and smashed each skull to smithereens.
Zhu Hong came back carrying a bag taller than she was. After she put the supplies down, she warmed the yellow rice wine slightly in the pot and drank it all. Then she took over for Lin Jing, smashing skull after skull until the class leader called them in to eat breakfast. Something had clearly gotten into her. She aggressively shoved past a boy and Daqing, plopped down next to Shen Wei, and quite rudely said, “Chocolate sauce please, Shen-laoshi.”
She spread the chocolate sauce over the beef jerky, mixing sweet and savory together. It was hard to say what it might have tasted like. As she ate, she kept stealing glances at Shen Wei, who seemed unbothered.
After some thought, while putting on a show of meticulously applying the chocolate sauce, she spoke again without even looking up. “Our boss is pursuing you.”
Shen Wei paused, then tilted his head to look at her. Still looking down, Zhu Hong casually added, as though they were just talking about the weather, “I assume you’ve noticed?”
Shen Wei seemed to ignore the question. He just handed her a few more packets of chocolate sauce. “Do you want more?”
Now Zhu Hong looked at him, and it was a strange look indeed. As Shen Wei watched, her ordinary round pupils slowly elongated into the vertical pupils of a cold-blooded animal. It was a tremendously creepy look on such a pretty face.
But Shen Wei just turned his attention back to his food as if nothing had happened.
“So do you like him?” Zhu Hong asked quietly.
Perfectly calm, Shen Wei answered her question with one of his own. “Why do you want to know?”
“I… I’m just gossiping.” Zhu Hong made up an excuse. “Gossip is the right of every employee who’s been exploited and oppressed.”
Shen Wei looked at her again with what could’ve been a smile. “If you’re so fond of gossip, how can you not tell?”
When Zhu Hong had no response. Shen Wei laughed softly and took the warmed milk off the stove using a napkin. “You’re eating such dry things,” he said. “Do you want to wash it down with a drink?”
Zhu Hong’s expression twisted. She was gripping the metal thermos in her hand tightly enough to accidentally dent it, but she managed to squeeze out a smile. “Sure, I’ll have some. Thank you!”
Still acting as if nothing was wrong, Shen Wei poured her some milk. “Drink it while it’s warm.”
The dent in Zhu Hong’s thermos deepened.
A smile seemed to flicker in Shen Wei’s eyes. Just as he was about to put the bottle of milk back, something seemed to catch his attention. His head snapped toward the window. As he stared in the direction of the valley, his expression changed.
Zhu Hong wasn’t sure if she was being too sensitive, but there was something deeply unnerving about Shen Wei’s sudden dark look. She instinctively wanted to edge away from him.
But…what did she have to fear from a weak, defenseless university professor?
The sunlight hit Shen Wei’s glasses. The reflection from his lenses was piercing. “I’m full,” Zhu Hong heard him say. “I’ll go clean up the garden. Students, don’t run around, and listen to the officers.” Then he walked out alone.
Somehow his words attracted no real notice from anyone. Even more bizarre, when everyone had finished eating and went out to stretch their legs in the garden, no one noticed that Shen Wei had disappeared. It was as if he had never existed at all. No one, including Zhu Hong and Lin Jing, remembered that there should have been another person with them.
Ten minutes later, the missing professor materialized out of thin air in the spot where Zhao Yunlan and the others had found Wang Zheng’s plastic arm. He wasn’t even wearing a jacket. The north wind swept through the mountains and disturbed his hair and shirt, leaving snow behind on his glasses.
Shen Wei stood under the mountain’s slope and surveyed his surroundings. He suddenly extended an arm, palm down, and made a grabbing motion.
His hand was deathly pale. Blue veins were clearly visible through his skin, as if he were an incredibly detailed recreation of a person. Following his movement, the ground trembled. The wind between the mountains grew fiercer and fiercer. It howled as it began spinning into a vortex, slashing toward the clouds like a blade.
With his hand still in the air, Shen Wei peeled back the ground’s surface, revealing the chapped, frozen earth beneath the heavy snow. It was then that something crawled up out of the ground and flung itself straight at Shen Wei’s back. Arrow-swift, it hurtled toward its defenseless-looking target. A smell started to permeate the air: the stench of rot mixed with a floral fragrance. In a heartbeat, Shen Wei had already pivoted and clamped a hand around his would-be attacker’s neck.
The thing he had grabbed was a youchu. Pure aggression flooded Shen Wei’s gentle, handsome face.
The youchu struggled feebly. Gurgling noises came from its throat.
“Rules are rules,” Shen Wei said mildly. “Your kind brazenly crossed the boundaries and left the forbidden area without permission. The penalty is death.”
The youchu’s feet could no longer touch the ground. It kept struggling, writhing like a fish out of water. Its twitching hands came up in a vain attempt to pry Shen Wei’s hand off its neck. Shen Wei’s fingers tightened. The youchu in his grasp jerked violently a few times and stopped moving, turning rigid.
He casually tossed the corpse aside. The instant it touched the snowy ground, it vanished. In its place, a strange flower emerged into the frozen world.
Shen Wei ground it underfoot. With a crack, the delicate flower stem snapped in two. He pointed at the ground, and an indistinct black line began to snake its way across the snow, following the faint footprints that ascended the mountain and disappeared into a cave halfway up.
There was a much louder crack. Shen Wei’s gaze flashed, and as if frozen, the black line on the ground shattered. A sharp scream rang out in the distance, and seven or eight youchu burst out of the ground. Unlike the ones Zhao Yunlan had seen on the roof, these each stood three meters tall and had bloodred eyes. In unison, they roared at the sky. The mountain, which had so recently suffered an avalanche, was shaking again.
“Puppet,” Shen Wei called.
A small gray puff of mist emerged by his feet and rubbed affectionately against his pant leg. When Shen Wei tapped it with a toe, it soared into the air and into the cave.
Next, a pitch-black sword shot out of Shen Wei’s hand. The blade was three chi, three cun long, and its spine was unusually thick. It seemed to reflect no light at all, other than the finest thread of snow-bright light along its edge—a light that only the souls that died by the blade were doomed to see.
Shen Wei moved.
Within a single breath, the youchu’s heads—and their roars—were cut off. Their massive bodies crashed to the ground only for another group of youchu to emerge, like the wild grass that grew again and again when the spring breeze blew. These were even taller.
It seemed like the adversary would stop at nothing to delay him.
Zhao Yunlan and the others had already been in the cave for quite a while. It had seemed normal enough at first, but the deeper they went, the deeper the darkness became. After turning a corner, they were well and truly out of light, forcing Zhao Yunlan to turn on his flashlight.
After another hundred meters or so, the path ended at a large door. The flashlight’s illumination wasn’t enough to determine what the door was made of beyond “probably some ancient alloy.” It was covered in rust spots. One open-mouthed skull hung above and on each side of the door, and there was an inverted triangle over it.
“A triangle? The Luobula Curse again?” Chu Shuzhi put on gloves and moved closer. First, he very carefully ran his fingers over the door’s surface, and then he pressed his ear against it and knocked lightly. “Some of it is hollow and some is solid,” he reported. “There should be some sort of mechanism, but it’s not complicated. Let me study it for a second.”
Zhao Yunlan gave Guo Changcheng a kick in the butt. “Go closer. Learn from your Chu-ge.”
Guo Changcheng shuffled closer.
The fact was that Chu Shuzhi looked down on him in the way so many arrogant, smart people looked down on dumbasses. But their boss’s presence meant that Chu Shuzhi had no choice but to dutifully explain as he fiddled around. “It’s nothing impressive. The thought processes that go into things like this tend to be similar, so after you’ve seen enough of them, it’ll all fall into place for you.”
As he spoke, he took another small flashlight from his pocket and shined it through the crack in the door, then quickly looked the door over again from top to bottom. By this point he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. “There’s one thick post and thirty-five thin posts inside. That’s thirty-six altogether—a multiple of six. With this kind of thing, the interior is usually all connected.”
He gestured toward Guo Changcheng with his chin. “Squat down. I can’t reach the top, so let me stand on your shoulders.”
Like some sort of large dog, Guo Changcheng squatted down at once.
Chu Shuzhi didn’t even try to be polite about it. Stepping on Guo Changcheng, he began knocking along the door, following the edge of the triangle and the barely visible crack.
It was no easy task to support a grown man’s weight. Chu Shuzhi’s skinniness was outweighed by Guo Changcheng’s uselessness. In no time, Guo Changcheng started shaking, but he gritted his teeth and held on. Sheer fear of letting the man on his back fall kept him from moving.
Just as Guo Changcheng was starting to think he’d already been squashed flat, Chu Shuzhi jumped down and said, “There are thirty-six metal posts behind this door. The mechanism inside means that the hollow spots are made of a different material, so the density is different too. If your hearing is sensitive enough, you’ll be able to tell them apart.”
Guo Changcheng was still on the ground, mouth half open. He couldn’t concentrate on anything but catching his breath, and Chu Shuzhi’s explanation flew completely over his head.
Chu Shuzhi spared him one glance before ignoring him completely; he continued as if addressing Zhao Yunlan, who was standing close behind him. “Once you figure out the basic structure, all that’s left to do is to deduce the details of what’s going on inside there based on experience.”
Having said that, Chu Shuzhi reached up and dug his fingers into the center of the triangle. To Guo Changcheng’s astonishment and fright, a hole was suddenly revealed. Still on his butt, he scuttled backward.
Chu Shuzhi reached inside and felt around for a while, then turned back. “There are thirty-six hidden posts arranged in a circle. I’m guessing you can only pull on three. Which three do you think, Director Zhao?”
“South, northwest, and northeast.” Zhao Yunlan didn’t hesitate at all.
At last, Guo Changcheng felt like he could contribute something. “North, east… Never Eat Soggy Waffles?” he offered.
Chu Shuzhi and Zhao Yunlan ignored him in perfect unison. Guo Changcheng’s tiny sprout of confidence was crushed on the spot, leaving him too nervous to make a peep.
Then there was a heavy pressure on his head as Zhao Yunlan pressed down on him, forcing him to look up. The flashlight’s beam circled the large metal door and stopped on the left side. “What’s that?”
“Uh… M-mountains,” Guo Changcheng said.
Zhao Yunlan firmly turned Guo Changcheng’s head to the right and pointed at the carving on the right-hand side of the door. “And what’s that?”
“Waves… Water?”
“The Hanga tribe lived facing the water, with their backs to the mountain, from halfway up the main peak all the way down to the valley—I told you that just now, dumbass. Since this area is long and narrow, it was difficult for people to differentiate north, south, east, and west. Instead, they thought in terms of up, down, left, right, forward, and backward. ‘Up’ is the direction of the mountain, the main peak to the south. ‘Down’ is the direction of the water, so that’s north. The carving of a mountain indicates south and the carving of the water indicates north. ‘Soggy waffles,’ my ass.” Zhao Yunlan tousled Guo Changcheng’s hair roughly and delivered a harsh verdict. “Even pigs are smarter than you, comrade!”
Guo Changcheng couldn’t even defend himself.
While they were speaking, Chu Shuzhi had pressed down a few times beside the hole. There was a light scraping of metal against metal as the large door slowly opened in front of them.
They were greeted by a damp, rotting smell.
“I’ll go first. Xiao-Guo, follow me, and lao-Chu, bring up the rear.” Zhao Yunlan took a few steps, thought of something, and took an extra gun from under his pant leg. To Guo Changcheng, he said, “Did you pass your firearm qualification exam?”
Guo Changcheng looked at the ground, ashamed. “The examiner said he wouldn’t pass me unless he died and came back to life.”
Zhao Yunlan could only sigh. “What about knives? Do you know how to use those?”
His head hung even lower. “Per… Perhaps?” At Chu Shuzhi’s mocking laugh, he panicked even worse.
“I hired a world peace ambassador.” Zhao Yunlan gave the seemingly endless cave a worried glance. Left with no other choice, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a pocket-sized stun baton, throwing it to Guo Changcheng. As if teaching a child who’d just learned to walk how to wipe his butt, he spoke slowly, if impatiently. “Look, hold that. It’s very simple. Hold it like that. That’s all you need to do. When you encounter something dangerous, just hold it in front of yourself. As long as you don’t freeze in terror, you’ll be okay. You can handle that, right?”
Guo Changcheng swung the baton-like thing. Nothing happened. It was like a little flashlight. Of course, it never crossed his mind that his boss might be messing with him. Instead, he assumed he was too dense to understand Director Zhao’s explanation. Guo Changcheng had always been the biggest critic of his own intellect.
But Zhao Yunlan didn’t seem inclined to go over it again. After his cursory explanation, he’d set off into the cave with his flashlight, forcing Guo Changcheng to jog to keep up. Guo Changcheng didn’t know whether to ask questions or just keep quiet. Common sense told him not to enter a dangerous situation without fully understanding something, but…as he looked at Zhao Yunlan’s towering back, all he could think was that if he asked, his boss would absolutely curse him to hell and back.
The mere thought of Zhao Yunlan’s anger inspired pure terror. As the feeling washed over him, a blinding spark shot out of the little baton with no warning, heading straight for Zhao Yunlan’s back.
Fortunately, Zhao Yunlan was on edge and alert. At the unexpected noise, he threw himself to one side. That scorching hot spark shot farther into the cave.
Again in perfect unison, Chu Shuzhi and Zhao Yunlan exclaimed, “Holy shit!”
Chu Shuzhi looked at Guo Changcheng in awe. This useless piece of trash had actually done something that most SID employees didn’t even dare contemplate: fucking up their asshole leader.
Thoroughly disheveled, Zhao Yunlan wiped away the water and mud that the cave wall had left on him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”
“I-I don’t know!” Guo Changcheng yelped. “It… It just suddenly went off…”
“No shit! That thing’s powered by your fear. The more afraid you are, the more powerful it is. It’s practically custom made for you!” Zhao Yunlan was half out of his mind. “You’re just walking! What could you possibly have been imagining while staring at my back that would scare you that much?!”
There was an awkward silence. Finally, Guo Changcheng raised a shaking hand and pointed at the furious Zhao Yunlan. “Y-you. You right now.”
Zhao Yunlan was stunned to speechlessness.
That was more than Chu Shuzhi could handle. He laughed out loud and reached toward Guo Changcheng. “Let me see that.”
Chu Shuzhi, usually so cold and arrogant, had actually deigned to speak to him! Overwhelmed by the attention, Guo Changcheng immediately handed his weapon over. Chu Shuzhi shook it next to his ear, then rapped on it with his fingers. Having clearly reached some conclusion, he threw it back to Guo Changcheng and shot Zhao Yunlan a meaningful glance. “Director Zhao, this isn’t quite legal, is it?”
It was Zhao Yunlan’s turn to laugh. “Pfft! Don’t give me that law-abiding citizen act—watch out!”
He shoved Guo Changcheng to the side and dropped down to one knee. There was a loud noise, and a fierce wind blew past his scalp, carrying a rancid smell. Something huge and comb-like flew at them. The thing’s base was carved from thick, heavy wood over three meters long, and it was bristling with sharp blades. If it so much as touched a human, there’d be nothing left of them but a heap of minced meat.
Chu Shuzhi stood plastered to the wall. With a flick, a stack of paper talismans appeared in his hand.
The giant “comb” turned in midair and came hurling back at them from above. The paper talismans whipped from Chu Shuzhi’s hand like flying darts and stuck to the many blades. It seemed he might have chosen the wrong talismans; for whatever reason, the thing wasn’t affected at all. Its downward slice continued with a gut-churning wind.
Zhao Yunlan’s gun had already settled in his hand.
But then Guo Changcheng, always a beat behind everyone else, suddenly reacted. A bloodcurdling scream exploded out of him. “Mommy!”
His wail was immediately followed by a roaring blaze, a full two or three meters high, surging out of the little “baton” he held. It was akin to a gas explosion. Zhao Yunlan and Chu Shuzhi dove out of the way as the raging flames struck dozens of blades. The “comb” overhead came to a complete stop. It gave a violent shudder and then succumbed to the fire, melting into a soup that splashed to the ground, sizzling as it fell.
For a full minute, no one spoke.
Eventually, Chu Shuzhi stiffly turned his head to look at Guo Changcheng, who was sitting on the ground. With utter sincerity, from the bottom of his heart, he said, “Damn.”
Guo Changcheng was too scared to do anything but sit there, his mind completely blank.
“I thought you’d just sealed an earthbound spirit into a regular baton. Resentful spirits and little ghosts feed on fear and turn it into their own energy,” Chu Shuzhi said to their boss. “What… What exactly did you make?”
Zhao Yunlan straightened his clothes. It was his turn to play the law-abiding citizen. “Sealing a soul is illegal. As a trusted servant of the people, how could I knowingly commit a crime?”
Chu Shuzhi waited.
“Instead, it contains scraps of souls from a hundred beheaded evil spirits. I got most of them from the Soul-Executing Emissary and acquired some from reapers using spirit money. Then I mixed the scraps with True Flames of Samadhi.”35
Chu Shuzhi was on the brink of a complete breakdown. “Where did the fire come from?”
“Last year when we went to capture that Bi Fang36 that escaped, I borrowed some fire from it to light a cigarette. I saved a spark.”
There was nothing Chu Shuzhi could say to that. He had a thug of a boss who straddled the line between dark and light, and who was bros with everyone in the Three Realms. He had to admit there might be no hope of his long-cherished wish—beating Zhao Yunlan up—coming true.
Zhao Yunlan was about to warn them to be careful when a distant whistling began. A glowing gray mist drifted over, settling into Zhao Yunlan’s arms. The light and mist vanished the moment they touched him, and a letter appeared in his hand.
It was in a pitch-black envelope with bloodred writing and a familiar scent.
Chu Shuzhi’s expression turned serious. He’d just started to step forward but now quickly retracted that half step. Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan moved forward to put himself further away from Guo Changcheng and the possibility of more friendly fire.
Behind him, Chu Shuzhi asked, “The Soul-Executing Emissary?”
“Mm-hmm.” Zhao Yunlan ripped open the envelope, only to stare in concern at the contents.
The Soul-Executing Emissary had always been a wordy writer. He was incapable of getting to the point without a polite preface, all but inquiring after the health of every one of Zhao Yunlan’s aunts. Only after all that preamble would he address the topic at hand, and that would be concise, demonstrating his grace when it came to complex matters.
This letter, on the other hand, was clearly rushed, with no introduction or conclusion. It was terse enough that it could have been a sticky note.
“Danger. Do not give chase. Hurry back.”
Chu Shuzhi craned his neck. “Why would the Emissary send a letter here? What happened?”
Zhao Yunlan folded the letter and stuffed it into his pocket, thinking things over. The Emissary usually sent his “Lone Soul” notices to the SID office. If there wasn’t a genuine emergency, he wouldn’t have tracked them down out here. After all, he didn’t want to be seen by unrelated parties.
Why did he suddenly…
And…how did he know where Zhao Yunlan was?
Zhao Yunlan hesitated for a moment, looked at his confused subordinates, and then said, “Lao-Chu, take him back first. Meet up with Lin Jing and the others.”
“Why?” Chu Shuzhi asked.
“Are we not going to go find Wang Zheng-jie?” Guo Changcheng questioned.
“I can do that on my own. You two head back.” Zhao Yunlan patted Guo Changcheng’s shoulder. “Hold on to the thing I gave you and be careful on your way. Once you get back to the others, help Lin Jing destroy that sacrificial altar. Don’t let Shen Wei and his students run around. Wait until the rescue team clears the roads.”
Even though Zhao Yunlan hadn’t revealed anything, Chu Shuzhi still felt a little uneasy. “You’re continuing by yourself?”
Zhao Yunlan nodded and said nothing else.
Chu Shuzhi’s brow creased. Then he pulled decisively on Guo Changcheng, who still wanted to say something. “Let’s go.”
“But…”
“But what? Don’t waste time. The boss wants to wrap this up so he can go back to his romance. Hurry up.”
Even as Chu Shuzhi dragged him back to the cave’s entrance, Guo Changcheng kept looking worriedly back at Zhao Yunlan.
Zhao Yunlan had his flashlight tucked into the crook of his elbow. His hands, in their leather gloves, were shoved into his jacket pockets. He stood and watched his subordinates until they were out of sight before he turned to continue deeper into the cave.
The gray shadow that had dissipated earlier came back out of nowhere. It coalesced into a little skeleton the height of a four- or five-year-old child. Standing in front, staring up at him, it extended its thin, white arms to block his way.
“Oh? There are puppets this small? Did the Soul-Executing Emissary send you to follow me?” Zhao Yunlan raised a brow. “I’ve got things to do. Move.”
It might only have been the puppet’s size that gave this impression, but there seemed to be a childlike innocence in the dark holes of its eye sockets. It didn’t appear to understand human language, as it didn’t nod or shake its head. It just stood there, not letting him pass.
Zhao Yunlan rubbed his chin. He was a bit surprised that the Soul-Executing Emissary, who spoke so little, understood him so well. If a large puppet had tried to pull this stunt, he probably would have kicked it to pieces on the spot. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to harm this tiny, thin-boned creature that couldn’t even communicate.
“Are you going to move or not?” he asked.
The puppet’s jaw moved with a cracking noise.
Zhao Yunlan shook his head and took a large step. His long legs carried him effortlessly over the little skeleton, and he continued on his way.
The poor thing clearly didn’t understand what had just happened. It craned its neck so far to see what he was doing that its head nearly fell off. After a fierce struggle to maintain its balance, it rushed after him. As soon as it caught up, it grabbed the corner of his shirt and refused to let go.
Zhao Yunlan didn’t bother wasting his breath. He just kept walking, dragging the little skeleton along. It wasn’t as if it was heavy.
The skeleton puppet would have been crying its eyes out by then if it had any.
The farther he got, the heavier the stench of decay became. The air grew more and more humid. The ancient, well-worn stairs narrowed as they descended. By the time they reached the bottom, Zhao Yunlan felt like the little skeleton was getting in the way. He bent down and picked it up, carrying it on his shoulders like a child. Then he checked his watch.
Clarity’s watch plate seemed eerily quiet. After staring at it for a few seconds, Zhao Yunlan realized its hands had started moving backward—or at least one of them had. The second hand was moving in reverse, but the minute hand was moving forward and the hour hand was stuck at twelve o’clock. Some strange force seemed to be bringing the three hands together.
When they finally converged at twelve o’clock, they stayed there, as if dead.
Zhao Yunlan scraped a bit of the mud from the wall and brought it to his nose.
“It might just be my imagination,” he said, talking to himself or maybe to the little puppet on his shoulders, “but I feel like I’m already dead and buried.”
The little puppet made a cracking noise. It suddenly extended a sharp finger and poked the side of Zhao Yunlan’s face lightly. Then it pointed at the nearby wall and made a few more cracking sounds.
Zhao Yunlan aimed his flashlight in the direction the finger was pointing. A line of text was illuminated.
“You may not have eyes, but you sure can see. Good catch. This is in the Hanga language.” He drew closer and touched it gently. “Well, strictly speaking, the Hanga didn’t have their own writing. I’d say this is a special incantation.”
The little puppet cracked some more.
“Don’t ask me, I’m not a walking PowerWord dictionary. Who the fuck knows what it means?” Half to himself, Zhao Yunlan said, “But I know that in Hanga culture, smooth, curved lines represent gentle, peaceful things, and hard, angled symbols rarely mean anything good. For example, the souls of the dead were imprisoned by a triangle, and that octagon I haven’t had time to look into…”
His fingers paused. The line of text ended in an octagon.
“This one right here,” he said. “Great. Here comes the scary stuff.”
A huge noise cut him off. The entire cave began shaking, nearly knocking him off his feet. The little puppet grabbed his collar and buried its long, thin fingers in his hair. Zhao Yunlan squinted and saw a stream of fire racing toward them, whistling. He held on to the wall, hugging the little puppet with one arm. His face was red from the reflection of the flames. But while the leaping fire was also reflected in his pitch-black pupils, there was something icy in how they shone.
Zhao Yunlan patted the little puppet, who was desperately trying to burrow into his arms. “Stop pulling at my clothes. If you’re afraid, hide inside my watch.”
Fear had long since driven its master’s task from the puppet’s mind. Terrified, it turned into gray mist and fled into the watch. A moment later, the fire washed over Zhao Yunlan, who had nowhere to run.
He already had a talisman in his hand. But despite the roaring flames around him, the talisman didn’t ignite. Nor did he feel any heat.
Zhao Yunlan froze and looked up from within the fire. It towered over him, filling his vision with aggressive flames that swept through the entire cavern.
Suddenly, the intangible flames disappeared. With no help from him, the mud on the wall inscribed with the octagon crumbled and flaked off.
Something occurred to him. He caught the flaking mud, and larger chunks began to fall. Zhao Yunlan swept some of it away and, with the help of his flashlight, made out a faint mural.
With the passage of time, the revealed art had largely rotted away, and whatever it was expressing was extremely abstract. An archaeologist might have understood it, but it was beyond Zhao Yunlan, even if he’d examined it up close for long enough to risk damaging his vision.
He quickly lost interest and started to move on, only to immediately stop again as a thought struck him. He turned back and studied the mural carefully from five steps away. The flashlight’s beam slid across the surface, tilted upward forty-five degrees to the three o’clock position, then tilted down forty-five degrees…
There was a huge octagonal shape on the mural, with a tiny octagon at each of its eight points.
Zhao Yunlan looked at the shape that had been hidden within the mural. He patted down his chest, then pulled a wallet from his jacket’s inner pocket. In among the change and bank receipts was a piece of wrinkled yellowing paper with curling edges, torn out of an old book. In fact, it was the page from the Record of Ancient Sorcery that described the Luobula Curse. He’d had it on him all along, but it wasn’t exactly something he could have shown Chu Shuzhi.
The page was illustrated with a fanged monster. It had six arms but only two legs, each limb pointing at a point of an octagon. It looked ferocious, with a mouth wide open in anger. A small mountain was depicted in its mouth, and there was a pitch-black octagon on the left side of its chest.
“The mountain is in its mouth, and this thing is at its heart…” Zhao Yunlan muttered. He slapped the large map he was carrying up against the wall. Placing the illustration of the monster against it, he slowly rotated the map until south was facing up. Marking a line with his nails, he connected the mountain in the monster’s mouth with the octagon on its chest and extended the line in both directions. His fingers landed in the most concave area of the valley.
The huge fire in the valley, the skulls at the peak of the mountain, the many restricted techniques of a long-extinct tribe… There seemed to be a deeper layer of secrets beneath everything.
Why had Wang Zheng suddenly abandoned her companions and come here all by herself?
Why was she so adamant about her remains, which had already been buried for hundreds of years?
Zhao Yunlan was getting a bad feeling.
He started moving again, going deeper and deeper into the cave. It kept narrowing around him until he could barely raise his head. By the time he reached the end, his back was almost in open rebellion.
He was confronted by another speckled door. It depicted a terrifying, awe-inspiring monster with six arms and two legs, almost identical to the one on the page he was carrying. The only difference was that this one’s expression seemed fearful.
The instant his hand touched the door, his chest tightened. He shoved the door open and found himself standing halfway up the other side of the mountain. Right below him was that mysterious valley. He suddenly felt like he was standing in the middle of a roaring ocean. Seawater was battering him in the chest, pressing against him with tremendous weight until he couldn’t breathe.
It was clearly still daytime, but the sun was covered in such dense layers of clouds that not even a thread of sunlight could peek through. Zhao Yunlan walked forward.
His first step seemed to set something off. A silent sigh came from the depths of the earth, like water ripples spreading in circles from the Hanga tribe’s back mountain. There was something in this valley—something terrible and great.
Zhao Yunlan continued toward the valley. The air grew thinner and thinner, increasing the sensation of pressure on his chest. His temples felt like something was clamping down on them. His pulse pounded in his ears, and his vision started to dim. Slowly, he adjusted his breathing. Breathing too heavily would exhaust him too quickly.
He pinched his palm. A peculiar feeling was stirring in his heart. If there was something Wang Zheng couldn’t let go of after all this time, even after becoming a ghost, it definitely wasn’t her corpse, which had been reduced to bone long ago. It was this.
The little puppet’s head suddenly poked up out of his watch. Its jaw clicked randomly. Whatever it was trying to tell him, it was clearly a scaredy-cat. It wanted to stop him but was too afraid to come out of the watch. Zhao Yunlan just pressed it back inside.
His expression grew more solemn as he continued under the immense pressure. He pulled three yellow paper talismans from his chest pocket. These three were different from the others. The corner of each one read “Soul-Guarding Order” in tiny script, written in cinnabar. If the black cat had been there, he would have recognized the legendary Soul-Guarding Order.
Zhao Yunlan didn’t seem to be doing anything, but every three steps, a Soul-Guarding Order ignited in his hand. When the last one had burnt to nothing, three whip cracks sounded. From thin air, a long whip appeared in his hand. The whip extended as if it were alive, pulling him forward…until he caught sight of a white shadow about to melt under the daylight.
Grim faced, he flicked his wrist and sent the long whip lashing in that direction. It coiled around the white shadow and dragged it to him.
Wang Zheng’s plastic body was long gone. Her soul had been horrifically weakened, but her eyes were still open. She looked at him with the calm of someone about to die.
“You’ve completely lost your mind.” Zhao Yunlan caught hold of her and shoved her into his watch, cursing. His heart hurt like hell—it felt like it was about to explode from pain. “This fucking place!”
Having found Wang Zheng, he meant to leave immediately, but something seemed to call to him. His eyes were drawn to where she had been standing. A huge stone pillar stood there, dozens of meters tall. It was blacker than night, wide at the top and narrow on the bottom, like a huge wedge nailed into the ground. Its base was a dilapidated sacrificial altar. The altar stone had been covered in Hanga curses, and below it there was an offering table laden with bloody sacrifices. The sacrifices looked for all the world as if they had just been placed there.
The instant Zhao Yunlan’s gaze fell on that giant stone, countless faces appeared on it—a dense tapestry of them, every single one shrieking in agony. The sound stabbed into his ears. It was a chorus of absolute human suffering, screamed in unison by thousands upon thousands of people.
A weight like a massive rock pressed down on Zhao Yunlan’s chest. There was a buzzing in his ears, and excruciating pain rapidly spread through his entire body. He leaned down to vomit a mouthful of blood and couldn’t straighten up again. Knees buckling under the pain, he fell backward, and for a few seconds, he couldn’t see or hear.
I can’t pass out here. Hand sticky with blood, he made a decisive grab for the knife sheathed to his calf, then aimed the knife for his own palm.
As the blade descended, an icy hand grabbed it by the hilt. Someone’s arms closed around him from behind, dragging him into an embrace. Through the reek of blood, he smelled something…familiar. It was the light, chilly fragrance that came from the end of the Huangquan.
The Soul-Executing Emissary…?
The knife in Zhao Yunlan’s hand clattered to the ground. He relaxed, passing out completely.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0030.txt
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THE SOUL-EXECUTING EMISSARY’S black robes were like a thick mist, impenetrable even by sunlight. They abruptly billowed up to form a protective screen several stories high, engulfing them both. They were cut off from the sunlight and everything else.
While holding him, the Emissary lifted Zhao Yunlan’s hand and pressed on his watch. “Come out!” His voice was quiet, but the command was unmistakable.
The little puppet floated out hesitantly. Its lowered head was shockingly large compared to its small body. The Emissary glanced at it, then raised a hand and summoned it back into his sleeve. “Get in here.”
The puppet didn’t dare say anything. It obediently turned into gray mist, taking care to curl up into a perfect ball, and rolled into his sleeve.
Wang Zheng had also emerged. She took a half step back, looking at Zhao Yunlan worriedly. When the Emissary’s frigid gaze fell on her, she began trembling.
The Emissary sat on the ground, carefully shifting the man in his arms into a more comfortable position. “You’re under his command. Whether you were right or wrong is not for me to judge. Sit to the side for now.”
Wang Zheng didn’t dare approach him. She hesitated for a moment, then found herself the farthest possible corner to sit down in, right along the edge of the protection he’d raised.
The Emissary seemed to be taking great care to keep Zhao Yunlan from getting dirty even though Zhao Yunlan had already made a mess of himself. When the Emissary carefully set the Soul-Executing Blade aside, Wang Zheng got a look at it—and the bloodstained hilt.
From within a vast sleeve reminiscent of a black hole, a deathly pale hand emerged. The Emissary wiped the blood from the corner of Zhao Yunlan’s mouth almost tenderly. His fingertips lingered barely perceptibly where they grazed Zhao Yunlan’s lips. The air was charged with an indescribable tension, as if the Emissary would lean down and kiss him at any moment.
Wang Zheng didn’t dare make a sound, but her eyes widened in shock.
When Zhao Yunlan woke up, he found his head cushioned on someone’s shoulder. He felt like he’d just been through a particularly awful bout of vomiting that had battered his innards. His entire body felt weak. With great difficulty, he sat up and opened his eyes to find the Soul-Executing Emissary beside him. “You…”
An icy finger sealed his lips. The Emissary pressed a supportive hand to his back and said, voice low, “Do not speak. Focus.”
A gentle but cold energy accompanied the words, flowing slowly from the Emissary’s palm. Zhao Yunlan shivered, but he didn’t pull away. As the energy flowed, he closed his eyes and entrusted his wounded body wholly to the Emissary’s care.
The Soul-Executing Emissary’s coldness was said to spring from his innate ruthlessness and cruelty, but it was comfort spreading through Zhao Yunlan now, the churning in his chest slowly calming.
Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help admiring the Emissary. In all the years he’d been in charge of the Soul-Guarding Order, whenever he encountered truly heinous crimes or the most unbelievable situations, the Emissary had always personally arrived to take care of it. They had always had a partnership. In all that time, Zhao Yunlan had never seen the Emissary act rudely or lose control. He always seemed so calm, modest, and amiable. With some sort of extreme self-restraint, that innate cruelty was suppressed to the point that not a hint of it was detectable.
Extreme restraint is sometimes exercised in pursuit of extreme freedom. If someone could mercilessly quash their very nature for hundreds of thousands of years, then on the one hand, it would be an excruciating existence…but on the other hand, what an incredible person they would have to be.
After some time, the soul-deep pain gradually faded. Zhao Yunlan opened his eyes again and was able to sit up easily. “Thank you, thank you. Good thing you were here. Clearly, my luck has gone downhill enough lately that now it’s starting to improve.”
The Emissary withdrew his hand a bit reluctantly. Having broken contact, he backed up a little. Politely, he said, “Think nothing of it. But you should have heeded my warning, Guardian.”
“It’s all because of that damned girl.” With his chin, Zhao Yunlan indicated Wang Zheng, not far away. “Every person at 4 Bright Avenue matters. As long as it’s work hours, they’re all my people. I can’t just leave her.”
His expression darkened as he addressed her directly. “Get the fuck over here!”
Wang Zheng floated over silently. Zhao Yunlan swung his whip toward her, and Wang Zheng reflexively closed her eyes, but the whip didn’t touch her. Instead it brushed past her, then curled in on itself midair. It swept over the ground, leaving a deep white mark.
“Why are you closing your eyes? I don’t hit women. Get over here.” The long whip turned into a paper talisman and drifted into Zhao Yunlan’s hand. There was still some blood on the corner. Zhao Yunlan’s gaze swept past the blood to glance at Wang Zheng. “The Soul-Guarding Order isn’t enough to order you around anymore, is it?”
Wang Zheng said nothing. She just knelt in front of him.
Zhao Yunlan wasn’t having any of it. “Don’t kneel either. What are you kneeling for? My wallet’s still in the car. I don’t have red-pocket money to give you.”
Wang Zheng bit her lip.
Zhao Yunlan glowered at her, expression unkind. He took a cigarette from his pocket and put it between his lips, but as he was looking for his lighter, a hand suddenly plucked the cigarette away.
Zhao Yunlan touched his nose. Somehow, that felt a little familiar.
“I’ve checked your file,” Zhao Yunlan told her. He rubbed his fingers together, unused to having them empty. “You died in 1713—the second year of the inner turmoil that you said the Hanga tribe suffered. What happened? You wanted to find your corpse—where is it? Did you place all those offerings under that huge pillar? What is that?”
The Soul-Executing Emissary interjected. “That ‘huge pillar’ is known as the Mountain-River Awl.”
The name sounded familiar. Zhao Yunlan thought about it, brow furrowed in thought. “One of the Four Hallowed Artifacts?”
The Emissary nodded. “The Guardian is knowledgeable.”
First the Reincarnation Dial, now the Mountain-River Awl… The Four Hallowed Artifacts had been lost in the Mortal Realm for years on end. It wasn’t like they were cabbages in the market going for twenty cents a pound. And just coincidentally encountering two of them within six months…? If Zhao Yunlan really had that kind of dumb luck, he should have been buying lottery tickets as a profession.
He couldn’t help but lean into the conspiracy theory forming in his mind. The Dragon City University administrative building that was suspiciously spotless when he’d gone back; the Hunger Ghost that had just happened to set its sights on Li Qian; the random disappearance of the Reincarnation Dial, which had yet to turn up; the warrant for the youchu…and the Soul-Executing Emissary’s sudden warning.
Zhao Yunlan’s face turned serious. “What exactly is the Mountain-River Awl?”
“People say that the powers beyond us control life and death, but that is not the genuine truth,” said the Emissary. “Since the dawn of Chaos, at the beginning of all things, good and evil have always existed. The very earliest judgment of good and evil was carved into the Mountain-River Awl. The Awl was formed from the essence of hundreds of thousands of rivers and mountains. It starts above the Nine Heavens and pierces all the way down to below the Huangquan. The punishments of the Eighteen Levels of Hell are all carved on it. As time passed, it was also the basis of many judgments in the Book of Life and Death. To this day, people believe that the mountains and water have souls. That belief goes all the way back to those times.” The Emissary paused. “Because the Mountain-River Awl was initially used for sealing and suppression, tens of thousands of evil spirits have been bound within it over time, condemned to obey. I never imagined that after it was lost, it fell into the hands of those who would seal generations of their people inside it for eternity.
“Other people can approach it without harm, but you…” An unfamiliar hesitance entered the Emissary’s voice as he considered his choice of words. He continued at last, “You were born with an unstable soul. If you draw too close to these soul-sealing objects, of course you will feel the effects more than others.”
No one had ever said such a thing to Zhao Yunlan before. Caught off guard, he said, “An unstable soul? Me? My ethereal and corporeal souls37 are all just fine! Why would they be unstable?”
The Soul-Executing Emissary fell silent again, then said, “Everyone has one True Flame of Samadhi on each shoulder and one on their head. You were born with no fire on your left shoulder—a phenomenon known as ‘ghost-touched shoulder.’ That makes your souls prone to instability. The Guardian should take more care in the future.”
Zhao Yunlan gave his own left shoulder a dubious look, then quickly lost interest and got back to the subject at hand. “So you’re saying the Hanga used the Mountain-River Awl to perform the Luobula Curse, right?”
The Emissary nodded. “They would burn the beheaded person’s body, then use the Three-Star Method of Gathering Yin to forcibly detain the person’s soul in the valley. That resulted in the individual being drawn into the Mountain-River Awl, after which the Hanga used the heads to command the dead souls within the Awl.”
Pointing at Wang Zheng, Zhao Yunlan asked, “What about her?”
The Emissary glanced at Wang Zheng. She shivered, suddenly feeling as though everything that had happened during and after her life was laid out before him.
“This young woman died when she was beheaded, but managed to escape the Yin Gathering Spell and the Mountain-River Awl. The likeliest explanation is that someone preserved her body and head properly.”
Wang Zheng managed a bleak smile. “Back then, I was very immature and bitter. The previous Guardian caught me when I possessed someone. I was taken in under the Soul-Guarding Order and have been there ever since. ‘Wang Zheng’ isn’t my original name. It belonged to the girl I possessed. In life, my name was Gelan. I was the daughter of the chief who died in the rebellion.”
Zhao Yunlan came to the annoying realization that his Special Investigations Department was basically a summer camp for nepotism babies.
“The leader of the rebellion was named Sangzan,” Wang Zheng continued. “He was a slave’s son—his mother was my mother’s hair-combing maid. In our tribe, there were no ordinary people. There were the tribe’s leader and nobility, and then there were slaves. So Sangzan naturally also grew up to be a slave. He was brave and hardworking and stood out among all of the tribe’s slaves. He became my father’s horse keeper. By modern standards, you’d say he was a handsome, talented man whom everyone admired.”
There was pure bitterness in her smile now. “Unfortunately, among our tribe, a slave was just a slave no matter how talented they might be. A slave’s life had no more value than the lives of livestock. They could be bought, sold, or dealt with anywhere. Sangzan was handsome and rich, but he was denied dignity.
“Eventually, my father took a fancy to a young female slave—Sangzan’s little sister. When he got her pregnant, my mother was furious. She took her anger out on Sangzan’s mother and found an excuse to behead her. My older brother whipped Sangzan’s father to death. And Sangzan’s sister…my father had forced her to begin with. After all of that, she hanged herself with a horse whip.”
Zhao Yunlan dug out the last pack of beef jerky and began eating it. “So your dad was a total piece of shit.”
Wang Zheng didn’t respond. Seeing that Zhao Yunlan’s mood was still sour, the Emissary coughed dryly and made an attempt at smoothing things over. “I noticed, beneath the offerings, there was originally a sacrificial stone under the Mountain-River Awl. The ordinary use of such a thing would be to record the names of all the souls suppressed by the Awl. The stone is still there, but the names have been removed. Did that also happen during the rebellion?”
Wang Zheng nodded. “Sangzan led his brothers to victory. When they finally reached the forbidden area where the Mountain-River Awl is, he said that from then on, everyone in the tribe could live equally and with dignity. He used a huge file to grind away all the names on the stone. The chief… My father, mother, older brother, and the other nobles, as well as their entourage and guards, were all hanged and decapitated in the yard of the Mountain Keeper’s hut. After that, the Hanga tribe never had slaves or nobility again.”
“What about you?” Zhao Yunlan asked. “You weren’t executed at the time because you secretly helped Sangzan, right?”
Wang Zheng looked down. “We’d known each other since we were little. When Father sent someone to capture him, I was the one who hid him. I just didn’t want him to die. I didn’t know—I had no way of knowing what would happen after that.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0031.txt
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BROW FURROWED, Zhao Yunlan looked at Wang Zheng.
She stared straight at the ground. When she stared in one direction like that, it always made her look like she was spacing out. Eventually, she spoke again, voice soft. “I was still so young. I wasn’t even seventeen yet. I was completely naive and didn’t understand anything. I couldn’t see anything but what was happening right in front of me, and in my head. I only knew to follow one path all the way to the end.
“I was…childhood friends with Sangzan. Our positions were very different, but I never saw him as an outsider. Father wanted to kill him, but of course—of course I was against it. To be honest, I blamed my father at the time. I thought what he’d done was wrong, and it also embarrassed me. He was our chief and my wonderful father! How could he have done something so despicable?”
Zhao Yunlan held his tongue. His expression was still ugly, but he sighed faintly.
After another pause, Wang Zheng asked, “Is there anywhere in this world where everyone is free and equal?”
“There is,” said Zhao Yunlan.
Wang Zheng and the Soul-Executing Emissary both turned toward him. There was still a speck of blood on his bottom lip, and his complexion was extra pale. Against the collar of his gray shirt, he looked a little worse for wear. Only his eyes were startlingly bright. Zhao Yunlan’s eyes always shone brilliantly, as if nothing in the world could quench their light.
“When facing death,” he said.
The Emissary couldn’t help replying. “The Guardian’s words are too cold. If that is so, why do mortals spend their lives seeking and struggling so bitterly?”
“My lord, you need to look beyond the surface.” Zhao Yunlan looked up. “What constitutes fairness or equality? The reality is that what’s fair for one person is always built upon someone else being treated unfairly. When someone is struggling to survive, ‘equal’ means being well fed and warmly dressed, like everyone else. Once they have a full belly and warm clothes, ‘equal’ means having as much dignity as everyone else. And once they have dignity, a sense of superiority kicks in and they won’t be satisfied until they have more than other people. Nothing breaks the cycle but a coffin. Equality is in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it?”
The Emissary was speechless. Finally he gave a grim laugh. “Your logic is preposterous.”
Zhao Yunlan moved on. To Wang Zheng, he said, “So Sangzan successfully rebelled, killed your father, and removed the names from the sacrificial altar. No more slaves for the Hanga. What happened then?”
“After that, whenever there was an issue in the tribe, each family would choose a head of their household to raise their own suggestions. Everyone would discuss it and then listen to the one with the most support,” she said. “That was Sangzan’s idea. He had never attended school or left the snowy mountains, but he already understood the concept of democracy that would become prevalent many years later. No matter the era, humans want similar things.”
Zhao Yunlan propped up one long leg, resting his hands on his knees. Despite his casual slouch, his words were like knives, each one sharper than the last. “And that’s how you died, isn’t it?”
Caught off guard, Wang Zheng froze. She hadn’t expected him to piece things together so quickly. The light in her eyes dimmed.
“I… I had nowhere to go. My only choice was to stay in Sangzan’s house and be entirely reliant on him. But I didn’t know how to do anything. I was the chief’s daughter. From childhood on, my mother only taught me how to dress myself and order slaves around. I didn’t know how to do chores, hunt, or run a household.
“Another girl in the tribe wanted to marry Sangzan and begged her father to ask him about marriage. Sangzan refused. She was furious and ran away from the mountain, and by the time she was found, she was already dead. They said she’d lost her footing, fallen down the mountain, and hit her head on a rock. Her father hated me after that. He and the other families banded together and said I was the bastard chief’s daughter. They said I knew witchcraft, and that I refused to correct my ways even though they’d forgiven me and let me live. They said I was lazy and useless and would do anything to hold on to their hero, Sangzan. That I was jealous and cursed that man’s daughter to die. He… He wanted to behead me.”
Wang Zheng’s shoulders began to shake. She had once truly believed with her entire being that her father was wrong. In that innocent young girl’s heart, she’d known that her fellow people shouldn’t be slaves. They were people. They had worth. No one else should have power over their lives or deaths. Just like Sangzan, she had hoped they could all live in prosperity and that they could be equal, free, and happy.
But the people she’d sympathized with and loved had hated and resented her.
“The girl’s father had everyone vote with a show of hands. Not moving meant they were neutral on whether or not I should be executed. A raised hand meant agreeing that I should be beheaded…” Wang Zheng couldn’t hold it in anymore. Her voice cracked on “beheaded.”
The day was crystal clear in her memory. Everyone had been present, their faces full of glee. In the stands were row after row of raised hands. Seen from the platform, those hands had seemed like the claws of monsters from the river at the heart of the Netherworld. Nearly every hand was raised.
All those people had looked at the young girl bound in front of them and shown her only coldness, numbness, ignorance, and cruelty.
Together, they had all come to a shocking agreement: kill her. Cut off her head.
Faced with that, even if someone’s heart had contained millions of bright lights, all light would be extinguished. There could be nothing left but ash.
No one had remembered what she’d done, or at least…they’d believed that she’d acted for selfish reasons.
Wang Zheng wept. As her tears fell to the ground and turned to fleeting wisps of smoke, her figure became lighter and clearer. Three hundred years after her death, her tears should have been long since exhausted, but in this moment of pure anguish, she shed tears made of her own essence, weeping her soul away.
“Don’t cry.” Zhao Yunlan touched her chin lightly and wiped her tears, a soul-stabilizing talisman between his fingers. With a quiet exclamation, he pressed the talisman to her forehead. Her tears were instantly sealed off, preventing any more from escaping. She stared at him, eyes large and still filled with almost childlike innocence. Meeting his gentle, inscrutable gaze, she had the sudden conviction that he knew and understood everything.
He held Clarity out to her. “Come inside first.”
She went still for a moment, then felt a soft, inexorable force pulling her into the stopped watch. She heard Zhao Yunlan say quietly, “I’ll let you out after it gets dark.” Then she was gone.
Zhao Yunlan and the Soul-Executing Emissary stared at each other with nothing to say. Zhao Yunlan’s eyes drifted closed as if he was exhausted. After a silence, the Emissary patted his shoulder. “Do not sleep yet. You were injured by the shock waves from the Mountain-River Awl. If you sleep here, you will undo the work I did to stabilize your soul. Rest a little later. Does your chest still feel tight?”
Zhao Yunlan rubbed his forehead roughly. “I’m all right,” he said, voice hoarse. “I’ve just been dizzy all day since that girl drugged me so carelessly.”
“Perhaps I could take you back first and then return for the Awl.”
Zhao Yunlan waved a hand and forced himself to alertness. A little pained, he asked, “Can I have a smoke?”
The Emissary was silent.
Zhao Yunlan took that for agreement, backed a few steps away, and quickly lit a cigarette. He took two deep puffs like a practiced addict, not inflicting even a hint of secondhand smoke on the Emissary. Every trace went into his lungs. Finally, he seemed much more awake. “I’m fine. Spitting blood clears out toxins too. I didn’t realize that was the Mountain-River Awl just now, so it caught me off guard. No need to worry about me, my lord. You should just hurry and grab that thing. The early bird got the Reincarnation Dial last time—don’t delay on my account.”
Having said all that, he stood up and put his cigarette out in the snow. He took a wrinkled talisman from his pocket, crushed it up, and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed on the tough ball of paper, he said, “Let’s go. You first, my lord?”
The Emissary nodded and took down the boundless gray mist around them. They were once again facing the Mountain-River Awl.
Zhao Yunlan had eaten a soul-stabilizing talisman at the last moment, but he could still feel the Awl’s power—a soul-shaking ruthlessness with great destructive power. He stood tall and focused on the massive thing, and came to the realization that the Awl’s cross section was an octagon, regular and sharp, plunging straight into the center of the earth.
The Soul-Executing Emissary took a few dozen steps and then stopped, his hands clasped. A fierce gale suddenly swept over the ground. His black hood and robes billowed as if the whistling wind might tear them away, but he somehow remained shrouded within the black mist, nothing visible beneath.
The Emissary called out in a deep voice, “Soul of the Mountain!”
The Mountain-River Awl began to shake, followed by the ground. In moments, the entire snowy mountain seemed to be rumbling. A roar like thunder rang out in the far-off mountains, as if the gods had awakened from lifetimes of imprisonment under the ice and stone. They let out a horrible, frightening moan.
The sky was dark as night.
Suddenly, they could see flashes of figures around them. With tremendous difficulty, Zhao Yunlan kept his eyes open against the fierce wind and saw Wang Zheng—sixteen or seventeen years old, innocent, practically still a child—standing outside a crowd of people. A handsome young man in ragged clothes stood somewhere high up. As if sensing something, he turned back to look at her across a distance. When their eyes met, his blood-covered face broke into a smile that was almost pure.
Then he roared, swinging the huge metal shovel in his hands toward the large stone tablet on the sacrificial altar. The hills under his feet ran red with blood. Countless bodies lay below.
The crowd of survivors craned their necks to watch his every movement.
The man leveled the stone tablet. After a brief silence, he suddenly yelled something, voice gruff. Zhao Yunlan couldn’t understand the words, but the spirit of them was plain. Blood and mud covered this man from head to toe. He had succeeded, but his face was full of anguish, not joy. A group of people who had been oppressed for millennia were tasting their first breath of freedom, and they nearly choked on their tears.
The silent crowd finally began responding to him. The valley echoed with the yelling and crying of men.
The illusion was suddenly gone. The Mountain-River Awl slowly started to rise from the ground.
The Soul-Executing Emissary extended another finger. “Soul of the Water!”
Zhao Yunlan stood stock-still. The absolute blackness of the Mountain-River Awl was reflected in his eyes, which were reddened by the north wind. He pressed against Clarity as if comforting the young girl’s soul trapped inside, offering what consolation he could for the solitude from which she would never find peace.
A piercing outcry broke out. Zhao Yunlan’s head jerked involuntarily, trying to evade it as a fresh wave of dizziness swamped him. The screams grew louder and closer together, overlapping in shrill misery. The sound gave him the feeling of being clawed apart inside.
Zhao Yunlan was about to be sick.
Then the Soul-Executing Emissary’s robes emitted gray mist again, cutting the sound off completely. The Mountain-River Awl resumed its original appearance, slowly falling back into the position they’d found it in. Zhao Yunlan belatedly registered the fresh taste of blood; a quick touch confirmed that he’d bitten his tongue during the assault on his ears. “What was that?” he asked.
The Emissary’s calm voice finally took on a note of worry. “I was too rash. That was the sound of tens of thousands of ghosts crying out in lamentation.”
“What?”
“The girl said that Sangzan had razed the stone tablet atop the sacrificial altar. I thought his action would have released the innocent souls trapped within, so the number of resentful spirits still inside caught me off guard. The dead have no tears. A sound so vast must mean millions of innocent souls screaming at once, even if they risk being torn apart forever by doing so. It could level hundreds of thousands of snowy mountains, never mind you or me.”
Zhao Yunlan stood behind him, hands behind his back, not speaking. The Emissary continued, “The Mountain-River Awl has been standing here for tens of thousands of years. It has seen too much.”
Suddenly, Clarity flashed. A white form emerged and made for the Mountain-River Awl at lightning speed. But before she made it even a meter—before she had even fully left the watch—a clear gossamer strand extended from Zhao Yunlan’s hand and bound Wang Zheng tightly in place.
She froze, then lowered her head. Ghost and living human gazed at each other. Wang Zheng’s eyes looked wet, but with her tears still sealed by his talisman, crying was beyond her ability. Zhao Yunlan’s face remained blank, not betraying a trace of sympathy.
“Run.” His voice held a glacial chill. “Let’s see if you can get away from me twice.” Wang Zheng looked down, afraid to meet his eyes.
“Guardian,” the Emissary said steadily, “there is no need to speak in anger.”
Out of respect for him, the glare Zhao Yunlan was directing at Wang Zheng eased slightly. “Do you think sacrificing yourself to the Mountain-River Awl can appease the resentment of tens of thousands of ghosts? Do you think sincerity can move mountains, or do you really think you’re that important? Are you a complete idiot?”
The long, thin red stitches encircling Wang Zheng’s neck were becoming more and more prominent. The paper talisman stuck to her forehead fluttered as she trembled. She looked every inch the zombie girl in a third-rate horror movie, but no one could laugh about the comical resemblance.
Having let off some steam, Zhao Yunlan felt better. He found a place on the ground to sit next to the Emissary, then gestured toward Wang Zheng with his chin. “Sit.” The gossamer thread binding her surged and transformed into a silver chair sized for a single person.
People belonging to ethnic minorities from bitterly cold regions often had a particular warm enthusiasm about them, but there was no trace of it in Wang Zheng; perhaps the story of her life and death was too long and cold to sustain it. Whatever the reason, she seemed perpetually gloomy and quiet, withdrawing into herself no matter the situation. Her jet-black hair cascaded down around her face, drifting in midair.
Calmer now, Zhao Yunlan said, “Sometimes a listener only needs to hear a bit of a story before they can guess the ending. Do you know why that is?”
Wang Zheng looked up without answering, and Zhao Yunlan sighed. “Because its ending is inevitable. And if something was destined to happen, there’s not a damn thing you alone could have done to prevent it.”
“How do you know?” Wang Zheng mumbled.
“I just understand people like Sangzan,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Hundreds of generations of slaves. When a father dies, the son still needs to serve. If Sangzan was the first one who ever dared to truly rebel, his heart must have been bursting with discontent. A courageous, upright, outstanding man like that? He might conceivably be willing to die for you if you wanted his life, but he’d never allow you to harm his dignity. Forget about empty things like titles or honors, or distant things like promotions or wealth. Isn’t a man’s most fundamental dignity found in taking care of his family and in being able to keep the person deepest in his heart safe?”
From close by, the Emissary murmured, “Does that describe you as well, Guardian?”
“You can’t force something like fate.” Zhao Yunlan had no idea why the Emissary might interject with something so trivial. A bit taken aback, he answered, “If someone was willing to follow me to the ends of the earth, if they took care of me and understood me and my needs, but I didn’t even have the heart to protect them? What the fuck would I even be? Would I even deserve to be called human?”
The Emissary’s hands had been resting on his knees, but now he withdrew them into his sleeves where no one could see them clench them into fists. Softly, he said, “The Guardian’s affections run deep. The one who receives them will be fortunate indeed.”
“Huh?” The praise made Zhao Yunlan freeze, thrown off by the comment. Then he laughed it off. “Aiyou, my lord, please don’t. I don’t have the fortitude to be praised by you.”
The Emissary changed the subject lightly rather than continuing with that line of thought. “For his people’s sake, Sangzan bore the burden of such horrendous deeds. He gambled everything to give them a better life. But having personally made such an impossible dream come true, there was no way he could’ve imagined what would follow.”
Zhao Yunlan nodded. “If I were in his shoes and the woman I loved died at those people’s hands, under the rules I’d laid down, I would hate them even more than I’d hated the old chief.”
“More than that…” The Soul-Executing Emissary looked up through his gray mist at the towering, unmoving Awl. “Even rending them limb from limb could never appease my hatred.”
He spoke quietly, but the cold in his voice was bottomless. Wang Zheng felt it keenly. She shrank back behind Zhao Yunlan.
“Did they behead you in front of him?” Zhao Yunlan asked.
She shook her head. “They put him under house arrest. The girl’s father said I had bewitched Sangzan and that it was all for his own good.”
After a silence, Zhao Yunlan said, “Then was he the one who collected your body?” Wang Zheng nodded. “So when you said you wanted to come here to find your body and finally rest in peace, you were just lying to me?”
Wang Zheng looked down. Eventually, she nodded again.
Brow creased, Zhao Yunlan looked at her for some time. Finally he glanced away. “This is the last time,” he said stiffly.
The Soul-Executing Emissary intervened. “Did Sangzan put your body in water?”
Wang Zheng inhaled deeply, taking a moment to calm herself. “Yes. Among our tribe, the mountain represents detainment and intimidation, while the water represents light that can float freely for miles. When slaves or criminals died, they were beheaded and sealed on the mountaintop. When nobles or highly respected people died, they were given a water burial and sent drifting down the river. Sangzan dug my head out in the night and stole my body before it could be burned. He cut the head off the body of that girl who’d died accidentally and swapped our bodies. He took me down to the river and sewed my head and body together, then put me in the body bag that had been prepared for her. He held me and wept the entire night, and the next day he stood and watched as someone else put me in the river.”
She raised her head minutely, lightly tracing the circle of red thread with her fingertips. The stitches were tight and fine. Rather than being creepy, the gesture was heartbreaking to see.
How must Sangzan have felt as he held her body and washed her face clean? As his fingers touched that pale, waxen face that held only death? As he sewed her body and head together?
Perhaps he had never even had the chance to tell her about the feelings he had always kept hidden, that had never seen the light.
Time was relentless and needlessly cruel. If someone hesitated even slightly, time would steal away their dearest desire and leave them with ashes, brokenhearted and unable to turn back the clock.
The two men listening were both silent, lost in thought.
“The water took my body away, but I never left,” Wang Zheng said. “I kept watching over him. He became a different person. Voting in the tribe had always been conducted by three people who took turns. One was Sangzan, one was the person who led the charge to have me killed, and the third was a well-respected elder. They would bring up important issues, and everyone else would raise their hands to speak. After some time, Sangzan married the elder’s granddaughter. The two of them joined forces against the man who killed me. Ultimately, they entrapped and framed him. Two years later, everyone voted to kill him too.”
Zhao Yunlan took out another cigarette, held it under his nose, and took a small sniff.
“After another year passed, the respected elder also died. It was believed that he’d died of old age, but I saw Sangzan poison him.” Wang Zheng’s brows twitched as if even now she couldn’t accept that fact. Poison was a coward’s weapon. How had an upstanding hero turned into a weasel who could poison someone in secret?
By using this method, it was as if he’d been determined to shame the people he’d secretly killed, even if it meant dishonoring himself.
“Next it was his wife, his young son… His own flesh and blood.” Wang Zheng’s nearly transparent hands twisted in the folds of her equally nonexistent white dress. “Every time he killed someone, he would secretly cut off their head the day before they were supposed to go in the water. He would replace their head with a rock and bury their head on the mountain. The weight caused their bodies to sink to the bottom of the river, unable to float away. By that point, no one in the tribe could stand against him. His reputation was at its peak. After years of careful scheming, he was able to manipulate everyone so that they believed they were voting freely, when actually he was ensuring that they thought the way he wanted them to. Eventually, he became the new chief.”
The new chief who held all the power yet wanted nothing but the tribe’s destruction.
After that, there were power struggles between different factions. Sangzan would suppress or support them, and even secretly fan the flames between them. The boy who had once been so honest and brave had learned to be a conspirator all on his own. The boy who had once held the corpse of the person he loved and wept through the night had turned into a cold-blooded, dangerous person…just as those good people who danced, sang, and only wanted to work hard for a better life would also raise their hands and blades to behead an innocent girl, then seal her soul into darkness and slavery for all eternity.
“In the fifteenth year after my death, the Hanga tribe once again descended into internal chaos. The slaves who had been suppressed for generations split into two factions and pointed weapons at their brethren. The battle was even crueler and fiercer than what had taken place before. They fought for an entire day and night. The valley was filled with the dead. Young children sat next to the bodies and wailed, faces smeared with blood. Vultures attracted by the scent of death circled overhead but didn’t descend because…because Sangzan had led the rest of the people to the sacrificial altar, where he lit the oil he had buried there earlier. While the fire blazed around him, he lifted the stone slab he’d set upside down under the Mountain-River Awl.”
Even more softly, Wang Zheng said, “That stone slab that had once represented eternal slavery, the one that had been scoured bare, once again had everyone’s names carved into it. The enormous fire kept burning and burning, as if it wanted to consume the entire valley. Only the Mountain-River Awl remained—a cold, unmoving pillar of shame.”
Those tens of thousands of ghosts had good reason to raise their voices in lamentation.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0032.txt
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“OKAY, I GET IT,” Zhao Yunlan interrupted, dispassionate. “In other words, all the resentful spirits inside the Mountain-River Awl are tribesmen and followers that Sangzan killed. So enough about all that shit from thousands of years ago. What’s our next move here and now?”
The Soul-Executing Emissary said nothing at first. Wang Zheng opened her mouth to speak, but Zhao Yunlan stabbed a finger at her. “Zip it. I wasn’t asking you.”
Wang Zheng zipped it.
“The Mountain-River Awl suppresses and absorbs souls,” the Emissary said. “Even someone who died peacefully of old age and had their soul drawn into the Awl would eventually become a vicious, resentful spirit, let alone those who died in such bitter, violent ways. If you ask me, there is no other way. Either we destroy this Hallowed Artifact, or we forcibly suppress all the souls it contains.”
The attempt at tact left Wang Zheng staring at him, wide-eyed with confusion. “My lord, what do you…”
Zhao Yunlan threw tact out the window. “He means if we can’t blow up the Mountain-River Awl, the only option is to obliterate all the souls inside it. It’s the only way to prevent further problems.”
Wang Zheng covered her mouth with a hand.
The Emissary shook his head. “Executing a soul for no reason is unjust.”
That left destroying the Mountain-River Awl.
All three of them fell silent.
Could the Netherworld’s Hallowed Artifacts just be destroyed on a whim?
Zhao Yunlan sat on the ground, toying with his lighter. As he stared into the tiny flame, he suddenly remembered something. “On our way up here, we saw a reaper with a lantern on the highway outside of Qingxi Village. It wasn’t that far away. Did they not know what was going on here? Did they just pass right by the Mountain-River Awl?”
The Emissary paused almost imperceptibly before answering. “They must ferry hundreds of people. Perhaps they lacked the time to deal with it.”
The glance Zhao Yunlan gave him seemed dubious. “If I may ask, my lord, why did you wait until now to gather the Four Hallowed Artifacts? They’ve been lost in the Mortal Realm for so long. Stumbling onto the Reincarnation Dial was a coincidence, but this time, you came straight for the Mountain-River Awl, didn’t you?”
Realizing he’d said too much, the Soul-Executing Emissary made no reply. Zhao Yunlan was far too astute. He showed a facade of being brash and unreliable, but that was a cover for his true shrewdness. Whenever he exposed his sharp mind without warning, he could cut right to the heart of an issue.
Zhao Yunlan wasn’t about to let the Emissary off so easily. His gaze slowly lowered, coming to rest on the Soul-Executing Emissary’s wide sleeves. “The blood on my lord’s sleeves is still wet. I’d never even heard of a youchu until recently, when they appeared at almost the exact same time as the Reincarnation Dial, one of the Four Hallowed Artifacts. The Netherworld had never breathed a word to me about them before. What exactly are youchu? Where did they come from? They can’t have just appeared out of nowhere. And as for these so-called ‘Hallowed Artifacts,’ shouldn’t everyone be fighting as hard as they can for them? Why would you guys let them drift around the Mortal Realm for all these years?”
The Emissary was accustomed to questioning others; he had never been on the receiving end like this. He was quiet for a long time. Finally, unable to offer a good excuse, he acted like a gentleman and offered the only truth he could. “Forgive me, but I cannot say.”
Lying to someone like Zhao Yunlan was basically asking to be humiliated. It was much simpler to fall back on “I can’t tell you,” which took much less energy than lying.
Lighting another cigarette, Zhao Yunlan took a deep drag and stopped asking.
He stood up and took out the patch of wall with the octagon symbol on it. Holding it in his palm, he asked Wang Zheng, “What does this mean? To your people, does this symbolize the Mountain-River Awl?”
Wang Zheng examined it closely, then shook her head, “No. When I was small, my father taught me that this meant ‘mountain.’ When a circle surrounds it, it means a river surrounding a mountain.”
“Are you sure your dad wasn’t messing with you?” Zhao Yunlan asked. “Doesn’t your illiterate tribe have another symbol for mountains?”
Wang Zheng was good tempered. Even when her boss said something so blatantly racist, she was able to stay calm; she didn’t even daydream about beating him up. “Those are for normal mountains,” she clarified. “The octagon is reserved for the sacred mountain—this one, where the Mountain-River Awl is. Before I died, this was my tribe’s forbidden area. No one but the chief was allowed to come here.”
Zhao Yunlan’s brows furrowed. “But I didn’t see any water around the mountain.”
“After all this time, maybe the landscape has changed.”
Zhao Yunlan gazed toward the Mountain-River Awl. “The souls of the mountain and water… The Hanga used the Mountain-River Awl for the Luobula Curse for who-knows-how-many generations. They must have had a deeper understanding of what’s going on. Why does giving someone a water burial in the river enable them to escape the Mountain-River Awl?”
The Soul-Executing Emissary saw where he was going with that and gave it some thought. “The mountain does not move, and running water does not nurse decay. The Guardian is suggesting water can defeat it?”
“Why don’t we try it and see?” Zhao Yunlan asked.
The Emissary stood up. Zhao Yunlan waved to Wang Zheng as if calling a dog, impatiently tapping his watch.
She understood. With a flash, she was gone.
The Emissary raised a hand and dispelled the mist, then immediately pointed at the ground. The circle of snow and ice surrounding the Mountain-River Awl quickly began to melt, becoming a thin ring of water. As anticipated, the Mountain-River Awl’s restless stirring quieted at once. It stood there in malicious silence, like a lunatic who had been temporarily appeased.
Standing cautiously outside the circle of water, the Emissary observed the Awl’s reaction.
As more and more ice and snow melted, a bubbling stream formed. It spread through the heavy, accumulated snow like little snakes, hissing their way toward the Mountain-River Awl.
A faint whirring sound caught Zhao Yunlan’s attention. For a moment, he thought it was tinnitus, but gradually, he began to make out intermittent words. A voice said, “Aged… Aged but not yet old…”
Zhao Yunlan went completely still. Something beyond words stirred in his heart. He listened carefully and found himself speaking in unison with the voice. “Stone that is aged but not yet old; water that is frozen but not yet cold; body that is dead but not yet born; soul that is melted but not yet burned…”
The Soul-Executing Emissary’s head whipped around.
After a dazed moment, Zhao Yunlan came back to himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose forcefully, struck by the suspicion that he was hallucinating. For a second there, he’d felt sure that the Mountain-River Awl was forging some sort of connection with him, pulling him closer.
In that moment, when he looked at the ground, a white light reflected off the snow and into his eyes. Zhao Yunlan’s pupils constricted at the sight of a person appearing out of nowhere behind the Soul-Executing Emissary. A huge axe came slashing straight down toward the back of the Emissary’s head.
From the moment he’d entered the valley, Zhao Yunlan had kept one hand tucked in his pocket, holding his gun at the ready. Reacting instantaneously, he drew the gun, braced his wrist on the Emissary’s shoulder, and fired without even blinking.
Through the silencer, the bullet hit the attacker square in the forehead. At the same time, the the Emissary swung the blade to the side. He turned like a vortex of night incarnate, a fierce gale rising around him. The friction of his blade and its sheath made an earsplitting sound as the end collided with the descending giant axe.
They both took three steps back. That was when Zhao Yunlan realized the axe-wielder’s face was covered by a deathly pale ghost mask. Ink-black fluid was trickling from the bullet hole in his forehead.
The ghost-faced figure slowly raised his hand, wiped the black blood off, and turned to Zhao Yunlan. Following his movements, the mask’s drawn-on features slowly twisted into something resembling a smile.
“Guardian.” The voice was muffled beneath the mask. “It’s been thousands of years, but you haven’t changed a bit.”
Zhao Yunlan arched an incredulous brow. That was rich, coming from someone he’d never heard of. And where did the “thousands of years” come from?
The mask’s eyebrows suddenly turned downward, morphing into an expression that looked like it was torn between crying and laughter. The person touched the bloody hole in his forehead, exploring inside it. “The Guardian didn’t quite disregard me like this before. But it doesn’t matter. After all, the favor of lending a fire couldn’t be repaid even if I died hundreds—”
The Emissary didn’t let him continue. The Soul-Executing Blade narrowed into a sliver of piercing light, nearly whistling as it sliced through the air. Zhao Yunlan had never seen the Emissary in such a violent rage. Sensibly, he stepped aside in case the two clashing titans needed more space.
From his watch, Wang Zheng asked, “Director Zhao, who’s that?”
Zhao Yunlan held a cigarette between his lips, stuffing each hand into the opposite sleeve to keep warm. He squatted down. “How should I know? I don’t know everyone. Do I look like someone who just makes friends randomly?”
Wang Zheng didn’t dignify that with a response.
Zhao Yunlan observed the battle for a while, then put out his cigarette in the snow. He exhaled into his frozen hands and rubbed them together.
“Stone that is aged but not yet old; water that is frozen but not yet cold…” As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the side. He knocked on his watch. “You know, I just had an idea. I’m going to try it out.”
That was exactly what Wang Zheng was afraid of: Zhao Yunlan having ideas. “Director Zhao!” she cried out. “Director Zhao—!”
Zhao Yunlan ignored her and took a ring of keys from his belt. The old key chain had once looked like a book, but the designs on it had been rubbed smooth. On the back, “Guarding” was written crookedly. There was a split down the middle, like a locket that could be opened. Carrying it, he headed toward the Mountain-River Awl.
Suddenly, a group of youchu burst from the heaving ground. They surrounded him, watching with a predatory gaze.
Zhao Yunlan looked right back at them. Lazily drawing out his words, he said, “Oh, I think I get it now. He’s the ‘master,’ hmm? And you’re the ones who took the Reincarnation Dial. What are you planning on doing with the Four Hallowed Artifacts?”
The youchu didn’t answer. They just took a step toward him, shoulder to shoulder, trying to scare him off.
Zhao Yunlan gave a cold laugh. With a cigarette between his fingers, he opened the little book-shaped keychain. A small ball of fire sprang up, revealing that the object was an intricate lighter, not a locket. With a small noise, Zhao Yunlan lit his cigarette.
He kept holding the lit cigarette rather than putting it in his mouth. “I hate two things,” he said. “Ugly people doing evil things, and menacing mutts blocking the road. You guys truly are model soldiers of the new age—all you do is trigger other people’s land mines.”
Like a tiny firecracker, the cigarette flew from his hand with a whoosh. A heartbeat later, it flared into a tremendous fireball with a long tail, heading straight for the youchu like a meteor of destruction.
It was no ordinary fire. The youchu screamed pitifully as it closed in on them. “The True Flames of Samadhi!” Two of them, unable to dodge in time, were swallowed by the conflagration.
In the firelight, Zhao Yunlan’s smile glowed. “Forget ‘true flame’ and ‘fake flame’! Are you so uncultured that you don’t even recognize the number one hidden weapon on the Ranking of Weapons? In the streets, people call this little wonder the Monkey Fleeing to the Sky!”
As he said this, the dashingly named fireball headed straight for the Mountain-River Awl’s base.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0033.txt
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HEARING THE COMMOTION behind him, the Soul-Executing Emissary gave a fierce flick of his wrist, sending his blade toward the ghost-faced figure. When he took the opportunity to glance back, the light of the monstrous fireball all but blinded him, leaving him unable to locate Zhao Yunlan. In desperation, he yelled, “Yunlan!”
Rather than take advantage of the Emissary’s distraction, the ghost-faced figure didn’t try to evade the attack. On the contrary, he offered his face to the Soul-Executing Blade. The blade cut into his mask, but then the Emissary seemed to hesitate. His attention snapped back and he quickly withdrew, leaving the mask scored but intact. For some reason, he was reluctant to cut off his adversary’s mask, and the two brushed past each other.
With an uproarious laugh, the ghost-faced figure headed straight for Zhao Yunlan like a huge cloud of black mist. Gathering his long cape, he drew the little cigarette lit with the True Flames of Samadhi into it. He stood facing Zhao Yunlan, his back to the Mountain-River Awl. The remaining youchu immediately retreated behind him, forming a ring around the Awl.
Zhao Yunlan regarded him with his eyes narrowed. “Bi Fang, that pheasant, swore up and down that the True Flames of Samadhi were enough to make the Monkey King cry for his parents, but your stupid robe isn’t even singed. I’m impressed.”
No expression showed on the ghost-faced mask. “I have no wish to hurt you. It would be best if the Guardian stayed out of this.”
There was no change in Zhao Yunlan’s relaxed, easy posture, with one hand tucked into a pocket. He didn’t need to try hard for his streetwise attitude to shine through. “Aiyou, I’m so scared.”
The Soul-Executing Emissary strode over and pushed Zhao Yunlan behind him, holding his blade at the ready. The way he’d positioned himself was so obviously protective that Zhao Yunlan shot him a confused look. Since the moment the peculiar ghost-faced person had appeared, there had been too many inconsistencies with the Emissary’s behavior.
This was no time to puzzle over that, though. Zhao Yunlan rummaged through his pocket. “Judging by your reaction, I guess the legendary Mountain-River Awl really does fear fire—or no, the Awl is all about suppression. It collects souls and keeps them locked inside. My guess is that it fears everything that flows, including water, fire, and maybe even wind. It’s just that wind, water, and fire from the Mortal Realm are all too weak, right?”
The frighteningly large eyes on the ghostly mask turned, staring straight at Zhao Yunlan. “Take care, Guardian. All that cleverness will get you hurt.”
Ominously, the Emissary said, “If you dare touch even a strand of his hair, I will make you regret ever crawling out of that place.”
The ghost-faced figure laughed loudly. “And how do you plan to do that?”
“Try me and find out,” the Emissary replied.
The mask’s features flickered. Its wearer suddenly launched up into the air, taking flight like a giant bat. Wide wings opened and he dove down, once again meeting the Emissary’s blade.
While those two fought, Zhao Yunlan suddenly dashed away from them. Youchu burst up out of the ground and rushed him, and he shot them down one by one.
The ghost-faced figure gave chase, eyes flashing. Despite the slash to his back, he continued to pursue Zhao Yunlan recklessly. Black blood gushed from the resulting wound, but it didn’t seem to matter.
More youchu were arriving by the moment. Zhao Yunlan swept a leg out and connected with a youchu’s face, knocking the creature to the ground. He stepped on its shoulder, brandishing the whip that had appeared in his palm. With a flick of his wrist, he cracked the whip, aiming for the ghost-masked face coming up behind him.
For some reason, the Emissary was unwilling to let the face beneath the mask be exposed. Zhao Yunlan’s sudden attack startled him enough that he instinctively raised his blade’s sheath as if to block the whip. He managed to stop himself, if only barely.
The ghost-faced figure had no apparent fear of guns, but the whip was another matter. He sprang back seven or eight meters, retreating out of its range.
When Zhao Yunlan convulsed with sudden silent laughter, the ghost-faced man instantly realized something was wrong. He twisted his head back, but too late—with an earsplitting noise, a bolt of lightning fell from the dark, heavy sky, carrying destruction from the Nine Heavens. The youchu under the Mountain-River Awl were all consumed by its fury.
With a great boom, divine fire illuminated the entire Awl.
Zhao Yunlan let his hands fall open, revealing a lightning-invocation talisman that was already disintegrating into fine powder.
Heavenly smiting was the punishment that awaited all traitors, evildoers, defilers, and sinners. Since youchu were unclean by nature, they were twice as efficient at attracting lightning.
Zhao Yunlan dusted the powder off his hands. “Don’t try to act cool. Acting cool gets you struck by lightning.”
His words still hung in the air when the Mountain-River Awl started to melt like a glacier. It slowly became thinner and smaller. The huge fire resulting from the divine lightning blazed straight toward the sky, reaching several hundred meters up. It echoed with the muffled sound of thunder, forming a maelstrom of flame at the Awl’s base. Anyone who even approached would be seared.
Countless lost, blurry faces flickered within the flames and vanished as if the divine fire had sent them elsewhere. A shaking like a heartbeat arose from the depths of the earth, like Zhao Yunlan had genuinely startled the souls of the mountain and water.
Suddenly, the ghost-faced figure appeared right in front of Zhao Yunlan, axe already falling toward him. Fortunately, the Emissary wasn’t paying any attention to the ruined Hallowed Artifact. The Soul-Executing Blade swept sideways with tremendous force. A clang split the air as it met the edge of the axe.
But Zhao Yunlan hadn’t been the target at all. When the Emissary stopped him, the ghost-faced man rolled with it and stayed close. With a creepy smile, he spoke into the Emissary’s ear. “He fucked up my plans. Are you happy? I’m sure he’s guessed far more than he lets on. He just won’t say it in front of you.”
A tiny motion of the Emissary’s wrist set his blade vibrating wildly. It sheared cleanly through one of his adversary’s arms, but for all the ghost-faced man’s response, it might have only cut a sleeve.
One-armed now, the ghost-faced figure backed up several dozen meters faster than the eye could see. The youchu that had managed to survive followed him, crawling and rolling along the ground. The bloodstained hem of his robe fluttered in the air. He whistled sharply, then called, “Good luck!”
They vanished as they had arrived: without a trace.
The Emissary looked at Zhao Yunlan’s profile, at how the firelight shone on his face, and felt a wave of panic. What was “he’s guessed far more than he lets on” supposed to mean?
What exactly had Zhao Yunlan guessed?
Just then, Zhao Yunlan turned to him. “My lord, can I trouble you to block the light with your sleeves again?”
The familiar gray mist rose back up immediately. Zhao Yunlan looked down and let Wang Zheng out of his watch, then pulled out a wrinkled soul-tracking talisman. “Call out to Sangzan. Let me see if I can summon his soul.” Wang Zheng’s eyes went wide. “Hurry! Before the fire goes out!”
Wang Zheng floated up into the air, facing the Mountain-River Awl, and yelled something Zhao Yunlan didn’t understand. The talisman he held shattered at once, turning into a tiny breeze that gently caught Wang Zheng’s words and swept them into the burning Awl.
Wang Zheng couldn’t venture past the mist, but she held herself as close to its border as possible, watching anxiously.
As the Mountain-River Awl dwindled, so did the fire—and with it, the light in Wang Zheng’s eyes. But then, as the divine fire was about to burn down to nothing, the blurry shadow of a man appeared in the flames. He seemed to be watching them from the distance.
Wang Zheng covered her mouth.
Zhao Yunlan took out a Soul-Guarding Order and snapped his fingers. It levitated to float in midair, standing upright. He turned to Wang Zheng. “You go talk to him. If he’s willing, tell him to walk toward the Soul-Guarding Order himself.”
His instructions proved unnecessary. The moment Sangzan saw Wang Zheng, he froze. Then he raced wildly out of the divine fire and straight toward the Soul-Guarding Order, all without a sound. The two spirits flashed in unison and vanished into the Soul-Guarding Order, which then disappeared into Zhao Yunlan’s watch.
It was a long time before the huge blaze finally died down entirely, leaving behind nothing but the worn-down sacrificial altar. The Mountain-River Awl had disappeared without a trace.
Zhao Yunlan slowly made his way to the spot. After some digging around, he found a small octagonal stone. It was wedge shaped—wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. Plucking it from the ground, he threw it to the Soul-Executing Emissary. “Here! Your Hallowed Artifact.”
The Emissary snatched the unimpressive-looking stone from the air. First, he carefully looked it over, and then he put it to his ear and listened. Thin, howling cries came from within, faint and full of desolation.
Wang Zheng spoke up from the watch, her voice full of hope. “Have… Have they all been freed?”
“No,” the Emissary said. “They are still inside. The essence of mountains and rivers has no fear of fire. The Guardian said it fears everything that flows, but that fear belongs to the souls and power it had drawn in from the Mortal Realm and built up around itself. That is what was burned away. This is its true form.”
Zhao Yunlan laughed. “Yeah, I just said that to fool him. Did he really think I was going to split the Mountain-River Awl? I’ve noticed that people who go around wearing masks don’t tend to be very smart.”
“…”
“Ah—that doesn’t include you, my lord,” Zhao Yunlan added, making it worse. “Of course not.”
The Soul-Executing Emissary was perfectly aware that Zhao Yunlan was unhappy about his many secrets. The fearless piece of shit was blatantly insulting him while claiming not to. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry, but one thing was clear: Zhao Yunlan had almost certainly overheard the last thing his ghost-faced adversary had said, and he was now making some extremely calculated jabs as a result.
On the one hand, it gave him the sense that their relationship was becoming more casual and familiar; on the other, Zhao Yunlan was subtly conveying that he wouldn’t make wild guesses just because of a few overheard words.
The Emissary’s heart sank. The man really was incredibly astute. It was likely that he wouldn’t be able to hide the truth from him for much longer.
Wang Zheng made a surprised noise. Anxiously, she asked, “Then how do we let them out? How can we help them find peace?”
“Since my lord has removed the Mountain-River Awl, the Yin-Gathering Spell on the mountaintop is now also broken. Once the trapped souls think it through, they’ll come out on their own. They’re only still stuck in there because they don’t want to come out yet. What can keep them in there now other than themselves?” Zhao Yunlan paused, then said pointedly, “When it comes down to it, wasn’t everything that happened all those years ago because people felt wronged?”
Wang Zheng suddenly went quiet.
Noticing that Clarity was running again, Zhao Yunlan took out his phone, checked the time, and reset the time on the watch. “Isn’t that true of you too, silly girl?”
“I was wrong,” she mumbled.
“You sure were,” Zhao Yunlan said easily. “Once you get back, write me a thirty thousand word report, and don’t think you’ll be getting any bonuses for the next six months. Reflect carefully, Comrade Wang Zheng. You’ll be representing our department at the Party seminar at the end of this year. I’ll get Zhu Hong to find you a corpse to wear, so study hard.”
Wang Zheng was silent for a while. Finally, she said softly, “So right from the start, I was powerless to do anything about all this?”
“Just realizing that now, you dumbass?” Zhao Yunlan suddenly laughed and pulled the ripped-out page about the Luobula Curse from his ratty wallet. He dug a hole and buried it deep under the snow. “There are always things that you can’t control. Either you become strong enough to solve every problem, or you just forget it. It’s not good to obsess over them. That just eats up your mental RAM.”
This time, Wang Zheng was silent for even longer.
The Soul-Executing Emissary approached and extended a hand to him. “We should leave. I will take the Guardian to the mountain pass, where the land is level.”
Zhao Yunlan was utterly exhausted. If someone was willing to give him a ride, of course he wasn’t going to walk. Nonchalantly, he let the Emissary take his hand.
The Emissary yanked him in close. Everything went dark. Before Zhao Yunlan could catch his balance and open his eyes, they had already teleported. The Emissary’s cape opened, revealing that they were at the mountain pass.
Releasing Zhao Yunlan, the Emissary backed up a step, bowed respectfully, and turned away. Between one heartbeat and the next, he vanished into a huge black hole.
As the Emissary disappeared, Zhao Yunlan rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Wang Zheng, still within his watch, suddenly spoke up. “I haven’t thanked you yet,” she began.
Zhao Yunlan cursed and rapped on the watch. “Don’t think sweet talk will get you out of those thirty thousand words. I expect that report in my inbox next week. And when we stay up to greet the New Year, all of you who had to write reports this year will have to read them out loud as part of our longstanding tradition. Don’t think you can get out of that either.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0034.txt
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IT WAS EVENING by the time Zhao Yunlan strolled back to the little hut on the mountain. Zhu Hong shot him a questioning look; Zhao Yunlan replied by flashing his watch at her. She understood at once and took a little handmade yarn doll from her bag. Passing casually behind Zhao Yunlan, she rubbed the doll over his watch. Where no one could see, two wisps of white smoke flitted into the tiny doll. It suddenly came to life, moving slightly in her palm.
Zhao Yunlan assessed the room. Everyone was accounted for and seemed to be in good shape. Chu Shuzhi stood guard by the door, not moving a muscle. Daqing was lying by his feet. Guo Changcheng was taking care of whatever was boiling in the little pot. The students were sitting in a circle, clearly on edge as they listened to Lin Jing, that fake monk, tell a ghost story. And Shen Wei was…
Where was Shen Wei?
Wait—how could he have thought everyone was accounted for?
Zhao Yunlan’s expression darkened. “Shen-laoshi?” he asked Zhu Hong.
She froze, a strangely lost look crossing her face. Then someone spoke up mildly from behind Zhao Yunlan. “Are you looking for me?” He turned to see Shen Wei walking in, arms full of firewood.
Zhu Hong slapped her forehead, as if just remembering. “Right! Yes! Since we’ll be here another night, Shen-laoshi was worried we wouldn’t have enough fuel. He went out to find dry kindling.”
Shen Wei set the wood down by the fire to dry. “It’s best to be prepared. Did you find Miss Wang?”
Zhao Yunlan glanced at him, confused. “Mm-hmm, I found her. We happened to run into the rescue squad on our way here. I have some things I need her to take care of, so they took her back for me.”
“Oh.” Shen Wei gave him a gentle smile. “As long as she’s all right. You’ve been running around outside all day. Come drink some banlangen38 so you don’t catch a cold.”
Zhao Yunlan stared at him for a while, then accepted the medicine as if nothing were out of the ordinary. He drank it down in one gulp. In the end, he didn’t say anything.
Over the past few days, Zhao Yunlan had gotten drunk with Lang-ge, then driven through the snow for an entire day and not slept at all during the second half of the night. Then he’d been drugged by Wang Zheng and injured by the Mountain-River Awl, on top of trekking around in the snow all day at a high altitude. He’d even ended up fighting a bunch of monsters.
The result of all those intense activities caught up with him the next morning when he got up and found he had a crick in his neck.
Cricked neck or no cricked neck, he was still the boss. The moment he woke up, he started issuing orders. Bright and early in the morning, the small hut on the mountain was in chaos under his direction. Zhao Yunlan ordered Lin Jing to massage his shoulder, at which point Lin Jing showed off the Shaolin sect’s Strongman’s Fingers and nearly broke his boss’s neck. The pain practically made Zhao Yunlan cry and definitely made him suspect Lin Jing of doing it deliberately to get back at him. Rather than doing anything actually helpful, the pair of them chased each other around the hut for twenty minutes, only stopping when Zhu Hong ran out of patience and yelled at them.
Zhao Yunlan gave Lin Jing a few fierce punches, then realized that he could miraculously move his neck again. Clasping his hands behind his back, he strode inside to gather his things. As he passed by, he even grabbed Daqing and wrapped the cat around his neck like a scarf.
The class leader was thoroughly confused. “When did this cat get here? Is it going back with us? I thought it was a feral cat.”
Snarkily, Zhao Yunlan replied, “Have you ever seen a feral cat this plump?”
Daqing gave him a decisive smack.
She walked over, full of sympathy, and petted Daqing’s sleek, glossy fur. “Poor guy, being shipped all this way by air! Oh, right—Zhao-dage, our teacher said he’ll drive on the way back so you can get some rest.”
Zhao Yunlan pressed a hand to his cheek where the cat had smacked him and stopped in his tracks to look at Shen Wei, who happened to be looking back at him. When their eyes met, Shen Wei looked down with a soft smile. His expressions and language were always so reserved; to Zhao Yunlan, it seemed like every single look on Shen Wei’s face concealed thousands of words.
His heart skipped a beat as he thought about the look in Shen Wei’s eyes the night before, when he’d awakened to find the professor watching him. It made him feel as if someone had pinched the tip of his heart, leaving it feeling tender in more ways than one.
Zhao Yunlan spent the drive down the mountain asleep in the passenger seat. When his cell phone suddenly rang and woke him, it was already noon and the sun had started to move westward. The car had long since left the snowy regions, and from time to time they passed people’s homes on the roadside.
It was Lang-ge calling. As soon as he heard that they were on their way back, he arranged a place for them to stay. Once again, he was overflowing with enthusiasm. He even expressed that they hadn’t enjoyed themselves enough the last time. This time, he said, they’d just have to drink until they dropped.
Zhao Yunlan’s expression was ugly when he hung up. He was neither an alcoholic nor Superman. What he wanted most right now was to sleep in a bed until the world ended, instead of having to grit his teeth and call a chubby man “bro” while they poured booze down each other’s throats and spouted bullshit.
The sudden terrible news completely tanked his mood. Even teasing Shen Wei lost its appeal. Putting his phone away, he settled in to shut his eyes for as long as possible and try for a good nap before the tough battle awaiting him that night.
Shen Wei waited until Zhao Yunlan’s breathing was slow and even before adjusting the blanket covering him.
By the time Lang-ge welcomed them on the main street downtown, Zhao Yunlan seemed to have shaken off his listlessness. He was once again a lively man, full of vim and vigor. Together, he and Lang-ge were poster boys for the saying “A thousand shots are not enough for chatty lips, and holes through stomachs are not enough for alcoholics.”
But the truth was, Zhao Yunlan wasn’t feeling well. When they cracked open the sixth bottle of liquor, he was already turning pale, despite looking unconcerned and pressing ahead through sheer willpower.
Lang-ge’s tongue was twice its usual size, and his face was red as he directed the waiter to “Fill it up, fill it up!”
Unable to stop him, all Zhao Yunlan could do was go along with it as he nodded at the waiter. He smiled bitterly and went to pick up his cup.
Out of nowhere, Shen Wei, who had been observing in silence, suddenly grabbed his hand. Lang-ge and Zhao Yunlan were both taken by surprise.
Shen Wei raised Zhao Yunlan’s glass and stood up. Very courteously, he said, “Director Zhao caught a bit of a cold in the mountains. He isn’t feeling very well right now.”
Zhao Yunlan hadn’t expected salvation to appear from that quarter. He quickly played along, lowering his head and coughing a few times.
With a smile, Shen Wei continued, “Mr. Lang has taken such incredible care of us all this time, but unfortunately these are all poor students who haven’t earned a cent in academia. We truly have no way to repay you. This drink is out of gratitude.”
He clinked his glass with Lang-ge’s and emptied it in one swallow.
Lang-ge paused. “Aiya,” he exclaimed, a little surprised. It was one thing to call a thug like Zhao Yunlan “bro”; arrogant scholarly types were quite another matter. He fully expected them to look down on him, so he tried not to bother them if he could. He’d certainly never imagined that Shen Wei would pay him such respect.
It was a new milestone in Lang-ge’s social-drinking career. Without a word, he dizzily took aim at Shen Wei too.
Zhao Yunlan quickly took a look around the table. The fake monk, who had excused himself by saying “monks don’t drink alcohol,” was currently reciting a Buddhist scripture as he gnawed on a huge bone. Zhu Hong was pretending to be an elegant lady who abstained from alcohol and was contently eating by herself, not even looking up. Chu Shuzhi had only touched his glass to his lips before pretending to be dead to the world.
And Guo Changcheng…that honest kid knew to fight for his boss, so he’d drunk himself unconscious ages ago. He was probably genuinely dead to the world.
All in all, not a single one of these traitors present could step up and help him.
Zhao Yunlan ground his teeth together and made a mental note about all of them. Then he drew on his charm and his capacity for drinking. Working together, he and Shen Wei drank Lang-ge, whose enthusiasm had caused such chaos, under the table. They were free at last.
Shen Wei clearly wasn’t used to this kind of gathering. His cheeks had been red for quite some time, and his gaze was a little hazy. When he tried to stand up, he couldn’t find his balance and plopped back into his seat. Zhao Yunlan hurried to help him. Leaning close, he asked, “Are you all right?”
Shen Wei swayed. He didn’t reply, but he did take the opportunity to wrap his arms tight around Zhao Yunlan’s waist.
Zhao Yunlan’s heart fluttered. No, Shen Wei clearly wasn’t quite all right.
“Then I…” Zhao Yunlan licked his lips lightly and lowered his voice. With thoroughly indecent ideas running through his mind, he said, “I’ll, ah, help you back to your room?”
He took Shen Wei’s lack of response for tacit agreement. Ducking under Shen Wei’s arm to support him, Zhao Yunlan half guided and half pulled him upright. The good news was that Shen Wei wasn’t a rude drunk. Even thoroughly intoxicated, he was quiet and biddable rather than behaving wildly.
Zhao Yunlan forced himself awake and briefly said his goodbyes. Then, still supporting Shen Wei, he swiped open the room beside his own. He eased Shen Wei down on the edge of the bed and had him sit upright. Looking at Shen-laoshi’s dazed, blank face, he couldn’t resist tousling his hair. “If you’re this terrible at holding your liquor, why did you drink for me?”
Shen Wei only looked up, tracking his movements with unblinking eyes.
“Stay put. I’ll find you a towel to wipe your face.” Zhao Yunlan went into the bathroom and grabbed the towels provided by the hotel. He dampened one with cold water and another with hot water. As he turned around to take them to the drunkard, he had a bit of a shock. Shen Wei had gotten up and appeared behind him without making a sound and was now leaning against the door, staring straight at him in absolute silence.
The intensity of Shen Wei’s gaze was so heavy it was almost palpable.
Zhao Yunlan extended a towel toward him. “Here.”
Shen Wei’s reactions were slightly delayed. It took a moment before he slowly raised a hand, and then, instead of taking the towel, he reached right past it and took hold of Zhao Yunlan’s wrist instead. Zhao Yunlan found himself being dragged into Shen Wei’s arms by brute force.
He had noticed earlier that something wasn’t quite right with Shen Wei, and the mood was a bit off, but Zhao Yunlan was still delighted by this development. He offered no resistance when Shen Wei yanked him close, or when Shen Wei pushed him up against the wall roughly and found his mouth, nearly tearing at his lips.
Even the sudden tang of blood only heightened Zhao Yunlan’s excitement. He lazily slipped his arms around Shen Wei, his nimble fingers following and then reaching under the hem of Shen Wei’s shirt. He teasingly stroked Shen Wei’s back, noticing that the skin he was caressing was unusually cool, like soft jade… Except this particular “soft jade” was violently tearing at Zhao Yunlan’s clothes.
Zhao Yunlan tilted his head back indulgently. Shen Wei could tear whatever he wanted; meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan’s hand was traveling lower. He slid it down the back of Shen Wei’s pants and started to explore underneath. But before he managed to start touching in earnest, he found himself picked up by the waist. He was totally unprepared for his feet to leave the floor entirely or to be spun around in midair…or to fall backward as Shen Wei slammed him into the bed.
The bed creaked in protest at this treatment. Fortunately, the hotel’s pillows and bedding were thick enough that the impact didn’t hurt, but Zhao Yunlan yelped, half in earnest. He dabbed at the blood on his lips and gave a faint laugh. “Babe, you’re a little wild.”
Shen Wei stared down at him. There was a sense of command in that look and an emotion in his night-black eyes that seemed barely contained. A hint of red highlighted his face. In the dim light, he was more beautiful than ever, rendering Zhao Yunlan suddenly breathless.
He reached up and took off Shen Wei’s glasses, then sat partway up and drew Shen Wei into his arms. Tugging Shen Wei’s collar open, he slid his hands downward, undoing buttons as he went. His fingers left trails of fire in their wake, revealing a body that was pale but not at all delicate.
Zhao Yunlan’s eyes darkened. He lowered his head and gave Shen Wei’s chest leisurely kisses. Voice a bit muffled, he said, “I was planning to keep my hands to myself, but then you went and threw yourself at me.”
He’d barely gotten the words out when Shen Wei abruptly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down on the mattress. The grip on Zhao Yunlan’s wrist tightened painfully as his hand was pressed into the pillow…and then Shen Wei’s teeth closed on his throat.
Lying under his weight, Zhao Yunlan felt Shen Wei’s breathing grow harsher and harsher, as if he wanted to swallow Zhao Yunlan whole.
Shen Wei’s sheer eagerness had caught him off guard, and the biting wasn’t entirely comfortable. Zhao Yunlan struggled a little, unable to keep a small laugh from escaping. “Come on, babe, there’s no rush. You…”
His slight movement seemed to unleash something. Shen Wei’s manhandling had been a bit rough, but now it took on a certain madness. Shen Wei reached down and grabbed the arm Zhao Yunlan was resisting with, violently twisting it behind his back. A hand closed on Zhao Yunlan’s neck, as if Shen Wei wanted to choke him to death.
Zhao Yunlan’s aging bones creaked as his head was forced up. Before he could even protest, icy fingers seized his chin. Shen Wei leaned closer and kissed him—again and again and again, ravaging and plundering.
Suddenly, the lights went out with a pop, plunging the room into darkness. The only sound was a man panting like a wolf that had known only starvation for many, many years.
Something abruptly slashed across Zhao Yunlan’s shirt, which hadn’t had many buttons to begin with.
“Nnh… This is a little too wild… Shen Wei!” Zhao Yunlan’s heart might have been alight and burning, but this kind of drunken craze wasn’t what he had in mind. He deftly rolled to the side, shouldering Shen Wei and pulling his arm free.
As soon as Zhao Yunlan protested, Shen Wei froze. Then, without a word, he toppled into Zhao Yunlan’s arms and went utterly still.
The lights in the room all came back on at once. The sudden glare was blinding. Eyes closed against it, Zhao Yunlan moved his wrenched shoulder and caught hold of Shen Wei. Nearly every trace of his earlier excitement was gone. With a bitter laugh, he said, “When you get drunk and cut loose, you really…”
He cut himself off mid-sentence, shocked into sobriety. All the alcohol in his system evaporated from his pores. In the stillness of the room, he couldn’t hear Shen Wei’s breathing!
Zhao Yunlan’s hand trembled. He slowly pressed it to Shen Wei’s neck and counted off thirty whole seconds. There was no pulse.
Shen Wei’s face still had a red hue to it, but every sign indicated that he was now a corpse.
“Shen Wei? Shen Wei!” Zhao Yunlan turned him over and slapped his face hard. When that elicited no reaction at all, Zhao Yunlan immediately pressed on his chest and did a few rounds of CPR.
There was still no reaction. The body lying on the bed could have been a mannequin.
“Fuck!” Zhao Yunlan jumped up and retrieved his phone from where he’d dropped it. Its battery had fallen out, so he quickly stuffed it back in, turned the phone on, dialed the emergency number, and briefly explained the situation. Then, following the doctor’s instructions, he tore through Shen Wei’s luggage, hoping to find medication in case Shen Wei had a chronic illness of some kind.
While ransacking Shen Wei’s things, Zhao Yunlan suddenly took conscious note of his own torn shirt.
The tear was a long diagonal slit from his left shoulder down to the right side of his abdomen. The shirt was heavy and made for the cold weather. Despite that, it had been tidily sliced in two, against the grain of the fabric. Zhao Yunlan closed one hand over each side and scrunched the shirt together. It had unmistakably been made by a sharp object.
But…drunk or not, Shen Wei’s hands were empty. He didn’t even have a nail clipper on him. Where had the sharp object come from?
Zhao Yunlan hadn’t been all that drunk to begin with, and just now he’d been in a complete panic, but his brain was finally coming back online. No one’s breathing and pulse would stop simultaneously without any warning signs. Even a sudden heart attack would have some other indicators. And yet Shen Wei had simply…shut off, just like the room’s lights, as if he also had a switch.
All told, this didn’t seem much like an illness. It was more like his soul had simply left his body.
Shocked and confused, Zhao Yunlan looked back at the man on the bed. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled a black leather notebook from his laptop bag. He took a yellow paper talisman from between the book’s pages, then took a strand of Shen Wei’s hair, rolled it up in the talisman, and lit the talisman on top of the notebook. Thin ashes fell into the book and swirled into nothingness, like salt falling into water.
A line of text appeared on the yellowing paper: Great evil. A soulless being.
Zhao Yunlan’s expression shifted. Pressing between the pages, he quietly asked, “Where is he from?”
The words on the paper flashed, then disappeared. This time, it took longer for text to appear: An unspeakable place, thousands of chi below the Huangquan.
Zhao Yunlan’s pupils constricted.
Then, he got up and tidied the room silently. Somehow, he found a handful of safety pins and pinned the tattered remains of his shirt closed from the inside, then shrugged back into the jacket he’d taken off because it stank of alcohol.
Very soon after that, the ambulance arrived. That woke everyone up, and after another round of chaos, Shen Wei was finally carried out.
The students were all panicked and at a loss for what to do, having lost their pillar of support. Zhao Yunlan overrode them all and made them stay put. He exchanged a glance with Lin Jing and got into the ambulance with Shen Wei.
Shen Wei’s heart continued not to respond despite the doctors’ frantic attempts to snatch his life from the jaws of death. Zhao Yunlan waited off to the side, tapping his thumb silently against the knuckle of his forefinger.
At this point, he knew there probably wasn’t anything wrong with Shen Wei at all. The most likely scenario was that whoever was possessing the body had gotten drunk and was temporarily out of it, or the soul had straight up left. That would explain the terrifying symptoms.
And if that was the case…
Zhao Yunlan smoothed a crumpled invocation talisman behind his back. It lit in his palm. Then he lit a second, and then a third, but Shen Wei still didn’t react.
Time crawled by. The doctors were on the verge of giving up.
Zhao Yunlan concentrated and lit a fourth talisman, chanting in his mind: “Wandering soul, heed my call.”
With the third repetition, the talisman, which had nearly burnt out, flared with a whoosh. Shen Wei’s corpse-like body suddenly jolted fiercely from the electric shock. “There’s a pulse!” someone yelled. “We’ve got a pulse!”
Zhao Yunlan exhaled slowly, then calmly cupped all the ashes in his palm and hid them in his pocket.
Shen Wei had reached the hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night. A number of tests were conducted on him with no apparent results. Zhao Yunlan had called the ambulance because all the booze had shut his brain off, and this huge ruckus had ensued. All he could do now was stay with Shen Wei, shivering in the depths of winter.
Even Lang-ge was taken by surprise—he’d certainly never imagined he could drink someone into the hospital. Badly frightened, he raced to the hospital, but Zhao Yunlan managed to convince him to go back home. Fear had turned Lang-ge’s face the color of a cucumber.
The next day, Shen Wei woke up to find tubes of all sorts attached to him. With no idea when or where he was, he froze, then sat up and started removing the array of things that were connected to him.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to stay for a few days of observation,” said a voice, and Shen Wei finally registered Zhao Yunlan sitting in the corner. Zhao Yunlan was bundled up in a large army coat and held a steaming cup in his hands. The steam hid his face just enough that Shen Wei couldn’t see his expression clearly.
“I’m at the hospital?” Shen Wei was perfectly still, and then his expression changed as he seemed to realize something. “I… Did I drink too much?”
“That’s an understatement,” said Zhao Yunlan. “You drank so much that your breathing and pulse both stopped.”
Shen Wei’s heart sank. He didn’t think that his alcohol tolerance was so low. As he fumbled desperately for an excuse, Zhao Yunlan set his cup aside lightly and said, “But really, this is my fault. I was dazed from the alcohol too and you scared me, so I didn’t realize what was going on. I just panicked and called the emergency number. You might have to cooperate with the hospital for a few days…”
He paused before finishing his sentence. Shen Wei had a sinking suspicion.
“…my lord Emissary.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0035.txt
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FOR A WHILE, Shen Wei didn’t make a single sound. Zhao Yunlan didn’t rush him. He just sat motionless in the corner, waiting. The room was so quiet that the sound of Clarity ticking was faintly audible.
Eventually, Shen Wei sighed. With a wave, he banished the hospital gown and replaced it with his vast black robe. The Soul-Executing Blade was suddenly there in his hand. He secured the unremarkable-seeming blade at his waist. But for the first time, he didn’t conceal his face.
“How did you know?”
Zhao Yunlan just looked at him, seeming thoughtful. When he finally opened his mouth, what came out was, “I didn’t. I was bluffing.”
The expression that spread across Shen Wei’s face defied description.
Zhao Yunlan laughed. “No, no, it wasn’t a complete guess. There were a few clues, like how your little messenger puppet showed up practically the second I stepped into the Hanga tribe’s cave. When I mentioned encountering the reaper with the lantern up on the mountain, I didn’t say what they were doing, but when you replied, you said that they’d been ferrying souls. I couldn’t help remembering that the reaper bowed twice to the car before continuing on their way. I didn’t think I was mistaken about that. And oh, right—when I got back to the hut, I asked Zhu Hong where you’d gone, and she went completely blank. It was like she completely forgot your existence until you were in front of her. And also…”
Also, there was the way you gazed at me that whole night in the hut.
Zhao Yunlan took a moment to swallow those words back down. His tone changed. “Also, when you stopped breathing like that and I couldn’t find a pulse, I consulted the Book of Life and Death about you. It told me ‘Shen Wei’ was a soulless being who came from an unspeakable place.”
“Evidently I was careless,” Shen Wei said. A heavy silence fell between them.
To Zhao Yunlan, it felt excruciatingly awkward, especially when he remembered the horny way he’d followed “Shen Wei” around. The idea of keeling over and developing amnesia had a certain appeal.
“Um.” He gave a dry cough. “Shen-laoshi. It never occurred to me that you were… That is, if I messed around too much, or was too forward, my apologies. Please don’t take it too seriously, my lord.”
Shen Wei shook his head wordlessly.
The awkwardness was unbearable. Still wearing his jacket, Zhao Yunlan lay down on the cot provided for patients’ families. It was short and narrow, sized for a single person. He had to curl up slightly to fit on it, which was a pitiful look. But even while lying there pathetically, he remembered to say, “It’s late, so you should get some rest. If you need anything, just say the word.”
Shen Wei made a noise of acknowledgment.
Zhao Yunlan immediately regretted saying it; it wasn’t as if Shen Wei was actually a patient. Feeling that everything that had come out of his mouth all day had been wrong, Zhao Yunlan shut up, rolled onto his side, closed his eyes, and dozed.
But…all that aside, if Shen Wei was the Soul-Executing Emissary, how had he felt with Zhao Yunlan constantly at his side? What kind of gaze had been behind the black mist that shrouded his past and his future, as well as his face?
It was bound to be a sleepless night.
Director Zhao of the Special Investigations Department was suddenly on his best behavior.
He stopped spending time messing around or running his mouth with chubby Lang-ge. He stopped taking every opportunity to tease Shen-laoshi. When his team asked to go to the night market on the department’s dime, Director Zhao waved his hand and allowed it. He didn’t curse at anyone or show any intention of joining them.
Shen Wei stayed at the hospital for “further observation.” Zhao Yunlan spent the time curled up on the room’s narrow cot, surfing the internet and doing a bunch of weird research on his tablet.
Zhao Yunlan had vaguely indicated to Shen Wei that he should “cooperate” with the hospital. How exactly Shen Wei cooperated was unclear, but one way or another, after two days he was diagnosed with a severe allergy to alcohol that had paralyzed his heart. When Lang-ge, who was taking them to the airport, heard about this, he stomped his feet and pounded his chest with regret. Tugging at Shen Wei’s hand, he cried, “Bro, if your laoge knew you couldn’t drink, I never would have let you have a single sip!”
When Zhao Yunlan contemplated just whose “laoge” Lang-ge was claiming to be, his eyelid developed a tic. He grabbed Shen Wei’s luggage and said, “Time to go through security.”
Shen Wei quickly turned. “I can take my own bags.”
Without replying, Zhao Yunlan jumped to the side and continued on with Shen Wei’s luggage.
The idle brats of the Special Investigation Department, with Lin Jing as ringleader, all started to cough meaningfully. As if afraid there wasn’t enough chaos in the world, they began making faces at each other.
Zhu Hong elbowed Guo Changcheng. “Hey, xiao-Guo, do you have a partner?”
Guo Changcheng blushed and shook his head.
Zhu Hong stared significantly at Zhao Yunlan’s back. “If you want to find a partner in the future, you could learn a lot from our boss. Following his example will definitely make you the most eligible bachelor of the new era. But just remember, if you want a relationship that lasts, you need to make sure you learn from him selectively. He starts off strong, but once things get going, his behavior isn’t worth imitating.”
Still blushing, Guo Changcheng had the vague sense that Zhu Hong-jie was cursing their boss in broad daylight.
Zhao Yunlan turned and glared at them, which just made Lin Jing and Chu Shuzhi laugh even harder.
On the flight over, Zhao Yunlan had troubled a flight attendant specifically to switch his seat. The whole trip, he’d followed Shen Wei like a mosquito, embarrassing himself nonstop in front of him. Now that they were heading back, Zhao Yunlan really wasn’t in the mood…except when he got to his seat, he realized that Lin Jing, who had been in charge of the tickets, had helpfully put him and Shen Wei beside each other in seats far away from everyone else.
Lin Jing helped him stow his luggage and took the opportunity to whisper in Zhao Yunlan’s ear. “No need to thank me, boss.”
Zhao Yunlan gritted his teeth. “I’ll thank your fucking ancestors.”
But his piggish teammates weren’t going to let him off easy. After the three-hour flight finally ended, Lin Jing realized Shen Wei hadn’t brought his car. With great enthusiasm, the fake monk eagerly loaded the students into taxis, one by one, and sent them off. That done, he beamed like a matchmaker and said to Shen Wei, “Shen-laoshi, don’t you live near Director Zhao? Let him drive you home!”
Zhao Yunlan said nothing, but in his head, he named a little doll “Lin Jing” and stabbed it until it was full of needles like a porcupine.
The curse seemed to have some effect. Lin Jing turned away and sneezed convulsively.
Shen Wei smiled. “No need. I can get a taxi.”
With others present, what could Zhao Yunlan say? He could only take charge of Shen Wei’s luggage again. “Let me drive you,” he said. “It’s already dark. If I drive you, it’ll be…”
He’d meant to say “it’ll be safer,” but before the words escaped, he was revisited by the memory of that day in the alley when he’d beaten up a bunch of thugs for Shen Wei—and worse, had acted so cool about it, exactly like a stupid peacock displaying its feathers when it was already showing its ass.
It was a real struggle to keep smiling. Recalling the past was truly unbearable.
During the entire drive, Zhao Yunlan had nothing to say. He drove in the direction of his own home and then, unerringly, to Shen Wei’s building. He parked below it and said, “We’re here.”
Shen Wei didn’t move. “How did you know I lived here? You looked me up?”
Zhao Yunlan’s laugh was very dry. “I didn’t find anything. My lord’s identity is seamless.”
Shen Wei glanced at him. “The Guardian must have many more questions for me, I suppose?”
Zhao Yunlan didn’t reply. Their gazes met in the rearview mirror.
When Shen Wei eventually broke eye contact, he said, “Then why don’t you ask?”
Zhao Yunlan was silent a while longer. Finally, he said, “I doubt my lord is using this identity to exist in the Mortal Realm for normal, official business. Is there…some other special reason?”
“No,” Shen Wei said, a little distracted. “It’s for selfish reasons. It’s because of…someone.”
By this point, Zhao Yunlan didn’t need to ask who “someone” might be.
Shen Wei regretted the words at once. What possible point was there in telling Zhao Yunlan that? What was he hoping to gain by saying it? In that moment, he felt both laughable and despicable.
He was accustomed to being vague. His reply to Zhao Yunlan was essentially the equivalent of carving his own chest open and exposing his heart. He found he didn’t want to know how Zhao Yunlan might respond.
Shen Wei hastily ducked his head and opened the car door. “Thank you. I’ll go inside now.”
Zhao Yunlan didn’t respond. Still looking at the rearview mirror, he watched the panicked way Shen Wei got out of the car and realized he was mildly annoyed.
For nearly half a year, he had stopped at absolutely nothing to pursue Shen Wei and had come so close to having him in his grasp. He hadn’t let shame or dignity hold him back; the saying “If he wanted the stars, he wouldn’t give him the moon,” was an apt one. Even if Shen Wei were straight as a steel rod, he would have succumbed by this point. But Zhao Yunlan didn’t dare treat the Soul-Executing Emissary the way he had Shen Wei.
He and the Emissary had known each other for years now. They might not be close, but their relationship was a good one. If someone had even the most basic intellect and self-awareness, they would naturally maintain respect and distance with the Soul-Executing Emissary. The Emissary’s powers weren’t what made him formidable—after all, he’d simply been born with those. No, he was formidable because he was him.
The Soul-Executing Emissary had been born in the blackest depths of the Netherworld. Places that dark were what birthed monsters. It was already easy to fall when one was at their lowest, and that was all the more inescapable for beings of absolute darkness born with claws and fangs. Since the dawn of time, the Soul-Executing Emissary was the only aberration who had risen from such uncleanness to become a god.
Even if one day the Soul-Executing Emissary’s—Shen Wei’s—body crumbled and fell into filth, he would still be incomparably noble and unsullied. No one would dare desecrate him.
And now, as Shen Wei left the car, a terrible bleakness overshadowed his face. Zhao Yunlan’s heart turned over. With no real idea what he was thinking, he leaned across and grabbed the door. “I’ve never been inside the Soul-Executing Emissary’s territory. Aren’t you going to invite me up?”
Shen Wei paused, then nodded. “Gladly.”
Zhao Yunlan locked the car and followed Shen Wei upstairs and into the apartment, his mood a little uncertain.
“Please sit,” said Shen Wei.
The apartment was pristine, but somehow it didn’t quite feel like a home. Looking at the immaculate sofa, Zhao Yunlan almost felt bad for sitting on it. He found himself moving in an extraordinarily polite way.
Shen Wei opened his water dispenser and took out its accompanying kettle, which he filled with cold water. Rather than heating it up, he brought the kettle over directly. He held it in both hands, and the water quickly started to boil. Then he got out tea and teacups, steeping and pouring tea with the smoothness of long practice. “I only stop by here occasionally, and rarely for long when I do. I’m afraid I don’t have any new tea. I hope you don’t mind.”
Zhao Yunlan didn’t care. It wasn’t as if he could tell the difference between new and stale tea anyway. With the teacup radiating heat into his fingers, he suddenly asked, “My lord, why did you hide your identity from me all this time?”
Shen Wei paused. “If I’d told you, it would have been awkward.”
“You mean you saved yourself from feeling awkward and instead you get to watch me feel awkward, right? Did it make you happy seeing me do all those stupid things?”
Rather than answering the question, Shen Wei only smiled good-naturedly. But Zhao Yunlan’s blunt confrontation had slightly eased the awkwardness in the air.
When Shen Wei spoke, it was to say, “About that ghost-faced individual we encountered the other day—if you see him again, you must be careful.”
Zhao Yunlan lowered his head and blew on the leaves on the surface of his tea. “He’s after the Four Hallowed Artifacts?”
“Yes.”
“And what happens when they’re all gathered together?”
“They were created before the equilibrium of yin and yang, Heaven and Earth. It was the beginning of Chaos,” Shen Wei said. “All things had souls but not spirits, life but not death; people were gods, but the gods were as ants. The Four Hallowed Artifacts carry the power of Chaos. If someone with ill will were to gather them together to use them, it could be the end of the world as we know it.
“My position entails certain responsibilities. I would rather destroy the Netherworld’s Hallowed Artifacts than allow them to fall into the hands of anyone who would misuse them.”
Zhao Yunlan was silent for some time, which made Shen Wei uneasy. He didn’t fear Zhao Yunlan’s questions, but he feared the lack of them. Zhao Yunlan knew how to act appropriately and also when to stop. He might never say or ask anything he shouldn’t, but that wouldn’t keep him from piecing things together. What Shen Wei feared the most was not knowing just how much he had already guessed.
Eventually, Zhao Yunlan said, “That ghost ‘face’ was a mask, and you were clearly reluctant for it to come off. Was that because I know his face?”
Shen Wei paled at the confirmation that Zhao Yunlan had noticed. So it had been deliberate when he’d aimed his whip at the mask!
Seeing his reaction, Zhao Yunlan immediately stopped himself. “Okay, you don’t need to tell me. I know now. I won’t ask anymore. Just…” He sighed. “Just stop frowning.”
His tone naturally lightened on the last few words, as if that were his usual way of showing that he cared—a vague way that was hard to pinpoint. Shen Wei’s throat went dry. His heart hurt as if it had been scratched.
Zhao Yunlan downed the entire cup of tea in one gulp. Feeling a bit bad about having overstepped a boundary in trying to get information, he got to his feet. “We just spent so much time on the road, and so much happened. You should get some rest, my lord. I’ll let you be.”
As he headed for the door, Shen Wei called after him. “The other day, when I acted out of sorts after drinking, I—other than my soul leaving, did…did I do anything else disgraceful?”
Zhao Yunlan paused. Shen Wei stared at the table, too afraid to look at him.
Smiling, Zhao Yunlan turned back. Where his smiles were so often cold or cocky, this one was unusual. It was intentionally gentle and reassuring. Pointing to himself, he said half-jokingly, “Oh, you absolutely did. You threw yourself at me very enthusiastically. It still overwhelms me just thinking about the favor my lord showed me.”
He made his farewells and went downstairs, but before getting in the car, he couldn’t help looking up. Shen Wei’s light was still on. The apartment wasn’t many floors up, and Zhao Yunlan’s keen vision let him see a silhouette at the window, watching him go silently.
It gave him the sense that Shen Wei was always silently watching him depart.
Behind his smiles, Zhao Yunlan’s heart was heavy.
Legend had it that the Soul-Executing Emissary had been born from an incalculable span of tremendous cruelty. A great evil, a soulless being from the end of the Huangquan, his blade like snow… But what Zhao Yunlan remembered was how he always arrived in the dark, then returned to the darkness, forever solitary, even as he walked along the bitterly cold Huangquan Road with souls beyond counting.
He was always alone, and Zhao Yunlan felt sympathy for him.
Whatever kind of connection he’d had with the Soul-Executing Emissary in previous lives, Shen Wei clearly didn’t want him to know, so Zhao Yunlan didn’t try to dig the information out of him. The smothered emotion he’d seen in Shen Wei’s eyes back in the hotel room sparked fear in him; there was something there that he almost didn’t dare touch.
He leaned against the car and smoked an entire cigarette before getting in and slowly driving out of the neighborhood.
By the time Zhao Yunlan got home, Daqing had already been sitting in front of the fridge for quite a while. The first thing the cat did was deploy the royal “we” as he angrily demanded, “Where’s Our cat food? It hasn’t been long at all since We’ve paid attention to you! You dare throw Our cat food away? How dare you? How dare you?!”
Shen Wei had thrown the cat food out because it had expired.
Zhao Yunlan ignored him and changed his shoes. Then he poured a little dish of milk and cut a few pieces of sausage and put it all in the microwave to warm up for Daqing. Shen Wei had also been the one who’d stocked his fridge.
Daqing was flabbergasted. He circled Zhao Yunlan’s ankles, then approached to take a sniff. “What’s up with you? Why do you look like you’ve eaten rat poison?”
Zhao Yunlan flopped back on his sofa, stretching his legs. He scooped Daqing up onto his lap and stared into the cat’s eyes. “The year I was ten, you found me and gave me the Soul-Guarding Order.”
Daqing nodded, confused. “You’re already old enough that you want to write a memoir?”
“I was just a happy, stupid child. I thought I was like a male Sailor Moon.” Zhao Yunlan laughed self-deprecatingly and petted the fat cat’s head. “Daqing, tell me the truth now. Who exactly am I?”
Daqing froze.
“You said you were the yao cat who served the Soul-Guarding Order—that you were the one who found the Guardian of each generation. I always thought the Soul-Guarding Order was like an ancient sword with a spirit, and anyone could be the Guardian as long as they met its requirements. But the truth is…there’s only ever been one Guardian, right?”
Daqing stared at him, round eyed. Sometimes he was bad at faking it; at that moment, his gaze barely resembled a cat’s. “Don’t go getting a swollen head—”
“Then where did the True Flame of Samadhi on my left shoulder go?”
Daqing’s fur stood on end. “You remember?”
Zhao Yunlan took a cigarette from his pocket and leaned back into the sofa, feeling weary. “That was a trick, dumbass.”
The black cat said nothing.
“So that means I really did have a past life.”
Daqing meowed softly and leaned closer, hesitantly. As if he were an actual furball kitty, he nudged his head against Zhao Yunlan’s belly, then nuzzled it. It was unusual for this dumb fatty to be so agreeable. Zhao Yunlan picked him up and stroked his back.
“I don’t know,” Daqing said. “Back then, my cultivation wasn’t complete. You… Your attitude then was very similar to now—an insolent asshole. Then one day, you were just…gone. For a long time, maybe dozens of years, no one knew where you went. When you finally came back, the True Flame on your left shoulder was gone. You held me and roasted a fish for me. After I ate it, you took out your whip, turned it into three paper talismans, and gave them to me.”
Daqing curled up in Zhao Yunlan’s warm embrace and shut his deep green eyes.
“What did I say?” Zhao Yunlan coaxed gently.
“You said… You said you’d messed up big time. That you probably wouldn’t be able to come back again. I carried the Soul-Guarding Order with me and worked hard on my cultivation. I looked for you for five whole centuries.”
For a moment, Zhao Yunlan thought the heartless black cat was about to cry. His heart melted. He sighed and was just about to say something when Daqing struggled out of his arms, gave his shiny black fur a great shake, and stood on his thigh to issue a decree.
“So you have to treat me better! The microwave has already beeped five or six times. Bring me my milk and little sausages!”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0037.txt
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Appendix: Character and Name Guide
CHARACTERS AND ASSOCIATED FACTIONS
The identity of certain characters may be a spoiler; use this guide with caution on your first read of the novel.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS DEPARTMENT (SID)
A police department under the Ministry of Public Security that investigates supernatural crimes in the Mortal Realm. It works with local law enforcement but is not under their jurisdiction.
Zhao Yunlan 赵云澜
Titles: Director of the Special Investigations Department, Guardian to the Soul-Guarding Order 镇魂令主
Weapons: Dagger, whip, paper talismans, gun
Zhao Yunlan was born with his third eye open, naturally able to see ghosts and supernatural creatures within the Mortal Realm. When he was ten years old, a black cat, Daqing, brought him the Soul-Guarding Order, which is how he became the Guardian. Later, with the help of his father at the Ministry of Public Security, he became the Director of the Special Investigations Department.
He wears a watch named Clarity (明鉴) which has the ability to reflect supernatural presences even when they can’t be seen with the naked eye. The name “Clarity” comes from its mirror-like quality and ability to show the truth.
Chu Shuzhi 楚恕之
A mysterious, stoic man of few words. His grim demeanor intimidates Guo Changcheng.
Daqing 大庆
A talking, fat black cat, and the SID’s mascot. Daqing has lived for thousands of years and is very knowledgeable about supernatural and mythological matters. He was the one who brought Zhao Yunlan the Soul-Guarding Order.
Guo Changcheng 郭长城
The new intern at the Special Investigations Department. An orphan brought up by extended family, his uncle was the one who secured him this job. A recent graduate from college, Guo Changcheng has a great fear of people and often finds it hard to interact with others, especially those in positions of authority, such as his boss. Despite this, he has a heart of gold and often donates his time and money to charities and to help those in need.
Lin Jing 林静
A Buddhist monk who doesn’t always abide by the strict rules of his religion.
Wang Zheng 汪徵
An employee of the HR Department at the Special Investigations Department. As a ghost, she cannot come in contact with sunlight.
Zhu Hong 祝红
A dependable member of the Special Investigations Department. Zhu Hong is half human and half snake and can transform into her python form at will, except during a certain period each month when her tail is always visible.
SOUL-GUARDING ORDER
In addition to being head of the Special Investigations Department, Zhao Yunlan is also the Guardian, leader of the Soul-Guarding Order. This is an organization that has existed since ancient times and is responsible for overseeing supernatural matters in the Mortal Realm. The Guardian has authority over those who choose to enter the Order and possesses three special talismans with the words “Soul-Guarding” written on them.
DRAGON CITY UNIVERSITY
Shen Wei 沈巍
A professor at Dragon City University. Well mannered and gentle, he seems to have a mysterious connection to Zhao Yunlan.
Li Qian 李茜
A graduate student at Dragon City University and a person of interest at the center of the Reincarnation Dial case. Neglected by her parents growing up, she lives in a small apartment off-campus with her grandma, who raised her.
NETHERWORLD
Soul-Executing Emissary 斩魂使
Weapon: Soul-Executing Blade
The Soul-Executing Emissary is a mysterious, powerful figure, feared by Netherworld creatures and members of the SID alike. Zhao Yunlan, who has met him occasionally in the past through his work, is one of the only people who doesn’t find him intimidating.
Ten Kings of the Yanluo Courts (Yanluo Kings) 十殿阎罗
The highest-ranking officials of the Netherworld, the Ten Kings are final arbiters who decide the fate of each soul based on their previous life’s merits and sins. Each presides over a different Hell; these Hells are differentiated by types of crime.
The Magistrate 判官
A high-ranking official of the Netherworld who carries out the Yanluo Kings’ orders and manages the reapers.
Reapers 阴差
Low-level Netherworld workers. They are essentially Netherworld law-enforcement officers sent out on tasks and errands, including retrieving newly deceased souls and guiding them to the Netherworld.
OTHER
Ghost-Faced Figure 鬼面人
A mysterious masked figure who seems to be an enemy of the Soul-Executing Emissary.
LOCATIONS
DRAGON CITY: A fictional metropolis where most of the story takes place. It is home to Dragon City University and the Special Investigations Department.
THE NETHERWORLD 地府: Where the deceased go after death. Common Chinese folklore believes that when people die, their souls are collected by reapers (阴差) who lead them through the Gates of the Netherworld (鬼门关) and down the Huangquan Road (黄泉路). The souls then arrive at the The Ten Courts of the Yanluo Kings (十殿阎王), where they are judged for their merits and sins. If they committed too many sins, they are sent to the Eighteen Levels of Hell (十八层地狱), but if they have accumulated enough good deeds in life, they may move on to reincarnation. In order to reincarnate, these souls first have to walk the Naihe Bridge (奈何桥), which crosses over the Wangchuan River (忘川河), and drink the Mengpo Soup (孟婆汤). After drinking the soup, the soul forgets everything from its past life and is ready to move on to the next one.
HUANGQUAN 黄泉: Literally “Yellow Spring.” In Chinese mythology, “Huangquan” is a word that can be used to describe the underworld itself, but can sometimes describe a part of the underworld or a literal, extremely deep body of water souls reach after death. In Guardian, it is used as a term for both the road to the underworld and a body of water within the underworld.
NAME GUIDE
DIMINUTIVES, NICKNAMES, AND NAME TAGS
A-: Friendly diminutive. Always a prefix. Usually for monosyllabic names, or one syllable out of a two-syllable name. Example: a-Lan
DA-: A prefix meaning “eldest.” Not always used literally—can be added to a name or other diminutive as a way to add respect. Example: dage
XIAO-: A prefix meaning “small” or “youngest.” When added to a name, it expresses affection. Example: xiao-Guo
LAO-: A prefix meaning “old.” Usually added to a surname and used in informal contexts. Example: lao-Wu
GE: Older brother or older male friend. Usually used to refer to a close but respected man older than the speaker. Can be attached to a name as a suffix. Example: Chu-ge
JIE: Older sister or older female friend. Usually used to refer to a close but respected woman older than the speaker. Can be attached to a name as a suffix. Example: Zhu Hong-jie, jiejie
TONGXUE: A general term used to address a student by someone who is not close to them. Used in contexts where calling them by their full name would sound too blunt. Can also be attached to someone’s name as a suffix. Example: Zhao-tongxue.
LAOSHI: A term used to refer to any educator, often in deference. Can also be attached to someone’s name as a suffix. Example: Shen-laoshi.
These affixes can also be combined. Combinations include but are not limited to:
DAGE: Literally means eldest brother, but when used outside family, it is an informal address to insinuate respect and closeness with a male friend older than the speaker.
LAOGE: Literally means elderly brother. In common usage, it’s similar to dage but even less formal and suggests a closer relationship. Usually refers to a significantly older man.
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0038.txt
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Appendix: Pronunciation Guide
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Mandarin Chinese is the official state language of mainland China, and pinyin is the official system of romanization in which it is written. As Mandarin is a tonal language, pinyin uses diacritical marks (e.g., ā, á, ǎ, à) to indicate these tonal inflections. Most words use one of four tones, though some are a neutral tone. Furthermore, regional variance can change the way native Chinese speakers pronounce the same word. For those reasons and more, please consider the guide below a simplified introduction to pronunciation of select character names and sounds from the world of Guardian.
More resources are available at sevenseasdanmei.com
NOTE ON SPELLING: Romanized Mandarin Chinese words with identical spelling in pinyin—and even pronunciation—may well have different meanings. These words are more easily differentiated in written Chinese, which uses characters.
Zhènhún
zh as in john.
en as in understand.
h as in horse.
un as in when.
(juhn hwen)
Zhào Yúnlán
zhao as in joust.
y as in you.
un as in boon.
lan as in leaf.
an as in run.
(jow yoon lahn)
Shěn Wēi
shen as in shun.
wei as in way.
(shun way)
Guō Chángchéng
guo as in Gordon.
ch as in challenge.
ang as in tongue.
ch as in challenge.
eng as in uh+ng.
(gwo chahng chuhng)
Note: The difference between ang and eng is that chang leans more towards ah-ng and eng leans more towards uh-ng.
Dàqìng
da as in darling.
q as in cheap.
ing as in English.
(da ching)
Zhù Hóng
zh as in john.
u as in fool.
ho as in home.
ng as in long.
(joo hohng)
Lín Jìng
lin as in lean.
jing as in jingle.
(leen jing)
Wāng Zhēng
wa as in want.
ng as in long.
zh as in john.
eng as in uh+ng.
(wahng juhng)
Sāngzàn
sang as in sung.
z as in regards.
an as in run.
(sung zun)
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0040.txt
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About the Author
About the Author
priest
An internationally renowned author who writes forthe novel serialization website, JJWXC, priest’s books have inspired multimedia adaptations and been published in numerous languages around the world. priest is known for writing compelling drama that incorporates humor and creativity, and a grand sense of style that infuses her world-building. Her works include Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang, Guardian: Zhen Hun, Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect, Mo Du (Silent Reading), and Can Ci Pin (The Defective), among others.
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Guardian - Zhen Hun/Guardian-Zhen-Hun-Volume-01-[Seven-Seas][Kobo]/section-0041.txt
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Footnotes
Footnotes
1. An echo bug is a mythological creature that lives in a person’s stomach and echoes everything they say.
2. A sishu (私塾) was a private class held by rich families for their children in ancient China. These do not exist in the present day. Xiansheng (先生) is an archaic word for “teacher.”
3. Dealing with the supernatural or the dead often involves the use of cinnabar (朱砂). Paper hats are used for funerals.
4. The Chinese onomatopoeia for a dog barking is “wang wang” (汪汪). Because Guo Changcheng sounds like he’s barking, Daqing responds with a sarcastic, “Meow.”
5. “Tongxue” is a way to address a student by someone who is not close to them in contexts where using their full name would sound too blunt. It can also be attached to someone’s name as a suffix, for example, Zhao-tongxue.
6. In Chinese mythology, hell has eighteen levels (十八层地狱).
7. Four (四, sì), which sounds like “death” (死, siˇˇ), is an unlucky number.
8. While yin and yang symbolize balance, the living are more associated with yang energy and the dead are more associated with yin energy.
9. The Three Realms (三界) refers to the Heavens (home of the gods), the Mortal Realm (home of the living), and the Netherworld (home of the dead).
10. Aunt Xianglin is a famous, tragic character from the story “New Year’s Sacrifice” by Lu Xun, forced to remarry after her first husband’s death and later shunned as unlucky when her second husband and son also die. She notably tells the story of her sufferings repeatedly before her death when the town bars her from a New Year’s sacrifice. In modern pop culture, she’s used as shorthand for a naggy person.
11. The Chinese birth chart (生辰八字) is a series of eight characters assigned to you based on the Sexagenary Cycle Calendar. Two characters each are assigned according to your birth year, month, day, and hour, forming eight characters in total. It is believed that one’s fate can be told from their birth chart.
12. One chi (尺) is 33.33 cm, and one cun (寸) is one tenth of a chi, or 3.33 cm.
13. There are ten courts in the Netherworld, each controlled by a king. Together, they are known as the Ten Kings of the Yanluo Courts (十殿阎罗), and they judge the souls that have died.
14. Idiom (少根筋) indicating someone is obtuse or not attuned to subtlety.
15. In the classic Chinese novel Investiture of the Gods (written in the late 1500s and early 1600s), a Soul-Dispatching Flag was used in battle. The reverse, a Soul-Beckoning Flag, would assumedly draw souls in.
16. Lin Jing is reciting part of the Heart Sutra, one of the more well-known sutras in the practice of Buddhism. The sutra discusses the practice of wisdom beyond studying rules, but because the character for “form” (色 sè) is sometimes used for discussing sex, one humorous reinterpretation is “lust is a hollow goal.”
17. Benefactor (施主) is a form of address monks use for the general public.
18. Spiritual merits (功德) accumulate through doing good deeds in life. The more merits you have, the better your karma, which will affect how good your next life will be.
19. The Huangquan (黃泉), or Yellow Springs, are a body of water in the Netherworld where spirits go when they die. Thus the road from the Mortal Realm to the Ghost Realm is the Huangquan Road.
20. The Six Paths of Reincarnation (六道轮回) are six different realms of existence where a soul may enter each new life: gods, demi-gods, humans, animals, violent ghosts, and hell.
21. A line from a poem by the Qing Dynasty poet Nara Singde.
22. The Ghost Festival (中元节) falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. On that day, the living pay homage to their ancestors and the dead visit the Mortal Realm.
23. Gui 鬼 is a word that usually describes ghosts, but can also encompass other heinous entities.
24. Fuxi (伏羲), Nüwa (女娲), and Shennong (神农) are the Three Sovereigns, primordial gods in Chinese mythology. Fuxi, first of the Three Sovereigns, is credited with teaching humanity to cook, fish, hunt, and write. Nüwa, second of the Three Sovereigns, created humans, and in traditional mythology repaired the sky when the pillars supporting it fell. And Shennong, last of the Three Sovereigns, taught the people how to farm and use traditional Chinese medicine.
25. Pangu (盘古) was the first being in Chinese mythology, who came out of the egg containing the universe, split yin from yang, and pushed apart the sky and the earth.
26. In Guardian, the wu (巫) were a race of people who existed in ancient times.
27. The yao (妖) are non-human spirits that have cultivated to consciousness and have longer life spans.
28. Dageng (打更) is a traditional method for time-telling at night. A night watchman would walk around town with a gong or a woodblock, striking five times throughout the night, roughly once every 2.4 hours.
29. The Book of Life and Death (生死簿) is a book that keeps record of all living beings, how long they live, and all details of their current life so the Netherworld can keep track of all the souls. This is how the reapers know it’s time to collect a soul from the Mortal Realm.
30. Nian (年) is a monster in Chinese mythology. Every year, in order to scare it away, people wore red and set off fireworks, which is why the Chinese word for year is “Nian.”
31. Baijiu (白酒) is a strong, colorless Chinese liquor that usually has an alcohol percentage of 35-60%.
32. The Six Directions (六合) are: up, down, left, right, forward, and backward. They define all of physical space.
33. A group of people originating from the area of Kham in central Tibet.
34. A pre-Buddhism Tibetan religion.
35. A fictional, inextinguishable flame.
36. The Bi Fang (毕方) is an auspicious bird from Chinese mythology. The Classic of Mountains and Seas describes it as a one-legged, crane-like green bird with red markings and a white beak, and warns that the Bi Fang may carry dangerous fire.
37. According to traditional beliefs, every human has three ethereal souls (魂 hun) which leave the body after death, and seven corporeal souls (魄 po) that remain with the corpse.
38. Isatis indigotica (板蓝根), a traditional Chinese herbal medicine commonly used for colds.
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter1.txt
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Interlude 6
Interlude 6
The minotaur made its way down a hidden hallway on the bottom floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth leading to a small room containing stones that were glimmering with azure light. It stepped onto the stones, and when it turned back in the direction it had come, the hallway was no longer there.
The scenery around it blurred for a moment, and then it found itself in a totally different place. The flat stones it was standing on were the same shape as before, but they were shining with red light instead of blue. Immediately next to it were stones of the same size and shape, but they were a dull gray and did not shine at all.
This room was much larger than the one it had been in before. It was shaped like a distorted hemisphere. The reddish-brown floor undulated unevenly, and orbs of red, yellow, blue, green—all sorts of colors—were scattered across it.
The orbs were several sizes as well; the biggest ones were as tall as the minotaur in diameter, and the smallest reached its waist.
They were not perfect spheres—the front of each was swollen and featured jagged patterns. If a human was to see them, they probably would have said the orbs resembled giant flower buds.
The orbs were growing from the ground. The floor, ceiling, and the orbs themselves were all emitting faint lights of various colors.
It was a strange and repulsive place. The air felt sticky and oppressive, as if it contained poisonous fumes. A single breath would allow thick miasma to invade the body. A creature without any resistance to it would surely die instantly upon entering this room.
Everything about the place was uncomfortable. The wall was the color of viscera, and it had a slimy texture that continued all the way up to the ceiling. There was no exit to be found.
The minotaur moved off the stones and took one step forward. The floor felt mushy.
It took another step forward, and then one of the orbs suddenly opened into the shape of a bell and attacked the minotaur with wriggling tentacles. The minotaur reflexively cut them all down.
It took one step back to try to gain some space, and then a slightly smaller orb behind it also opened and attacked it with its tentacles. The minotaur leaped and severed them, returning to the flat stones. It decided that taking on multiple orbs at once would not be a good idea.
The two orbs withdrew their tentacles and returned to their original shapes. The room fell silent as if nothing had happened.
The minotaur looked at its left hand, which had been grazed by one of the tentacles that had attacked it from behind. The part that had been touched was eroding with a sizzling sound and releasing an unpleasant odor.
The tentacles were quick and attacked with precision. Not even the minotaur would emerge unscathed if it fought a great number all at once. A part of its body was rotting after being touched by just one tentacle.
The orbs were sparse in the center of the room, where the minotaur was, but they were tightly packed near the walls.
If the minotaur had been human, it might have investigated and thought about the true nature of this room.
But no such inclination occurred to the minotaur.
There were opponents it could fight, and it was being attacked by them. So it would kill them.
Everything else came afterward.
A violent joy welled up from deep within the minotaur’s body.
Its smile reached its eyes.
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter10.txt
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Final Chapter. The Dream of the Legendary Beast
Final Chapter
The Dream of the Legendary Beast
1
A new challenger was standing in front of the minotaur.
It was a young knight with black eyes and black hair.
In his right hand, he was holding the sword the minotaur had given away twenty-eight years ago.
In his left hand, he held a shield of fine quality.
The minotaur remembered the presence of the dagger sheathed into the inside of his shield and the bracelet on his left arm.
It also felt exceptional blessings coming from the ring and the charm around his neck.
This knight also had uncommon temperament and skill.
The minotaur’s body trembled with the anticipation of a worthy challenge.
At first, the minotaur thought that man had returned. But after it drew closer, it realized that was not the case.
This is not him.
But he looks a lot like him.
He has items that should be in the possession of that man.
Which might mean that man sent him.
He is representing that man.
So be it.
All right.
Show me your strength.
The knight faced the minotaur and spoke. The minotaur did not understand the language of humans, but it listened closely. The knight readied his sword and shield when he finished talking and then calmly raised his fighting spirit.
The minotaur took a quick breath, mentally prepared itself, gripped its greatsword with both hands, then rushed forward and swung at the enemy’s head. The knight lifted the shield in his left hand overhead and blocked the minotaur’s attack without moving one step.
The violent collision wrought a sound so loud, it seemed like the air of the entire boss room shook.
The knight defended against the minotaur’s powerful blow perfectly.
That was not all. The minotaur was almost lifted off its feet by the recoil generated from the shield.
Its muscles creaked, and a number of tendons snapped.
The minotaur was astonished. That was not the feeling of an attack being blocked by a shield. It felt as if it had crossed swords with an equally powerful opponent.
The minotaur grew frustrated.
He just stopped my attack with his left hand alone, and without even taking a step back. With a shield held in the air.
That’s impossible!
Giving itself over to its emerging rage, the minotaur drew its greatsword back to the right and struck horizontally with the force of a gale. It expected the enemy to step back, as there was no way he should have been able to take that attack directly.
But the knight did not budge. He casually moved his shield, adjusted the positioning of his feet, and blocked the attack effortlessly.
Once again, with just one hand.
This defense was impossible. That was a powerful horizontal blow utilizing the minotaur’s giant body and abnormal strength. No matter how strong this knight was, he should have been blasted off his feet.
But the knight deflected the powerful attack completely, only sliding back half a step.
Instead, the minotaur felt like it was going to be blasted backward from the recoil produced by the shield, despite being the one that had delivered the blow.
The minotaur put strength into its legs and endured the recoil. Its sturdy right shoulder, left elbow, and back had all been injured and were crying out in pain.
One more time!
The minotaur drew the greatsword back to the right once more and unleashed the same powerful attack from the same angle and the same height.
The knight calmly blocked it. He was only pushed back a half step, just like last time. He did not look injured in the least from the minotaur’s successive attacks.
He was watching the minotaur’s actions with a calm and clear gaze full of fighting spirit.
The minotaur received recoil from the shield once again and took damage. It would not be able to fight until its right shoulder, left elbow, and back were all healed.
It activated a healing skill and took a step away.
2
The minotaur was bewildered.
It had fought a variety of shield users throughout its life. A tower shield set on the ground might have been able to block its attacks, but there was no one who could block a full-strength attack from the minotaur with a kite shield held in the air. That should have been impossible.
Furthermore, people who fought with kite or round shields used them to weaken their opponent by messing with their timing and by scattering and diverting the direction of their opponent’s attacks.
But this knight was using his kite shield to block full-strength attacks from the minotaur. Directly in the center of his shield.
Nothing about that made any sense.
Actually, wait.
I’ve seen this shield technique somewhere before.
I was impressed by their skill.
It was there!
In that strange place with those nasty enemies.
It was that whelp I fought with during the final fight.
That whelp used its shield like this.
The minotaur looked at the knight one more time. It did not use its eyes but instead used its body to try to feel the presence of the opponent in front of it.
It then became aware of the opponent’s identity.
This man!
This man is the whelp!
Where did you go?
You weren’t there when I searched for you.
The minotaur’s heart was full of joy.
It activated a certain skill.
Humans called this skill Indomitable Spirit. It was a skill possessed by the highest class of ogre-type monsters, which were called ogre gods. It increased the hardness of the user’s body, resistance to magic, and also restored health continuously at a set rate, all in exchange for the consumption of energy. The minotaur had obtained it by defeating the boss of the eighty-fifth floor. It then ranked up the skill, and it had proven useful when fighting the metal dragon.
The minotaur then quickly grabbed a red potion from its Bag and drank it.
The knight saw that as an opportunity to attack and slashed his sword.
He’s fast!
His feet and his sword were astonishingly quick. The minotaur remembered that the kobold warrior’s movement and attack speed had surpassed its own.
The minotaur decided that it could not dodge by jumping back, so it jumped up. It could not fly, but it could jump high without any preparatory movement.
The jump was also performed for the purpose of an attack. It was planning to take control of the battle by jumping into the air and using Burning Breath from a distance that the knight’s sword could not reach.
But the knight was too fast. He pointed the tip of his sword at the minotaur.
Shoot!
The minotaur called off its attack, got into a defensive stance, and prepared for impact. The knight performed a short incantation, and then a comet hit the minotaur directly.
The knight was able to release extremely powerful magic attacks without the need for a preparatory incantation and without showing any signs of gathering magic power.
The comet dug into the minotaur’s back and greatly damaged it internally. The movement of its right shoulder had been impaired.
The knight raised his sword overhead and waited for the minotaur as it fell. Before it hit the ground, the minotaur blew Burning Breath on the knight. The knight raised his shield and blocked it. Burning Breath was absorbed into the shield and disappeared.
But the minotaur got what it wanted. The minotaur’s goal was to get him to lift his shield and obstruct his field of vision for even a small moment.
The minotaur kicked the knight’s shield and used the recoil to jump backward.
As it did so, the minotaur reached into its Bag with its left hand, pulled out some immortal flesh, and ate it.
The knight recovered instantly from the recoil of being kicked by the minotaur and then pursued with incredible speed. He swung his sword down from above, aiming for the head of the slouched minotaur.
His attack had extreme force behind it from the use of some skill.
The minotaur still could not move its right shoulder.
It caught the sword with its bare left hand. The knight then forced the sword in between the minotaur’s index finger and middle finger and drove it into its elbow.
The mysterious effect of the immortal flesh then manifested, and just as if time itself were being reversed, the minotaur’s sliced-up arm returned to normal and its back, right shoulder, and internal organs were all restored.
The minotaur lunged forward with the greatsword in its right hand. The knight diverted it diagonally upward with his shield and then performed an angled upward slash with lightning speed.
The minotaur quickly drew a circle with its sword and repelled the knight’s attack. The knight’s sword then changed trajectory in midair and raced for the minotaur’s neck.
The minotaur may have been in a temporary state of immortality, but it could not allow its head to be cut off. It lifted its sword from below and drove away the opponent’s sword.
The knight skillfully used the momentum from his sword being deflected to trace a circle with his sword and swing for the minotaur’s neck from the right.
The attack was very natural and very quick. The sword cut halfway into the minotaur’s neck.
Fortunately for the minotaur, the immortal effect had not yet expired. The injury healed immediately.
The minotaur swung its sword down from the left toward the enemy’s neck. The knight just barely missed it with his shield, and the sword penetrated through a gap in the armor. It cut a fourth of the way into his neck.
Given the fragile bodies of humans, that injury was close to lethal. However, the knight quickly knocked aside the minotaur’s sword and slashed its right side. The blood that was starting to spout from the knight’s neck then stopped, and the injury healed in an instant.
The minotaur’s right side also healed immediately, and then the effect of the immortal flesh ran out.
3
They both took a step back and gathered themselves.
That’s right.
This guy has that sword.
The sword that I gave that man.
It was a sword that heals injuries when you slice an enemy.
I see!
He used this sword in that strange place when he had the form of the whelp.
It looked like a completely different sword, but just like his form, it only appeared that way.
Also, the sword technique he just used.
I’ve definitely seen it somewhere before.
It’s…
It’s…
It’s the same as that man’s sword technique.
That’s not all.
His fighting spirit.
His presence.
So he is that man after all.
Actually, no.
He is not that man.
Judging by his features, he is a different person.
The minotaur may have gained intelligence, but it was a monster from a labyrinth. It was born without parents and would never have a child, so it did not understand anything about family and blood relations.
As a result, the minotaur processed what it saw with its own sense of logic.
That means he is not that man, but he is that man.
That man was the last version of this one.
This one is the next version of that man.
He was also the whelp.
So beating him will mean beating three people.
Their exchange of offense and defense began yet again.
The knight attacked from the side. The minotaur blocked it with its sword.
The knight attacked again from a slightly different height. The minotaur blocked that one, too.
The knight repeated his attack twelve times at a terrifying speed. The minotaur could not block every blow, and it was cut three times in the side.
The knight then attacked from the front. Once again, it did not end with one attack—he unleashed twelve consecutive attacks at incredible speed. The minotaur was slashed twice on the shoulder and chest.
When the minotaur thought he was going to attack again, the knight’s body vanished.
Over there!
The minotaur trusted its intuition and struck at air. Its efforts paid off, and its blow found purchase. Surprisingly, however, the surface the minotaur struck felt like an ordinary shield, and the minotaur sensed that the knight was sent flying.
The knight then charged into the minotaur’s space and swung his sword down diagonally from the right. He was still invisible, and the minotaur could not feel his presence, either, but it did sense the sword.
The knight’s strength and speed were less than they had been before. The minotaur repelled the knight’s attack without difficulty.
The knight took a step back, and his body reappeared. It might have been the case that the blessings of the shield and sword grew weaker when he was invisible.
The minotaur unleashed three consecutive vertical slashes. The knight blocked them by lifting his shield overhead.
The minotaur faked like it was going to attack a fourth time, then instead pressed its greatsword against the shield, shoved the knight away, and jumped backward. It reached its left hand into its Bag and tried to grab a red potion.
The knight charged and zigzagged his sword back and forth, from right to left and left to right. The minotaur quit reaching for a potion, gripped its greatsword with both hands, and swung down to stop the knight’s attacks.
The minotaur’s greatsword struck the rock floor at the knight’s feet. Rocks were blasted up into the air, many of them traveling in the knight’s direction.
The knight dodged or blocked most of the rocks with amazing reflexes and vision, but due to the sheer number of them, some still got through and hit his legs and stomach. His armor was extremely tough, however, so it did not look like he was injured at all.
The minotaur swung its sword to dig into the cracked floor, sending ten large pieces of rock at the knight. The knight protected his vital points skillfully with his shield, then jumped back lightly and dodged the incoming rocks.
The minotaur was impressed.
He moves impossibly well, as always.
How can he move so quickly in such restrictive clothing?
That consecutive chain of attacks was amazing.
It was impossible for me to dodge every blow.
I have no choice but to attack him knowing that I am going to get hit.
But his entire body except for his face is covered by those tough clothes.
He is a difficult enemy to attack.
The minotaur grew excited as its mind raced.
How long had it been since its last fight where it could not see how to win?
How long had it been since it had been subjected to such fighting spirit?
The minotaur bought itself some time by firing rocks and tried to reach for a red potion.
Then a comet fell. The minotaur moved hurriedly and managed to escape from the center of the comet, but its left shoulder was greatly injured.
Its left shoulder and left chest had been cut deeply, and its left hand could not move.
That’s right!
He is not a normal swordsman.
He is actually more dangerous from a distance.
This human.
He is trying to stop me from drinking the red liquid.
That’s the second time he’s stopped me.
Yes.
There is no doubt.
He has the ability to quickly recognize an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
He must have seen that not letting me use my invisible bag would have a big impact on the fight.
I can never let my guard down with this one.
The minotaur could not use its greatsword with both hands now that its left hand was impaired.
If the minotaur distanced itself from the knight, a comet would fall. If it got close, the knight would unleash a flurry of consecutive attacks that could not all be defended against. If it attacked, the knight would block with his blessed shield.
The knight’s oppressive fighting style was gradually cornering the minotaur. But it was this exact kind of situation that always brought the best out of it.
That was why, out of hatred and awe, adventurers called the minotaur the King of the Labyrinth.
4
The minotaur charged at the knight, creating a gust of wind as it did so.
It lifted its greatsword high with just its right hand and then swung it down. The knight blocked it with his shield. The sword was repelled upward from the powerful recoil.
The minotaur swung the sword down with its right hand again. It executed twenty-three consecutive attacks.
In that time, Indomitable Spirit restored the minotaur’s injured left shoulder.
I knew it.
He is incapable of attacking when he receives a strong blow on his shield.
That means I can seal off his offense with continuous strong attacks.
On the twenty-fourth strike, the minotaur added its left hand to the grip and made like it was going to strike the shield, then changed course and tried to slice through the knight’s feet. The blow looked like it had enough force to cut through the armor.
It was a sudden change-up that the knight should not have been able to keep up with after dealing with the powerful twenty-third blow. But he dealt with it skillfully.
He quickly lowered his shield and struck the minotaur’s sword to change its trajectory. The sword hit nothing but the floor.
The knight would not overlook this opportunity. He drew his sword in a horizontal arc. The minotaur had anticipated that an attack would come and activated a skill to raise its defense dramatically for a brief period.
The tip of the knight’s sword traced a perfect circle, easily cutting through the minotaur’s chest from left to right.
The minotaur swung its greatsword up from below. The knight blocked it with his shield. The minotaur’s blow lifted the shield and the knight together into the air.
Blood gushed from the horizontal line cut into the minotaur’s chest.
The knight turned around nimbly in midair and landed on his feet.
The knight’s movements were more monster than human.
The minotaur charged, ignoring the blood it was losing. Its entire body was immersed in the joy of battle, in the thrill of squaring off against a strong opponent. Pain and tactics no longer mattered.
It just swung its greatsword down on the knight with both hands over and over again.
As it did so, it made a surprising discovery.
The movement of his sword.
That unwavering swordsmanship that makes it appear as if time has slowed down.
That belonged to that man!
He uses his sword the exact same way as the man who used the thin sword.
This guy was once the thin sword user, too!
The minotaur at that time wanted to get stronger from the bottom of its heart, and it felt that there was a limit on how much it could do with brute force. It yearned for polish. It craved technique.
But the minotaur had no one to teach it. It did not know what it could do to improve its skill. After much thought, it landed on the method of recalling that thin sword user’s swordsmanship and replicating it.
That marked the beginning of a truly hellish training period.
The monsters became a resource for the minotaur’s training. Its skills were also sharpened by the humans who attacked it in succession.
Then, before the minotaur knew it, it had become able to draw that beautiful circle.
This knight’s swordsmanship was identical to that thin sword user’s.
This knight inherited that thin sword user’s technique and life.
That meant that this was a rematch with that thin sword user, and this time it would be a grand battle fought on even footing.
The minotaur’s heart leaped with joy. It attacked again and again and again.
The force of its blows had not waned in the slightest. It delivered swing after overhead swing.
The knight blocked every single blow with Ende’s Shield. But not once did the minotaur relent.
No matter how tough the shield was, if the minotaur continued to attack with power that exceeded its defense, it would surely crack eventually. That was what the minotaur believed as it continued to slash single-mindedly at the knight.
It had been in this kind of fight before, or so the minotaur believed.
Even if it took one thousand or ten thousand blows, the minotaur would keep slashing until the barrier had been broken.
The knight continued to block every attack.
Deep in the darkness, without anyone’s knowledge, the greatest fight in the history of the continent was unfolding.
5
The knight tried a number of different attacks.
He side-strafed in quick, repetitious patterns while searching for opportunities to strike. His aim was to throw off the minotaur’s spacing.
He blocked the greatsword with his own blade, then slipped past the minotaur’s side and lunged. The minotaur diverted the attack, then jumped back and unleashed a magic attack.
Over the course of this endless battle, the minotaur noticed a number of things.
This knight could absorb the magic attacks of opponents and use the stolen energy to press the assault. Also, attacks that inflicted status ailments had no effect against him. For that reason, the minotaur quit using Howling, Burning Breath, Crushing Breath, and other magic attacks.
The knight then stopped using magic attacks, too.
They continued to trade blows.
This is bad.
My sword is going to break soon.
This guy probably won’t give me time to use my bag.
But I can’t fight without a sword.
I need to retrieve a new sword, no matter the risk.
The minotaur acted like it was going to raise its greatsword overhead, and then it jumped back. The knight pursued without delay.
The minotaur threw the greatsword. The knight deflected it with his shield.
The minotaur then puffed out its chest, boosted its physical strength, and reached its right hand toward its left shoulder.
The knight’s sword cut into the minotaur’s chest.
The minotaur pulled a longsword out of its Bag and immediately swung it down for the knight’s head. The knight blocked it with his shield.
The shield was splattered with blood from the minotaur’s chest.
The minotaur knew that the wager had paid off. The wound was superficial.
It also learned one more thing.
The tip of the knight’s sword had cut easily into the minotaur’s hardened chest before, but this time it managed only a light scratch. The knight was tired, too, and his moves were losing their power.
After that, the minotaur and the knight exchanged blows for so long that time ceased to have any meaning.
Then the moment the minotaur was waiting for finally arrived.
It swung its longsword down and broke the shield as the knight held it overhead. The minotaur was overjoyed. The knight then tossed aside the shield and charged, swinging his sword with both hands.
This was the first time in the fight the knight had performed a two-handed strike, so the minotaur was a little late to react. Despite that, it still managed to use its longsword to block the knight’s attack.
Then it happened. A shrill sound echoed as the minotaur’s longsword was smashed to pieces.
The minotaur immediately reached for its Bag with its right hand, but the knight cut the hand off with his sword.
The knight should have been exhausted. Where had he been hiding this much strength?
The minotaur, as indestructible as it had become, had used up its stamina. It stood completely still for a moment, staring at the knight with glazed eyes.
The knight’s sword swept at the minotaur’s neck.
The minotaur jerked its body backward. Its neck should have been out of reach of the knight’s sword.
But the knight’s attack extended outside his range. The minotaur’s head would be severed if it did not react.
Not caring that it was going to lose its balance, the minotaur twisted its body and dodged the sword. The knight then unleashed a flurry of slashes at the unbalanced minotaur.
The minotaur immediately twisted its head to the left. Its right horn was cut off from the base, and it went flying through the air.
The minotaur then recovered its balance with astounding reflexes, picked up what remained of the longsword with its left hand, and raised it overhead.
But before it could swing it down, the knight’s sword pierced the minotaur’s heart.
6
Fresh blood painted the knight’s sword, hands, and chest red.
I’m dying.
I’m going to die.
Ahhh… That was thoroughly enjoyable.
Would that the fight could have gone on forever, but it had to end eventually.
A blissful feeling of satisfaction washed over the minotaur.
The two of them had fought for longer than a full day and night. They had exhausted the limit of their skills, and they gave and received many blows.
After a while, the question of which one of them was going to survive began to feel trivial to the minotaur.
Then, in the final moment, just as the minotaur’s life was about to expire, it cried out from the depths of its soul.
This isn’t over!
I’m still alive!
The minotaur twisted its body violently. The knight’s sword slipped from his hands, and he stopped moving.
Now!
The minotaur mustered the last of its strength and swung down the remains of the longsword in its left hand onto the crown of the knight’s head. It thought it felt the knight’s skull shatter, but it could not see anything through the red obstructing its vision. The minotaur then collapsed.
In the small amount of time it took for the minotaur to fall to the ground, the figures of the enemies it had encountered throughout its life flashed through its mind.
The sorcerer, the thin sword user, the shield user, the knight, and a multitude of monsters.
They were all magnificent enemies.
They had made for very fun battles.
And in the end, it was able to have a satisfying, all-out fight to the death with the strongest enemy it had ever encountered.
It had no greater desire than that.
The minotaur’s body collapsed on the stone floor.
The knight then collapsed on top of the minotaur.
Within its fading consciousness, the minotaur felt its body enveloped by a strange warmth.
It’s them.
The one who gave me this second life is here. The one who allowed me to fight again.
They were probably by my side this entire time.
They watched me intently to see how I fought and how I would use this life they gave me.
The minotaur felt as if the existence that watched over it asked if the minotaur’s wish had been fulfilled.
It could answer only in the affirmative.
But then its thoughts took a sudden turn.
No.
No, wait.
What if there is a new version of this human?
And also a new version of me?
Yes, that’s right.
One more time.
One more time.
I want to fight one more time…against the new version of this human.
I want to fight until I’m satisfied one more time.
Give me more!
Give me more, more combat!
More bloodshed!
Give me the chance to keep fighting!
The minotaur pleaded strongly.
Then came a voice in its head—one that it had heard before.
The minotaur did not understand language, so it did not know what the voice was saying.
The minotaur’s consciousness faded into a tender darkness.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter11.txt
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Epilogue
Epilogue
1
Well, well, my lord Marquis!
What a pleasant surprise to see you in a borderland so distant as this.
I thank you again for your numerous heartfelt offerings and generous donations.
As you can see, this temple welcomes, in vast numbers, people who have nowhere to go.
We also give food and a place to sleep free of charge to the sick and injured who come here to be healed. We manage somehow.
There are attendants preparing tea in another room.
We want to hear all about your accomplishments, my lord.
They were grand enough for you to earn the honor of being named Defender of the Continent, after all.
You are owed a debt of gratitude not just from the Baldemost Kingdom but from the entire continent.
We all offered a prayer of thanks when we heard that you defeated the foreigners who came from across the sea.
Yes.
If I had to describe what we do here, it’s praying.
You’re probably wondering what all that prayer accomplishes.
I thought the same thing at first. That it is wrong for a person in service of the gods to do nothing but pray. That before they shut themselves away in a temple and make self-aggrandizing statements, they should go out into the streets and help people in need.
But I learned something when I met Father Raillura—that there is no work greater than prayer.
This temple has stood for a long time.
In the past, it was known as the Ocean Temple.
Praying was all Father Raillura did at this temple. Aside from taking meals and educating the shrine maiden, he devoted his every waking hour to prayer.
I’m not sure why, but the first time I beheld his visage, locked in prayer, I was moved to tears.
Before long, I settled down here and came to serve Father Raillura.
A number of other people arrived at the temple and had an experience similar to mine.
Father Raillura passed away only four months later. In his parting words, he asked the shrine maiden to pray for the suffering.
I was told that Father Raillura and the shrine maiden secluded themselves in the temple three months before I arrived.
That’s right. This sect started with just two people—Father Raillura and the Dragon Maiden.
Actually, I shouldn’t call it a sect. Father Raillura had a distaste for words that suggested we were some sort of organization. The sect just happened to form as people who adored both the Dragon Maiden and Father Raillura gathered here.
Huh?
Did you say Gondona?
Ha-ha-ha-ha!
Where did you hear that word?
That is slang used by congregations in the west. It means something like a corrupt priest.
Yeah, yeah.
Father Raillura would sometimes refer to himself as Gondona as a joke.
He would do that because he hated being revered in any way. He even said that he fled the Gorenza Empire because it seemed like he was going to be recognized as a saint.
Huh?
Oh, I guess you didn’t know that.
Father Raillura was a high-ranking priest at the Elvetta Temple in the imperial capital. He is very famous. I didn’t realize who he was, either, until he told me his real name. If not for his hatred of nobles, he would have been made the head of the temple long ago.
But we don’t call him anything like saint or founder, as other sects would. We simply call him Father Raillura.
We would never call him Father Gondona, of course.
Ah, now that I think of it, a little earlier, you visited Father Raillura’s grave and left a lot of high-quality wine as an offering.
No, no, I think it is certain to make him happy. After all, no one could match his love for wine.
I’ve never seen the meat you offered with it.
What? That’s smoked ettin meat?
W-wow, that’s very rare. Thank you very much.
Oh!
I knew it. I thought that might be the case.
You met Father Raillura in life, my lord.
Apologies if this is invasive, but what kind of relationship do you have with the shrine maiden?
Whaaaat?
You say you named her?
B-but you don’t look like you could be old enough.
When I met the shrine maiden nine years ago, she must have already been fourteen or fifteen. She certainly doesn’t look over twenty now, though.
Ah, well, it doesn’t matter.
The shrine maiden is a strange person.
She is at once like a young girl and a loving mother.
She is at once innocent and full of wisdom.
She is beautiful like a goddess, and she has mysterious blessings that can heal any sickness or injury.
And she has gained powerful protection.
There have been many lords who have sent soldiers in order to forcibly invite the shrine maiden to their land. They have all been obstructed by rain, wind, and lightning, and they always end up crying and begging the shrine maiden for forgiveness. The rumor of her dragon form comes as no surprise.
Do you mind if I ask you one more question?
Just before, you offered what looked like an animal horn at the temple’s altar.
What was that?
Oh! Okay. I see, I see.
So you thought visiting the Dragon Temple and offering that symbol to the altar was the most appropriate way to show thanks for all the blessings of the gods and the people you encountered on the trip you once took for personal growth.
Ah!
I have no doubt that Father Raillura will be very happy.
Sorry for taking so much of your time.
Please enjoy a rest on this balcony.
The shrine maiden will finish her business and be here shortly.
How long the shrine maiden has looked forward to this day!
She even called this a fated day.
Ha-ha-ha-ha.
If you’ll excuse me.
2
“It took me a long time to get here,” said Arza Goran, the Marquis of Banust.
Borante was silently waiting behind him.
Arza had finally made it here.
This temple had once again come to be called the Dragon Temple, and it had also become the base of a new religious sect.
The fight in the deva labyrinth occurred in the year 1117 of the Baldemost Royal Calendar. His body finally recovered in the year 1119, and so he set off on his pilgrimage.
But then the Foreign War began.
On royal orders from the king, Arza took his seat as the Marquis of Banust, and he also changed his name from Zara back to Arza.
Borante and Himatra, Narillia, a gladiator named Worvargan who he met in the Gahra Mountains, the Red Knight Laura and her subordinates, and the pupils of the Divine Blade all raced to offer help.
In 1122, the Anpoan Covenant was established, and the war came to an end, but he was still consumed by his postwar duties. Before he knew it, the year 1124 had arrived, and Arza turned twenty-four.
Esseluleia had made a plea to the king of Baldemost. Her husband, Panzel, had fought the minotaur on orders from the king at the age of twenty-four, but he had to leave things unfinished. She said she wanted the king to order Arza to fight the minotaur once he turned twenty-four.
As promised, the king gave the order, and Arza headed off to subjugate the minotaur.
Then, when Arza stood in front of the minotaur, he realized that the monster before him was the giant he had fought with in the deva labyrinth.
By the end of the frantic battle, he had used up all the magic power in his ring, and his shield had been broken, but Arza managed to smash the minotaur’s sword, sever its right hand, cut off its right horn from the base, and finally drive his sword deep into the minotaur’s heart.
When the minotaur’s life was about to end, it twisted its body violently. The divine sword slipped from Arza’s bloodied hands, and after losing the divine sword’s blessings, he ended up unable to move from exhaustion.
As the minotaur fell, it used the remains of the sword it was holding in its left hand to smash Arza’s head. Arza didn’t even have the strength to use a potion.
Arza watched the minotaur’s body fall flat on the ground—watched the light fade from its eyes—and then he fell on top of it and lost consciousness.
When Arza woke up after what should have been a killing blow, the only thing he saw was that familiar horn.
No one had seen the minotaur since.
But if the minotaur had died and vanished, then it was peculiar that the right horn alone was left behind. It was also strange that the items hoarded in the minotaur’s Bag were nowhere to be found.
There was also currently no master of the boss room of the one hundredth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth.
The strangest thing of all was that the level-up Arza obviously should have received from defeating such a great enemy did not occur. But even without a level-up, he had revived without injury.
The only way he could think to explain what had happened was that it was the grace of the gods at work.
He asked Julius for advice on how to process what had happened, and his answer was as clear and easy to understand as always. He said that the great, inhuman hero should be enshrined as a divine spirit.
Arza agreed completely. He thought about what temple the minotaur should be enshrined in, and he came to the conclusion that it had to be the Dragon Temple.
It took more than a little effort to obtain royal permission.
Many years ago, the minotaur killed Percival. It later wiped out an entire division of Imperial Guard knights who were sent to subjugate it. The minotaur had been a target of the king’s enmity for a long time.
But that did nothing to undo the fact that that creature defeated the devas and saved the continent. Julius reached the king’s heart by saying that if they extolled that monster’s skill, they would bring honor to his father and the knights.
A royal order was then given for Arza to visit the Dragon Temple. But because information about the devas could not be made public, they made his trip out to be a pilgrimage in which he would travel the path of the trip he once took for personal growth and give thanks to the gods.
Circumstances along the way led to a large number of people following him, and eventually, he made it to the temple.
He would now be able to meet the Dragon Maiden. Once he met her, he was going to petition her to have the minotaur worshipped as a divine spirit. After that, he would tell her about his memories of Alestra. He would tell her about how Alestra had transcended humanity and become a divine spirit, about how great and kind he was, about the personality Zara saw firsthand, and about his deep love for his daughter.
3
He looked out over the expansive blue ocean from the veranda.
He could see Yuto Island to the left.
Wind drifted toward the temple from the island. It carried the vivid scent of the ocean.
Yes, something new was coming from the ocean.
The humans who suffered from the cruelty of the world asked the gods for salvation.
The gods then gave people labyrinths.
Humans used the blessings of labyrinths to grow strong and wealthy.
The King of the Labyrinth was a shining example.
This warrior was born as little more than a feeble monster fated simply to wait for someone to arrive and kill it. But it fought and struggled against that fate and wished for greater strength.
The gods granted its fervent wish. It continued to fight and gain incredible power.
Arza felt that he was the spitting image of the humans who challenged labyrinths seeking blessings.
But would a human have been able to fight their way so single-mindedly and heroically through every battle the way that warrior did? Would they have been able to so proudly oppose fate and blaze their own path down which they should walk?
Arza wondered if the green-copper-skinned giant he saw in the deva labyrinth might have been the King of the Labyrinth’s true form.
He wanted that to be the case.
Far to the north of Yuto Island was the Anpoan Harbor. A ship would soon be completed there. It was a ship gained from the foreigners and remodeled into a state-of-the-art adventuring vessel.
The selection of the crew and training were both underway.
The continent the foreigners originated from was across the ocean. There were also other continents and a countless amount of islands.
By the sound of it, there was a great variety of peoples and countries.
New friends likely awaited out there.
New enemies as well.
They would probably encounter brand-new cultures and things they could never have imagined.
Labyrinths could be thought of as cradles that the gods bestowed upon humans for growth.
The era of labyrinths was coming to an end, and a new era of sea voyage was beginning.
King of the Labyrinth END
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter2.txt
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Chapter 17. The Warrior Monk Patagamon
Chapter 17
The Warrior Monk Patagamon
1
“Master Patagamon, we’ve received a report from the Eleventh Unit. They say the divine spirits of Mejatoke Lake have either entered a deep sleep or vanished.”
“Thank you. Please have them return to the temple at once.”
“Master Patagamon, the Eighth Unit has sent an inquiry. Lately there have been rumors spreading through the borderlands that good omens have been sighted near the Ocean Temple, and they would like to know if they should investigate.”
“No. That is not something we need to look into right away. Have them join with the Second Unit in the Gahra Mountains as planned. A little too much time has passed, but tell them to ask around at the foot of the mountain range to see if anyone has witnessed any strange events and then to hire a person from the mountains who can guide them to the sacred ground.”
This was the Jan’Majar Temple. It was located in the country of Peza in the southeast of the continent, and it produced many renowned warrior monks. All who entered this temple received strict martial arts training. Jan’Majar Temple was unique for taking religious doctrine and its associated training and integrating it with martial arts.
They were currently in the General Affairs Division in the Denomination Affairs Building. The man sitting behind the desk in the middle of the room busily taking reports, giving orders, and working through never-ending paperwork was a monk named Patagamon, who was acting as the representative for the Chief of General Affairs.
The chief was quite old and was taking a long break due to his poor health, so Patagamon was effectively in charge of the division.
Most of the monks bustling about the temple were slender, but Patagamon had an imposing physique. His muscles stood out clearly under his shabby martial arts uniform. He had a thick neck and a shiny shaved head. His bushy eyebrows arched up toward the heavens. His eyes were slanted and emitted a powerful light reminiscent of a dragon. His voice was low but firm and clear.
Whether it came to combat, intellect, judgment, or carrying out the will of the sect founder, the most sensible young monks at the temple looked up to him as an example to follow.
A monk entered the room. He had a lanky build, hard facial features, and was probably slightly older than Patagamon.
“Mr. Patagamon, I still haven’t received a response from you.”
“Hello, Mr. Ragalat. My apologies. As you can see, I’m quite busy here. All monks capable of telepathy are currently spread throughout the continent, devoting themselves to their own missions. As I’ve told you before, as soon as anyone becomes available, I’ll comply with the additional dispatch you requested.”
“Mr. Patagamon. Monks who can perform telepathy are very valuable personnel to the entire temple. The General Affairs Division may be the core of the Denomination Affairs Building, but that does not mean you can hog them for yourself.”
“You seem to have the wrong idea. I am not hogging them for myself. I am training them. Every single year, whether this year, last year, or many years before that, the first selections of the temple’s new recruits always go to your Clerical Division and the Ceremonial Division. The other divisions pick after them, and the General Affairs Division accepts the remaining newcomers. During the education of our new recruits, some of them by chance become able to use telepathy. The methods of telepathy are not a secret within this temple. Feel free to train the new recruits in the Clerical Department.”
“Mr. Patagamon, you speak too harshly of my department. It takes time to learn what kind of talent a person possesses. We need to make effective use of the talent that has already been awoken.”
Ragalat spent a little while longer refusing to back down; then he eventually gave up and left the room.
“Master Patagamon. Master Ragalat was strangely persistent today.”
“Hmm. The other party may have raised their asking price. It’s probably not the Gorenza Empire this time but some other country or person of influence.”
“But still, monopolizing personnel was quite a thing to accuse you of. His department reaps all the benefits of taking in the sons of nobility and wealthy families, and then when we take in the children of poor people who no one wanted and train them to acquire the power of the sect, he sees them as property. He’s planning on turning them into commodities.”
Telepathic monks worked in pairs and could communicate with each other even from opposite ends of the continent. They couldn’t contact their partner at will, as they both needed to be in the telepathic state at the same time, but all they had to do was set times for communication in advance.
No one other than the monks of Jan’Majar Temple had ever possessed this ability. It was said to be bestowed by the special divine protection awarded to the temple.
Even possessing one pair of people with this ability would bring about immeasurable benefits in politics, military affairs, economics, and more. The various countries around the continent, especially the Gorenza Empire, paid extraordinary sums of money to request long-term dispatch of telepathic personnel. Because the temple would earn resentment if they refused these requests outright, they occasionally loaned monks for short periods of time. That way they could gain favor and build personal connections.
Client relations was usually the duty of the General Affairs Division, but ever since Ragalat assumed the position of Clerical Director, the Clerical Division had been managing every case of dispatching telepathic monks outside the temple on the logic that they should handle all matters that concerned use of the power of the sect.
However, because there wasn’t even one telepathic monk in the Clerical Division who could be entrusted with training monks, Ragalat had been frequently requesting personnel from the General Affairs Division, which possessed almost all the telepathic monks in the temple. However, because the General Affairs Division ranked higher than the Clerical Division in the hierarchy of the divisions, Ragalat could not order Patagamon to dispatch telepathic monks. All he could do was make requests. Aside from the locations where telepathic monks had already been dispatched, Patagamon had rejected almost all of Ragalat’s requests.
“Master Patagamon. I need to keep my voice down when telling you this, but Master Ragalat has been saying that if he becomes the abbot, he will remake it to serve the world.”
“So I’ve heard. He probably wants to leave two pairs of telepathic monks at the temple and lend the rest out for this purpose of serving the world. It’s foolish. He does not understand the original mission of this temple.”
Another monk then rushed into the room.
“Master Patagamon, I have grave news. Abbot Kau Lekan has passed away.”
2
You can practically taste the combat prowess flowing through the entire mountain.
Zara was shown around by a monk in training and was currently climbing a winding, narrow staircase.
Jan’Majar Temple was located in a secluded point in Peza. Directly behind the temple sprawled a region called the Highlands that was uninhabited by humans, but Jan’Majar Temple occupied the entirety of a small, isolated mountain on the edge of the Highlands. Zara keenly felt the uncommon sense of vigor released by the entire mountain.
When he was left alone in that strange garden, he was at a loss as to what to do, but after a little while, the garden disappeared, and he found himself in a place he had never seen before. Thankfully, the strange items disappeared along with the garden.
He asked someone where he was, and they told him they were in Peza. He was in the very northeastern tip of Peza, which was right on the border with Aldana.
If you were to travel southward along the coast from the Ocean Temple at the eastern edge of the continent, you would first enter Aldana and then Peza after that. Going farther south would take you to a vast desert region, which contained the Free Cities of Karelia. South beyond that was a seemingly boundless ocean. West of the Free Cities of Karelia was the border province of Sheradan, and yet farther west was the Gorenza Empire.
These were all countries that the people of the Baldemost Kingdom knew only in name and rumor, so Zara was deeply moved that he had come so far.
Aldana had a thriving culture of swordsmanship and housed a great number of training halls. There were swordsmen Zara would have liked to try to visit, but he didn’t feel like turning back to Aldana.
It was more important that he stop by the Jan’Majar Temple now that he was in Peza. He had something he wanted them to take a look at, and it was possible that he would need to return it to them.
It was situations like this that made him grateful he was an S-rank adventurer, as even places like Jan’Majar Temple that were reluctant to allow outsiders couldn’t refuse the visit of an S-rank adventurer. After entering the temple, Zara was very quickly shown to a high-ranking monk, who was introduced as an aide to the Chief of General Affairs.
“It is very nice to meet you, Master Zara. I am Patagamon, and I am currently representing this temple’s Chief of General Affairs. I admire your diligence in reaching S rank at such a young age. I would like the young people at this temple to learn from your example.”
Zara returned the greeting and spoke with him for a while. It soon became apparent this man was a very impressive individual when it came to combat, wisdom, and even matters of the mind.
“This is actually the reason for my visit today.”
Zara held out a bracelet.
“Th-this is… Where in the world did you obtain this?”
“My father was a knight of the Baldemost Kingdom. His name was Panzel. One time, he decided he needed to learn a form of bare-handed martial arts in order to face a powerful enemy. At that time, a warrior monk from this temple happened to be staying at an acquaintance’s home, and upon request, the monk gladly offered him instruction. The instruction apparently only lasted for three weeks, but my father learned a very difficult technique from the warrior monk, and he was able to defeat the enemy. After my father died, this bracelet was left among his belongings, but I did not know where it came from. I recently showed it to one of my combat instructors, and he informed me that the pattern engraved into it is the mark of Jan’Majar Temple. He also told me that my father was taught by a warrior monk from this temple, so he recommended that I stop by if I get a chance during my journey for personal growth.”
“Hmm. I’m amazed by this. I never would have expected the bracelet to return now, of all times. Hmm. This must be the will of the divine. Master Zara, I ask that you keep everything I am about to tell you a secret.”
According to Patagamon’s explanation, this bracelet had belonged to a high-ranking monk named Manda.
The bracelet was a treasure called a Sacred Beast Bracelet. There were four Sacred Beast Bracelets in total, each one imbued with the warrior’s virtue of one of the four Sacred Beasts, namely Gormedo to the east, Rasha to the west, Polpo to the north, and Yarts to the south. The sect founder gave them to his four best pupils, so each of the four people who possessed one of the bracelets in the modern day was considered qualified to be named abbot, the highest position of the temple. The owner of each bracelet passed it on to their most elite pupil.
However, eighteen years ago, Gormedo’s Bracelet was lost. Manda said that he gave it to someone he spent a few weeks training during his travels. He refused to say a word about who it was or where they lived.
“If I say who I gave it to, then a messenger will likely be sent out to retrieve it. I may have only taught this person for a short period of time, but they are undoubtedly my greatest pupil. I know not of anyone more gifted in combat than they, and I cannot imagine giving it to anyone else,” Manda had said at the time.
Manda also said that he taught this unknown pupil the temple’s secret arts of the vajra fighting spirit and bronze alchemy. What Manda had done was inexcusable, so he was demoted to a common martial artist of the temple. He didn’t utter a word of complaint, however, and devoted himself to training the younger generation until his death six years ago.
“Did Master Manda break the temple’s rules by teaching my father martial arts?”
Patagamon laughed heartily.
“Our sect founder said to spread our techniques and prayers far and wide. He also said we should choose those to whom we pass on his teachings not by their position or their length of time served but by simple combat strength. Manda followed the sect founder’s teachings splendidly. It was only later that our temple attached special meaning to the Sacred Beast Bracelets to suit our organization. It is believed that the Sacred Beast Bracelets allow one to borrow the authority of the sect founder. The sect founder told his followers not to build him a grave and not to establish an organized religion. We made him a grave anyway, and we still pay it our respects. The highest-ranking member of our temple, the abbot, is in charge of looking after the grave. The very existence of this temple is a betrayal of our sect founder.”
After hearing Patagamon’s daring words, Zara felt strongly that he could trust him.
3
“To think that Manda’s pupil turned out to be Panzel of Baldemost. Rumors of his valor reach us even in this region, including how he defeated the monster at the bottom of that labyrinth by himself and that he crushed the Northern Knights numerous times. Though those rumors would also have you believe he defeated one hundred knights alone.”
“That’s true.”
“What? I’m sorry, but I can’t bring myself to believe that one. It is impossible for a single person to defeat one hundred knights in battle.”
Zara opened his Treasury in front of Patagamon, pulled out Bora’s Sword, and laid it down on the desk.
“He did it by borrowing this sword’s power.”
Patagamon held the sword in his right hand, closed his eyes, and activated some kind of spell.
He has the Appraisal skill?
Patagamon’s eyes shot wide open.
“This sword! This is a god-blessed item. And from a high god, no less! I didn’t think something like this could still be obtained. Hmmmmmm. What potent blessings.”
“A god-blessed item? What is that?”
“They are items produced by gods or divine spirits and imbued with the very best blessings, and they always bear the name of that god or divine spirit that created it. Nearly all the signature divine weapons we have identified have become treasures of countries, temples, or lords. It seems that the blessings of these items are related to the characteristics of the god or divine spirit that produced them. The blessings have tremendous effects, but in many cases, the conditions for activating them are very strict. It is common for there to be a limit on the people who can use a god-blessed item. No small number of them have remained unusable for hundreds of years because the people who fulfilled the conditions died out.”
“What is a high god?”
“Divine spirits that are worshipped by people and earn divinity become lower gods, and if their divinity increases to a certain point, they become middle gods. Divine spirits that inhabit lakes, waterfalls, rivers, trees, rocks, and other such places rarely move from their original location and do not take on much of a personality when they receive divinity. When divine spirits that are born from interactions between gods and humans, such as dragons and giants, receive divinity, they become able to move anywhere and display unique personalities. High gods, on the other hand, are spiritual beings that originally lacked physical form and existed in this world before the appearance of humans.”
“If Bora is a high god, does that mean Gahra and Zara are as well?”
“That’s right. But I’m surprised a person from the north such as yourself has heard of Gahra and Zara.”
“Honestly, I only recently learned of their existence.”
Zara told him about his experience on the Gahra Mountains. He also shared the myth that the girl of the mountains had taught him.
“Well, I’ll be. So that’s what happened. I sensed that there was a strong disturbance among the divine spirits in the Gahra Mountains, so I dispatched some members from the temple to investigate if anything had happened there. But never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined someone had turned their blade against the divine spirits and then made that kind of oath. You’re as reckless as Bolton himself.”
“Is Bolton the name of a god?”
“Yes. His name is used in many expressions and metaphors in parts of the south. He is a very popular god in fairy tales. He was originally a dragon god who lived on Dona Lake along with his wife, the dragon god Raika, who was known as an angry goddess. Raika had quite a jealous personality and could fly into a rage almost instantly. Bolton was afraid of his wife, yet he seemed to have a habit of going out of his way to make her angry. Those around him would get dragged into the messes he made as well. For that reason, whenever someone willingly invites trouble their own way, they are called ‘as reckless as Bolton.’ The saying ‘don’t do anything to ruffle Raika’s scales’ survives today as well. It is said that Raika is Kaldan’s younger sister.”
Oh, so that’s why Bolton’s Charm has that kind of blessing. That makes sense.
“Do you know the names Alestra and Ende, too?”
“Ende was another dragon god, said to be Bolton’s little brother. The name Alestra is not known in the south. In the north, there is a legend that Alestra was a god who served the goddess Pharah. Alestra’s birthplace is unknown, but because there is apparently a god-blessed item bearing that name, he must have been a real divine spirit.”
“Are the six major gods in the north all high gods?”
“The earth goddess Bora and the sea deity Elvetta are high gods. Toran, the god of healing and death, is a middle god. I believe the other three gods may be rising from lower gods to middle gods.”
“You sure have a deep knowledge of gods and divine spirits.”
“That is because of the mission of this temple.”
“Is gathering legends this temple’s mission?”
“No. Our mission is to watch over the trends of gods and divine spirits and prevent them from turning into devas. We calm down any who are in the process of becoming a deva.”
“What is a deva?”
“This will be a bit of a long story.”
4
Divine spirits gain divinity and become lower gods when they receive reverence from humans, but if afterward they are forgotten, or else avoided as a cursed god of calamity, they will sometimes turn into spiritual existences that bring about destruction and chaos. Jan’Majar Temple calls these beings devas.
Gods have a variety of dispositions. Some of them are violent and release unbridled fury when angered. Devas are not the same as these violent gods.
Devas are a warped force that have lost the disposition they once had as gods. Once a god becomes a deva, it is impossible for it to turn back into a god.
Devas spread miasma, poison, and curses, and the land their power touches becomes a hotbed for demons.
A long time ago, humans were helpless in the world, and they only barely survived thanks to the blessings of gods and divine spirits. However, the blessings could only serve a small number of people, so a more effective method was needed to reach more of humanity.
Eventually, the method of leveling up was discovered, and labyrinths were created, which gave humans significantly greater opportunity to receive strength and items of value. The human population grew, many countries were born, and humanity prospered.
However, a problem arose.
Within labyrinths, the blessings of gods and divine spirits are drawn out forcefully and automatically. Blessings that are consumed in this way are extremely powerful, but always end up twisted and warped, and are not used up properly.
As a result, impure, twisted fragments of blessings are left behind. These fragments are power without a purpose, or a very, very small fragment of a deva, so to speak. These are born aboveground as well, but they are dangerous only if they are gathered in large quantities, and with time, they will either return to nothing or be captured by gods, divine spirits, or monsters. But in labyrinths, the creation of these fragments occurs too quickly and on too large a scale.
The ones who noticed this were people who received special blessings from the gods, known as dungeon makers. The dungeon makers devised a mechanism to cause the warped fragments of blessings to be automatically expelled from labyrinths. They also created a special space in which to send any fragments that are above a certain level of power.
Our sect founder, Jan’Majar, heard all this directly from a dungeon maker. He then asked the dungeon maker what would happen when too many of the twisted fragments of blessings gathered in that space.
“Devas will be born.”
That is what he said.
At the time, this was not a problem. There were divine spirits that would accept petitions from the dungeon makers and destroy the devas.
The distortion born from defeating devas in those special spaces would counterbalance the power of the devas themselves, so if a deva was defeated in that space, the warped power would be extinguished completely.
The blessings characteristic of labyrinths do not work in that space. If they did, new fragments would be produced. The space is also thick with miasma, poison, and curses, meaning humans cannot enter it. For that reason, the dungeon maker did not tell our sect founder where the space is.
The dungeon maker taught the sect founder a method of calming divine spirits above the ground that are in the process of turning into devas. That was around 1,300 years ago. He then taught it to his disciples.
The sect founder died, and a long amount of time passed.
Around five hundred years ago, the holy occupation of adventurer was discovered. A variety of useful blessings and blessed items found only in labyrinths started to be discovered in quick succession. The pace of labyrinth expeditions accelerated overnight, as well as the pace at which humans could obtain strength.
As a result, humans grew wealthy and countries flourished, but we grew worried. Even before this development occurred, labyrinths were already producing great distortion. Now the efficiency of that distortion has increased by the dozens. The fragments should be accumulating at a pace significantly quicker than before.
Where is the space that the fragments are being sent to? What is happening there right now?
Every container has a limited capacity. What will happen when the space is no longer able to hold the devas? Are there any divine spirits left that can deal with them?
There is not a single dungeon maker left who can answer those questions.
5
Zara was left speechless after hearing what Patagamon had to say. He felt like everything he knew about gods, labyrinths, and adventurers had been flipped upside down.
“What I have just told you is a secret of this temple known only to those above a certain rank. Outside the temple, the king of Peza, the emperor of Gorenza, the king of Aldana, the king of the Holy Kingdom of Roahl, the king of Mazulu, and the other influential rulers of the south also know about it. These rulers protect the existence of this temple, and we receive their patronage.”
“I’m shocked. I don’t even know what to say.”
“That is to be expected. I ask that you not repeat this to anyone.”
“I promise. By the way, Master Patagamon.”
“What is it?”
“Were the divine spirits that would kill devas at the request of the dungeon makers dragon gods?”
“I do not know the answer to that, but it is certain that dragon gods held exceptional strength among the multitude of divine spirits. But there are no longer any dragons aboveground.”
“Are dragons and dragon gods the same thing?”
“They are the same, but strictly speaking, there are differences. Creatures such as fish, birds, snakes, and beasts need a long time to become divine spirits, so they need special circumstances to award them a long lifetime to achieve it. Dragons, by contrast, are born as divine spirits.”
“I see.”
“Dragons all have long life spans and grow slowly. Dragons gain high intelligence as they age and can wield strong divine energies. They become able to take on human form and mingle with mankind. Dragons that have reached this stage are called dragon gods, or divine dragons. There are many divine spirits on this continent, but unfortunately, there is not a single dragon left.”
“I witnessed the birth of a new dragon.”
“What?!”
Zara told him about the strange trip he went on with the White Princess Ishkriella and about the baby dragon’s birth. He also told him about the White Princess’s true identity and the fate of the dragon god Kaldan. He was unsure of whether he should do this, but he also told him about Narillia.
“Hmm. Hmm. This is a lot to take in. I see. So that’s what happened. That means good omens actually were sighted at the Dragon Temple. I never would have guessed it was the child of Kaldan. She may have been born a dragon god. Hmm.”
“I hope my experience is helpful to you.”
“You’ve already been far more than helpful. It is enough for me to wonder if you have been given the protection of the divine spirits and directed toward this temple with a mission. Your story has cleared up a number of my long-held doubts.”
“There is one thing I’m worried about.”
“Oh? And what is that?”
“It’s about Narillia. Her true form is that of a lamia, which is in the demon family of monsters. Will Jan’Majar Temple subjugate her?”
“Ha-ha-ha! No, you don’t need to worry about that. Hunting lamias is not the role of this temple. Her true form is human, and it was clear from your report that there is no need to suspect she bears any ill intent. Besides, that area is not under the jurisdiction of any country, so there is no administrator we could even report to. The temple will forget you ever mentioned this.”
“That’s a relief.”
“All right, Master Zara. I will ask this of you again. Will you return Gormedo’s Bracelet to this temple?”
“I was already planning on doing so. This is something that my father borrowed temporarily, so it only makes sense to return it to its rightful place.”
“I greatly appreciate your kindness. I ask that you keep this a secret as well, but the head of this temple’s denomination, the abbot, died suddenly, and his successor needs to be chosen right away. The keepers of Rasha’s Bracelet, Polpo’s Bracelet, and Yarts’s Bracelet are all virtuous and dependable monks, and I believe any of them would make a good successor. However, though the keeper of Rasha’s Bracelet has announced his candidacy as successor, the keepers of Polpo’s and Yarts’s have backed the director of the Clerical Division, Ragalat.”
Patagamon’s expression soured.
“It is certainly not a rule that the abbot needs to be a keeper of a Sacred Beast Bracelet. But the only reason it is not a rule is because it is common sense that the highest position of the temple should be occupied by a person of the highest moral integrity.”
“Has this Ragalat not had appropriate training?”
“He was a man of great talent when he was young. But then he had a taste of power and wealth. If Ragalat becomes the abbot, I am afraid this temple will be unable to carry out its original mission. The keepers of Polpo’s and Yarts’s are not people who can be bribed, but I may have been able to win them over with time. I’ve been careless.”
“Now I understand. Having Gormedo’s Bracelet back means the current course of events can be stopped.”
“Exactly. I am casting my vote for the keeper of Rasha’s Bracelet. That way we will be stuck in a two-to-two deadlock. Then I’ll get to work trying to persuade the keepers of Polpo’s and Yarts’s.”
“Do you not need certain qualifications to be the keeper of a Sacred Beast Bracelet?”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I am a pupil of Master Manda. Which makes your father my fellow student. My status as keeper is recognized by the temple.”
6
Zara spent multiple days as a guest of honor at the temple, and he was allowed to observe the monks in training. Then, one day, a sudden development occurred.
According to Patagamon’s explanation, which he delivered with a face twisted by fury, it had been decided that the two-to-two deadlock between the two candidates would be decided by a duel between two converts in the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts.
Patagamon said that converts were martial artists from outside the temple who admired the temple’s valor and had sworn to protect its doctrine. The spirits of the four sacred beasts resided in the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts, and they monitored the fight for any wrongdoing and declared a winner.
Ragalat nominated a man named Jarr Dol Baza. Jarr Dol Baza was a swordsman who headed a training hall in Aldana, and though he was approaching old age, word of his valor had spread throughout the continent, and he was called the Divine Blade to match his noble personality. Jarr Dol Baza had been named a convert by the keeper of Yarts’s Bracelet, so he was a reasonable selection.
After this declaration, Patagamon decided to hold off on naming his challenger. He considered picking a young swordsman convert who lived in Peza, but he was unable to make up his mind. It would take a while for Jarr Dol Baza to arrive from Aldana, so Patagamon thought he had the time to prepare carefully.
However, a moment ago, Ragalat had entered the General Affairs Division with a sudden announcement.
“Jarr Dol Baza is already waiting in the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts. Hurry up and prepare your convert.”
Patagamon was dumbfounded. Then he realized what had happened.
Jarr Dol Baza arrived too quickly to have been summoned from Aldana. He had probably visited the temple by coincidence for the purpose of training. The reception of visitors seeking training was the jurisdiction of the Clerical Division. Ragalat must have secretly put Jarr Dol Baza on standby, steered the meeting toward the decision to end the deadlock with a duel of converts, and then sent Jarr Dol Baza to the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts.
“I never would have imagined a monk of this temple would use such a dirty trick. He deceived me.”
“Can you delay the duel until you have your representative prepared?”
“The four keepers of the bracelets agreed that this case will be determined by a duel in the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts, and now one challenger is already in the shrine. If half a day passes without the other challenger entering the shrine, the first to enter is declared the winner.”
“Is it possible for you to hurry and get a challenger to the shrine in time?”
“No. If I went to the Adventurers Guild and was fortunate enough to hire a sorcerer capable of teleporting to the temple, I could save a few hours, but even if I could manage to get a challenger here within half a day, they would not be able to get through the Trial Corridor. There is nothing I can do.”
“What is the Trial Corridor?”
“It is a corridor that encircles the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts, and you cannot enter the shrine unless you have cleared it. Jarr Dol Baza has been through the corridor before, so he doesn’t need to enter it.”
“What is in this corridor?”
Patagamon told him that there were statues placed throughout the corridor to ward off evil that came to life and attacked when they sensed humans. The Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts and the corridor were built by the sect founder, Jan’Majar, himself with the help of a dungeon maker.
“So you can’t delay the duel.”
“I cannot. Ragalat becoming the new abbot is unavoidable. However, the other three keepers are also shocked and angry at Ragalat for his methods. I will drag him off the seat of the abbot no matter what it takes. Once Ragalat is appointed, though, he will be sure to use uncompromising methods to maintain his position. A conflict will be inevitable.”
“Master Patagamon. If you have no chance of winning this duel, can you appoint me as a convert and make me your champion?”
“What did you say?”
“Truthfully, I wanted to meet Jarr Dol Baza and ask him to give me a lesson. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“Hmm. But—”
“I also have this.”
Zara pulled out Bolton’s Charm and showed it to him. After appraising it, Patagamon was astonished, immediately appointed Zara as a convert, gave him a number of warnings, and then guided him to the Trial Corridor.
7
Zara took off running as soon as he entered the corridor. He had Bora’s Sword and Bolton’s Charm equipped. Bora’s Sword had a blessing that increased movement speed, and Zara himself possessed a skill that quickened his movement as well.
Zara ran swifter than the wind. The stone corridor was narrow, and stone beasts were lined up on both sides at regular intervals.
The beasts looked simultaneously like lions and like bears. They were standing by the support of their back legs and tail, and they were kicking out their front legs in a threatening stance. Large fangs emerged from their half-open mouths, and a long mane grew from their heads.
Their limbs were thick, and their claws were sharp. They would surely put up a tough fight. But the stone beasts remained asleep and didn’t show any sign of waking up.
That was thanks to the invisibility effect of Bolton’s Charm. This charm’s blessing allowed Zara to move through the corridor without being noticed by the statues.
The exit came into view. Zara sprinted through it with lightning speed. Ignoring the dumbfounded monks, he stored Bora’s Sword and Bolton’s Charm in his Treasury and entered the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts. Blessed items could not be taken into the shrine. If you did so, you would be immediately disqualified for breaking the rules. Also, special storage such as Treasuries and Bags did not function within the shrine.
“Wait a moment, Zara.”
Patagamon pressed the index finger of his right hand to Zara’s forehead and filled him with fighting spirit.
Zara immediately felt his body relax. It seemed that running through the corridor had taken more out of him than expected.
“May fortune favor you.”
Zara returned Patagamon’s firm look with a determined nod, then calmly passed through the entrance to the shrine. That he was able to do so proved he had completed the trial and earned the right to enter. The door closed behind him as he walked forward.
The monks who thought there was no way a challenger would reach the shrine in time were surely astonished. But the real fight was yet to begin.
He walked through a small passage and entered a large room. The walls were circular, and the ceiling was dome-shaped. There were four idols that looked like combinations of man and beast embedded in the wall in each of the four cardinal directions. They were probably the four sacred beasts and the guardian deities of this temple. Until the four sacred beasts determined the battle had reached a conclusion, no one would be able to leave.
A single man was seated in the middle of the room. His hard, wrinkled face made him look like a sculpture. He appeared to be meditating with his eyes closed, but as soon as Zara reached the center of the space, he opened his eyes and stood up.
“My name is Jarr Dol Baza,” he said with a warrior’s bow.
“My name is Zara,” responded Zara, returning the gesture.
There were two longswords set on the ground in front of the man. He motioned for Zara to make the first pick. When Zara grabbed one, the man took the other.
“Begin,” reverberated a disembodied voice.
8
The man in front of him was holding a sword, but the way he carried himself made it look like it weighed nothing at all.
The sword probably just feels like an extension of his body.
Zara slid his feet in a clockwise motion while measuring the best moment to strike.
The man slashed twice at Zara, the sword making less noise than would be expected as it cut through the air. Zara dodged the sword without ceasing his clockwise movement by simply angling his body.
He had an opportunity to counter by slashing at the man during each of those two attacks. But if he had gone for it, the man likely would have moved out of the way and landed a blow on Zara.
Zara swung his sword up from the bottom left of his body. The man dodged by taking a half step back. Zara then spun to the right, accelerating into a cutting strike. The man leaped out of the way; then, before landing, he twisted his body in the air and used centrifugal force to slash down diagonally from the left.
Zara’s sword was still caught in the air to the right, leaving the left side of his body defenseless. He dodged by intentionally falling backward onto the ground. The man’s sword brushed lightly against Zara’s body as it cut through the air.
Zara then used centrifugal force to lift himself back up. They struck at each other once more with their swords.
That was close. If he hadn’t reversed his clockwise movement at the last second to throw off his opponent’s spacing, he would’ve been sliced open.
The man wasn’t out of breath, but his chest was visibly heaving. If there was one thing Zara had over his opponent, it was youth. The longer the battle raged, the greater his chance of victory would become.
Zara suddenly realized something. Not too long ago, he had felt fear at the prospect of being injured by simple ice wolves, but now, against an opponent of this caliber, he was fighting with joy. One blow could mean losing a limb or even his life. His chances of victory were fairly low, yet still, he felt no fear.
What was the reason for that? Was the thrill of the battle eclipsing his fear? Was it because unlike the ice wolves, if he lost, it would be to a prestigious opponent?
The man once again slashed downward from his shoulder. Zara dodged to the left and thrusted the tip of his sword at the man’s face. The man cut off the attack by swinging his sword upward from right to left, tracing the exact opposite direction of his last strike. Zara used his sword to knock his opponent’s blade off its trajectory, then took a step back. The man also took a half step back.
That was an incredible move.
Zara had dodged the first strike, but the man slashed his sword back up in the opposite direction without delay. That was a move he had never seen before.
He understood what happened. The man’s center of gravity initially traveled downward along with the sword, but then, like a ball bouncing off the ground, he suddenly accelerated upward. That move had been burned into Zara’s mind.
If I do the same thing, I can pull off that attack, too.
A duel is a fight between two people, but in a way, it is also a fight between their moves. As the duel progresses, each of the opponents’ moves is communicated to the other person.
Just then, there was a move that Zara wanted to identify, and there was surely a move that Jarr Dol Baza wanted to identify as well. Those moves would be exposed as soon as they used them, and then they would belong to their opponent. As their moves were communicated to their opponent, they would have to refine them, polish them, and grow them.
Show me all your moves. Dance to your heart’s content. Then expose all your moves right before my eyes.
The young swordsman and the elderly Divine Blade continued to trade blows.
Zara slashed his sword down vertically from the left and then from the right in quick succession, and the man dodged each strike with very little time to react. The man spun to charge into Zara’s space, but when Zara held his ground, the man had no choice but to abandon the attack. Immediately after that, Zara moved his sword behind his back to the right and tried to strike at a distance from which it would be impossible to avoid, but the man used his sword hand to strike Zara’s arm and throw off his attack power.
They continued to exchange moves. Then, as he gave himself entirely to the fight, Zara recalled a scene in a section of his clear mind.
Barrast was using a brutish war hammer, as usual. At first Zara scoffed at him for thinking he could take on a sword with a weapon that was limited to such simple motions, but Barrast proved able to use the hammer in an infinite variety of ways by making effective use of the head, handle, grip, or all three at once, depending on the time and situation. Barrast switched back and forth between attack and defense so quickly and freely that Zara couldn’t keep up, which limited his sword’s movement. The war hammer was way too strong for Zara to even think about trying to block any blows. Zara eventually came to think that swords were a difficult-to-handle weapon and that they had no chance against a hammer.
Barrast would occasionally strike his sword and break it. One day, when Zara had his sword broken repeatedly, he said that the hammer was unfair. Barrast stared at him with a look of confusion and then burst out laughing. He said he would use a sword, too.
They then both fought using longswords, and Barrast broke Zara’s sword almost instantly. He then said it’s not about the weapon but rather the technique.
Here it is!
He saw it on the man’s blade a third of the way up from the hilt.
An opportunity. One that an ordinary swordsman would not have registered.
In the blink of an eye, Zara pierced his blade accurately through that point on the man’s sword. The blade broke with a shrill sound and went soaring through the air.
“MATCH.”
The disembodied voice announced the end of the duel.
It was over. He had won.
“That was very impressive,” the Divine Blade said.
“Thank you very much,” Zara responded, bowing his head.
He suddenly noticed something.
I didn’t use a single skill during that fight.
“Is something wrong? You’re making a strange face.”
“No. I just noticed that I didn’t use any skills during our duel. I was wondering why.”
“Honestly, I was thinking the same thing.”
The Divine Blade laughed. Zara laughed, too.
The four sacred beasts around them appeared to be laughing as well.
9
Zara’s victory was welcomed favorably by most of the monks in the temple. Ragalat had won many to his side by giving favors and promising even greater favors down the line, but his overly forceful methods and his recent words and actions earned him no small amount of discomfort and opposition throughout the temple.
For somehow recovering the fourth Sacred Beast Bracelet and skillfully seizing a hopeless victory during what was a crisis situation for the sect, Patagamon gained tremendous trust and support.
News of Ragalat’s cowardly behavior in regards to the duel in the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts also spread throughout the temple. It was unlikely he would hold a position of influence ever again.
Zara ended up spending four months at Jan’Majar Temple. As a convert who had fought for the sake of the sect, he was qualified to study the temple’s secret techniques, so he took advantage and received instruction. It was a tough but beneficial four months.
Zara turned seventeen years old while staying at the temple.
After that, he went to Aldana on the invitation of Jarr Dol Baza. He was allowed to stay at his training hall, and the two of them became close friends despite their difference in age.
Jarr Dol Baza asked Zara if his family name of Goran meant he was a relative of Eisha Goran. After Zara answered that Eisha Goran was his great-grandmother’s father and that his father revived House Goran, he began to be treated even more warmly and politely.
The Divine Blade said that his grandfather was a pupil of Master Goran, which made Zara equivalent to his instructor.
Zara told him his real name and rank and asked him to keep it a secret.
The Divine Blade and his new pupil crossed swords many times. Zara went to a number of training halls through the introduction of the Divine Blade and learned a great many techniques. But strangely, Zara never managed to defeat him after their initial duel.
It seemed that the Divine Blade couldn’t resist telling some people in secret that Zara was a descendant of Eisha Goran, which resulted in Zara receiving great kindness wherever he went and being told many anecdotes about the legendary swordsman.
One time, Zara asked the Divine Blade why he’d allied himself with Ragalat. He answered that there was no greater honor for a martial artist than to stand in the Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts as a convert, so he hadn’t even thought of refusing.
He had not been told what he was fighting for, so he simply offered his polished fighting prowess and entrusted everything to the decision of the sect founder and the gods.
“I was overcome with excitement as I thought about what kind of opponent I would be able to fight. That was the reason I accepted.”
“You were very close to not fighting anyone at all.”
“What?”
The Divine Blade grew very angry after Zara explained Ragalat’s scheme.
“But all’s well that ends well. I was able to fight you, and you won. The sect founder really is impressive. Ha-ha-ha!”
“Ah, so that is the reason I was able to win.”
Zara spent seven months in Aldana and then headed for the Free Cities of Karelia. There was a man in Bia-Dharla with whom he really wanted to cross swords.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter3.txt
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Interlude 7
Interlude 7
The minotaur was breathing heavily.
It had cut open every one of the squishy, round enemies in the room. It figured out that their regeneration was slower near their roots than near the top of their bodies. After that, it made full use of an acceleration skill to cut down as many of the orbs as it could at once while doing its best to slice near the roots.
That did not work.
The enemies ended up regenerating anyway. There was no end to it. They would always regenerate, shoot out the body-melting liquid, and extend their tentacles to ensnare the minotaur. They would also erupt with bodily fluid whenever the minotaur cut one open, causing the minotaur’s body to melt even more.
The minotaur was in really bad shape. It had been showered by the fluid of the orbs, and its skin was melted all over. It spent some stamina to use a skill to heal its wounds, but it had no effect.
The melted parts of its body were oozing and bubbling, and they turned a sickening color after mixing with the blood flowing out of its body.
Its body was not the only thing melting. Parts of its belt that it always used had melted as well, and it could no longer stay up on the minotaur’s waist.
It reached into its storage because it felt it had no other choice, then remembered the existence of red potions. It grabbed a number of them and downed them all. But its body did not recover.
Neither skills to heal injuries nor the red juice seemed to work here. That was the only conclusion the minotaur could reach.
The minotaur took a moment to catch its breath, then sucked in a massive amount of air, activated a special skill, and blew a powerful breath against the round enemies throughout the room. The breath was violently strong and caused anything it touched to burst into flames with its intense heat.
This skill was called Burning Breath.
With just one breath, it burned a third of the orbs in the room to ash. However, they quickly regenerated.
The minotaur drew in another breath, took aim at the round enemy growing nearest it, and released Burning Breath on it relentlessly.
It burned. And it burned.
The round enemy was reduced to ash, and a hole was being gouged in the uneven rock beneath it.
The minotaur’s attack stopped when its lungs began to ache.
The regeneration started immediately. But the minotaur caught sight of something. Something that looked like thin, densely packed, and wriggling roots was buried in the slimy ground beneath the burned orb. The minotaur wondered what would happen if it destroyed them.
An idea flashed into the minotaur’s mind, and it swapped its weapon.
It stored its sword in its Bag and pulled out a crushing weapon called a barrel hammer. It looked like a crude barrel with a long skewer sticking out of it. It was an extremely sturdy and impossibly heavy weapon.
The minotaur had obtained this barrel hammer from a human adventurer.
The adventurer who had used it was slightly shorter than the minotaur but was significantly fatter and looked to be twice as heavy. His skin was dark red, the top half of his body was bare, and he was wearing baggy pants. His build made him look like he had packed flesh on top of his own flesh and then had more flesh drooping down over that. He bellowed and rolled his shining eyes in his head as he swung around his barrel hammer. He would swing at the minotaur from the side and from above, each attack housing enough destructive force to prove lethal for the minotaur at the time.
He had an endless reserve of energy, and he never stopped howling and swinging his hammer no matter how many blows the minotaur dodged. It turned into a long, hard-fought battle because of the man’s inexhaustible stamina and uncommon ability to fight on after taking damage, but the minotaur had won in the end.
The minotaur lifted the barrel hammer above its head and smashed it down onto the nearest orb. It was not aiming for the orb itself, but rather the wriggling roots located within the slimy ground beneath it. The enemy burst open, its pieces scattering across the room, and the roots were crushed together with the soft rock.
The minotaur waited, but the round enemy did not regenerate. It now understood how to kill them.
The minotaur gleefully smashed all the rest of the round enemies and their roots. Its body was rapidly melting as a result of the fluids being jettisoned from the orbs, but it did not care.
It then finished killing every enemy in the room. It looked around and bathed in the afterglow of its victory; then its body was enveloped in a soft light. It began to regenerate and be remade.
It was a level-up.
Its injuries were all healed as well.
This was the minotaur’s first level-up in a very long time. It had been ages since it had encountered a human who would give it enough experience points.
Now that the minotaur thought about it, this was weird. It always gained experience points from defeating humans, but never when it defeated monsters. Despite that, it had just leveled up from killing these monsters. It did not know the reason, but it understood that it had found a new place where it could grow stronger.
The minotaur noticed one other thing. The stones next to the flat, circular ones shining with red light had been a dull gray when it entered the room, but now they were shining blue.
The minotaur stepped onto the stones shining with blue light and then disappeared.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter4.txt
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Chapter 18. The Red Knight
Chapter 18
The Red Knight
1
The sun was beating down, its light reflecting off the desert sand. Zara felt a wave of emotion as he gazed absentmindedly into the rippling air.
If I hadn’t arranged for a guide and a bobo, I probably would have died out here.
He felt a renewed sense of gratitude toward the Divine Blade for his advice and for helping him prepare. He’d had no idea the desert was such a scary place.
According to the map, he was currently on the South Elga Highway. But there was only sand as far as he could see and nothing resembling a road.
“Sir, there’s something coming.”
Zara answered the guide’s words with a simple grunt.
Some monsters emerged from the sand that looked like spiders as big as humans with two whips protruding from their bodies.
They were imotarbas. There were five of them.
The guide tossed some bait as a decoy, then urged his bobo to sprint. Zara also ordered his bobo to run by kicking it in the flank.
One of his bobo’s ears was black. That black ear twitched, and the bobo ran.
It ran at a comfortable speed. His rear was in pain from being jolted around relentlessly on its back, however.
He sensed that the five imotarbas behind them were eating the decoy bait. He and the guide relaxed their pace after they crossed over three hills.
They weren’t enemies he was incapable of defeating, but Zara was following all the guide’s instructions in order to study the etiquette of the desert. There were many dangers in the desert that Zara was unaware of.
The man dismounted from his bobo and gave it some salt as a reward. Zara did the same thing.
Bobos were as tall as horses, but they had only two legs. Their torso was a little short. Their face was not as long as a horse’s, and their muzzle was somewhat thin. They had sleepy-looking eyes, but they seemed friendly and full of charm.
Zara remounted the bobo.
It was hot. And bright. And hot.
He felt listless. And he was hot.
He couldn’t imagine that any human could live here. Could there actually be a town in this kind of place?
Zara bounced up and down on the bobo’s back, feeling weary and fed up with the desert.
2
Conflict was forbidden at oases. It didn’t matter if you ran into a mortal enemy or a rival soldier. That was a law of the desert.
Zara was wary of the approaching group, but because he had been taught that rule, he didn’t make any hostile actions.
“Looks like someone beat us here. Coming through.”
The guide gave a very deep and humbling bow to the approaching group. They must have been of high rank.
The group outnumbered Zara and his guide five to two. Four of them stopped at a distance, and one person approached them.
Zara stood up and spread his arms, then crossed both hands in front of his chest and greeted the person as he had been taught.
“My fire, my soup, and my dried meat are yours as well as mine, O Traveler of the Desert.”
The person made an amused expression and gave the same gesture.
“Thank you, O Friend of the Desert. But we have no need of fire or soup. We will be content to simply rest at this spot for a bit.”
Zara realized she was a woman. And incredibly beautiful, too.
Clothes worn for travel through the desert had no distinction between men and women, and it was dim outside, but she was close enough that he should have been able to tell her sex. However, there was a reason Zara hadn’t noticed she was a woman.
Her gait, the way she carried herself, and her presence were all that of a warrior. She also had an aura that reminded one of a knight with plenty of battle experience. That was why Zara had subconsciously thought she was a man.
He also felt high combat prowess and a strong will from the other four people.
The group moved into the shade halfway around the spring and got to work right away on preparing for their break and their meal.
It had been a week since Zara and the guide entered the desert, but he could still not get used to the heat. Even the slightest bit of warmth still caused him to go into a daze.
Shortly after the group of five finished their dinner, one person walked over to Zara and the guide.
“Would you two like to come join us for a drink?”
It was natural for travelers to want to exchange information, so there was no reason to be suspicious of them. Zara answered that they would be glad to.
It was customary that in this situation, the people who extended the invitation would offer drinks, and the people who were invited would offer food. Zara presented some delicacies that he’d brought with him from Aldana. The group received them enthusiastically, and their gathering grew lively.
“By the way, Zara, where are you headed?” asked the beautiful woman named Laura.
“I am traveling to Bia-Dharla.”
“Hmm. You don’t look like a merchant. I can tell you’re not used to the desert, either. What do you seek in Bia-Dharla?”
There was nothing in Laura’s expression that suggested any ulterior motive. Her beauty was radiant, but he didn’t sense anything flirtatious from her, either.
She had narrow eyes with emerald irises and a thin nose. Her eyebrows were flat. Zara thought she looked like a moon goddess illuminated by a bonfire next to a spring in the desert at night.
“There is someone I want to meet.”
“Oh, how exciting! Did you hear that, everyone? Beautiful people always give beautiful answers. That’s such a romantic trip.”
“Oh-ho-ho, it sure is.”
“You have it made, boy.”
Zara realized they’d gotten the wrong idea from his answer, but he didn’t want to say anything to land him in any more trouble.
People invited to eat at an oasis were supposed to offer treats to go with the alcohol, but Zara felt that he himself was becoming their entertainment for the evening.
Laura seemed to take a liking to him and pulled out an instrument to sing a love song. The group cheered, and it ended up being a fun night.
3
They rested until close to dusk the next day before they departed. Laura’s group joined them because they were heading for the same destination.
In order to reach Bia-Dharla, they apparently had to leave the highway at their current position and head south for ten days.
In this era, countries were nothing more than an assemblage of towns and villages. In between those towns and villages were vast landscapes devoid of human settlement. The name of the Free Cities of Karelia referred to the small, isolated cities scattered throughout the expansive desert region, but in truth, uninhabited desert made up the vast majority of the land.
Laura and the four other members of her group were as skilled as Zara expected them to be. They were attacked by four giant scorpions not long after they set out, but the five of them defeated the monsters in no time.
Laura used a longsword slightly big for her build, but she handled it with great speed and accuracy.
The large man named Moura swung around a battle-ax with ease.
The thin man named Jamagar used an extremely sharp sword with a curved blade and was very good at attacking from out of sight. He was also skilled at moving while hiding his presence. He was probably an assassin.
The man of short stature named Shariabro was an archer who was adept at shooting while moving.
The plump man named Orien was a support sorcerer capable of support magic, restricting enemies, and healing.
They were each an elite of their own skill set, and they fought with polished coordination.
They were attacked four more times in the next two days. Whenever Zara tried to participate in combat, they politely refused his help, probably because they didn’t want him to get heatstroke.
The guide asked Laura and the others why they were fighting instead of using meat as a decoy and fleeing. Their answer was that because this road was essential for traveling to and from the highway, they wanted to try to reduce the number of monsters to make it at least a little safer for people passing through after them.
The five of them shared a Treasury. That meant that they all had the holy occupation of knight. They didn’t look like family, so the fact that they shared a Treasury must have meant they had especially strong bonds and held a common mission.
On the third day, they were attacked by the largest group of monsters yet, so Zara fought with them. The first thing he did was defeat the two grigols that looked like the strongest of the pack.
Grigols were monsters slightly larger than horses. They traveled swiftly on their four legs. The majority of their bodies was covered by a carapace, and they each had a pair of enormous pincers on their head.
Zara sliced through a grigol’s front legs with one swing of his sword, and then he cut off its head when it fell. Another grigol looked like it was going to attack Moura, who was defending himself with a shield, so Zara leaped onto the monster’s back and beheaded it as well.
The situation then turned in their favor.
Next Zara took on the sandal bugs. Sandal bugs were insect monsters that were the size of a large sandal and had countless tiny feet. Their extreme speed and habit of diving into the sand made them very difficult to hit. Their poison was paralyzing, and enough of it would likely result in the victim becoming prey for another monster.
Catching the bugs was no problem with Zara’s Detection skill and the speed of his sword. He wiped them out as they threw themselves at him in rapid succession. They couldn’t even hide from Zara when they traveled under the sand.
Once Zara cleaned up the sandal bugs, the group was able to relax and focus on the remaining medium-sized monsters. The battle ended shortly, and then Laura hugged Zara.
“Zara, you’re amazing! Simply amazing! I’ve never seen anyone swing their sword as quickly and brilliantly as you! I also can’t believe you cut through the thick necks of the grigols with just one strike. What skill you have! What incredible technique! I’ve made a decision. Enter our party. Together we’ll take down that minotaur, the Labyrinth King!”
Laura continued to speak to him enthusiastically as they cleaned up after the battle, and even after they got back on their bobos and resumed travel.
To hear her tell it, when Zara had leaped on top of the grigol, he looked as gallant as Arza, a hero of old.
To hear her tell it, even the famous Divine Blade would have been amazed at his swordsmanship and how he’d wiped out the sandal bugs without falter.
This woman had a much more excitable personality than Zara expected.
“What do you mean by taking down the Labyrinth King?”
“Didn’t you say you were born in Baldemost? Do you really not know? In the town of Micaene near the royal capital of Baldemost Kingdom, there is a labyrinth called Sazardon. This labyrinth has one hundred floors, and the monsters are pretty tough, but the boss monster on the bottom floor possesses special strength. Minotaurs aren’t known for being very strong in other labyrinths, but the one in the Sazardon Labyrinth is a unique monster. It grew stronger by continuing to fight humans and monsters, and it eventually gained strength enough that even the wicked dragons and giants you hear of in myths would fear it. It drove out the metal dragon that was the original boss of the one hundredth floor and became the master of the labyrinth. It has great intelligence, physical strength, and speed; it’s robust; it has high resistance to magic and status ailments; it has an undying thirst for battle; and its skill with the sword stands out above all. It really is like a monster from a myth. It also has many skills, including its scorching hot breath and its strengthened Howling. Before long, people came to call this minotaur the Labyrinth King. No one knows how much experience will be gained for defeating the Labyrinth King. And that’s not all. The Labyrinth King has taken down many adventurers and monsters and has amassed a great collection of items. It is said that when it’s defeated, its drops will be worth enough to buy a country. For that reason, people from Baldemost and from all over the continent who desired fame and fortune have challenged the Labyrinth King. And they’ve all been killed. Can you believe this? Since it appeared a little over thirty years ago, this minotaur has never once lost.”
“It is said that one knight defeated it.”
“I don’t believe that. If the knight defeated it, then why is the minotaur still alive? It’s nonsensical that anyone would take on the minotaur alone in the first place. If a hydra or a real dragon appeared above the surface, would anyone be stupid enough to fight it alone? A few years before that, the king of Baldemost sent one hundred knights on a mission to take down the King of the Labyrinth, but every single one of them ended up being killed. The story of the knight was probably fabricated to cover up that shameful failure. They just want to say there is a knight in their kingdom who can defeat the Labyrinth King solo. Don’t make me laugh. That’s impossible. In order to defeat the Labyrinth King, a truly skilled warrior needs to form a party, and they need to challenge it with tight-knit coordination. There is no honor in going at it with great numbers, and carelessness and disorder are bound to be a problem. The Labyrinth King is a modern legend. Whoever defeats it will be a hero whose name will live on in posterity. So join our party. This is fate!”
Laura’s fervent invitation continued even into dinner.
“All right, I get it. You don’t have to worry. What is the name of the girl you are visiting? No harm will come of this. Just tell me. No matter what she says, I’ll make sure you get her hand in marriage. If she has a man, I’ll get her to break up. I’ll pay the man to leave her. I give you my word. So you can join our party without reservation. First just tell me her name. Go ahead, tell me!”
Having no other option, Zara told her the truth.
“I’ve heard rumors of a certain knight. This knight serves the ruler of the desert city of Bia-Dharla and kills monsters in the desert to make people’s lives easier. He is proud and incredible with a sword, and he is called the Red Knight because of the color of his armor. I want to meet him and ask for a lesson.”
Everyone in Laura’s group burst out laughing except for her. Even Zara’s guide was laughing shrilly. Laura looked upset, and she may have even been blushing.
“Oh, Zara, you don’t know how lucky you are. The gods have granted your wish. For Laura, no, Lady Laura just vowed to give you her hand in marriage! Hoo-hoo, congratulations. Okay, I suppose I should introduce you. This is the daughter of Lord Coralior, the ruler of the desert city of Bia-Dharla, Lady Laurasalim Taripetra Tolito Bia-Dharla. She is the current Red Knight!”
4
Laura was in quite the mood, and the group was paying dearly for it.
“The boy says he wants a lesson, but what kind of lesson could he mean?” asked the usually silent assassin Jamagar absentmindedly.
He then received a punch in the face.
“Zara, are you and the lady betrothed?” asked the defensive specialist Moura earnestly in a moment of down time.
He was then kicked into a spring.
The uncompromising Shariabro asked Zara his age, and Zara said he was about to turn eighteen. Shariabro then glanced at Laura, said “hmm,” and seemed to fall deep into thought.
Laura then cut off his proud beard.
The usually eloquent Orien was wise enough to keep his mouth shut, but that seemed to get on Laura’s nerves as well, and she kicked him in the back of the head.
When Laura’s attention turned to the guide, he went ahead and jumped into the spring himself.
After Laura calmed down, Zara sat at a distance from the spring and looked up at the stars. The sorcerer Orien came over and sat next to him.
“The original Red Knight was the lady’s uncle. The next Red Knight was her older brother. The rumors you heard were likely about him. He was kind and strong. He gave his life protecting the city and its people from monsters.”
“May I ask a question?”
“The lady is twenty-two years old.”
“It’s not about that. Why does Laura want to defeat the Sazardon minotaur?”
Orien answered after taking a moment to think.
“Human lives are fleeting in the desert. Your life vanishes without a trace the moment you are unable to escape the jaws of death. Right now, you are holding countless grains of sand in your palm, but when tomorrow comes, you won’t remember a single thing about any of them. Yet if just one of those grains of sand was to be illuminated by the stars and shine with a quick, beautiful flash of light, it might stick in your memory. The lady surely wants to leave proof of her existence. She also believes it will make her brother proud.”
“There have got to be plenty of stronger magical beasts and spirits. I’m sure there are also monsters and bad people nearby who are making people suffer. Why the Sazardon minotaur?”
“Probably because it’s far away. We don’t get much information about the north in this region. We don’t know how true the rumors about the minotaur are. To us, it’s a mythical monster from a distant land we know little about. That is probably what has spurred the desire in her heart to fight it.”
“So she’s not actually serious about fighting it?”
“Oh, she’s very, very serious, I assure you. You can see how our party formation is better suited for fighting a small number of strong enemies than it is for taking on many monsters at once, right? Our training is geared specifically toward fighting the Labyrinth King, and we are readying equipment for that purpose as well.”
“But you have all devoted yourselves to fighting monsters here every day. Wouldn’t that be difficult for the city if people as skilled as you left for a long period of time?”
“I’m sure it will be. The lady has an extreme sense of responsibility. She has made it her life’s mission to defend the populace that her brother fought to protect.”
“Then wouldn’t preparing for a fight with the minotaur be a waste of time?”
“Working as hard as you can toward achieving a dream cannot be considered a waste of time. We all love that aspect of the lady.”
For some reason, Zara remembered a conversation he’d had with Barrast Logan, the instructor who sent him on this trip.
“Uncle, earlier you said that there was no way that Father did not know the pain of human life. What did you mean by that?”
“Ah, that. When your old man, Panzel, was born, his family ran a sword training hall, and they were quite well off. I’m sure they were the envy of many. But when Panzel’s old man fell sick, their lives were flipped upside down. It sounds like it was a real struggle for Panzel’s mom to support the family. After his old man died, whenever his mom’s body failed her, they would have to go without food. Panzel started supporting when he was five years old. There isn’t much work a five-year-old can do, though, as you can imagine. They did their best to scrape by, but when he turned seven, his mom’s condition took a nosedive. He then started going into the labyrinth to get enough money to buy medicine, and that’s when he encountered the minotaur. Even at his young age, he already knew the futility of human life to a tragic extent. His old man was dead, his mom was growing thin, and he experienced many nights with the knowledge that they had no food to put on the table. It was all hopeless. But even within that hopelessness, he did have some constants. There were things to be happy about. His mom’s attitude toward his old man or him never changed, regardless of whether or not they had money. After they fell into poverty, his old man’s pupils would come to check on them and bring them food. They were even kind enough to give Panzel work. Panzel once said something to me. He couldn’t even allow himself to hope that he would live to see the next day. But even then, he decided he would love his mom and do everything in his power to support the family. That was when he found something he could do. He said he was very grateful for that. People who only think in terms of victory or defeat, strength or weakness, can’t fight like Panzel. If you understand what it means to fight honorably but are unable to put everything else aside, you can’t fight a monster like the minotaur. Knowing the pain of human life allows you to give your all without being distracted by things such as greed or insecurity.”
Barrast’s words had been like a riddle to Zara at the time. But now he felt like he had an idea of what he meant.
5
Bia-Dharla was on fire. Smoke was rising up from the city. They were still a good distance away, but a putrid stench hung in the air.
It was the smell of viscera. The smell of living creatures being burned. The smell of death.
As they approached the city, they saw heaps of monster corpses lying on the ground next to the rampart.
A Mass Craze!
There was a phenomenon among monsters called a Mass Craze, which caused them to suddenly gather and attack human settlements.
Monsters that had settlements of their own would even throw away their equivalent of society, livelihood, and property that they had built up to join this strange march. Monsters that didn’t normally form groups would show up and join as well.
Different species of monsters were often hostile toward each other, but at this time alone, they would have no hostility. They would forget about hunger and exhaustion, throw away all instinct of self-preservation, and relentlessly attack humans right up until they perished.
Bia-Dharla was under assault from monsters in a Mass Craze.
When they finally entered the city, they realized that it had not been completely destroyed. The damage, however, was great. The rampart was holding, but the south gate had been breached. Flying monsters that could breathe fire also greatly added to the damage.
Laura was mad at herself for being absent when the city needed her most, but there was no undoing what had already been done.
She spoke with her father, who was the ruler of the city. She then opened up the palace and set about carrying in injured people who had nowhere to go, treating them, and distributing emergency food. She ran around the city from early in the morning to late at night, providing medical care and giving words of encouragement to all who were injured.
Zara felt moved as he accompanied her and helped her out. Saying that you care about your people is nice, but he wondered how many nobles would be willing to go this far.
He was the eldest son of a marquis, and the time would soon come when he had to take his seat as ruler of the domain.
He stopped a moment to consider whether the people of his domain had ever been important to him. That train of thought led him to decide that he would support Laura in this moment with everything he had.
The first thing he did was offer all the medicinal goods he had on hand, taking care to keep a bit for himself. The medicines he had received from Narillia in the Great Ravine were extremely effective and were very gladly received. The antidotes for curing poison worked remarkably well.
The biggest problem that faced the city then was whether or not there would be second and third waves of attacks.
Bia-Dharla’s military force numbered three hundred and fifty people, including patrols and gatekeepers. There were fifty knights among that number, and the other three hundred were common soldiers. They also had four hundred volunteer soldiers from among the populace.
Ten knights had died and twenty were injured during the first attack. Twenty common soldiers died, and thirty were injured. Among the volunteer soldiers, thirty died and two hundred were injured. The losses were many. However, the safe return of Laura’s party to the palace caused the soldiers and the citizens to not lose heart.
Laura consulted with the commanding officers of the knights and then recruited three hundred more volunteer soldiers. It was decided that the volunteer soldiers would not participate in battle even if there was a second wave. They would instead help with transporting supplies, treating the injured, and other kinds of rear support.
Then on the fourth day, the second wave arrived.
Consisting of a number of monsters that far surpassed the defensive capabilities of the city.
6
The monsters numbered more than two thousand. Of those, nearly two hundred could fly. There were also as many as one hundred and fifty ogres on the ground.
It was a really bad situation. But that wouldn’t change their tactics. First, they would firmly shut the castle gates and attack the monsters from up on the rampart. Then, if the castle gate or a part of the rampart broke, they would lure in fixed numbers of monsters and wipe them out in manageable chunks.
There were currently one hundred soldiers waiting on top of the rampart with bows at the ready. This group had been formed after gathering people with experience. Every one of their arrows had been laced with the poison Zara received from Narillia. It was lamia poison that Narillia herself had secreted.
Zara had all five of the treasures he’d borrowed from House Mercurius equipped. He had been told not to use them in places where he stood out, but this wasn’t the time to worry about his appearance.
He had not yet taken out Bora’s Sword. Zara’s father, Panzel, died from overuse of the sword’s blessings. His mom had always told him not to use it unless he absolutely needed to.
“Fire!”
Arrows were loosed at the commander’s order. Very few of the soldiers were able to handle their bows steadily in the face of the approaching monsters. As a result, most shot their arrows too quickly and were way off the mark, but a few of them did still find their target.
The effects of the poison were immediate, and just being grazed by the arrows caused the flying monsters to crash to the ground. Some of them collided into the rampart, and some fell within the palace grounds.
A great number of the archers forgot that they had been ordered to get down immediately after firing an arrow and fell victim to the flying monsters as a result.
Zara loosed three arrows in rapid succession with his Tirika Bow. He immediately drew three more arrows and fired.
The small size of the Tirika Bow made it look like a toy compared to the bows of the soldiers around him, but it was actually very strong. With his strength and skill, Zara could manage significantly greater distance than the other soldiers were capable of, and his arrows penetrated more deeply.
The flying monsters dove at them. Zara dodged nimbly, turned to face the ones that had made it inside the rampart, and fired three more arrows. He was using the bow technique he had been taught by the girl of the mountains.
Eight of the nine arrows he shot found their mark and felled the beasts. The one arrow that missed ended up traveling a long distance and hit an ogre directly. The ogre toppled over and brought down a decent number of monsters with it, so it was fair to say he got a decent return out of that arrow.
They had taken down less than forty of the flying monsters so far. Over one hundred and fifty of them remained, but thankfully, it seemed like all the ones that possessed the ability to breathe fire had been killed. Those could cause a lot of trouble if ignored, so they had been priority targets.
Next, all they could do was leave it to the mobile forces within the palace walls.
The army of monsters on the ground was approaching. They could not let them take the rampart with that level of force. Zara decided it was time to use a trump card.
“Summon Comet! Summon Comet! Summon Comet!”
Giant comets were summoned, falling to the ground where Zara pointed his sword and destroying and burning everything in their path.
Raika’s Ring ran out of magic power, and its light extinguished.
Each one of those spells was powerful enough to exhaust the magic of an elite sorcerer. And Zara had used three of them. He’d probably killed fifty monsters.
The surrounding soldiers looked at Zara in mute amazement. Even the commander.
“Prepare the bombs!”
On Zara’s order, a group that was on standby spread out atop the rampart.
The bombs were big and heavy but extremely effective at killing enemy forces. When Zara pulled out three hundred bombs that he had stored in his Treasury and offered them to the defense effort, Laura was shocked and asked him if he had been planning to go to war against this land. That was a perfectly understandable reaction. Just one of the bombs was worth more than all the equipment of an elite knight put together, so it was unimaginable that one person could be walking around with that amount of them.
Some of the soldiers started to rush to throw the bombs immediately, but Zara stopped them.
“Don’t throw them yet! Wait until they have drawn closer and are about to hit the rampart. Aim for specific monsters and make sure you hit your target! Don’t hit the rampart!”
He wanted to tell them to aim for only ogres, but that would have been expecting too much. There was no point in giving them an order they were incapable of following.
“Now! Throw the bombs! Archers, what are you doing? Fiiiiiire!”
A mass of bombs and arrows flew together on Zara’s order. This strategy wouldn’t last very long, but it would be effective if they bombarded the enemy with everything they had.
The explosives detonated, sending monsters flying in every direction. The arrows fell over the monsters by the rampart like a blanket.
They were doing as well as could possibly be expected. That said, they had taken down only around 20 percent of the enemy’s numbers. If they had been fighting an army of humans, the enemy probably would have temporarily withdrawn after suffering such losses, but monsters in a Mass Craze did not stop their assault until all had perished.
The real battle started now. The monsters began to attack the rampart. Judging by the quaking, it wouldn’t last long.
Zara advised the commander to have the soldiers evacuate to the right and left and leaped within the walls of the rampart. He kicked off an overhang on a tower, landed on a staircase, then jumped down to the ground in an instant.
Laura then called out to him. “Zara, good work up there.”
“We need to retreat. It’s about to collapse.”
“Got it. Everyone, fall back!”
They heard the constant booming sound of the rampart being hit. The wall finally gave in near the south gate. The large quantity of falling stones crushed about ten monsters.
The monsters instantly began to climb over the wreckage. They let in about fifty monsters and then blocked any more from getting through. Their five valuable sorcerer knights were given the role of blocking the monsters.
Laura, the archer Shariabro, and the support sorcerer Orien were also with them.
The defensive specialist Moura, the assassin Jamagar, eight knights, and fifty common soldiers were in charge of killing the monsters they’d allowed past the wall. Seven more knights and fifty more common soldiers were close by, awaiting orders to switch places with them. There were also fifty common soldiers stationed around the city to deal with flying monsters or anything that broke through the line of defense at the rampart.
Moura, who was using a tower shield, attracted three ogres his way. Normally it would take five soldiers to defeat a single ogre. An elite knight would be able to fight one on their own. He may have been a defensive specialist, but taking on three at once showed that Moura was no ordinary warrior.
Each clanging noise of the ogres striking his shield was dreadful enough to make even battle-hardened warriors cower in fear, but Moura’s face was perfectly calm.
Jamagar snuck behind an ogre and sliced through the tendons of its legs with his curved sword. The ogre then fell, and he cut its hands so that it wouldn’t be able to hold its weapon. From there, he left it to the common soldiers and turned toward the next monster. Jamagar and the soldiers made short work of three ogres using that method.
Eight knights were fighting two ogres a short distance away.
Fifty soldiers were fighting forty medium-size monsters.
Zara charged forward and severed the legs of the two ogres one by one. Then, without even looking back, he plunged into the pack of medium-size monsters and began to slay all within reach.
The commander of the knights issued an order, and those who were fighting switched with the group that was on standby. Laura then judged it was time to let in the next batch of monsters.
This time, they let in sixty monsters, ten more than last time. They then used offensive magic and explosive arrows to obstruct any more from getting through.
After using his Tirika Bow to help keep the group of monsters in check, Zara got to work on cleaning up the monsters they’d allowed in. Everyone watched in awe at the brilliance of his movements, all wondering who in the world this young man was.
Zara was thinking about the current situation.
It was going well. For the time being. But the sorcerer knights’ magic wouldn’t last very long. The arrows would eventually run out. The monsters were in the process of breaking through in a number of other locations across the rampart.
At this rate, they had no chance of holding back the remaining 1,500 monsters. Eventually their front line would collapse.
This was a battle without any hope of victory.
7
A part of the rampart that was not yet broken was struck with a magic attack from the outside. It was a lightning attack.
Zara was surprised.
There are still monsters that can use magic?
If that was the case, then a new possibility had opened up.
“Laura! I’m moving!”
Zara took off without waiting for an answer, cutting down every monster he passed. He then leaped onto the fallen stones of the rampart, killed the enemies around him with speed and precision, and jumped through to the other side.
By that point, he had become the target of the bloodlust of all 1,500 monsters outside the city. The people watching him were surely taken aback by this seemingly suicidal act.
There they are!
The magic attacks were coming from a strange type of monster. There were just over ten of them. They looked like giant earthworms with thorns all along their bodies, and they were five times the height of the average human.
Zara made full use of his Acceleration skill and circled all the way around the army of monsters to get behind them. While doing so, he disabled the blessing of Alestra’s Bracelet and enabled the blessing of Bolton’s Charm.
An ogre swung its club at him, and he blocked it with Ende’s Shield. The shield reflected the force of the blow, causing the club to shatter.
The ogre tried to punch him, and he blocked that with Ende’s Shield as well, greatly injuring its arm.
Zara slaughtered the enemies around him with the sword in his right hand. When he got within arrow’s range of the giant earthworms, he stored his shield, drew out his Tirika Bow, and fired at two of them in quick succession while dodging the attacks of the enemies around him.
The first giant earthworm trembled violently after being hit with the arrow, and then it turned toward Zara and fired a lightning attack. The second one did the same.
Zara allowed both lightning attacks to hit him, and his entire body jolted from the shock. He looked down at Raika’s Ring. Its light had returned.
“Summon Comet!”
A comet fell and blasted away the monsters near the rampart.
Each of the five blessed items of House Mercurius had incredible blessings.
Alestra’s Bracelet eliminated magic at the user’s discretion.
Kaldan’s Dagger protected the user from status ailments and poison.
Ende’s Shield reflected physical attacks back at the user’s opponent.
Raika’s Ring fired offensive magic.
Bolton’s Charm absorbed magic and granted invisibility.
There were a number of extremely strong spells sealed within Raika’s Ring, and even people without magical ability could cast them. Naturally, the spells could not be cast once the magic power within ran out.
As for Bolton’s Charm, in addition to the blessing of invisibility, it was also capable of absorbing enemy magic attacks for the owner to use as magic power. If you were hit by a magic attack with both Bolton’s Charm and Raika’s Ring equipped, the magic power would be stored in Raika’s Ring. Most of the damage from the attack would be absorbed, but the pain would remain the same.
In other words, Zara could continue casting Summon Comet as long as he could bear the pain of the lightning attacks. What would make this difficult, however, was that he needed to dodge the attacks of the crazed monsters around him while remaining in firing range of the giant earthworms. In this chaotic of a battle, there was no way even Zara could avoid all their attacks. He would receive a constant stream of injuries, so it could not be said that this method had a high chance of success.
But this was the only sliver of hope they had in a hopeless situation.
Zara continued to fight with the rage of a demon. His memory from that point on was vague.
8
Laura smiled as she wiped off Zara’s face.
“Are you awake?”
Her own face was covered in injuries, but they did nothing to detract from her beauty.
Zara’s entire body was numb, and his senses were dull. He hadn’t yet fully regained consciousness, either. Everything seemed vague and unreal, as if it were all a mirage.
“Just who are you, Zara?”
Laura’s voice sounded distant despite her close proximity.
Zara was lying in a bed. Laura knelt down and buried her head in his chest.
“It doesn’t matter who you are. Thank you.”
He couldn’t see her face, but he somehow understood she had been crying.
Time passed in silence.
He may have lost consciousness for a moment, because before Zara knew it, Laura’s face was right in front of his. She kissed him gently.
He felt like he was enveloped by a sweet, soft wind.
“I thought we would be lucky to save one person. But I knew even that would be impossible. You’re a miracle worker, Zara.”
Zara was finally able to get his mouth to move.
“How many…survivors?”
“Excluding me and the ones who didn’t fight due to injury, all the knights died. Close to one hundred common soldiers survived. The king and the palace are safe, and two-thirds of the populace survived. We won.”
“What about Moura? And Jamagar? And Shariabro? And Orien?”
“All dead. Each one of them died valiantly.”
He couldn’t move his head, so he looked at Laura by moving his eyes. Her right arm was gone. Her bandages were soaked with blood. As if noticing Zara’s gaze, Laura explained what had happened.
“The painkillers you gave us are unbelievable, Zara. I was also sleeping until just recently. The pain from my missing arm hurt so much that it woke me up. But I’m okay now thanks to the painkiller. A desert alligator clamped down on my arm. I was trapped and nearly received a fatal blow from an ogre, but Orien saved me by using a flash bomb to burn my right arm off and free me. Then the ogre hit and killed Orien instead. I used my left arm alone to kill both the ogre and the alligator.”
That was how she’d survived.
They’d actually succeeded in defeating that large of a force. Though it seemed the sacrifice was great.
“I saw the way you fought. It wasn’t just me—a lot of people saw you. No human can fight like that. Everyone is saying that you must be the warrior god Arza.”
“Arza… That is…my other…name.”
Arza was his original name. In order to prevent his identity from being found out, he had changed his name temporarily to Zara.
“Huh? Are you actually Arza? If you are, then I want you to tell me something. It’s said in the Gorenza Empire that the warrior Arza was a servant of the wicked dragon Kaldan. But in the north, they say that he was an attendant of the goddess Pharah. In the desert, it is believed that Arza is the name that the goddess Bora’s brother took after throwing away his status as a god and becoming a human. Which one is correct?”
Zara did his best to answer while still half asleep.
“The goddess Kaldan… Today’s victory…was made possible…by Kaldan’s blessing. The earth goddess Bora’s…blessings were…even greater. The goddess Pharah… I don’t know…much about her.”
“I see. Then from now on, Bia-Dharla will worship the goddess Bora and the dragon goddess Kaldan. A festival will be held on this date. So, Zara. If you can—”
Laura’s speech broke off. There was a big commotion happening in the city.
Laura grabbed her sword with her left hand, said something to Zara, and left.
Zara’s entire body was numb, and neither his headache nor the ringing in his ears would die down. He opened his Treasury without getting up, but he couldn’t move his arms. After much effort, he managed to withdraw Bora’s Sword.
He got to his feet using his sword to prop himself up. Ende’s Shield was leaning against the bed, so he stored it along with the dagger sheathed within it. He checked for the bracelet, charm, and ring. Using the sword, he staggered his way out of the building.
The city was in terrible shape. Many people were looking in the direction of rubble, piled-up corpses, and the crumbled rampart. There were also some fleeing in Zara’s direction.
There were trolls. More than ten of them were approaching.
Trolls were big-bodied and unbelievably strong. Just one swing of a troll’s arm packed the punch of ten ogres. Their skin was highly resistant to blows and cutting attacks, and they could not be brought down with swords or lances. As far as the city’s defenses were concerned, they may as well have been gods of death.
Zara dragged his feet as he approached them; his stiff body wouldn’t move as he ordered it to. He then felt like he heard someone calling out to him. He turned around and saw his guide shouting something and waving his arms.
A single bobo ran up to Zara, spurred on by the guide. It then bent its knees and held its back out in front of him. Zara noticed that it had one black ear. He clung to its back, and the bobo skillfully slipped through the wreckage of the rampart and the corpses and went outside the city.
It would take about twenty more seconds to reach the trolls. Laura was running straight ahead of Zara with a sword drawn in her left hand. Zara urged on his bobo.
There were twelve trolls. They were a variety of sizes. The four smaller ones in the back were probably children. Zara wondered if trolls also felt sadness at the death of children or parents.
Arza had never seen trolls before, but he didn’t think they would be this big. The troll at the front of the pack was especially gigantic. Trolls had long arms and torsos and short legs, but their knees were still even with Laura’s head as she approached.
A giant troll raised the club in its right hand and drew it back. Laura was charging straight at it. Zara felt a sincere sense of dread as he urged his bobo forward, but he wasn’t going to make it on time.
The troll swung at Laura with its club in a sweeping motion. She dodged by dropping to the ground; then she got back up and rotated into a powerful strike that cut off the troll’s right arm.
The troll then kicked her, and her body went flying high into the air. After she landed, the trolls stomped on her mercilessly.
Zara’s bobo reached the foremost troll. The bobo changed course to the right to avoid the trolls.
Zara was thrown off, and he turned toward the trolls closing in on him and rolled like a barrel. The largest troll lifted what was left of its right arm to its head and screamed as if it had just registered the pain. Zara, still lacking total freedom of movement, succeeded in using the force from rolling to slash the troll’s leg with Bora’s Sword.
At that moment, Bora’s Sword gave Zara a tremendous blessing.
The divine sword was furnished with a number of powerful blessings, including Health Leech 10 Percent, which just activated. Zara absorbed 10 percent of the damage he inflicted on the troll. The effect was dramatic.
His body was freed as if being released from shackles, and his thinking, hearing, vision, and his other senses regained their clarity.
He twisted out of the way to avoid being stepped on by the second and third trolls he encountered, and he cut off the leg of a fourth troll. He once again regained a significant amount of stamina, and then he cut off the collapsed troll’s head and ran up to Laura. The eleven remaining trolls headed for the city, seemingly having lost interest in Zara and Laura.
Laura was in terrible shape. Her red armor had just barely protected her from being crushed to death, but the blood flowing from her mouth suggested more than a few of her internal organs had ruptured. Her eyes were hazy, and she couldn’t even focus her vision. Her left leg had suffered a full break and was twisted in an impossible direction.
Laura was going to die. She would pass through the gate to the underworld at any moment. Even a priest capable of working miracles would not have been able to save her.
Then, as if possessed by something, Zara took action that defied reason or explanation.
He lifted Laura’s body, supported her weight from behind, and placed Bora’s Sword in her limp left hand. He then wrapped his left around hers, raised a beast-like cry, and attacked the eleven trolls approaching the city.
He cut. He slashed. And he killed.
Despite the restrictive posture of holding Laura’s body in his right hand and holding the sword through her left, he was like a hurricane as he swung Bora’s Sword. The trolls were probably never even aware of who they were fighting. Their hands, legs, and heads were cut off in quick succession before they ever understood what was happening. Before long, all that was left was Zara and Laura and the mutilated flesh of the trolls.
Zara’s mind was surprisingly calm. Laura had still not opened her eyes. Zara laid her down on the sand, then got on his knees and prayed.
“O Earth Goddess Bora. O Great Bora. I humbly thank you for your divine protection and do beseech thee: grant this woman restful slumber.”
Laura’s lost right arm was restored.
Her left leg was restored as well. Her body, which had been covered in injuries, was brought back from the brink. Her head was still plastered with clotted blood, but the injuries had healed.
She was asleep and breathing peacefully. Less than a thousand paces away, the citizens of Bia-Dharla looked on at the rubble of the rampart without a clue as to what was going on.
A booming voice resounded in Zara’s head.
“Arza, son of Panzel, known also as Zara. The time has come. Honor our agreement and become my blade.”
Zara’s body then disappeared.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter5.txt
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Interlude 8
Interlude 8
The minotaur had been transported to a new room shaped like a hemisphere.
The boundaries were distant. The ceiling was bluish and seemed to recede and draw closer in rhythm. The air felt unusually humid, and a sickly haze hung over the room.
Breathing the air burned the minotaur’s throat. This air would likely kill anyone without a strong resistance.
The floor was once again crooked, but it slanted up and down in soft waves as opposed to the jaggedness of the last room. Long, narrow, and flat blades of grass emerged from the floor across the room. They were all subtle shades of green or blue. Some of them appeared to be slightly brown as well.
Each blade of grass tapered to a thin point at the top and bottom. Their roots were extremely thin, making it appear as if they were floating.
The tallest ones reached the height of the minotaur, and the smallest ones were half that size.
The minotaur looked down and saw that it was standing on flat, circular stones shining with red light. Next to it were dull gray stones of the same shape.
The minotaur stored its barrel hammer in its Bag, withdrew two scimitars, and stepped down onto the floor. The sword in its right hand was called the Blood Scimitar, and the one in its left was called the Lizardman Scimitar. They were both weapons it had earned from defeating the lizardman, but the Blood Scimitar was a rare drop and had a blessing that increased its sharpness significantly.
The blades of grass began to tremble, rustling noisily, as if they were being blown by a wind that was not there. Depending on the angle from which they were seen, the countless blades either appeared wide or disappeared altogether as they wriggled.
It was as if the room had awoken after noticing the presence of the creature foolish enough to wander inside.
The minotaur quickly twisted its body and used the scimitar in its left hand to deflect an attack that came at it from behind. A second attack came an instant later, and the minotaur twisted out of the way and deflected it as well.
Two more blades of grass went for its feet, and it used both scimitars to slice through them simultaneously. The minotaur looked down and saw that both blades of grass had wilted.
A single soft-looking blade of grass that had been swaying in front of the minotaur detached from the ground and extended its body straight upward. It looked like the blade of a sword. It then pointed itself at the minotaur and charged forward.
The minotaur twisted out of the way.
The blade of grass flew past the minotaur’s back, slowed its pace, turned around, and attacked the minotaur once more. This time, the minotaur cut it down with one of its swords.
The minotaur felt pain in its left side. It had been stabbed by a blade of grass that flew at it from behind. It tore it out and threw it to the ground.
Something felt off to the minotaur. These grasslike things appeared soft, but when the minotaur was cut by them or deflected them, they felt as hard as a sword. Also, what it just tore out of its body felt like metal.
These grasslike things were not what they appeared to be.
Now that the minotaur thought about it, the way the tentacles in the last room felt did not match their appearance, either. In this place, the minotaur could not even trust what it saw with its own eyes.
Every blade of grass in the room detached from the ground simultaneously and bobbed up and down gently. An untold number of them were suspended in the air, filling the entire room. Every one of them pointed toward the minotaur.
The minotaur was greatly displeased with these enemies. The reason for that was not because they had been catching it off guard or because their true form did not match their appearance. It was because they did not have emotion.
Humans and monsters always had wills of their own. They would direct their hatred or their fear toward the minotaur and attack it, fully determined to kill.
Furthermore, living beings constantly projected signs of their existence. The minotaur would feel the activity of its opponent’s mind as wind and the presence of their life as heat. But it felt no wind or heat from these grasslike things.
These grasslike things are not fighting. They are simply moving.
These cold, mindless weapons are pointing their blades at me.
These weapons that do not know the ecstasy of combat or the joy of victory dare try to take my life?
A burning rage welled up from deep within the minotaur’s stomach. Then, with a frightening expression, it sucked its lungs full of the cursed air and let out an explosive roar.
ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!
The minotaur used Warcry. The brutal roar resounded throughout the room.
Warcry was an area-of-effect attack that was equally valuable in all directions. The minotaur used it in the middle of the room so the effect was equal throughout the entire space.
The countless grasslike things paused in the air and began to shake. When the minotaur saw that they were not attacking, it understood that Howling had probably worked. If that was true, then their stamina had been halved, their resistance was lowered, and they were unable to move.
The minotaur sucked in another breath.
KUUUUUAAAAAAARRRRRR!!
This was a skill called Crushing Breath. The many grasslike entities floating in front of the minotaur began to tremble violently.
Eventually, thin cracks began to run down their bladelike bodies.
The minotaur continued to use Crushing Breath. The shock waves crushed the grasslike things to pieces, as the skill’s name suggested.
The minotaur gradually changed the direction it was facing and used Crushing Breath over and over again. When all the blades of grass had been reduced to a pile of mulch, the minotaur stopped roaring, and silence returned to the room.
The minotaur leveled up, and the injury to its left side was healed. The dull gray stones next to the shining red stones began to glow blue.
The minotaur reached up and touched its right horn. Half of it was still cut off.
It had been cut off by that man.
Every time it touched its misshapen horn, it was consumed by rage. Its horn could not be made whole again until it defeated that man.
The minotaur sucked in a deep breath. Its chest was burning, but not because of the filthiness of the air. It stepped onto the blue stones in search of its next opponent.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter6.txt
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Chapter 19. The One Who Waits on Time
Chapter 19
The One Who Waits on Time
1
It was a few days before Zara would fight to defend Bia-Dharla. Alkan, the former head of House Riga, was relaxing and looking down on the royal capital from his veranda.
It was Alkan’s eighty-first birthday. His family members and servants understood that he hated extravagance and pomp, so they had a modest but heartfelt dinner party.
Harmony spreading among people—nothing made Alkan happier than that.
What brought him joy was seeing a great number of family members, relatives, and friends journey to visit him. There were, however, people he wanted to come but couldn’t bring himself to invite and people who wouldn’t come despite his invitation.
As he expected, Esseluleia did not come.
Banust was quite far. But she did have to come to the royal palace once a year, so she could have timed that trip to make it to his birthday.
That Esseluleia didn’t even send a letter or a present showed her feelings more than anything else.
She really does think that I stole her Panzel’s life, doesn’t she?
That was a bitter thought. To Alkan, nothing could have been more absurd. In no way did he harm Panzel. But it was the truth that he had done certain things that made it only natural for her to think he did.
You reap what you sow, huh?
He laughed softly and brushed away the loneliness he felt at growing old and being hated by his daughter.
2
The first head of House Riga came to serve the founding king not long after the creation of the kingdom. At first, he was not a vassal but a simple onlooker.
The first head was the heir to House Onis, which ruled over an expansive land facing the North Sea. By comparison, the founding king’s country consisted only of the royal capital and a handful of towns. The first head of House Riga did nothing more than offer some advice and cooperation as an observer while basking in the fun environment of a new country being born.
The founding king was a strange man, thought Alkan.
He was greedy and lacked modesty. He had no self-control when it came to items or women he wanted. He would try to forcibly snatch anything he desired for himself, even if it belonged to one of his vassals. It was fair to say he was a man of many faults.
But on the other hand, he was not stingy in the least when it came to recognizing the distinguished service of others. If he was admonished, he was capable of acknowledging his error with honesty. And above all, he was capable of inspiring others to dream big.
That was why no small amount of people who possessed the virtue and ability to build a country gathered around the founding king. They all exercised their talents, believing that they needed to support him. The founding king also had the ability to draw out the full potential of others.
Alkan thought that if he had been alive at the time and had been permitted to join them on that adventure, he would have hastened to do so. That was how joyful, unprecedented, and grand an era the founding king had built at the birth of this country.
When the founding king died, the first head of House Riga made to travel back to the North Sea. His parents had grown old, and he’d lost interest in the country after the founding king’s death.
He was in his carriage leading his family and retainers out of the royal capital when the founding king’s queen detained him. Then, holding the child who was to be the second-generation king in her arms, she lay down on the road in front of the carriage and said the following.
“If you leave, then neither I nor this child will be able to keep this kingdom together, and it will soon perish. You may as well run us over and kill us now.”
After the founding king’s death, the queen had watched in silence as his most influential vassals left one after another, but as soon as she caught word of the first head of House Riga’s departure, she suddenly dashed out of the royal palace and tried desperately to stop him. She all but wrapped herself around his feet to implore him to stay.
The first head was unable to shake her off, and he remained in the royal capital. That was when he threw away his position as heir to the land of Onis.
When the kingdom was founded, the king named his twenty-four direct vassals Defenders of the Realm and established the noble families of counsel. Many of those houses had been passed on to the next generation when the founding king died.
Of those twenty-four houses, the only two that swore allegiance to the kingdom after the founding king’s death were House Mercurius and House Lowell, the latter of which died out with the death of Evert. The rest of the houses became effectively independent and focused all their efforts on managing their own domain and expanding their territory as they pleased.
The first thing the head of House Riga had to do was bring those noble families back into the kingdom. Acting at times with negotiation and at others with force, over a long period of time, he managed to bring all the other twenty-two families back into the kingdom. It was a truly great achievement. When his life’s work was over, the Baldemost Kingdom occupied more territory than any other country in the north of the continent.
The next thing they worked to accomplish was securing a road to the sea. His first objective was a collection of small coastal cities to the northeast of Baldemost.
He chose not to take them with military might. Instead, he developed a city of commerce in the region of Riga, which sat between Baldemost and the coastal settlements.
The city of Riga bought salt and marine products from the coastal cities and sold them in the Baldemost Kingdom. The coastal cities benefited from this because a new market had opened in which they could easily sell large quantities of goods. Riga took care of the transport and escort, so it was a great opportunity for the coastal cities to develop industry. Riga also cooperated with the development of processing technology and even lent funds. Riga became an essential presence for the coastal cities, and they came to rely on each other deeply.
The lords of Baldemost put pressure on the coastal cities to lower the price of salt, but the cities would not budge from a price that would turn them a sizable profit. In contrast, Baldemost sold medical goods and metal products to the coastal cities as cheaply as possible.
The industries of the coastal cities expanded, and once the shipping industry really started to boom, they ended up with a shortage of personnel. The first head of House Riga gathered up refugees and poor people from all across Baldemost and sent them to the coastal cities.
Eventually, villages made up of Baldemost citizens began to be established along the sea. The people of the coastal cities welcomed this gladly as a sign of development. The rulers of the coastal cities then paid tribute to the king of Baldemost of their own accord through Riga, and they were eventually incorporated into the kingdom.
A number of direct-control municipalities were established, starting with Anpoan. Riga also achieved striking developments and became an important strategic point for both industry and defense. The first head was named the Duke of Riga, and he changed his family name to Riga.
In the final year of his life, he visited the place that was once the land of Onis.
The once-prosperous land had fallen to ruin and had become a borderland overrun by monsters. The first head of House Riga realized his mistake in thinking that the division of land would not affect the livelihood of its people.
That land was once a country, and he was supposed to be its ruler. But there was no longer a country, because its people had disappeared.
Which meant that a country was its people.
That was the true essence of the country that the first head of House Riga spent his whole life to build.
3
The true essence of a country was its people, and those people increasing in population, spreading, and gaining wealth was how a country prospered. That was the philosophy that House Riga centered itself on, and from their perspective, the majority of the lords of Baldemost had too narrow an outlook, were obsessed with ideals with no real substance, and mistook the possession of military power for the use of it.
Those lords said that loyalty to the king was the basis a kingdom needed to flourish. Raising strong kings should be what the kingdom’s system hoped to accomplish.
That was not wrong.
But when the king was the only great man, the country would decline after his death. Alkan couldn’t believe how many people failed to see that the founding king’s death was an indictment against that system.
It was true that buildings need a pillar, living beings need a spine, and families need a head of the household. However, if you were to set sail across the ocean on a ship with only one sail, the voyage would be a perilous one.
Why did no one realize that the second-generation king made the first head of House Riga a duke as a clear expression that he wanted to build a country where the king and the lords supported each other?
For most of the lords who clamored for loyalty toward the king, the word loyalty was nothing more than a decoration on their behavior that was driven by jealousy toward other houses and the desire to bring profit to their own. In the end, all their attention was on their own house, and they didn’t spare a thought for the kingdom.
A good example of such a lord was Earl Wezor.
House Riga had a long-cherished desire. That desire was to establish an economic community between the Baldemost Kingdom and the coastal region on the northwest of the continent. This was the greatest wish of the first head of House Riga that he entrusted to his successor.
The west coast of what was currently the feudal states of Fenks had been a good harbor since olden times, had an excellent and large-scale salt pan, and also possessed developed marine-processing technology.
Their trade with the western archipelagos was flourishing thanks to their advanced shipbuilding technology and naval strength, they had the technology to process all the minerals from throughout the feudal states of Fenks, and there were wealthy merchants with financial power that surpassed that of some kings.
The wealthiest cities in the northern part of the continent were all clustered together in this region.
The Baldemost Kingdom needed to be tied to that region. Not through conquest or by demanding allegiance but by becoming equal trading partners and enabling people and goods to move freely between the kingdom and the northwest coast. That was what the first head of House Riga said would be the key to the kingdom’s development.
House Riga had gradually increased exchange with the cities along the northwest coast over a long period of time. The house had also worked to decrease animosity with the powerful feudal states of Fenks, which were located between the Baldemost Kingdom and the cities along the northwest coast.
Then a day arrived when those efforts paid off enormously. In the year 1040 of the Royal Calendar, House Nadal of the feudal states of Fenks declared its return to allegiance to the king of Baldemost, thanks to intermediation from Alkan’s father, Molzora, and the head of the house was named the Baron of Paulo.
Molzora was thirty-five years old at the time. Alkan was only four years old, but he remembered well the festival-like bustle and joy in his household. From then on, he would be reminded at every opportunity of the importance of House Nadal’s declaration of allegiance.
The lords in Fenks defended their territory using corps of soldiers called the Northern Knights, which boasted unrivaled strength on level ground with their heavy equipment and unique battle formations and tactics. The lords of Fenks all acted independently and did not interfere with one another, but they would band together when it came time to face a foreign threat.
The lords of Fenks called Baldemost a country of cowards. They looked down on it as a country created by nobles who fled from the weak south. They didn’t even take kindly to citizens of Baldemost passing through their territory. Fenks had become an impossible obstacle in House Riga’s attempts to trade with the northwest coast.
Baldemost then regained House Nadal’s allegiance. The Northern Knights of House Nadal were known for their exceptional strength. Gaining House Nadal’s allegiance meant adding their military might to the Baldemost Kingdom.
Also, by integrating the baron’s domain of Paulo into Baldemost, the kingdom drew closer to the northwest coast. House Nadal also had many relatives in the central region of the feudal states of Fenks, and you could almost reach the sea just by lining up the territories of those relatives.
House Riga moved forward carefully with preparations for establishing trade routes.
Then an incident occurred in which vassals of Earl Wezor were massacred by a group of government officials in the territory of Lord Daina of the feudal states of Fenks. The vassals were on their way back from buying jewels in a city of commerce on the coast in preparation for a marriage ceremony.
They were captured and killed despite possessing a permit to pass through that land, and their killers fled with the jewels. There were no excuses for their deaths. Lord Daina admitted fault and sent envoys to apologize.
When Molzora heard this, he jumped for joy. Lord Daina had always been prejudiced against Baldemost, and he was in opposition to the opening of trade routes. Molzora could use this incident to silence Lord Daina. If he handled the situation well enough, he might even have been able to win Lord Daina’s support for the trade routes.
That joy lasted for only one day.
News arrived that Earl Wezor had invaded Lord Daina’s territory. Alkan had never seen his father so depressed.
At the time, Molzora was forty-nine years old, and Alkan was eighteen.
“Alkan, I don’t understand. Why did the earl go to war?”
“Probably to gain territory.”
“What good would scraping off a slice of that territory, which is mostly wasteland, do for his people? How much military strength would he need to expend to protect the land he obtained? Lord Daina admitted fault. Debts only mean anything if you keep the other side in debt. If we invade, then the debt disappears, and we end up in the wrong.”
“Yes, but the earl would surely point out that increasing his domain increases the territory of the kingdom.”
“If the Northern Knights united their forces, our kingdom would stand no chance of victory. Then we would be the ones who end up losing territory! All right, what would he say to this: I know you’re angry that your vassals were killed, but who made it so that you could obtain a permit and purchase goods on the coast in the first place? Do you know how much time and money that took?”
“The earl would likely answer with the following: That was done for the kingdom. Our war is also for the kingdom. So you have no right to say that to me.”
“Hmm. I see. But I’ve been saying for years that our country does not have territory-related ambition. What happened to that?”
“Expanding the territory of a kingdom is the duty of its loyal subjects. He would probably say you have been disloyal to the crown for your dealings with the feudal states of Fenks.”
“We no longer have any need for increasing our territory! Opening up genuine trading with the northwest coast will bring great wealth to the kingdom and lead to population growth, which will increase our productivity. We have plenty of usable land left even within the kingdom right now. Our first priority should be developing within the country and increasing our own strength. To do that, we need to bring wealth to our economy through trade. The lords in Fenks whose territory the trade routes will pass through will benefit as well. Creating an economic relationship where both sides depend on the other will decrease the chance of war. Once we have grown our nation’s power to a sufficient degree, we can invite the lords into our kingdom economically. Taking territory by force will not endear its people to us, and their resentment will run deep. Countries grow prosperous through the profit of their people. Was that not already proven with the northeastern coast?”
“That won’t convince anyone. The lords of Baldemost will see your actions as benefiting only House Riga. They’ll argue that everything to the north and east of Riga is essentially our territory. We invested money and people from the kingdom to increase its wealth, and then we made it our own. Because of that, they’ll say that we need to give them a chance to grab some land to the west for themselves.”
“So not even saying that this is all for the kingdom’s benefit rather than our own will reach them. Hmm. Alkan, what can I do here?”
“Father. Have you received a request from Earl Wezor to provide logistic support for the war effort?”
“No. I have received nothing of the sort.”
“Then let’s sell our salt to Tada.”
“What?”
That year, the northeast coast of the continent had suffered consistently bad weather, and the production of salt had fallen tremendously. As in other countries, the royal family in Baldemost had a monopoly on salt, but in reality, it was House Riga that had total control over the production and sale of it. They had built up a healthy stockpile of salt under House Riga’s direction.
House Riga sold that entire supply to the neighboring country of Tada. Tada had been suffering from a shortage of salt, so this placed the country in Baldemost’s debt and brought enormous profit to the kingdom. All distribution of salt, aside from regular provisions, to the cities throughout Baldemost was cut off temporarily, prices inflated on the open market, and then it disappeared entirely.
The opinion that Baldemost should supply Earl Wezor with reinforcements was voiced in the Privy Council, but that was rejected mainly for the reason that it would result in a war between nations. There were no lords who wanted to go so far as to spend their own money to support the earl, so the war dragged on.
The earl then ran out of salt. There was no salt for him to buy, so the war effort had to be suspended without gaining any territory.
If any one lord had assisted the earl, it would not have worked out that way. When Molzora asked Alkan why no one came to his aid, Alkan answered with the following.
“If any of the surrounding lords had supported the earl, it would have been because they thought their turn to receive support would be next. But they also couldn’t stand the idea of the earl reaping all the rewards from this war. No lord was going to be willing to help increase the earl’s territory at their own cost.”
That was exactly what happened.
A crack had formed in the friendly relationship between the lords of Fenks and House Riga, and the dream of opening trade routes grew more distant. However, learning that they were capable of holding back the earl’s army opened up possibilities for the future.
4
Just like that, House Riga’s generations of hard work were torn down by another house.
Conversely, there were also cases where House Riga trampled other houses underfoot and showed them the foolishness of their desires.
The extermination of House Vald was one such example.
At the time, Alkan’s father, Molzora, was nineteen years old, and Molzora’s father, Krelm, was forty-nine years old. Krelm had held the positions of head of the cabinet and prime minister when the king declared he wanted to appoint Mazel Sou La Vald, a common knight of the Imperial Guard, to the position of Royal Inspector. Krelm advised the king that the knight’s social rank and personal history made him unfit for the position, but in his heart, he actually welcomed the appointment.
The king would come to be known after death as Shana Eran, or the Kindhearted, but he was too idealistic and too purehearted. Krelm always ended up passing political measures that went against the king’s wishes, and he felt bad about it. If selecting his favorite knight would make the king feel better, then Krelm was perfectly okay with it.
Also, government affairs at the royal palace had become extremely inefficient and unproductive due to being bogged down by complicated issues of power and prestige, so he had hopes that a young Royal Inspector could come in and win people over by breathing new life into the court.
However, the newly appointed Royal Inspector very quickly took action that was equivalent to bringing a poisoned blade to a friendly training match. He suddenly launched an investigation into the government offices of the Marquis of Anpoan, and then he implemented punishment without any consultation.
It was true that three viscounts under the jurisdiction of House Riga had been using their position to line their own pockets, and they were clearly in the wrong. If Krelm had been consulted about this, he would not have hesitated to make them take responsibility and reflect on what they had done.
But what the Royal Inspector called unfair trade with foreign countries was definitely not unfair trade. They were beneficial investments that were necessary for maintaining friendly relations with an eye on opening trade routes in the future.
Normally these kinds of practices should have been implemented as national policy after consulting with the Privy Council. However, whenever former heads of House Riga brought this to the Privy Council, the response would always be that if they had the leeway to give beneficial deals to foreign countries, then they should lower the prices on salt and other goods stored in the royal palace. In other words, they demanded profit for themselves.
There was no other country that had such disregard for diplomacy.
That left House Riga with no other choice but to bestow favors on foreign nobility at their own discretion in order to maintain favorable relations with foreign nations. Those nobility were the window of their respective territories.
If Krelm had been asked about their dealings with foreign countries, he would have been able to explain himself in a dignified manner, as it was not behavior he had to feel guilty for in the least. Nevertheless, the investigation was performed and judgment was delivered without any questions asked, resulting in House Riga losing face with foreign countries and with the coastal regions. People began to scorn the trustworthiness of promises made by House Riga, which did nothing but hurt the future profits of the kingdom.
This event was also likely going to lead to Anpoan losing its status as a center for shipping and industry on the coast, ruining years of hard work to build it into a marquis’s domain.
“That idiot inspector can’t see the big picture. He’ll pay for this.”
Krelm reacted violently. He framed the Royal Inspector for rebellion and killed his entire family, as well as all his retainers.
Some days later, an unusual sound came from Krelm’s room. Molzora rushed into the room and found Krelm striking his desk repeatedly, blood streaming from his hands. He was screaming the following as he did so.
“I made a mistake. I made a mistake.”
That day, Krelm had looked through the Anpoan investigation files that were collected from the royal palace.
The documents were perfect.
They were precise with no wasted space. The points of comparison, the depiction of the fluctuation of numbers, and everything else about the documents could be described only as exceptional.
The responsibility of each person involved in the event was explained in a concise and well-reasoned manner, and the writing was powerful and beautiful.
The documents concerned the potential of under-the-table payoffs to foreign countries, but they eloquently explained the reason for the judgment given.
They didn’t simply follow the law but laid a path to return back to the original spirit of it. A compassionate legal principle was present in the documents that wished for the growth of systems and people.
The person who wrote this report was the kind of government official who came along once every hundred years.
The Royal Inspector was an outstanding person who House Riga should have humbly invited to be their master of law. Judging by the number of documents he put together in such a short period of time, he must have had truly gifted subordinates as well.
And Krelm had killed them all.
They were talented, righteous, and worldly—they were the government officials this country needed the most. He had failed to realize this and stamped them all out.
Krelm felt that he needed to take responsibility for inflicting such tremendous harm on the future of the country and decided to resign.
Before he tendered his resignation, he reinstated the Marquis of Anpoan as well as the three viscounts who had been punished in the incident. He then appointed the Marquis of Anpoan to the cabinet as Black Minister. Given that he couldn’t turn back time, he needed to do what he could to suppress the damage.
Then, just as he was about to resign, the king died.
Baldemost always spent a year in mourning after the king’s death and refrained from decisions on important political measures or changes in important offices.
Krelm then applied for resignation the next year, along with the new king’s coronation. The reason he gave for his departure was being unfit to rule, citing poor health and other factors, so naturally, he stepped down as the head of House Riga as well.
His oldest son, Molzora, succeeded him to become the Duke of Riga, inherited the seat of head of the house, and assumed the post of Black Minister.
The failures of Krelm were a bitter lesson for House Riga.
Alkan had a thought. Krelm must have had arrogance and self-righteousness in his heart.
The anger of being defaced by an insignificant government official caused him to react that violently.
When distinguished families quarreled, sometimes it would end with one family killing every member of the other. This was done because if even one child was left alive, they would one day seek revenge.
But House Riga had never done such a thing. What’s more, given the size and station of House Vald, there was no reason for House Riga to pick a fight with them.
It was difficult for people with power to escape from arrogance. Whenever House Riga forgot that, it became poison to the country.
Through their simple existence, humans always served as a hindrance to some and poison to others. If a person possessed great wealth and power, that became even truer.
Working hard at the center of this country for so long had ended up giving birth to a rotten stagnation.
What could they do to purify themselves of that stagnation?
5
Alkan took the seat of White Minister in the year 1065 of the Royal Calendar at the age of twenty-nine.
Alkan worked hard as the head of House Riga and as the White Minister while carrying the burden of Riga’s past successes and failures. When he had just begun to think of retirement, an event occurred that suggested a major turning point in history was at hand.
The arrival of a hero.
The impetus of this event was the issue surrounding the investiture of the crown prince.
The king died the same year that Alkan became the White Minister. A year later, the new king ascended the throne at eighteen years old.
As was suggested by his posthumous name of Yuulala Eran, or the Sword King, the new king had a personality full of vigor. The Sword King was one of the founding king’s nicknames, so this posthumous name fit him exceptionally.
He had wed a consort before his enthronement, and a year after he became king, a son was born. He was the first prince.
There was a problem with the first prince—his maternal grandfather was a marquis who was starting to openly demonstrate ambition for expanding territory. The cabinet ministers were concerned about the influence of this marquis and were not enthusiastic about naming the first prince the crown prince.
The next year, Alkan’s daughter wed the king and became the second queen consort. Two years later, she birthed a son who became the second prince.
There was much argument over which prince should be named the crown prince, and much time passed without the issue being decided on. In the year 1096 of the Royal Calendar, the king turned forty-eight years old, and the investiture could not be delayed any further.
By that time, the first prince himself had become more of a problem than his maternal relatives due to his clear intention to use military might to expand the kingdom’s territory.
Alkan opened the Privy Council after thorough preparation. Normally Privy Council sessions would be performed with only the king, the cabinet ministers, and others related to the case present, but when it came to important matters, everyone above a certain rank participated.
Votes for the second prince numbered ten to one until the twenty-two-year-old Julius Mercurius overturned the course of events with the following statement.
“It is an ancient tradition that the eldest son inherits the house. Does that not apply to the kingdom as well?”
No one took this worse than Alkan’s eldest son, Garrest. He felt a deep sense of anger toward Julius for trampling on Alkan’s carefully laid plans.
Garrest was then approached by the Baron of Paulo to ask if he wanted to attack House Mercurius together.
The head of House Nadal had changed twice since the house returned to the Baldemost Kingdom and had its territory renamed as the baron’s domain of Paulo. Bolan was thirty-four years old at the time. He was a childhood friend of the thirty-eight-year-old Garrest.
House Nadal was a house of superior military strength, but for a while after returning to Baldemost, they didn’t get a chance to show that. Eventually, however, the king became assertive when it came to suppression within the country, and House Nadal was given a big stage on which to flourish.
There were many forces throughout the expansive kingdom that were not obeying the king’s rule. The Baron of Paulo had been accepting royal orders and putting down one rebellious influence after another.
When Bolan inherited the house, Garrest began to frequently act with him.
Bolan was perfectly okay with financing his missions himself as long as he had a moral cause and stage on which to make a name for himself, and he even set out on expeditions far from his own domain that wouldn’t gain him any profit. His knights were unrivaled in their strength, and his achievements far outpaced anyone else’s.
By the time Bolan’s military fame had resounded throughout the country, Julius Mercurius appeared like a comet.
In the year 1088 of the Royal Calendar, various forces that had been driven from the country joined hands with the barbarians of Jami Forest and tried to attack the royal palace with an army of twenty thousand. At the young age of fourteen, Julius gathered two thousand soldiers and enlisted the help of six S-rank adventurers and laid out a defense camp in the town of Micaene in just two days. He then took advantage of the enemy’s weak coordination, killed two commanders, and halted the enemy army’s advance for a whole week. The lords then finally amassed their troops and exterminated the enemy.
With this battle, the kingdom drew much closer to total suppression.
Afterward, the king used Julius for many important jobs, and the boy continued to live up to expectations.
The baron’s domain of Paulo was far from the royal capital. House Mercurius was located within the royal capital. The lords weren’t thrilled with the Baron of Paulo’s army passing through, so naturally, royal commands for subjugation began to more often fall to House Mercurius.
Over time, Bolan was filled with a deep desire to challenge the military might of this great fourteen-year-old commander who regularly routed armies larger than his own.
When Alkan was told by Bolan that he was going to attack the Mercurius estate in the royal capital and then told by Garrest that afterward they would enter the royal palace and pressure the king into crowning the second prince, he was shocked by the radicalism of their plan.
“When are you going to attack?”
“In the middle of the harvest festival, of course. That way we’ll have the attention of the entire country.”
That was an answer he never would have expected. But once he gave it some thought, he realized it wasn’t such a bad idea.
There would be no one in the labyrinth on the day of the harvest festival, so he could devise a means to send that hindrance Panzel to his death.
The chief vassal Pan’ja Raban was old and bedridden.
Most importantly, despite the fact that this plot was equivalent to treason, he felt no maliciousness in Bolan’s words.
This might work.
Alkan then reached a point where he could no longer turn back.
He had been overly thorough with his preparations, and as a result, the actions of the second prince’s faction reached a larger scale and became more radical than he’d expected. The first prince being named the crown prince would be a crushing defeat for House Riga and its sympathizers. Mass political confusion would likely ensue. If wars then began to be waged to gain territory with no moral cause, it would likely spell the kingdom’s ruin.
But House Riga would be throwing away its pride if it used force to make the king abdicate and place the second prince, Alkan’s own grandson, on the throne. They could not afford to lose the struggle over the investiture of the crown prince, but they could not afford to steal the country, either.
All right!
Alkan made up his mind.
First we will defeat Mercurius. We will defeat them and send Julius through the gates of hell. Then we will gain control over the royal palace. But we won’t steal it. We will negotiate directly with the first prince and get him to abandon hopes of a foreign campaign. We should be able to break the first prince’s heart with the death of Julius. Only then will we crown the first prince. I will apologize for my crimes with my death. Then House Riga should be safe in Garrest’s hands.
The plot moved forward, and then the day arrived.
The only people who knew of the plan to send soldiers to the royal palace after defeating House Mercurius were Alkan, Garrest, Bolan, and a number of Garrest’s closest aides. Alkan would take care of everything after they occupied the royal palace.
Bolan marched his soldiers into Pantram Square, which was lively with exhibitions, stalls, and crowds of people, and called out the following.
“Listen up! I am Baron Bolan of Paulo! I have led my northern warriors here today to cross swords with the renowned young general of this kingdom, Julius Mercurius. My observer is Lord Garrest of House Riga. Let us have an honest contest of military strength!”
The crowd then grew very lively, vacated the square, climbed up onto nearby buildings, and shouted cheers of encouragement for the Northern Knights marching on House Mercurius’s residence. That was a good indicator of how charismatic a general Bolan was.
A delighted Alkan roared with laughter when he received this report in his villa in the royal capital. He then felt relief at the steady stream of reports saying that House Mercurius was having to devote all its resources just to defend themselves against the Northern Knights.
Everything was going according to plan.
But when he next received a report that the knight Panzel had returned, invaded their camp by himself, and taken Garrest’s head, he felt as if his world had been flipped upside down.
This report might have meant the ruin of all his plans, but Alkan felt strangely moved.
A hero might have just arrived.
6
Why did I choose the unjust path of attacking House Mercurius in the first place?
Alkan had never viewed House Mercurius as his enemies. Far from it, he thought highly of them as a truly loyal family who stuck to their principles.
He had felt some frustration in regards to the house.
House Mercurius may have been famed for its military might, but the heads of house throughout the generations had always held intellect and perspective to match House Riga’s. Percival, the previous head of the house, had an especially sharp eye for seeing the true nature of things.
He was definitely not a fool who only had interest in fighting. A fool would not have been capable of maintaining the unity of such a great house. Percival was not the simple warrior he appeared to be. He even had the ability to challenge Alkan on level ground when it came to managing affairs of state.
Despite that, Percival avoided the royal court. He held a seat, but he didn’t even try to participate. Alkan thought that it may have been for self-concealment because Percival didn’t want to be suspected for ambition after marrying the king’s little sister, but that wasn’t the reason.
Alkan once tried to appoint Percival as the commander of the Fourth Division of the Imperial Guard. The Fourth Division was the order of knights assigned to protect the second prince, so Percival would be able to earn favor and enter the cabinet when the second prince was named the crown prince.
But Percival refused outright.
This ended up inducing a strange sequence of events after Percival’s death.
The commander of the Imperial Guard’s Fourth Division was the head of one of House Riga’s branch families, and after Percival declined to succeed him, the commander’s son assumed the role. This new commander felt a strange sense of rivalry with Percival, and that continued even after Percival’s death.
That sense of rivalry ended up having a direct impact on the Fourth Division’s attempted subjugation of the minotaur.
The commander’s initial plan was to challenge the minotaur with a group of eight elite knights. However, the subjugation force ended up swelling to eighty people. It was common knowledge that the king was singularly devoted to the minotaur’s defeat, and because subjugation missions never failed—provided the proper preparations had been made—knights signed up in quick succession, none of them wanting to miss the boat.
Every one of the knights’ families was adamant about their sons’ participation. None of them wanted to be the odd one out. There was also an absurd rumor that loyalty to House Riga was being tested on participation in this subjugation force.
In the end, the commander himself pulled out of the operation. That was understandable. He wanted to demonstrate his own valor by taking down the monster that had defeated Percival. There would be no meaning in a fight where they just overwhelmed it with numbers.
As a result, the subjugation force ended up lacking strong leadership.
Even still, Alkan never would have expected them to be wiped out. When he heard the report, he grew so weak at the stupidity of the knights that he felt like he had lost all strength in his legs.
The families of the knights completely forgot the sequence of events that had led to the massacre and blamed Alkan. He had opposed the dispatch of the subjugation force from the beginning to the end and then was made out to be responsible for the tragedy.
But political leaders were occasionally placed in this kind of position. Alkan definitely had some responsibility for the incident, in the sense that he should have foreseen the outcome and taken measures to prevent it.
Regardless, Alkan’s hope that Percival would actively participate in politics ended when he died too young.
House Riga needed a political rival. A mighty political rival.
How long had it been since they had had a decent discussion in the royal court? A discussion in which the members of the court did nothing but agree with every statement made by House Riga’s cabinet minister was not a discussion. Political measures became sound through exhaustive debate in which they were battered by opposing opinions. Answers that rose to counter objections were what polished political measures and made their significance apparent. For that reason, Alkan was earnest in his desire for a political rival.
That political rival then appeared. It was Julius Mercurius.
Julius was the new head of House Mercurius, and he distinguished himself in a way typical of a family known for their military prowess. Alkan had called out in his heart on numerous occasions for Julius to use his accomplishments as background to enter the political world.
When Julius did enter the royal court, he made dignified and sound arguments. It was a scene that should have pleased Alkan greatly.
But for some reason, what Alkan felt was fear.
He had been very thorough in his preparations to set up the second prince as the crown prince, and the chances of his plans being overturned were minuscule. Then, with just one statement, Julius realized that minuscule chance. With a voice that didn’t contain a fragment of greed or high-handedness.
He was a person who could overturn years of effort with just one act.
He was a person who could make an impression with casually spoken words.
He was a person who possessed a natural ability to have an immense influence on other people.
It was then that Alkan learned that Julius Mercurius was that kind of person.
He then had a thought. House Riga could not oppose Julius with Garrest. Julius was too dangerous.
That thought was what made him consent to killing Julius.
But Panzel protected Julius and killed Garrest.
This plunged House Riga into a life-or-death crisis.
7
Alkan’s decision was quick. He would throw away everything and demonstrate his allegiance to the king.
He groveled in front of the king and high-seated nobles for the purpose of House Riga’s survival and concentrated all his attention on Panzel. He couldn’t stop thinking about the blessed sword that was received for defeating the monster in the labyrinth and the strength Panzel showed when he fought with it.
After watching Panzel easily defeat one hundred knights on his own, he spontaneously said that Panzel should be named Defender of the Realm.
The king agreed without a moment’s delay, and it was decided. Panzel was appointed Defender of the Realm, and House Goran was established.
The first prince became the crown prince, the second prince fell to the status of a subject, and the second queen consort lost her position.
A subjugation force was sent for Bolan Nadal, the Baron of Paulo. House Riga did not take part in the campaign and instead bore the burden of the army provisions. This was done in order to give the achievement to other houses.
Alkan gave the house and his rank to his second son, Draydol; withdrew from center stage; and watched over Panzel.
The baron’s domain of Paulo was difficult to attack from the kingdom, and the Northern Knights would be on them immediately upon detection, so the campaign should have ended in nothing more than a stalemate.
As expected, as soon as they arrived in enemy territory, five of the seven knights who the baron’s domain had been divided among took command of their armies and solidified the defense of each of the potential points of invasion.
Panzel then left the disheartened lords behind, broke through the steep ground of all nine strongholds one after another, flew like the wind through the wide plains, and approached the baron’s castle.
Panzel was accompanied by the one hundred Imperial Guard knights who had been given to him by the king and two hundred cavalrymen of House Mercurius.
Bolan would likely have had no chance of losing if he had just shut himself away in his castle, but he ended up leaving it to meet the daring general and his lightning-quick charge. Panzel’s knights were extremely fatigued from their impossible advance. Bolan felt like he owed the reckless and ambitious Panzel the courtesy of burying his army personally. He had also been wishing for a chance to determine which of them was the better general.
The armies then clashed on the plains.
The two hundred cavalrymen of House Mercurius followed behind and blocked the extra knights rushing to join Bolan. Then the two hundred and fifty Northern Knights led by Bolan himself and the one hundred knights led by Panzel collided.
Panzel had his army take a wedge formation with himself at the tip and attacked the square formation of the Paulo Army head-on.
Everyone watching thought Panzel’s charge would break like a wave against a rock. But instead, it ended up piercing the rock like a longsword cutting through a curtain.
Panzel heavily wounded Bolan, soundly defeated the Northern Knights who were supposed to boast unparalleled strength on level ground, and occupied the castle. Bolan relied on his relatives and fled.
It was a perfect and impossible victory. Enemies and allies alike could not believe the result upon first hearing it.
Then something even more unbelievable happened. Three of the seven knights who had been given land in Bolan’s domain swore their allegiance to Panzel.
Panzel was a rare hero, and Alkan made every effort to ensure he could exercise his strength to the fullest.
First, through Draydol, he publicly stressed the meritorious service of House Mercurius in the capture of the Baron of Paulo’s domain. Panzel was under Julius’s command in the organization of House Mercurius’s army, so this was not a stretch.
He engineered for Julius to enter the Baron of Paulo’s castle and take command. He did that because it had been a long-cherished desire of Panzel’s for House Mercurius to be appreciated.
The lord of the domain had been driven out, and the troops under his direct command had been defeated, but there was still much unoccupied land, and it would not be easy to get the domain under control. But Alkan was sure that Julius would be able to handle it.
Just as Alkan expected, Julius showed wondrous cunning and flaunted the might of the Mercurius Army and the Goran Army, ultimately expanding the land under his rule and stabilizing it. The three knights who swore their allegiance were very helpful.
Alkan wed his beloved daughter Esseluleia to Panzel and sent him a dowry along with fifty elite knights. The king’s face lit up upon hearing this, and he said that he would send fifty knights as well.
Alkan felt that his and the king’s feelings were aligned for the first time.
The king probably felt the same.
Two years later, when rule was completely established in the domain, Alkan had Draydol suggest to the king that it would be suitable to give the entire former Paulo domain to Julius.
Julius was then made the Marquis of Keza. The land was named after the site of the royal palace.
Alkan also felt that he needed to ensure the stability of House Mercurius by tying it to a lord who was versed in domestic affairs and rich in property, so he had Draydol arrange a marriage with the daughter of a marquis’s family that had a long history of friendship with House Mercurius.
8
The Baron of Paulo turned to his relative Lord Banust for help when he fled the Baldemost Kingdom.
Baldemost demanded that Lord Banust hand over the Baron of Paulo, but Lord Banust, whose name was Orubine, demanded that the king of Baldemost return the Paulo domain to Fenks.
The negotiations didn’t get anywhere, but there was a strong vigor in Baldemost’s diplomacy at the time and a sense that the character of the kingdom had changed.
Behind the negotiations, both sides were preparing for the outbreak of war.
In Fenks, the Baron of Paulo excitedly convinced his friends and relatives that it would make for a fun war.
In Baldemost, the king and the crown prince led the charge for war, arguing that because rule had been established throughout the kingdom and there was money to spare in the coffers, it was the perfect chance to show the outside world their power.
Eventually, the negotiations that had stalled for four years broke down, and both sides exchanged extremely old-fashioned letters saying that they would have a contest of military might and entrust judgment to the gods. The war then began.
Banust boasted the most territory in the feudal states of Fenks. The Banust castle was the strongest fortress in all of Fenks, and it was surrounded by multiple layers of branch castles and strongholds that made it difficult to even reach. Early in the war, the cabinet ministers of Baldemost occupied a number of the branch castles with an eye on exchanging some of them for the Baron of Paulo.
The feudal states of Fenks did not have a king. Instead, the lords involved in the matter would gather and hold a conference, and the lord who sealed and safeguarded the resulting pact would act as the representative. In this war, Lord Banust was made the representative. Fourteen lords ended up signing the document voting to start the war, so the conflict became close to an all-out war between two countries.
Baldemost named the crown prince himself the supreme commander and invaded Fenks.
Panzel fought like a god who had descended to the earth.
In a period of just over three years, they defeated six divisions of Northern Knights, took the head of the Baron of Paulo, drove Lord Banust to commit suicide, occupied Banust castle, and also captured five branch castles.
In the year 1100 of the Royal Calendar, Panzel and Esseluleia had a son named Arza. It was impressive that they even found the time to have a child.
The lords of Baldemost carefully expanded the occupied territory to prevent the front lines from becoming isolated.
Alkan spent those three years feeling as if he were inside a pleasant dream.
Panzel differed greatly from other military commanders on two points.
The first was that he won the respect of the enemies he defeated.
The Baron of Paulo praised him by saying the following.
“He is the god of thunder made flesh…”
Every division of the Northern Knights wanted to fight Thunderstorm Panzel, and after they lost, they would sing his praises for his magnificent, thunderous fighting style.
The second way he differed from other commanders was his mastery of House Mercurius’s treasures.
The heads of House Mercurius had tried many times throughout the house’s long history to have their family members or vassals use the five blessed items, but as far as Alkan knew, the blessings had never activated for anyone other than the head of the house. Panzel was likely the first exception.
There was something to Panzel beyond his supreme military prowess.
The kingdom was moving in a direction that ran completely opposite to what House Riga had always strove for.
But what was this fulfilling and exhilarating feeling welling up inside him?
They were struggling for land with blood and violence, but why did he feel a refreshing wind blowing through the country?
The only explanation he had was the presence of a hero on the level of the era of the kingdom’s founding.
Alkan was able to believe that he was living in a grand era.
The entirety of Banust ended up becoming Baldemost territory, which meant the coast wasn’t far now. If he appealed for the opening of trade routes on the backing of Panzel’s military prowess after Banust was stabilized, there was no doubt it could be achieved.
Just a little more.
Just a little more and House Riga’s generations-old desire could be realized in a wholly unexpected way.
And then Panzel died, along with the dream.
Panzel was laying siege to the branch castle in the deepest position in the Banust territory, and then one night, he suddenly died in camp.
He was thirty-one years old.
9
Alkan thought that Julius’s performance at that time could not have been praised enough.
Julius hid Panzel’s death entirely. He announced that Panzel had fallen ill and then put a body double in his place. He took great care in regularly sending a doctor to see him, delivering him food, and having it look like he was giving orders.
He then had the crown prince hasten to sign a peace treaty.
Talks for a cease-fire had begun slightly before that.
The Baron of Paulo had been killed, and Lord Banust had died as well, so Baldemost didn’t have a great cause to continue fighting.
Fenks did not want to lose in such a one-sided manner. They had clearly shown that they would not agree to a peace treaty unless they had half the occupied territory returned to them. That said, the lords of Fenks should have known that they were in an inferior position and recovery would be difficult.
The eventual peace treaty returned a few strongholds but specified that nearly all the occupied territory would be retained by Baldemost. However, the people on Baldemost’s side of the negotiations greatly praised the admirable fighting of Fenks and showed great generosity by giving them a vast amount of relief funds and saying that they would not impose tariffs on items imported from Fenks for a period of ten years.
Also, the nobility and citizens of the former Fenks domain who wanted to move to Fenks were allowed to do so while retaining a certain amount of their assets.
Furthermore, the nobility among the prisoners of war were returned without condition, and it was decided that the commoners would be released after a few short years of labor. It was the standard for prisoners of war with rank to be exchanged for a ransom and to make commoners into slaves who performed manual labor, so enemies and allies alike were taken aback by this stipulation.
The crown prince finalized the conditions of the peace treaty, but he was acting on the suggestions of Julius, who occupied the position of Black Minister.
Alkan was in awe.
First off, it was fair to say the other lords of Fenks entered the war for personal gain. Letting them profit through relief money was very smart. What Baldemost saw as relief money, Fenks saw as indemnities, so both sides maintained their honor.
Next, the temporary abolition of tariffs would become a stimulus for active trade and serve to relax relationships frayed by the war, and it would also serve as a significant preliminary arrangement for the future opening of trade routes.
Although citizens of Fenks had been granted permission to move, farmers could not leave the farmland that they had poured their blood, sweat, and tears into for as long as they could remember. Merchants were used to crossing borders anyway. In the end, the freedom of movement served as a means to rid the domain of discontented nobles. The nobles who elected to stay were likely to serve as a bridge to the citizens of the domain.
There were some in the royal court who loudly opposed releasing prisoners of war without payment, but once implemented, the policy brought about an unforeseen result.
First, half the knights among the prisoners of war and most of the soldiers ended up wanting to swear allegiance to Baldemost. Then Fenks returned the Baldemost nobility among their prisoners of war for remarkably small sums of money, and they also set commoners free after a few short years of labor. The lords of Fenks were proud people. Baldemost’s fighting style was the picture of chivalry, and that was matched by the generous terms in the peace treaty, so there was no way Fenks was going to do any less.
This was not an idea that a twenty-year-old cabinet minister should have been able to come up with. Alkan thought that Julius, too, must have spread his wings and rode the wind summoned by the hero.
The crown prince was the same. He grew a great deal during the war. Alkan no longer felt any concern about him being the king’s heir.
The lords of Baldemost gained almost no financial reward, but they did win expansive occupied territory. The king generously awarded new land to the lords who distinguished themselves in the war. Most of that land could not have been said to possess much economic strength, but the lords were deeply satisfied by the honor of having won it from the feudal states of Fenks.
They were able to implement such a policy because they fought in a way that limited the exhaustion of farmland and the citizens, and because House Riga made free use of the reserves it had been accumulating for the last thousand years.
The biggest issue was deciding who should rule the Banust domain, which was the crown jewel of the occupied territory.
If Panzel had still been alive, then there would have been no debate. No other lord was worthier of the land. But Panzel was dead.
Being named the lord of the Banust domain was a great honor, but it was also on the front lines and could be attacked from three cardinal directions. Only a capable lord could be entrusted with it.
The crown prince declared in the Privy Council that it was unthinkable for anyone other than House Goran to govern Banust. Draydol, who held the position of White Minister, vehemently opposed this.
He may have held the highest position in the court, but Draydol was only thirty-nine years old. Other than the twenty-nine-year-old Julius, who occupied the position of Black Minister, he was the youngest of the cabinet ministers, and he didn’t have much experience.
Draydol had never opposed the other cabinet ministers since joining the cabinet, and this was the first time he had ever disputed the crown prince’s words. With a voice that sounded like he was suppressing a violent emotion, he said it would surely be too heavy a burden to bear for a widow.
No decision was reached that morning. Panzel’s widow, Esseluleia, was Draydol’s much younger sister, and there was no one who didn’t know how fond of her he was. For that reason, everyone thought that he spoke his mind out of a reflex to protect his little sister.
But Draydol’s words were not born of affection for his sister. They came from his hatred of Panzel.
To Draydol, Panzel was a bitter enemy who took the head of Garrest, the hope of their family. The night that his beloved little sister was offered to Panzel as a sacrifice, Draydol went mad with rage.
Draydol had become the White Minister, but he had been on a bed of thorns during the war with Fenks. He devoted himself to showing loyalty to the king and worked to coordinate fairness among the ministers, all the while feeling like he was groveling in mud. He sunk incredible sums of money into the quicksand of that war. All while being careful not to take any of the credit for himself.
Whose fault was it that House Riga, the house that had worked harder than any other for this country, had to prostrate themselves and bear this absurd fate?
Draydol had thought that their days of submission and patience would finally be over with the signing of the peace treaty, but then it was said that the largest occupied territory would be given to Panzel’s house. Draydol decided that was the one thing he couldn’t allow.
Alkan was troubled by this.
The crown prince grew enormously from this war, but my son has been twisted.
In politics, you needed to be able to have an outside perspective. This country’s internal affairs were not the most important thing to consider when selecting the lord of the Banust domain. More important was the mindset of the people of Fenks.
Banust would be given to Thunderstorm Panzel, and the valor of his spirit would become the land’s protection. There was no other way the people of Fenks would accept it as Baldemost territory.
It was actually the same for the Baldemost government. The government was run by the king, the cabinet ministers, and the lords, but what really mattered was that this country stood on the achievements of the founding king and the twenty-four heroes and that the king ruled through reverence for the spirit of the deceased founding king. Running governmental affairs without being aware of that was akin to thinking that crops grew thanks to your power alone rather than from the blessings of the earth and the sun.
It was not hard to figure out. Would the deceased Lord Banust or the Baron of Paulo accept anyone other than Panzel as the lord of the domain? If those two important figures were not satisfied, then the people of Fenks who revered their honor would not accept it, either.
But his son was blinded by hate and couldn’t see reason. Understanding that, Alkan approached his son from a totally different angle.
“Then steal.”
Alkan surprised himself with the intensity of the emotion he felt behind his words.
“Steal everything that Panzel had. Why do you think I gave Panzel my daughter? It was to drown House Goran in the blood of House Riga. Give the domain to his family. Give them the faraway land of Banust. That way, we can separate House Goran from House Mercurius. House Goran doesn’t have much in the way of vassals, so who else can they rely on but House Riga? Send people skilled at administration, people who excel at diplomacy, and people with a thorough knowledge of economics to serve Esseluleia. Banust will belong to House Goran, but they will be entirely under House Riga’s thumb. Send skilled instructors. Fill Panzel’s son with Riga’s history, Riga’s ideology, Riga’s spirit, and Riga’s hatred. Then you will have your revenge.”
Draydol’s eyes regained their sanity at Alkan’s words.
The next day at the Privy Council, Draydol took back his previous words and agreed to award the Banust domain to House Goran. He said House Riga would do their best to offer what little support they could, and he made a deep impression on the king, the crown prince, and the cabinet ministers.
That wasn’t all. The lords of Baldemost had been under the impression that the former Banust domain would be partitioned and divided among them, but Draydol said that the defense of the domain could not have proper coordination unless it was under one rule, so the new Banust domain ended up larger than initially expected.
House Goran received Banust, and Panzel Goran, Defender of the Realm, was given the title of the Marquis of Banust posthumously.
Panzel’s funeral service was performed in Banust. Surprisingly, Baldemost’s former enemies in the feudal states of Fenks sent twenty-two envoys to give their condolences.
10
Alkan would occasionally reread letters he had received from Esseluleia.
He didn’t tell her to do anything for Riga when he married her off. He desired for her to put House Goran first and perform her duties as a wife and to find happiness. He thought that could lead to a friendship between Riga and Goran.
Esseluleia was very attached to her older half-brother Garrest, so he was a little worried about whether she would be able to get along with Panzel.
That fear turned out to be unnecessary. She almost immediately became Panzel’s wife in the fullest sense. He was surprised when he read the letters in which she gushed about how she adored her husband. He hadn’t thought she had that kind of personality.
Panzel had entrusted her with the internal affairs of House Goran, and she warmly watched over the estate as it struggled to find its footing. Alkan felt her love toward her father in those frequently delivered letters, and they brought him comfort.
After Panzel’s death, the letters suddenly ceased.
Esseluleia thought that her father was behind her husband’s death.
At first, everyone believed Panzel’s passing was an assassination. Given the blessings of his divine sword, it was difficult to imagine he died from an injury suffered on the battlefield. Apparently, his death was sudden, and his health had shown no signs of deteriorating. He had returned all of House Mercurius’s blessed items to Julius except for Alestra’s Bracelet, so death by curse or poison was a possibility.
But Alkan had been impressed by the precautions Panzel had taken against assassination and subterfuge.
Panzel had such integrity when it came to his fighting style and his tactics that his enemies had given him the nickname Panzel the Pure, but he did know how to play dirty as well. He likely gained that knowledge from the half-dwarf who was a former Adventurers Guild president and had come to live at the House Mercurius estate.
He would hire a great number of adventurers with the ability to work as spies in order to gain control over the information war, and he would begin his battles only after making preparations to ensure his opponent could not use any underhanded tactics. The adventurers were so skilled that the spies House Riga sent to Julius’s and Panzel’s respective camps reported that the adventurers turned a blind eye to them and allowed them to operate.
No matter how Alkan racked his brain, he could not figure out how Panzel’s life had been taken. Esseluleia probably didn’t know, either.
That would place suspicion on anyone who hated Panzel and would want to kill him in a way that Esseluleia could not discern.
I see. From Esseluleia’s perspective, she can think of no culprits other than me.
This misunderstanding would not be undone easily. The only thing he could do was wait for time to pass.
Esseluleia acted fast after Panzel’s funeral in order to get a jump on House Riga. She went to the royal capital and appealed directly to the king.
“My husband, Panzel, the Marquis of Banust, obeyed a royal order and achieved victory against the minotaur, but he was forced to leave the labyrinth without reaching a conclusion. That means the order has not yet been fulfilled. My husband promised to the monster in the labyrinth that he would return one day to settle things. Children inherit the will of their fathers. Please order my son, Arza, to fight the minotaur when he reaches the age of twenty-four, the same age my husband was when he fought it. Also, I do not have the ability to train Arza to be a knight. Please grant me permission to entrust Arza to House Mercurius until he settles things with the monster of the labyrinth, and I beg of you to order me to rule over Banust until that time comes.”
His daughter was considered the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, and Alkan was sure the scene of her draped in black and holding her three-year-old son must have looked like a painting.
The king was deeply moved, and then he descended from the throne and granted her request. He appointed Esseluleia to the rank of marquis and ordered her to rule over the Banust domain until Arza completed his mission.
Draydol was enraged. In the Privy Council, it was said that Panzel’s heir, Arza, would inherit his father’s position of the Marquis of Banust, but he would be taken in and raised by House Riga, and Draydol would rule Banust as his representative until he came of age. However, a royal order from the king on his throne could not be overturned. This was Esseluleia’s victory.
This development meant that House Riga would no longer be able to freely raise Arza and shape him into their dog. Also, if Draydol had been allowed to rule Banust as Arza’s representative, he would have been able to manage the domain however he wanted, but with Esseluleia as the marquis, he would need her permission to pass important matters.
That said, it was clear that she would be unable to rule the domain without personnel support from House Riga, so Esseluleia wasn’t much more than a figurehead ruler.
By Alkan’s estimation, Esseluleia was more talented than Draydol. Esseluleia pretended to follow along with Draydol’s policies while in reality protecting House Goran from House Riga.
One good example of this was how, through the mediation of Logan, she appointed a former president of the Micaene Adventurers Guild named Palos as her officer of finance. Palos was a shrewd and capable official, and he rescued House Goran from being swallowed financially by House Riga by gaining control of the movement of its money and property. He also made effective use of the abolition of tariffs, expanded economic exchange with the lords of Fenks, and even repressed the profits of House Goran by sharing some of their wealth with the lords in the northern part of the kingdom. These preparations would help Arza immensely when it came time for him to take his seat as marquis.
Later on, the investigation into Panzel’s death made it clear he had died as a result of overuse of the divine sword’s blessings. Even that did not remove Esseluleia’s suspicion that Alkan had assassinated Panzel.
He really couldn’t blame her for thinking that way. As the Marquis of Banust, Esseluleia had likely thoroughly investigated the events that had happened around Panzel in the past. She surely knew that Alkan had tried to send Panzel to his death at the time of the Pantram Revolt, and that Draydol had sent assassins on a number of occasions to kill him. There was no way she wouldn’t suspect him.
Being hated by Esseluleia was very hard for Alkan.
Not being able to meet Arza was even harder.
No matter what Esseluleia or anyone else thought, to him, Arza was a cute grandson. He was the son of Panzel and Esseluleia. He had never once met him, never once heard his voice, and never once embraced him, but he had never gone a day without thinking of him.
What Alkan was looking forward to more than anything else was watching over Arza’s growth. He had laid out an information network around him.
When Arza was fourteen years old, he started delving into the labyrinth.
One day, Julius had Arza try to use Alestra’s Bracelet. Its blessings activated for him. And it didn’t stop with Alestra’s Bracelet—Arza was able to use all five of House Mercurius’s treasures.
When Alkan received this report, he was so excited, he thought his heart would burst.
My grandson might be a hero.
Arza then left on a journey. For better or worse, much happened on the road that Arza walked. He significantly changed the fates of people, he roused divine spirits, and he had an impact on countries and the future of the continent. He was no ordinary person.
Arza would likely fight the minotaur once his travels came to an end. He would then become a hero, and his real work would begin once he returned to Banust.
Esseluleia, Palos, and Panzel’s close aides were patiently waiting for that moment. He would become the Marquis of Banust seven years from now, so it was unlikely Alkan would get to see it.
That reminds me, Pan’ja Raban died when he was eighty-one years old—the same age I am now.
I wonder how deep and violent his hatred was of Riga and of myself.
I felt a chill when I heard that royal envoys were sent to his funeral.
The royal family hasn’t forgotten about Vald, either.
Pan’ja Raban achieved a lot in his life, but the king never tried to confer him with peerage.
The royal family probably learned about Pan’ja Raban’s identity early in his ife.
Once one is given peerage, they have to visit the royal palace. If anyone realized who he was, House Riga would not have been able to leave him alone.
If it had come to that, House Mercurius would have suffered a large blow.
That was why he had to live in the shadows.
But he made the best of his circumstances and died having given his utmost loyalty to House Mercurius and the royal family.
He is also the one who raised Panzel.
He was an impressive man.
How deep was the royal family’s grudge against Riga?
Riga had given its all toward the royal family for a millennium. They had taken a lot of harsh criticism when it came to the royal family. The royal family might have thought of the words of Riga as a curse and the embodiment of arrogance. There were a thousand years of baggage between Riga and the royal family.
That year, Julius became the Red Minister. Julius would likely become the next White Minister when Draydol retired.
Riga and Mercurius had always had a mutual respect for each other, but animosity had been born due to Alkan’s ignorance. He hoped that animosity would naturally come undone once Arza became the Marquis of Banust.
He hoped that would once again be the start of a grand era.
He was happy that he was able to live in anticipation of such a day.
Alkan had a thought.
There were a multitude of blessings in this world. Time itself may have been the greatest blessing bestowed by the gods.
Time healed wounds.
Time softened painful memories.
Time allowed living creatures to grow and progress.
Time provided a great sense of tranquility.
Time changed hatred to love, suspicion to trust, bitter enemies into friends.
Every moment one lives is rich with the blessing that puts things in order and eases things that had become entangled.
Riga had been waiting for a thousand years.
That gave birth to stagnation and distortion.
But at the same time, they had built up a thousand years’ worth of blessings.
When I die, it will be Draydol’s turn to wait on time.
Even if he won’t know what he is waiting for, the blessings of time always provide.
Alkan closed his eyes and prayed for the good fortune of those who would bear the future.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter7.txt
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Interlude 9
Interlude 9
This time, the minotaur appeared underwater.
This water was completely different from the refreshing springs it had jumped into before. The rotten water was a cloudy white and smelled of blood, and it pained the minotaur’s eyes greatly just to open them.
Though the minotaur did possess the ability to swim, it was not among its most polished skills.
As soon as the minotaur tried to surface for air, something grabbed its right ankle. It swung the scimitar in its right hand and cut something. A little air escaped its mouth as it did so.
The minotaur was fortunate that it had sucked in a large breath before it stepped onto the blue stones. It had a significantly higher lung capacity than humans, but the amount of time it could spend underwater still had a limit. It needed to defeat this enemy before the air in its lungs ran out.
What grabbed its ankle was a giant, slimy tentacle. The minotaur looked ahead and saw that there was a monster dozens of times bigger than it about fifty paces away. It had a great number of tentacles, one of which was around the minotaur’s ankle.
The tentacle was large and translucent.
A number of other tentacles reached out to grab the minotaur. It needed to do something or it would become unable to reach the surface.
The minotaur was getting truly fed up with how none of the monsters it encountered in here showed any signs of life.
It dodged the incoming tentacles, and it cut down four of them with the Blood Scimitar in its right hand despite the murky water hindering its movement. It tried to cut tentacles with the Lizardman Scimitar in its left hand as well, but the tentacles just wrapped themselves around the blade.
The tentacles were difficult to cut because they defied water resistance and were elastic, and the Lizardman Scimitar was not nearly as sharp as the Blood Scimitar, so it was not surprising that it could not cut them.
The tentacles wrapped around the scimitar were powerful, and the minotaur could not tear it free.
Tentacles then wrapped around both of the minotaur’s legs. They appeared to have a slimy texture, but when they actually grabbed the minotaur, they felt rough and painful.
The tentacles wrapped around the scimitar in its left hand turned from transparent to white. The tentacles around its left hand and left leg turned white as well.
Two more tentacles came at it from the right, but the minotaur cut them down with the scimitar in its right hand.
It then felt a violent pain in its left hand and left leg. Some bubbles escaped from its mouth as it twisted its body; then it used the scimitar in its right hand to cut off the tentacles around the scimitar in its left hand and the tentacles around its legs and regained its freedom of movement.
The parts of its skin that had been touched were bubbling and corroded. The tip of the scimitar in its left hand had been corroded as well.
It seemed like the tentacles did nothing more than grab when they were transparent, but they gained the ability to melt when they turned white.
Dozens more tentacles circled around the minotaur and started to close in.
It was running out of breath.
The minotaur dropped the scimitar in its left hand, moved the scimitar in its right hand to its left, then put its right hand above its left shoulder and pulled a new weapon out of its Bag. It was a sword that the metal dragon had dropped, and it could perform a special attack.
The minotaur cut down three approaching tentacles with the scimitar in its left hand, and then it slashed at another tentacle while activating the special attack of the sword in its right hand.
The cloudy water was lit up by lightning.
The electric attack traveled through the water and shocked the minotaur, but it did not look like the tentacles took any damage.
Two tentacles wrapped around its right leg and right hand. It used the scimitar in its left hand to cut down the tentacle around its right hand. The tentacle around its right leg then turned white and attempted to melt it, and the minotaur thrust the sword in its right hand at it and activated the lightning attack.
This time the effect was intense.
The tentacle around its right leg burst open, and the monster’s main body and the rest of its tentacles shook violently.
It seemed like the electric attack was ineffective when the tentacles were transparent, but it hurt them when they were white.
A large number of the tentacles drew back quickly from the minotaur as if displeased by it. The minotaur’s irritation grew more intense when it saw this monster could apparently feel pain despite not being alive.
The main body lifted itself up with a rumbling noise and opened a mouth large enough to swallow even the minotaur whole. The mouth was round and had over a hundred bladelike teeth growing from the rim toward the center.
A significantly larger number of tentacles stretched toward the minotaur. Dozens of them wrapped around it simultaneously.
The monster pulled the minotaur toward it. The tentacles were still transparent. The minotaur did not resist, instead allowing itself to be carried toward the monster’s jaw.
The minotaur’s entire body was crying out for air. It would only be able to fight for a little while longer.
The monster’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly in anticipation of its prey. When it finally pulled the minotaur close enough, it opened its mouth wide.
The tentacles then pushed the giant prey into the sword-filled mouth, which closed with a thud.
If the minotaur had not done anything, it likely would have been bitten clean in half. But the moment the mouth began to close, the minotaur hooked its right leg and the scimitar in its left hand around the monster’s teeth and propelled itself into its mouth.
The monster’s mouth closed, biting off the minotaur’s right foot at the ankle as it did so. The minotaur ignored the pain, activated the electric attack of the sword in its right hand, and stabbed the monster from within its mouth.
The lightning flashed white, crackling as it wreaked havoc on the monster’s insides. The monster’s digestive fluids melted the minotaur’s skin mercilessly.
There was not even an ounce of air left in the minotaur’s lungs. Its head hurt so badly, it felt like it was going to split, and its body was twisting itself in knots. Its vision had gone blurry.
But the minotaur did not care at all. It just continued to release the electric attack at maximum output.
It heard a noise that sounded like something bursting open. The monster then suddenly lost its strength, and its mouth opened.
A blue light was shining at the bottom of the water. The minotaur desperately made its way toward it, and when it reached the blue stones, a level-up occurred, and its body was restored.
All except for its right horn, the top half of which was still missing.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter8.txt
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Chapter 20. The Two Heroes
Chapter 20
The Two Heroes
1
Zara was transported to some unknown location.
A level-up occurred immediately, and his body was restored. His injuries were healed, and his exhaustion dissipated.
The place was dark, lacked any wind, and there were no signs of life. There were flat, circular stones in the center of the room, shining with blue light.
It felt like he was inside a labyrinth. But he didn’t know of any labyrinths with rooms that looked like this. It was shaped like the top half of the inside of a round fruit.
He checked his equipment. He had Bora’s Sword, Alestra’s Bracelet, Raika’s Ring, and Bolton’s Charm all equipped. Ende’s Shield and Kaldan’s Dagger were stored in his Treasury.
Zara waited for his body to become accustomed to the room. He had moved suddenly from the desert, where the sun was beating down, into a dark room made of stone, so adjusting would take some time.
He checked his adventurer medal and found that he had become level 80.
Wait. Is my Night Vision skill not working?
That was a skill he had obtained from defeating a monster in the Sazardon Labyrinth, and it automatically activated within labyrinths. If that hadn’t activated, that meant this was not a labyrinth.
It feels like a labyrinth, though.
He could not see an exit. The only thing he could see was the stones shining with blue light in the center of the room.
Zara made to move toward the blue stones. At that moment, he heard a voice.
“Zara?”
Before he could figure out where the voice came from or muster a response, he heard it again.
“It really is Zara. Don’t move. I’ll head toward you now.”
Before he had time to remember whose voice it was, a spectral figure emerged in the dark room.
It was the beautiful man he had met in the Elstoran Labyrinth one year ago. He was a rare sorcerer and a dungeon maker. He was also the husband of the dragon god Kaldan.
“Mr. Ghost. It’s been a while. How have you been?”
“It does indeed feel like some time has passed. I don’t seem to be doing well. My real body is dead. I have become a ghost in the truest sense. I only have a very short amount of time left in this world.”
“What?”
“There’s no time to explain. Do you know what kind of place this is?”
“No. I just heard a voice in my head saying that the time has come for me to fulfill an agreement and become a blade, and suddenly I was here.”
“It sounds like you really are here by the will of the gods. It was probably the same for the other person. Either that or they came here from a labyrinth after fulfilling the requirements. Anyway, I can’t believe they would use a human. Zara. This is a very unique place. It is a place where warped blessings are gathered.”
“Oh, is this the deva labyrinth? If it is, then I know that skills that should work in labyrinths won’t work here.”
“How did you come by that knowledge?”
“I heard it from a monk at Jan’Majar Temple.”
“Jan’Majar? Ah, that strangely amorous monk. If you already know that, then this will be quick. The reason you were summoned here is undoubtedly because the warped spirits have grown to the point where they can’t be ignored any longer. The gods have given you the role of killing them. Now that you’re here, you can’t leave until you have killed them all.”
“Did you build this place?”
“I did. But as I said to you before, I am not much of a fighter, and I can’t take on the warped spirits myself. For that reason, I made it so that they can’t reach me from within the labyrinth, and I can’t interfere with them from the outside. Do you know the structure of this place?”
“No. I heard that you can’t use items and skills specific to labyrinths; I know that it’s swirling with miasma and poison, and if you defeat the devas, the warped blessings will disappear. I don’t know anything about the structure.”
“This room is the entrance, and there are five lower floors. The warped spirits are born on each floor, but the number of them, the form they take, and their abilities differ each time. You do not gain experience for killing them, but after you defeat every enemy on the floor, you receive a level-up as a kind of bonus. At that point, the blue teleport stones will light up, and you will be able to move on. There is no other way to leave a room. The deeper the floor, the stronger the monsters. The one on the bottom floor is extremely powerful.”
“What are teleport stones?”
“They’re those stones over there that are shining with blue light. When you step onto them, you are teleported to the corresponding stones. In the case of this labyrinth, you can use them to advance to the lower floor. The way forward shines blue, and the way back shines red. All right, this next part is important. You have the five blessed items that Kaldan left behind with you, right? Equip all of them. Kaldan’s Dagger is especially important. Do not let it leave your body. If you drop it, you will likely die instantly.”
Zara withdrew Ende’s Shield and Kaldan’s Dagger from his Treasury. He inserted Kaldan’s Dagger into his belt and wrapped a leather strap around it tightly to ensure it wouldn’t fall.
The ghost continued to speak as Zara equipped the treasures.
“Someone entered the labyrinth before you. That person is probably fighting alone and ran into trouble with their advance through the labyrinth. I imagine that is the reason you were summoned.”
“So someone is fighting right now?”
“Yes. If anyone enters this room, it is treated as the highest emergency, and I am summoned. I somehow managed to appear in this ghostly form. This is the second time I have been summoned on this occasion. The first time ended abruptly. I had started to fade, but I was able to appear here again because I was summoned this second time. Truthfully, there is a hidden door in the tenth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth that leads to the room where I sleep.”
“In the place that the minotaur came from?”
“That’s right. But I would like for you to keep this a secret. When Kaldan died, I went into an eternal slumber next to her casket. However, it seems that just recently, the container preserving my body broke down. I then died. The version of me here is essentially a mirage. I will soon disappear. Ah, don’t make that face. It doesn’t bother me. I had planned from the beginning to sleep for all eternity anyhow. I did promise I would give you a reward to repay my debt to you, though. I’m sorry I couldn’t fulfill that.”
“I appreciate your guidance more than anything.”
“I see. Thank you—you’re a nice person. Ah, shoot. I forgot about the most important thing. Once you defeat the enemies on the bottom floor, you will be automatically transported outside. Someone went in before you, but they have not come out yet. I am hearing quite a commotion from inside the labyrinth at the moment. That means they are still fighting.”
“Is that person alone?”
“Huh? Ah, that’s right. It’s not impossible it could be more than one person. Hmm. I don’t know how many people there are. If there are two or more people, they would have all entered here at the same time. Anyway, moving on. In this labyrinth, you can’t properly see anything other than yourself and the things you brought with you.”
“I won’t be able to see anything?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. You see warped versions of things. What is solid may appear soft. What is white may appear black. A strong and beautiful person may appear ugly and frail. You will meet whoever arrived here before you, but they might appear to you as a terrifying monster, so you should keep that in mind.”
“Understood. That’s very valuable information. Thank you very much.”
“Don’t mention it. Lastly, I’ll adjust your body for you.”
The ghost approached Zara, opened his right hand toward him, and closed his eyes. Zara felt his body being enveloped by a warm sensation.
“Truthfully, your level of strength is insufficient to enter this place. Your level is not high enough, and what’s more, your capabilities are not keeping up with your level. This place was not made for humans to enter, after all. Even so, you have the five blessed items and Bora’s Sword, so you should be able to fight a little. What’s more, the warped spirits can only use a small fraction of their power in this place. I just blended your body and spirit with Bora’s Sword. I also filled Raika’s Ring full of magical power. Do your best.”
“I will. Thank you very much.”
“I also have one thing I’d like to ask of you. If you ever happen across my daughter, please tell her I love her.”
The fact that he couldn’t go say that to her himself showed how weak the ghost was. He had saved the last of his remaining strength for Zara.
“I promise I’ll tell her.”
“I’m glad. That is another reason for you to live and get out of here. Mm-hmm. The era of humans needing to rely on labyrinths may already be coming to an end, Zara. I despaired for humanity and turned my back on the surface. But meeting you at the very end of my existence has reignited my faith in humans, and I can now rest in peace. The journey you showed me before was truly incredible. Thank you.”
Zara wanted to say something but couldn’t figure out what would be appropriate, and then the ghost started to disappear.
Zara suddenly remembered something that he wanted to ask.
“What is your name?”
The ghost looked a little surprised, then grinned widely and gave his name.
“Alestra.”
He then disappeared.
Zara felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
He stared at Alestra’s Bracelet on his left hand and thought about all the people it had saved.
Himself.
His father.
Percival.
The people of House Mercurius.
Zara performed a knight’s bow in the direction of the disappeared Alestra.
“Lord Alestra. I had already received from you the best gift you could have bestowed upon me.”
He gave his thanks with a small yet clear voice and then stepped onto the blue teleport stones.
2
The minotaur opened its eyes.
There was air. It was as stale and muggy as ever, but the minotaur was thankful it could breathe.
The minotaur had reached the blue stones just before it ran out of strength, and it was moved to the next location. It then fainted.
It inhaled as it lay collapsed on the ground. Its rough breathing gradually settled, and it got up once its strength had returned to its entire body. The minotaur then saw it was standing on red stones.
It was not in bad condition. Its right ankle that had been bitten off by the monster in the water had been restored.
This room was smaller than the ones before it. It was a little less than sixty paces from one end to the other. The floor was even and covered with coarse white sand, so there was nowhere to hide.
It did not see any enemies. There were only two fan-shaped boards, facing each other from the right and left edges of the room. If a human saw them, they might have thought they looked like giant seashells.
The boards were crooked in shape. They were smooth and shiny and released a beautiful, flickering light.
There was a jewel in the center of the room in between the two fan-shaped boards. It was enveloped by a light that appeared either white or silver, or perhaps pink or purple.
The minotaur was bare-handed. It had lost the weapons it was holding in the previous room. It drew a wide longsword from its Bag and stepped off the red stones.
The red jewel quickly released a flash of intense light. The minotaur readied itself for a fight, but the jewel once again went quiet.
It looked at the fan-shaped boards and noticed something that had not been there before.
Shadows.
A shadow as big as the minotaur itself was imprinted onto each of the boards. Beyond the size, the shape of each also somewhat resembled the minotaur.
The shadow on the right roused and began to move. It gradually swelled and then forced its way out of the board.
It was an exact copy of the minotaur. Even the weapon it was holding was the same.
It walked toward the minotaur.
The minotaur walked toward it.
What the minotaur had thought was white sand actually seemed to be either cast-off skin of small creatures or small broken bones.
Once its opponent was in range, the minotaur lifted its sword high and struck. Its opponent did the same thing, and their swords collided.
The monster’s strength, speed, timing, and the way it swung its sword were all exactly the same.
The minotaur unleashed three consecutive attacks, and its opponent fended them off.
Its opponent then unleashed three consecutive attacks, and the minotaur parried them as well.
They both took one step back to collect their breath.
We have the same strength.
At that moment, the shadow on the left board also came to life. It, too, was an exact copy of the minotaur and was holding the same weapon.
It looked like the minotaur had to fight two imitations at the same time. The minotaur did not once consider the disadvantage it was at, facing two enemies with its same abilities and equipment.
The minotaur’s attention was directed toward the heads of the two fakes.
They both had only half of their right horn. The same as itself.
Seeing that filled it with an unreasonable, violent anger.
The enemy nearest it struck at the minotaur. Fighting spirit burned within the minotaur, and it forced the enemy back.
The other enemy was approaching.
After the minotaur had the enemy in front of it on the back foot, it leaped backward to give itself plenty of room and then used Burning Breath.
A few seconds later, the two enemies both used Burning Breath as well.
These enemies can do the same things as I can.
They can also return my attacks.
But they can’t move at the exact same time as me, and the way they swing their swords and blow their breath is not exactly the same. That means they are imitating me while each attacking in their own individual way.
As the minotaur analyzed the enemies, they approached and entered its space.
The minotaur moved the longsword in its right hand to its left and drew its Zweihänder from its Bag. The Zweihänder was longer and heavier than the longsword that was now in its left hand.
The two enemies also pulled out a Zweihänder.
The minotaur appeared to lick the handle of the Zweihänder, and then it instantly entered Berserk Mode.
The two imitations also entered Berserk Mode.
Berserk Mode was a state that significantly increased the user’s attack power in exchange for significantly decreasing defense and intellect.
It slashed at the first enemy with the Zweihänder in its right hand. The enemy blocked the attack with its longsword.
The minotaur slashed with the longsword in its left. The enemy blocked it with its Zweihänder.
The second enemy attacked from the left. It struck the minotaur’s back with the Zweihänder it was holding in its right hand.
The attack was strong enough to kill, but the minotaur jumped forward to lessen the impact of the blow and then swept the Zweihänder in its right hand horizontally from right to left.
The minotaur’s jump carried into the space of the first enemy, which stooped down to avoid the Zweihänder and then thrust the longsword in its left hand at the minotaur’s abdomen.
The minotaur had no way of dodging it. The longsword stabbed deeply into the center of its abdomen.
The minotaur threw its Zweihänder at the second enemy on its left. The enemy failed to dodge, as if it had not expected the minotaur to throw its weapon in that circumstance, and the sword pierced its right thigh and threw off its balance.
The minotaur then walked toward the enemy that had pierced its sword through its abdomen, and it stabbed the longsword in its left hand through the enemy’s throat.
The enemy was slow to respond, as if it had not expected the minotaur to move toward it while willingly deepening its own wound.
The enemy was holding its Zweihänder in its right hand, but that weapon was not fit for attacking an opponent who had charged into one’s space, and the second enemy was also blocking its sword. Not letting go of the sword that was stabbed into the minotaur’s abdomen was what sealed the enemy’s fate.
The minotaur buried the sword in its left hand deeper into the enemy’s throat. It twisted the sword and tore open the throat, then put its right foot to the enemy’s abdomen and used the strength of its leg to push it away.
The minotaur regripped the longsword with two hands and tried to attack the second enemy, which had gotten up and was moving to attack. The enemy was a hair too quick, however, and slashed the minotaur’s throat with its Zweihänder.
Even for the minotaur, that attack was strong enough to be fatal. Especially with its defense weakened due to Berserk Mode.
The minotaur lost strength and began to fall, and the enemy lifted its Zweihänder up high. Likely to deliver the final blow.
But the minotaur held its ground firmly and swiped the longsword from right to left with both hands.
The attack was so fast and powerful that one never would have thought the minotaur was suffering from a nigh-fatal wound.
The enemy tried to quickly bring its Zweihänder down. The minotaur was holding its longsword with both hands, and the enemy was holding its long and heavy Zweihänder with only its right hand.
Before the enemy’s sword reached the minotaur, the minotaur’s blade cleaved the enemy in half at the abdomen. The enemy’s top and bottom halves collapsed to the ground.
Once the two enemies were completely dead, the jewel in the middle of the room shattered.
Berserk Mode ended.
A level-up occurred and healed the minotaur’s wounds.
Its significant injuries had been healing to an extent before the level-up occurred. When the minotaur had drawn its Zweihänder out of its Bag, it also pulled out some immortal flesh, and it ate it throughout the battle.
Immortal flesh was an item that could be obtained from hydras on the one hundredth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. If consumed in a labyrinth, it would cause the user for a short amount of time to enter a state in which they would revive even after death. It would not give the immortal effect if consumed outside of labyrinths, but it would grant an extremely powerful recovery effect.
Red potions did not work in this strange place the minotaur was in. Some of the skills it had gained did not activate, either. For that reason, it was not confident that the immortal flesh would work, but it had put some in its mouth just in case and ate it when it felt death was unavoidable.
The minotaur thought for a moment that, in the end, it was the flesh that had made the difference between victory and defeat, but then it immediately rejected that.
They had no anger, no fear, no joy.
They had never met a powerful enemy. Never learned. Never grown.
Even when my heart was filled with anger, their hearts were empty.
They only had their attack raised and their defense lowered.
There was no way I was ever going to lose to them.
Even so, the strength of the enemies in this place increases significantly every time I advance.
I wonder what I will encounter next.
As that was going through the minotaur’s mind, it picked up its Zweihänder, put it in its Bag, and stepped onto the blue stones.
3
Zara was assaulted by intense pain the moment he appeared.
The thick miasma burned his eyes. He closed them immediately, but the pain did not quickly go away.
The air he instinctively breathed in stabbed the inside of his mouth, throat, and lungs.
His skin stung as if it had been ripped off. His entire body went numb and stiffened, and he fell to the floor like a log.
Kaldan’s Dagger’s blessing of removing status ailments and curing poison was very powerful. It was supposed to take effect immediately on poison, to the point that inserting it into your belt would make it feel as if you were never poisoned at all. The same could be said for status ailments.
So why was this happening even though Kaldan’s Dagger was equipped to his body?
It must have meant that the poison and status ailments he received during the minuscule amount of time it took for Kaldan’s Dagger to activate had this violent of an effect on him.
Zara was now fully aware of how dreadful a place this was.
He lay down for a period of time, unable to do anything else. Eventually, he started to gradually regain his senses and his ability to think.
He carefully inhaled while bearing the pain. Then, as he exhaled, he used a breathing technique he had learned at Jan’Majar Temple to collect himself.
After he regained his full consciousness, he activated a recovery technique he had learned at Jan’Majar Temple. A lengthy amount of time later, he regained full use of his body and mind.
Zara surveyed his surroundings. There were holes broken into the uneven floor all throughout the room. They were traces of an intense battle.
There were teleport stones next to Zara shining with blue light.
He said you move to the next floor by stepping onto the blue teleport stones.
What would the next floor be like? What kind of enemies would be there?
He might arrive in the middle of an intense battle. It would likely be full of miasma, just like this room.
Zara mentally prepared himself and stepped onto the blue teleport stones leading to the second floor.
The moment he appeared in the next location, he was attacked by a chill and a headache that forced him to the ground.
He thought he had prepared himself, but the miasma on the second floor was significantly thicker than on the first floor, and it was a different kind as well.
He couldn’t even move for a while, and just like on the last floor, it took time for him to gather himself.
He looked around the room. There were no clear traces of a battle like there had been on the first floor.
But he didn’t doubt that an even more intense battle had taken place here.
Zara sat down on the floor, pulled out some preserved food and some water, and began to eat. He ate slowly, thoroughly chewing the dried meat and dried potatoes.
It’s a blessing that I can still enjoy food.
Dried meat tasted like dried meat, and dried potato tasted like dried potato. Water also tasted like water. The water was especially delicious after eating dried meat and dried potato.
His body gladly welcomed the food as it was digested.
This was what it felt like to live. On the next floor, or the floor below that, he could die. The odds of that were high.
This was not a battleground that Zara was ever supposed to enter.
Ha-ha. It’s funny. I got a big head when I was given the title of S-rank adventurer.
In this labyrinth, I’m less capable than an F-rank adventurer challenging the Sazardon Labyrinth for the first time.
I can barely stand, let alone fight.
Is it even possible for me to fight in this place?
In the battle at Bia-Dharla, he’d fought by abandoning himself to the madness of war.
His fight in Jan’Majar Temple’s Shrine of the Four Sacred Beasts was completely different. It was said that spirits sometimes entered the bodies of elite warriors, and he wondered if that was what had happened there.
I didn’t rely on items or special skills. I simply became one with my sword technique. I was my sword, and I was my moves. I want to be a part of that kind of fight again.
Zara stood up slowly. Deciding that he wouldn’t let the next room throw him off again no matter how poisonous the air was, he stepped onto the blue teleport stones leading to the third floor.
But there turned out to not be an ounce of air in the next room. That was because it was full of poisonous water.
Bubbles burst from his mouth, and the water he ingested made him feel pain and numbness, but he somehow managed to cling to the blue teleport stones leading to the fourth floor.
The fourth floor was somewhat brighter than the earlier rooms. Zara crouched from difficulty breathing and laughed at himself.
He hadn’t come across one enemy. He had done nothing more than move through the labyrinth. And yet the simple act of going from room to room had continued to take him off guard and overwhelm him.
What could he do but laugh?
He collected himself mentally and sat down cross-legged. He lightly clasped his hands together and set them on his feet, then relaxed his muscles and gathered his breath.
The teleport stones on the fourth floor were shining with blue light as well.
That meant that the warrior who had entered before him defeated all the devas on the first four floors and was now fighting the strongest enemy on the bottom floor.
Zara was an S-rank adventurer and had Kaldan’s Dagger and Bora’s Sword equipped, but this labyrinth had him as good as dead just from moving through it. It was incredible that this warrior was able to fight their way through and reach the bottom floor.
What kind of person are they?
It might have been a swordsman with the body control and brilliance of Percival.
A mighty warrior who could take on thousands like Panzel.
A wise sorcerer who had mastered the depths of magic like Gil Linx.
A priest with healing and support abilities on the level of Gondona.
No, I don’t think that’s right. It’s probably a party with each of those roles filled by a different member.
He wanted to meet them. He wanted to see that party with his own eyes as they fought against the strongest deva.
If possible, he also wanted to do his best to put his own skills to use in that battle.
Zara himself didn’t notice this, but while advancing through this labyrinth and fighting desperately to adapt, his mind and body had been stirred, polished, and sharpened.
His training at Jan’Majar Temple, his numerous matches in Aldana, and the various fights on his travels were all bearing fruit.
His capabilities were in the process of catching up to his strength, which had been raised by the mechanisms of the gods that were level and rank.
Zara, who was reaching greater heights than he ever had as a warrior, calmly filled himself with fighting spirit without any arrogance or faltering and stepped onto the blue stones that would lead to the decisive battle.
This time, he did not end up within a room. The teleport stones were on top of a circular rock five paces across and located in the middle of a hellish sea of boiling lava.
A thin path of rock extended forward from the circular rock on which he was standing, and beyond that, there was a large rock dome. The dome was floating on the sea of lava, and Zara sensed a greater degree of repulsiveness than he had ever felt before coming from it.
The final battle is taking place inside that dome.
He could tell that an intense battle was unfolding within the dome, though he couldn’t see it from where he was.
Zara focused power into his navel and slowly gathered his breath. He made his skin adapt to the overwhelming heat.
He then performed the secret vajra fighting spirit technique of Jan’Majar Temple. This was a technique that dramatically increased muscle strength for a limited time but also lowered sensitivity to temperature and pain.
He repressed the effect so he would be able to use it continuously.
Zara would not feel pain while using this technique. For that reason, he wouldn’t even be aware of it when he took damage.
He intended to heal injuries by using the blessings of Bora’s Sword. The moment Zara’s damage or the recoil from his skills surpassed the recovery effect of Bora’s Sword, he would die.
He would be walking a tightrope during the battle. But he no longer had any hesitation.
He walked onto the road made of rock and moved forward step by step. When he reached the dome, he found blue teleport stones in front of it.
I see. Stepping onto this will take me into the battle.
And so Zara did just that.
4
The minotaur was irritated.
The final enemy was even bigger than the aquatic beast on the third floor, the speed of its attacks surpassed the grasslike things on the second floor, and it even had regenerative powers on par with the orbs of the first.
It could take a variety of different forms and could even divide itself and join back together.
It was currently taking the form of a giant tree with its roots spread out across the stone floor. It had hardened the lower part of its body, rendering attacks ineffective.
It was no less than ten times as tall as the minotaur, and it had tentacles extending in four directions from the top of its body. The tips of the tentacles were also hardened and were as sharp as lances.
While dodging the four tentacles that were flailing in all directions, the minotaur looked for opportunities to strike them above their hardened tips. It could not manage to sever them, but it was able to inflict considerable damage.
The problem was that the enemy regenerated over time. The minotaur also sometimes failed to dodge the tentacles and took damage itself.
When the minotaur first entered the dome, the enemy had assumed the form of a giant beast. It attacked the minotaur with incredibly dense physical and magical attacks.
But because the minotaur’s attacks were effective no matter what part of the monster it hit, it ignored the small amount of damage it was taking and used its footwork to focus single-mindedly on attacking consistently.
The enemy lost a significant amount of energy as a result. Its body actually seemed to be made of energy, and it grew smaller as the minotaur inflicted damage. It was still quite large at that point, but it had grown two or three sizes smaller than it was at the beginning of the fight.
Eventually, the enemy hardened the points of its body that the minotaur’s assaults could reach and took the form of a giant tree. It couldn’t move the parts of its body it hardened, so it became completely stationary.
It stopped using magic attacks, possibly for the purpose of saving energy.
The minotaur also stopped using Warcry, Burning Breath, and other magic attacks. The reason for that was because the enemy absorbed magic power and used it to heal its injuries.
The minotaur could use its leaping ability to strike the higher parts of the tree that were not hardened. But its actions were limited while in the air, and it could not dodge the enemy’s assaults. After a number of failed attempts, it quit leaping attacks altogether.
It also tried pulling items out of its Bag and throwing them. But that did not do much damage. Its explosive weapons were more effective, but it had only a limited amount, and it was saving them for when it really needed them.
The minotaur’s attacks could not get through the hardened tips of the incoming tentacles, but it could cut into the higher, more mobile parts. As a result, the minotaur inflicted a small amount of damage every time the enemy struck.
The minotaur needed to remain within the enemy’s range of attack for that reason. The tentacles hit relentlessly, so occasionally the minotaur got injured after failing to dodge.
The fight was in a deadlock.
But this deadlock was disadvantageous for the minotaur.
Its opponent was not a living creature. It likely did not experience exhaustion or pain.
Its reserves of energy seemed limitless, as if it could fight forever.
The minotaur may have been a monster born in a labyrinth, but it was also a being that lived for a finite amount of time. It gradually became more exhausted and would eventually be unable to fight.
This infuriating enemy caused the minotaur’s heart to tremble with rage.
This thing is ridiculous.
It’s intolerable.
It’s not even trying to fight.
It’s just waiting for me to die.
This thing is an enemy.
An enemy that insults all living things.
An enemy that brings shame to battle.
But the minotaur could not find a means of breaking the stalemate.
Unable to see a way out of this, the minotaur continued to swing its giant sword.
It was unsure of how much time had passed.
The minotaur’s sharp senses picked up someone entering the floor.
Something is here.
Something alive.
Is it a new enemy?
I can sense it. This one possesses blood, flesh, rage, and joy.
I welcome your presence.
Come here so I can kill you.
Come here so that I may spill your blood!
It did not occur to the minotaur that the new presence could be anything other than an enemy. That was only natural. It had never once gained an ally since being born in the labyrinth. Every human and every monster it encountered was an enemy. However, it had, on occasion, come across humans who did not want to fight it. In those instances, if the people did not challenge the minotaur, it would leave them alone.
The new enemy stood still for a while and appeared to be preparing itself to fight. The minotaur could tell from its presence that it was quite strong.
Eventually, the new enemy ran up to where the minotaur was fighting the monster.
It was a kobold.
The minotaur did not know the name kobold, but it had come across this monster on a higher floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. The minotaur had just been born at the time and was still relatively inexperienced, but even then, they were totally worthless enemies that could not even leave a scratch on its body.
The minotaur was extremely disappointed.
However, as the minotaur continued to fight the monster, something drew its attention back toward the kobold.
It had round eyes, compact arms and legs, and drooping ears. It was holding a wooden shield in its left hand and a bronze sword in its right. It was equipped with boots made of cloth and light armor, and it even had protective equipment on its head and forehead as well.
What is this weakling doing here?
As soon as the minotaur asked itself that question, the kobold dashed forward and disappeared. Its footwork was that of a seasoned warrior, making the minotaur’s eyes go wide in astonishment.
With its figure still hidden, the kobold quickly circled around behind the monster. It could not currently be detected with eyes or ears, but the minotaur could still sense its location.
The minotaur did not rely on equipment or skills to fight. It became able to handle magic attacks by continuing to challenge opponents capable of using them.
It became strong enough to win by focusing on training itself. That was the minotaur’s style.
As a result, even though the kobold had a blessing that made it undetectable to eyes and ears, the minotaur could sense its movement. It would probably have been better described as intuition than sense. The minotaur was a warrior that had polished its intuition to the absolute limit.
Its figure still hidden, the kobold raised its sword and struck the monster’s roots. The minotaur could tell by the sharp sound the sword made that the dog was no ordinary swordsman and that the sword had a rare sharpness.
But of course, the attack did not injure the monster at all. It probably did not even notice it.
While continuing to dodge the monster’s attacks, the minotaur watched to see what the kobold would do next.
An arrow suddenly appeared and hit the base of one of the four wriggling tentacles. It was a magic arrow, and it pierced deeply into the monster.
The kobold released another arrow.
A small disturbance began to show in the monster’s movements.
Now!
The minotaur jumped without even taking a running start, reached the mobile part of a tentacle, and cut it down.
The section that was now squirming on the floor was thicker than the minotaur’s torso.
The minotaur slashed quickly at the rampaging tentacle.
Quickly, over and over again.
The monster now had two enemies to deal with, and as a result, its attacks were being spread out. This was a good chance to inflict some damage.
“Summon Comet!”
The kobold chanted a spell, and a comet crashed into the base of another tentacle.
It was rare for monsters to be able to speak the language of humans. It was also rare for monsters to be able to chant incantations and use magic attacks.
There was an impressive amount of magic power contained in that spell. However, the comet did not explode, and the energy was absorbed by the monster. Even then, the direct impact of the comet was powerful enough to completely sever the tentacle and send it flying.
Just when it looked like the tentacle was going to go limp, it made a low-pitched noise and then rose into the air and rejoined to the monster’s main body. Once it was reattached, it was a little shorter than before, but then the monster used magic to restore it to its original length and toughness.
The pieces of the tentacle that the minotaur had cut up split into orbs of an unpleasant color and were absorbed into the monster’s main body. New tentacles then grew from the places where the orbs had been absorbed, but they were only about a third as big as the original tentacles.
Did you see that, whelp?!
The minotaur called out to the kobold in its mind.
Any parts of the tentacles or the main body that were severed would quickly reattach, but the monster did become smaller the more they damaged it.
That did not work with magic attacks. The powerful magic attack the kobold fired at the monster definitely did damage, but it also gave it the energy to heal that damage. That was not a strategy they could afford to employ.
Now, surely you also understand what happens when you attack it with magic.
You surely also understand that it will pick up and reattach its limbs immediately if they are cut down.
That was what the minotaur thought.
The minotaur guessed that the kobold would have that level of observation.
The kobold lifted its invisibility, showed itself, and then began to run around. It fired arrows in succession as it ran, aiming for the base of the tentacles.
That’s right.
That is where attacks are most effective.
The minotaur was impressed by the speed of the kobold warrior’s understanding. It seemed that just by trying that one attack and observing the monster’s response, it was able to figure out what was and wasn’t effective.
The minotaur also had no doubt that the kobold showed itself in order to draw the monster’s attention.
The whelp is telling me to get to work.
The monster was clearly preoccupied by its new enemy.
The minotaur severed one more tentacle and then slashed at it.
The kobold continued to fire arrows while nimbly and casually dodging the monster’s attacking tentacles. Its supply of arrows was never-ending.
The deadlock had been broken.
This has gotten fun.
A savage smile appeared on the minotaur’s face.
5
When Zara arrived in the room, he saw a giant with skin the color of green, corroded copper fighting an enormous deva.
It was not a party or a group.
A single warrior was fighting against the strongest deva one-on-one.
There was no doubt that he had cleared the path to this room all by himself.
He must have been a tremendous warrior.
But what country was he from?
Zara had never seen a person with that skin color before. He had heard that some of the barbarian tribes that lived in the Jami Forest had strange skin colors, so that might have been where the warrior was from.
The top half of his body was bare, he was wearing a modest loincloth over his waist, and he was completely barefoot, so he looked just like a barbarian warrior.
The muscles throughout his body were well developed. His head was hairless. His lips were thick. His face was bony, and he had a protruding chin.
His eyes were large and contained a calm light that made it seem as if he had stifled his anger. His nose was long and thick.
What stood out more than anything was his weapon. It had the appearance of a long knife used to prepare large fish, but it was significantly bigger.
Zara was about five and a half feet tall, but the warrior was over eight. The blade was even longer than that. It was also slightly wider than Zara’s shoulder width.
The giant warrior was swinging around that fearsome lump of iron, which couldn’t even be considered a sword, as if it were a rapier.
It was an incredibly powerful sword, but there was nothing rough about the way he handled it.
His swordsmanship was polished, with no wasted movements. He had perfect control over his body. His muscles contained outrageous strength. He had a mastery of the sword that didn’t suggest a hint of showiness.
He was all those things, as well as limber. He was as graceful as a leopard, and his movements had a wildness and a uniqueness to them that Zara had not seen in any of the schools of swordsmanship he had studied.
Judging by Alestra’s words, the warrior’s skin and figure were probably not exactly as they appeared to Zara. But his movements, his presence, and his sound swordsmanship were definitely real. It was unbelievable that anyone could fight in a place full of miasma so thick that an ordinary person would be killed in an instant.
The world is a big place.
To think there is a warrior this strong in it.
This man is a hero.
The deva he was fighting overwhelmed Zara with its gigantic size. It had the shape of a giant tree that was thousands of years old.
Its four tentacles were powerful and quick. The thickness of each tentacle roughly matched the average person’s height. They also had enough destructive force to smash through rock. One blow from them would probably be lethal, even for the giant.
That the giant was able to engage it calmly was incredible.
The first thing Zara did was activate the invisibility of Bolton’s Charm and attempt to strike the hard trunk with Bora’s Sword. He didn’t even scratch it.
Next he stored his shield, pulled out his Tirika Bow, and fired an arrow. He learned that attacks were effective against the parts of the deva that could move.
The giant warrior cut down one of the deva’s tentacles. Then, without a moment’s delay, Zara hit the stump with Summon Comet. The blast claimed another of the deva’s tentacles, but that was the extent of the damage.
Why didn’t it explode?
Where did all that magic energy go?
The fallen tentacle gently rose into the air and rejoined to the deva’s main body. It was a bit shorter than before.
But a moment later, the deva’s body wriggled, and the tentacle returned to its original length.
No way… Does it absorb magical energy and use it to repair its body?
Zara lifted his invisibility and started to fire arrows while moving around. That way, he could distract the deva and make it easier for the copper-skinned warrior to fight.
While acting as a decoy, Zara went over what he had learned.
First, he absolutely could not use magic attacks with any significant amount of magic power against this enemy. However, attacks that had only a small amount of magic power like the Tirika Bow’s arrows were surprisingly effective. Even if they didn’t damage the deva, they could divert its attention.
The roots of the deva and the tips of its tentacles were hardened. This rendered them immobile but also impervious to attacks.
The giant warrior is relentlessly attacking the tentacle he cut down. Why is he doing that?
The tentacle the giant warrior was attacking was eventually absorbed back into the main body and returned to its original position, but it was clearly smaller than before.
Oh, I understand what he’s doing!
Basically, he was focusing on building up the total amount of damage inflicted. By doing that, they could whittle down the deva’s body and weaken it.
Zara increased the intensity of his arrows and drew the deva’s attention.
Mana was required to form the arrows of the Tirika Bow and fire them. But Bora’s Sword had a continuous mana regen blessing, so he could fire as many arrows as he wanted.
The addition of Zara changed the state of the battle significantly. It was happening slowly, but the deva was clearly shrinking. The balance of the battle was tipping toward Zara and the giant warrior.
The battle continued in this way for some time, and then the deva began to transform. With the sound of rock being broken apart, the roots that were spread across the ground retracted and turned into two giant legs, each landing with a thud as it started to walk. Every one of its tentacles split in two, making eight in total.
It was much more flexible than before and was capable of a greater variety of attacks, which made it much more difficult to deal with. But this transformation was welcomed by Zara and the giant warrior.
They were in greater danger of getting hit, but they also had more opportunities to deal damage. The part on the ground had been completely invulnerable, but now they would undoubtedly be able to injure it.
The giant warrior attacked the deva’s right leg.
It got smaller!
He jumped back to dodge the tentacles, then instantly attacked the right leg again. He performed that action repeatedly.
Zara felt inspired by the persistence of the giant warrior.
While diverting the deva’s attention with arrows, Zara waited for a specific timing. The moment he was waiting for came when the deva lifted its right leg in order to kick the giant warrior.
“Summon Comet!”
Zara summoned a comet and smashed the rock in front of the deva’s left leg. The deva’s balance was thrown off significantly, and it stopped moving.
Then, as if they had discussed this beforehand, the giant warrior and Zara charged simultaneously and sliced at the bottom of the deva’s left leg. The deva swayed dramatically and collapsed.
Zara and the giant warrior then slashed at the deva quickly and repeatedly. The first thing they did was cut off six tentacles, which was all of them except for the two hidden under its body.
The deva let out a strange roar and got up. But in the small amount of time it spent on the ground, they had already inflicted a significant amount of damage.
Its body had become considerably smaller.
We’re doing it!
As soon as the thought came to Zara’s mind, the deva’s body split into a countless number of tiny clusters and flew up into the air. They floated just below the ceiling of the dome, dividing and rejoining repeatedly.
They then took the shape of thousands of flying orbs with the color and pattern of internal organs, and they began to shiver. The orbs swooped down at the giant warrior and Zara and attacked them from every direction.
Zara retrieved Ende’s Shield and ran up to the giant warrior. They both stood with their backs to each other and repelled the orbs of the deva as they flew at them.
The smallest of the orbs was about the size of Zara’s head, and the biggest was as tall as he was.
The orbs coming from overhead were moving a bit slowly. The deva would probably take damage if they crashed into the ground. That meant the orbs they needed to pay attention to were the ones attacking quickly from in front of them and to the sides.
The giant warrior and Zara entrusted their backs to each other and focused on tearing open the orbs and knocking them to the ground.
Zara had Ende’s Shield. He could use it to repel the big orbs. The shield’s blessings reflected physical damage and reduced recoil, so Zara shouldn’t have been getting pushed back at all, but every time an orb hit the shield, he felt like he was going to get lifted off his feet. The impact was also being reflected back onto the opponent, of course, which should have been inflicting great damage to the deva.
He repelled smaller orbs with Bora’s Sword. But because the massive number of orbs attacked without pause, there was no way he could block all of them.
The orbs appeared as if they would be soft, but they were actually as hard as metal. Some scraped against his side and waist, some knocked him off his feet, and some injured his elbows and shoulders. The injuries were healed by Bora’s Sword’s Health Leech ability, and he continued to focus all his attention on fighting off the flying orbs.
If either Zara or the giant warrior received a direct hit and had their timing thrown off, it was likely they would both have been immediately overwhelmed by the tornado of orbs and killed. Zara’s heart pounded hard in the middle of this life-and-death battle.
No orbs came at Zara from behind. The giant warrior was blocking all of them.
Unfortunately, Zara’s defense was not so perfect. The giant warrior was much taller than him, and as a result, a few orbs were getting through and injuring the giant warrior from behind. But the giant warrior didn’t utter a word of complaint and continued to handle the orbs in silence.
They weren’t simply standing in place. They were also stepping to the right and to the left and making use of their entire bodies for defense and attack.
Zara drew his left foot back deeply; then, while turning counterclockwise, he waved about his shield and used centrifugal force to send the orbs flying with his sword. Then, with effortless coordination, the giant warrior matched his timing brilliantly and turned with him, and the two switched places.
The two warriors moved in perfect sync, as if they were professionally trained dancers. It was a dance of death, where one missed step meant certain doom.
Zara did not feel the least bit of despair.
Normally when fighting with a party, your movements were restricted somewhat because you had to pay attention to your companions, but he didn’t feel that restraint at all in this fight. His partner picked up on his every movement and responded accordingly.
Zara felt as free as if he had been given wings, and while feeling immersed in the joy of the greatest battle of his life, he watched as every move he had ever learned came flowing out of him.
The orbs then suddenly stopped attacking. They lifted high into the air and combined together.
It was clear the deva had taken no small amount of damage. It had also been fighting out of desperation.
Zara scolded himself. He was breathing heavily and felt like he would fall to his knees.
The giant warrior had also been cut up all over his body and was in terrible shape. But he looked calm as he stood and stared at the deva, and it seemed as if he felt no pain or hardship at all.
Zara thought he looked just like a king.
No.
He had to be a king. There was no doubt that this warrior was a hero revered by the people of his tribe.
Zara was fighting with the five treasures of House Mercurius and Bora’s Sword, all of which contained impossibly powerful blessings, but this proud barbarian warrior who was wielding nothing but a single sword was still stronger than him.
He found that humiliating, but at the same time, it made him feel strangely encouraged and joyful. This was the height that people, that warriors, could reach.
The deva was growing more and more compact. It then stuck to the roof of the dome and stopped moving.
Zara was shocked when he realized what it was planning on doing.
The deva is going to quit fighting and wait us out!
The deva could wait for a thousand years. If it waited, then more fragments would be sent its way, enabling it to regenerate and build up its strength.
They, however, would not be able to leave this place until they killed the deva.
Zara wasn’t sure about how the giant warrior was faring, but Zara would soon die from miasma poisoning if things continued like this. The only way for Zara to survive was to continue fighting and absorbing health from the deva.
The deva was shrinking and trying to harden itself. When it had collapsed to the ground earlier, it did not attempt to harden itself right away. It could soften in an instant, but hardening took time.
We need to get it down from there and kill it quickly. We won’t be able to damage it if we give it time to finish hardening.
Zara looked at Raika’s Ring. There was still light in it. He could fire one more Summon Comet.
He held up Bora’s Sword in his right hand to establish his aim for Summon Comet, but then the giant warrior threw something.
It hit the ceiling right next to the deva and exploded, cutting into the rock. It looked like a bent animal bone, but it was probably an exploding sword. That was a blessed weapon obtained on the ninetieth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth.
I can’t believe he threw it so high. This warrior’s strength is not normal.
The giant warrior threw one exploding sword after another at the deva. Cracks formed in the rock that made up the ceiling of the dome.
Zara counted fifteen explosions before the giant warrior stopped throwing them. It seemed like that was all he had.
The giant warrior then looked at Zara, who answered his wordless demand with a nod, and raised Bora’s Sword to the ceiling.
“Summon Comet!”
A huge comet appeared and collided with the ceiling. There was a massive explosion at the point of impact. Cracks spread quickly, and the ceiling began to crumble.
The deva then fell. It crashed to the ground with an enormous sound.
It had become shockingly small compared to the beginning of the fight. It was trying to condense and harden itself, but its hardening was not yet complete.
With a leisurely motion, the giant warrior swung his sword horizontally. The deva’s body was larger than the sword’s length. But the giant warrior didn’t worry about that and swung his longsword anyway.
That technique!
That circular movement!
This sword movement that looks easy but is guaranteed to cut anyone who enters its inviolable arc!
This was a secret technique handed down in House Mercurius. Zara had learned it from Pan’ja Raban.
While wondering how this giant warrior knew that technique, Zara swung his sword as if being invited to do so. They surrounded the deva from perfectly symmetrical positions and drew two circles.
The circles were different sizes, but they traced exactly the same arc. The two swords penetrated the deva’s body easily, the tips passing each other as they did so.
By the time the giant warrior’s and Zara’s blades returned to them, the deva’s body had been cut in two, and it collapsed to the ground. Its shape then melted into something that looked like sand, which absorbed into the ground and vanished.
They had killed the strongest deva.
The ground began to tremble.
Softly at first, then it grew gradually more violent.
The rock dome was beginning to collapse.
The deva labyrinth would probably remain in ruin for a time, then be re-formed and wait for the day it began to collect fragments again.
The giant warrior disappeared.
Zara also disappeared.
6
It saw a familiar ceiling.
It had returned.
The minotaur tried to get up and realized that it could not move its body at all.
Judging by its healed injuries, it seemed like a level-up had occurred while it was unconscious.
All except for its right horn.
But it could not move.
After experiencing such an exhausting battle, this was not surprising.
That left it no choice but to rest.
The minotaur took a deep breath and assumed a resting posture.
That whelp was really something.
Its swordsmanship was sharp and polished.
The speed of its movements and attacks surpassed mine.
It could also use powerful magic attacks.
Above all, its defense was awe-inspiring.
I thought it would be sent flying when it was hit directly by a tentacle, but it was able to repel those powerful attacks and remain composed.
It seemed like its shield had special blessings, but its shield technique was very impressive as well.
It also had courage.
It should have been impossible to bear such relentless attacks for such a long period of time with skill and stamina alone. Its mind was thoroughly trained.
I had a thought as we fought…
After we defeat this monster, I want to fight the whelp next.
The minotaur’s wish did not come true. After they defeated the monster, the minotaur lost consciousness and was transported to the one hundredth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth.
The minotaur was robbed of the battle it had eagerly anticipated.
But it had absolutely no regret. On the contrary, it felt a sense of satisfaction greater than any it had ever felt before.
The minotaur wondered why it was in such a good mood, and after a while, it got its answer.
The minotaur learned how to fight from humans. It studied their technique and then polished its own skills. But there was one technique, just one technique, that it thought was really nice but was unable to replicate.
That was coordination.
The minotaur did not have any companions, so even if it understood the advantages of coordination, it was unable to put them to use. But deep in its heart, it had always wanted to try that coordination for itself. That was a wish that could never come true, of course.
But then in this battle that it never could have seen coming, the minotaur and the kobold warrior had fought while entrusting their backs to each other.
The minotaur reflected on the battle with the final monster.
It reflected on every action the tiny kobold had taken after it entered the battle.
Then it had a thought. It had seen extraordinary coordination from humans many times, and its coordination with the kobold in this fight was not inferior to what it had seen on any of those occasions.
No.
Actually, it was the best.
It was the best and the strongest.
No one could top the coordination the whelp and I showed today.
Hmm.
But I never would have imagined there was such an individual among those whelps.
I’ll have to travel upward every now and then.
But for now, I’ll sleep for a little while.
That was what the minotaur thought.
Its body was totally spent. It needed a long, long rest.
Overcome by the sense of fulfillment wrought from a great battle, the minotaur went to sleep.
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter9.txt
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Interlude 10
Interlude 10
Zara ended up on the first floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. A group of adventurers found him there, unconscious, and they carried him outside.
When he awoke, he was assaulted by a terrible headache. The monks and apothecaries who examined him said his body was suffering from extreme fatigue and was under attack from some kind of poison.
Healing magic, medicine, and blessed items could not heal Zara. They tried carrying him into the labyrinth and having him drink potions, but that did not restore his proper movement, either.
It was determined after a more thorough investigation that Zara’s body was being tormented by recoil from overuse of the divine sword’s blessings.
While Zara was resting in the estate in the royal capital, Julius ascended to Red Minister. That year, Julius was forty-three years old, and Zara was seventeen.
An incident also occurred that year in which the minotaur on the bottom floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth suddenly moved upward and spent ten days on the fifth floor. It had been thirty-seven years since it became the master of the one hundredth floor. The Adventurers Guild declared a state of emergency and observed the minotaur, and preparations were made at the royal palace to deal with a disaster-level event should the minotaur leave the labyrinth. The scouts sent into the labyrinth observed the minotaur meditating with its back to the rock wall and kobolds cowering in fear in the corners of the room. In the end, the minotaur spent ten days there without fighting any humans or monsters, then returned to the bottom floor.
The year 1118 of the Royal Calendar arrived. Zara finally became able to get up and move, and he began training for his recovery.
Zara had been asked by Alestra to tell his daughter that he loved her if Zara ever happened to see her. He wanted to fulfill that final request as quickly as possible.
Gondona had told him that he was going to take the dragon child to the Dragon Temple. Zara then heard that there was currently a girl in the Dragon Temple being called the Dragon Maiden who was bringing aid to people by performing miracles. The Dragon Maiden was likely the dragon child he’d met.
Zara remembered what Patagamon had said to him.
Dragons lived long lives and grew slowly. They gained great intelligence with age and became able to operate strong divine power. They even gained the ability to take on human form and interact with mankind. He said dragons that had reached that stage were called dragon gods or divine dragons. He also said that the child born from the goddess Kaldan would probably be a dragon god at birth.
If the dragon child from that time was taking the form of a girl and performing miracles, then she really was born a dragon god.
Zara wrote a letter to the Dragon Maiden. He had a messenger sent to the Holy Kingdom of Roahl through the use of multiple sorcerers capable of teleportation, and from there had them arrange a carriage to deliver the letter to the Ocean Temple.
He received a reply from the Dragon Maiden. It turned out it was her, just as Zara had thought. The shrine maiden thanked him for naming her. She had heard about Zara from Gondona. Zara learned from the shrine maiden’s letter that Gondona was no longer a person of this world. She said she was waiting eagerly for Zara’s visit.
Zara put more effort into his recovery. When he was starting to regain the muscle he lost while bedridden, a big incident occurred that shook every country on the continent.
In the spring of 1119 of the Royal Calendar, foreigners from across the sea arrived in the east on the coast of Anpoan with a fleet of ships.
The ships were made of iron. The foreigners could not use magic, but they had weapons more powerful than magic, as well as a number of strange tools.
The majority of the foreigners had white skin, silver hair, and green eyes, causing their appearance to vastly differ from the people of the countries of this continent. They could not speak the language, but they had made some castaways from this continent learn their language and interpret for them.
The foreigners demanded submission upon their arrival.
An outraged Marquis of Anpoan gathered soldiers on the coast, but the foreigners’ boats loosed balls of fire from a distance that magic couldn’t reach and wiped out the Anpoan Army. The town of Anpoan fell under the rule of the foreigners in just one day.
Thus the Foreign War began.
After Anpoan, the foreigners brought the rest of the cities on the coast under their control and then stayed put for a while without invading inland.
House Riga invaded twice to try to recover Anpoan, but they suffered miserable defeats in the face of the enemy’s overwhelming firepower. They were not an enemy House Riga could handle alone. Not even the entire country of Baldemost could have defeated them without help.
At the appeal of the Baldemost Kingdom, all the countries in the north joined together. The Gorenza Empire and other countries to the south participated in the war as well.
The king gave a royal order for Panzel’s son, Arza, to succeed to his title and join the fight leading his domain’s army, and Zara changed his name back to Arza and became the Marquis of Banust at the age of nineteen.
The Foreign War became a hard-fought war beyond what anyone imagined, and a great number of people died.
Duke Draydol of Riga took command of the royal army and died a heroic death in battle.
Logan died protecting Julius, who ascended to White Minister after Draydol’s death.
Arza considered Draydol to be a strange uncle. He had always found him to be a melancholic person.
His mother, Esseluleia, had told him that Draydol was originally a nice, fun person, so his personality probably darkened after the death of his older brother, Garrest. But in the final few months of his life, Draydol’s personality brightened once again. He became a light illuminating the continent before he died.
His performance in getting the countries of the north to come together and join an alliance was splendid. He also advocated that they appeal to the countries to the south. He got meetings with the various kings and lords in a very short amount of time, an accomplishment not even the anti-Riga faction could find anything to complain about.
His impassioned speech to the emperor of Gorenza, who thought the war had nothing to do with him, astonished Patagamon, who acted as mediator for the discussion.
Then, when Draydol drove him out of the burning castle saying that that wasn’t the place for him to die, Arza definitely felt the warmth of a family member.
Julius also showed dramatic growth.
He figured out from a small amount of information that the foreigners were not a force representing their entire continent but instead a defeated group of people looking for a new world.
He showed off one of the foreigners’ advanced weapons to the emperor of Gorenza as an offering and convinced him that this was an opportunity to study a far more advanced culture.
He borrowed magic soldiers from the country of Mazulu and priests from the Holy Kingdom of Roahl.
His insight, negotiation skills, and talent were all impressive, but what the rulers of the various countries were most taken by were his tactics and vision that emphasized continental cooperation after the war.
Arza continued to grow during the war.
The army of the Marquis of Banust came to be seen as the most elite force in the Northern Alliance, and Arza often took on the most challenging battles.
In the year 1122 of the Royal Calendar, the Anpoan Covenant was established, and the war came to an end.
Arza rendered the most distinguished service in the victory, and he was given the title of Defender of the Continent, agreed upon by six different kings.
After the war, his days were spent receiving the foreigners as immigrants, rebuilding neglected territory, and performing diplomacy with other countries in the new state of the continent. The name of Eisha Goran remained in the memory of the people of the south to a surprising extent, and as a descendant of his, Arza was held up as a symbol of the close relationship that had formed among the various countries.
Then, in the year 1124 of the Royal Calendar, Arza became twenty-four years old.
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chronology.txt
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Chronology
Chronology
Year 1 of the Baldemost Royal Calendar
The founding king subjugates the wicked dragon Kaldan
The kingdom is founded
Year 1024
Mazel Sou La Vald and his entire family are wiped out for planning treason
Eisha Goran (41) dies
Shana Eran, the Kindhearted King (42), dies
Year 1032
Panzel’s father, Welzea, is born
Year 1040
Lord Paulo of the feudal states of Fenks swears allegiance to the king of Baldemost and is named a baron
Year 1051
Percival is born
Year 1065
Duke Alkan of Riga (29) becomes White Minister
Tera Eran, the Punished King (43), dies
Year 1070
Percival (18) protects the king’s life from assassins
Year 1071
Percival (19) wins the Royal Combat Tournament
Year 1072
Panzel is born
Year 1073
Percival (21) marries Sharuliea (18)
Year 1074
Julius is born
Year 1079
The minotaur that will come to be called the Labyrinth King is born
Percival (27) dies
Gil Linx (69) dies
Year 1081
The minotaur becomes the boss of the one hundredth floor
Year 1083
Logan (72) retires as president of the Micaene Adventurers Guild
Eador (29) becomes president of the Micaene Adventurers Guild
Year 1091
Fourth Division of the Imperial Guard fails to subjugate the minotaur
Year 1096
Alkan’s oldest son, Garrest (38), dies
The knight Panzel (24) is named Defender of the Realm for his accomplishments in subjugating the minotaur and suppressing the Pantram Revolt, and House Goran is revived
The first prince is named the crown prince, the second prince falls to the status of a vassal, and the second queen consort is dethroned
Alkan (60) resigns
Alkan’s second son, Draydol (32), becomes Blue Minister
The Baron of Paulo seeks asylum in the feudal states of Fenks
Year 1097
Panzel (25) marries Esseluleia (21)
Draydol (33) becomes Red Minister
Julius (23) becomes Black Minister
Year 1098
Julius (24) marries
Julius is given the former baron’s domain of Paulo, renamed Keza, and becomes the Marquis of Keza
Year 1100
Panzel’s son Arza is born
Julius’s oldest daughter, Serruria, is born
Pan’ja (81) dies
Draydol (36) becomes White Minister
War breaks out with the feudal states of Fenks
Year 1103
Panzel (31) dies suddenly in military service
Peace treaty is signed with the feudal states of Fenks
House Goran is given the Banust domain; Panzel is given the title of the Marquis of Banust posthumously
Esseluleia (27) petitions directly to the king for court peerage and for permission relating to Arza’s upbringing
Year 1105
Julius’s oldest son, Rioran, is born
Julius (31) becomes Blue Minister
Year 1106
Yuulala Eran, the Sword King (55), dies
Year 1108
Eador (54) retires as president of the Micaene Adventurers Guild
Druga (47) becomes president of the Micaene Adventurers Guild
Eador is appointed as financial minister for the Banust domain
Year 1114
Arza (14) changes his name to Zara, becomes an adventurer, and begins delving into the Sazardon Labyrinth
Year 1116
Zara (16) rises to an S-rank adventurer, takes Logan’s advice, and leaves for a trip of personal growth
Zara meets a girl of the mountains in the Gahra Mountains
Zara meets Narillia in the Great Ravine
Zara escorts Ishkriella, the White Princess
Freya, the daughter of the dragon god Kaldan, is born
Zara meets a ghost in the Elstoran Labyrinth
Zara duels the Divine Blade at Jan’Majar Temple
Year 1117
Zara (17) stays at the Divine Blade’s training hall
Zara participates in the war to defend Bia-Dharla
Zara fights a deva
Julius (43) becomes Red Minister
The minotaur suddenly moves up the labyrinth and spends ten days on the fifth floor; the Adventurers Guild declares a state of emergency
Year 1119
A fleet of ships carrying foreigners from the east arrives, and war begins
Zara (19) changes his name back to Arza and assumes his position as Marquis of Banust
Year 1120
The Northern Alliance is formed
Draydol (56) dies
Julius (46) becomes White Minister
Draydol’s oldest son, Doruban (36), becomes Blue Minister
Year 1122
Logan (111) dies in battle
The Anpoan Covenant is established, and the war ends
Arza (22) is named Defender of the Continent
Year 1124
Arza (24) heads to subjugate the minotaur on a royal order
Doruban (40) becomes Red Minister
Arza visits the Dragon Temple
Year 1125
Alkan (89) dies
The adventurer ship Dragon Maiden departs for an expedition to the east
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt
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Copyright
Copyright
King of the Labyrinth, Vol. 3
Shien BIS
Translation by Luke Hutton
Cover art by Noriko Meguro
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
MEIKYU NO OU Volume 3
© 2019 Shien BIS. All rights reserved.
First published in Japan in 2019 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
English translation © 2022 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: BIS, Shien, author.
Title: King of the labyrinth / Shien BIS.
Other titles: Meikyuu no ou. English
Description: New York : Yen On, 2021–
Identifiers: LCCN 2020043580 | ISBN 9781975317263 (v. 1 ; hardcover) | ISBN 9781975317287 (v. 2 ; hardcover) | ISBN 9781975333379 (v. 3 ; hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Minotaur (Greek mythological character)—Fiction. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PL868.I8 M4513 2020 | DDC 895.63/6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020043580
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-3337-9 (hardcover)978-1-9753-3339-3 (ebook)
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/newsletterSignup.txt
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001.txt
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Chapter 1: The Unique Monster
Chapter 1
The Unique Monster
1
On the tenth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth, in the space known to humans as a boss room, a minotaur yawned into existence.
It was a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man, and it bore an ax in each hand.
Its horned head swayed back and forth, its eyes opening slowly as they adjusted to the light.
The space was dim in comparison to the world outside the labyrinth, but it was still a bit too bright for the minotaur, who had spawned mere moments ago.
A certain scent crept into its nostrils. The minotaur was overcome with an immediate sense of longing, confident that whatever the scent led to would slake its fervent desire.
It peered into the depths of the cave, and there, it beheld a small lake.
Being a monster, it knew nothing of the word lake. Its instincts told it, though, that this was what its body was seeking.
The minotaur charged toward the water.
It fell to its knees and gazed upon the lake’s surface, studying its reflection.
The damp, refreshing air further inspired its thirst.
The minotaur then plunged its entire head into the lake and gulped down large mouthfuls of water. The liquid coursed throughout its parched body, hydrating its cells and filling it with strength.
It lifted its head, sending up a spray in the process.
It then sucked in a deep breath and exhaled, blowing a slight gust across the dim cavern.
It lowered its head to the lake and drank some more.
This cycle of drinking and gasping for air was repeated three times.
At last, its thirst was quenched.
This, however, did not fully satisfy the minotaur. Having addressed one need, a new craving immediately bubbled to the surface.
Humans knew this sensation as “hunger.”
The minotaur’s entire body was racked with the feeling.
It stood and turned away from the lake.
The creature was enormous in stature. All monsters of the labyrinth were born into the world fully grown.
It didn’t take long for the minotaur to spot the cave’s entrance.
Perhaps there would be something in that direction capable of satisfying this new craving.
It lumbered toward the mouth of the cave, but when it tried to pass through, it was overtaken by a strong sense of discomfort.
Its footsteps ceased.
Despite its best efforts, the minotaur was unable to take another step forward.
It could go no farther than this point. This was the first lesson its body would teach it.
But if it could not leave the cave, then how would it sate its hunger?
The minotaur paced around the boss room.
It walked and walked and walked, but its hunger would not fade. In truth, the feeling grew only more intense with each passing second.
The minotaur groaned and thrashed its head, saliva flying from its mouth, before returning to the lake and sitting down by the water. It hoped that the site of its first drink would provide succor for this new irritation.
The maddening hunger and the pain in its stomach would not relent, though. It was torture.
And the minotaur hated it.
The minotaur hated the world that had given birth to it, and it hated itself for being so enfeebled by its desire.
2
Monster was not a scientific term that referred to any type of creature in particular. It was simply a label humans used to refer to creatures they viewed as threatening.
Strictly speaking, there was no clear distinction between what made a creature an animal or a monster.
No one would call a rabbit a monster, but jackalopes—creatures that resembled rabbits with antlers—were seen as such. Even so, both could be eaten, and there was not much of a biological difference between the two. What set jackalopes apart was their odd penchant for aggression toward humans. For people who lacked combat prowess, a brush with one could even turn deadly. This detail solidified their monster status.
Creatures that humans didn’t understand—or creatures that were ominous or frightening—were also referred to as monsters.
There were other beings that earned the “monster” tag that would never be considered animals, such as ogres, orcs, goblins, and kobolds. It was undeniable, however, that they were living creatures. There were even many cases where these beings would build their own peaceful spheres of community far from the presence of humans.
In contrast, there also were monsters that could not be considered living, such as ghost- and demon-type monsters.
These types of monsters did not grow larger as they aged and were incapable of producing offspring. No matter where they appeared, they brought pain, death, and disaster to humans.
There were legends that spoke of the origins of ghosts and demons. The stories often connected them to some malevolent deity. These monsters, typically, were extremely repulsive and inflicted harm on people by attacking them with magic or curses. Many could also use a host of deadly poisons.
But what about monsters that appeared in labyrinths?
Ogres, orcs, goblins, and kobolds could all be found in labyrinths, but these were not born of a mother’s womb. They were spawned from the walls themselves.
After they were killed, they would respawn sometime later, but their replacements would be wholly different individuals, with none of the memories or experiences of their predecessors.
Monsters in labyrinths were born fully grown and did not change or evolve. They did not have sexes or genders, and they could not mate or produce offspring.
This was why monsters in labyrinths could not be considered living beings and were often called “magical creatures” or “cryptids.”
In the labyrinth, the types of monsters that spawned on each floor never changed. This was true for the monster in the boss room as well.
A minotaur spawning in the tenth-floor boss room of the Sazardon Labyrinth meant that the previous boss had also been a minotaur. It had been killed by a human.
Humans explored the labyrinth to kill monsters. When they did so successfully, they received money, weapons, potions, and more. The weapons that could be obtained from monsters in labyrinths were far superior to anything one could procure outside and were sometimes made of rare and expensive materials.
Labyrinths were often bursting with treasure. That was why humans regularly ventured inside to explore and slay monsters.
Sometimes people died in battle, but the promise of unparalleled wealth often motivated them far more than the fear of death deterred them.
Doing battle with monsters in labyrinths also helped people grow stronger at an accelerated rate. In turn, becoming stronger enabled them to fight monsters on even deeper floors. Triumphing in battle against the monsters at lower levels rewarded them with even greater wealth and experience.
For the sake of growing stronger… For the sake of growing richer… On this day, too, humans would boldly step foot into the Sazardon Labyrinth.
3
Erina was a female adventurer.
A year ago, in the town of Micaene, Erina had visited a temple and made an oath to the earth goddess Bora. She had received the holy occupation of adventurer and was given an adventurer medal to match.
The holy occupations of knight and thief also allowed one to explore labyrinths. Adventurers, though, could obtain the Map skill, and they experienced faster growth within labyrinths compared to other classes. The magical storage system to which they gained access, commonly referred to as a Bag, was also appealing.
Making an oath to the earth goddess was common practice for anyone who used a sword, like Erina. Receiving your holy occupation from the goddess Bora granted you divine protection that slightly raised your physical attack and defense. It also increased the amount of health you were able to recover.
“Well, if it isn’t Erina.”
“Oh, hey, Logis.”
“Are you going in alone today?”
“Yeah. I left my party.”
“You did, huh? Well, at any rate, you sure polished that leather armor to a brilliant shine.”
“Thanks.”
“Good luck in there.”
“Yeah, you too.”
Four days ago, Erina had left her adventuring party.
They were nice people to be around, but they lacked ambition. They had no desire to delve into the deeper floors of the labyrinth anytime soon.
Erina wanted to become an adventurer so she could make more money. She needed every coin she could get her hands on in order to buy back her family’s farm. If she could accomplish that goal, then her father’s health would improve, and her mother’s smile would return.
This was a special day for Erina. This was the day she would become a C-rank adventurer.
There were multiple ways to earn rank C.
The first was to raise your level to 21. Once an adventurer reached level 21, they could then increase their rank to C by returning to the Adventurers Guild and receiving a prayer from someone with the Oath skill.
You could also increase your rank through the simple accumulation of achievements, regardless of your level. However, it was said that the achievements required to reach rank C were quite difficult, and not even the Adventurers Guild was sure what kind of jobs you needed to complete. For that reason, raising your rank by amassing achievements was imprecise and time-consuming.
However, there was a special way of reaching rank C in the town of Micaene.
That method was to defeat the boss of the tenth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth, the minotaur, by yourself.
Normally, the boss of a floor had strength on par with the monsters two floors below it. For example, the boss of the fifth floor would be as strong as the monsters that roamed the seventh.
The minotaur, however, was stronger than the monsters of the eighteenth and nineteenth floors, despite being the boss of the tenth. And disappointingly, you got very little experience for defeating it. Occasionally, a blessed bastard sword of moderate worth would drop, but the probability was very low. To make matters worse, the bosses from the eleventh floor onward would sometimes award skill drops upon defeating them, but the minotaur did not. The reward for killing the minotaur was simply disproportionate to the difficulty of the fight.
No one knows who discovered the rule that defeating the minotaur in a solo battle allowed you to be promoted to C rank or when this had first occurred. Nevertheless, it worked without exception upon receiving the oath, so Erina was thankful for it.
Though she had stable work as a guard, becoming a C-rank adventurer was still a far more lucrative option. There were some missions that could be accepted only by people C rank or higher. If feeding yourself was your only concern, then D or E rank was sufficient, but in order to make enough money to have any sort of savings, you needed to be at least rank C.
Erina put her right hand to her left breast.
Her leather armor was shiny from being polished with oil for half a day. A charm was sewn into the breastplate on the left side. It was the earth goddess Bora’s charm, imbued with a blessing of safety.
Next, she checked her belt.
The pouches on it contained two yellow potions, five red potions, and one blue potion. The yellow potions had not been cheap, but Erina would need them for the fight against the minotaur.
The minotaur was a difficult opponent, but Erina was aware of its abilities and fighting style. A veteran adventurer had told her all about the fight after she treated him to a beer. As long as you remained calm, victory against the minotaur was possible.
Defeating the minotaur in a solo battle might have become a qualification for C rank because it tested your ability to draw intel from more experienced adventurers. You could pay to obtain some information at the guild, but that would not have been nearly as detailed as the data she’d received from the adventurer. At Erina’s level, the minotaur was not an opponent she could defeat without thorough advance knowledge of the fight.
4
Erina stepped into the Sazardon Labyrinth.
For some reason, entering it gave her a strange sense of ease. That was probably due to her adventurer designation.
Some jobs, including knights, adventurers, and thieves, could receive a variety of benefits when they entered the labyrinth.
The most useful of these was potions.
Red potions recovered your stamina and healed injuries. They even possessed the incredible ability to regenerate lost body parts.
Blue potions restored spirit power, which was needed to use magic and activate skills.
Yellow potions healed paralysis, petrification, and other status effects.
Green potions cured poisoning.
For the most part, the powerful blessings of these potions did not manifest outside the labyrinth. Potions could be found only in labyrinths and were ineffective elsewhere.
That rule applied to more than just potions. Many of the powerful weapons and armor obtained in the labyrinth increased your attack or defense, enhanced your physical abilities, or gave a variety of other effects. These effects were called blessings, named for the grace of the gods. Blessings typically worked only within labyrinths. Occasionally, word got around about a weapon or piece of armor with a blessing that functioned in the outside world, but that was very rare. Items such as those were incredibly valuable.
Erina’s footfalls were light as she sped through the stone corridors. The physical abilities of adventurers were slightly enhanced when they entered a labyrinth, and she was making use of that.
I can do it.
I can do it.
I can defeat the minotaur!
Erina had heard that the holy occupation of adventurer hadn’t existed for very long. The adventurer designation didn’t have as storied a history in comparison to jobs like knights, merchants, or woodcutters.
She had also heard that this land had existed for many years before someone discovered the phenomenon of levels.
She couldn’t imagine a world without adventurers, and it was even more difficult to believe that there had ever been a time when people were unaware of levels. Because neither of those was ever going away, the world of the past was totally irrelevant to her.
Erina utilized the power of the blessings to increase her true strength. She’d steadily saved up money and purchased a high-quality sword, then trained hard to become proficient with it.
There was no way she would lose to monsters that knew nothing but brute force.
In that, Erina had full confidence.
5
Erina was able to breeze through the first five floors without fighting anything at all.
The monsters of the labyrinth tended to flee from opponents significantly stronger than they were, so the inhabitants of the first five floors didn’t approach her.
She had to deal with a few fights on floors six through eight, but she defeated the monsters without issue. She suffered a few scratches but no injuries. The monsters dropped some bronze coins and one red potion.
She thought about putting the red potion into her Bag. Instead, she placed it in a pouch on her belt so she could quickly access it in case of emergency.
She rested on the staircase leading down to her penultimate destination and ate a meal she had prepared beforehand.
Then, it was time to finally take on the ninth floor.
The monsters on this floor were orcs. These were hideous creatures that had an appearance somewhere between man and beast. Supreme strength and resilience were trademarks of this race.
Orcs were no match for Erina in a one-on-one fight. However, they had a habit of roaming in packs of two or three, which could make this floor tricky. Fighting two at once was difficult, and fighting three simultaneously was something she definitely wanted to avoid.
Luckily, orcs were slow runners. Erina planned to take advantage of that and speed through the floor without the need to fight. She knew the path to the tenth floor very well.
Just as she hoped, she was successfully able to sprint through the orcs without engaging. She didn’t have much longer to go until she reached the tenth-floor staircase.
She then nearly crashed into an orc she had failed to notice.
Shoot.
Erina dashed forward, cut a light gash into the orc’s arm—which held a simple club—and then ran around it.
She could feel the orc chasing her, but if she could just reach the tenth-floor staircase, she would be safe.
The monsters could not perceive the staircases. That meant the monsters of the ninth floor were incapable of descending to the tenth or rising to the eighth.
Wha—?
Oh, come on!
Right in front of the staircase she was about to fling herself down, a party of three adventurers was fighting a lone orc.
She briefly considered ducking around them to get to her destination.
If she did that, though, the orc chasing her would end up joining the fight against the adventurers. If that kind of thing was reported to the guild, Erina’s career would go up in flames.
Shit!
Erina stomped her feet on the hard stone floor of the labyrinth, sharply about-faced, and raised her sword aloft. She then dashed toward the orc and swung her blade down.
The orc’s right hand was sent flying, cut clean from the arm.
But that did nothing to slow its advance.
She dodged nimbly to the left but couldn’t avoid the orc’s large body entirely, and her right leg collided with the orc’s right leg.
Losing her balance, Erina felt her left shoulder crash into the stone wall. The orc also seemed to have fallen. She had no time to think about her pain. Orcs had a very dull sense of pain and could easily ignore grievous wounds in a fight.
Feeling slightly dizzy, she turned around to face her enemy just before it flung itself at her.
Erina didn’t panic. She was accustomed to fighting orcs and felt no fear looking at their hideous faces.
Her sword plunged into the monster’s throat.
Even then, it continued to charge at her.
The orc’s rampage served only to push the blade deeper, and the beast soon stopped moving altogether. The light left its eyes.
Five bronze coins clinked as they fell to the ground. The orc had vanished from existence.
“Phew…”
She leaned her back against the stone wall and caught her breath, then peered deeper into the corridor. The party of three had just finished off their orc.
Erina picked up the five bronze coins, retrieved the red potion from her belt, and downed it.
Her unsteady vision stabilized, and the pain in her shoulder faded.
The three adventurers looked toward Erina. She knew one of them.
“Hey, Jansen.”
“Erina! Are you by yourself this time?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna go on ahead.”
“Oh, wow. You’re actually doing it?”
Erina came to a stop after walking past them and turned to face Jansen. She gave a slight nod and then descended the staircase to the tenth floor.
6
The monsters of the tenth floor were gray wolves.
The items they could potentially drop were of decent quality: silver coins, red potions, and even blue potions. They also had a rare chance of dropping yellow potions.
Yet, in spite of that, this floor was not well-liked.
A one-on-one fight with a gray wolf had an appropriate difficulty for the tenth floor. Because they moved through the corridors quickly, though, and because they could hear and smell opponents from far away, you could easily find yourself surrounded if you took too long dealing with one. The gray wolves were also much more efficient when acting as a pack, so facing several at a time heightened their threat significantly.
For these reasons, many adventurers tried to avoid combat while making their way through this floor.
There were two types of items you could use to skip this floor, and both were popular products at the guild.
The first was dummy bait. It was just synthetic meat imbued with a scent, but the wolves loved it. Throwing the artificial bait distracted the wolves, allowing you to head down a different corridor.
Real meat wasn’t as effective because the wolves would gobble it up in one bite and get right back to chasing you. Poisoned meat didn’t work, either, because the wolves were good at sniffing out poison. They would simply ignore it and attack you instead. Even the dummy bait wasn’t perfect—the wolves would still attack you if you got near them, so this method was nothing more than a momentary distraction.
The other product people used was a scent pouch. These released a smell that the gray wolves hated, which caused them to keep their distance from you. It didn’t work as reliably as dummy bait, but at the very least, it greatly reduced the chance of finding yourself cornered by wolves. It was a popular choice for people who wanted to pass through the floor with minimal hassle.
Erina was one such person, and she had a pouch with her.
However, she ended up being unusually lucky—she reached the boss room without encountering a single gray wolf.
I made it.
It’s almost time.
All right, stay calm.
I just need to stay calm.
One could see the area outside the boss room while inside, but the opposite was impossible. You couldn’t hear anything while outside, either. The boss room was an isolated space.
Erina gathered her breath, readied herself, and strode confidently to the site of her long-awaited battle.
7
The room was much more spacious than she had anticipated.
This was Erina’s first time in the tenth-floor boss room, and even though she had heard about it, seeing its width and height for herself made her breath catch in her throat.
It should have been impossible for the boss room’s ceiling to be so high, considering the distance she’d descended from the ninth floor to the tenth. Once she passed through the entrance to the room, Erina had entered a distorted space.
The minotaur…isn’t here?
Oh, it was.
It was sitting on the bank of a lake located farther into the room, but with its back turned to Erina, it looked like a giant boulder.
The boulder stood up and turned around.
It’s huge!
Is it a unique monster?!
The species of monster that appeared in each boss room was always the same, and their strength was always the same, too.
But the individual monsters did have slight variations.
They could be marginally taller or shorter, and their color could be darker or lighter.
If you were to closely measure them, some would probably have ended up being a touch faster or stronger than others.
But those differences were usually small enough to ignore.
In rare cases, though, an extremely strong individual would spawn. That would make for a difficult fight, and should the adventurer win, they would make a name for themselves at the guild. These oddities were called “unique monsters,” and they had a high probability of dropping rare items. For that reason, when word would get around that a unique monster had spawned, adventurers would go rushing to fight it.
Erina could still turn back.
If she was to step away into the corridor, the minotaur wouldn’t be able to follow her. Boss monsters could not leave the boss room.
Why am I being so timid?!
I can’t chicken out now!
Erina clenched her teeth and braced herself, fixing her eyes on the minotaur.
Upon noticing her, the creature charged toward Erina.
RAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!
Erina let out a beast-like war cry and ran toward the minotaur herself.
She was immediately taken by the exhilaration of battle, all her fear disappearing in an instant.
I’ll kill it!
I’ll slay the monster and finally get what I’ve been working so hard for!
The minotaur wielded a short ax in each hand. It hefted the one in its right overhead.
Okay!
Looks like my info was right!
She had heard the minotaur was right-handed, and in most cases, it attacked with its right hand first.
Erina slowed her advance.
Right now, Erina’s sole focus was the minotaur’s right hand.
The minotaur’s first move was always an attack with an ax. As long as you paid attention to its right arm, the attack was avoidable.
Erina decelerated even more and drew her sword. She gripped the handle with both hands, lifted the weapon forcefully over her right shoulder, and used that same force to bring it down.
The minotaur swiped at her with its ax in the same moment. Erina’s blade landed a cut near the minotaur’s right wrist, and then she jumped to the left.
The severe blow to its hand didn’t weaken the force of the minotaur’s swing at all. While letting out a deep moan, it swung its ax through the space where Erina’s head had just been.
The sheer strength of the attack sent a chill up Erina’s spine.
If it can’t hit me, that power means nothing!
With the minotaur’s arm stretched out after swinging and missing, Erina brought her sword down on its elbow.
With an irritated growl, the minotaur lifted the ax in its left hand.
So it’s the left hand this time, huh?
All right. Come at me!
This time, she dodged to the right, then struck a blow at the minotaur’s left arm.
The minotaur drew back its elbow before thrusting its right arm, ax and all, at Erina.
She dodged to the left and took the opportunity to swipe at its outstretched right arm.
Stay calm!
Just stay calm!
It’s strong, but its attacks are really simple.
I can dodge them all if I pay close attention.
The minotaur bellowed in frustration, took a deep breath, and lurched backward. It then tossed its head forward and charged with its two horns pointed at Erina.
She safely jumped out of the way. The minotaur turned slowly, and Erina glared at it coldly.
All it can do is swing and thrust its axes or charge at me with its horns.
I’ll just keep dodging its attacks and slashing at its arms until it can’t wield its axes anymore.
The minotaur continued flailing its axes and not much else.
As Erina dodged from side to side, she started gaining more and more leeway to attack.
The ground beneath her feet was a little uneven, which made movement a bit difficult and occasionally almost got her hit by an ax.
Now and then, fragments of stone kicked up by the minotaur’s feet struck her through gaps in her armor.
But none of the minotaur’s direct attacks connected.
Their offensive and defensive trades continued for a while longer.
Erina was dripping sweat, and her breath was heavy, but she hadn’t been injured.
The minotaur’s arms were shredded and bloody.
If you just stayed calm and watched carefully, you’d realize how unsophisticated the minotaur’s attacks were.
Its swipes were quick, but its windup was slow, making it easy to predict the trajectory of its weapons.
It was sluggish transitioning from one movement to the next, and its gait was awkward.
Now that Erina was looking at the minotaur with a cool head, she realized it was only a little bit taller than she was. Her nervousness and fear when she’d first seen it had probably created the impression that it was taller than it really was.
This was no unique monster. It was just an ordinary minotaur.
She dodged a lunge from her opponent and ended up in perfect position for an attack.
Now!
Erina swung her sword with all her might for a weighty slash attack. It sang through the air.
On impact, there was the unsettling noise of bone being severed. The minotaur’s left hand was sent flying through the air, still holding its ax.
I win!
But her celebration was premature. She had let her guard down.
The monster swung its now-handless left arm at her, hitting her hard in the chest and sending her crashing into the stone wall behind her.
The minotaur lifted the ax in its right hand.
Erina shook her head to get her bearings, then kicked off the wall and jumped out of the way.
Hearing the sound of stone being smashed to bits by the ax behind her, Erina ran forward ten steps, pivoted to face the minotaur, and took a moment to catch her breath.
Here it comes!
She reached for the belt at her waist and attempted to pull out a potion.
She was going to drink a yellow potion to cure her abnormal status.
But she was having trouble grabbing it.
She looked down at her belt. The pouch was broken.
All her potion bottles had shattered when she was thrown into the wall.
GROAAAAAAARRRRRR!!
The minotaur let out a tremendous roar.
The whole cave shook.
Erina lost all courage to face her enemy and was awash with a feeling of hopelessness.
This was Warcry.
Warcry was a special attack minotaurs possessed. It sacrificed a third of the user’s remaining stamina to inhibit their opponent’s movements for a limited amount of time.
The minotaur swung its right ax.
She tried to jump out of the way, but her fear prevented her from dodging the attack completely. Erina was slashed across her chest.
Realizing she no longer had any chance of winning, she started to flee.
“The minotaur is a slow runner.”
“If you run as fast as you can, it won’t be able to catch you when you try to escape.”
She recalled the veteran adventurer’s words.
Her sword felt heavy in her right hand.
Had it always been this heavy?
She thought about dropping it but quickly decided against that.
If she lost this sword here, she’d have no choice but to quit being an adventurer.
The sword was the one thing she couldn’t lose.
The minotaur was chasing her.
It was closing in.
Erina ran, fighting desperately for her life.
When she was just a few seconds from the entrance, though, she tripped over her own feet and stumbled.
The minotaur roared, and she felt a gust of wind against her back.
A sharp pain flared up in her left ankle, but she ignored it. Rolling like a barrel, she managed to tumble through the entrance and out of the boss room.
Panting heavily, she looked down at her left leg to see that her foot was gone. It had been severed by the minotaur’s ax.
Erina produced a thin rope from her Bag and tied it tightly around her leg to stop the bleeding.
She was in the labyrinth. If someone passed by, she could ask for a red potion, which would not only save her life but also regenerate her lost foot.
For now, her life was not in danger.
It was then that Erina noticed the tears falling from her eyes. They weren’t because of the pain, though. She was just grateful to be alive.
8
The moment that creature entered the room, the minotaur learned it was not alone in the world.
When it turned to face the intruder, it felt a violent sense of hatred.
No, hatred was not the right way to describe that feeling.
If you had to encapsulate what the minotaur felt toward the female adventurer in a word, hostility would probably be most fitting.
Its hunger intensified.
But this was slightly different from the hunger it had felt earlier.
A different sort of craving.
A craving for victory in battle.
The minotaur’s instincts were ordering it to do everything in its power to destroy its enemy.
The creature was slightly shorter than itself.
Nevertheless, it was projecting clear animosity toward the minotaur.
The minotaur let that aggression wash over it, feeling a twinge of excitement at this chance to act on its destructive impulses.
Building up power in its right arm, the minotaur raised its ax.
It hadn’t even realized it was holding an ax until that moment.
And not just in its right hand but in its left as well.
It had no idea how long it had been holding them. Probably from the moment it was born.
The axes felt comfortable in its grip, and it liked them because they made its attacks deadlier.
The minotaur swung the reliable weapon in its right hand down at the approaching enemy.
The fragile interloper should have been crushed from the force of that blow.
But the attack missed.
Next, it swung the ax in its left hand.
That also missed.
It swung its weapons over and over again.
It missed every single time.
Not only could it not land a hit, but the frail enemy was landing weak nicks on its arms.
The individual cuts did not hurt.
The pain came gradually, though, as the lacerations on its arms accumulated.
That negative feeling intensified.
The minotaur’s frustration was growing.
It tried charging the creature with its horns multiple times.
The enemy dodged each of those attacks as well.
Its arms were being torn to ribbons by the enemy’s sword.
It put extra force behind its next blow in an attempt to crush its enemy once and for all, but this strike, too, failed to connect.
The enemy then cut off the minotaur’s left hand.
After that, the adversary stopped moving.
The minotaur swung at the enemy with its left stump, landing its first direct hit.
The intruder was blown backward and crashed into a stone wall.
The minotaur followed up by swinging the ax in its remaining hand, but the enemy just barely dodged it, and the blade ended up slicing air before taking a chunk out of the wall.
The enemy ran to put some distance between the two of them.
At that moment, the minotaur’s instincts took the reins.
It inhaled deeply, thrashed its head about, and activated the skill that humans knew as Warcry.
The minotaur’s skill caught the enemy, weakening and overwhelming it with fear.
Swinging its ax, the minotaur hoped for a finishing blow, but its prey had turned its back on the battle and was trying to escape.
Anger welled up within the minotaur.
It immediately gave chase.
Soon.
Soon it would catch its enemy.
Soon it would kill its enemy.
The creature stumbled.
The minotaur lifted the ax in its right hand and brought it down hard.
That swing connected and carved off a piece of the intruder’s body.
Just as the minotaur was about to finish it off with its next blow, the enemy escaped through the cave entrance.
The minotaur had no choice but to leave it at that.
9
On the other side of the entryway the minotaur could not traverse, the fragile enemy was lying facedown on the ground.
Eventually, it began treating itself.
The minotaur wanted to kill.
It wanted to kill this creature.
But it could not cross the threshold.
Just as a fish cannot swim through the air or a bird cannot fly beyond the atmosphere, a boss monster is incapable of leaving its boss room.
That did nothing to abate its desire to kill, though. Its hunger only grew stronger and stronger. The massive minotaur was in a rage, wanting more than anything to settle this fight.
For that reason, it had to advance.
It had to pass through the entrance and into the corridor.
With its every bodily instinct pushing back against the step it was trying to take, the minotaur persevered and eventually managed to force its right foot through the threshold and out of the room.
Its foot sizzled, burning hideously.
The pain and shock caused it to drop its ax, but the minotaur did not stop trying.
It pushed its right hand through, which also sizzled and bubbled as it burned.
Its shoulders, head, chest, and legs all seared as it forced itself through the entrance.
Its face was horrifically distorted; saliva poured from its mouth, but it never stopped pushing.
Its eyes were scorched as well, rendering it virtually blind.
Had the minotaur had been able to see, it surely would have noted the female warrior’s face plastered in horror, incapable of anything more than shaking her head from side to side as she gawked at the demonic figure traversing the barrier—a feat that should have been impossible.
“No way… There’s just no way…”
The minotaur did not understand the language of man. It did, however, grasp that these words were an expression of fear. They also helped it zero in on the location of its target.
Could the minotaur hear the clattering noise? Could it hear the sound of the female adventurer’s teeth chattering?
Its face now horribly disfigured and melted from the scalding, it extended its remaining hand toward its prey.
The fist, blackened from carbonization and oozing bodily fluid, opened suddenly and grabbed the female warrior’s breastplate.
The minotaur then hoisted her into the air, pivoted its own collapsing body, and slammed her face into the stone wall.
The warrior’s head was smashed flat. Skull fragments, blood, and gray matter exploded from the ruined space above her neck.
Her body immediately disappeared.
Only her sword and a variety of items remained.
Her scattered flesh and bone vanished soon after that.
In the labyrinth, even humans faded away after death.
The minotaur fell to the ground, still holding the breastplate in its right hand.
Its body was blackened, shrunken, and emitting a foul-smelling smoke.
This monster’s very short life was about to come to an end.
Even then, the minotaur raged in its mind.
More!
Give me more, more fighting!
Give me stronger enemies!
Give me power!
Give me enemies to kill and more power!
These were likely what its thoughts would have been if translated into human speech. It was at once delusional, hateful, and pleading. It was a cry from the bottom of its heart, expressed clearly despite the lack of words.
At that moment, a voice echoed in the minotaur’s mind.
Thy plea shall be granted.
The minotaur did not understand the language of man, so of course, it did not understand what that voice had said. However, it knew it was being addressed by a very powerful being.
The earth goddess Bora’s charm was embedded into the female warrior’s breastplate. The voice the minotaur had heard was the same one that had spoken to the female adventurer when she’d prayed for divine protection in the temple of the earth goddess.
A faint light the color of the earth enveloped the minotaur.
The monster heard the sound of a gentle breeze, and in the blink of an eye, its skin and hair were regenerated. It returned to its original form, even regaining its lost left hand.
Actually, this was not quite its original form. Its body was slightly larger and stronger than it had been before.
This was the phenomenon adventurers knew as a “level-up.”
Through the divine protection of the goddess Bora, the experience points the minotaur gained from killing the female adventurer were converted and applied to the minotaur’s set growth rates, resulting in a level-up. This event also restored the recipient to full health.
The minotaur returned to the edge of the lake, gulped down some water, and drifted off to sleep.
It was said that the monsters of the labyrinth were born from the stone.
They looked like living creatures, but this was not the case—they were nothing more than pale imitations.
The straightforward proof of that was the fact that they did not grow.
Even if by level-up, the phenomenon of a monster evolving in the labyrinth was very unusual indeed.
On this day, the Sazardon Labyrinth had birthed a unique monster.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002.txt
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Chapter 2: The Heavenly Blade Percival
Chapter 2
The Heavenly Blade Percival
1
The same day that a unique monster was born on the tenth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth, a swordsman happened to drop by the Adventurers Guild in the town of Micaene.
“Mr. Logan.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“I see Lord Percival approaching.”
“Really? Bring him in immediately.”
“Understood.”
Logan, the leader of Micaene’s Adventurers Guild, rose to greet his guest. The manager, Eador, invited the swordsman into the room.
“Apologies for intruding.”
“Lord Percival, what a pleasant surprise. Are you going into the labyrinth today?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking of descending about midway through the nineties.”
Logan could have asked how many people Percival was planning on bringing with him for a crazy venture like that, but he knew the answer already.
Percival would be going alone.
This swordsman planned to trek past the ninetieth floor by himself.
“Is that so? Will you be using our transport service?”
“No. Running is the best training of all, so I’ll be going down myself.”
“You’re the same as always, I see. Ah, looks like we have tea. Want a cup?”
“Thank you very much.”
The manager had entered the room accompanied by a young female employee carrying a tray of refreshments. Logan was baffled as to how the manager could have prepared this in such a short time. After the tea was set on the table, the manager and the girl walked back out of the room. The manager closed the poorly fitted door without a sound on the way out.
Logan watched as Percival brought the cup to his lips.
There was nothing fancy about his movement, but it was beautiful all the same.
His equipment wasn’t flashy, either, but anyone with an eye for quality would have been taken aback by it.
This man was Percival Mercurius. He was the head of House Mercurius, a noble family of counsel.
This meant his family had a high-enough social rank to be able to visit the king anytime they pleased and freely express their opinion.
When the first king of Baldemost overthrew the wicked dragon Kaldan, he was accompanied by twenty-four heroes, all of whom were named royal knights upon the founding of the kingdom. To make up for that rank not being inheritable past the first generation, those twenty-four families were named noble families of counsel. Seventeen of those remained, and even among them, House Mercurius had a special reputation for military prowess.
He’s the head of a noble family of counsel, yet he acts as an adventurer and explores labyrinths.
He’s got an eccentric sense of curiosity, this one.
But Logan did not dislike this young, eccentric noble.
2
Percival got his start as an adventurer at the young age of twelve, became an A-rank adventurer at fourteen, and participated in the subjugation of the Zolhard mountain bandits by fifteen, after which he became an S-rank adventurer for his distinguished service in the military.
At age sixteen, he became the head of his house after his father’s death, but he rarely attended court and spent most of the year as a solitary swordsman delving into the labyrinths of every region.
House Mercurius did not hold any territory. The number of noble families dependent on them was not small, however, and they received a large pension from the country every year. They also lived in an affluent district. For that reason, Percival was expected to serve the country in a prominent position, but instead, he obtained a role that existed in title alone and spent his days however he pleased.
Normally, that kind of thing would not have been tolerated, but the king ordered him to be left to his own devices, telling people to let him do as he liked.
There was a widespread rumor that the reason for this was because Percival had saved the king’s life when he was eighteen, subduing an assassin who had slipped in among a group of foreign envoys and had been aiming for the king’s life.
Percival’s sword instructor had given him the nickname the Heavenly Blade, praising his skill by saying, “This boy’s prowess with the sword is unparalleled. His talent is a gift from heaven, so he shall be called the Heavenly Blade.”
There were many adventurers who felt a resistance toward him because of his antisocial disposition and upper-class origins, but he wasn’t a bad person.
He was very particular about his work, but he had never once broken a promise.
He had never bothered or bad-mouthed anyone.
Logan had a feeling he was the kind of person who had no interest in anything other than fighting tough enemies and becoming stronger and who felt fulfilled only after experiencing situations of mortal peril. The kind of person who had little interest in being a member of normal society.
He’d won the Imperial Combat Tournament at nineteen but had not participated since. Logan had heard explanations for that before, but not from Percival himself.
“Lord Percival, I’ve heard that you have not competed in the Imperial Combat Tournament since winning it. May I ask why?”
“Sure. I fought against a sorcerer in the semifinals.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“The sorcerer was making use of support magic and various other distractions to prevent me from approaching and then suddenly used Summon Comet.”
“Ha-ha-ha, that’s ridiculous. This sorcerer must have been incredible.”
Summon Comet was the most powerful fire spell, capable of annihilating all in its range. It was enormously destructive but required a great deal of time to cast, and using it expended the majority of your mana. Pulling it out in a one-on-one battle during a combat tournament went against all common sense.
“Even with Alestra’s Bracelet, I wasn’t able to hinder the attack. The ground shook, rubble came crashing all around us, and a cloud of dust shot up into the air. For a brief moment, it was difficult to do much of anything.”
“What I can’t believe is that you were able to evade that kind of spell mostly unhurt.”
“My opponent was not trying to hit me directly.”
“Oh?”
“I became convinced of that after looking into it afterward and giving it some thought. The activation point for Summon Comet is quite a distance from the caster. If he had used a spell with a closer activation point and attacked me directly, Alestra’s Bracelet would have erased it.”
Alestra’s Bracelet was a treasure of House Mercurius. The founding king had received it from the goddess Pharah and had granted it to the first head of House Mercurius. It had the ability to absorb and nullify any magic.
“But if the sorcerer had been aiming not for me but for the ground around me, that would have opened other options to him. Given the chaos, the barrage of rubble, his quick incantation speed, and the total unpredictability of that maneuver, I had no sense of what he was trying to do. It was impressive. He got the best of me, but I still could have responded with a counterattack.”
That’s right. That shocking development had stolen the collective breath of the entire packed arena. It had been a truly unpredictable match.
It had come to an abrupt end, though, as the judge announced Percival’s victory. His opponent was disqualified for breaking the rules. Killing your opponent in the combat tournament was forbidden. As such, performing an attack that seemed like it could deal lethal damage was against the rules.
“It was a totally nonsensical decision. The deadliness of an attack is completely subjective. It depends on the opponent and their fighting style. I was using a sharp sword totally capable of killing, and besides, I was barely injured at the time.”
Logan looked at Percival with interest as he expressed his dissatisfaction with his own victory.
“Against someone with great speed in combat like me, finding the time to release a large-scale spell like Summon Comet should have been seen as nothing other than an incredible demonstration of my opponent’s skill. Based on my ability, reactions, and the item I possessed, he’d judged that he could use the aftermath of Summon Comet to create an advantageous situation for himself. He deserved the utmost praise for his combat sense.”
Percival had finally found a battle that could get him excited. He had been wondering what kind of attack his opponent was going to use next, thinking that it would probably be strong enough to defeat him. That was how worthy a rival the sorcerer had been.
“But despite that, they declared my victory. If they were going to call it for anyone, it should have been him. It was utterly inexplicable.”
Logan didn’t ask Percival why he hadn’t opposed the judge’s decision if it had bothered him so much. That just wasn’t Percival’s style.
“I put up with the absurdity and took part in the championship match the next day, but it turned out to be a battle devoid of meaning or joy. How a swordsman that weak made it all the way to the final was even more of a mystery to me than the judge’s decision in the previous round.”
“This may be rude of me to say in front of one of the participants, but it was a brutal match.”
“Ha-ha-ha. I agree wholeheartedly. Despite the way things turned out, though, the semifinal match against the sorcerer was a beneficial experience.”
“Oh? Did you gain something from it?”
“I did. Every fight since then, whether against humans or monsters, I always think about that fight in some way, wondering what would have happened next. If the match hadn’t ended there, he might have brought a planet down on me next…”
It wasn’t until later that Logan realized that had been a rare joke from the Heavenly Blade.
A little while after that conversation, Logan used his connections and obtained some information.
First, the judge in the semifinal match was a personal martial arts instructor for a certain noble family, and for some reason, that family was obsessed with the idea of indebting Percival to them.
The next bit of information had to do with the final. It was common knowledge that Percival’s opponent in the final had been the son of the king’s favorite concubine at the time, but what people didn’t know was that someone knowledgeable of the court had visited Percival in the waiting room and recommended that he throw the match.
Of course, Percival never spoke of that. It had, however, infuriated him, and he’d expressed that anger by declaring he would never participate in the Imperial Combat Tournament again. That was Percival’s style.
So that’s what happened. It’s a ridiculous story, but it is believable.
The information upset Logan, and he respected Percival for resenting his own victory and considering it undeserved.
3
“This tea is great.”
“Thanks, I’m glad you like it.”
Logan recalled what Percival had said about the tea.
Compared to what he must have been used to growing up in House Mercurius, the guild’s tea leaves surely barely even deserved to be called such. If that manager was able to brew tea good enough for a high-ranking noble to find it agreeable, then sure enough, he was no ordinary fellow.
Much later, Logan realized what Percival had probably meant. He wasn’t talking about the tea specifically but rather the experience of sharing a cup with Logan at the guild.
After spending some time enjoying the taste and fragrance of his drink in silence, Percival finished off his last sip and stood up right away.
Logan rose, too.
“Have a safe expedition.”
“Thanks.”
As an S-rank adventurer heading into the labyrinth alone, he knew the floor that most made sense for him to aim for was the fiftieth. However, this laconic noble was saying he was going to go to the ninetieth floor. He carried with him a number of treasures of House Mercurius, but even putting that aside, this famed swordsman’s strength was abnormal.
Logan had no doubt he would see Percival again.
4
Holding an ax in each hand, the minotaur strode out of the boss room.
It could now easily pass through the entryway that had given it so much trouble before.
Outside the chamber, the stone corridor continued to the left and right.
The minotaur walked to the left.
Before long, the corridor split left and right again.
This time, it chose the right path.
After many more branching paths, the minotaur sensed something ahead of it.
A set of eyes shone in the dimly lit labyrinth.
The opponent charged at the minotaur.
It was a gray wolf that seemed intent on attacking.
The minotaur bent down and swung its left ax at the wolf’s head.
But unexpectedly, the attack cut through only air.
The wolf had quickly changed course a half step before the attack, brushing the minotaur’s right leg as it ran past.
The minotaur immediately turned around to intercept the wolf on its way back but felt pain shooting up its right leg.
It looked down to see a gash running from its knee to its ankle.
Being wounded by this puny wolf made the minotaur’s vision swim red with rage.
It swung its ax sideways in order to catch the wolf as it charged.
But again, it was unable to connect.
Instead of leaping at its prey, the wolf jumped onto the wall, then used a piece of rock jutting from it as a platform from which to aim for the minotaur’s throat.
Against any ordinary opponent, this attack would have finished the fight, but the wolf miscalculated.
The minotaur used its incredible reflexes to angle its chin downward, protecting its throat.
The moment the wolf bit into the minotaur’s thick chin, the minotaur dropped its axes on the ground, grabbed the wolf’s head with both its hands, and charged toward the stone wall.
“Yelp!”
The wolf cried out in pain as it was smashed against the stone.
The minotaur used a headbutt to pin the wolf against the wall once more.
It easily pierced through the creature’s abdomen using its two horns, which had the appearance of steel.
Paying no mind to the fluids spilling out of the wolf onto its body, the minotaur headbutted the beast again, and again, and again.
Bash. Crunch.
Squelch. Splorch.
The wolf’s abdomen was ripped open, and its entrails sloshed out.
The minotaur continued to headbutt.
The wolf resisted by scratching and biting at the minotaur’s arms and chest, but it did not let up.
The wolf finally stopped resisting and began to convulse.
This, too, soon came to an end, and it ceased moving entirely.
Even then, the minotaur continued to headbutt.
Suddenly, the wolf’s corpse vanished, causing the minotaur to bang its head directly into the wall.
It did not understand where its opponent had gone.
Happening to look down, it noticed a small red potion and multiple silver coins.
This was not what the minotaur wanted.
Perplexed, it grew angry.
The reward the minotaur wanted was the beast’s meat.
Meat. Meat.
I wanted to eat its meat.
That meat belonged to me.
Its hunger was only getting worse.
The minotaur picked up its axes and advanced farther down the corridor of the labyrinth.
5
It found another one.
A gray wolf, same as the last.
This time, the minotaur was prepared for its agility and cunning.
It held its left ax in front of its throat and its right ax toward the wolf, watching its movements carefully.
The wolf ran at the minotaur with incredible speed and jumped to the left just before it made contact.
At that moment, the minotaur quickly thrust with its right ax.
The blade cut into the creature’s right cheek.
Then, the minotaur instantly brought its left ax down onto the wolf’s neck.
The beast’s head was severed from its neck, and its body fell to the stone floor.
Meat.
The minotaur’s eyes sparkled with joy.
Just like before, though, the dead wolf’s body disappeared, leaving behind only a small blue potion and some silver coins.
The minotaur’s face twisted with rage.
What is happening?!
My reward was taken from me again!
This isn’t fair!
Give me my meat!
The minotaur crushed the blue potion underfoot and continued its advance down the corridor.
It soon came across a third wolf.
This time, the minotaur rushed at the creature instead of waiting for it.
It feinted an attack with its left hand to guide the wolf to its right side and drove its right ax into the wolf’s muzzle.
The beast was sliced in half.
Meat. Meat.
Give me meat.
Don’t turn into those weird things.
Give me your meat.
It had been pleading in its mind from the moment it spotted its prey.
This time, the wolf did not vanish. Instead, its corpse simply sank into the puddle of its own blood.
The minotaur tore off some meat with its ax and lifted it to its mouth.
It chewed thoroughly and swallowed, feeling an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Meat.
Meat.
It devoured the flesh greedily.
When it had eaten about half of the kill, this corpse also disappeared, leaving behind some silver coins.
The minotaur’s stomach was full.
For some reason, though, its hunger had still not been sated.
It collected its weapons and stood, then began stalking in search of its next target.
The minotaur fought wolf after wolf after wolf.
Though they were usually alone, occasionally, they fought in a pack.
When the minotaur encountered packs of four or five, it struggled with their joint attacks and suffered many injuries.
When the creatures died, they always left behind some mix of red potions, blue potions, and silver coins, after which, the corpses and even the bloodstains disappeared from existence.
But if the minotaur killed while praying for the corpse to remain, the bodies took longer to disappear.
It killed many wolves and ate their flesh.
Even after it tired of eating, it continued fighting simply because it wanted to.
As it fought, the minotaur grew stronger.
6
While prowling in search of its next enemy, the minotaur sensed a battle in the corridor ahead.
Once it got closer, it found a human fighting a wolf.
The human was alone.
He wore leather armor and wielded a sword.
Two wolves were lying in the corridor, covered in blood. They had likely been defeated by the human.
The beasts had taken such a beating that they could not move.
The human had run into a pack of three wolves and, having defeated two, was now fighting the last.
But the swordsman was considerably injured.
Multiple lacerations marred his face, and his clothes were soaked in blood. His left hand was hanging limp as if having lost its mobility.
The wolf had been seriously injured as well, but it was still moving swiftly. It was holding a low position, leaping at the human and scraping at his flesh whenever it found an opportunity to strike.
The swordsman noticed the minotaur.
His eyes widened in astonishment.
The human was hanging on by a thread against his current opponent, but now, a new, stronger monster was approaching, a terrifying monster that was definitely not supposed to be there. It was only natural the man would feel terror.
But the minotaur had no intention of joining that fight.
Defeating a weakened target would be pointless.
It was more interested in watching the human’s technique as he battled the gray wolf.
The human held his sword pointed toward his opponent at all times.
When the wolf attacked with its claws or its fangs, the human would twist his wrist to change the angle of his sword and parry the attack. He was staving off the strikes with the minimum amount of movement possible.
This was probably an effort to preserve stamina, but he was doing a great job of holding his posture.
He ignored the attacks that were going to graze the edges of his body. His injuries steadily accumulated as a result, but he was able to completely prevent the wolf from landing direct blows to any vital areas.
The minotaur did not possess the intelligence to analyze and fully understand the man’s movements, but as it still felt like it could learn something by observing, it watched the engagement attentively.
The end of the conflict came suddenly.
The swordsman’s body swayed, and not overlooking its chance, the wolf leaped at him.
The minotaur realized this was a trap set by the human.
Using his sword, the human flicked some pebbles at his opponent’s face.
The beast hesitated for a second, and the human thrust his supposedly immobile left hand at the wolf’s throat.
The bones in his hand made a crunching sound.
The human then stabbed the wolf with the sword in his right hand and, with a tearing sound, ripped it open from its stomach to its groin.
Having successfully fended off the attack, the swordsman fell faceup on the ground.
The wolf, with its body collapsed on top of the human, was already dead.
A red potion and some silver coins dropped onto the human’s stomach.
He let go of his sword, picked up the red potion with his left hand, and drank it while still on his back, keeping his eyes on the minotaur the entire time.
All of his injuries were quickly healed.
Even his broken hand was fully restored.
Using his sword as a crutch, the swordsman lifted himself up and then finished off the other two wolves that had been lying there on the verge of death.
One of them dropped silver coins and a red potion, and the other dropped silver coins and a blue potion.
The swordsman drank the two potions immediately.
He recuperated even more fully from his injuries, and it looked like his energy had returned as well.
Throughout all of this, the swordsman never once took his eyes off the minotaur.
The minotaur, however, had lost all interest in the swordsman once the battle had ended.
It was clear he was not at full form, and the minotaur did not feel he was strong enough to be worth killing.
The swordsman then gathered all the silver coins the wolves had dropped.
After that, he picked up his sword with his right hand, and while keeping a close eye on the massive monster, he retreated down the corridor.
The human then disappeared into a cave, and shortly thereafter, the minotaur lost sense of his presence.
Finding that strange, the minotaur followed him. Once it drew closer, what had seemed the entrance to a cave suddenly became a staircase heading upward.
There were probably more fights waiting for it up there.
But first it needed to rest.
The minotaur turned around, went back to the room where it had been born, and slept.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter003.txt
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Chapter 3: The Guild Leader’s Confusion
Chapter 3
The Guild Leader’s Confusion
1
After the minotaur awoke and drank from the lake, a human appeared in the boss room.
“It’s here.”
The human was small of stature and wearing light armor with a short bow on his back. He was a scout.
The minotaur looked over its shoulder and then stood. It held an ax in each hand.
“Of course it’s here. There’s no way the boss of a floor could leave its boss room and start strolling around the corridors. That’s nonsense,” said a young woman who had just appeared behind him.
She was holding in her right hand a short staff, a weapon used to cast magic.
“Yeah, you’re not wrong. But Marco was the one who reported that he saw it near the staircase to the ninth floor. He’s not the kind of guy who would just make something up. Also, it’s undeniable that potions and silver coins are being left all over the tenth floor. We just picked some up ourselves on the way here.”
A third person entered the room, a large and solidly built man holding a broad longsword.
Metal plate armor covered his chest, shoulders, arms, forehead, and more, so it looked like his defense was quite high.
“So what are we gonna do? Are we leaving? Or are we gonna kill it?”
“Something about this minotaur doesn’t feel right,” the sorceress said in response to the scout. She wrinkled her forehead and spoke as if trying to spit out all her thoughts at once. “Why is it just standing there watching us? Why isn’t it letting out its Warcry? Why isn’t it charging at us? Why is it just standing there all high and mighty, like it’s evaluating us? This one is definitely weird.”
“Now that you mention it, you’re right. I’ve only fought a minotaur once before, but this one seems totally different.”
“Let’s take it out. If it drops that blessed bastard sword, it’s mine. You two can take whatever else it drops.”
“Nah, there’s no way it’s gonna drop that. That weapon is extremely rare. I had someone tell me once that they’ve killed around fifty minotaurs, hoping for the bastard sword, and it didn’t drop a single time.”
“That was me. I’ve killed forty-nine of these. I feel like this is the one.”
“Ah, that was you. Wait, did you kill all those by yourself? That’s impressive. But if you’re so intent on hogging the boss to yourself, be my guest. Fight it alone. I don’t want to go anywhere near that thing.”
“No, you can’t back out! I usually fight minotaurs alone, too. But not this time. I have a really bad feeling about this one. We need to fight it together. Paja, we’ll move on your command.”
“Fine, fine. All right, battle formation!”
They quickly moved from their exploration formation to their battle formation. The swordsman stood in the front, the sorceress a distance behind him, and the scout positioned himself farther back and off to the side.
This was a temporary party, but they had made sure to review one another’s specialties and skills beforehand.
“Shar, prepare to restrict its movement. Ray, advance on the enemy while she’s working on that. When you reach it, prioritize defense, and do your best to distract it. Shar, once you finish binding it, use quick-cast offensive spells in rapid succession. Once I fire an Aikros, start to prepare a powerful spell.”
Just like that, the three of them advanced on the strange monster.
Man, it really is huge.
Raystrand, who was the tallest of the trio by far, came up to only the boss’s shoulder.
This is definitely the biggest minotaur I’ve seen. It’s certainly intimidating.
But it was Raystrand’s role as the vanguard to fight it up close and draw its attention.
Sharlia’s spell should have come at any moment.
“Earthbind!” she called out.
The minotaur was advancing on Raystrand, but it suddenly came to a stop as what looked like black tree roots sprouted from the ground and coiled around its legs.
While the minotaur was looking down, distracted, Raystrand planted his left foot forward, pulled his sword back to the right, and swung it with ample speed into the side of the minotaur’s torso. Minotaurs had thick, armor-like muscle, but a blade could pass easily through that spot.
The sword was unexpectedly repelled by its muscle, but Raystrand did at least manage to injure it.
Knowing he had attracted the monster’s attention, he began attacking with a flurry of quick strikes.
The minotaur swung its left ax at him.
Raystrand decided he wasn’t going to be able to dodge because of the heavy weight behind the attack, so he lifted his longsword overhead to deflect its swing.
Next, the minotaur’s right ax whooshed through the air as it came at him. He was tied up parrying the left ax with his longsword, so he couldn’t block it.
He stepped back, just barely managing to twist his body out of the weapon’s path.
“Gods… Th-that was close.”
This minotaur was definitely different than the ones Raystrand was used to fighting.
Paja couldn’t believe his eyes.
Did that minotaur just use a feint?
… No, don’t be stupid. That was my imagination.
But Paja was a superb scout, and he’d realized from the moment he saw it that this was no ordinary minotaur. Even while making light of the situation before, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Deciding to use Aikros Arrows, which were very expensive poison arrows, during this fight was due to his sense as a scout.
“Ice Knife!”
Sharlia shot a shard of ice at the minotaur.
“Ice Knife!”
“Ice Knife!”
“Ice Knife!”
“Ice Knife!”
She fired four more at the minotaur in quick succession.
This spell was useful because of its short casting time and because it could be utilized multiple times depending on the sorcerer’s magic power and skill. Releasing five consecutively in that short span showcased her talent as a sorceress.
The first Ice Knife was aimed for its head, the other four for its chest.
The minotaur raised its left ax to its face and blocked the first shot.
Oh, come on—it blocked it?
That’s okay, though. This is our key to victory.
All monsters, regardless of type, disliked attacks to their face. While it was focusing on blocking the first attack, it was unable to dodge the other four as they pierced its chest.
The plan was for Paja to shoot a poison arrow at the minotaur while it was caught off guard by the pain from the ice shards. The minotaur would probably notice the arrow and try to dodge it but would have trouble doing so because its feet were tied up.
Aikros Arrows were imbued with strong paralysis-inducing poison and a blessing that made it difficult for them to miss their target. Once Paja hit the minotaur with one of these, their victory would be all but assured.
Paja nocked the arrow, drew it back, and released it without a sound.
The minotaur, paying no mind to the Ice Knives, knocked away the poison arrow with its left ax.
Three of the four Ice Knives had pierced the minotaur’s abdomen and chest, and the other was sticking out of its left arm.
But the beast did not falter. It immediately swung at the swordsman with its right ax, ensuring he had no chance to attack.
Paja was dumbfounded.
Did it single out and block the poison arrow? …No, that’s impossible.
Whether or not the minotaur blocking it was a coincidence, misfiring with an Aikros Arrow was a heavy loss.
Aikros Arrows were made at a temple by way of a special ritual and were very expensive. Firing just one consumed all your magic power, rendering you unable to shoot a second.
He had accepted this request on the promise of putting the guild in his debt, turning a blind eye to the cheap reward. The three adventurers had agreed to split the costs of consumables equally among them.
Dammit! This thing better drop some valuable items!
Raystrand and Sharlia were thinking the same thing.
2
The minotaur was getting irritated.
The sorceress had cast the binding spell again. Flanked by the swordsman on its right and the scout on its left, it was having a difficult time dealing with the relentless sword attacks and the wide-ranging projectiles.
The sorceress’s individual Ice Knives were not very strong, but they were steadily increasing the number of its injuries. The minotaur was bleeding in multiple places, and a puddle of blood was forming at its feet.
Annoying.
Annoying.
Annoying.
These humans were not particularly strong individually, but when they fought together, they became very difficult to deal with. The humans had full control of the battle, and the minotaur was furious with itself for allowing that to happen.
3
The three adventurers were starting to panic.
It wasn’t supposed to go this way.
The minotaur was definitely a strong boss monster for this floor—strong enough that if a D-rank adventurer defeated it solo, they were promoted to rank C without question.
But the minotaur fought with brute strength and specialized only in close combat, so a group of C-rank adventurers should have had no trouble taking it down.
Despite that, though, they couldn’t land any clean hits.
It deflected the poison arrow and had evaded all the other arrows the scout had loosed.
The sorceress was steadily piling on injuries with her Ice Knives, but the minotaur was clever enough to protect the center of its body. She had yet to hit a vital point. It had lost a great deal of blood, but its movement had not slowed in the slightest. It was as if it possessed unlimited stamina.
They were able to keep the fight to a stalemate because of Earthbind, but they had no clue how long they would have to hold on to win.
Usually when Raystrand fought a minotaur, he would aggravate it and then search for holes in its defense and try to cut off its limbs, eventually delivering the finishing blow by beheading it. This minotaur, however, was not giving him the chance he needed to employ his usual strategy.
Sharlia usually restricted the minotaur’s movement and then hit it with spells in quick succession until it dropped its weapons, after which she would finish it off with a Fireball. It didn’t seem as if this minotaur would be dropping its weapons anytime soon, though. Fireball’s incantation was quite long, so she couldn’t afford to cast it and risk being hit by an ax.
Paja had never fought the minotaur solo. It was not a good matchup for him. Even so, alongside Sharlia and Raystrand, victory should have been guaranteed.
The adventurers were barely maintaining the strength to fight by regularly drinking red and blue potions to recover stamina and mana, respectively.
But their resources were limited.
Every time Sharlia cast Earthbind, she had to drink another blue potion, but she was running low.
Paja’s short bow was a drop he’d obtained from the boss of the twentieth floor. It could fire an unlimited number of normal arrows in exchange for mana. He didn’t have many blue potions left, either.
Their concentration, however, could not be replenished with potions. They were becoming increasingly fatigued, and it wouldn’t be too much longer before the battle turned in the minotaur’s favor.
How long they continued like this, none of them was sure.
The minotaur’s frustration reached its peak.
It suddenly broke its defensive stance, screwed up its face, and took a deep breath.
“Shit, that’s bad. Get a yellow potion ready! It’s about to use Warcry!”
GROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!
The three of them were seized by the effects of Warcry.
They drank their potions without delay, lifting their status ailments and restoring their freedom of movement.
“We’ve got no choice. I’m using another Aikros.”
At Paja’s yell, Sharlia and Raystrand felt a rush of relief.
Using a second poison arrow would put them deeper in the red, but at this point, none of them cared about that. They just wanted out of this deadlock.
Then, something unexpected happened.
GROAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!
“Huh?”
“What?”
“You can’t be—”
The minotaur let loose a second Warcry.
None of them saw this coming.
After using Warcry, the minotaur was supposed to require a long cooldown period before it could employ the move again, effectively limiting it to a single use per battle.
This attack should have been impossible.
None of them could have ever imagined that the minotaur had ranked up its skill as a result of leveling up.
All three of them tried desperately to reach for a yellow potion, but their movements had been hindered.
Sharlia crammed the tip of her staff into her mouth and bit down.
The staff had been given to her by her father and was supposedly made by elves out of the wood of an ash tree. It worked as a charm to ward off spells and also raised the user’s mana. There were no longer any elves in this land, so this was a very rare item.
The staff lifted her status ailment. Now able to move, Sharlia started the incantation for Fireball as a last-ditch effort.
I don’t care how strong this thing is—it shouldn’t be able to take a direct hit from Fireball unscathed.
But the minotaur noticed she was up to something as she muttered the incantation for her spell.
The minotaur spun its right ax around and then slammed it into the rock at its feet. The stone shattered, and the pieces shot toward Sharlia, piercing her in the face, chest, stomach, and legs.
Her incantation was interrupted.
And then, something even more unbelievable happened.
The minotaur bellowed ferociously and broke free of Sharlia’s Earthbind.
The sound of the spell shattering echoed throughout the room as its restraints disappeared.
Sharlia, in a daze from the pain, looked at the monster with fear in her eyes.
There was no way it should’ve been able to break out of Earthbind with its own strength.
But now, the minotaur had regained its freedom of movement, and the three adventurers had lost theirs.
First, it beheaded Raystrand.
Then, it sliced Paja clean in half.
Finally, it beat Sharlia into a bloody paste.
Thus, the battle came to an end.
The three adventurers’ corpses disappeared, leaving behind the items they’d had in their possession.
4
The minotaur discovered a new function.
After the fight, it took interest in the two-handed sword the swordsman had used. It moved to set down its axes and pick up the sword. But for some reason, it placed its right ax casually against its left shoulder instead.
The ax disappeared into thin air.
It was surprised by this disappearance but no more so than for having made this gesture in the first place. After some experimentation, it came to realize that the space above its left shoulder functioned as an invisible storage in which it could keep items.
Everything it tried was successfully stored, including the sword, the staff, potions, and the silver coins.
It seemed like there was a limit on the number of things it could store, but for now, it had plenty of space.
All it had to do to pull something out of storage was think about the item it wanted and touch its left shoulder. It would then be holding the item.
This was the function that adventurers called a Bag. It was a magical ability bestowed unto adventurers when they received their holy occupation at a temple and could even be used outside of labyrinths. Knights were given a storage system called a Treasury, and merchants’ were called Cargo, but Bags were much easier to handle. The downside to Bags was that they had less storage space, but that increased with level-ups, and adventurers leveled up quickly.
The minotaur used its newly acquired storage space to keep the spoils from its victory.
It liked the idea of holding on to the rewards after a good battle.
The minotaur leveled up again after defeating the three adventurers.
But it was a bitter experience. The battle had taught the minotaur that it still did not truly know how to fight.
It decided it should go up the staircase in search of new enemies.
When it stepped into the stairwell, a strange feeling swept through its body. Doing its best to ignore this, it climbed the stairs.
When it reached the ninth floor, it heard the sound of swords clashing.
There was a small cave near the staircase. The sound was coming from there.
The minotaur walked through the entrance to the cave, and the interior turned into a wide room.
Five humans were fighting against monsters with porcine faces.
The monsters were also five in number. Each wielded a different weapon: a longsword, a lance, a shortsword, an iron rod, and a thick club. Humans called these creatures “orcs.”
Among the humans, there were three men wielding swords, a robed woman using a staff, and another woman holding a book of prayer open with both hands.
The humans did not notice the minotaur behind them.
Three swordsmen in the advance guard were holding off the five orcs with impressive movements.
The staff-wielding woman was muttering incantations. She screamed “Lightning!” and pointed her staff at an orc. A bolt of light flew from the staff and hit its target directly, blowing off an arm.
Without missing a beat, the swordsman on the right drove his sword through the orc’s chest.
The monster vomited blood and collapsed.
The sorceress started chanting under her breath again.
“Lightning!”
This time, she shot a hole through the abdomen of the orc struggling with the swordsman in the middle.
The swordsman on the right was fighting two opponents. He knocked the shortsword away from one but failed to avoid its partner’s attack as it swung its club down onto his shoulder.
“Hey, I need healing!” the injured swordsman yelled.
“Cure!” chanted the priestess.
The prayer book glowed with green light. The light enveloped the injured swordsman, then disappeared.
“Thanks!”
The middle swordsman stabbed the orc that had been wounded by the sorceress through its stomach and kicked it with a boot. In the same moment, the club-wielding orc fighting the swordsman on the left was raising its bludgeon overhead, poised to attack.
The orc that had been kicked collided with the club-wielding orc from behind, throwing it off balance. The middle swordsman jumped forward and beheaded it. His injury healed, the left swordsman switched places with his companion in the middle and blocked a jab from the lance-wielding orc.
The enemy dropped its lance.
A bolt of lightning grazed the swordsman’s side as it shot at an orc, dealing a fatal wound.
“Hey, that was dangerous! You could’ve really hurt me there!”
“It’s fine—I know what I’m doing. I was aiming directly at you.”
“What the hell are you doing aiming at me?”
“I knew that if you happened to dodge, it would strike the orc directly.”
Joking around with the sorceress now that their victory was all but assured, the swordsman turned.
He then noticed the monster standing behind them.
His jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in shock.
“M-M-M-M…”
“Aw, do you want your mommy? Are you gonna tell on me?”
“M-M-M-M…”
“Poor Rolf. He doesn’t stand a chance against Karen’s teasing.”
“Yeah, she’s in rare form today.”
The other two swordsmen finished off the remaining orcs and turned around, all smiles.
Then they, too, noticed the minotaur and went deathly pale.
Seeing their reactions, the two women also turned.
Karen fainted, and Rolf reached out to catch her before she hit the ground.
The priestess, Jona, lost strength in her legs and collapsed.
The other two swordsmen looked at the minotaur, dumbfounded, as if they had lost the willpower to even raise their weapons.
The members of this young party of five had just been promoted to rank E a few days earlier. An E-rank adventurer had the strength to defeat the monsters on the sixth floor one-on-one.
Their great chemistry in battle allowed them to take on five monsters on the ninth floor without much difficulty as long as they fought together, but most of them would die with one hit from the minotaur. To make matters worse, they had just finished a challenging fight, which probably made the minotaur look like the grim reaper to them.
The minotaur, on the other hand, had been thinking that they might make for a fun brawl, given how well they fought together.
But their fighting spirit had totally vanished.
Now viewing them as lackluster opponents, the minotaur lost interest, turned, and left the room.
Orcs appeared on the ninth floor. They were considered weaker individually than gray wolves, but they always acted in packs.
They used a variety of weapons. They were clumsy with edged weapons but, because of their strength, could do a surprising amount of damage with blunt instruments like clubs.
The minotaur extracted some entertainment fighting orcs if they were in a group of at least fourteen, but it soon grew bored of that as well.
Orcs did not work together in battle. Their movements were simple and predictable, and they relied solely on brute force for their attacks. However, their strength was insufficient to hurt the minotaur.
The minotaur ended up wandering into the floor’s boss room.
The ninth-floor boss was a giant orc, but it was small in stature compared to the minotaur. It used a sword, but its attacks were unsophisticated.
The minotaur beheaded it easily.
The giant orc dropped a longsword and some silver coins. The minotaur left the room without even picking them up and searched for a staircase.
5
Logan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
A D-rank adventurer had reported seeing a minotaur by the staircase connecting the ninth and tenth floors of the Sazardon Labyrinth.
As everyone knew, the minotaur was the boss of the tenth floor.
Boss monsters were supposed to be incapable of leaving their boss rooms. That was a fundamental rule taught to all adventurers during their first training session, and it didn’t just apply to the Sazardon Labyrinth but to all labyrinths across the land.
For that reason, the receptionist, who was the first to receive the report, had assumed the adventurer must have been seeing things and treated it as a low-priority matter.
Not three days later, a rumor had spread that silver coins and potions were being left all over the tenth floor.
The tenth floor had always been an unpopular area. For adventurers who didn’t explore the labyrinth but instead made a living by taking on odd jobs such as guard duty, subjugation, or harvesting work, being able to advance to rank C simply by defeating the minotaur solo was a very attractive prospect. Doing so would allow them to take on more work, but they almost always avoided the wolves on the way to the boss room.
Despite the unpopularity of the wolves, some eccentric was going around slaughtering them and leaving their drops on the ground.
Logan ordered the employees at the guild to gather information relating to the tenth floor.
Soon after, he received a report that the medal of a female adventurer named Erina and her remaining items had been found directly in front of the boss room.
A person being defeated by a boss and then using the last of their strength to escape the boss room only to perish right outside of it was something that happened from time to time, so that alone wasn’t anything unusual.
But if Marco actually had seen the minotaur outside its lair, that most definitely qualified.
“Could the minotaur be the one killing the gray wolves?”
He couldn’t imagine how the minotaur could have left its boss room. Maybe it would be possible for someone to use a powerful possession spell to make it attack the wolves. If this minotaur was truly wandering around the labyrinth freely, he had to do something about it.
I’ll call for an investigation.
Logan wrote a request for a search. The client was himself, the leader of the guild.
The required rank to accept was C or above.
The assignment was to survey the tenth floor in order to confirm the whereabouts and status of the minotaur and to kill it if it seemed unusual in any way.
Logan descended to the first floor where the adventurers gathered. Many were gathered in front of the request board. Paja was among them. He was an elite scout and perfect for this job.
“Paja.”
“Ah, hello, Mr. Logan.”
“You’re just who I wanted to see. Could you take this on for me?”
“Let me see… Huh? Why do you need to investigate the minotaur?”
Logan filled him in on the details.
“I see. I understand the situation, but isn’t this reward a little cheap?”
“If the minotaur is in its boss room and there’s nothing unusual about it, then all you have to do is report that. We haven’t yet confirmed this as a genuine problem, so I can’t set a higher reward. Would having me in your debt be enough for you?”
“Hmm, now that doesn’t sound half-bad. All right, I accept.”
“Could we get in on that?”
The sorceress Sharlia walked up to them, wedging herself into the conversation.
The swordsman Raystrand was standing behind her.
They were C-rank adventurers on the brink of becoming B-rank.
“Wha—? Oh, hey, Shar. Don’t be ridiculous. If we split this reward between two people, we’ll end up losing money.”
“It’s three people. Ray is coming, too. You can keep the reward for yourself. We’ll split the drops evenly. Mr. Logan’s debt is enough for us. In exchange, we’ll leave the report to you. After we kill the minotaur, we’ll be descending deeper into the labyrinth.”
“Ah, I see. So were you planning on heading down anyway?”
“That’s right. Ray and I are going hunting on the thirty-second floor. We were unsure of whether or not we should use the transport service. It’s expensive, you know. We’ll stop by the tenth floor to take care of this job, then keep going down from there. Sound good, Mr. Logan?”
No, that didn’t sound good.
Sharlia and Raystrand were both capable of defeating the minotaur alone.
Though if they accompanied Paja, he wouldn’t have to buy as many poison arrows…
Now that he thought about it, Logan felt like he’d heard that Raystrand had been going after the minotaur’s rare drop. Which meant they’d probably been planning on killing it anyway.
If he left the investigation to just Sharlia and Raystrand, Paja would worry for the accuracy of the report. He had no choice but to go along with the three of them taking on the task together.
“Of course. I’m counting on you.”
“Glad to hear it. Paja, let’s do our best. Oh, and let’s split the cost of consumables.”
The three of them left to enter the labyrinth.
6
As Logan was feeling an increasing sense of dread after half a day passed without Paja’s return, Gil Linx showed up at the guild.
Gil Linx was a great sorcerer.
Born on one of the surrounding islands, he’d made a name for himself on a number of adventures. He was eventually accepted into the Baldemost Kingdom’s institute for magic, where he became an influential figure.
According to the stories, he had sealed away a devil, subjugated an ancient dragon, wiped out a group of people who had rebelled against the heavens, and more. These stories had likely been embellished, but they were spoken of as if true.
He was a household name on the northern part of the continent, and if you had to cite any great sorcerer from the children’s fairy tales told in Baldemost Kingdom, he would be the first to come to mind.
Despite being such a legendary character, though, there was not a hint of arrogance in his demeanor.
He could live as luxuriously as he wanted but had no taste for wealth or political power, instead devoting his all to maintaining the peace and happiness of the realm.
He had a calm and introspective personality, and though his primary focus in life was research, when he was needed, he had the courage to rise up and calmly deal with any challenge.
To Logan, he was a dear friend with whom he had gone on adventures when he was young and a veteran who had taught Logan everything he knew as an adventurer.
Logan didn’t know why, but Gil had the unwavering trust of the king of Baldemost.
He also worked as a consultant for the guild.
“Gil, long time no see.”
“Indeed. I helped out at the magic research facility in Mazulu through a request from the royal palace. I visited the palace for my return report, and it turned out the king has some things he wants to talk about over dinner. I came here straightaway to show my old face at the guild and say hello. I would say you look great, but something appears to be troubling you.”
“Is it that obvious? To tell you the truth…”
He explained the situation.
“Sharlia is a relative of Eisel, isn’t she?”
“She’s his daughter. Oh yeah, wasn’t Eisel a pupil of yours?”
“That’s right. Well, I’m going to take a look at the tenth floor,” said Gil, and he disappeared.
He used teleportation magic.
Very few sorcerers had the aptitude to learn this discipline.
In most cases, those who could use teleportation couldn’t learn many other spells. The guild employed two sorcerers to specialize in transporting adventurers via teleportation magic, but both were useless in combat.
By contrast, in addition to being able to use teleportation magic and a spell that allowed him to search multiple floors at once, Gil could also employ powerful offensive magic, enchant magic that was very helpful when fighting with a party, and all kinds of elite support magic. Apparently, he even knew a spell that instantly healed all friendly targets within range back to full health.
He really is a great sorcerer.
But you’d never know it from the carefree way he carries himself.
When Gil vanished to investigate the minotaur situation, Logan felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest.
But that sensation of relief lasted only a brief moment.
Before Logan could finish even a single cup of tea, Gil returned and handed Logan three adventurer medals.
Medals belonging to Paja, Sharlia, and Raystrand.
7
“These three medals and several pieces of equipment were abandoned in the tenth-floor boss room. The minotaur was nowhere to be seen.”
It was difficult to imagine a scenario where this didn’t mean they were dead.
But where in the world was the minotaur? Could it have died with the adventurers? If that was the case, it would reappear soon enough.
“Is Eisel currently in Micaene?” asked Gil as he took the items the adventurers had dropped out of his Bag.
“Hmm, I’m not sure. I’ll have someone look into it.”
After an employee checked for Eisel’s whereabouts, they learned he had departed for the Padanel Wetlands on a request. It looked like he wouldn’t return for a few weeks at least.
“Well, I need to go meet with the king. I recommend you handle this case with care.”
“Understood. Thanks for your help.”
“Of course. Until next time.”
8
After Gil left, Logan fell deep into thought.
I need information first. I’ll put forth a request for an investigation.
As he was thinking, the manager walked into his office.
“Mr. Logan, we have multiple eyewitnesses claiming that the minotaur was on the ninth floor.”
“What?”
“It was a group of five young adventurers. They’re downstairs now.”
“I’ll go talk to them.”
Making their way to the first floor, Logan and the manager found that the eyewitnesses were a group of young adventurers with whom Logan was familiar.
They had all just become adventurers this year, but as a crew, they were very well-balanced and exhibited great teamwork. They were all enthusiastic and ambitious, and Logan was privately looking forward to seeing what they would accomplish in the future.
The five of them were sulking because they hadn’t been properly greeted after coming all the way to the guild to deliver important information. Now that the guild leader was showing interest in what they had to say, though, their moods quickly improved.
According to their report, the minotaur could have easily killed them all but chose not to attack.
“And you’re sure it was the ninth floor?”
Logan hoped there had been some misunderstanding, but with five eyewitnesses, that was unlikely. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with their memories or their manner of speech.
This confirmed that there was something peculiar about this minotaur. There was no way a denizen of the labyrinth should have been able to traverse a staircase and leave its floor.
First of all, monsters were incapable of perceiving the stairwells connecting the floors. They couldn’t comprehend the concept of moving between floors, much less put it into practice.
An apt analogy might be the heavens and the underworld for humans.
Monsters couldn’t even see the staircases, and if an adventurer went into one right before the beast’s eyes, all it would see was a human disappearing. Even if you tried to force a monster into a stairwell, it would die when you pushed it through.
Technically, even humans, by nature, could not perceive the staircases.
Anyone could enter the first floor of a labyrinth, but they would be unable to see the second floor. Only after receiving a holy occupation such as knight or adventurer did someone gain the ability to see and enter the stairwells.
So if a monster enters the stairwells and moves freely around the labyrinth…
…then would that mean it’s…a monster adventurer?
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter004.txt
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Chapter 4: A Duel with the Heavenly Blade
Chapter 4
A Duel with the Heavenly Blade
1
Having finished fighting in the depths of the labyrinth, Percival began his return trip to the surface.
Just because he was going back up didn’t mean he could let his guard down, as he had to slip through many corridors containing strong monsters on his way. The climb would also make for good training.
Percival reached the forty-ninth floor and decided to take a food break.
This was a worthwhile expedition.
I made it all the way to the ninety-sixth floor, and I even mastered using Ende’s Shield against large monsters.
There were five treasures handed down in House Mercurius.
Alestra’s Bracelet, which eliminated magic.
Kaldan’s Dagger, which protected its wielder’s body from status ailments and poison.
Raika’s Ring, which shot offensive magic.
Ende’s Shield, which reflected physical attacks back at one’s opponent.
And Bolton’s Charm, which absorbed magic and granted the power of invisibility.
Percival changed up which treasures he used depending on the floor and devised fighting styles for each.
If he fully utilized the powers of the five treasures, he might have been able to make it to the one hundredth floor. However, he would have been unable to defeat the monster that served not only as the boss of that floor but of the labyrinth as a whole: the metal dragon.
In truth, it would have been difficult for him even to beat the basilisks and hydras that roamed the one hundredth floor.
That’s why Percival was steadily working on increasing his strength and studying how to use the treasures of his house.
He would venture down to the heart of the labyrinth someday. There, he would defeat the metal dragon.
He would do it alone, without anyone to ruin his enjoyment of the battle.
It was almost as if his only motivation in life was thrill-seeking.
If he had just joined a party, he could have taken down the metal dragon a long time ago.
It’s not that he had never searched for companions with which to explore the depths. He had, but it had never worked out for him.
He’d had a powerful sorcerer, a proficient healer, and the kind of fighter skilled enough to put others at ease.
But the battles with them were inelegant.
It wasn’t just winning that was important to Percival—the grace of combat mattered, too.
What Percival was looking for was a highly polished, sharp fighting style. Winning without that would not satisfy him.
He was unable to find others who shared this same goal, so he was still alone. That didn’t bother him, though.
Done with his break, Percival stored Alestra’s Bracelet and Kaldan’s Dagger in his Bag, took off his boots, and changed into a pair of Fool’s Boots.
Fool’s Boots were a type of cursed item that lowered your physical abilities significantly when equipped. Percival used them for training.
The monsters on the floors from here on would not attack Percival. Labyrinth monsters fled from opponents significantly stronger than themselves.
Percival was exhausted from his fights on the deeper floors, but fortunately, he had no external injuries. He would be able to leave the labyrinth without drinking a red potion.
Red potions healed your wounds and removed exhaustion, but leaving those things to natural recovery led to faster growth.
He intended to use the Fool’s Boots to give his body a harsh workout on his way up through the remaining forty-nine floors.
Percival stowed his favorite sword and attached a blade of simple make to his hip. It was very blunt, but he didn’t mind. There wouldn’t be any more battles on the way back up. He was only using it because he couldn’t consider running without a sword at his hip during combat training.
He would see his wife and kids after he emerged from the labyrinth. Once again, he would drink in their cherubic expressions when they saw that he had returned safe and sound.
Percival whipped his tired body back into shape and began to run.
2
Now on the eighth floor, the minotaur sensed something flying toward it. It quickly tried to block it with its right ax but was too slow.
It turned out to be a knife. The blade pierced the minotaur’s abdomen but did not penetrate its muscle very deeply, falling to the ground with a clank.
“Giii, giiii!”
A monster half as tall as the minotaur and covered in thick hair was staring at it with hate in its eyes. Humans called this monster a goblin.
Two more goblins charged at the minotaur from behind the one that had thrown the knife. There was one on the left and one on the right, and they held a club and sword respectively.
The speed of their approach was slow compared to the gray wolves. They were also rather awkward on their feet.
The minotaur tried to stop the attacks from sword and club with its right and left axes, respectively.
The goblin on the left suddenly twisted its body, however, and struck the minotaur’s right ax with its club. This distracted the minotaur, and the goblin on the right took the opportunity to attack its lower abdomen with its sword.
The minotaur recoiled quickly, and the goblin’s blade only lightly pricked it.
The minotaur roared with displeasure.
It did feel anger toward the strange creature that had wounded it, but it was even angrier at itself for failing to dodge such a sluggish attack.
The minotaur’s rage summoned and amplified its true strength.
It lifted its right ax with incredible force and brought it down, splitting the goblin open from the top of its head down to its chest.
The minotaur followed that with a horizontal swing of its left ax, too fast for eyes to follow. The goblin’s head flew from its shoulders.
The goblin that had thrown the knife turned and tried to run, but the minotaur chased it with unbelievable speed for its size and kicked the small monster in the back. The creature was sent flying into the stone wall, brains and bodily fluids splattering in every direction upon impact.
This did nothing to quell the minotaur’s rage. It surrendered itself to this anger, wandering the corridors and violently butchering every goblin it laid eyes on.
The goblins always moved in packs of two or three. They were unskilled fighters, but their assaults were coordinated. Those attacks didn’t pose even a slight risk to the minotaur, but they were a good change of pace from the monotonous fighting style of the orcs, and they taught the minotaur the importance of reading your enemy’s moves.
They dropped bronze coins and cheap-looking weapons, but after it had killed some unknown number of them, one of the goblins dropped a red potion. The minotaur was about to keep walking without picking it up like it usually did, but then it suddenly stopped.
A scene flashed in the back of its mind.
It saw a human drinking one of those red things.
That human was injured and weak, but after emptying one of those, it regained its strength for battle.
The minotaur bent over to pick up the red potion, then placed it in its invisible storage above its left shoulder.
It found the boss room and walked inside, but it was empty. Just a short while earlier, this floor’s boss had been defeated by the adventurers.
It had come across humans twice, but they’d run as soon as they’d seen it, so it hadn’t given chase.
There would be no point in chasing after creatures that didn’t even try to fight.
As it roamed the floor, the minotaur eventually found the next staircase.
If it went to another floor, it would find new enemies. The minotaur understood that by now.
But its hunger would not be sated. It had no idea how to achieve satisfaction.
3
“It was on the eighth floor this time?”
Logan received some eyewitness information. Everyone working at the guild knew that he had an interest in any information related to the minotaur, so this was delivered to him right away.
“I see. So they saw the minotaur and immediately fled to the surface.”
The beast was apparently alone. There was no sign of anyone nearby controlling it.
They also said the minotaur did not attack.
“Hmm… What does this mean…?”
Logan also investigated the items left behind by Paja, Sharlia, and Raystrand.
From the small number of potions that remained, he could infer that they’d had a long and hard battle, but he didn’t understand anything beyond that.
“Could those three really have had such a hard time against the minotaur? To the point where they were all wiped out…?”
No matter how strong this minotaur happened to be, they should’ve at least been able to bind its movement and run. In the worst-case scenario, even if one or two of them went down, someone should have been able to escape.
Assuming some trouble had actually led to their deaths, what in the world could have prevented Paja from leaving behind any information?
Was it really the minotaur those three had fought?
Logan just couldn’t wrap his head around the situation.
4
Now on the seventh floor, the minotaur sniffed the air.
It sensed something strange. What was the source of this peculiarity?
Right there.
It was a rock on the wall of the corridor. There was something weird about it.
The minotaur stared at it intently.
It was definitely strange.
The minotaur lifted its right ax and swung it down onto the perplexing stone.
It shattered.
It was a rock slime.
When camouflaged with the wall, rock slimes became so hard that adventurers at an appropriate level for this floor couldn’t put a dent in them. It was only once the camouflage was removed and they became gelatinous that they could be attacked. But the rock slime’s high defense was no match for the minotaur’s overwhelming force.
It left behind a red potion.
The minotaur picked it up and quickly dropped it into the invisible space above its left shoulder.
It smashed four or five more rock slimes as it prowled the corridors and then sensed something around the corner ahead of it.
Humans. Three of them.
The minotaur prepared itself.
5
Nesco was a level-25 amateur. She had formed a party with the swordsman Rondo and the sorceress Halbara, who specialized in enchantment magic. They were planning on exploring the twenty-eighth floor and were currently on their way down.
Something’s here!
She immediately came to a halt and gestured to her party members to stop as well.
Nesco had the skill Perception, which allowed her to sense nearby presences, so she was advancing through the labyrinth ahead of the other two. Whenever they came across an enemy, she would move to the rear.
What she sensed ahead of them did not seem like a monster one typically encountered on this floor. She carefully crept forward and peeked around the corner.
It was a minotaur.
She was stunned to see something that clearly should not have been there. Her shock quickly turned to fear.
It knows we’re here!
She had heard rumors that a strange monster resembling a minotaur had appeared, but she hadn’t taken them seriously. Now that it was right in front of them, she was panicking.
She thought she saw the minotaur’s eyes light up as it stared at them.
Nesco pulled a Vunkar Arrow from the quiver on her back, nocked it in her bow, and jumped around the corner.
The monster ran at them.
Nesco worked frantically to suppress her fear, aimed an arrow at its abdomen, and fired.
The Vunkar Arrow hit the monster and exploded.
“Run! We’re going back!”
Nesco sprinted in the direction from which they had come. Rondo and Halbara ran after her.
6
Those three humans didn’t seem very strong.
Still, the minotaur didn’t like the weapon that human had used, so it decided to chase after them and kill its assailant using that same weapon.
The minotaur was able to dodge the thing the human had shot at it. Its reflexes had improved significantly since it fought the three adventurers in its boss room.
Nevertheless, the weapon did end up hitting its right ax and detonated on impact.
The explosions produced by Vunkar Arrows were small but powerful.
The minotaur’s fingers were blown off its right hand, and the ax was sent flying.
It stopped for a moment to collect its ax but realized it couldn’t pick it up because of its missing fingers. When it turned to eviscerate the humans, they had already run around the next turn in the corridor.
The minotaur looked at its right hand. It was incapable of a good fight with its hand in that state.
Suddenly, it had an idea. It set its remaining ax on the ground and then put its left hand to its shoulder.
It pulled out a red potion.
The minotaur tossed the vial into its mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
The fingers on its right hand immediately began to regenerate.
It drank another, and the regeneration rate increased.
If the three humans had seen this, they would surely have been astounded.
Potions worked only on humans. Even if you made an animal or a monster drink one, it would have had no effect. That was common knowledge.
But the red potion had just healed the minotaur.
After receiving the goddess Bora’s blessing and becoming an adventurer, the minotaur became capable of receiving potions’ effects.
Humans used strange tools. The minotaur had become aware of that.
Regardless of how weak one was, the tool it was wielding could empower it to take down a stronger opponent.
The minotaur could not afford to be careless.
7
The monsters of the sixth floor were red bats.
The tiny monsters fluttered around and barely made a sound. The minotaur had a lot of trouble hitting them.
After a while, it eventually stopped taking large swings with its axes and instead started swatting them with small swipes of its upper arms. The latter strategy was much more effective.
The bats died easily if a hit connected.
It didn’t even need to be a direct hit—just grazing a bat would kill it.
The bats’ claws, fangs, and screeches couldn’t damage the minotaur at all.
Most of the time, the red bats dropped two or three bronze coins. Red potions were rare.
The minotaur picked up a red potion and drank it.
Its exhaustion faded, and its minor injuries vanished.
Just as it was thinking of moving on to the next floor, though, it encountered an interesting enemy.
8
Percival ran nimbly through the tenth, ninth, eighth, and seventh floors. His speed was astonishing given that he was wearing a pair of Fool’s Boots.
Huh?
When he reached the sixth floor, he noticed something strange on his Map.
Map was a skill given to adventurers that presented the areas of the labyrinth they had visited as a map they could see in their minds. Once their Map skill level increased, it would also display the monsters or people on that floor.
Kaldan’s Dagger, which was currently stored in his Bag, awarded another incredible feature. Just by equipping it, you received a detailed map of the floor you were on even if you hadn’t yet explored it, and you could see the locations of all monsters and people.
This floor was supposed to have only red bats, but his Map revealed an enemy that seemed rather powerful. It was near the staircase to the fifth floor.
Percival felt a passing curiosity, but because he really wanted to get out of the labyrinth quickly, he decided to ignore it. He would probably cross paths with the monster for a moment, but by the time it noticed him, he would already be on the staircase.
Just as he was about to enter the stairwell to the fifth floor, though, he felt a bloodlust emanating from behind him. He turned and drew his sword.
A minotaur?
What was the boss of the tenth floor doing here?
This didn’t make sense. But labyrinths never made sense.
Without thinking deeply about it, he turned the sword in his right hand toward the enemy and began his assault.
He didn’t even think of drawing his favorite sword from his Bag. He didn’t deem it necessary. He expected to win this fight with a single blow.
Percival attempted to stab the minotaur in the heart, but although his blade sank deep into the minotaur’s chest, it stopped before reaching its true target.
Huh?
The monster had just barely avoided a lethal blow.
Not even the faintest hint of a smile remained on Percival’s handsome face, but his eyes lit up.
Looks like I’ll be able to have a little fun with this one.
All thoughts of exhaustion vanished from his mind.
9
When it saw the new human speeding toward the staircase, the minotaur suddenly became very angry.
It was angry at the human for ignoring it.
That anger turned to bloodlust.
The human then turned and stabbed it with his sword.
That attack was too fast to dodge. The minotaur was able to pull back slightly, but the weapon cut deep into its chest, and the wound began to bleed profusely. The pain was accompanied by rage and…joy.
This opponent was stronger than any it had encountered so far. His strength was on a completely different level.
The human’s sword was just long enough to call a longsword, and it was surprisingly thin.
For a moment, the minotaur felt something resembling fear.
This was the first time it had experienced this emotion.
Before long, the feeling gave way to anger.
Getting fired up, the minotaur attacked the swordsman.
Faced with this new, powerful enemy, it was finally able to forget the hunger that had plagued it from the day it was born.
10
To Percival’s surprise, he wasn’t able to kill the minotaur right away. He had fought a minotaur before. His memories of that fight were working to his detriment.
A slash attack that should have cut off its arm was instead repelled by its thick muscles, leaving only a light wound.
His attacks were obstructed repeatedly by the minotaur’s unexpectedly quick ax swings.
He could probably end the battle instantly if he pulled even one of his blessed items out of his Bag, but this monster was surprisingly intelligent and quick-witted. It didn’t seem like it would give him that chance.
As a result, Percival had no choice but to do what he could with this longsword.
But that was okay, because this would make for a fun challenge.
However, no matter how many times he slashed at the minotaur, it did not lose its fighting spirit. It seemed to only get fired up even more.
I can’t panic.
Time to try the new techniques I’ve been working on.
He swung his sword in one arc after another, vertical and horizontal, big and small.
The monster gradually lost the room to counterattack and was driven back toward the wall.
Just as Percival was thinking he would end the battle any second, his knee suddenly gave out.
Shoot!
Even with his superhuman strength, his stamina still had a limit, and his body was giving way to exhaustion.
Percival unleashed a string of quick slash attacks.
The minotaur backed up half a step. As soon as it did, Percival jumped away.
He then slipped his left hand into a small pouch at his hip.
He was reaching for a red potion.
11
The human’s form was beautiful as he swung his weapon.
This minotaur’s entire body was being lacerated by the man’s brilliant swordplay, but it was surviving by focusing on guarding its vital points.
He then changed his strategy, unleashing a diverse range of attacks in quick succession.
Counterattacking became difficult, and the minotaur was steadily pushed backward.
Just as it was thinking that it could not retreat any farther, the swordsman’s posture collapsed for a moment. He quickly recovered and came at the minotaur with a series of quick moves.
The minotaur took half a step away and collected itself.
The swordsman then created distance between them by leaping backward, and his right hand reached for the pouch at his hip.
The minotaur advanced on the human, using both axes to flick stones at him from the ground.
The swordsman deflected three rocks with his sword and two others with his left hand.
He did not allow any of the other stones to so much as graze him.
However, the item he had been trying to extract from his pouch with his left hand had fallen to the ground.
It was a red potion.
The minotaur realized his opponent must have been tired.
It did not reach that conclusion through any kind of conscious analysis—it simply sensed it.
The minotaur decided it would not give the swordsman a break.
It approached the human while he was busy fending off the rocks, planting itself at the outer reach of its axes.
It planned on maintaining that position.
The minotaur with its axes had a slightly greater reach than the swordsman with his longsword. If the minotaur swung its axes unabated while maintaining this position, its opponent would be forced to prioritize defense and would have trouble attacking.
The swordsman tried repeatedly to gain some separation, but the minotaur obstructed him each time.
Every now and then, the minotaur would allow one of the human’s large swings to connect with its side in order to throw off his timing.
The swordsman should have been under duress from this unexpected turn in the battle, but instead, a slight smile seemed to be dawning on his ever-expressionless face.
The swordsman adjusted his strategy.
He gave up on creating any space between them or using his red potion, instead meeting the minotaur at its desired distance and aiming for the beast’s throat and heart.
The force behind his blade was tremendous.
The minotaur did not fall back, not even when its face was slashed. If it moved away at all, it would have to extend its arms too far, weakening the power of its ax swings.
Its chest was painted with blood, but it would not give ground for any reason.
As long as the minotaur held this distance, no matter how much skin and flesh the swordsman scraped off, he would be unable to cleave through its thick chest and reach its heart.
The minotaur’s entire body was now covered with blood. The swordsman was also stained deep red from the fountain gushing out of the minotaur’s chest. Blood was even falling into the man’s eyes, but he did not close them for a second.
They continued like this for a long time with the swordsman fighting toe-to-toe with the minotaur, but the swordsman did not allow an ax to connect with him even once.
This human is very impressive.
If what the minotaur was feeling toward its opponent had to be expressed in human speech, it would probably have been something close to respect.
But humans had limited stamina. After slashing the minotaur’s arms with a chain of particularly threatening attacks, the swordsman’s breath became ragged, and his movements slackened.
The minotaur’s right ax then sank into his right shoulder.
The swordsman stumbled.
His eyes had not lost their strength, but dark bags had formed around them from exhaustion.
The minotaur held its breath and continued to strike, then landed a rare direct hit on the swordsman’s blade, repelling his attack.
He had probably lost the strength to properly evade.
The minotaur continued pressuring the swordsman until he eventually fell.
It swung its left ax and severed the swordsman’s left leg at the knee.
The minotaur took one step forward and aimed for the human’s torso with its right ax.
The swordsman interrupted that by quickly slashing the minotaur’s left leg, throwing it off balance. He then cut the beast’s throat with impossible speed.
The minotaur was able to twist its neck just enough to avoid a fatal wound, but blood began gushing out, raining down onto the swordsman’s lower body.
The minotaur’s blood and the swordsman’s intermingled to the point where it was no longer possible to differentiate between the two.
Having lost its balance entirely after the strike to its neck, the minotaur began collapsing onto the swordsman.
As it was falling, it was aware that another swing was zeroing in on the back of its neck, so it drove its left elbow into the swordsman’s right hand.
The sword merely grazed the side of the minotaur’s head.
The minotaur suddenly noticed its opponent was holding a potion in his left hand.
The same potion he had dropped earlier.
The minotaur had no idea when he had found the time to re-collect that.
It could not afford a moment of carelessness with this human.
The minotaur used its right hand to knock the vial away, causing it to shatter against the wall.
The minotaur quickly adjusted its grip on its right ax and swung it around its back.
The sword sang as the minotaur repelled a strike with its ax.
The swordsman pulled his weapon away.
The minotaur slammed its elbow into the swordsman’s chest and used the recoil from that blow to regain its feet.
The tip of the sword passed right in front of its throat.
The swordsman, now on the ground, didn’t even try to rise. He had probably lost the stamina to do so.
He closed his eyes and laid his sword on top of himself.
The minotaur tried to shuffle around to the swordsman’s head.
Without a sound, the sword swiped at the minotaur, visible only as a trail of light. It almost felt like it had happened in slow motion.
The sword executed a beautiful sweeping motion.
It cut halfway through the minotaur’s right ankle.
The beast tried to locate the weapon, but it had somehow returned to the swordsman’s chest.
The minotaur, the human, and the ground around them were all soaked red and black. Despite that, the sword shone a bright silver.
The swordsman appeared to be sleeping, but if the minotaur carelessly went near him, it would probably be instantly assailed.
The swordsman had formed an arc around himself as beautiful as a full moon, inside of which he was completely safe.
The minotaur did not know what to do.
If it just waited, the swordsman would eventually die.
All it had to do was prevent him from using a red potion.
Waiting was probably the right move.
Suddenly, it laughed at its own foolishness.
I’m an idiot.
What I’ve been seeking is not victory.
What I seek is battle.
What I seek is a stronger me.
I’ve found an incredible enemy who is able to overpower me even on the verge of death.
Don’t die.
Torment me for even a bit longer.
The minotaur circled around to the swordsman’s head while being careful of the sword’s range.
It was racked with pain and bleeding all over its body.
It did not have much stamina left, either.
Aiming at the swordsman’s head or heart, however, proved impossible.
It was the sword.
As long as the blade existed, he could not be defeated.
His sword had become his life.
Wary of the weapon, the minotaur stepped into his enemy’s range.
Clink!
The sword lashed out at the minotaur’s legs with pinpoint accuracy, but the minotaur caught it between its axes, pinning it. When it tried to pull back, the minotaur twisted its axes with all its strength, shattering the blade.
The swordsman opened his eyes halfway and stared at the remains of his sword.
The minotaur drove its ax into the man’s heart.
His body spasmed, and he coughed up blood.
The swordsman looked at the minotaur. There was no anger, fear, or hatred in his eyes.
While returning the swordsman’s gaze, the minotaur severed his head from his shoulders.
The minotaur’s body began to change.
It was another level-up.
Its wounds disappeared.
The minotaur then gained a fearsome amount of strength.
It regretted that the injuries inflicted by the swordsman disappeared so quickly.
So this was what swords were capable of.
He had been an excellent enemy, and this was a satisfying victory.
The swordsman disappeared, leaving behind a great many items. He must also have had a storage system.
Feeling a deep sense of satisfaction, the minotaur picked up a bracelet and a shortsword and put them in its own Bag.
The bracelet and shortsword were actually both engraved with elite seals of ownership, applied by a human sorcerer. The seals meant that no one other than the proper owner could store these items in their Bag. What the minotaur had just done should have been impossible.
Tons of red potions had fallen to the ground, and the minotaur collected them and put them in its Bag as well.
Its injuries had been healed, but it was mentally and physically exhausted. Its head also felt hazy.
The minotaur returned to its room on the tenth floor.
It drank water from the lake, then slept like a rock.
When it woke up, it drank again.
It felt replenished in mind and body.
Its combat strength had increased significantly, to the point where its former self could not compare.
Its intelligence had increased more dramatically than anything.
Monsters had low intellect by nature. Minotaurs’ intelligence was particularly paltry, even among monsters.
As the minotaur leveled up, though, its intelligence increased, and its knowledge, understanding, critical thinking, memory, problem-solving ability, and more all improved exponentially. Its thoughts were now clear, and it could recall the events that had happened from its birth until now in vivid detail.
It recalled its battle with the swordsman, and it understood more deeply that it had won a battle it had no business winning. It replayed the actions of the swordsman and its own repeatedly in its head, evaluating them.
He had been a tremendous enemy. His skill had been astonishing.
The minotaur seared into its mind the beautiful arcs the swordsman had cut through the air with his sword.
A short while later, the minotaur left its room.
It soon encountered two wolves.
They threw themselves at the minotaur, but it slashed at them with an ax, barely expending any effort as it killed both instantly. It was hard to believe these enemies had once given it a hard time.
The minotaur yet again ascended the stairs.
It likely wouldn’t encounter any strong monsters if it kept going up, but it decided it may as well see how far it could go.
The swordsman had been going up, after all. What kind of place had been his destination?
The minotaur decided it wanted to see for itself.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter005.txt
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Chapter 5: Memories
Chapter 5
Memories
1
In the end, night fell without Logan being able to dispatch a new party. He went to work the next day determined to take more resolute, concrete action against the minotaur. He ended up overloaded with clerical work, however, and before he knew it, it was evening.
A group of adventurers who had made a day trip of investigating the early floors of the labyrinth returned and gave their report.
This time, the minotaur had been spotted on the sixth floor. It did not initiate combat with humans, but there had been eyewitness reports of it killing other monsters.
It seemed like the rumors about the minotaur had spread considerably in the last few days. Because the creature would not attack unless you attacked it first, though, only a small number of people were taking this unusual situation seriously.
The next morning, Logan received shocking news.
An adventurer medal and several items had been brought to reception, which likely meant someone had died. After inspection, it was determined that they belonged to Percival Mercurius.
2
Logan descended to the first floor of the guild and went to the reception area.
The Heavenly Blade’s dropped belongings were piled unceremoniously on the floor. It was a veritable mountain of goods.
He could tell at a glance that some of the items were exceedingly rare.
About twenty young adventurers stood around the pile.
“Mr. Logan. There is no doubt this adventurer medal is his.”
“This is the group that found it?”
“Yes.”
“Who is their leader?”
“This man here.”
The receptionist gestured to a man named Chiran. Logan knew him to be a D-rank scout.
“I’m not anyone’s leader. I found the pile of stuff, but I couldn’t take it all back alone. There were also some items I couldn’t put in my Bag for whatever reason, so I asked passing adventurers for help.”
“I see. Chiran, sorry to ask this of you, but please wait a moment. Hey! Inspect this medal again for me. I want to see it for myself.”
The employee inspected it again right in front of Logan, but sure enough, there was no mistaking it was Percival’s.
Turns out he was level 98. Even considering his prowess, that’s much higher than I thought.
When adventurers died in the labyrinth, they left behind their medal and their items. It was the duty of all adventurers to deliver to the guild any dropped medals or personal belongings they found.
If a month passed without the owner showing up, half the items went to whoever had found them, and the other half went to the guild.
The deceased adventurer’s family was given the first opportunity to purchase the wares, but it was rare for the family of an adventurer to have much money. In the event that the family did buy back one of their dead loved one’s belongings, the most the average person could afford was a cheap trinket to keep as a memento. The more valuable items were rarely reclaimed.
The finder had the right to choose whether to be paid in cash or in kind for the guild’s share, and if they chose to be paid in kind, they had priority in choosing which items they received.
It was common for expensive items to have seals of ownership engraved on them, so they were easily traceable if they were stolen or ended up on the black market.
Because reporting the items was a surefire way to legally obtain something you wanted, the rarer a dropped item was, the more likely it was to be delivered to the guild.
At any rate, the pile of loot left behind by Percival was objectively enormous.
As an adventurer’s level increased, so did their Bag’s capacity.
There was no way an ordinary adventurer would have been able to store so much.
So the Heavenly Blade is actually dead…
Logan had Chiran and the other adventurers give him the details about how the items had been discovered. No one denied that Chiran had found them first. He had promised the rest of them a reward of ten gold coins each to help transport them.
Ten gold coins, huh?
Logan counted the adventurers other than Chiran. There were eighteen of them, which meant he’d promised to pay 180 gold coins.
There were many exceptional treasures among this pile that had a rather plain appearance. These young adventurers probably hadn’t realized what a horde they had stumbled upon.
Chiran was pestering him to go ahead and appraise the goods. That was understandable. He was likely uneasy about whether or not he could actually pay the 180 gold coins. They were all going to be in shock, though, once they heard how much this haul was worth.
Logan ordered the employee in charge of reception to explain the rights of the finder and to carry out the procedures according to regulations. He also ordered them to make a copy of the inventory once the wares had been appraised.
As Logan turned toward the staircase to return to his room, his feet were oddly heavy.
He felt like he’d suddenly aged twenty years.
The sixth floor? That’s ridiculous.
It wasn’t strange that the Heavenly Blade had been on the sixth floor. He’d never once used the transport service, preferring to delve into the labyrinth and return to the surface by running.
Nevertheless, it was unthinkable that a monster strong enough to kill the Heavenly Blade could have been on the sixth floor.
The labyrinth was a place where unforeseen dangers lay around every corner. By himself, even the Heavenly Blade was at risk in its deepest floors. He probably wouldn’t have been able to defeat the final floor’s metal dragon in a one-on-one fight.
But the sixth floor? There’s no way. There’s absolutely no way.
Logan couldn’t imagine a monster getting the best of Percival. Which meant that whoever had killed him couldn’t have been a monster. Whoever did the deed had probably set some kind of cowardly trap.
Percival had been such a great swordsman that he could have handled dozens of opponents by himself in a fair fight, and the labyrinth was not a place to which you could send an entire armed force all at once. It was a place where your skill alone decided whether you lived or died. You couldn’t just succeed by investing a lot of money in soldiers or weapons. Political power had no influence there.
That’s why the Heavenly Blade loved the labyrinth.
He made it his home, turning his back on the glory and drama of the outside world.
He wanted only to be an adventurer.
And someone killed him.
Damm it all!
Who the hell did it?! And what kind of trick did they use?!
3
“Logan! You’re in there, aren’t you?”
Logan jumped with surprise.
It was Gil’s voice. It seemed he had called out multiple times.
“S-sorry, Gil. Come on in.”
Gil Linx opened the door and entered the room.
Logan stood up and invited his guest to sit on the sofa, then took a seat across from him.
“My apologies for coming so late. The king had a number of assignments for me. Our conversation went on for quite a while. I ended up staying at the palace overnight, then spent the better part of the following day completing the tasks that were most urgent.”
Listening to Gil’s soft voice finally calmed Logan down.
“Sounds like you’ve had it rough, too. Did you eat breakfast already?”
“I ate with the king. The princes sat with us, too.”
“Princes?” Logan asked, emphasizing the plural.
“That’s right. At first, only the king’s second son was there, but his majesty summoned the eldest prince after I asked how he was doing.”
“No way! You never cease to amaze me, Gil. Were the queens present?”
“Only the second. The king said the first queen was coming down with a cold and was refraining from breakfast that morning.”
“This morning, too, I’m sure. I’ll bet it was the second queen who told the king she was sick.”
“Hmm. Is that what you’ve heard?”
“Am I wrong?”
“That I don’t know. Still, I think the first and second queens are both kind people at heart. It’s only natural for there to be discord when it comes to power and position at court, but it’s irresponsible to blindly assume things about other people.”
“Hmm. I seem to remember you telling me something similar several decades ago.”
“Ha-ha. Was I telling you about how those we view as monsters may actually think of us as the monsters?”
“That was it! That was a bit of a shock for me. You convinced me that the way humans treat monsters is more unjust than the fate to which we condemn the worst of thieves.”
“That’s looking at it from a human perspective. What monsters view as happiness and unhappiness, justice and injustice, good and evil, success and failure, gain and loss differ from the way humans think. I do believe, though, there is some logic or value that humans and monsters share.”
“That may be because you spend more time with monsters than you do with humans. Hold on—you haven’t become a monster yourself, have you?”
They both laughed merrily. Before Logan knew it, his gloom and anger had subsided, and his usual clearheaded frame of mind had returned.
“Oh, by the way, there was a fistfight by reception on the first floor. What was that all about?”
“Huh? A fistfight? That’s news to me. Did that happen just now?”
“It seemed to have something to do with the transportation of goods. I heard someone complaining they deserved a higher reward than promised, and some of them were demanding extra items as compensation.”
“Ah, I see. I’m not surprised that came to blows. I can’t exactly blame them.”
“Now, that’s a surprising sentiment coming from you.”
“That reminds me. I need to tell you about what’s going on.”
Logan explained the situation. He then asked Gil for advice on how best to expose the coward who had set some kind of trap to kill the Heavenly Blade.
“You’re coming at this from the wrong angle.”
“How so?”
“Think about it carefully. The start of all this was the initial report of the aberrant minotaur. That minotaur definitely exists and is gradually making its way up to the higher floors. The disappearances of Eisel’s daughter’s party and Percival are parts of the same case.”
“I can’t deny the possibility, but—”
“It is hard to imagine any of them could have been defeated by the minotaur. Regardless, at this point, the beast is our only lead.”
“Well…”
“As you said yourself, Percival’s death may have been wrought by human hands. If you make that assumption, however, it will take the investigation outside the labyrinth. Where does your duty lie?”
“Hmm…”
“In any case, a minotaur roaming beyond its designated area is undoubtedly abnormal, and this issue cannot be ignored. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Logan didn’t respond. Compared to the death of Percival, he just couldn’t conceive of the minotaur’s strange behavior as that big a deal.
“First, we need to find the monster and kill it. If we then decide there is no connection to Percival’s death, we can begin the search anew.”
Logan needed some time to digest those words. After a lengthy silence, he responded with a firm tone.
“You’re exactly right. As you say, we need to start with the minotaur.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page. I’m going to the labyrinth. I’ll start at the first floor and work my way down to the tenth until I find the beast. And then, I’ll kill it.”
Logan didn’t thank him or apologize. He knew Gil wouldn’t want to hear it. It would probably even offend him.
He just bowed his head deeply instead.
“Before I go, I want you to have this.”
Gil was holding a seashell in his right hand that was about the size of an ear.
“Is that…a Serruria shell?”
“That’s right. Its color is similar to the Serruria flower, which is also known as the Blushing Bride. Like the first love of a young maiden, its color is heartrending yet fleeting at the same time.”
“What’s with the sudden poetry? Are you remembering someone special?”
Rather than answering Logan’s teasing question, Gil simply brushed aside long-distant memories and put the shell to his mouth, light reflecting off it in all the colors of the rainbow. He blew into it with a light puff of air, rustling his white beard in the process.
A bluish-purple ball of light formed in the shell.
“This shell now stores some of my life energy. As long as this ball of light is shining, that means I am still alive.”
“Hey, what’re you saying? Are you planning on dying before me? Actually, hang on a sec. Didn’t I hear that the king of the underworld granted you an immortal body after you collected on a debt?”
Gil laughed. “These rumors never cease to amaze me.”
Gil’s parting gift put Logan at ease.
Now that he had calmed down, he realized just how shaken he had been over the Heavenly Blade’s death. Gil was truly kind.
“Thank you, Gil.”
The great sorcerer smiled broadly. Then, just as he was about to teleport, he seemed to remember something and spoke.
“I don’t know if there is such a thing as a happy way to die, but if you find a way that you want to live and are able to proceed that way until the moment you die, I think you could call that a happy life. No one can place value on a person’s life except the one who lived it. Other people will evaluate your time on this earth by their memories of you—provided your corpse isn’t the first image that comes to mind—but that is not the true value of a life.”
After delivering what almost felt like a final request, Gil Linx headed to battle.
4
Logan had met Gil Linx about forty years ago.
One day, when Logan was at a guild in the border province of Sheradan, which was located in the southern part of the continent, Gil found him fighting with a guild employee over the reward for a mission and helped him out.
Gil was already an S-rank adventurer at the time. He politely explained to Logan the basics of being an adventurer, after which Logan realized his mistake and apologized.
Gil then pointed out that the guild had added an unexpected request after Logan had accepted the job and told the employee to increase the reward. The employee obeyed while humbling himself profusely, and it was then that Logan realized just what kind of people S-rank adventurers really were.
S-rank adventurers held a special place in the world.
You could apply to become an S-rank adventurer after reaching level 61 or higher or after reaching level 51 with distinguished service. Being level 51 or above meant you possessed combat strength equivalent to the most elite knights in the kingdom.
The most well-known S-rank adventurers often ended up taking on the role of envoy or arbitrator for issues of international concern. They were also occasionally given temporary command of military units and asked to contribute to strategy sessions.
S-rank adventurers were small in number and often employed by royal families or various lords. In order to maintain their free positions, they looked to the guild for patronage.
To an Adventurers Guild, an S-rank adventurer was a top commodity and also a trump card that allowed them to reject any interference that threatened their high level of independence. For that reason, in high-priority cases, it was practically the guild’s duty to act as mediator for S-rank adventurers and protect their rights even if it meant negotiating against a country.
After their meeting at the guild, Logan spent a period of time being led around on adventures with Gil.
Gil had probably noticed Logan’s true identity from the beginning.
Logan was not human. He was a half-dwarf.
Humans were under the belief that dwarves had died out in ancient times. In reality, however, dwarves were still around, and their land was located in the sprawling highlands just southeast of the center of the continent. A single human family had taken up residence there after getting lost and stumbling across it, and their youngest daughter had grown up there and married a dwarf. Logan was their child.
Dwarves were shorter than humans but had strong muscles and bones. Their stamina was exceptional, giving them unparalleled staying power during long battles. Also, their life span was about three times longer than humans.
Logan was a drifter at heart. Despite knowing that he would never be allowed back home if he left the land of the dwarves to join the world of humans, he’d set off on a journey without a clear destination in mind.
His mother had taught him how to speak the human tongue, but he’d had no experience with human culture, much less an understanding of their customs and values.
Gil taught him how to make sense of the human world and also how to live as an adventurer.
They adventured together for two years before parting ways, then met again four years later by total chance.
They had both been participating in a secret mission to save a shrine maiden who had been confined by a high-ranking priest of the Holy Kingdom of Roahl.
The adventurers with whom they’d been working dropped out one after another, until eventually only Gil and Logan remained. Outnumbered four to two, they’d ended up having to take on a group of temple knights, but wielding a shortsword in each hand, Gil had ended up taking out two of them by himself without using any magic.
Now that I think about it, I’ve never asked him why he didn’t use magic in that situation.
After that, they adventured together for nearly five years.
That was the period when Gil had learned to use teleportation magic, and they’d ended up spending those five years traveling all around the world so he could set up teleportation sites.
Speaking of teleportation, they experienced some incredible scenes during their travels.
The lord of one of the regions to which they’d traveled ended up aiming for their heads and dispatched a group of knights to chase them down. Gil had hidden Logan in some tall grass and run into a labyrinth while ensuring their pursuers saw him do so.
They subsequently proceeded to blockade the entrance to the labyrinth.
Logan had been startled when he saw that.
You couldn’t teleport out of a labyrinth. It was possible to move around within its confines by means of teleportation, but the labyrinth and the outside world were not connected magically. There was no way to leave other than by stepping out of the first-floor entrance.
Whether or not their pursuers had known that Gil could use teleportation magic was irrelevant. Whatever one’s abilities, a person could leave a labyrinth only through its entrance, and now that he had gone inside, Gil was as good as stuck.
“Come on, Gil. Are you planning on sticking it out in the labyrinth until they leave? You really should have brought me with you…”
“No way. That would take forever.”
“Gil! How in the world did you get out?”
“Ha-ha. Sorry for making you wait. All right, shall we move on to the next town?”
“H-hey. Isn’t it impossible to teleport out of a labyrinth?”
“So they say.”
“No, I’ve definitely heard that the labyrinth and the outside world aren’t connected magically.”
“That’s right—they’re not. So all you need to do is connect them.”
“Huh?!”
Gil had been inventing new spells and improving upon existing magic over the course of the entire trip. He was a genius in the truest sense of the word.
After they parted ways for the second time, Gil had made the Baldemost Kingdom his new base of operations, gained the trust of the king, and had been invited to the kingdom’s institute for magic.
Logan had settled down in Ardana. He eventually rose to rank S, but then his surroundings had become significantly more restrictive, and he was constantly being crowded by people wanting to form a connection with him.
When Logan grew fed up with it all, Gil had visited him and used his teleportation magic to take Logan to Baldemost. Carrying someone the distance from Ardana to Baldemost with one teleport was an unprecedented act, but nothing Gil did could surprise him anymore.
Gil introduced him to the leader of the Micaene Adventurers Guild at the time, who found him a party.
The group was comprised of Logan, who wielded a war hammer; Zorn, who wielded a longsword; Saika, a sorceress specializing in enchant magic; and Mejiana the thief.
A little while afterward, a sorcerer named Gargos who specialized in offensive magic and a priest named Zofu were added, completing the party.
They were incredible.
Logan was their S-rank leader.
Zorn was rank A at first but later advanced to rank S.
Saika, Mejiana, and Gargos were all B ranks when they joined but later became A ranks. Zofu went from a C rank to an A rank.
For nearly ten years, they had the time of their lives exploring the labyrinth.
They even invited two temporary party members and took down the metal dragon twice.
They also completed requests on the surface—always the most difficult ones.
Eventually, the glory days came to an end. Zorn died, and Saika and Mejiana retired. Gargos also fell back from the front lines and became an instructor for the next generation. Zofu received a divine revelation and departed for a remote region.
With Logan unable to go into the labyrinth much anymore, the guild leader named him second-in-command and gave him on-the-job training. He passed to Logan all the information he had collected over the years and died soon afterward. He had recommended Logan as his replacement.
Logan had been leader of the Micaene Adventurers Guild for around ten years now. He couldn’t remember how long exactly.
He’d quickly grown tired of this life as well. He hated being stuck in one place. When Logan had come to this town, he was a strong warrior in the prime of his life, and truth be told, he was too young to be considered an old man even now.
He was starting to think the day he would leave his work to his successor and rejoin the path of adventure was drawing near.
Logan opened the top drawer of his desk.
Inside the Serruria shell, the soft, bluish-purple ball of light was shining.
Its light warmed his heart.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter006.txt
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Chapter 6: The Sorcerer Strikes
Chapter 6
The Sorcerer Strikes
1
The minotaur left the tenth floor to climb up through the labyrinth again, this time speeding through the ninth, eighth, seventh, and sixth floors before arriving at the fifth.
The monsters of the fifth floor were called “kobolds” by humans.
They were only a third as tall as the minotaur, covered in white fur, and moved around the domain restlessly. After mowing down the fleeing kobolds, the minotaur went up to the fourth floor.
Once it began searching for the staircase ascending from the fourth floor, it was suddenly assailed by a magic attack that came flying out of the darkness ahead of it.
The spell struck the minotaur near its heart, knocking it off its feet.
As it was falling, it instinctively twisted its body to the left.
A bullet of light landed to the right of it and exploded.
Had it not pivoted, it likely would have received a fatal wound.
The minotaur swiveled as it fell, rolled on the ground like a barrel, and wrenched its upper body upright.
A spell that looked like snakes of light twisting together stretched toward it, aiming for its head.
It tried to dodge, but one of the beams clamped down on its right cheek as if biting it.
The flesh where it connected was blasted away, and it lost vision in its right eye.
Its ears were ringing thunderously.
The minotaur’s intellect, however, told it that this was an opportunity to counterattack. Three spells of enormous strength had just been released in a row, so there would be some time before the next.
That was the minotaur’s reasoning as it charged forward into the darkness.
An electric attack immediately shot toward it, though, piercing the center of its chest and sending massive sparks flying.
Its giant frame was thrown backward.
The minotaur felt like its mind and body were going numb, but it still managed to drag itself behind a boulder.
Its chest was burned hideously, and fierce pain ran through its body.
It drew three red potions out of its storage and downed them all at once. Its injuries were healed.
The minotaur poked its head out from behind the boulder and assessed the situation.
Its opponent was standing calmly in the middle of the corridor, making no effort to move toward or away from his target.
He was wearing clothes made of thick cloth that protected his entire body. Even his face was covered, save for his eyes, nose, and mouth.
They were likely clothes imbued with some kind of special defensive effect.
Though hard to see through the cloth, his face was lined with wrinkles, and he had white hair around his mouth. A human looking at him would have realized he was old. Yes, very old indeed.
But monsters in labyrinths were born fully grown and stayed the same until they died, so the minotaur did not understand the concepts of youth and old age. It merely sensed that its opponent was a veteran fighter.
The sorcerer pointed a finger toward the minotaur and fired a flaming bullet. He did not even utter an incantation.
This one is totally different from the sorcerer before.
The minotaur retreated behind the boulder.
The flaming bullet, however, changed direction and hit it directly in the abdomen.
This enemy could redirect the course of his offensive spells.
Holding in its protruding entrails with its left hand, the minotaur used its right hand to draw out multiple red potions, and it threw them into its mouth, containers and all.
A flurry of spears made of light came flying at the minotaur, completely obliterating the boulder behind which it was hiding.
Every one of this sorcerer’s attacks had strength enough to kill.
To make matters worse, he was able to continue firing them repeatedly without any breaks, despite the power of each attack.
While narrowly avoiding death again and again, the minotaur moved from cover to cover, searching for a way to win.
It tried hurling rocks at the sorcerer, but they always vanished with a sizzling sound before reaching him.
The battle continued in that state for a while. Then, the sorcerer formed a ball of lightning around each of his hands and soared into the air.
He can fly?!
The human flew around the cave with incredible speed, circled behind the minotaur’s back, and attacked its head with the lightning ball in his right hand.
The minotaur quickly tried to twist out of the way, slashing at this monster with its right ax as it turned.
Its attack did not even graze the sorcerer.
The sorcerer’s strike shaved off the minotaur’s left horn and the surrounding chunk of its head before gouging a hole in the rock where it landed.
The minotaur swung its axes desperately, but its opponent just floated in the air, easily dodging its attacks without even needing to back up.
The sorcerer attacked again with the lightning ball in his right hand.
The minotaur’s left wrist and hand disappeared, along with the ax it was holding.
The sorcerer attacked with the lightning ball in his left hand.
The minotaur’s right ax also vanished.
Having lost both its weapons, the minotaur reached into its storage. It needed something that would allow it to hit this opponent.
It pulled out the bracelet the swordsman had left behind.
The minotaur kicked off the rock behind it, jumped at the sorcerer, and swung for his head with the bracelet.
The sorcerer covered his face with his left hand, which was still enveloped by a ball of lightning.
The minotaur’s right hand should have melted as soon as it made contact…but that didn’t happen.
Instead, the ball of lightning disappeared, as if it had been absorbed.
The bracelet struck the sorcerer’s hand and then smashed into his head.
His hand broke, and it sounded like his head cracked.
Propelled by the force of its jump, the minotaur slammed the stump that was now its left arm into the sorcerer’s chest.
The sorcerer was thrown backward through the air until he collided with the rock wall behind him, off of which he recoiled before falling facedown on the stone floor.
Not yet.
He’s not dead yet.
The balls of lightning around his hands had disappeared, but the minotaur had a feeling his opponent still had the strength to recover and counterattack.
The minotaur leaped at the sorcerer without hesitation and slammed the bracelet into the back of his head.
The sorcerer’s head was crushed, and his brains splattered within his hood.
At that moment, a bloodred jewel on a ring the sorcerer was wearing on his right hand began to glow.
The minotaur instinctively held the bracelet in front of its face. The ring released a thin red light, which the bracelet absorbed.
It did not know what that was, but the magic the ring had fired at the minotaur had possessed enough force to kill it.
The minotaur slammed the bracelet into the sorcerer’s heart. It then pummeled his entire body with it.
It continued until all that remained was an unrecognizable lump of viscera.
Strangely, no matter how many blows the minotaur delivered, the sorcerer’s clothes never tore.
The minotaur heard something move.
It turned toward the sound and was astonished when it saw the sorcerer’s left leg.
It had definitely crushed that leg already, but it had swelled back up and was twitching vigorously.
Next, the sorcerer’s chest reinflated, and his pulse resumed.
Points all around his body began to wiggle and squirm as if taking on lives of their own.
The sorcerer’s body was fighting to resurrect itself.
Where?
Where is the source of his life?
The minotaur then noticed something.
The sorcerer’s right hand could not be crushed no matter how many times the minotaur hit it. This was the hand wearing that ring.
The ring was flickering red and black, red and black, at the pace of a heartbeat.
Searching for an effective weapon, the minotaur reached into its storage above its left shoulder with its right hand.
Its fingers brushed against something it instantly recognized as the shortsword the swordsman had left behind.
It withdrew the shortsword and stabbed it into the base of the finger bearing the ring. Both finger and ring were separated from the sorcerer’s hand and went flying down the corridor.
The convulsing limbs suddenly stopped moving, and what remained of the body went limp.
Just as the minotaur was just starting to feel relieved, it smelled something burning.
Black smoke was rising from the sorcerer’s chest.
Beneath it, a scorch mark in the shape of some kind of ominous creature was growing.
It looked to be a hybrid of human and beast.
Black smoke gushed out of the burn and coalesced into a sinister, wicked phantom.
It emitted an intense malice and a dense magical aura.
With what could have been hands or tentacles, the ghost reached for the minotaur’s head.
It tried to block using its injured left arm, but its forearm instantly rotted upon contact with the ghost.
The minotaur then stabbed the shortsword in its right hand directly through the center of the apparition.
Its hand seethed with pain, and its fingers were melting, but ignoring its own suffering, it continued driving the sword through the ghost.
GRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!
The minotaur roared in anguish.
The sword was releasing a light-green phosphorescence.
Then, suddenly, the ghost dispersed into thin air like fog and was gone.
The sorcerer’s body disappeared at the same time.
He left behind a staggering amount of loot.
The minotaur splayed itself on the ground.
The pain assaulting it was ferocious.
Its body was changing again. Another massive level-up.
As the agony subsided, all its injuries were healed.
Its missing hand, wrist, horn, and cheek regenerated.
The minotaur felt itself becoming tremendously powerful.
It rested for a bit, then stood up.
It collected every single one of the sorcerer’s items and put them in its storage. The level-up had also increased its storage space exponentially.
This time, the clothes the human had been wearing remained as well, so it picked those up, too.
The minotaur wanted to hold on to every single trophy from its victory over such a powerful enemy.
What kind of enemy was that…?
If this room had been any more spacious, I would have died.
If not for the bracelet, I would have died.
If not for the shortsword, I would have died.
If not for the red potions, I would have died.
If not for the knowledge I’ve gained, I would have died.
Humans are incredible.
They have the ability to become so strong.
That means I can become even stronger as well.
Despite the exhaustion plaguing it, the minotaur felt elated.
2
After a sufficiently long break, the minotaur resumed its search for staircases so that it could continue its upward exploration.
Its only weapon was a small knife in its right hand. It had lost both its axes during the fight with the sorcerer. It also held in its left hand the bracelet, which could be used as a weapon given its sturdiness.
It encountered multiple humans, but they all ran away without fighting.
Its intuition told it that this was the top floor.
Somewhere on this level was an entrance to another world.
The minotaur reflected back on the labyrinth’s structure.
Every floor consisted of corridors and rooms.
The monsters on each floor existed only there and could not traverse floors.
Some monsters wandered the corridors, and some were found in rooms. Each type seemed to prefer one or the other.
Only one boss monster appeared on each floor. They were always in their set room.
Once monsters and bosses were killed, they would reappear after a certain amount of time.
There were two staircases on every floor, each in a different spot. One led up, and the other led down.
The higher the floor, the weaker the monsters.
As the minotaur was walking and thinking, it found a chamber shining with a brighter light than any it had ever seen before.
Over there.
There’s a bright light over there.
The world he sought was in that direction.
It would be entirely different from the world the minotaur knew.
The minotaur passed through the entryway.
The first thing it saw was a tiny, squeaking monster getting finished off by a very small human.
If there were other humans present, they surely would have wondered what a child this young was doing in the labyrinth.
The boy quickly collected the bronze coins that appeared when the monster died and put them in the pouch on his belt.
He then looked up and noticed the minotaur.
The tiny monsters squeaked as they ran all around the expansive room, but none of them attacked the boy.
These creatures did not attack unless they felt hostility from their opponent.
There was a small opening at the end of the room, and through it, the light the minotaur sought was shining brilliantly.
Over there.
That is the entrance to the new world.
The minotaur happened to look down and saw something surprising.
It was the boy.
He was not crying, and he had not collapsed to the ground, either.
Instead, he was glaring at the minotaur, holding his weapon at the ready.
It wasn’t much of a weapon. It was an extremely worn-down knife.
But to the young boy, that knife probably felt like a giant ax.
To the minotaur, however, it was nothing more than a thorn.
Why does this one not run?
The weak always run.
You have no chance of defeating me.
The minotaur looked at the small human closely.
He had injuries on his face, his bare arms, and his feet, which were tied up with old rags. His clothes were torn and dripping with blood.
The human was so small that even these puny monsters were strong enemies. They had probably jumped at his face, clung to his body, and nibbled at his hands and feet, but he’d fought them anyway.
For what purpose?
It might have been for those small, round pieces of brown metal.
The minotaur looked into his eyes and finally understood.
I see.
His eyes are the same.
The same as that swordsman.
Those are the eyes of a fighter.
Instinctively, the minotaur lifted the shortsword in its right hand.
And then, surprisingly, the child charged the minotaur.
He ran holding the knife at his hip, which he then thrust into the minotaur’s left leg.
The minotaur was astonished by the sluggishness of his movement and the lack of force behind the attack.
Do you really plan to fight me like that?
But he was not a complete novice. The minotaur even saw beauty in the way the boy handled his knife.
While the minotaur watched in amazement, the boy stabbed his knife just above the minotaur’s ankle, and the blade pierced its skin.
It actually did more than pierce its skin. Half the blade’s width had penetrated the minotaur’s leg, and it even cut through muscle. The other half was hidden in its fur, so it looked like the entire knife had disappeared into the minotaur’s calf.
The minotaur was stunned.
How had this fragile-looking weapon cut through its thick flesh?
The minotaur didn’t know what was going on.
It then felt a strange sensation on its foot.
It looked down to find that the boy had collapsed.
The minotaur did not move, unsure what to make of that.
It heard a soft whistling coming from the boy as he breathed in and out.
Then, the minotaur understood.
This boy had used the last of his stamina on that final attack. He had subsequently lost consciousness and ended up falling asleep, using the toes on the minotaur’s left foot as a bed.
The minotaur picked up the child and laid him on top of a rock.
It pulled the knife out of its left leg and set it next to the boy.
This creature had no power, no skill, and lacked a decent weapon.
Nevertheless, he had just performed an impressive attack.
He will undoubtedly continue to fight and grow strong, and eventually, he will become a worthy rival who can entertain me.
The minotaur did not understand the concepts of youth or old age, but it did understand growth. It grew when it defeated enemies. It understood this boy to be a human in an earlier stage of growth. The minotaur believed he would show incredible growth from here on.
The minotaur sensed he would fight this boy again at some point in the future.
It needed to get stronger for that day.
That feeling became something close to conviction and was engraved into the minotaur’s heart.
But for now, who is the victor of this battle?
The little one or me?
It pondered this for a while but could not come up with an answer.
There was no doubt the child had just survived a good battle by his standards. A good battle must be rewarded.
The minotaur placed the bracelet it was holding in its left hand on the boy’s chest.
It then looked up and faced the light from the exit.
Through there lay this boy’s world.
Now that the minotaur beheld that intensely bright light, though, it felt strongly that it did not want to step into it.
That world is not where I belong.
That world will not make me happy, and that world will not be happy to see me.
It turned back in the direction from whence it had come.
Recalling the path it had taken, a map of this floor appeared in its head.
It then realized its head held maps for all the floors it had visited.
My world begins here and continues to the lower floors.
There may be a staircase leading below the floor where I was born.
And then there may be even deeper floors below that.
That has to be the case.
Down, down, down is where my world leads.
The deeper I travel, the stronger the enemies will be.
Strong enemies are my friends, and I must find them.
I will kill all my friends.
That is what the world wants of me, and this is what I want of the world.
The minotaur felt a hunger fiercer than ever before. Experiencing a violent sort of joy, it turned on its heel and strode confidently…
…toward the lower floors.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter007.txt
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Chapter 7: The Chief Vassal of House Mercurius
Chapter 7
The Chief Vassal of House Mercurius
1
Logan was deep in thought.
It had been eight days since the Heavenly Blade entered the labyrinth, and today was the day after his adventurer medal had been discovered.
The appraisal of Percival’s dropped items had taken too long to finish the previous day, so work had resumed the next morning. Just a moment ago, Logan had finally been provided with a provisional list.
The items were classified into categories. Just by flipping through the inventory, Logan could tell there were many engraved items. There were a lot of blessed items as well.
If it took two days just to put together the provisional list, it would likely take over a month to assess the total worth of all the items.
The top of Logan’s desk was crammed with documents. He was buried neck-deep in cases that required the guild leader’s judgment or approval, and he had so much paperwork that he didn’t even have time for a lunch break.
He took his eyes off work for a moment in order to process the events of the past few days. While he did, he pulled some preserved foods out of his Bag to munch on.
The previous day, he had been shaken upon hearing news of the Heavenly Blade’s death, and he’d arbitrarily decided the heralded adventurer must have been killed by some human’s nefarious plot.
But that was jumping to conclusions.
As of this point, he hadn’t obtained any information supporting such a theory. He had simply decided there was no way the Heavenly Blade could have been killed by a monster on the sixth floor, so it must not have been a monster that killed him.
But what if he assumed that rogue minotaur had killed the Heavenly Blade?
A few days ago, when he’d started receiving information regarding the creature, Logan had entertained a peculiar thought. To him, the minotaur sounded like a monster adventurer.
The idea was totally absurd, but what would happen if a monster was to become an adventurer?
If it was an adventurer, it would be able to move between the floors.
But is that all?
No, that wasn’t the end of it.
If a monster was an adventurer, it would level up when it killed enemies.
It would have leveled up after killing Erina, then again after killing Paja’s party, and then…
Logan had a horrifying thought.
If the minotaur killed the Heavenly Blade…
If a series of incredibly unfortunate circumstances led to the Heavenly Blade falling at the hands of the minotaur…
…how strong would the minotaur be now?
Normally, minotaurs were considered to be level 20.
The gray wolves that roamed the same floor were level 10, so the minotaur’s level was abnormally high.
If it leveled up once after its battle with Erina, and then two or three more times against Paja’s party, and then killed the Heavenly Blade, just how high would its level be now?
Simply thinking about it was terrifying.
But if it was an adventurer, there was probably a limit to how many levels it could gain at once, the same as human adventurers. No matter how strong an enemy a human adventurer killed, they could not advance more than ten levels at a go. An adventurer killing something that would give them ten levels was rare, but that was a known rule.
If you applied that metric to the minotaur, its current level could be around 34 or 35.
That was pretty strong. But put another way, that was roughly equivalent to the strength of the monsters in the corridors of the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth floors.
At that level, defeating Paja’s party would have been difficult, and it wouldn’t have been able to touch the Heavenly Blade.
Adventurers gain levels from killing monsters but barely gain any experience from killing other humans.
If the minotaur is an adventurer, how would that rule apply?
2
While Logan was still racking his brain, unable to reach a satisfying conclusion, the manager cracked open the door to his office.
As always, he was able to open the ill-fitting door without making a sound, which baffled Logan to no end.
“Mr. Logan, the chief vassal of House Mercurius has arrived at the guild. He has a matter he would like to discuss with you and requests a quiet place.”
Logan took a second to process what he’d just heard.
“The chief vassal of House Mercurius”?
A “quiet place”?
A “matter he would like to discuss”?
He could feel himself beginning to sweat.
House Mercurius was quite a renowned family, even in the vast Baldemost Kingdom. A person as important as the chief vassal of that family could not be left waiting.
By a “quiet place,” he surely meant somewhere they would not be overheard. Which meant his office was the only option.
“Eador, please show him in.”
Logan had signed his approval for the Heavenly Blade’s adventurer medal and a notice detailing the collection of his dropped items to be sent to House Mercurius along with the provisional inventory. He had taken care of that earlier that day.
Which meant they had not yet contacted the family.
Logan would have understood why they were here if they had received notice of the Heavenly Blade’s death and then come to the guild to confirm it. However, the guild had not yet sent that dispatch.
What’s more, I would’ve expected them to summon me there. Why is the chief vassal visiting me directly?
The bell outside his office clattered loudly.
Logan never expected that bell would actually be used. It was installed as a joke to tease him for being a “big shot” as the leader of the guild.
There was no lock on the inside, so the manager opened the door halfway from the corridor and spoke in an eloquent voice.
“Master Pan’ja Raban and his attendant Master Julius of House Zelger are here to see you.”
Wait a second.
Two people?
“House Zelger”?
Isn’t that…?
Logan had seen that name in the documents he’d received from the last guild leader.
It was a special family name. There were several used in this manner.
Anyone bearing it was a person of that lineage.
Just what is going on here?!
The first to enter the room was a man bordering on old age.
He was tall. His hair and beard were groomed neatly, and his clothes were elegant. He projected a sense of calm in his movements and the way he walked.
Logan’s trained eye could tell this chief vassal had the strength of a mighty warrior.
“It is an honor to receive such noble guests as yourselves. I am Logan, leader of the Micaene Adventurers Guild.”
Logan stepped out from behind his desk and bowed deeply.
“I am Pan’ja Raban, chief vassal of House Mercurius.”
Chief vassals took charge of the family’s business affairs and acted as representatives for the head of the family.
The heads of House Mercurius throughout history were all well-known for their love for their vassals. They were given opportunities to build up experience and then eventually granted households of their own. Chief vassals were richly rewarded for their dedication.
For that reason, the families descended from former vassals all revered House Mercurius and showed unwavering loyalty throughout many generations.
They also treated their relatives very well.
Yet, despite his powerful and wealthy position, the head of House Mercurius never let himself laze in his wealth.
For that reason, if problems arose, the relatives of House Mercurius and the houses of their former vassals would all go to war as one. House Mercurius did not have a lot of land, but their potential military might was seen as foremost in the country.
The chief vassal managed all the family’s business when the head of House Mercurius was away, and when the head of the family was home, the position took care of various matters as a representative. House Mercurius had dispatched soldiers twice in the last two years, and Logan had heard that the chief vassal had been given command.
As such, this man should have been a person of high social status, but Logan could not remember ever seeing his or his family’s name.
He should be the son of a distinguished lineage, but his identity is a total mystery.
Pondering the chief vassal’s mysterious background and studying his face, hardened by age, made Logan recall a certain event.
As for why the chief vassal reminded him of this story, even Logan himself was unsure.
3
In a bygone era, two kings ago, there was a man who received an unusual promotion. He went from an average soldier of the Imperial Guard to an official inspection officer.
Feeling the favor of the king, he worked diligently at his duty.
After exposing a number of households for illegal trade with foreign countries, however, he incurred the wrath of the Duke of Riga, and his entire family was to be put to the sword.
The man, his relatives, and even his subordinates all vanished overnight.
The next morning, the Duke of Riga visited the palace and brazenly reported in front of the king and his cabinet the extermination of traitors, recounting the man’s crime in great detail. His accusations were absurd, but because he had already killed him and his entire family, there was nothing that could be done.
The king’s face turned purple, and he rose from his chair without a word.
There was a certain rumor at the time.
The person who had inspected the corpse of the man’s second-oldest son reported that he thought it was him, but his facial features appeared slightly off.
There were those who put forth the theory that a noble friend of the man had replaced the second son with a look-alike and was sheltering him.
The previous guild leader firmly believed that the second son had survived.
4
Was this chief vassal the second son, who had lived until this very day?
The massacre of House Vald had occurred in the year 1024 of the Royal Calendar, which was fifty-five years ago. That lined up with the chief vassal’s apparent age.
This was, of course, just a hunch of Logan’s. He had no proof to back his suspicions.
He just felt like he could see into this man’s heart.
The one accompanying the chief vassal, as if being watched over by him, was a boy who looked to be five or six years old.
So this young boy is Julius Zelger.
Zelger was a peculiar name. Despite it being clearly recorded in many ledgers at the royal court, there weren’t actually any noble families in the kingdom with that name.
It was likely not the boy’s real family name.
He had chestnut hair and blue eyes. His clothes were not very fancy, but they were made of high-quality material. He appeared both innocent and dignified at the same time, and he was quite handsome besides.
Given the chief vassal’s behavior, it seemed he was the boy’s attendant, rather than the other way around.
Logan waited for a moment, but the young boy’s introduction did not come.
Logan determined that the boy did want to be introduced at this time, and he motioned for them to sit on the sofa.
The chief vassal let the boy sit first, then took his place next to him.
“You should sit as well, Mr. Logan.”
“Thank you very much.”
It’s been a long time since I’ve met with a genuine noble.
Logan was feeling more than a little nervous.
The manager walked into the room, trailed by two female employees.
These ladies were carrying the guests’ overcoats and hats.
With conduct so composed as to come off as annoying, the manager hung the coats and hats on the rack and moved to vacate the room, with the employees following behind him.
“Eador. Until you hear from me, don’t let anyone come up to this floor.”
The manager looked at Logan, nodding to show his understanding. He then gave a deep bow in front of the door before taking his leave. It was an extremely graceful and proper gesture.
By the gods, are you a butler for a royal family or something?
Though the man was getting on his nerves, Logan did feel a little grateful for the manager’s good upbringing, even if his behavior made him a target of ridicule most of the time.
In truth, Eador had served a rather large noble family and was himself from a noble family. One thing had led to another, and he’d ended up working at the Adventurers Guild.
After Logan sensed that everyone had gone downstairs, the chief vassal of House Mercurius spoke up.
“Mr. Logan. Apologies for the sudden visit. I came here today because I have something I want to discuss with you. Before that, however, I must introduce Lord Julius. Before we entered your office, he was announced with his mother’s family name. Julius inherited that house through her.”
The chief vassal was explaining this all clearly and politely, but Logan was having trouble wrapping his head around what he was saying.
He inherited that name from his mother?
Then that means she must be…
“But Lord Julius’s sacred duty lies with the splendid House Mercurius, one of the twenty-four families who followed the founding king. He is the son and legitimate heir of Percival Kone Dou La Mercurius Mathus, the current head of the family.”
Heir?
Son?
Which means…
“He’s the Heavenly Blade’s son?! Wait, he was married ?!?!”
After shouting with surprise, Logan realized his rudeness, and his face turned pale.
“Uh, s-sorry about that. Please pardon my sudden outburst,” Logan said, bowing his head so deeply, it brushed the table. The chief vassal smiled.
“Mr. Logan. You have no need to humble yourself. Nobles have their own etiquette, and adventurers have theirs. This is the Adventurers Guild’s domain. We are nothing more than outsiders. In addition…”
The chief vassal searched for the right words and continued.
“For Lord Percival, who is an adventurer himself, the Adventurers Guild is a supporter and a protector. I hear that you in particular, Mr. Logan, have been a good friend to Lord Percival. He always speaks of the comfort of the Micaene guild. The reason that wayward wanderer spends so much time here in Micaene is because of the labyrinth and because of you, Mr. Logan, and we owe you our thanks, for when he spends time in Micaene, he is able to come home.”
Julius, sitting next to the chief vassal, was staring at Logan with sparkling eyes.
Please don’t look at me like that.
“Our lord left the estate seven days ago to enter the Sazardon Labyrinth. He informed me he was going to explore around the ninety-fourth floor. He prepared plenty of supplies but only enough to last for ten days at the longest.”
That was an irregularly short amount of time. Ten days should not have been nearly enough time to even reach the ninety-fourth floor, let alone make the return trip.
Logan had once asked the Heavenly Blade about how he moved through the labyrinth so quickly, and he’d answered that he possessed items both to hide his presence from enemies and to exponentially increase his running speed. He did not, however, tell him what kind of blessed items he used to achieve those effects.
“Lord Percival has a crystal ball that displays his life force. It is a habit of Lord Julius’s to open the box in which this crystal ball is kept and check it once or twice per day. Yesterday morning, it appeared perfectly normal. In the afternoon, however, the light in the crystal ball was gone.”
Julius looked like he was beginning to cry.
Logan’s heart wept for the boy.
“Lord Percival always said that the day may come when he dies in the labyrinth and that if he dies in the labyrinth, his body will vanish. We knew from the moment the crystal ball’s light went out that Lord Percival had perished, but now Lord Julius must inherit the house and his father’s position.”
Julius was fighting back tears.
I’m sure it was a shock when he saw the light had gone out.
He probably spent the whole day crying.
“Mr. Logan. I beg of you to tell us anything you may have heard regarding the whereabouts of our lord.”
“Chief vassal. Truthfully, I was just about to deliver a letter before you arrived. Please wait a moment.”
Logan rang a bell. Before the chime ended, the manager came up from the floor below.
He was holding a tray in both hands, his face totally expressionless. He was followed by an employee carrying tea.
The tray bore a letter addressed to House Mercurius, the list of personal effects, and a copy of the rules for how recovered items were handled.
He courteously handed the chief vassal a receipt, as well as a pen to sign it.
How could he have prepared this so quickly and perfectly?!
And why is that tea so fresh?!
The manager took the receipt after the chief vassal signed it, set the tea on the table in the proper order, and then quickly left the room, closing the poorly fitting door without a sound.
The chief vassal read the documents in silence.
As if just noticing the tea, he gestured for Julius to have some. The boy reached for the cup, brought it to his mouth, took a sip, and then put it back down on his saucer.
With that, the other two could now drink.
Logan gratefully quenched his parched throat.
He then began reading a copy of the list that was on his desk.
After the chief vassal marked the inventory with a variety of symbols, he returned the documents to the reception table, closed his eyes to think, and then finally opened them and faced Julius.
“Lord Julius. Lord Percival’s belongings were discovered yesterday by an adventurer passing through the sixth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. They are currently being held by this guild.”
Julius nodded.
“Mr. Logan. I want to buy back some of his items.”
Logan suddenly felt a rush of anger that the Heavenly Blade’s holy occupation was adventurer.
If he had been a knight instead, he would have had a Treasury instead of a Bag. Treasuries enabled sharing and even inheritance, which meant the situation with his belongings would be no issue.
That said, there were many skills adventurers learned that were necessary for going through the labyrinth solo, not the least of which was the Map skill. Bags were also much more convenient than Treasuries when it came to retrieving items.
Logan looked at both Julius and the chief vassal and apologized.
“If a death occurs in the outside world, the items left behind all go to the bereaved family. Well, unless there is a will specifying a separate destination for their possessions. When it comes to the labyrinth, though, the rules are different.”
As the dryness returned to his throat, he took another sip of tea and continued.
“The lost items of those who die in the labyrinth become the property of the person who found them and of the guild. Even if there was a will, it would not apply to items found in the labyrinth. For that reason, valuable property is typically not brought into the labyrinth. This amount of wealth suddenly becoming the property of someone else is no doubt frustrating, but I ask for your understanding.”
“I am familiar with this process. This is a rule of labyrinths that is recognized by national law, and I understand why things have to be this way. I do not think of it as our property being stolen. This amount will also have no effect on our overall finances. Furthermore, Lord Percival left his best weapons and items with Lord Julius. He did not bring anything precious into the labyrinth. There were, however, five exceptions.”
The chief vassal took a sip of tea and continued.
“These are all blessed items and were very helpful to Lord Percival on his adventures. Those five items possess particularly special meaning to our family, Mr. Logan.” The chief vassal stared fixedly at Logan. “Lord Percival spoke of you as a man with great judgment. I want to speak frankly with you.”
The Heavenly Blade said that?
You sure you’re not confusing me for someone else?
While Logan had his doubts, there was nothing for him to do but to nod.
“First, I want to buy back the three items I have marked on this list.”
Logan looked at the list.
Raika’s Ring.
Ende’s Shield.
Bolton’s Charm.
These were all names he had never heard before, and according to the list, they were all blessed items. The effect of their blessings was unknown, but the guild’s inspector said they were items of the highest order.
“Understood. The bereaved family has priority in choosing which items to buy back. There will be no problem there. Mind, we can’t give you a clear estimate until our assessment is complete.”
“The cost does not matter to me. Now, on to the problem.”
As they were talking, Logan noticed something.
That item was not on the list.
There was no doubt the Heavenly Blade had been carrying it. That famous bracelet.
“If there were items Lord Percival had with him but are not on this list, what does that mean? Alestra’s Bracelet and Kaldan’s Dagger are missing.”
5
“Mr. Logan. Lord Percival always said that if he was killed in the labyrinth, he did not want us to resent the opponent who killed him. He insisted he was entering the labyrinth of his own free will and that every fight was a duel of honor. Even if he were to be killed due to a lack of strength, he would be satisfied and did not want to pass on to his son hatred or a grudge. He expressed that wish to me many times. For that reason, I have no desire to investigate the cause of his death or the circumstances under which it happened.”
He thought of fighting monsters in the labyrinth as a duel of honor…
That definitely sounds like something the Heavenly Blade would say.
“But as things are right now, Lord Julius cannot succeed his father. There will be no problem with his claim to the position as head of our house being recognized. It is what will come afterward that is the problem.”
“Could Lord Julius’s mother not act as an intermediary with the king?”
The chief vassal looked at Logan with surprise.
“You know of her family name. I’m surprised.”
“I believe it’s the maiden name of the previous king’s second queen and belongs to a family subordinate to the throne. I have heard that the second queen’s mother would sneak out of the castle sometimes to serve as a messenger.”
“Your intel and memory are both very impressive.”
Actually, it was the Micaene guild that was impressive. Most of the credit for that went to the previous guild leader.
“Lord Percival and his wife married in secret. Their marriage is official, but steps were taken to prevent his wife’s noble lineage and privilege from being used against their children.”
Hearing that Percival had married a princess of the royal family in secret was certainly surprising, but from what Logan knew about the second queen of the previous king, he could understand why they’d kept it under wraps.
“I would ask you not to repeat this to anyone, but the king was exceedingly pleased by their marriage.”
It was said that the current king hated the second queen of his predecessor. Nevertheless, the chief vassal now claimed the king was delighted by the marriage of her daughter. And he wanted Logan to keep even that a secret. There must have been a reason.
“That being the case, receiving imperial sanction and recognition of Julius’s new position from the king will not be a problem. The difficulty will come afterward. At the time of his succession, he will be asked to visit the palace for an audience with the king. The heads of our house have a custom of wearing that bracelet for the occasion.”
That’s right!
When a new head of House Mercurius assumes the post, they visit the royal palace wearing Alestra’s Bracelet.
“His Majesty then takes the bracelet in his hands and praises the promise of ruler and servant made between the founding king and the first head of the house. It’s just a formality, but our family will lose face if we do not have the bracelet.”
Alestra’s Bracelet was a treasure known even in other countries. It had been bestowed upon the founding king by the goddess Pharah, and the king had granted the treasure to the first head of House Mercurius. If they lost it, it could mean losing much more than face. It could threaten the very existence of House Mercurius.
“Accordingly, until the bracelet returns, we cannot give notice of Lord Percival’s death, and we cannot apply for Lord Julius’s succession. If Kaldan’s Dagger is not found, we can give up for now and try again another time. The same cannot be said if we fail to recover Alestra’s Bracelet.”
Now it was Logan’s turn to think.
After a bit of time, he spoke.
“Let’s consider the order of events. The dropped items were discovered by the sixth-floor staircase. Many people pass through that area, but no one reported seeing Lord Percival, which suggests to me he couldn’t have been there for long. It is likely his expedition continued to the deeper floors, and then once he was finished, he began climbing back up through the labyrinth to return to the entrance, then lost his life on the sixth floor. So the question becomes what happened to the bracelet and shortsword when he reached the sixth floor.”
“Hmm. It is as you say. Stealing those two precious items from Lord Percival while he was alive would have been impossible. He also definitely would not have lost them. Given that they are imbued with very special blessings, it is difficult to imagine they could have been damaged or destroyed.”
“I agree with all those points. Looking at the list, I can see he still had a great number of highly effective recovery items left. If he suffered injuries or was poisoned on the deeper floors, he would have had time to heal. Which means he definitely lost his life on the sixth floor. It’s best to assume that someone took them either at the time of death or afterward.”
Logan’s conclusion was correct, but there was something he did not know.
In order to heighten the effects of his training, Percival had done his best to avoid using recovery items. He’d equipped boots on the forty-ninth floor to intentionally lower his strength and abilities for the same purpose.
When he’d encountered the minotaur, his stamina and energy were nearly spent, meaning he was fighting with a severe handicap.
“You are probably right. I know this is impolite of me to ask, but did the finder submit all the items to the guild?”
“Yes, everything found was submitted. At least, that’s what those who discovered them think. By the way, I assume these two items have seals of ownership?”
“Correct.”
“And I assume they are of the highest order?”
“Correct. They are engraved with elite seals, and summoning magic has been cast on them as well. That is true for all five items I wish to see returned. The answer to your next question is yes. Yesterday, I already called an engraver and had him perform a technique to locate the items. In the evening, we began receiving responses from all the items except for the two currently missing. I had him continue tracking the traceable items, and it seemed they were taken to the guild. That is why we came here today.”
Well, isn’t this man shrewd.
He already knew all that beforehand and questioned me anyway.
So they even used summoning magic…
Summoning magic was a technique that consumed an amount of silver equal to the weight of the item you were casting it on, and its effect could last up to a year.
They’re probably recasting it every time the effect wears off.
It seems you don’t need the actual item present to do so.
I had heard they don’t have much money, considering their social standing, but sure enough, they’re still much richer than I can possibly imagine.
“That must mean that the bracelet and the shortsword are still in the Sazardon Labyrinth.”
Logan didn’t know much about engraving magic, but it was common knowledge that you couldn’t search the inside of a labyrinth from outside.
“I also cannot think of any other possibilities.”
“Indeed. In order to avoid trouble when recovered items are submitted to the guild, we ask a number of questions while using magic to detect lies, with the permission of the finder. One of those questions is whether or not all recovered items were submitted. We have confirmation from all nineteen people that every item was surrendered. For that reason, there is no chance any of them concealed the bracelet or the shortsword within the labyrinth.”
“I see.”
“Another routine question is whether the finder was involved in the owner’s death or if they have any idea of who might have been. Not a single one of the nineteen knew anything about Lord Percival’s death.”
“Understood.”
“I also think it best to put aside the possibility that anyone else passed by and took the bracelet or the shortsword. Anyone finding dropped items in the labyrinth can receive either their pick of the items or monetary compensation if they bring them directly to the guild, as long as they did not harm the original owner. Since a wealth of money and expensive consumables were left behind, we can also rule out robbery, looting, or any motive driven by simple profit.”
“I would agree. So what are the remaining possibilities?”
“First is the chance that the finders simply didn’t see them or dropped them on the way out of the labyrinth. In that case, the items would currently be somewhere between the first and sixth floors. Next, we can’t deny the possibility that a monster grabbed the items before the adventurers arrived. Monsters have a tendency to be attracted to weapons or to shiny objects.”
“I had not thought of that.”
“In that case, they would be on the sixth floor. Monsters cannot travel between floors, so one would not have been able to carry them anywhere else. Next, and I apologize for even suggesting this, there is the possibility that an individual wishing harm upon House Mercurius set a trap for Lord Percival, stole the two treasures, and is now hiding somewhere in the labyrinth.”
The chief vassal’s eyes narrowed.
“They could wait until the death of Lord Percival became widely enough known that you had no choice but to go ahead and apply for the succession of Lord Julius. They could be doing this to drive House Mercurius into a dilemma, perhaps with the intention of returning the bracelet with some condition attached. No matter how likely this may seem, however, I believe it to be impossible.”
“Oh? I’ve been impressed by your insight, but what makes you so confident in that assertion?”
“Regardless of how experienced an adventurer is, how perfectly a balanced team they’ve formed, or how many items they’ve prepared, a labyrinth is not a place you can disappear into for an extended period of time. It is impossible to hide in a way that no one can find you.”
“Hmm. Considering you have become a dragonslayer twice, I will trust your judgment.”
“That said, they could not have left the labyrinth, either. Anyone could tell by looking at those items that they are engraved with elite seals, which means they cannot be hidden in a Bag. The culprit would be discovered the moment they left the labyrinth. That is, unless they somehow managed to sneak out and enter a different labyrinth.”
“That has not happened. We have two engravers monitoring the items around the clock.”
“You’ve been very thorough. As soon as the perpetrators left the labyrinth, an elite engraver would detect them, even if they used teleportation magic to escape to the ends of the continent. If anyone has stolen the items, they should understand that much, but they are likely unaware of the summoning magic. They could be planning on trying something with the bracelet… No, that’s impossible.”
“It is as you say. That bracelet has a special restriction bestowed by the goddess. Its effect will only work for the head of the house or someone the head of the house has approved in their heart.”
“What? That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that second part. Well, in any case, it is well-known that other people can’t use it, and because the history of the seal of ownership cannot be erased, selling it is also not an option.”
“That’s correct.”
“Intentionally taking items you are unable to use or sell while ignoring all the other expensive and useful items there, then hiding in the labyrinth even though it’s obvious you’ll eventually be found makes no sense at all. No matter how you look at it, it’s not something any sensible person would do.”
Logan added to himself that nobles did nonsensical things all the time, but he elected not to share that comment. Had he known the chief vassal was thinking the same thing, he surely would have burst out laughing.
“So what do you think happened?”
“As of this moment, we cannot say for sure. We just don’t have a clear idea, so we’re keeping in mind a variety of possibilities that I want to eliminate one by one.”
“Could you talk us through those possibilities?”
“First, Lord Percival may have dropped the bracelet on a deeper floor in an area with a group of unexpectedly strong monsters, and judging that retrieving it on his own would be difficult, he decided to go ahead and travel back up. Then, something unusual happened that cost him his life. In this case, the bracelet would be somewhere on the bottom ten floors.”
“Hmm. Next?”
“Someone has the items and is hiding. If this is true, they would do so on as deep a floor as possible.”
“I see. That would make sense.”
“The next possibility is that, after Lord Percival lost his life on the sixth floor, either a monster took them or the finders dropped them on the way out of the labyrinth, which would put them somewhere on the first six floors.”
“Hmm.”
“Next—and this one is extremely unlikely—but someone could have taken the items and then teleported directly out of the labyrinth into a different one and is currently hiding there.”
“What? Isn’t it impossible to teleport from one labyrinth into another?”
“It is not impossible. I know a sorcerer capable of it.”
“Huh.”
“I do not know of any other sorcerer with a similar ability, but as there is one, I can’t deny there could be another.”
“Hmmmm.”
After recounting the various scenarios to this point, their best course of action became clear.
They would have to take an engraver and descend to the sixth floor. You could not probe the labyrinth from outside, but if you entered, you could probe whatever floor you occupied.
“Where are those two engravers now?”
“One of them is resting at the estate. The other is waiting on us in our carriage.”
“I see you’ve come prepared.”
Now that they were about to head for the labyrinth, Logan remembered something. Namely, what was happening in the labyrinth right now.
“Chief vassal. Allow me to share with you a bit of information we have collected.”
Logan told him about the strange minotaur. He then explained how Gil Linx had left to perform a search to unravel the mystery around the deaths of the party of three and Percival.
The chief vassal remained silent for a long time.
He then said exactly what Logan had anticipated.
“Mr. Logan. If Gil Linx is investigating the labyrinth, I realize it would be best for us to await his return. This may be selfish of me, but I still want to go ahead and try searching as far as the sixth floor accompanied by the engraver. Can I ask you to prepare us a guide and authorize this search?”
“I thought you would say that. The guild has no right to decide whether someone can enter the labyrinth. That especially goes for those who aren’t adventurers. As for a guide and escort, I’ll have you know there is a perfectly suitable S-rank adventurer right here.”
Logan pointed to himself and smiled broadly.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter008.txt
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Chapter 8: Into the Depths
Chapter 8
Into the Depths
1
“Mr. Logan. Would you mind if I changed my clothes here?”
“H-huh? Yeah, go ahead.”
The chief vassal of House Mercurius gave a slight bow to his lord, took off his jacket and pants, pulled light armor out of his Bag, and put it on skillfully.
A Bag!
Is he a former adventurer?
No. There’s no way. This man is a noble to the core.
I highly doubt that, as a noble and a knight, he went out of his way to choose adventurer as his holy occupation.
Hey, this is no time to get lost in thought.
“Allow me to change as well.”
Logan bowed slightly toward Julius and Pan’ja, and then he also put his clothes into his Bag and pulled out and equipped leather armor.
Pan’ja grabbed his overcoat and hat hanging on the rack and stored those, too. He then grabbed Julius’s overcoat and got him ready to depart.
2
House Mercurius’s carriage was parked in front of the guild. There were knights stationed next to it. They seemed quite capable.
“Please ride with us, Mr. Logan.”
“Actually, the labyrinth is just over there, so I’m going to walk.”
“I see.”
Once the boy and the chief vassal got into their conveyance, Logan began guiding them on foot. The knights followed diagonally behind without a word. He brought them to a location near the entrance to the labyrinth where the carriage would not get in anyone’s way.
The chief vassal and a man who looked like a sorcerer descended from the carriage. The coachman did not move from his seat, and the knights stationed themselves next to the doors. Julius would be waiting here.
“Mr. Logan. This man’s name is Skant. He is an engraver, but he also knows some offensive and defensive magic.”
“That puts me at ease.”
The chief vassal drew a longsword from his Bag and fixed it to his hip.
He has an impressive dignity about him.
He’s probably on the high end of A rank.
No, maybe S rank.
Logan drew a war hammer from his Bag.
“Okay, let’s go.”
“All right.”
Logan walked toward the entrance. The chief vassal followed behind him diagonally, and the engraver trailed Pan’ja. Logan wasn’t sure why, but he felt a strange sense of unity as they moved toward the labyrinth.
With this trio, forget the sixth floor. We could probably make it to the ninetieth floor.
My heart is racing for the first time in years.
“Hey!”
The engraver suddenly raised his voice. Someone had emerged from the labyrinth. Whoever it was seemed small.
What is a child this little doing here?
Anyone could enter the first floor of the labyrinth, even without a holy occupation. As a result, people with nowhere else to turn for money sometimes raided the first floor for the purpose of collecting bronze coins. Those people usually died.
The monsters of the first floor, spiny rats, attacked enemies who projected hostility toward them. People inexperienced in combat did not know how to direct their aggression, which resulted in them being swarmed by countless rats and nibbled to death.
In Micaene, it was common for parents when scolding their children to threaten to throw them into the first floor of the labyrinth if they didn’t behave.
While Logan was puzzling over what this kid could have been doing there, the engraver ran up to the child.
The boy had black eyes and black hair and looked to be around seven or eight years old. He was covered in dirt and injuries all over his body and face. He had a worn-down knife in his right hand and a bracelet in his left.
“This is it! This is it!” yelled the engraver after he ran to the kid. Logan and the chief vassal both walked up to join them.
Oh?
Even though we’ve aggressively crowded this kid, he isn’t the least bit scared.
The chief vassal bent down and looked the child in the eyes.
“I’m sorry to ask this of you, but could you show me that bracelet?”
The boy handed it over straightaway.
The chief vassal looked at it for some time. He then returned the bracelet to the kid, stood up, and signaled to their carriage. One of the knights brought Julius over.
The chief vassal bowed to his young lord.
“This boy has Alestra’s Bracelet.”
Julius’s eyes lit up.
The chief vassal got down on one knee, looked the boy in the eyes again, and spoke.
“I am Pan’ja Raban. What is your name?”
“I’m Panzel.”
He wasn’t the least bit timid, but he was well-mannered. Logan saw the chief vassal’s lips curl into a slight smile.
“Did you obtain this bracelet in the labyrinth?”
“Yes.”
“Could you share with me how you came to claim it?”
“My mother is sick, so I went into the first floor of the labyrinth to find some bronze coins. This was my third time today.”
Third time!
If that’s true, then he did not survive by chance. This boy knows how to direct his hostility toward the spiny rats he wants to fight while avoiding the rest.
“The second spiny rat I killed today dropped two bronze coins. I gathered them, and when I looked up, it was right in front of me.”
“What was right in front of you?”
“A monster. It was huge. And it had the body of a human and the head of a bull with giant horns.”
“That sounds like a minotaur.”
“Really? I don’t know what that is, but it was holding a shortsword in its right hand and this bracelet in its left hand.”
“A shortsword and this bracelet… So what happened next?”
“I thought that if I didn’t fight, I was going to die, so I attacked it with my knife.”
“Huh?”
He attacked it?!
Even with a regular minotaur, most people would wet themselves if they saw one in person.
This minotaur is obviously a unique monster. And the boy says he attacked it?!
“At my height, I could only reach about this high on its leg.” The boy tapped his own calf with the bracelet. “But then I passed out because I’d used up all my strength.”
“What? Right in front of the minotaur?”
“When I woke up, I was lying on top of a flat boulder, and this bracelet was on my stomach. It looked expensive, so I was wondering if I could sell it. Then, when I left the labyrinth, you all came up to me.”
That seemed like the end of the kid’s story.
“Because you obtained this bracelet in the labyrinth, in accordance with the rules, it is now yours. However, this bracelet is a prized possession of this boy’s father and a treasure of our family. I would like to give you a suitable price for it. How does that sound?”
The boy named Panzel looked back into the chief vassal’s eyes, then looked at Julius.
“This bracelet belongs to your father?”
Julius nodded and said yes. Julius was slightly bigger than Panzel and probably older, too. Panzel seemed more mature, though.
“All right, you can have it. I don’t need any money.”
Panzel held out the bracelet for Julius. Julius smiled from ear to ear and took the bracelet.
“Thank you, Mr. Panzel.”
The chief vassal gave Logan a look, directed him to a spot slightly away from the others, and spoke in a quiet voice.
“Mr. Logan. The bracelet has been returned to us. You have my gratitude for your assistance.”
“What? But I didn’t do anything.”
“Following your advice is what led to this result, so clearly, your insight had value. Now that we have the bracelet back, I need to return to the estate right away and give my report.”
He was probably reporting to the Heavenly Blade’s wife and Julius’s mother, a princess of royal blood.
“I understand. That would be best.”
“I’m sure many adventurers are already aware of Lord Percival’s death.”
“Actually, no. We do not inform adventurers who recover items in the labyrinth of the identity of the person who dropped them. I’ve sworn the guild employees to silence. The death of Lord Percival will become a major event, so it would be problematic for us if it turned out we were wrong.”
“I never would have expected you to go that far. I am greatly obliged.”
“With this kind of case, however, rumors will gradually spread. It’s obvious the owner of those items was someone of high social standing. There aren’t many adventurers among the nobility, so I’m sure a number of people will surmise the victim’s identity.”
“That I don’t mind. I will just be grateful if the guild does not officially report the death of Lord Percival.”
No matter how far a rumor spreads, it remains a rumor. If the guild officially recognized the Heavenly Blade’s death, and the royal court became aware of it, that would put House Mercurius in a difficult position.
“That will be no problem, but I’ll need to tell the finders that a noble has made a proposal to buy back some of the items. I’ll omit your name.”
“Mr. Logan. I will notify those within the family that Lord Percival died of illness. I will then get started on preparations so that Lord Julius can assume his post as head of the family without issue.”
“I see. Got it. The Micaene Adventurers Guild will never officially recognize that Lord Percival died in the labyrinth.”
“Thank you very much.” The chief vassal bowed deeply and continued speaking. “Tomorrow, I am going to send two vassals. The engraver Skant will be with them. I would like to request some adventurers to guide them to the sixth floor.”
“Understood.”
Logan had heard from the Heavenly Blade himself that in order to avoid attending official functions and visiting the palace, he would say he was ill as an excuse, and it seemed on paper that Percival was officially a sickly man. His habit of holing himself away in the labyrinth was probably common knowledge at the palace, though.
3
The chief vassal asked Panzel where he lived and about his lifestyle. He thanked him again for the bracelet and then handed him a silver coin, which he said represented a promise.
He asked Panzel why he’d said he didn’t need any money, and Panzel answered, “If something my father owned became someone else’s, I would be sad.” Logan wondered if the boy had experienced that kind of thing before.
Regardless, whatever the chief vassal was planning, Logan didn’t think he would harm the boy.
Logan then made some arrangements, separated from the group, and went back to the guild. When he returned to his office, he was greeted by that mountain of documents crowding his desk, taunting him for the amount of work he still had left to do.
If I’m not here, have the manager do it. He should be able to handle 80 percent of this just fine.
It took him until late into the night to finish everything. When he arrived at work the next morning, a messenger from House Mercurius was waiting for him.
The messenger had a list of the items House Mercurius wanted to buy back. The chief vassal seemed to have decided that he wanted nearly everything, aside from the consumables.
Julius probably asked him to buy back all his father’s stuff.
They even attached an offer, put forward without waiting for the assessment to be completed. It was a higher price than the guild likely would have asked. That may have been a message to the guild, saying to just forget about this bothersome process and go ahead and let them buy the items back.
This is an incredible amount of money they’re offering. The recipients will have nothing to complain about.
Raika’s Ring, Ende’s Shield, and Bolton’s Charm had especially staggering prices attached, but Logan wondered if the prices might still be low, considering their true worth.
Ende…
Ende…
I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before.
Hold on.
Wasn’t that the name of a dragon god worshipped in the eastern part of the Gorenza Empire?
The two knights and the engraver from House Mercurius arrived at the promised time, and Logan introduced them to two veteran scouts he had standing by for them. The chief vassal had agreed to pay as if they were being escorted to the middle levels, so he’d been able to find adventurers to take the job in no time.
After seeing them off, he turned back to the mountain of documents but, having too much on his mind, couldn’t focus on work.
From Panzel’s testimony, he could definitely assume the minotaur had had Alestra’s Bracelet. It was strange, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. If the minotaur had obtained the bracelet, there could be no doubt that it had killed Percival.
The shortsword the minotaur had been holding had most likely been Kaldan’s Dagger. It was very hard to imagine a minotaur holding a shortsword instead of axes.
Logan spent so long pondering the matter that evening fell before he knew it, and the House Mercurius knights returned to the guild to make their report. They’d ended up searching down to the eleventh floor but said they had found no engraved items.
“Has Mr. Gil Linx shared anything about his investigation?”
“Not yet. It seemed like he had business at the royal palace, so he probably just hasn’t had time to come back here. If he says anything, I’ll contact the chief vassal.”
“Thank you very much.”
They said they’d placed flowers on the sixth floor under Julius’s orders.
So in the end, they still understood nothing about Percival’s death. Not one thing had been solved definitively.
At the very least, Logan could take solace in the fact that the minotaur seemed to attack humans only on rare occasions. The overwhelming number of eyewitness testimonies more than confirmed this. Even Panzel, who’d attacked the minotaur himself, had not been harmed.
But a minotaur that didn’t attack people was quite bizarre.
Anyway, fretting about it wouldn’t get him anywhere. All he could do was be patient.
“Now seems like as good a time as any…”
Logan grabbed some alcohol off a shelf and opened a drawer to get a glass.
The Serruria shell was sitting right next to it. He’d been so busy that he hadn’t even thought to check it. There was no way Gil was going to die, so doing so would have been a waste of time.
But Logan froze when he opened the drawer. The Serruria shell was there, but the bluish-purple light that represented Gil’s life force had gone out.
Logan was rendered speechless. He tried to pick up the shell with his trembling hands but ended up shattering it instead.
He felt like his world was falling apart.
4
Pan’ja Raban’s heart sang with glee.
He was grief-stricken over Percival’s death, but Percival had been so brilliant and larger-than-life that an ordinary man such as Pan’ja could not even begin to guess at his way of thinking.
There were many who saw Percival as a boorish noble who could do nothing but fight. Those people didn’t understand the first thing about him. Percival actually had a brilliant mind and superb political acumen, to the point where he may have been the smartest noble in the country. After much deliberation, though, Percival had chosen a road that did not make use of those abilities, instead following a path he thought would keep the country at peace.
Exploring labyrinths was a hobby of Percival’s and a cover. He had lived and died doing what he loved, so he had probably been satisfied in the end. Besides, Percival had not been someone Pan’ja had to spend time worrying about and protecting.
Pan’ja’s most important mission was training the vassals who would support Julius. Their men were quite skilled and excelled in a number of different areas—some were useful for their knowledge and wisdom, others for their combat prowess. Together, they were beginning to add up to more than the sum of their parts. Looking at their vassals as a whole, however, he had felt that something was missing.
Then he met the boy named Panzel.
The boy was still young. Pan’ja did not yet know what kind of talents he would develop, but he had a hunch this boy was the one for whom he had been searching.
Pan’ja had been bewildered when he’d heard that Alestra’s Bracelet was not among Percival’s dropped items. There was no way Percival would have allowed himself to lose the bracelet, knowing the dilemma that would cause his son.
It was his belief in Percival that convinced Pan’ja that his deceased lord had given Panzel the bracelet and sent him to the entrance of the labyrinth. That Percival, who’d so loved the labyrinth, had found the boy. The bracelet was proof.
Just from speaking with him briefly, Pan’ja could tell the child had great character. Consequently, he found himself heading to Panzel’s house to meet with his mother and to invite the boy to serve House Mercurius as a vassal.
Panzel turned out to not be home. His mother was the only one there. She got out of bed and welcomed Pan’ja inside. After the chief vassal introduced himself, she bowed to him politely as one would to their lord.
“I never thought I would have the honor of meeting you, Lord Adol Sou La Vald.”
Pan’ja felt so shocked, the sky and the earth may as well have been reversed. It was strange that anyone would remember that name, and it was stranger still that they would believe someone with that name still lived. No one should have known his true identity. Somehow, though, this woman did.
“My husband was the grandson of Eisha Goran.”
What in the world was going on? That would make Panzel Eisha Goran’s great-grandson. The same Eisha Goran who had thrown away everything so that Pan’ja could survive.
Pan’ja was speechless.
5
The minotaur was in the boss room of the fiftieth floor.
When it had reached the highest floor and decided to aim for the lower floors, it had put the shortsword in storage, pulled out the longsword it had acquired from the fight with the three humans, held it with its right hand, and begun its descent.
It searched for the staircase on each floor and worked its way down the labyrinth.
It entered many boss rooms on many floors but found no enemies strong enough to satisfy its craving. It finally began encountering somewhat challenging enemies from the thirtieth floor onward.
The boss of the fiftieth floor was a giant lizardman.
It held a scimitar in each hand and attacked with a series of moves that exhibited force, speed, and finesse. It would also kick and headbutt if given the chance, and its tail packed a serious punch.
The minotaur took a liking to this enemy. During their long, entertaining battle, the minotaur’s longsword broke, so it used the giant club it had gotten from the boss of the thirtieth floor to finish off the lizardman.
Clubs weren’t bad, but the minotaur was more interested in swords.
It could not stop thinking about that swordsman’s skill. The minotaur was convinced the sword was the weapon of choice for those who aimed for greatness.
But sword blades were often fragile. The minotaur’s got nicked considerably when exchanging blows with clubs. Not many swords could withstand a swing with the minotaur’s full force behind it without breaking.
It wanted a large, heavy, sturdy sword that it could wield at full strength and use to slice its enemies.
When the lizardman’s body vanished, the two scimitars it was holding disappeared with it, but a bigger, more beautiful scimitar appeared in their place.
The minotaur sat down and stared closely at its reward.
If only it were a little bigger…a little heavier…
But it was still a wonderful weapon.
It sensed a great strength in the sword.
The minotaur decided to make that scimitar its main weapon for the time being.
After a moment’s consideration, with the scimitar still in its right hand, it used its other hand to pick up the club it had set on the ground.
In its right hand, a sword.
In its left hand, a club.
While thinking back on the lizardman’s dual-blade technique, it tried picturing itself fighting while holding both these weapons.
It sensed a presence.
The minotaur turned to see a group of six adventurers walking into the room.
There was a thief, a swordsman, a sorceress, an archer, a war priestess, and a spellblade. They were talking to one another while remaining in strict battle formation.
“Hey. That teleporter mistakenly sent us to the tenth floor instead of the fiftieth floor.”
“No, this is definitely the fiftieth floor. Just look outside the room.”
“Okay, then why is a minotaur here?”
“Hmm. Maybe it moved.”
“Ahhh, that explains it. I guess even a monster would get sick of being killed in the same room over and over again. Every now and then, they probably need a change of pace and look for a different room to get killed in. Come on—don’t be stupid.”
“Whether it’s supposed to be here or not, this thing seems stronger than a minotaur has any right to be.”
“That’s true. Well, as long as it drops some good stuff, it makes no difference whether it’s a minotaur or that dumb lizard, right?”
“Actually, minotaurs are known for giving pretty crappy drops.”
“Ha-ha-ha. I don’t think that’ll be true for this one. Just look at it. It’s holding a Blood Scimitar in its right hand and a Turtle Crusher in its left.”
“Those are both blessed items, huh? And one of them is a rare drop. This minotaur sure knew how to give us a warm welcome. Earthbind!”
The adventurers were slowly advancing on the minotaur while they chatted, and once they reached an appropriate distance, the battle began.
That they were able to start fighting without a strategy session or anyone giving orders was a sign of this party’s excellent chemistry.
Every time the sorceress cast the movement-binding spell, the minotaur jumped slightly, causing it to miss.
The sorceress uttered a short incantation, casting Haste on the thief and then on the swordsman. Haste was enchantment magic that increased attack and movement speed.
The thief wheeled around to the minotaur’s flank, threw a flash bomb at it with his left hand, then with his right, jabbed at its abdomen repeatedly with his saber.
The war priestess prayed, and the swordsman became wreathed in a special aura. This was magic that raised magic defense and physical defense for a short period of time.
The flash bomb went off right next to the minotaur’s face, releasing a blinding light accompanied by an explosive sound. That was all the item did, but bestial monsters hated them. This minotaur, however, didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the light or the sound and kept the thief at bay with its club.
At the same time, it swung its scimitar down diagonally and cut off the swordsman’s head. The minotaur changed the trajectory of the sword in midair at a right angle and sliced open the war priestess’s left shoulder.
It lowered its head just in time to avoid a magic arrow, which sailed over it. It then pushed off the ground from its crouching position and charged forward.
The spellblade shot fire daggers at it, but the minotaur simply endured the barrage without even trying to dodge or defend. The attack did not do much damage.
The magic arrow caused a geyser behind it, erupting in a giant pillar of water and releasing a large amount of steam.
The minotaur sent rocks flying with its club.
It charged low and impaled the spellblade with its horns.
The rocks hit the sorceress square in the stomach while she was trying to retrieve a blue potion.
The minotaur continued to charge forward with the spellblade still pinned to its horns.
The thief caught up to it and planted his dagger into its back, but it just fell right back out and onto the ground.
The minotaur swung its scimitar at the sorceress, who had dropped the potion.
The archer finished readying another magic arrow.
Quickly changing the direction of its charge to the right, the minotaur prevented the archer from firing because the sorceress and the magic warrior were now in the way.
Using its scimitar, the minotaur cleaved the sorceress’s torso clean in two.
Its club whooshed through the air as it threw the weapon at the archer.
“Call!” the war priestess cried out. The archer, spellblade, thief, and war priestess all then teleported away. This was a summoning skill that worked on party members within a certain distance.
After quickly losing two people, they decided they could not defeat the minotaur. Making use of the items they had on hand to distract it, they made their escape.
6
“What are you saying?! We just lost two people! If such a dangerous monster had become the boss of the fiftieth floor, why didn’t you tell us that before you teleported us there?!”
“I’m very sorry for your loss. Had you purchased information on the labyrinth beforehand, we would have told you about the minotaur everyone has been discussing of late.”
“That only makes this worse! You didn’t even think to suggest that we buy information!”
“Right now, in Micaene, even children know about the minotaur. Any adventurer, no matter how much of a beginner they are, should know about it as well. It’s already common knowledge that the creature won’t attack unless you attack it first.”
“We didn’t know anything about that! It’s been two years since we entered this labyrinth!”
“Even the guild did not yet know that the minotaur had made it to the fiftieth floor. That, however, is probably only temporary. It is natural to assume it will continue to descend to the lower floors. It was simply bad luck that it happened to be there when you decided to challenge the fiftieth-floor boss.”
“Because of that, we engaged it without any idea how strong it really was! This is all your fault!”
“I’ll say this clearly. Arriving at this town for the first time in years and then quickly challenging the fiftieth floor of the labyrinth without any preliminary research is a failure brought about by your own carelessness. You could have turned back as soon as you saw the lizardman wasn’t in the boss room. The minotaur made no move to attack until you engaged it, correct? You assumed that risk of your own accord. You must take responsibility for your own actions when challenging a labyrinth.”
The archer Deeditt had no comeback for the manager.
The party had gotten their start in this town before deciding to travel and challenge other labyrinths in order to become strong enough to defeat the lizardman. They had also completed various jobs along the way. They had gained experience, upped their ranks, and obtained good equipment.
After arriving in Micaene, they’d celebrated their long-awaited return by requesting the teleportation service to the fiftieth floor as soon as they visited the guild.
They didn’t think there was a chance they would lose. They believed they had become strong enough to handle it. For that reason, just this once, they’d skipped the information-gathering step they always performed after reaching a new area, thinking they knew the boss of the fiftieth floor well enough already.
They had been careless and arrogant, and now two of their friends with whom they’d adventured for so long were dead.
Deeditt stopped arguing and instead just stood there, clasping his hands together in deep regret.
7
The minotaur was still in the boss room of the fiftieth floor.
It had taken a liking to fighting the giant lizardman and wanted a second scimitar, so it was waiting for it to respawn.
It leaned against the stone wall and thought back on the fight it had just had with that party.
They had been careless. They had greatly underestimated its strength.
Thanks to that, it had been able to turn the tide of battle in its favor very quickly.
But how would the encounter have gone had they not been careless? They were not that strong individually, but their teamwork was impressive.
Humans had a great number of techniques. It had learned a variety of new ones from that fight.
Humans sure made for interesting enemies. The minotaur looked forward to its next brush with them.
Its hunger—its lifelong companion—continued to rage, but the minotaur had learned to take enjoyment in this as well.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter009.txt
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Chapter 9: The Hunt Is On
Chapter 9
The Hunt Is On
1
The minotaur ended up fighting the giant lizardman five more times.
Each time, the boss dropped a sharp, ordinary scimitar with no blessing.
It did, however, also drop a skill. Humans called this skill Warrior’s Protection. It increased your strength and magic resistance and constantly refilled your stamina at a fixed rate. It remained active unless you deactivated it yourself, so it was easy to use.
Most importantly, the minotaur was glad for the opportunity to learn some sword techniques. The lizardman was the first nonhuman enemy to teach it some interesting swordplay.
It had received a high-quality longsword and various potions from the humans it had killed in the fight against the recent party.
The minotaur then descended farther and farther down. It fought the boss of every floor. It also got into many battles with humans.
For a while, it adopted a two-sword style using the Blood Scimitar and one of the lizardman’s regular scimitars. It tried a variety of moves while recalling its fights against the lizardman boss.
On the fifty-second floor, it fought a group of three humans, killed one of them, and obtained a halberd.
After crushing the boss of the fifty-fifth floor, it officially obtained the skill Charge. This skill was extremely well suited to the minotaur and increased the force of its charge remarkably.
It then fought a group of four people, killed them all, and was rewarded with some explosives.
Once it grew tired of using the scimitars, it fished around in its storage for a new weapon. A blessed bastard sword it had gotten from an adventurer caught its attention. For some reason, it felt very familiar, and the minotaur decided to try it.
It was only natural that this blade would feel familiar to the monster adventurer—this bastard sword was a very rare drop that one could receive from killing the minotaur, after all. Because the minotaur could not encounter another of its kind, this weapon was impossible for it to obtain on its own.
There were no easy fights from the fiftieth floor on, whether it was fighting the boss of a floor or against humans. There were multiple occasions where the minotaur was pushed to the brink of death, defeating its enemies while wounded and collapsing before obtaining new power.
The monsters that roamed the corridors on the sixty-second floor were one-eyed ghosts. The minotaur had no idea how to defeat them. It failed again and again, then finally discovered that it could kill them with an elemental weapon from its storage. Once it obtained the skill Crushing Breath on a slightly lower floor, it no longer had any trouble with incorporeal monsters.
It had a tough battle with humans on the sixty-second floor as well. It was a fight that taught it not to underestimate the usefulness of a shield.
The boss of the eightieth floor, a manticore, dropped a blessed Zweihänder, which became the minotaur’s main weapon. Its weight and destructive power were satisfactory, but the sword’s center of gravity was too far to the front, and its make seemed rough, rendering it tricky to use. The minotaur felt there would be another weapon that suited it better.
From armor to gauntlets, shields to boots, the humans dropped a large amount of defensive equipment, some of it with blessings that would thrill most adventurers. The minotaur, however, had no interest in defensive equipment and tossed these items unceremoniously into its storage.
It did the same with accessories like necklaces, rings, bracelets, and all weapons other than swords.
It did collect potions and other items that granted various buffs and used them as well.
Fighting without defensive equipment caused the minotaur’s physical defense and magic defense to increase more quickly than they would have otherwise.
The beast also stored whatever else caught its eye from among the dropped items of the adventurers who attacked it.
One such item the minotaur had received from an adventurer that it quickly grew fond of was a belt.
During a fight against a party of humans, a spellblade was pulling potions out of the pouches in their belt in quick succession and drinking them. The minotaur wondered how the belt could fit that many, so it killed the spellblade and studied the belt.
If you put a consumable item into one of the pouches and then used it, the belt would automatically reload with another of the same item from your storage.
This belt also carried a blessing that increased movement speed by 10 percent and stamina by 20 percent. The minotaur took a liking to this item and used it habitually from then on.
It put explosives in two of the pouches. They had no use beyond exploding when thrown, but the humans who came to the lower floors often had them, so they were easy to replenish. The minotaur was becoming much better at using them to hit sorcerers camping in the rear guard of their parties.
Afterward, the minotaur fought the boss of the ninetieth floor, which turned out to be a chimera. The chimera’s normal drop was an exploding sword. It was basically an explosive in the shape of a sword but more powerful than the other explosives it had been collecting and could be thrown more accurately and from farther away.
Human adventurers considered the explosive sword a worthless drop, but the minotaur took a liking to it and killed over twenty chimeras in a row to stock up on them.
When humans defeated monsters, they gained experience points, but they gained none from killing other humans. It was the opposite for the minotaur. It gained experience from killing humans but not monsters. Even if defeating monsters got it no closer to a level-up, though, fighting them was still a good way to hone its skills.
Each monster was totally different from the last.
Every time the minotaur encountered a new creature, it would endure or dodge its attacks, analyze its characteristics, devise an effective battle strategy, hone its techniques, and then kill it.
Encountering strong enemies and learning to defeat them filled the minotaur with joy. It felt like it was fulfilling its purpose in life.
It also obtained blessings called skill drops from monsters.
It learned a skill that expelled hot, damaging breath; a skill that lowered the probability of suffering a critical hit; a skill that allowed the user to detect the positions and types of enemies on their current floor; and more, including many that humans could not learn.
It ranked up Warcry, which had become so strong that it seemed like a different skill altogether.
There was more to gain from fighting humans than experience points alone. It was also a valuable opportunity for study. The minotaur could observe methods of sword fighting and also all kinds of magic, weapons, attacks, methods of teamwork, and more, and it absorbed this information greedily.
2
“Dammit. That old bastard…”
Muttering in annoyance, Logan rubbed a red potion into the wound on his chest. Red potions didn’t have much of an effect outside of labyrinths, but they weren’t totally ineffective. Logan actually had an item in his Bag that would have healed this wound instantly, but he didn’t feel like using it at the moment.
Seven days after the Heavenly Blade’s son and chief vassal had come to the guild, he had been invited to dinner at House Mercurius. According to the messenger, they wanted to hear him share memories about Percival. That was probably something Julius himself had asked for.
Logan had accepted the proposal, visited the House Mercurius estate, and talked about Percival’s younger days. Julius listened attentively, his eyes glistening. The alcohol and food were delicious.
Panzel had also been at dinner. It looked like House Mercurius really had hired him. Actually, he was probably more than a mere employee. The chief vassal seemed to always be keeping him close at hand. He was likely thinking that, with some training, Panzel could go on to achieve great things. Logan was in complete agreement with that assessment.
The invites hadn’t stopped there. He soon received a subsequent invitation, then a third. Julius seemed to want Logan to come over every day, but no matter how close Micaene was to the royal capital, he was very busy as the guild leader and couldn’t go out that often. He was now visiting about once every seven to ten days. He had already visited over ten times.
The last time he’d gone, Julius had asked him a question after hearing that his weapon of choice was a war hammer.
“What kind of weapon is a war hammer?”
With the chief vassal’s permission, Logan produced the real thing and showed it to him. It was then that the chief vassal had added some of his own commentary.
“It’s not a weapon that requires skill, but it’s extremely powerful and cannot be managed unless the user has tremendous strength.”
Logan was offended by his choice of words.
“What was that? ‘Not a weapon that requires skill,’ huh? How about I give you a taste of my skill?”
They moved to a dueling ground, and Logan squared off against Pan’ja, who used a longsword.
Logan won, of course. He broke three of Pan’ja’s swords, and after breaking a few bones as well, the chief vassal surrendered.
The chief vassal, however, was something of a sore loser and challenged Logan again after dinner. Rather immaturely, this time he ended up using a longsword so ridiculously thick, Logan wondered if it was a family heirloom or something.
To Logan’s shock, he was unable to break the longsword with his hammer, even with a direct blow. He became intent on shattering it, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do so. The chief vassal broke through his defense and slashed him across the chest, and this time, Logan was forced to surrender.
There was no way that would happen next time. He would show that arrogant old man the true capability of the war hammer.
“Mr. Logan.”
“Later, Eador. I’m in a bad mood.”
“It’s an imperial messenger.”
“Huh?”
“Viscount Stinger has arrived carrying a secret royal decree from His Majesty.”
3
Viscount Stinger said he wanted to hear everything Logan knew about the strange minotaur. Logan shared with him all the information he had gathered.
The viscount then asked for more details about Gil Linx, who was currently missing. He asked whether or not Logan thought Gil had been killed by the minotaur.
Logan told the viscount everything he knew about the current situation without holding anything back. He said he didn’t think there was any way the great sorcerer could have been killed by the minotaur.
No matter how strong a unique monster the minotaur was, Gil could have eliminated it with a single long-distance attack. The minotaur would have no way to defend against it.
He could assume that the minotaur had had Alestra’s Bracelet at the time, but no one could use it other than the Heavenly Blade or his son. There was no way a monster would be able to. Even on the small chance that it could, Gil had magic at his disposal that could be used in ways that did not require hitting his opponent with a spell directly. Gil was also a master of close combat.
He conveyed all of this to the messenger.
“But his life force did disappear, correct?”
“That is true, but I just can’t bring myself to believe that Gil is dead. I’ve decided to believe he’s simply gone somewhere I can’t see him.”
The viscount ended up leaving without sharing the contents of the royal decree.
The next day, the viscount visited again and officially conveyed the king’s order. It was to convene a hunt for the minotaur under the guild leader’s name. The one actually paying the reward was the king, but he could not organize this task himself. The reward being offered was enough money to buy multiple guilds. Logan’s commission was also tremendous.
The official reason for the hunt was to exterminate the minotaur thought to have killed Gil Linx and recover his lost property, but Logan suspected the true motive lay elsewhere.
Logan found the information supplied by Viscount Stinger insufficient, so he indicated he would comply with the order but would need two days to come up with a reasonable implementation, as the incredibly high reward would be likely to raise suspicion and discord among the adventurers. The viscount said he would leave the details to Logan and left.
It would be difficult for him to investigate the happenings of the royal palace in a timely manner, so Logan wrote a letter to Pan’ja with some questions. Shortly afterward, Pan’ja himself visited the guild.
“We reported Lord Percival’s death sixty days after his life force vanished from the crystal ball, and we have already applied for Lord Julius’s succession to head of the family.” It had probably taken him that long to sort out all the necessary preparations. “The king should have received our application within five to seven days.”
“So that means around ten days ago.”
“I believe it was eight.”
“Hmm. What happened then?”
“In order for you to fully grasp the situation, there are some things you need to know.”
The chief vassal was giving him a stern look. He wanted to make sure Logan knew he couldn’t breathe a word of this to anyone.
Logan met the chief vassal’s eyes seriously and nodded.
The chief vassal then related a story, mixing in some of his own conjecture.
4
The previous king’s second queen fell into the king’s disfavor after she gave birth to a daughter, and he confined her to her quarters.
From then on, she lived imprisoned with her child in a deep corner of the inner palace. What people didn’t know, however, was that this was actually an arrangement by the previous king to try to give the second queen and her child a peaceful life.
The current king inherited this sentiment from his father, and while he publicly pretended to shun his half-sister, he actually held a deep affection for her.
His half-sister was supposed to quietly live out her entire life in that deep corner of the palace, but she ended up falling in love with a man after having what felt like a miracle encounter.
This man turned out to be someone the king loved for his bravery and integrity—the young head of House Mercurius. When the young man prostrated himself before the king, begging him for permission to marry his lover without yet knowing her true identity, the king had never felt such joy in all his life.
The king decided to forgo the official proceedings normally expected when marrying off a royal princess to a subject, instead allowing her to marry under the subordinate family name she had used all her life. He did this to convey his will that they would not be treated as a branch of the royal family.
When the king heard the couple had given birth to a baby boy, he was overcome with joy and tried to send out a royal messenger. However, he was warned against this by a trusted adviser. They couldn’t take even the smallest risk of the major nobles becoming aware that the boy had a claim as sixth in line for the throne. If certain circumstances aligned, the boy could even become king.
Then, just recently, the king received notice that Percival Mercurius had died of illness. He was horrified and ordered a discreet investigation.
He subsequently learned that Percival had been killed by a minotaur. His sister, who had seemed so happy, had become a widow. His cute nephew, whom he had never had a chance to meet, was now a boy without a father.
To the king, the minotaur had become an enemy of the throne.
However, he couldn’t dispatch a squadron of knights just to avenge the death of one noble. Neither could he reveal publicly that Percival had been killed by a monster in the labyrinth.
For that reason, he used the death of Gil Linx, a man who had done great things for the royal family and the kingdom, as a pretext to offer a reward from the royal coffers for the extermination of the minotaur. Of course, this was done with the utmost confidentiality.
“I see. So that’s what’s going on,” Logan remarked after Pan’ja finished his story.
Logan set an impressive reward for the hunt and posted the job to the request board on the first floor of the guild. It was an extraordinary sum of money for defeating a single monster, and adventurers showed up to take on the job one after another.
Logan was convinced that the minotaur would soon be defeated.
5
As the minotaur descended deeper into the labyrinth, the battles became more harrowing, and there were several times it almost died.
The fight against the boss of the one hundredth floor, the metal dragon, was especially difficult, and the minotaur suffered many harsh defeats. But it continued training and challenging this foe and, eventually, emerged victorious.
After a certain point, strong parties of humans began attacking the minotaur in succession, for which it was grateful. The minotaur killed them all and, in doing so, was able to raise its level, learn new skills, and replenish its consumable items.
After defeating the metal dragon once, the minotaur fought it many more times. It was a valuable fight not just because it was a very strong enemy but also because it dropped a different type of amazing sword every time it was killed.
The minotaur killed dragon after dragon after dragon, each time looking forward to the next sword that would appear.
It fought the metal dragon using a longsword.
It fought it using a shortsword.
It fought it while relying heavily on its skills.
Some battles were long.
Some were very short.
It tried out a wide variety of fighting styles, and after it killed the final boss one hundred times, the dragon stopped spawning.
It was as if the labyrinth had recognized that the minotaur, not the metal dragon, was now the master of the boss room of the deepest floor.
The minotaur remained there. There were no longer any monsters it wanted to fight. If there were any opponents worth engaging, they would be humans.
Adventurers came to the boss room repeatedly to challenge it.
Still, the minotaur’s hunger was not yet quelled.
An enemy truly worth fighting, an enemy truly worth defeating, had yet to appear.
The minotaur needed to grow stronger to prepare for that day.
6
By the time it became clear that the minotaur had become the new ruler of the boss room of the labyrinth’s final floor, two years had passed.
There was still no shortage of adventurers being attracted by the high reward to be gained from slaying the beast. Rumors of an invincible monster gradually spread across the land, and challengers gathered from far and wide.
Once the number of adventurers defeated and killed by the minotaur exceeded three hundred, Logan had no choice but to withdraw the hunt. Then, in order to take responsibility for allowing this situation to happen, he resigned as guild leader. Eador, the manager, succeeded him.
The adventurers were surprised that someone without a background as an adventurer was being named guild leader, but the guild employees all trusted him.
Logan was now living at House Mercurius. Pan’ja Raban had been inviting him to quit his busy job at the guild and move into their estate for a while. He had fun lending a hand with Panzel’s training. The boy was showing remarkable growth. And best of all, life at House Mercurius was comfortable.
After some time, the request was posted again under the new guild leader. Many strong parties set their sights on killing this powerful monster. Many died, and many fled.
The most persistent of all was the sorcerer named Eisel. But in the end, he died as well.
The minotaur was still alive and well on the final floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter010.txt
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Chapter 10: The Promised Day
Chapter 10
The Promised Day
1
At a weapons shop located near the Sazardon Labyrinth, a merchant entered.
“Welcome, Mr. Tormon.”
“Oh, hey, Viena! You’re as lovely as ever.”
“Why, thank you.”
“Tormon.”
“Hey, Pops! It’s been a while.”
“So you’ve decided to return.”
“Yep, I just got back. I heard something really crazy. Apparently, the royal palace sent an insane amount of people to go take it down.”
“Ah, that? Let’s move farther inside. Viena, watch the shop for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hey, what do we need to do that for? Can we not talk about this out in the open?”
“I just figured we could speak over here without holding anything back. Making fun of the knights at the front of the store could get us into trouble. Ba-ha-ha!”
“Hey, what are you laughing for? These guys are trying to kill our king.”
“What, have you not heard? The hunt, or whatever it was they called it, failed.”
“Huh? It failed? But didn’t they just enter the labyrinth yesterday?”
“Yup. And they failed yesterday.”
“That’s crazy fast. Did they just give up and leave?”
“They didn’t give up. They were wiped out.”
“W-wiped out? Wait, hold on. I heard that close to fifty people went in.”
“It was seventy-two, actually. There were eight parties of eight, then two teleporters, two sorcerers specializing in healing magic, and two people for general support. They also brought an observer and another person to act as the commander or something.”
“Gods above! What in the world made them send so many…?”
“Even now, ‘hunting parties,’ as they’re called, are occasionally being dispatched to the one hundredth floor to challenge the boss.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Why a boss that never leaves its room needs to be killed, though, no one understands. If they have that much spare time, they should use it to take out brigands or the monsters on the roads.”
“The only reason for it is to gain prestige for the knights. After all, in the case of the metal dragon, even if it was killed with sheer numbers, everyone present was able to call themselves a dragonslayer.”
“But they couldn’t have all killed it; that’s impossible.”
“Of course not. Each party had a maximum of eight people, after all. Normally, only those in the party that actually finished off the metal dragon would be called dragonslayers. For that reason, the knights wouldn’t share publicly which party actually defeated it. They would take turns fighting the metal dragon, and the ones that weren’t fighting would sit back and feast on some delicious food. They would all work at weakening the boss over a period of several days, and in the end, they’d get together and hack it to pieces. If they were ever tired or faring poorly, they could just run back out of the boss room. The end result was the metal dragon simply being tormented to death by dozens of people, but everyone there got to call themselves a dragonslayer, even if they didn’t have a direct hand in defeating it.”
“That’s crazy! Most people would just leave and try again another day if they were unable to beat it.”
“Prestige is extremely important to knights and nobles. The shame would be too great for them to walk away in defeat.”
“But, man. Against those kinds of numbers, no matter how strong our Bull-Headed King is, that’s just unfair.”
“The first eight people to enter the room were burned by the boss’s breath and died instantly.”
“Huh? Wait, I don’t understand. Surely they were wearing equipment to increase magic defense and lessen elemental damage, right?”
“They weren’t. And why, you ask? They didn’t know it had that kind of attack. They were convinced it would use the Warcry skill characteristic of minotaurs. For that reason, they brought equipment specialized for physical defense and only prepared for resisting status effects.”
“Are you serious?! There’s no way. There’s no way they were that stupid. What a disgrace. Even kids know about how many skills His Majesty has.”
“Yep, it’s common knowledge. But the higher-ups at the royal castle were somehow unaware. Hardly surprising at this point, right?”
“Ba-ha-ha-ha! That’s too true. Even His Grace would’ve been hopeless if you just used four people to hold him down and then went all out with support magic.”
“But that’s the thing. They didn’t do anything to hold him down. The commander didn’t send anyone to restrain the minotaur and instead stood right outside the boss room, giving orders to the next party.”
“No way… That’ll get you killed for sure.”
“That it did. The commander was killed first. The party closest to him was next. And why did that happen, you ask? Because they didn’t know the King of the Labyrinth could leave his boss room.”
“…Huh? All it takes is a little common sense. If His Moojesty couldn’t leave the boss room, how do they think he got from the tenth floor to the hundredth?”
“No matter how much of a half-wit a person is, they should be able to realize that. We lowly peasants can’t begin to imagine how the exalted nobility thinks, though. Anyway, at this point, two parties had been taken out, but the Sazardon King’s incredible performance was only just getting started.”
“Ooooh, tell me what happened next.”
“I don’t know how our king even found out about this place, but he went straight for the army’s camp and began to lay siege to it. He killed the teleporters first, then the sorcerers who specialized in recovery. He then destroyed all their barriers. The same barriers they were using to keep the basilisks out.”
“Whoa.”
“And then, I don’t know how he did this, either, but he called the basilisks to the camp.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Having lost their commander and being swarmed by basilisks, the knights fell into mass confusion, every one of them fleeing in terror. Some were killed by running into a room full of hydras, and others became prey for our Supreme Overlord.”
“How shameful.”
“And finally came our Bovine Sovereign’s greatest touch—only the count who was there as an observer was left unharmed. When evening came, Eador, the leader of the Adventurers Guild, sent a teleporter, a scout, and a sorcerer specializing in defense to discreetly check on the knights, and they ended up rescuing the count. He was half-crazed and raving, but the guild leader was able to question him and learn everything that happened.”
“I-incredible. That’s our Two-Horned Emperor for ya! Man, I don’t know where that division came from, but those knights sound really pathetic.”
“Oh, you haven’t heard that, either? It was the Fourth Division of the Imperial Guard. The entire division.”
“What? The Imperial Guard? And they sent that many soldiers from a single division? So does that mean the Fourth Division is just gone now?”
“Anyone can see it was an attempt to increase the authority of the second prince or, more accurately, the authority of the Duke of Riga. There were, of course, those of the opinion that if they were going to send a hunting party from the Imperial Guard, they should choose knights from all the divisions. The duke rejected this, saying that the Fourth Division had the most elite knights and that they worked best together. And you know how that turned out. The Duke of Riga lost a lot of face. After all, the Fourth Division was made up of second and third sons from noble families loyal to him. Dissatisfaction and grudges mounted within his faction. They’re all trying to push the blame on others in order to protect their own positions, but the entire country knows the truth of what happened.”
“That we do! I’ll help to spread the word.”
“Heh-heh-heh. Spread it far and wide. It seems that Eador guy is already planting the seeds.”
“Hey, Pops.”
“What’s up?”
“We’ve been calling it the King of the Labyrinth as a joke…but that monster…”
“Yeah?”
“I mean, I get that it’s a monster, but…it’s really incredible.”
“It really is.”
“It was born on the tenth floor. Then, by some crazy miracle, it was able to leave its boss room. It defeated many strong enemies, and got stronger itself, and learned amazing techniques no minotaur has ever learned until now.”
“That’s right.”
“It challenged the boss of every floor as it worked its way down the labyrinth. In the end, it killed the metal dragon and became the new boss of the one hundredth floor. And despite its strength, it never initiates combat with humans. It kills humans who attack it, but if they run, it leaves them alone.”
“It doesn’t fight people weaker than it is. Our Minotaur Monarch is truly admirable. It doesn’t want to kill. It wants to fight. It’s a warrior through and through.”
“Yes, exactly! It’s a warrior. That and a very wealthy merchant.”
“A merchant?”
“There was something my teacher always told me. The merchants who work the hardest will find the most business. Just like His Royal Beefiness. He pushed himself harder than anybody, and now look at how far he’s come.”
“I see what you mean. That monster is a role model for merchants everywhere.”
“Exactly! It’s got to have an incredible amount of treasure. I’ll bet it’s as rich as anyone in the land. Hey, Pops.”
“What?”
“Let’s go drinking.”
“It’s a little early for that, but sure.”
“Let’s drink to the Monster King’s victory.”
“Hmm, as much as I’d love to, that could get us into trouble.”
“Okay then, let’s just drink to the prosperity of our king. We don’t have to say which king, though!”
“Ha-ha-ha! You know, Tormon…”
“What is it?”
“Someday a hero will appear and take down the minotaur.”
“Alone? That’s impossible.”
“If our beloved minotaur has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is impossible. Someday, someone will show up and take it down in a one-on-one duel. You may not think so, but I would bet that our king is even looking forward to that day.”
Viena poked her head into the room. “Sorry to disturb you, sir, but there’s a customer looking for a one-handed sword with a blessing that increases attack power. Could you please come help him?”
“Got it—I’ll be right out. Sorry, Tormon, but please wait a moment.”
“All right,” responded the merchant Tormon, and he lined up three chairs and lay himself down across them.
The area around the Sazardon Labyrinth was experiencing a period of prosperity.
Top-rank adventurers were gathering in droves, and mid-rank adventurers were following their lead. Micaene also attracted skilled merchants and craftsmen, which led to the very best goods being assembled there as well. This created benefits for beginner adventurers.
There were now a vast number of adventurers of every level in Micaene, and the Sazardon Labyrinth had the capacity to accommodate them all. Items obtained from this labyrinth were also vastly superior in quality and quantity when compared to other labyrinths.
There were many shops that bought items from adventurers and ones that bought and processed those items. There were shops that sold to adventurers and others that offered meals, lodging, and other services.
The Micaene Adventurers Guild was doing a great job of serving as mediator between these shops and the adventurers as well as providing various kinds of support.
There were also many new adventurers who decided to get their start in Micaene as well as those who moved there to settle down permanently.
They all had the ultimate goal of defeating the Labyrinth King.
Doing so would make them a hero of the modern age.
Nevertheless, such an event was likely still a long way off, so for now, the people of Baldemost could brag on their travels about the unique monster that couldn’t be found anywhere else.
Come to think of it, Tormon hadn’t seen any starving kids with ragged clothing in the streets of Micaene recently.
“That must also be thanks to our virtuous king,” Tormon muttered to himself as he dozed off to sleep.
2
“Pan’ja, calm down.”
“Do I not seem calm?”
“Not even a little bit. I think you’re too excited.”
“Ha-ha.”
Pan’ja Raban and Logan were both equipping their armor. Julius, the current head of House Mercurius, was also wearing armor.
House Riga was set to attack at any moment. A battle with everything on the line was about to begin.
Seventeen years had passed since the strange minotaur had appeared and Percival had lost his life. Panzel was now twenty-four years old and a knight. He should have been receiving a royal order from the palace to kill the minotaur at that very moment.
House Riga was taking advantage of Panzel’s absence by sending soldiers to attack House Mercurius. At the same time, they also had soldiers surrounding the royal palace and were pressuring the king to abdicate the throne to the second-eldest prince.
If they were able to fend off this attack, it would spell the end of House Riga, and there was nothing Pan’ja wished for more dearly than that.
“A vassal has returned from the royal palace.”
“Let him through.”
Pan’ja had given up his position as chief vassal for his successor and was now respected as a wise and veteran presence in the family. Old age and poor health kept him bedridden, but this was a time of emergency, so he left the softness of his bed to return to the battlefield, taking command of the family’s soldiers.
“I have returned from the royal palace.”
“Did he receive the royal order?”
“Yes. Sir Panzel ventured into the labyrinth along with an observer.”
“Who is the observer?”
“Evert Lowell.”
A feeling of relief swept through the room. House Lowell was a noble family of counsel, and Evert was an honorable person. He held the important office of privy counselor and was a trusted adviser of the king. There was no way he was a supporter of House Riga.
They had done all they could to prevent the observer from being someone in the pocket of the Duke of Riga. Everything should be fine if Evert was the observer.
“Wasn’t there a teleport sorcerer with some connection to Lord Evert?”
“Yes, sir. He is a vassal of House Lowell. He is waiting on the head of guild’s transport service in the labyrinth.”
Teleport sorcerers could teleport only to places they had been to at least once before. For that reason, to be able to travel everywhere within the labyrinth, they had to be escorted to the one hundredth floor at least once.
“What are the conditions for the hunt?”
“Sir Panzel has been restricted from taking recovery items or food.”
“Food?”
It was expected that he wouldn’t be allowed to use recovery items. If Panzel was to be established as the twenty-fifth Defender of the Realm, the first to be awarded the position in a thousand years, his strength needed to be overwhelming. Pan’ja knew the Duke of Riga’s faction was responsible for that reasoning. Regardless, while not being able to use recovery items was a harsh condition, Panzel should be able to handle it.
However, forbidding him from carrying food didn’t make any sense. There would be no time to eat during the duel with the minotaur anyway.
“Garrest’s force is approaching!”
This was no time to be lost in thought. The enemy was on the march.
Riga had made two lapses in judgment. First, he was counting on Panzel not returning from his fight with the minotaur. Second, he was working under the assumption that the bedridden Pan’ja Raban would be unable to get up and fight.
You’re going to regret underestimating us, Alkan, Duke of Riga.
I’m going to destroy you.
First your oldest son, Garrest, will die.
Today is the day I pay you back for everything you’ve done.
3
Humans were approaching.
They were clearly heading for this room.
It had been a long time.
It seemed as though this encounter would be worth the wait, though.
Thinking that this human was very strong, the minotaur grabbed its favorite sword. It was one dropped by the metal dragon the fiftieth time the minotaur defeated it. It was a thick longsword with a black blade that widened a little as it got closer to the tip. The blade was single-edged, but the tip was double-edged.
The sword was endowed with one of the five best blessings of any weapon the minotaur had obtained, but more importantly, it liked the length, weight, and how the grip felt in its hands.
It looked crude at a glance, but the blade was capable of carrying out the user’s will to the fullest. When the minotaur swung the weapon, it became one with the sword.
The blade was lacking in sharpness, but if swung with proper technique, it possessed fearsome cutting ability.
The minotaur had defeated the metal dragon multiple times with this sword and honed many techniques in the process.
The humans who entered his chamber were only two in number.
“It’s been a while, strange warrior. Though I doubt you remember me. Seventeen years ago, we met on the first floor of this labyrinth. You gave me a bracelet. It is thanks to that bracelet I was able to meet the people I serve today. We were able to cure my mother’s illness, and she lived out the rest of her days in happiness. For all of that, I thank you.”
The minotaur did not understand the language of man.
Once this human finished his ritualistic performance, though, he was going to come at it with incredible fighting spirit. That was what the minotaur understood, so it waited patiently for the knight to finish speaking.
“I have received a royal order from the king to kill you. Today, I want to use my strength to repay my debt to you. I hope we can have a great battle. The person behind me is just an observer. He will not participate in the fight.”
The black-haired, black-eyed knight drew his shining white sword and took one step forward. The man behind him stayed at the entrance.
The minotaur then understood that its only opponent was the man in front of it.
They faced each other with their swords in hand, and the minotaur realized this young human had a special strength. There was no doubt he was stronger than any swordsman it had encountered yet.
The minotaur planned to use a lunging attack once they both entered striking distance, but the knight got the jump on it and struck first.
This challenger was very skilled. The minotaur was impressed by how quickly he was able to predict how it would move.
The knight held his long, beautiful white sword in both hands and slashed upward from right to left. From the minotaur’s point of view, the attack was coming from the left and moving up toward its torso.
The minotaur lifted its sword with both hands from the right to repel the knight’s attack. Before its black blade met the knight’s white sword, though, a chill ran down its spine.
The minotaur’s instinct told it the knight’s sword could not be blocked with normal force. It braced itself and its weapon for impact.
The knight somehow made the swing look casual, but it had unbelievable weight behind it as it crashed into the minotaur’s sturdy sword.
The knight then took advantage of the minotaur’s defensive reaction, all the weight behind his previous attack disappearing instantly as he raised his sword and swung in a brilliant arc for the minotaur’s neck.
The move was natural and efficient, like he had planned it from the beginning.
This skill!
A surge of emotion welled up within the minotaur, coursing through its body and sending its thoughts racing.
Him.
Him.
I was born to fight him.
I became strong in order to kill him.
The minotaur quickly raised its black blade to block the knight’s white sword, which was heading for the back of its neck on the left side.
The fact that the man was in a position to aim for the minotaur’s neck also meant he was in range for the minotaur to strike at any part of his body.
The minotaur thrust its sword down to the left, aiming for the knight’s right flank. He should have been too close to have any option other than to jump to the side to try to minimize damage from the minotaur’s attack.
Instead, the knight made no effort to move, changing course with his sword in midair and aiming for the minotaur’s neck on the right.
The minotaur released its grip with its left hand, bent its right elbow, and used the hilt to block the knight’s blade.
This knocked the knight’s sword off course, and the minotaur was able to twist its neck to avoid his slash.
The knight’s weapon ended up cutting off half of the minotaur’s right horn.
The minotaur was surprised. His opponent had not even considered protecting himself, instead remaining totally cool and aiming for the minotaur’s neck.
Just who is this human?
The knight’s sword was still in the air from his previous attack, which gave the minotaur a chance to strike. It quickly drew its left hand back, then swung its sword in a clockwise circular motion.
It was a beautiful, perfect circle.
Ever since its intense battle to the death with that swordsman, the minotaur could not stop thinking about the beautiful circular arcs its victim had drawn with his sword. The minotaur wanted to be able to draw those circles, too.
So it practiced.
Horizontal circles.
Vertical circles.
Circles cutting with the tip of the sword.
Circles cutting with the shaft of the sword.
Circles to entrap its opponent.
Circles to knock its opponent down.
It then came to understand the beauty, the strength, the reliability of the circle.
The attack the minotaur was using now was the strongest it had created in training.
It swung its sword in a circle over the knight’s head, encompassing his entire body.
Even if the human reacted to this move with a perfect stance, the minotaur’s attack had too much force for him to catch any blows or dodge. The minotaur had formed an arc inside of which it was completely safe. There was nothing the knight could do to defend himself.
Just as I was unable to do anything against the circle that swordsman created, now that you are in mine, you will be destroyed.
Escape is impossible. I will slice open your stomach, your back, your legs.
Believing the battle was nearly over, the minotaur watched as the knight withdrew his blade and took a half step back.
The minotaur’s black sword swung for the challenger with perfect accuracy and certain death in mind, but the knight made no move to block, instead swinging his white sword in the exact same arc, with the same trajectory.
The two blades rushed toward each other like lovers bound by fate as they sliced through the air.
The minotaur tried to maintain the trajectory of its sword, but excess speed in the tip caused it to be knocked off course. The knight’s weapon traced his intended trajectory that would have blocked the minotaur’s sword, returning to his side.
They both stepped back and gathered their breath.
The whole exchange had occurred in the span of two breaths. Their back-and-forth was thrilling and pleased the minotaur to no end. Its excitement grew with each blow, and it was filled with such ecstasy that it thought its heart would burst.
During their last exchange, the minotaur had discovered one of the knight’s weak points—his blade.
The knight’s white sword was quite sharp. However, with a strong enough swing, the minotaur should have been able to break it.
This human would not be defeated by simple technique. The minotaur decided it would put everything it had, all the destructive force it could muster, into its next blow.
It then activated skills to double its attack power, raise its physical strength and defense, and double its critical rate. While the minotaur was activating its skills, the knight did the same.
He has good sense.
He must also be going all out with his next attack.
But when our swords meet, yours will break, and you will die.
The minotaur sucked in a large breath, held its sword high above its head, drew on every bit of its strength, traced a giant arc, and from the apex, swung down with all its might.
The knight also traced a magnificent arc and met the minotaur’s sword head-on.
The black and white swords clashed directly for the first time. Their impact was accompanied by an explosive sound, and sparks flew as both blades broke.
The white sword shattered into bluish-silver fragments, and the black sword shattered into purplish-red fragments, all flying up into the air and shining as they fell to the ground.
The minotaur thought it beautiful. This was the first time this strange monster, born underground and certain to die there, had ever seen stars.
That was the skill known as Weapon Destruction. The minotaur could use this skill itself, so it knew it well. It could not believe the knight had trained in it enough to be capable of breaking its black sword, though.
Had its opponent responded to that blow any other way, he would have suffered a lethal wound.
The minotaur expected them both to step back and draw new swords. The knight, however, defied his expectations.
Still barehanded, he spread his hands wide and grabbed the minotaur.
Do you plan to match me in a contest of strength?
After a moment of bewilderment, the minotaur met his challenge.
Right hand met left, and left met right as they gripped each other’s fingers tightly.
The knight had a large build for a human, but the minotaur was a full head taller. The minotaur leaned in, trying to crush the challenger from above with its weight.
But he would not break.
The knight’s arm strength rivaled the minotaur’s, and the minotaur could not move him at all. It was surprised.
The knight was cleverly tightening his gauntlet-covered fingers into the minotaur’s in a way that prevented it from exercising its full strength.
This meant it was not a simple contest of strength. The knight was employing a special technique of his.
Even understanding that, this monster born as violence incarnate could not help but be infuriated.
A challenge of strength?
With a mere human?
Don’t be absurd.
You think you can hold back my power using some trick?
The minotaur sucked in a quick breath, then immediately leaned forward as hard as it could.
That was exactly the moment the knight had been waiting for.
Once the minotaur leaned forward, he twisted his body, pushed with his legs, and sent the minotaur’s massive figure hurling through the air.
To the minotaur, it felt as if it had been sent flying by its own strength.
After it landed, the knight grabbed the minotaur’s right wrist with his right hand and twisted it behind its back. He then held down its back with his right knee and wrapped his left arm around the minotaur’s throat.
Just like that, the knight began wringing the minotaur’s neck.
This was bad. It would be killed if it could not escape its opponent’s hold.
The minotaur kicked its feet to free itself but was having trouble moving. Its entire body was being hindered by the lock the knight had on its right hand behind its back.
The minotaur grabbed the knight’s left hand in its own and tried ripping him off its neck but was unsuccessful.
The man had impossible strength for a human. His arms were as tough as bronze, and the minotaur could not move them.
Dammit.
Is this also some kind of trick?
In the brief moment we both took to activate our skills, I only focused on my sword, but did he prepare all these skills to be used in quick succession?
The minotaur tried its best to endure, but the knight’s muscles were abnormally tough and resisted any attempt it made to free itself.
Eventually, a dull crack sounded, echoing throughout the room.
That was it.
Its neck was broken.
The strength of the minotaur’s entire body vanished.
It was still barely alive, and had it been given just a little time, it probably could have used a regeneration skill to cure all its injuries. The knight did not give it that time.
Its head was likely to be cut off at any moment. This would be the minotaur’s final battle. It had no regrets.
This human had proved he was an extraordinarily skilled fighter with his strength, skill with a sword, and barehanded technique.
The minotaur was grateful to have been able to experience such a battle.
It did not understand the language of man, so it did not know the name of the goddess who had given it her blessing or the contents of the promise she had made him. It understood fully, though, that its wish had been granted and that it never would have had this opportunity without having been given a second life.
The minotaur let out a long and deep groan.
It was a prayer of thanks from the minotaur to the earth goddess Bora as its life came to an end.
4
When Panzel heard the minotaur’s neck break, he knew his gamble had paid off.
The moment he’d become aware that he would likely receive a royal order to take down the minotaur, he began preparing.
He’d requested the help of the guild leader and performed a thorough investigation into the minotaur’s history and capabilities, its body structure and characteristics, and more. After all that research, Panzel had decided the best strategy would be to use a barehanded fighting style.
The minotaur’s skeletal structure, muscles, and joints were surprisingly similar to humans’. As a result, joint-locking techniques one wouldn’t use on most monsters would prove surprisingly effective against the minotaur. He also figured the minotaur would not have much, if any, experience dealing with that kind of attack.
This minotaur had achieved mastery of the sword. Panzel wouldn’t have lost in a sword fight, but given that the minotaur’s body was incredibly thick, he had no idea how much damage it would actually take to kill it.
The minotaur also had the stamina to fight the metal dragon for days on end. He couldn’t see a way to defeat his opponent in a sword fight and was also unlikely to outlast it.
For that reason, he’d broke the minotaur’s sword, engaged it in hand-to-hand combat, then used a joint-locking technique to enable himself to break the beast’s neck.
Fighting the minotaur without a weapon seemed like an absurd plan, but through this method, Panzel had seen his path to victory. One of the preeminent martial artists of the Jan’Majar Temple occasionally visited the Baldemost Kingdom on business, so Panzel had discreetly invited him to their estate and requested special training. Under his tutelage, Panzel learned techniques that allowed him to increase his strength exponentially in a very short period of time.
He also worked on his weapon-breaking skill while training under Logan.
Now he had succeeded in snapping the minotaur’s neck.
It was still alive but was definitely on the verge of death. All he had to do was cut off the minotaur’s head, and it would die. When he tried to draw a sword out of his Treasury, though, it happened.
He felt a sharp pain in his side.
The noble who had accompanied him as an observer had stabbed a dagger through a gap in his armor.
The searing pain from the stab wound told him the dagger must have been poisoned.
“Evert… Why?”
At that moment, the minotaur’s body spasmed. Its regeneration skill had begun healing its damage.
The minotaur grabbed Evert’s leg with surprising speed. He had just removed the dagger from Panzel’s side and was attempting to step back when the minotaur slammed him face-first onto the stone floor.
As he slowly got to his feet, Panzel saw that Evert had been stabbed in the chest by the poisoned dagger.
“I’m sorry, Panzel.” He remained on his knees without trying to run, as if he had accepted that he was going to die or perhaps as atonement for betraying his partner’s trust. “It was a trap. From the beginning, all of it. Even the promise that you would be made Defender of the Realm if you defeated the minotaur.”
“I understood that I was not expected to win,” responded Panzel.
“Even still, you accepted the job. You had no choice but to accept it. Being named Defender of the Realm would have given you an influential voice with which to support your master during this difficult time. Refusal was not an option because it was a direct order from the king, but if you didn’t want to do it, your master would not have consented.”
“So I was supposed to die here. You were named the observer to stab me with the poisoned dagger on the small chance I actually won. Lord Evert, I never would have thought you were a dog for the Duke of Riga.”
“Panzel, you’re too good for this country. Your master is too good for this country. I can’t say I’m comfortable with Riga’s tyranny, but if the eldest prince ascends to the throne, the political purge of Riga’s faction will be unavoidable. That will break the country. Our kingdom is currently too wealthy, too big. It will not hold if a significant portion of its nobles are forcibly removed.”
“If the lords could reconcile their differences, none of that would need to happen.”
“Even if the purge is carried out, the northern campaign would not end well. Surely you know the strength of the northern knights. It will only bring misery to the people. We can’t allow the kingdom to go in that direction.” Evert made a pained expression and continued. “At this moment, Riga’s soldiers are heading for your lord’s estate.”
“I know, but even if it comes to battle, they won’t lose. My lord has already assembled the troops. We outnumber Riga’s army and would beat them on spirit alone. I’m sure you know that as well as anyone.”
“I am certainly familiar with House Mercurius’s wisdom and bravery. However, you’ll find their bravery lacking at the moment.”
“During the invasion of the southern barbarians, my lord distinguished himself as a great warrior. During the rebellion of House Shen, he rushed to the mausoleum and protected the royal graveyard from harm. He also led a small force to snuff out the bandits who were wreaking havoc on the highways. Can you really look at all that and say that he lacks bravery?”
“I won’t deny any of that. But Mercurius’s bravery comes from you. If you are with him, he is capable of showing valor equal to yours. With you out of the picture, though, he will not find it. The previous chief vassal will rise from his bed and take command for a time, but that won’t last long. Once his energy is spent, the battle will be over. Your lord will die. But the house will remain. If you and your lord die, the eldest prince will have to commit suicide. His Majesty will abdicate, and the second prince will ascend to the throne. Panzel, it appears my time is up… I’m sorry.”
Evert died after he finished speaking, and his body disappeared.
Panzel kneeled in front of his dropped items and said a silent prayer.
Evert had come here knowing he would die, which meant no one would come to retrieve them. If Panzel wanted to leave the labyrinth, he had no choice but to ascend the one hundred floors on foot. He was unfamiliar with this labyrinth, so finding his way through its corridors while dealing with vicious monsters would be a struggle.
Panzel had spare weapons but no recovery items. He had water but no food. Such were the conditions for the hunt.
The effects of the poison were being suppressed by Panzel’s powerful resistance, but it would eventually kill him. Even if he had not been poisoned, he would not have had the stamina to make it out of the labyrinth without food.
If he came across adventurers on the way up, he would be able to borrow potions and food from them. Right now, though, the harvest festival was in full swing. It was highly unlikely he would meet anyone else in the labyrinth. He had no way of reaching the entrance.
He had no hope of making it in time for the battle.
Despite all that, Panzel was confident in what he needed to do.
“Strange warrior. I must apologize to you. Something I need to do has arisen. I will return someday to resolve this.”
The minotaur understood it had lost to this human. Had there been no interference, the knight would have severed its head from its neck.
It needed to give a reward to the victor.
The minotaur rose, reached into its Bag, and gave the human the best reward it could manage: a one-handed sword and one shortsword. It laid them down in front of the one who had bested it.
After some hesitation, Panzel picked up the two blades.
Had he been able to appraise the abilities of the swords then and there, he would have been astonished.
The one-handed sword was a drop from the minotaur’s one hundredth victory against the metal dragon. It was called Bora’s Sword.
This weapon was imbued with some incredible blessings.
Attack Power ×3
Critical-Hit Rate up 20%
Movement Speed up 80%
Attack Speed up 80%
Health Leech up 10%
Mana Regen up 20%
Basic Stats up 60%
Automatic Damage Recovery
These blessings worked even outside of labyrinths. The sword was a treasure worthy of being called a divine weapon.
The shortsword was called Kaldan’s Dagger and also had elite blessings that worked outside of labyrinths.
Removes all Status Ailments
Cures Poison
Grants Holy Element
Doubles Intellect
Grants Access to Floor Map
Panzel took the one-handed sword in his right hand and the shortsword in his left, bowed to the minotaur, and left the room.
5
Twenty-eight years passed.
The number of people visiting the minotaur increased for a time, then eventually decreased.
Now a new challenger was standing in front of the minotaur.
It was a young knight with black hair and black eyes. In his right hand, he held the one-handed sword the minotaur had given the man who’d beaten it twenty-eight years earlier.
In his left hand, he’d equipped a shield furnished with a powerful blessing.
The minotaur could not see it from where it was standing, but using its Search skill, it could sense the knight had that shortsword strapped to the inside of his shield and was wearing the bracelet from all those years ago on his left hand.
It could sense particularly strong blessings from the bracelet and the charm on his neck.
Above all, this knight had amazing skill and presence of mind.
The minotaur’s body trembled with the anticipation of a worthy challenge.
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt
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Copyright
Copyright
King of the Labyrinth, Vol. 1
Shien BIS
Translation by Luke Hutton
Cover art by Noriko Meguro
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
MEIKYU NO OU Volume 1
© 2019 Shien BIS. All rights reserved.
First published in Japan in 2019 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
English translation © 2021 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: BIS, Shien, author.
Title: King of the labyrinth / Shien BIS.
Other titles: Meikyuu no ou. English
Description: New York : Yen On, 2021–
Identifiers: LCCN 2020043580 | ISBN 9781975317263 (v. 1 ; hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Minotaur (Greek mythological character)—Fiction. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PL868.I8 M4513 2020 | DDC 895.63/6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020043580
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-1726-3 (hardcover)978-1-9753-1727-0 (ebook)
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter1.txt
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Chapter 11: The Defender of the Realm
Chapter 11
The Defender of the Realm
1
Faster.
Faster!
Rising from the depths of the Sazardon Labyrinth, a place teeming with powerful monsters, Panzel ran as fast as his legs would carry him.
He all but flew up the tall staircases, as if exhaustion was a foreign concept. He moved with a speed that anyone well acquainted with the labyrinth would have thought impossible.
Bora’s Sword increased its user’s movement speed by 80 percent. It also increased energy, stamina, intellect, and all other stats by 60 percent. This item’s blessing was what allowed Panzel to ascend the floors of the labyrinth with extreme haste. He was already a very skilled knight, but the blade’s blessing had elevated him to superhuman levels.
He slipped safely past any monsters that tried to attack him. If one happened to block his path, he slashed through it effortlessly. In addition to the aforementioned benefits, Bora’s Sword also tripled the user’s attack power and increased their attack speed by 80 percent.
The base attack power of Bora’s Sword was quite high, and Panzel already had the greatest physical strength and combat proficiency in the kingdom. Against all the blessings at his disposal, the monsters’ high defense and agility meant nothing.
Furthermore, this divine sword also increased its user’s critical-hit rate by 20 percent. A critical hit was a blow to an enemy’s vital point, making the attack far deadlier than usual.
Panzel absorbed the stamina of the monsters he cut down, and any injuries he suffered were healed in a flash. This was thanks to the 10 percent–stamina absorption blessing granted by Bora’s Sword, which not only relieved his exhaustion but also healed his injuries.
A blessing that granted 20 percent mana regeneration reinforced Panzel’s high critical-thinking ability and fighting spirit, and even if his sword was damaged, a blessing that automatically repaired it restored the blade to its sharpest condition.
There were many monsters in the labyrinth that possessed the ability to inflict poison or curses. This was where Kaldan’s Dagger came in handy. The dagger was equipped with blessings that removed all status ailments and cured poison, and it also granted the holy element to its user.
On top of that, the dagger revealed the map of the current labyrinth floor to its bearer and doubled their intellect, allowing Panzel to sprint through the labyrinth despite being unfamiliar with its layout.
In other words, simply having the dagger at his hip caused the map of any floor he entered as well as the positions of all monsters on that level to appear in his mind, allowing him to instantly find the quickest, safest route.
Strange warrior… I have no words that can accurately convey my gratitude for these priceless treasures.
I’ll return to you one day, and we’ll settle things between us.
I’m sure that’s what you’re waiting for.
But right now…
Right now…
In order to save his lord and his benefactor from those who would threaten them…to protect them from the wicked ones that skulked within the shadows of the kingdom…Panzel had to return to the surface as quickly as possible.
2
Pan’ja Raban, the chief vassal of House Mercurius, and Panzel first met in the year 1079 of the Royal Calendar. By welcoming him into House Mercurius as a vassal, Pan’ja had opened Panzel’s eyes to the world. Thereafter, Panzel demonstrated tremendous growth.
Julius, the young head of House Mercurius, had also shown remarkable growth. The king watched his progress from afar. Julius had been born of a secret marriage, and his mother was the king’s beloved half-sister.
Once Panzel had finally become a knight, his achievements were many and varied. In turn, these victories were accredited to his lord, Julius, for such was the will of the king. This further grew the military prestige of House Mercurius. They remained a noble family without any territory. Their estate in the royal capital swelled in size, however, and their soldiers greatly increased in number.
Three years earlier, in the year 1076, Alkan, the Duke of Riga, had made a declaration.
“Any person who singlehandedly defeats the monster that wiped out the Fourth Division of the Imperial Guard will be lauded as a hero on par with the founders of our kingdom.”
House Riga possessed power and wealth surpassing any house in the kingdom. Alkan was sixty years old that year, and he had been serving as the White Minister—the kingdom’s head of government—for thirty-one years. In the world of politics, he was a monster.
This declaration by House Riga greatly surprised the king, as they had also promised that if Panzel exterminated the minotaur, he would be named Defender of the Realm. Such a thing was unprecedented.
The appointment of the crown prince could not be put off any longer, and that was proving problematic for the kingdom.
The king wanted to make the first prince—the son of the first queen consort—the heir to the throne. Conversely, the Duke of Riga, who was the father of the second queen consort, wanted to make the second prince—his grandson—the heir. The Privy Council was leaning toward supporting Riga’s faction.
But Julius, who had a seat at the imperial court as the head of one of the noble families of counsel, had the following to say:
“It is an ancient tradition that the eldest son inherits the house. Does that not apply to the kingdom as well?” This comment altered the political landscape.
Julius gained a lot of support among the young nobility. Meanwhile, older nobles who knew him as the king’s nephew did not take his words lightly. He also made a convincing argument.
And so the case for the first prince to be named heir gained momentum.
The king deeply wished to promote Panzel to a high rank among the knights—high enough even to give him a seat at the imperial court.
The founders of the kingdom to whom the Duke of Riga was referring in his declaration were the twenty-four heroes who were named Defenders of the Realm after helping the founding king establish the kingdom. Each was appointed the first head of a noble house. Even one thousand years later, no one since had been granted this title.
If Panzel was named Defender of the Realm, he would obtain status equal to that of the noble families of counsel and would rise to the imperial court. That would mean the first prince would have a chance of being made the heir.
The one most opposed to Panzel earning a court seat was the Duke of Riga. For this reason, it made no sense for him to propose the possibility of Panzel being named Defender of the Realm, and it explained why the notion roused suspicion.
Even then, the king couldn’t overlook that chance, so he strongly supported Riga’s declaration. That was how it was decided that Panzel would face the minotaur.
The duel was scheduled for the day of the harvest festival because everyone would be out celebrating, meaning there would be no one in the labyrinth. Panzel wouldn’t intrude on anyone’s exploration, and there would be no one to interfere with the fight.
On the day of the harvest festival, Panzel was summoned to the palace and given the royal order to kill the minotaur, and he ventured to the labyrinth immediately afterward.
As if he had been waiting for Panzel’s departure, Bolan Nadal, the Baron of Paulo at the time, sent his troops to House Mercurius. The army marched under both the banners of the Baron of Paulo and of Garrest, the eldest son of the Duke of Riga.
The head of House Nadal was one of the most powerful lords among the feudal states of Fenks. But in the year 1040, under the guidance of Molzora, the Duke of Riga at the time, the house was subjugated and made into a baron’s house of Baldemost. The army advancing on House Mercurius was very powerful.
House Mercurius gathered their defenses and met the assault.
At the same time, a section of the Duke of Riga’s forces surrounded the royal palace.
As House Mercurius was holding off the Baron of Paulo’s fierce attack, Panzel made his return.
3
“I have returned, my lord.”
“Panzel, you’re back!”
“My deepest apologies for taking so long. Truthfully…”
And so Panzel reported to Julius and Pan’ja Raban, the former chief vassal of House Mercurius and the current commander of its forces, all that had transpired within the labyrinth. Panzel then asked if he could borrow Alestra’s Bracelet from Julius.
“Of course. Here you go.”
Panzel equipped Alestra’s Bracelet and kneeled in front of Julius.
“I await your orders to crush the enemy commander.”
“You may go.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Proceeding alone, Panzel opened the gate, walked outside, passed through the magic barrier, and began to force his way through the enemy army. As he pressed forward, he cut down anyone who approached him, slicing through their armor as if it were paper.
Though enemy soldiers were able to land clean hits on Panzel, he didn’t appear to be taking any damage. He had Bora’s Sword to thank for that. The blessings on most items obtained in labyrinths did not work in the outside world, but Bora’s Sword was an exception.
Panzel headed directly for Pantram Square, where the invaders flew their two banners. Aiming for House Riga’s banner, he hid himself among the enemy soldiers.
Not long after, he returned to the estate. No one attacked him this time—they just watched him go, paralyzed with fear. Panzel knelt in front of Julius again, this time presenting the head of the enemy commander, Garrest.
Then, under new orders from Julius, he led a host of soldiers to the royal palace, entered the service of the Imperial Guard’s First Division leader, and thenceforth protected the palace and the first prince.
The Baron of Paulo fled the capital, the Duke of Riga claimed that he had dispatched his soldiers to protect the royal palace, and the disturbance came to an end.
This event came to be known as the Pantram Revolt.
4
Soon afterward, the Privy Council opened session.
Alkan claimed that the Baron of Paulo was the ringleader of the rebellion and that his eldest son, Garrest, was tricked into supporting it. He called what his son did an unforgivable crime, apologized to the king, and presented the heads of Garrest’s children and close aides.
Many inquired about the guilt of House Riga, but Alkan handled that ingeniously. The truth would remain unclear until the Baron of Paulo was summoned and questioned, so the investigation had to be closed there.
Meanwhile, the king and many of his subjects were distracted by Panzel and Bora’s Sword. When it came out that Panzel had received the blessed one-handed sword from the minotaur, people became obsessed with the blade.
Under royal decree, Panzel was made to fight one hundred knights from the Imperial Guard and then give Bora’s Sword to the commander of the Imperial Guard’s First Division and fight him. He won both fights, for the blessings of Bora’s Sword did not work for anyone other than him.
Panzel was named Defender of the Realm, and he went on to establish House Goran. Alkan stepped down from his seat as White Minister, and his second son, Draydol, ascended to the seat of Blue Minister. Out of the White, Red, Blue, and Black Ministers, blue was the third-highest ranking position.
An envoy was sent from the royal palace to the Baron of Paulo, Bolan Nadal, to request a cross-examination. The baron told the messenger he would answer with his sword.
That year, an army led by lords from Baldemost attacked the Paulo domain. The feudal states of Fenks didn’t have a king; decisions were instead made through a conference of the various nobles. The knights in service of the lords of Fenks were called the Northern Knights. They were known for their heavy equipment and awe-inspiring strength, and no country had ever beaten them in a battle of equal numbers. Their might could not be understated.
The Paulo domain was not given to House Nadal by Baldemost. They owned the land originally. It consisted of a fertile plain surrounded on all sides by steep mountains, which made it extremely difficult to attack.
Bolan, the baron at the time, achieved glowing military victories in Baldemost in recent years, and until the emergence of Panzel, he was known as the greatest military commander in the kingdom.
Because the Paulo domain consisted of a stronghold built by nature, and because they were battling House Nadal’s Northern Knights, everyone in Baldemost believed they were fighting an unwinnable war, which would end in a simple show of pride from the king. Even the lords who led the invasion were behaving as if their advance was just for show.
However, in a shocking turn of events, Panzel, one hundred Imperial Guard knights, and the two hundred House Mercurius soldiers who had been placed under his command broke through the natural stronghold and invaded the core of the Paulo domain. Panzel then took the Imperial Guardsmen and smashed a force of two hundred and fifty Northern Knights under the command of Bolan.
The Northern Knights were supposed to be impossible to defeat, even with overwhelming numbers. Panzel defeated them with a force half the size of his enemy’s. This victory caused his fame to spread throughout the entire northern part of the continent.
Bolan enlisted the help of the influential Lord Banust and fled the country. Baldemost demanded Lord Banust hand over Bolan. However, Lord Banust insisted the Paulo domain be returned to Fenks, and so negotiations began.
The next year, 1097 of the Royal Calendar, Panzel married Esseluleia, and Julius joined the cabinet as the Black Minister. Draydol ascended to the seat of Red Minister.
In 1098, Julius was married. The revolt in the Paulo domain was suppressed, and the region was renamed Keza. Keza was then given to Julius, who was named Marquis of Keza.
In year 1100 of the Royal Calendar, Panzel’s oldest son, Arza, and Julius’s oldest daughter, Serruria, were born. Pan’ja Raban passed away, and Draydol became the White Minister. The peace talks with Lord Banust were severed, and war broke out between Baldemost and fourteen lords from the feudal states of Fenks.
The war continued for just over three years.
Baldemost invaded with the crown prince serving as the supreme commander of their armies, and Panzel’s godlike performance expanded their occupied territory in Fenks.
The Baron of Paulo fought Panzel several times and had the following to say about him:
“He is the god of thunder made flesh…”
From then on, the knights of Fenks came to call him Thunderstorm Panzel out of reverence.
Panzel defeated Lord Banust’s Northern Knights multiple times despite their reputation as the strongest warriors in Fenks. He decapitated the Baron of Paulo, drove Lord Banust to suicide and captured his castle, and was one step away from gaining total dominion over the entire Banust domain.
Then in 1103, he died suddenly in military service. At first, the cause of death was unclear, but it was later determined that it was overuse of the divine sword’s blessings.
A peace treaty was established through the efforts of Julius, and the Banust region became part of Baldemost. The occupied territory was given to House Goran, and Panzel was posthumously awarded the title of Marquis of Banust.
Thus, the life of Panzel the hero came to an end. He was thirty-one years old. His son Arza was raised by Julius, under whose care he learned to fight.
In year 1114 of the Royal Calendar, Arza turned fourteen, changed his name to Zara, became an adventurer, and took his first steps into the Sazardon Labyrinth. He leveled up at an astonishing rate, and after only a year and a half, he managed to reach the sixtieth floor of the labyrinth by himself. He then rose to level 65 and became an S-rank adventurer.
A new hero was being born.
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Interlude 5
Interlude 5
When the minotaur defeated the metal dragon for the hundredth time, a small entrance had appeared opposite the boss room on the outermost hallway of the one hundredth floor. However, the minotaur had never gone near it.
Actually, it did pass by once, when the large mob of humans had attacked. It had approached the opening while raging around the floor, but it never noticed.
Anyone without the proper qualifications was incapable of seeing it.
The minotaur once again left the boss room of the one hundredth floor, killed three more hydras, and walked along the corridors.
It did not have a destination in mind. It just wanted to move its body. It just wanted to struggle.
The minotaur then passed in front of the small entrance.
What is this?
I should have passed this spot many times before.
But if this was here, there is no way I would not have noticed.
Which means it must have appeared after I secluded myself in the metal dragon’s room.
Through the entrance was a long corridor that descended slightly as it went.
The minotaur wondered if there was anything at the other end of that long hallway. There could even have been another staircase down, which it had given up on finding.
It stepped through the entrance and entered a hallway it had never seen before.
The passageway extended far into the distance.
The minotaur pressed forward.
It walked and walked, but the corridor never ended.
The staircase down from the ninety-ninth to the one hundredth floor was also incredibly long, but this was much longer.
The hallway was pitch-black, but that was not a problem for the minotaur thanks to its Night Vision skill and various other sensory skills.
It tried expanding the range of its Perception skill but did not detect anything. That meant there were no living creatures nearby.
The minotaur kept walking.
It was unaware of how long it had been walking. It was likely an even longer distance than existed between the first and one hundredth floors of the Sazardon Labyrinth.
As soon as it started to consider the journey fruitless, it saw a dim light ahead.
When it drew closer to the light, it saw there was a small open space at the end of the hallway. It appeared to be a dead end.
It felt slightly disappointed, but when it stepped into the open space, some flat stones arranged in a circle in the center of the room lit up with a blue glow.
Illuminated by the blue light coming from the ground in the otherwise pitch-black room, the minotaur looked like a strange god of legend.
The light must have been telling it to step onto the stones. That is what the minotaur decided, so it did just that.
Then, the minotaur disappeared.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter11.txt
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Chapter 16: The Raging Flames
Chapter 16
The Raging Flames
1
It’s raining.
I listen closely to the sound.
I hear it splashing against the leaves on the trees in the garden. I hear it falling into the pond. I hear it against the ground. I hear it reverberating off the roof of the distant gazebo.
I let the sounds wash over me. On rainy days like this, I open the lid of the box shut away deep in my heart.
Flames rage within that box. Flames of a deep-seated grudge that will never die.
If I were to release those flames, they would consume me, the people I hold dear, and this entire country, bringing everything to ruin.
That is why, on rainy days like this, I gently open the box. The sound calms the raging flames. I just barely escape being consumed by the desire for revenge sealed within.
Even then, the flames will occasionally flare up and threaten to engulf me in a scarlet rage. A part of me wouldn’t mind if that happened. A part of me wishes nothing more than for that to happen.
The flames were lit within me when I was five years old, and at eighty-one, they are still burning strong.
2
I wonder if that boy knows that although he calls me his savior, he is actually mine.
He is the one who saved me. Well, he’s not a boy anymore. He is the head of the twenty-fifth noble family of counsel and the first Defender of the Realm in over one thousand years.
He is a rare hero who defeated an invincible monster and won a divine sword, stamped out a rebellion and decapitated the ringleader, overpowered one hundred knights in the presence of the king, smashed the fearless Northern Knights and won the land of Keza.
But to me, Panzel Goran, the Defender of the Realm, is still a boy. The way I see him has not changed since he first appeared before me in front of the Sazardon Labyrinth.
When I met him, he was holding Alestra’s Bracelet, so I thought Lord Percival must have sent him to me. I thought he was telling me this boy would be a worthy person to raise to support Lord Julius. I don’t think that was wrong.
But then I met Panzel’s mother and learned his father was the grandson of Eisha Goran. I knew then that Panzel must also have been sent to me by Eisha.
3
Eisha was born in the south. It’s thought that his birthplace was likely in the northwest of the Gorenza Empire, near the Era Wetlands.
He made a name for himself at a young age in the imperial capital as a swordsman. He excelled in military strategy and had great knowledge of history, and many lords wanted him to enter their service. Instead, he wandered the land without an employer and made a living teaching the sword.
While touring the countries in the south and challenging renowned warriors in each area, he came to be known as an unparalleled swordsman. His admirers grew in number, and many kings and lords invited him to serve them under extraordinary terms. However, he did not enter anyone’s service.
His wandering eventually brought him to the Baldemost Kingdom in the north. At that point, his fame was already great even there, and the lords were vigorous in their attempts to invite him into their homes. Where Eisha decided to visit was the estate of my father, Mazel Sou La Vald.
At that time, my father was nothing more than an average knight of the Imperial Guard, but his ability with the sword surpassed that of his peers. Eisha visited my father’s sword instructor, and it was through him that he ended up being introduced to and crossing blades with my father.
Their fierce fight became the stuff of legends. Afterward, they drank enough beer to tear holes in their stomachs, and they became great friends.
The broad-minded Eisha and my diligent and honest father hit it off immediately. They had shared interests in both their love for swords and their love for alcohol. Whenever Eisha was asked why he came north, he would always say it was because he had gotten tired of southern booze.
My father entrusted the education of my older brother and me to Eisha. My brother started official sword training right away, but as I was young, Eisha and I mostly just ran around the hills and fields.
I would run with all my strength, laugh, and eat. I learned about grass, trees, and beasts. I also learned about water, the sky, the earth, the mountains, and the way of the universe.
My father was often away on business, so to me, it felt like Eisha was my real father.
Eisha was by no means my father’s vassal. He simply lived at our estate. My father never ordered Eisha to do anything, and Eisha never humbled himself to my father as one would to their employer.
My father must have been giving Eisha some money to live off. I don’t know anything about that. Nor do I need to know.
Eisha was my father’s friend, and he was family to all of us.
4
It was beyond astounding when my father was selected to be the Royal Inspector. It was a post of great honor and responsibility.
The Royal Inspector is one who works for the king directly. The purview of the position concerns the affairs of government and the administration of justice. The Royal Inspector has the authority to freely scrutinize all governmental activities within the royal palace, press charges for wrongdoing, and submit a detailed report for punishment to their superior. They even carry out a fixed range of punishments by themselves toward local bureaucracies directly under the king’s control. Furthermore, regarding matters entrusted to a lord by the king, they are able to perform independent investigations and report rewards and punishments. If the Royal Inspector reports wrongdoing related to one’s duty, even a cabinet minister or a prefectural governor can be beheaded, and lords can stand to lose a lot of their rights.
Naturally, government officials use every means imaginable to get on a Royal Inspector’s good side. Much preparation is undertaken to ensure the position isn’t given to someone who can be won over by bribes or flattery.
But the Royal Inspector is a high appointment. The king himself chooses the person for the job, and at least according to regulations, no one else can select a candidate unless the king makes a direct inquiry. The Royal Inspector is also one of the only senior positions at court that can be filled by someone who isn’t a high-ranking noble. Even then, a regular knight of the Imperial Guard ascending to the post went decidedly against precedent, and I have heard the close aides of the king were not happy with it.
In the Privy Council, all four cabinet ministers—that is the White, Red, Blue, and Black Ministers—even took the time to write a document to the king arguing that his choice was inappropriate.
But the king did not change his mind.
The king at the time was known posthumously by the name Shana Eran, which means Kindhearted King. And as the name would suggest, he hated anything unfair or unjust. The royal palace and politics were unfairness and injustice incarnate, though, and the king’s efforts to do the right thing had no impact whatsoever.
The king insisted on this one act of selfishness. He was not going to budge on appointing my father to the position of Royal Inspector.
It feels disrespectful to call that “selfishness.” However, such an assessment would not be wrong, considering he made an arbitrary decision after rejecting the warnings of all his advisers.
After claiming a position that was desperately craved by people from both factions, my father became a villain. He must have used some dirty trick to receive such an impossible promotion. He corrupted political convention by deceiving the king himself.
His accusers had no need to offer evidence of what kind of wrongdoing my father had committed. His promotion to Royal Inspector alone was proof enough of his guilt.
Thus, the road to hell was paved.
5
First, my father required help. If he was to be the Royal Inspector, he needed a large number of vassals of suitable ability, and so he turned to sword instructors and acquaintances from various training halls. There was violent resistance to this.
In the end, though he was able to gather the number of people he needed, none of them had a shred of nobility. It seemed there were many who resonated with my father’s ideals, but the nobles who attended sword training halls were second and third sons at best or fringe nobles who couldn’t hold office. If a noble was told not to join my father by their parents, eldest brother, or their head of family, there was no way they were going to force the issue. It was hard to blame them for that.
This made my father’s work at the royal palace very difficult.
For starters, people aren’t allowed onto the grounds of the royal palace unless they hold a certain rank, which served as an impediment in his attempts to investigate government offices. He could be allowed into an office as an employee of public service, but if any office simply used the social-rank stipulation to bar him entry, there was nothing he could do about it. The only time he could force himself through was once he had established guilt of a crime.
Despite the obstructions, my father tenaciously negotiated with departments he had his eye on to get them to submit documents. He had his subordinates copy, organize, and analyze them. He would then take those documents and try to advance the investigation. However, when he tried to visit those departments again, the documents would always have been altered, moved, or disposed of.
The rare government official to cooperate with my father would become a target for either transfer or dismissal, and some were even executed. Of course, on paper, none of these punishments had anything to do with his investigations.
My father changed his tactics. He led his vassals to Anpoan and performed a surprise raid of an import and export facility entrusted by the royal government. They carried out the inspection with lightning speed.
As he had suspected, he found evidence of goods being sold on the black market, illegal payoffs, and unfair trading, all unhidden. Anpoan was already the kingdom’s largest port town, and it had been upgraded to a marquis’s domain just a few years back. As a result of my father’s investigation, the royal palace dismissed three viscounts in charge of international trade, and Marquis Anpoan was reprimanded and had a portion of his tax collecting rights stripped as punishment.
This incurred the wrath of Kurelumo, the Duke of Riga at the time.
The viscounts were all members of House Riga’s branch families. House Anpoan had also long been very loyal to House Riga. The Marquis of Anpoan at the time served Kurelumo very well, and his name was being proposed as a candidate for the cabinet. That would have been a massive gain for the Duke of Riga’s faction.
But Father ruined those plans. A demotion to an earl’s domain was even being considered for Anpoan, so the Duke of Riga must have felt like years of hard work were amounting to nothing.
That anger was evidence of Kurelumo’s conceit.
All land, whether it be a marquis’s domain or an earl’s domain, belongs to the king. Despite that, there are many nobles who think of their land as their own. Moreover, I wonder how Kurelumo would have explained how the affairs of a town as important to the country as Anpoan came to be monopolized by people connected to his own house.
There are likely to be aberrations in any political system with a storied history. However, powerful nobles who don’t hesitate to abuse those distortions have continued to cast a shadow over the purity of this country.
6
Our nation’s system of peerage is very different from that of other countries such as the Gorenza Empire.
For example, House Mercurius is a noble family of counsel, which means that, in terms of court rank, we are equivalent to the highest rank of marquis, but we weren’t called a marquis’s house at that time because we didn’t own any land.
Marquises are nobles who have been granted a marquis’s domain by the king.
Earls are nobles who have been granted an earl’s domain by the king.
The difference between a marquis’s domain and an earl’s is decided comprehensively by the size of the land, the wealth, the development of industry, and other issues such as transportation and military affairs.
Viscounts are official nobles who are granted a portion of a marquis’s or an earl’s land.
The rank of baron originated in an entirely different way. It was a rank created for lords who possessed land already before swearing allegiance to the king; a baron’s right to own their land was recognized.
As a result, the domains of barons vary in size and strength. There are even barons who are richer and possess more land than some marquises. It is also not always the case that a baron will have a lower seat at court than a marquis or an earl.
Because of the manner in which barons originated, they are never forcibly relocated by the king. Their peerage is never raised nor lowered. By contrast, marquises and earls can be promoted or demoted, and they can even be forcibly relocated. In reality, relocation never occurs unless there is a big change in the kingdom’s land as a result of a war or some other major event, but officially, barons are the only rank safe from such a shake-up.
However, despite their land being granted to them by the king, there are too many nobles who rest on their laurels and live carefree lives on their wealthy domains, completely ignoring the risk of being relocated or having their rank lowered. That land belongs to the king, but they insist on thinking of it and using it as their own.
The Duke of Riga is one such noble.
House Riga is not actually a duke’s house. A dukedom is a noble house that is established when a sibling or a child of a king achieves special accomplishments and is awarded a portion of the king’s land. The amount of land is never very much, but it is recognized under royal law that their descendants will inherit it.
Many examples where duke’s houses were overproduced in order to remove relatives with a high claim to the throne can be seen in other countries. This often backfires when a prince who inherits much land and wealth builds a strong dukedom and becomes a source of disorder for the country. In this nation, it is difficult for duke’s houses to gain much power, so that kind of thing doesn’t happen.
The first Duke of Riga was originally the next head of House Onis, which ruled over an expansive land that lies west of the country of Tada and east of the feudal states of Fenks. He managed the affairs of the kingdom in place of the young second king after the founding king’s death. But he didn’t use the political situation for his personal gain. That righteous attitude gained him deep trust not just within the kingdom but also from surrounding countries.
When his father, the head of House Onis, passed away, the second king begged the heir to continue giving his all to serve Baldemost, so House Onis was broken up and absorbed into the surrounding lands.
The second king thought very highly of these efforts for the kingdom, so he awarded his servant with a pivotal piece of land called Riga and gave him the high-ranking position of duke, which was equal in rank with the royal family. He even recognized his right to have his descendants inherit the land. This is when House Riga was established.
I believe the first Duke of Riga was an excellent man. His achievements certainly deserve praise. But it was a mistake to make him a duke. When he was offered the rank from the second-generation king, he should have shown his thanks and politely turned him down.
But he accepted. And that is what corrupted House Riga.
The position of duke should only be given to members of the royal family. It doesn’t make sense for someone granted land from the king not to be made a marquis or an earl. The first Duke of Riga was attracted by the virtue of the founding king and came to serve the country after it was established, so the rank of baron would have been appropriate. Also, I realize the first Duke of Riga’s accomplishments were great, but House Riga is not the only noble house that has put the kingdom above their domain and given their all to serve the king.
Despite that, House Riga has flaunted the accomplishments of its first head and reaped the benefits of his great character, becoming a terrible poison to our country.
A certain event played out after I became old enough to remember things. Molzora had inherited the position of the Duke of Riga from Kurelumo.
A dispute flared up between one of the feudal lords of Fenks and an earl of this kingdom. If the earl won the dispute, the kingdom would have gained more land. The cabinet ministers were of the opinion that the royal capital should offer its support.
Molzora, who was the White Minister at the time, rejected that. He said that if the royal capital intervened, then the surrounding lords in Fenks would join the war.
That was well stated. But he had to have been planning something behind the scenes.
He then stopped the provision of salt. It is impossible to fight a war without salt. The earl and his relatives tried to buy it from the royal capital, and they also tried to procure it from salt fields.
The price, however, suddenly skyrocketed in the royal capital, and all the salt in the salt fields had been sold off to the neighboring country of Tada. As a result, despite the fact that the war was going well, the earl had to declare a ceasefire without having gained any land at all.
It is said that the earl rushed to the royal capital still in full armor, tracked down the officer in charge of the buying and selling of salt, drew his longsword, and cut his desk clean in two. The one the earl really wanted to cut down was the Duke of Riga. Everyone understood who was responsible for guiding that war to a losing conclusion.
House Riga has total control over this nation’s salt and iron. Their land stretches all the way from the coast to the center of the country. All transports to and from overseas must pass through Riga. In addition, all the seaside towns including Anpoan are either ruled by House Riga or are under their influence.
Their territory also includes every village that produces salt. The most prominent ores in the country are all under the control of House Riga as well.
Like a kraken from the sea, House Riga has been reaching its tentacles deep into every corner of the nation for many, many years.
They gain control over people with sweet talk and blackmail in their efforts to swallow up everything for themselves. Anyone unable to stomach their behavior or who refuses to fall in line is treated horribly. The insidious house will even go to extremes like halting the country’s supply of salt when an earl from an opposing faction simply tries to take more land for himself.
House Riga is a pox on this country.
7
Kurelumo was very talented and must have had the ability to charm others. However, his brain was afflicted with the chronic disease of House Riga.
Land, wealth, authority, and rank are gifts from the heavens, and anyone who would encroach upon them was a madman who had to be eliminated. Believing that, there was no way Kurelumo was going to leave my father alone.
My father returned to the capital to wrap up the case and submit his report. He then mobilized his vassals and reproduced the contents of Anpoan’s investigation without any omissions. On the small chance the documents in the royal palace were to go missing, the facts of the case and the fairness of the investigation would be made evident by those materials.
Afterward, once my father confirmed all the work was finished, he gathered his vassals and held a banquet in recognition of their services. It was the year 1024 of the Royal Calendar, the third day of the Third Red Moon.
That is when the Duke of Riga’s soldiers attacked. Through Kurelumo’s cunning, he didn’t just send soldiers from his own house. He also convinced two cabinet ministers who were antagonistic to House Riga to send their soldiers as well. That way, he was able to disguise the event as a decision of the royal court rather than a personal grudge.
Why those other two houses participated in the tragedy, I still don’t understand to this day, but there must have been some reason. Something to make my father’s death advantageous to them. Or something that would have made it disadvantageous not to kill him.
Whatever that reason, Kurelumo sniffed it out. At five years old, I had no way of knowing the circumstances of the houses of the cabinet ministers, but I couldn’t come up with anything even when looking into it afterward.
On that day, 343 people were slaughtered in my home.
We lived on the outskirts of the royal capital, and there was a mountain behind our estate that was part of our grounds. Twelve thousand soldiers surrounded the property, used magic to burn it to the ground, and killed all who tried to flee.
The next morning, Kurelumo visited the royal palace. He waited for the king to take his seat and reported that he had subjugated the traitor. That traitor was Mazel Sou La Vald.
His Majesty must have felt a sense of divine retribution.
The Royal Inspector he’d personally selected had discovered a group of government officials performing unfair trade with foreign countries and then skillfully brought them to justice. His investigation and his verdict had been perfect, and there was no way the government employees in the capital could deny his talent any longer. Then, as if things couldn’t get any better, the target of the investigation was Kurelumo’s favorite underling, which meant that for the time being, he wouldn’t have to see that nasty smile as Kurelumo suggested the man for Black Minister.
How satisfied His Majesty must have been.
Had you asked the opinion of anyone who was in court to bear witness to His Majesty at the time, they would have all said he was jubilant. I’ve been told he was always raising toasts to my father during meals at which my father was not present. He had already heard my father’s report on the throne, but he had been planning to invite him to a more intimate recognition of his services and had even prepared a reward for him.
He then had to hear that my father had been charged as a traitor and executed. The Duke of Riga may as well have declared that he had killed His Majesty himself. His Majesty’s face turned purple, and he was unable to utter a single word. He withdrew from the throne shortly thereafter.
It was an understandable reaction and heartrendingly sad.
But.
At that moment, His Majesty should have asked a question.
Kurelumo had said that he had killed the traitor and that it was necessary for his family and all his vassals to be executed as punishment for the great crime. His Majesty, however, should have asked whether they were already dead. Kurelumo had not yet clearly stated under what evidence he had convicted my father as a traitor.
I know that, among Kurelumo’s charges, he accused my father of having taken in a warrior famous in several countries and of using him to train up an army of soldiers who called themselves the warrior’s pupils. This was purportedly done in spite of his position as a single government official. At the time, however, aside from his daughter, Eisha had only taken in three pupils, and he didn’t even participate in the training of our vassals. There was no way that should have sufficed as the primary proof of rebellion.
No matter how flimsy the substance of his accusation may have been, though, Kurelumo was not forced to go into detail. He must have been licking his lips like a snake after His Majesty took his leave.
Kurelumo had just reported to the king that there had been a plot for rebellion, that the ringleader had already been executed, and that his entire family needed to be executed as well. In response, His Majesty had ended the Privy Council without saying a word. This meant Kurelumo’s actions had received royal consent.
Kurelumo gave the order to all the cabinet ministers to send out their soldiers, this time under royal command. All the cabinet ministers became accomplices.
All at once, the house where my older sister was living with her husband—as well as the households of my father’s siblings, my mother’s maiden family, and my mother’s siblings—was attacked, and not even infants and retainers were spared. My entire family was wiped out. Seven hundred and twenty-five people died over the course of two days.
His Majesty apparently heard how things had played out the next day. His rage caused his physical condition to deteriorate, and he died without ever again leaving his bed.
My father’s investigation was made out to be a fabrication. The records that were in strict safekeeping in the royal palace disappeared, and the documents my father had prepared were burned.
The three viscounts who were dismissed regained their posts, and Marquis Anpoan was named Black Minister.
For a long time after I obtained the list of names of all who were killed, I found the number of people on it strange. The reason for that was that my name was on the list, despite the fact that I am very much alive.
I wondered if the corpse of one of the vassals’ children was mistaken for my own. Maybe the 725 count was wrong, and they had simply counted my nonexistent corpse.
But neither of those was the case. Seven hundred and twenty-five people did die. I learned that when I asked Panzel’s mother if she knew what had happened during the attack.
That night, there was a battle bloodier than I could have possibly imagined, all for the purpose of saving my life.
8
Panzel’s grandfather’s name was Charda, and he came from the borderlands to the west. He admired Eisha and became one of his pupils. He was twenty-two years old at the time of the incident.
He was invited by Eisha to the banquet on that day but turned down the offer, saying he was going to look after the house. Charda’s two brothers went in his place. Eisha was their instructor, and he had formerly ordered them to go to Anpoan as escorts.
Before tragedy ensued, Eisha noticed the forces surrounding the mansion and the mountain. He never would have dreamed that in the royal capital, though, the estate of a high-ranking official working directly under the king would be bombarded by magic attacks without warning, so he was late to act. Once the attack began, he understood that if they were willing to go to this extent, they would be prepared to let not one person escape with their life.
I was with Eisha. I don’t remember the reason for that, but according to Charda, I was there to deliver a message from my father.
“I tried to raise a toast to the amazing work of your two pupils, but they insist they only follow your orders and cannot have a drink in your absence. Help me out and come to the banquet.” That is apparently the message I delivered.
I have a hard time believing I was able to remember something so complicated at five years old, but Charda said I did so perfectly.
My father was a poor knight, but he inherited land on the suburbs of the royal capital from his grandmother. It had a spacious courtyard, or rather, the courtyard was the only thing that was spacious. The main building of the estate was rather compact.
At first, Eisha lived in a small shack neighboring the main building. When my father became Royal Inspector and had to build living quarters for his vassals, the garden became crowded with makeshift shacks. Knowing that Eisha probably wouldn’t be able to relax there, my father offered him a secluded cabin a good distance into the mountain.
Apparently, I spent more time in this detached cabin than I did in the main building.
Eisha lived there with his daughter, Enina, and Charda. Enina was fourteen at the time. She was very nice, and I admired her like a real older sister. She obviously had a mother, but I don’t know what happened to her. She could have died while traveling, or they could have separated for some reason.
Charda’s two brothers stayed in the main building and alternated acting as my father’s guard.
Eisha made a quick decision. He picked me up, told Charda and Enina to quietly follow us, and jumped into the bushes without even looking at the burning main building. He kept low and walked until he reached a river. There was a small fishing boat tied to the shore.
He laid me and Enina down in the boat and covered us with a woven mat. He then ordered Charda to take us all to the waterway in the royal capital.
I do remember getting into the boat. But I fell asleep, so I didn’t see anything after that.
The enemy knew there was a cabin in the mountain. After the main building was attacked, it would be next on the list. They were probably watching every exit down from the mountain, meaning there was nowhere we could run. Even if we managed to escape down the mountain, we would have ended up in an open plain, so escaping without being seen would have been impossible.
For that reason, Eisha decided we should hide ourselves on the river and escape to the royal capital. The river was connected to the capital’s waterway. We could use the dark curtain of night to make it there without being seen. Charda had no idea what to do once we reached our destination, however.
Staying low and taking care not to make a sound, he took up the oars and began moving us forward. When we were just about to reach the royal capital’s waterway, enemy patrols advanced on us. Charda brought the boat to a stop in a spot concealed by tall grass, held his breath, and glared at the approaching enemy.
“I highly doubt they got this far,” said a man commanding multiple soldiers.
That’s Conpachi.
Charda realized who he was. Conpachi was the third son of an influential noble who liked to brag about his swordsmanship. For some reason, he bore a grudge against Eisha and had a habit of proclaiming that weak swordsmen from the south had no chance against heroes from the north. He declared all who followed that old man, who couldn’t even become an officer in the south, were fools, and as if trying to expose Eisha’s weakness, he challenged him to a duel on three separate occasions. He was beaten to a pulp every time.
You would think Conpachi’s attitude toward Eisha would have changed after that, but he continued bad-mouthing him. As one of Eisha’s pupils, Charda was constantly being ridiculed and harassed by Conpachi.
And now the man was right there in front of him, carrying a cone-shaped magic lamp in his left hand and a lance in his right. He was approaching the bank of the river.
I could kill him right now.
Charda contemplated killing him as he sat in the boat. Conpachi was as skilled as Charda, but with Eisha, the two of them could cut him and any other number of soldiers down in no time.
But there were hundreds of soldiers just dozens of meters away. Past them was an even larger force. It would have been impossible to kill Conpachi and the soldiers around him before they raised an alarm.
The only chance they had for survival was to not be found. If they were discovered, Charda would have no choice but to fight to the death against an overwhelming number of soldiers.
Conpachi spun around to check his entire field of vision and used his magic lantern to illuminate the river. He pushed his way through the grass with his spear and caught sight of the spot where Charda was lurking. Their eyes met.
Conpachi averted his eyes instantly and told his subordinates there was nothing there.
“Sure enough, there’s no one here. Let’s look upstream.”
The soldiers raised their voices in response, and the group walked away toward the mountain.
Feeling shocked enough to have a heart attack, Charda got out of the boat. His body had gone numb, and he was unable to move for a while. He felt a huge wave of relief.
But that was really strange. Charda tried to convince himself that Conpachi probably just didn’t see anything because his vision was obstructed by the afterimage of the burning building, but their eyes had definitely met.
He asked his instructor about it when we made it to the royal capital.
“Hmm” was Eisha’s only response.
9
Eisha told Charda where to take the boat, and then we all got out and immediately headed for our destination.
Eisha carried me as we ran, and on the way, Charda picked up Enina as well. We reached a large estate, and Eisha unsheathed the sword at his hip and handed it to the person who came to the door. It was an excellent sword in spite of its simple make, and Eisha had used it for a long time.
Astonishingly, despite our suspicious nature and our sudden arrival late at night, the servant let us into the house, no questions asked. We hadn’t even given our names. Water and tea were quickly prepared for us, so everyone except for me—as I was still asleep—was able to quench their thirst.
Then, in a surprisingly short amount of time, the person who had greeted us at the door returned, said we were going to meet the head of the house, and guided the four of us to a different room. This time, Enina carried me.
“I am the head of this family, Baldoran Mercurius. First, let me return this sword to you. Welcome to my home.”
Charda didn’t realize whose house it was until then. This noble was a descendant of that hero.
“I am a swordsman named Eisha Goran. My apologies for visiting so suddenly at this late hour. I come with the request that you take in the boy my daughter is holding in her hands. He is the second son of Mazel Sou La Vald.”
“Has something happened to the Royal Inspector?”
“His estate is being set ablaze at this very moment by an unfathomable number of soldiers.”
“…What?”
The head of the house seemed to be a good-natured man, but after hearing that, his expression suddenly shifted. He gave off an aura that would have driven away even the fiercest of gods, which made it clear that this house had not lost its warrior spirit.
He calmed down a short moment later, then spoke again.
“I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I have known of him for some time. I was praying for his success.”
“Can I leave the boy in your custody?”
The head of the house looked Eisha square in the eyes and answered with a question.
“If I take him in, what are you going to do?”
“I will do what I must.”
The head of the house closed his eyes, looked up at the sky, and sighed.
“I see. That’s the way it has to be. Things can’t be left as they are. Your name, face, and character are well-known. Can I get a good look at the Royal Inspector’s son?”
After receiving a nod from Eisha, Enina stepped forward with me still in her arms.
“Ah, he’s sleeping soundly. Mr. Goran, can you tell me his name and age?”
“His name is Adol. He is five years old.”
“Five years old. Hmm. Five years old.”
The head of the house stared at my face in contemplation and eventually called a maid and gave her an order.
“Mr. Goran. You can entrust his second son to me. He and your daughter can share a room.”
“You have my humblest thanks. Enina, take him with you to the room.”
Enina and I were then led deeper into the house by the maid.
“By the way, Mr. Goran. Would you happen to have a dagger?”
Eisha handed his dagger to the head of the house, who said he was borrowing it temporarily and then set it on a nearby desk. He proceeded to remove a leather string from the scabbard he was wearing at his waist and fastened it around his wrist and pinky finger on his left hand.
His face hardened.
The maid came back with a single boy. I’ve been told he had my hair color and was around the same age as me.
Charda felt a sense of unease when he saw the boy. The reason for that was he was wearing my clothes.
The maid quickly left the room.
“This is my son, but due to extenuating circumstances, he bears the family name of my wife. Come, Pan’ja.”
Rubbing his sleepy eyes, the boy walked forward. The head of the house hugged his son tight, then took the dagger and plunged it into his heart.
He laid the boy’s body on the floor. He then drew the longsword at his waist, stood the blade on the desk, placed the pinky finger of his left hand below it, and cut it off in a single motion.
He stopped the bleeding by tying the leather string tightly around what was left of his little finger. He then wrapped the finger in a cloth he produced from his sleeve and laid it on his son’s chest.
“Forgive me, Pan’ja,” he muttered softly, and stood up and addressed Eisha.
“Mr. Goran. This will not end until they find the corpse of his second son. They’ll leave no stone unturned, and they’ll tear the faces off every burned corpse if they have to. They will not stop until they have confirmed his death.”
Eisha took the boy’s small, lifeless hands in his and wept. He cried with all his might, to the point that it sounded like his throat would be left shredded. The tears streaming from his eyes collected in his goatee, and his wails swept through the room, cutting deep into all who heard them.
Before long, the tears falling onto the boy’s chest ran red. Eisha was crying tears of blood.
“Bear witness, O Zara, to the integrity of the warriors of the north!”
Eisha implored his god with words typical of a warrior, stood up quickly, and then turned to Charda.
“Stay here for the night. Sorry to ask this of you, but please look after Enina. Use the money I gave you however you please.”
He then turned to the head of the house again.
“I will never forget your kindness,” he said in brief thanks.
“I’m glad we met,” the head of the house responded, also briefly.
The two of them bowed to each other.
Eisha picked up the corpse of the child and left the room. That was the last time Charda saw him.
The next day, Charda collected Enina and left the estate. The head of the house was nice enough to let them hide in a shopping wagon. They escaped together to the borderlands in the west and were married sometime later.
Eight years after they left the royal capital, they had a son. Charda taught him how to use a sword.
After Charda died, his son Welzea went to the royal capital and opened a sword training hall. There were people who put him down as a country hick, but he was a very strong man and built a reputation for himself by correcting the behavior of even the worst thugs. He ended up very successful.
Welzea married, and he and his wife had a child: Panzel. Welzea fell ill and ended up bedridden, however, and they instantly fell into poverty. They were swindled out of ownership of the training hall.
Before he died, Welzea told his wife the story behind the incident that his father, Charda, had related to him.
The story that Panzel’s mother told me ends there. When she finished, she asked me a question.
“What happened to Eisha Goran?”
I had previously looked into this. This is what is written in records left in the royal palace.
After the rebels and family members were killed in the main building and the surrounding area, the search continued for the second son and the bodyguard, who were said to be living in a cabin separated from the estate.
They were having trouble finding them, so they decided to set the mountain on fire, surround it from a distance, and wait for anyone to come running out. The rebels didn’t show themselves even then, but as dawn approached, the swordsman was discovered carrying the second son over his back. He was on the very edge of the encirclement and had been about to slip free, but the talented soldiers’ strenuous search ended up bearing fruit.
The swordsman struggled hard like some kind of demon. More than eighty lives were sacrificed in the endeavor to capture him, but his ability to fight was limited thanks to increased efforts with long-distance magic. The swordsman gave up his resistance, killing the second son by stabbing him through the heart and committing suicide by slashing his own throat.
After the corpses were inspected, it was confirmed that the swordsman was Eisha Goran, and from his apparent age and clothes, it was confirmed that the boy was without a doubt the second son of the traitor.
After hearing that, Panzel’s mother cried silently.
10
I raised Panzel with great care. I assigned him the best teachers I could find with regard to both the military and the literary arts. There were many people who looked at me doubtfully, wondering why I was giving a young servant boy this kind of treatment, but I didn’t pay them any mind.
Panzel showed astonishing growth. His improvement with the sword was especially tremendous, as if he had been possessed by the spirit of Eisha Goran.
Serendipitously, Lord Julius also grew, as if being guided by Panzel. He was an especially fast learner and showed remarkable skill when it came to the domain of literature.
After Panzel became a knight, he started leading the soldiers of House Mercurius and accomplished one military feat after another.
The Duke of Riga set a trap for Panzel: He would be named the Defender of the Realm if he could manage to defeat the monster in the labyrinth. The king wanted to promote Panzel to a high rank, so he consented to it.
At that time, I had given up my seat as chief vassal and was bedridden in my retirement. As soon as I heard that news, though, I knew it was a trap set by Alkan. I strengthened our surveillance of House Riga.
I then learned that Alkan’s eldest son, Garrest, was secretly moving his military forces toward the capital. It looked like they were actually planning a rebellion.
I did a lot of thinking, sifted through the various fragmentary pieces of information our spies had collected for us, and arrived at Alkan’s aim.
House Mercurius. He was aiming for House Mercurius.
He got rid of the cornerstone of House Mercurius’s military strength by sending Panzel to the labyrinth, and he planned to attack us in his absence. Alkan had also added a strict condition that would make it impossible for Panzel to defeat the minotaur or return. His plan was to then gather his forces and surround the imperial palace, forcing the king to abdicate and transfer the crown to the second prince. He was counting on the king’s heart breaking after hearing about the fall of House Mercurius.
I wonder what kind of face I was making at that time. I was probably grinning from ear to ear as I sat in bed receiving reports of the developing situation, feeling my chance for revenge was nigh.
Alkan made a couple crucial errors. The first was that he thought I couldn’t get out of bed. The other was assuming Panzel wouldn’t make it back. When those two assumptions backfired, that would be the downfall of Riga.
Until then, I had not seen a means of bringing down House Riga, with all its power and influence. I hadn’t been able to create a just cause for which House Mercurius could fight House Riga. But now, they were crossing that line for me.
They could go ahead and cross it. If they took that one step, the raging flames in my heart were going to burn them to ashes. I wouldn’t have minded burning down the royal capital if it meant getting rid of House Riga once and for all.
When Panzel headed to the one hundredth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth, the Duke of Riga’s army fell on House Mercurius. They attacked our estate in the royal capital in the middle of the harvest festival. See this reckless act of violence? They all always say they do everything for the country and for the people, but that is just lip service. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I gleefully got out of bed and took command of Mercurius.
Lord Julius was calm. Like me, he did not have a shred of doubt that Panzel would win and return.
But we made a miscalculation. The Baron of Paulo had joined his forces with House Riga.
Our armies clashed three times, and as we were preparing for another battle, Panzel returned.
He said Lord Evert, who had served as the observer, stabbed him with a poisoned dagger. He knew no one would be coming to get him, so he had to return from the one hundredth floor of the labyrinth on his own.
When I heard that, I was horrified by my own stupidity.
Of course that had been a possibility.
There was no reason to doubt Lord Evert’s virtue. However, that virtue was probably what led him to believe that tipping the balance in favor of Alkan’s plan was for the benefit of the country. That sounds probable, but it wasn’t something I had considered at all.
Due to it being in the middle of the harvest festival, there was also no chance of Panzel meeting with other adventurers in the labyrinth. It was a death trap.
I almost ruined House Mercurius. Lord Baldoran killed his son Pan’ja Raban by his own hands, gave me his son’s name and position, and loved me as if I were his own. In order to repay my debt to him, I trained myself to the best of my ability and served five heads of House Mercurius. And yet, I almost brought the house to ruin.
Where?
Where did I go wrong?
As I was questioning myself, Panzel finished his report, borrowed Alestra’s Bracelet from Lord Julius, and charged alone into the enemy army. When he returned shortly afterward, he presented Lord Julius with a head.
“This is the head of the enemy general, Garrest.”
Garrest!
The voices of Panzel and Lord Julius ceased to reach me. I staggered toward the head, lifted it up to eye level, and stared at it.
There was no doubt it was Garrest, the eldest son of the current Duke of Riga. He was to be the next head of House Riga and had been promised the seat of the Baldemost Kingdom’s White Minister.
Yes!
Yes!
Yesssss!
I’m pretty sure I cried. I never thought I would reach this point, but now it was in my grasp. I was holding the head my sworn enemy would have wanted to lose the least. The head that bore my sworn enemy’s future. Actually, that head itself was my sworn enemy.
At that moment, the dark-red clump in my chest dissolved, and purity returned to my heart. I thought about what I should do next and quickly reached a conclusion.
“Lord Julius. This is without a doubt Garrest’s head. I ask that you give me permission to say what arrangements must be made now.”
“Go ahead.”
“We must have Panzel immediately take one hundred knights and lead them to the royal palace. I will take care of the defense here.”
“Do it.”
“Ha-ha. Panzel, I’m sure you’re tired. Sorry about this. Please head for the royal palace right away and find the commander of either the First or Third Division of the Imperial Guard. Then say that House Mercurius was attacked by rebels, and you rushed to the royal palace to see if anything had happened. Say that you will enter their command. Understood? On the chance the royal palace is already surrounded by the insurgents or that the battle has already begun, do not engage them until you find one of the commanders. Then deliver a message to the Grand Chamberlain from the head of House Mercurius, saying that he wants to ensure the safety of the first prince. Say that he will send more soldiers if needed. Because teleportation magic is restricted around the palace, use a horse and take one hundred soldiers made up of only cavalry. We have one hundred additional soldiers to send, so use them at your discretion. Move out.”
But there was no more fighting after that. When Panzel took Garrest’s head, what the world calls the Pantram Revolt came to an end.
11
Alkan’s performance after Garrest’s death would have astonished even the most wicked of demons.
First, he claimed his troops that were going to attack the royal palace had actually arrived to defend it. When the Baron of Paulo saw that, he withdrew to his domain as quickly as he could.
Then Alkan convened the Privy Council and insisted that the Baron of Paulo was the ringleader of the rebellion. He said Garrest’s crime of participating in the revolt at the behest of the Baron of Paulo, despite his position as an officer of the Royal Capital Defense Force, was an unforgivable crime, and he presented the heads of Garrest’s children and his closest aides on the spot.
Alkan’s questioning brought nothing to the surface except for his destruction of evidence by killing all involved. The investigation was blunted by his ghastly willingness to execute the family members and vassals he had always strived to protect.
Alkan then said it would not be appropriate for him to be in charge with his son being the target of the investigation, so the Red Minister, the next highest position in the Privy Council, took over the current proceedings.
Lord Julius’s and Garrest’s top knights gave testimony on the events of the battle. It was made clear that Garrest was an active participant and not a spectator. Startlingly, though, despite the use of magic to detect lies, when they were cross-examined, Garrest’s top knights said nothing about a plan to attack the royal palace after toppling House Mercurius.
After that, Panzel reported what happened during his subjugation of the minotaur. He said the privy councilor Evert of House Lowell stabbed him with a poisoned dagger and that, before he died, he’d said House Riga was plotting to kill the head of House Mercurius, have the first prince commit suicide, and force the king to abdicate. This was an obvious problem.
Alkan, however, insisted that for the last few months he had only seen Lord Evert at official gatherings, that harming Panzel was Lord Evert’s own decision, and that getting the first prince to commit suicide or anything else was nothing more than his own speculation.
The next thing he said turned the tide completely.
“How about we call an appraiser to take a look at the longsword that Panzel acquired?”
After they called an appraiser and had him inspect the blade, they discovered it had blessings worthy of it being called a divine weapon. Everyone’s attention was drawn entirely toward the sword.
Panzel then fought members of the Imperial Guard, and the king and his subjects were captivated by the blade’s powerful blessings and Panzel’s superhuman talent.
“This man is worthy of the title of Defender of the Realm!”
Hearing Alkan shout that made my blood boil.
To take responsibility for the failure of his son, Alkan announced his resignation. He did three major things before his retirement.
The first was naming the first prince the crown prince. The second prince was then given the title of duke and a poor village as a domain, falling to the status of a subject. The second queen consort was dethroned.
The next thing he did was invest the title of Defender of the Realm upon Panzel. Panzel was given the right to establish a new noble family of counsel, and he chose Goran as the name of his house. I was worried people would point out that it was the same name as a well-known swordsman in the past, but it seemed like that name had been forgotten.
The last thing he did was organize a force to subjugate the rebel Baron of Paulo. The Baron of Paulo had rejected his summons and refused to explain himself to imperial envoys, so it was decided a subjugation force was necessary. Alkan demonstrated his generosity by having House Riga bear the burden of the army provisions.
Inquiring about the guilt of House Riga became quite difficult after Alkan went to such extremes. Many even began to think Garrest may actually have acted independently.
Reading the shifting mood with cunning, Alkan recommended his successor to the cabinet. When one of the White, Red, Blue, or Black Ministers retires, it is customary for them to name a successor to join the cabinet. His recommendation was for Draydol, the second son of House Riga, to be named Blue Minister.
The brazenness of Alkan naming a successor after taking responsibility for such a major failure raised a lot of eyebrows. He even had the audacity to name his own son. No one thought he would be able to gain the consent of the king, but the king ended up granting it easily. The reason for that was because Alkan paired his son’s appointment with a proposal of marriage for Panzel.
House Riga declared it was offering Lady Esseluleia’s hand in marriage to Panzel.
Lady Esseluleia was the daughter of Alkan’s second wife and Draydol’s blood sister. Alkan doted on her, and she was known for her abundant beauty and wit. It was well-known that he didn’t want to marry her to another house. The fact that he was willing to give the apple of his eye to the man who killed his son made it look like House Riga was bending the knee to House Mercurius.
The next year, in 1097, Lady Esseluleia and Panzel married. His Majesty the King had a great love for Panzel’s valor and was made very happy when he married a girl known in society for her elegance. For the dowry, Alkan sent Panzel fifty knights. That was a larger dowry than is given at the weddings of princesses. He really is a monster.
Draydol rose from Blue Minister to Red Minister.
At the end of that year, the Black Minister died and Draydol showed himself to be quite the schemer. He recommended Lord Julius to fill the seat. Lord Julius was still only the young age of twenty-three, but because he had earned many achievements as a member of a military family, the recommendation itself was not unnatural.
However, House Riga of all houses making that recommendation surprised everyone and definitely changed the way people saw Draydol. Draydol even went out of his way to give hyperbolic praise to the work of Lord Julius and Panzel during their conquest of the Baron of Paulo’s domain. It was very transparent flattery, but many viewed it as a show of magnanimity.
Then, once the subjugation of the Baron of Paulo’s domain was complete, Draydol declared to the Privy Council that the land should be awarded to House Mercurius.
I was shocked when I heard this. Had Draydol gone mad?
He even volunteered himself as matchmaker for Lord Julius, this time offering not a relative of House Riga but instead a young lady from a noble family with a long history in the kingdom.
I was speechless.
If he was just trying to win over House Mercurius with marriage, he surely would have chosen a lady from his own house. But whoever he chose from House Riga would have been inferior in rank and beauty to Esseluleia, and it might have caused unease among other houses if Mercurius and Riga were joined directly in marriage.
Against all expectations, the young lady Draydol ended up choosing was from a family that actually hated House Riga and had always been friendly to House Mercurius.
They were even wealthy and had many retainers knowledgeable in domestic affairs. You could not have asked for a better union for a head of house who had suddenly been granted a sizable domain. I couldn’t help being impressed by Draydol’s judgment.
Lord Julius married and became Marquis of Keza the next year, which is the current year, and Draydol ascended to White Minister at the young age of thirty-six.
12
Seeing this rehabilitation of House Riga didn’t cause the stir in my heart that it would have before. My grudge will never die out, but as long as Panzel is around, nothing bad will happen. By thinking in this manner, I am able to prevent the flames of my grudge from growing any larger.
That’s right—it was then that my heart was saved. The moment I held Garrest’s head in my own hands. These flames will go out when I die. No one else will inherit them.
Hate warps everything. My hatred has caused me to make many errors of viewpoint and judgment. I believe that being careful not to pass these flames on to anyone else is my final responsibility.
Unneeded memories should disappear with time. Just like the legend of Alestra’s Bracelet. It’s not a story that proves the pledge of master and servant between the royal family and House Mercurius or anything pleasant like that. It’s a story of greed.
The goddess Kaldan was the first the founding king had turned to for divine protection. Receiving her blessing would have enabled him to create a new country in the yet-undeveloped region of the continent’s north. Kaldan, however, had been repeatedly abused by human agenda, so she rejected his wish.
The founding king then ordered his subordinates—who would later come to be called the twenty-four Defenders of the Realm—to find and kill Kaldan. The only one who followed the order was the first Mercurius. When he actually met Kaldan, though, he was awestruck by her nobility.
Mercurius proposed the founding king find another land, but the king and his companions were against that. They had finally found this place after being constantly driven out of others around the continent, so they did not want to leave it.
Mercurius then returned to Kaldan alone, planning to die, but Kaldan had grown weary of fighting and chose death without any resistance. When she was on the verge of passing from this world, she gave Mercurius five treasures.
When Mercurius returned, the king went mad with joy over the incredible blessings of the treasures. He thought that Alestra’s Bracelet, which had the ability to resist all kinds of magic, was a fitting item for the founding king of this new nation. He then tried to sweet-talk Mercurius into giving it to him. I don’t doubt the founding king was a great man without peer, but he had a bad habit of coveting other people’s possessions.
But believing that would go against Kaldan’s wishes, Mercurius did not hand it to the king.
The king’s companions were deeply impressed that Mercurius had defeated the dragon god Kaldan on his own, so they offered the opinion that it would be fitting for him to keep it. It soon became clear that its effects only worked for Mercurius anyway, so there turned out to be no point in giving it to the king.
So what happened after that?
Every time a new head of House Mercurius took over, the royal family would summon them to check whether the king had become capable of using the bracelet or if House Mercurius had lost the qualification to use it. All in order to steal it from us someday.
They couldn’t exactly declare publicly that it was a gift from the wicked dragon Kaldan, so they began claiming the bracelet had been bestowed by the goddess Pharah. The story became that the founding king had granted it to the first head of House Mercurius, and that tale ended up being passed down as a valiant myth about the founding of the kingdom.
The four other treasures—including Kaldan’s Dagger—all bore names of wicked dragon gods from the past, so they weren’t talked about and eventually faded from memory for all but our house.
It’s finally time. Time for our family, too, to forget the secret.
I only taught Lord Julius that the five treasures are gifts from Kaldan and about the effects of the blessings. There is no doubt that the royal family has also forgotten the old legend. The knowledge of the burning greed surrounding the bracelet will die with me.
When people learned of the abilities of the divine sword with which Panzel had returned, I couldn’t help but have apprehensions that history would repeat itself, that it would be lusted after like the bracelet was.
After the Pantram Revolt ended, Panzel told the king everything that had happened on the one hundredth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. But because he couldn’t say publicly that Lord Percival died in the labyrinth, he omitted the part about Kaldan’s Dagger.
An appraiser was summoned, and the abilities of the longsword obtained from the monster were made clear. The blessings were so transcendent they seemed like something out of a myth. That Panzel forced the monster to give it to him was seen as proof of his victory.
One lord raised the opinion that it should be given to the king. Panzel then presented it to the king without hesitation. His Majesty the King took one look at it and handed it back to him, saying that Panzel had earned it, so he should be the one to use it.
I think that was splendid of the king. Even with what he did next, I will always consider him a wise ruler.
His Majesty the King continued and said he wanted to see Panzel fight with that sword, so a battle was set up between Panzel and one hundred knights of the Imperial Guard, which he won. Panzel then engaged in a match against the commander of the Imperial Guard’s First Division. In this contest, the commander would be the one to use the sword. However, the blessings did not activate for the commander, and Panzel defeated him as well.
Many other people tried using the divine sword, but it became clear that only Panzel could access its power.
“This is clearly a divine sword given to you by the gods,” said His Majesty.
On the same day as the exhibition matches at the royal palace, Panzel invited the one hundred knights he’d fought to House Mercurius. Despite how busy we were with the aftermath of the Pantram Revolt, Panzel shamelessly asked the chief vassal and me to serve his guests food and alcohol.
Panzel drank with the one hundred knights and made many friends. He has the strange ability to befriend people with whom he has crossed blades.
Panzel can’t possibly understand how much comfort he has brought to my heart.
13
It’s raining.
I notice that the sound of the rain has become quite distant and then see the shutters have been closed and the curtain drawn. I smell the oil of a lamp. It seems night has fallen.
Logan must have come today. Actually, he comes every day, so that should be expected. But I can’t quite seem to remember.
I have a strange relationship with that man. I probably would never have found Alestra’s Bracelet without his help.
A little while after the bracelet was found, Lord Julius asked me if the guild president knew a lot about his father. When I told him that was likely, Lord Julius said he wanted to talk to him. That was a reasonable request, so I explained the situation to Logan and invited him to dinner with the head of the house.
Logan’s stories were interesting. He had many more direct dealings with Lord Percival than I expected and a great number of anecdotes to share about him. He even did research to learn things he didn’t know and shared his findings with us.
I can’t say the way he speaks is elegant, but he showed real expertise. I was thankful for his unbiased viewpoint. Most importantly, his love for Lord Percival was very apparent.
The invitations to dinner didn’t stop after the first or second visit, and we ended up inviting him once every six or seven days. Lord Julius wanted Logan to come even more often, but he was a busy man.
Eventually, Logan came to talk to Lord Julius about not only Lord Percival but a variety of different topics.
He told him about the life of adventurers and their way of thinking, about fighting monsters, about experience points and items, about foreign countries and their scenery, and about divine spirits and heroes from faraway lands.
He possesses much knowledge that even I lack, so our conversations were fun. I had a hard time believing everything he said was true, however. The tall tales he told of his youth with Gil Linx were stories I would have paid money to hear.
He is also very skilled with a war hammer.
Why did I end up fighting him again?
That’s right. After I heard his main weapon was a war hammer, I explained the characteristics of the weapon to Lord Julius.
“It’s not a weapon that requires skill, but it’s extremely powerful and cannot be managed unless the user has tremendous strength.”
I was praising him, but Logan misunderstood me and fired back angrily.
“What was that? ‘Not a weapon that requires skill,’ huh? How about I give you a taste of my skill?”
I took up a longsword and fought him. After he broke three of my swords and two of my ribs, I surrendered. The next time, of course, I prepared a proper weapon and scored a slash across his chest.
I hadn’t had a good dueling partner in a while, so I was probably lonely. He proved to be an unfair matchup for me, though. I’ve gotten old and now can’t even get out of bed.
No matter how much time passes, however, he looks just as healthy as a man in his twenties or thirties. When I asked him his age, I was shocked by the answer and asked why he wasn’t slowing down like a normal person.
“My old man was a dwarf, so I’m not totally human,” Logan answered.
I took that as a joke at first, but now I think he may actually have been telling the truth. I’m sure there would be a big commotion if it came out that creatures such as dwarves still exist somewhere in the world. But now that he said it, being half-dwarf would explain his unnatural build and stamina.
When he quit his job as the president of the guild, I recommended he move to the estate. I thought he had taken a liking to this place.
“I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” he answered, and he has lived here ever since.
Have seventeen years really passed since then?
14
Did Panzel come today or yesterday? Or was that earlier?
He came with happy tidings. He said his child was born. It’s a boy. It sounds like he is getting on very well with his wife, too. I was worried because I had heard Lady Esseluleia could be a little too smart for her own good, but it seems that fear was unfounded.
Lord Julius and his wife are also as happy as can be. Their child is going to be born very soon. It will be the same age as Panzel’s son, which is delightful. The friendship between House Mercurius and House Goran will surely continue for hundreds of years.
Now that I think about it, the bond between the two families was probably formed by Lord Baldoran and Eisha on that tragic night.
I was quite surprised when I was told to name the child, but I thought that was very like Panzel. I’d had a name in mind that I thought would be wonderful, so I decided to go with it. The naming ceremony was heavily simplified due to my bedridden state, but Panzel and his wife seemed satisfied.
After hearing the name Arza, Panzel gave nothing more than a simple thank you. He didn’t ask even one question about the origin of the name. Once again, that was very like him.
Esseluleia thanked me for giving him the name of a hero and left the room.
That is right. Arza was a hero said to have been an attendant who protected the goddess Pharah from all of her enemies. He was a human and also a god. It is also said that Arza pioneered the sword technique of humans.
But Arza had one other role. He was known as the arbitrator of the gods, and he would bring the disputes of fighting gods to an end after listening to what both sides had to say.
Eisha taught me an old myth when I was very young.
A long time ago, humans fought over the gods.
People who wanted the blessings of the land contended over Bora, people who wanted the blessings of the mountains contended over Gahra, and the people who wanted the blessings of the sea contended over Elvetta, all wanting to make each respective god their own.
The humans hated the gods for giving their blessings to others instead of them. Eventually, the selfish desires of the humans caused discord among the gods, which led to infighting.
The strife between the gods broke Zara’s heart, as did the strife between the humans. So Zara became wind, invisible to the naked eye, soared up to the heavens, and decided to watch over the fate of gods and humans from on high.
One day, a hero named Arza appeared on the earth and calmed the conflict between the gods. He then also soothed the conflict between the humans. Arza was none other than an incarnation of Zara, who had assumed the form of a human and brought peace to the land.
Drawing on the myth taught to me by Eisha, I wished for good fortune in the life of Panzel’s son.
Oh, Eisha…
Did I…?
Did I live a life worthy of your sacrifice?
Eisha!
15
In the year 1100 of the Royal Calendar, first day of the Third White Moon, the former chief vassal of House Mercurius, Pan’ja Raban, passed away. His funeral was the first in the new Keza domain held for an honored retainer.
Marquis Julius Mercurius of Keza served as the chief mourner, and Panzel Goran, the Defender of the Realm, was in charge of the affair. It was a modest funeral, but it was also a noble ceremony that touched the hearts of all who attended.
One thing worthy of mention is that an imperial envoy was dispatched. Pan’ja Raban was not a direct descendant of the house, so no one would have expected the royal family to send a messenger. Some people said the reason for the special treatment may have been because he was a father figure for two young heroes.
Strangely, the envoy did not read the funeral speech that he brought with him. He just gave his condolences in silence and laid it in the coffin. No one knows what it said.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter2.txt
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Interlude 1
Interlude 1
The minotaur was in an excellent mood.
In all its life in the labyrinth, it had never been so happy.
The reason was quite strange: The minotaur had just suffered the first defeat of its entire life.
It was not happy with the defeat itself, of course. Just thinking back on the unforgivable event made its blood boil, and its eyes seethed with fury.
However, it would be able to fight that man again. How could it not be excited by the prospect of renewed purpose? What greater joy was there?
I will win next time. I will defeat that powerful opponent. Victory will be mine. That is the goal I was born to achieve.
Such were the minotaur’s thoughts.
For that reason, it also began to look forward to the arrival of enemies other than that man.
They didn’t come as frequently as before, but they did appear every so often. The human adventurers who challenged him all wanted to be the ones to triumph over the King of the Labyrinth.
Truthfully, there were circumstances that brought them to the minotaur’s lair—circumstances it had no way of knowing.
The year this minotaur was born in the Sazardon Labyrinth, left its boss room, and began to descend into its depths was the year 1079 of the Baldemost Royal Calendar. Two years later in 1081, it reached the bottom floor, defeated the metal dragon, and became the new ruler of the labyrinth.
A massive reward financed by the king was placed on the minotaur’s head on two separate occasions, and for the next ten years until 1091, countless parties of adventurers challenged the minotaur, all ultimately becoming experience points that contributed to its growth. The year 1091 was when the minotaur wiped out the entire Fourth Division of the Imperial Guard.
The number of challengers decreased dramatically after that. That didn’t mean they stopped coming, however. It just meant that those who did show up were especially strong.
Rumors about the minotaur gradually spread to other countries.
They spread north to the feudal states of Fenks, which were fighting to protect their independence; to the eastern country of Daad; to the great country of Mazulu, known for its gifted magic practitioners; to the massive empire of Gorenza to the southwest; to the wealthy principality of Yenna; to the border province of Sheradan, known for its unforgiving terrain; to the Free Cities of Karelia; to the country of Peza and its many martial arts temples and swordsmanship training halls; to the eastern borderlands; to the western borderlands; to the savage tribes of the Jami Forest.
The rumors said there was an invincible monster on the bottom floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. They also said that even parties of the highest-ranking adventurers could not leave a scratch on it and that it wiped out an entire division of the Imperial Guard.
There were people who laughed off the rumors as nonsense. Others ignored them as irrelevant to their daily lives. As the rumors continued to build over time, though, the existence of the great minotaur was gradually carved into the consciousness of the people.
The fact that the knight who nearly defeated the beast had acquired a sword blessed beyond compare and used its overwhelming power to elevate himself to the position of marquis further bolstered these tales.
This minotaur might have been the strongest monster in the history of the continent. Before anyone knew it, the minotaur began to be thought of as not just the master of the bottom floor of its own labyrinth but as the king of all labyrinths the world over.
There was also one more rumor: that the minotaur had a Bag, within which were all kinds of incredibly strong swords. It was said that whoever defeated the monster would receive a treasure trove of blessed weapons.
Parties consisting of powerful individuals who had conquered labyrinths in other regions began forming with the goal of defeating the Sazardon Labyrinth minotaur.
The one who managed to pull it off would be a hero, obtain unparalleled weapons, and earn incredible wealth. The promise of such lavish rewards brought strong opponents from all over the world to appear before the beast.
The challengers were not many, and they didn’t appear all that frequently, either. Every so often, though, parties composed of the most distinguished adventurers the continent had to offer headed for the Sazardon Labyrinth.
The minotaur fought them all gleefully. In order to defeat that man, it needed to learn much more about the ways humans fought.
As it did battle with the adventurers, the minotaur would consider what it would do if their attacks were ten times faster, ten times more powerful, and ten times sharper.
Those days of heart-racing excitement continued for some time.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter3.txt
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Chapter 12: The Daughter of Gahra
Chapter 12
The Daughter of Gahra
1
“You need to go on a trip, boy,” Arza’s combat instructor, Logan, suddenly declared.
Arza was perplexed.
“To study the blade?”
“That is one reason for it. You need to sharpen your sword, your body, and your mind.”
“Won’t I get stronger just by making progress in the labyrinth?”
“You have it backward, boy. You’ll become too strong. You’re already too strong. I sent you into the labyrinth when you turned fourteen, but I never imagined you’d reach level sixty-five in only two years. You’re already an S-rank, too. Even Druga was astonished.”
Druga was Logan’s nephew and the current president of the Micaene Adventurers Guild. When Logan retired as president of the guild and moved into the Mercurius estate, his successor was the former manager Eador. Druga became the next guild president when Eador finally retired at age fifty-four.
After passing along his guild responsibilities, Eador became an officer of finance in the Banust domain, which was ruled by Arza’s mother. He was in charge of House Goran’s finances, and he was still in great health at sixty-two.
Speaking of age, Logan was the very picture of health at 105 years old. Very few people knew this, but Logan was a half-dwarf, and dwarves had longer life spans than humans. His nephew Druga was a pure-blooded dwarf. That was also a secret, of course, as people believed dwarves had gone extinct ages ago.
“I’ve heard that the Heavenly Blade Percival reached S-rank when he was fifteen.”
Percival was a former head of House Mercurius who’d died in the Sazardon Labyrinth. His godlike swordsmanship had earned him the nickname Heavenly Blade.
“He became an adventurer at age twelve. He only reached that point after four years of hard work. Try not to change the subject. Though now that you’ve brought up the Heavenly Blade, I’ll say this: He did not start out by holing himself up in the labyrinth. He went on many adventures in the outside world as well. Actually, he became an S-rank adventurer directly after his overwhelming subjugation of the Zoahard mountain bandits.”
“I know. He defeated the eight leaders including the chief all by himself, or something like that.”
“That job was a request from the country, and a certain noble from a well-to-do family was placed in command. He was apparently a knight of some skill, but he lacked real combat experience. Mountain bandits are typically exterminated after being lured into a trap on level ground, but this knight decided to attack the bandits’ hideout directly. Well, I won’t say that can’t be an effective method, too. It wouldn’t be so bad if you could manage to wipe them all out at once, after all. Still, if you are going to do it that way, you should send an advance scout, move covertly to hide the nature of your forces, then break them up into squadrons and surround the enemy hideout. There are a number of ways to do it effectively.”
“I understand that. Is that not what he did?”
“Not in the slightest. He marched up to the hideout in broad daylight with everyone together, making a right racket all the while.”
“Did he not order everyone to be quiet?”
“He may have, but the apprentice knights, who were just looking for some combat practice, and the other people tagging along under his command probably wouldn’t have listened to him. Traveling along a narrow mountain road with a great number of people causes your formation to stretch very long, which makes it difficult to control everyone. If he ordered them to be quiet, he probably gave the order at a certain location rather than telling them to be quiet over and over again for hours. Regardless, they arrived at the hideout. Attacking the bandits all at once after casting support magic should have worked.”
“But the bandits were ready for them?”
“That’s right. The bandits had set a trap. They were probably keeping careful watch. There’s a chance the bandits might have bribed a government official for information. Regardless, the subjugation force that was supposed to surround the hideout and lay siege to it ended up being surrounded themselves. The bandits rained down a storm of bullets and magic, inflicting heavy damage. Something good came out of all that, however. The force’s system of command was thrown into chaos, and it became impossible to relay any orders.”
“That was a good thing?”
“Yes. It was a good thing because the adventurers were freed up to make their own decisions. Those who joined the expedition as a party quickly met up with their comrades, and everyone else was able to tighten into smaller groups as well. With each group acting individually, they avoided the bandits’ attacks, circled around, and managed to turn the tide of battle.”
“Even Lord Percival?”
“No. The Heavenly Blade was near the commander, who was an acquaintance of his father. During the march, he realized the Heavenly Blade was the son of House Mercurius and invited him to stay by his side. I doubt they talked much, though.”
“Why is that?”
“Oh-ho. ‘Why?’ he asks. That’s right, you never knew the Heavenly Blade. He was not an easy person to hold a conversation with. Most people probably never heard anything from him beyond the typical ‘yep,’ ‘nope,’ and ‘huh.’ Whenever someone said anything he deemed boring, he wouldn’t even respond. And he was a very fast walker, so before anyone could manage to strike up a conversation, he would already be long gone.”
“I have heard he was quiet. But you talked with him often, right, Uncle?”
“That’s right. Strangely enough, he would talk to me. Getting back to the story, though—he was next to the commander. At first, the commander was planning to have the sorcerers launch a unified magical attack, and then he would send everyone charging into the hideout. However, just before the attack, a magical barrier was erected over the whole building. The bandits were prepared for them in every way. I heard the defensive magic was quite strong and that no magic attacks could penetrate it. The commander assumed the bandits wouldn’t be able to hold such powerful magic for very long, so he ordered the sorcerers to keep bombarding it with spells.”
“Huh. That doesn’t sound like a bad order.”
“Yes, tactically, it was the correct decision. He also had the shield-bearing knights protect the sorcerers from arrows. Suffice to say, he wasn’t a complete idiot. However, allies were falling left and right. That’s when the Heavenly Blade took action.”
“Did he act without orders from the commander?”
“It would be more accurate to say his intuition told him what the commander wanted. He knew they needed to dispatch the enemies within the hideout. When Percival arrived at the magic barrier, he equipped Alestra’s Bracelet and passed directly through it. The enemy must have been shocked. He was immediately targeted by arrows and spells inside the building, but he dodged every single one.”
“He dodged the spells?”
“That’s right. I didn’t see it myself, but I’ve heard it from eyewitnesses. The Heavenly Blade did often tell me he was capable of dodging arrows and spells.”
“…! He could even dodge arrows…”
“No, don’t make that face yet. Here comes the good part. Even though the Heavenly Blade was wearing Alestra’s Bracelet, he hardly needed it. He didn’t even use it to absorb magic. The moment he entered the building he cut down eight men. They were the only eight people in the building, and they turned out to be the bandit leaders. The chief, Zoahard, was among them. Zoahard was formerly an S-rank adventurer, but the Heavenly Blade apparently entered the building and cut his throat in the blink of an eye. Once Zoahard was dead, most of the bandits stopped resisting.”
“Hmm, that’s amazing.”
“The Heavenly Blade’s level at that time was lower than yours is now. But can you do the same thing he did?”
“No, I don’t have Lord Percival’s skill.”
“You do have the skill. You’ve been receiving instruction from some of the greatest swordsmen of the present era since you were small. I may not be so elegant, but I’ve also had more than my fair share of combat experience. If we’re talking strictly about skill, you’re not inferior to the Heavenly Blade. However…”
“What is it?”
“You don’t yet know battle outside of the labyrinth.”
“True.”
“Battle in the outside world is completely different from battle within labyrinths. You can’t use potions. If you lose an arm or a leg in the outside world, it won’t grow back. Even if you lose your right arm and then enter a labyrinth and drink a red potion, it won’t regrow. To the labyrinth, not having a right arm will be your original condition. Not even the changes your body experiences after a level-up will bring back extremities that you lost in the outside world. There are medicines and healing charms that work outside of labyrinths, but the most they’ll do is accelerate self-healing. Well, you’ll occasionally encounter a priest or monk whose abilities will make them seem like a miracle worker, but even they can’t restore lost limbs.”
“I know.”
“It’s the same with mana. As long as you keep chugging blue potions, you can use your magic and skills as much as you want. But that won’t work in the outside world. You need to be careful about how you manage your mana, and you can’t fight nonstop like you can in labyrinths. If you run out of physical and mental energy, you’ll be finished. Running out of stamina in the middle of a fight will be the death of you.”
“Yes, I promise I’m aware of that. I’m being mindful in my training.”
“I suppose you are. However, you’ve gotten too strong. If you continue down your current path, you will not learn fear.”
“The monsters in the labyrinth are plenty scary. And I always go alone, so I do feel fear.”
“Sure. But the thing is, no matter how strong an enemy is, all you have to do is keep chugging potions, and you’ll defeat them eventually. Killing enemies also increases your level, and a higher level means you’ll be able to easily take down enemies that struck fear in your heart before. Labyrinths are a drug. There’s no limit to how strong you can grow, and the rewards only get better the deeper you go. The more you venture into labyrinths, the harder it gets to keep yourself away. You do feel fear, but that only adds to the thrill. You feel real pain and stress as well, but you have nothing to worry about, because any problem can be fixed by working hard and increasing your level. Once that way of thinking becomes ingrained in your mind, you won’t be able to fight in the outside world.”
“My battle is in the labyrinth.”
When Arza’s father, Panzel, was posthumously given the rank of marquis for his achievements in life and the Banust domain was granted to House Goran, House Riga, to which Arza’s mother belonged, was thrilled. Esseluleia’s older brother Draydol, who was the current Duke of Riga, attempted to send prominent vassals to the Banust domain in order to have Arza raised in House Riga. He tried to appoint someone from that house to serve as the Marquis of Banust until Arza came of age. He was hijacking the position in the name of support.
Esseluleia appealed directly to the king. Her husband, Panzel, had made a promise to the minotaur in the labyrinth: that he would return to finish their duel. His son, Arza, had to be the one to keep that promise. She wanted Arza to be raised in House Mercurius, which was famed for its military prowess, and asked for him to be given the title of Marquis of Banust after he grew up and slayed the minotaur. She asked for permission to serve as the marquis until that point. That was her plea to the king.
It was highly unusual for a woman to be entrusted rule over such an important and sizable region, but the king granted her permission. That was why Arza needed to become strong enough to defeat the minotaur, no matter what it took.
“That’s right. However, as you are now, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“Is there something I am missing?”
“It might be the pain that all humans experience. The Heavenly Blade knew that pain. Your father also knew it well. I can’t imagine he didn’t.”
“Are you saying I need to understand how precious and fragile a life is?”
“That’s right. That’s one way to phrase it. However, I don’t think you’re capable of understanding that as you are now. Once you defeat that monster, you will have to fight in the outside world. You need some more perspective. Go on a trip. You still have time.”
“If that is what you want, Uncle, I will do it. Where should I go?”
“It doesn’t matter. That said, we can’t have anyone in Baldemost learning of your true identity. That would be problematic. That goes double for Fenks. Which leaves the south, I guess. Travel far and experience all you can.”
“Understood. I will go south.”
“Make sure to have lots of battles down there. Your movement will be restricted even in the south, though, if your identity is discovered. The adventurer medal I had made under the name of Zara was partially for this purpose. That trick wouldn’t have been possible if Druga hadn’t been the guild president and the person handling your family registry wasn’t a subordinate of Eador.”
Arza’s holy occupation was knight. Even knights could have an adventurer medal issued at a temple, but his true name would have been given away as soon as his medal was inspected. If the name “Arza Goran” were to get out, he wouldn’t be able to move nearly as comfortably, and rumors would spread like wildfire.
For that reason, they changed his name to “Zara.” They did not report that to the royal palace, however. Normally, nobles of above-average rank had to file a report when they changed their names. The contents of the report were then entered into the Family Lineage Registry. But because it would be a blemish on their registry to record that he’d changed his name to Zara—with no family name—they were holding off on the report. He would, of course, eventually use the name Arza Goran again. His adventurer medal was issued at the temple affiliated with the guild, and thanks to the authority of Druga, he was able to discreetly perform activities such as buying consumables and information about the labyrinth and acquiring lost items.
“I hope I can raise my level at least a little.”
“No, I don’t think that will happen. It’s a lot harder to level up in the outside world. It’ll be even harder for you since your level is so high already. I’m not positive you would level up even if you spent a year fighting in the outside world. But you shouldn’t be thinking about that. You can always come back here and train if you find you’re not strong enough.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Fight well and fight often. Encounter a wide variety of people and places. Have many fruitful experiences. By doing all that, you will come to know this world. Journeys are a great way to learn about yourself as well. Admittedly, I’m parroting all this from an old friend. Ah, one more thing. Make sure not to open your Treasury in front of people.”
“Okay, I understand.”
People who went on adventures usually took up the holy occupation of adventurer. The adventurer job awarded a storage system called a Bag. Bags were extremely easy to use. The holy occupation of knight, on the other hand, awarded you a storage system called a Treasury. It was possible to share a Treasury with other people and set it up for inheritance.
Because you took items out of Bags simply by reaching inside the magical space and grabbing the item you wanted, people could not see inside them. However, Treasuries worked by displaying an operation screen from which you would choose the item you wanted. For that reason, using them in front of others would immediately give away that you had one. Depending on where people were standing, they would even be able to read your screen. Anyone who saw Arza’s would immediately realize the size of his Treasury.
“Don’t just pull your sword out of your Treasury whenever you need it. Wear it on your hip at all times. Put items you use often in a rucksack and carry it around. Don’t rely on your Treasury. This will both serve as good training for you and make people think you’re a novice adventurer with a low-capacity Bag.”
2
“Are you…awake?”
The clear voice cut through his hazy consciousness. Zara thought it sounded like a girl’s.
A fire was crackling. He was in some kind of cabin.
He could see the fire, which meant he was awake, but Zara couldn’t remember when he had opened his eyes. Actually, he couldn’t remember when he’d lost consciousness in the first place.
He felt like he was inside a very nostalgic dream.
Zara once again drifted off to sleep.
3
“Your luck good. If you fall in snow, you die.”
Zara had collapsed in the snow. Just before he had frozen to death, he had been saved by this girl.
He thought he had been fully prepared for the extreme volatility of the weather here. He did not mean to underestimate the Gahra Mountains, which were commonly referred to as the Mountains of Death. He definitely hadn’t expected a blizzard to suddenly hit the foot of the mountain, though, when he could see spring buds blooming all around him.
Zara lifted himself out of bed and ate the soup the girl gave him. The soup contained salted, dried meat; roasted pieces of tree root; and potatoes. He could feel his cells absorbing the nourishment.
“That was delicious. Thank you,” he said, setting his bowl aside.
The girl nodded without smiling, collected her and Zara’s bowls, and washed them using a bucket full of snow.
“You have name?”
“I’m Zara.”
The girl had been expressionless until then, but she looked at the boy in surprise and then burst out laughing.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You get name from blizzard?”
Zara stared at the girl blankly. She made a slightly troubled face.
“You not know legend of Zara, Bora, and Gahra?”
“No.”
And so the girl told him a story.
4
Once, there was a god named Zara. He had two younger sisters named Bora and Gahra, and the three of them got along very well. They lived together for a long time, protecting the earth and bestowing blessings upon the people.
In time, Bora fell in love with Zara, and the two were joined in marriage. They had a daughter.
But afterward, Bora noticed something: Gahra had also fallen in love with Zara. So Bora took their daughter and fled. Gahra did not believe she could be happy without a love of her own, so she hid herself away.
Having lost his two sisters and his child, Zara was devastated. He became the wind in the sky and embarked on a journey to find his sisters and his daughter. With their gods gone and their blessings lost, the people entered an era of suffering.
The people searched for the gods. Bora had torn up the earth and was living underground. Gahra had hidden herself in the mountains. Nobody knew where Zara was.
The people of the plains worshipped Bora, and the people of the mountains worshipped Gahra. No one worshipped Zara. Bora and Gahra granted abundant harvests to the plains and the mountains, respectively.
But to this day, Bora and Gahra still lament being separated from Zara. That’s why when people get too close to these gods, they die.
5
Zara had never heard that legend before. He knew of Bora, of course, but he had never heard of gods named Zara or Gahra.
The Gahra Mountains must be named after that goddess.
He felt a little embarrassed that he had coincidentally chosen Zara as the name he would adopt as an adventurer. His choice had nothing to do with myth or legend; he’d simply picked it because it was a play on his real name.
“What’s your name?”
“I not have name yet. Called daughter of Gerie.”
That meant her father’s name was Gerie. Her answer made it clear that she was from Zolzoga.
You should never put your faith in rumors.
As the people of the plains knew them, the people of the mountains—or the people of Zolzoga—were more half-beast than human. They were covered in hair all over their bodies and were only capable of broken speech. They lived in the mountains and never went down to the plains.
They thought and lived like beasts. They were knowledgeable of the mountains and traded valuable goods like monster fur, medicine, and minerals in exchange for wares from the plains. Children were not named by their parents but instead named themselves when they deemed it necessary.
The girl in front of Zara looked nothing like a beast, though.
Her clothes were made of tanned animal hides, and she wasn’t wearing makeup. Her hair was cut short. Her face, hands, and feet were covered in sweat and dust.
Even then, he thought she was beautiful. The way she moved was both lively and graceful at the same time. Her speech was awkward, but her choice of words and manner of speech made it clear she was very intelligent.
Her voice and her eyes had the greatest impact on him. She sounded dignified without forcing it. Her gaze was free of arrogance, and whenever their eyes met, he could feel her stare penetrating his very core.
He looked to his side and saw his sword and rucksack. It should have been hard enough to carry his unconscious body out of the blizzard. He hadn’t expected her to bring his belongings as well.
The fact that she grabbed my sword and rucksack proves her kindhearted nature.
“Do you live here alone?”
The girl answered that her father had died three months ago and she had moved into this cabin that her father owned because she could no longer stay in the village. The girl’s mother was from the plains, so she’d learned the language of the plains from her.
Zara was about to inquire after her mother but then felt a presence outside.
6
After seeing the boy notice something and pick up his sword, the girl ran to a wall of the cabin. She opened a window and looked outside.
The violent snow from earlier had stopped, and soft rays of sunlight characteristic of spring were illuminating the peak of the mountain.
The girl stared intently at the forest. She then closed the window and hastily picked up a bow and quiver, tension plain on her face.
The boy had already pulled on his boots and was headed for the door.
“No!” screamed the girl, but Zara ignored her and rushed outside.
It was an ettin.
Also called snow ogres, ettins were monsters that only lived in high elevation on snowy mountains and would grow violent and attack as soon as they smelled a human.
They were covered in long white fur all over their body and face. They didn’t have any special skills but were very strong and resilient against physical and magical attacks. Humanoid and bipedal, they were over twice as tall as humans and had extremely long, thick arms. Ettins were thought to be around the monster level of 50, and A-rank adventurers would only fight one with a party.
The ettin was about thirty meters away. The blizzard had stopped, but the snow on the ground should have still made it difficult to walk. Despite that, the boy used his nimble speed to run on top of the snow. Watching from the door, the girl’s eyes widened in surprise.
The snow wasn’t that deep, but it was fresh and soft. Running fast enough to land on top of fresh snow was something not even the people of the mountains were capable of.
Zara reached the ettin but did not attack it right away. The creature swung its right arm with a whoosh. That attack had enough force behind it to either seriously injure or kill even an A-rank adventurer, but the boy ducked and avoided it.
The monster attacked with its left arm next, lifting it high and slamming it down violently. Carefully watching the movement of the ettin’s hands, nails, and the rest of its body, Zara dodged quickly to the left just before the attack could hit him. The monster’s swing caught only air, and a massive amount of snow was kicked up when its arm hit the ground.
With its left hand still in the snow, it pulled itself forward and then swung its right hand down diagonally.
From a distance, the ettin’s expression seemed to indicate that it was enjoying itself, but up close, nothing could be further from the truth. Even the bravest adventurers would be intimidated by such a sneer.
But the boy stayed completely calm.
The people of the plains call them snow ogres, but they have horns, and the structures of their faces don’t match ogres’, either. I wonder if this creature belongs to a different classification of monster altogether.
Those are the kind of idle thoughts speeding through Zara’s mind.
When the monster shifted its center of gravity to its left arm, the boy bent down and swung his sword with his right hand. He severed the ettin’s left arm, and it came crashing to the ground.
Zara lunged to the right and decapitated the ettin with a single stroke. Warm blood erupted from the monster’s neck and left arm, and it collapsed into the white snow, painting it red. The boy landed across from it, avoiding the blood spray entirely.
Still holding her bow and quiver, the girl stood in the doorway dumbfounded by what she had just witnessed.
Seems my mind and body weren’t sluggish at all. My movement was the same as ever.
Zara reflected on the battle while studying the monster’s corpse.
7
The girl began skinning the ettin and harvesting its meat. Zara talked to her as he helped.
“I want to cross the mountain and pass through the Great Ravine. Can you please tell me the way?”
“I not know how to say. Lots of snow up mountain. Blizzard coming. Very rough for many days.”
The girl pointed to herself.
“We go together. You help with hunt.”
The girl was saying she would guide him to the ravine and that she wanted him to assist with hunting. Zara had planned on crossing the mountain on his own, but at this point, he understood that wouldn’t be training. It would be suicide.
“Thank you. We’ll go together, then.”
This was the first time he had ever skinned a beast, but as he lifted the heavy limbs, rotated the body, and washed the fat with snow, he felt like he was being decently helpful. He knew monsters in the outside world didn’t vanish after death, but he didn’t know they were this warm on the inside. The ettin’s flesh actually felt hot.
“Can you sell skins? Or do you use them yourself?”
“Can sell. Ettin is rare. Good that no injury. This sell for high price. This very good. It big, warm, soft. You killed, so you keep.”
“I want to give it to you, but would that be rude?”
The girl’s hands stopped moving for a moment, and she spoke in a subdued voice.
“Man give woman big pelt…have meaning of sleep together. Do not say that.”
He wasn’t expecting that kind of response at all, so it took a bit for him to understand what she meant.
Aaaahh, okay! So I would be proposing.
“Okay, then please take this pelt and sell it yourself. I want you to have the money as thanks for helping me out.”
The girl didn’t respond at first, but after a short while, she gave a small nod without looking at him.
After that, they continued their work in silence. The girl didn’t speak, didn’t make any facial expressions, and didn’t give any orders. Zara taught himself how to help by observing her actions.
Once he got a good enough handle on what they were doing, he did most of the knife work. He had no idea skinning was this difficult. By the time they finished, he felt excruciating pain in his shoulders, back, hips, and more. Given how muscular he was, the task shouldn’t have been excessively burdensome, but he had apparently overexerted himself.
He watched as the girl massaged the skin with grass juice.
That night he rubbed some medicinal herbs on his body before he went to sleep.
8
The daughter of Gerie had a Tirika Bow.
This blessed item was made up of the bow, arrows, and quiver collectively and was typically dropped on or around the twentieth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. The quiver held eleven arrows, and once the user had exhausted them all, it would magically replenish itself after a certain amount of time had passed.
Arrows fired from the bow disappeared. They couldn’t be used with other bows, but the bow could fire other arrows. Conveniently, the bowstring did not make a sound when firing. Most blessed items dropped from monsters weren’t helpful outside of labyrinths, but Tirika Bows were an exception.
It was a difficult item to obtain outside of labyrinths, and as it was a relatively rare drop, it would fetch a pretty hefty price whenever there was one for sale. There was no doubt that this was a valuable item to the people of the mountains, as they didn’t have much in the way of plains currency.
This Tirika Bow was a memento of the girl’s father, but when he’d died, some men from the village had asked her to sell it to them. The girl refused, saying it was her job to pass down her father’s techniques.
I have plenty of bows and arrows in my Treasury.
Zara opened his Treasury and searched for bows and arrows. The Treasury he’d inherited from Panzel was enormous and full of rare and powerful items. It contained many varieties of blessed bows as well. There was even a Tirika Bow.
“Ah, I have one, too.”
He took out the bow and showed it to the girl. He thought she would be happy to see he had the same weapon she did, but for some reason, her expression stiffened. She looked away quickly, not saying anything for a while.
When she finally spoke again, her voice was thick with resolve.
“I teach you how to use bow!”
9
“Ya, ya, ya!”
The girl was running and shouting in a high-pitched voice, driving the three red deer they were hunting toward the rock Zara was hiding behind. Zara readied his Tirika Bow in his left hand and nocked an arrow with his right. He was holding three more arrows at the ready.
He fired without making a sound, and the arrow pierced the neck of the red deer in front. Without delay, he fired the second and third arrows, accurately piercing the necks of the remaining two deer. He didn’t need to use the spare arrow.
Okay. I’m getting used to this rapid-fire method.
He gave himself a passing grade.
When the girl first told him about this technique, he’d tilted his head in confusion. He had always been taught by his bow instructor to remove arrows from the quiver one at a time.
The people of the mountains, however, used them differently. According to his companion, it was considered wasteful to break your posture after hitting your target, so it was best to pull multiple arrows from the quiver at once.
Zara’s shots all pierced vital points.
The girl approached the red deer and slit their throats with her dagger. She was careful to ensure their pelts wouldn’t be dirtied with blood. Once she finished draining the three carcasses, she cut open the abdomen of one of them and started gorging herself on its entrails.
Now that was something the boy couldn’t follow her example on.
Next, they skinned the deer and butchered the flesh. They were probably going to smoke some of the meat later. They also stored some of it raw in order to eventually roast it or use it in stew.
The girl had a Cargo, which was the storage system possessed by merchants. It could store especially large items, and in addition to the convenience of being able to sort items by classification, it had the special characteristic of being able to preserve perishable foods for long periods of time.
That didn’t mean her holy occupation was merchant, however. She was actually a hunter. Zara found it a little weird that a hunter had a Cargo, but that was apparently common in her tribe.
She put the red deer skins in her Cargo to be tanned later.
10
As he was guided through the mountain range named after a goddess, Zara learned plenty from the daughter of Gerie, besides her technique with a bow.
He learned how to hunt, how to find medicinal herbs and edible plants, how to tan animal hides, how to get accustomed to high altitudes, and how to live in the snow.
Zara returned the favor by offering her ingredients he happened to have in his Treasury and by making food from the plains. Her reaction when he had her try some sugar candies with fragrant powder sprinkled on top was perfect. She looked like she would melt into a puddle of ecstasy. From then on, her eyes lit up every time Zara offered her sweets. She reminded him of an adorable woodland critter in those moments.
I guess the rumor about them being animalistic was accurate, in a way.
He leaped at every opportunity to ask about her village, her family, and how the people of the mountains lived. The girl, on the other hand, didn’t ask a single thing about who he was or what he was trying to do.
Crossing the mountains like this was not something any sane person would attempt.
If you wanted to go from Baldemost Kingdom to the southern countries, it was best to travel along Bera Road and go to Mazulu. If you took the North Elga Highway north of Mazulu, you would pass along the bank of the scenic Dona Lake and end up in the southwestern part of the continent. Bera Road was a highway built on the western edge of the Gahra Mountains and could have been considered the only bridge between the north and south. It was traversable any time of year except for the dead of winter.
If you were embarking on a pilgrimage to the Holy Kingdom of Roahl to the southeast, you could cross through the Principality of Yenna, which bordered Mazulu to the south, and travel along the South Elga Highway.
Baldemost and Mazulu each had checkpoints on the border that required pricey tolls to pass through, but because they were patrolled by guards, they were relatively safe.
If you had business in the east and Bera Road was too much of a detour, you could circumvent the Gahra Mountains by traveling through the borderlands. Large expanses of that region had nothing resembling a road, and the risk of encountering monsters or thieves was high. Still, it was safer and faster than the alternative.
Even among the mountainfolk, very few tribes lived in the Gahra Mountains. Most were nomadic and traveled across the southern mountainous region, which was known as the bosom of the Zolzoga people.
Anyone attempting to cross through the Gahra Mountains either didn’t want to pass through the checkpoint or were criminals trying to shake off pursuers. Zara would have understood if the girl suspected him of belonging to either category.
11
They spent ten days passing through a region where the snow remained on the ground year-round, then walked for twenty more days through a section of the mountain with intense snowfall.
They were covering their faces with items called gaugaro masks. These were made of tree bark and were intended to protect the wearer’s skin against the elements. Zara could see and breathe through the gaps in the mask just fine, but he couldn’t get used to how prickly it was.
They did a lot of hunting. The girl insisted on dividing the pelts evenly between the two of them. She said even half of them would give her more than enough money to build a whole new cabin and completely replace all her furniture.
They slept with their backs touching to keep warm at night.
The next day, they would be traversing the most dangerous part of the mountain. As he drifted off to sleep, Zara reflected on something that had happened a few days earlier.
They had found a couple of quartet birds. The quartet bird was given its name because it could look like four different creatures, depending on the angle from which you viewed it. Its meat was rumored to extend your life span, so it sold for a lot.
They’d managed to capture the two birds, but their cries and the scent of their blood had attracted some ice wolves.
Ice wolves were roughly the same level as gray wolves, which put them around level 10. Unlike in the labyrinth, however, monsters in the outside world grew and learned, making them significantly more dangerous. Despite that, Zara could handle dozens of ice wolves no problem.
He’d actually sensed them coming and cut down three of the four the moment they leaped at them. As he was about to slice the throat of the fourth, he sensed more wolves approaching thanks to his Detection skill. Another pack happened to be in the area, and they’d started moving toward the travelers after smelling the blood.
I can’t let them surround us.
The moment the thought had occurred to Zara, his right arm froze up, and he only managed to give the wolf a light scratch. Without delay, he’d struck the side of the beast’s face with his left hand and then dodged a snap of its jaws, but then he’d started shaking as if afflicted by some kind of curse. He was having difficulty moving and thinking.
The effect had been brief, and with the girl’s help, he’d managed to repel the wolves. As he drifted off to sleep, though, he couldn’t help wondering what that feeling had been.
No. I know what that was.
It was fear.
When he’d entered the Sazardon Labyrinth for the first time at age fourteen, Zara had reached the staircase of the fourteenth floor. His training up to that point had made that feat more than possible.
On the way back to the surface, he’d caught sight of a party being attacked by a pack of wolves near the tenth-floor stairwell. Zara had ran up to help them, and while protecting the injured adventurers, he’d ended up getting three fingers bitten off. He’d immediately healed the injury with a potion and then finished off the wolves. He considered that moment a learning experience and had assumed he would forget it. After finding himself in a similar situation, though, the event returned to his mind.
As individuals, the ice wolves stood no chance against him. He wouldn’t have even taken much damage had they managed to get a few bites in.
However, being assailed by a large number of wolves simultaneously made dodging all their attacks difficult. When fighting outside of the labyrinth, you also had to deal with accumulating injuries, and you could end up with a serious wound that couldn’t be healed.
Zara had a goal. He had a mission he needed to complete. He could not die until he did so. He could not lose a hand or an arm. That was why he’d felt fear when fighting the ice wolves.
Zara had no idea what to do about his newfound feeling.
12
“Now we go onto sacred ground.”
It had been two days since she said that.
On the sacred ground you were not allowed to spill blood. You had to do your best to avoid monsters, and if you did happen to run into one, you had to distract it and flee. Meat drained of blood was used traditionally as a decoy, and the girl had prepared a large amount of it.
The daughter of Gerie said they would spend that entire day passing through this dangerous section, then descend through a calm and gentle stretch, eventually reaching the ravine in a week. Zara couldn’t imagine this area would be as difficult as what they had passed through to get there. The girl, however, appeared very nervous and was looking around carefully as they advanced through the mountain.
I’d like to take a break soon and eat something…
As soon as Zara thought that, he heard something in the distance.
In the mountains, it was difficult to pinpoint the source of a noise. In spite of that, he turned toward the direction from which he thought the sound had come and looked down the slope. There, he spotted seven people cornered by ice wolves on the edge of a cliff that towered over a ravine.
The weather was clear, allowing for good visibility. There were four people wearing clothes that suggested they were from the plains. Two of them were small—probably children.
Judging by the clothes of the other three, they were likely from the mountains. The trio were wearing gaugaro masks.
One of the people from the plains had a cloth wrapped around his face.
They were being attacked by twelve wolves. Four of the beasts were already dying on top of the snow. Zara could tell at a glance that the party didn’t need saving.
The person from the plains with the cloth wrapped around his face was overwhelmingly strong. He had a large frame and swung his broad sword around with ease as he bisected any wolves that approached him.
The three from the mountains were also dispatching the wolves easily. The one protecting the children was a sorcerer, who would occasionally shoot down the animals with fireballs.
The pure-white snow was stained red with the blood of the dying wolves.
“This not good. Must leave now,” the girl said, tugging at Zara’s sleeve with a tense expression on her face. This was around the time the last wolf was defeated. Zara was about to do as the girl said when something odd appeared.
A strange, pure-white monster rose out of the snow. It looked a bit like a child wearing a snug-fitting white cloth over its entire body. Its hands, feet, eyes, mouth, nose, and more were nowhere to be found, and its entire body was trembling.
More of the strange creatures rose out of the snow until there were ten in all. They surrounded the people, their bodies writhing as they moved unsteadily toward them.
The three people of the mountains bellowed a command, and the entire group ran away from the faceless ghosts. A few of the monsters dove into the snow and disappeared. A moment later, the same number reemerged to block the party’s path.
The mountainfolk drew their respective weapons and began attacking the faceless ghosts. No amount of cutting or slashing seemed to do any damage, however, instead only sprayed something resembling snow into the air.
The warrior with the large sword slashed at a faceless ghost chasing him. This time, he succeeded in cutting off its head, and he sliced the rest of its body to pieces. It stopped moving for a bit, but then its body began to shake, and the monster quickly reconstituted itself.
Before long, the ten faceless ghosts had completely surrounded the seven people. The cliff was to their backs. It was so steep that the ground below wasn’t visible.
A red hole opened wide on the torso of each of the faceless ghosts.
Are those…mouths?
The faceless ghosts threw wide their crimson maws and began biting their prey.
In no time at all, the party was covered in bloody wounds.
The two adults among the plainsfolk were doing everything they could to protect the children, but because the faceless ghosts were capable of stretching their bodies, it was very difficult to completely defend against their snapping.
One of the mountain men thrust his dagger into a faceless ghost’s mouth. Blue sparks began flying from the monster, and then it burst into snow and disappeared.
The nine remaining faceless ghosts immediately stopped moving. They then shrunk their stretched bodies and shook violently. More sparks began racing across their incorporeal frames, and they simultaneously fired bolts of lightning at the man who had killed one of them. With a sound like a large tree snapping in two, the mountain man’s flesh was charred black, and he collapsed.
Zara opened his Treasury, performed a search, and pulled out a sword. It was one with which he was especially comfortable. He put away the cane he had been using as a walking support and then retrieved and equipped a bracelet.
“No! Bad if kill! Those foster child of Gahra. If kill, make Gahra mad. No! Do not go!”
“Wait there.”
Zara ignored his guide and ran down the slope. Before long, the other two mountainfolk were dead. The three corpses lay cold in the snow.
Eight of the faceless ghosts remained.
The warrior with the large sword was a man, and the sorcerer was a woman. The children were a boy and a girl. They were probably a family.
The children were covered in blood, having been bitten all over by the faceless ghosts. The wounds of the woman protecting the children were even deeper.
One of the creatures opened its mouth wide and tried to chomp down on the boy’s head. The man stabbed his sword into the faceless ghost’s mouth and killed it. The remaining seven stopped moving, began to shake, and simultaneously fired lightning bolts at the warrior.
The man was hit with an explosive blast, sparks flying everywhere. He smelled of cooked meat, but it didn’t look like he had suffered a lethal wound. He probably had equipment to defend against magic.
The cloth around his face, however, was blown off, and his hood was thrown back as well. His head was hairless and decorated in strange tattoos. There was something carved below his eyes as well.
He’s a gladiator from the Gorenza Empire.
Zara finally arrived on the scene, drew his sword, and set about slashing at the faceless ghosts surrounding the woman and children. However, his targets didn’t pay him any mind.
One of the faceless ghosts tried to bite the gladiator, so Zara quickly thrust his sword into the monster’s mouth and killed it.
The remaining six faceless ghosts fired lightning bolts at Zara. He held up the bracelet on his left hand and negated the blasts. Alestra’s Bracelet was a treasure that protected against magical attacks.
The faceless ghosts fired lightning bolts at him again, but the bracelet nullified those, too. The monsters’ attention was now directed entirely at Zara.
“I’ll keep them occupied. Hurry and get as far away from here as you can!”
There was no guarantee that more of these foster children of Gahra, or whatever they were, wouldn’t appear. Zara could manage fighting them alone, but it would be difficult if he had to protect those four people as well. That was why he told them to run.
“Sorry.”
The man beckoned to the woman and children and they fled to the north. Just before their figures disappeared over the hill, Zara saw the woman give him a bow.
As the travelers ran, Zara slashed continuously at the faceless ghosts, but he didn’t kill any of them. He didn’t know whether something would happen if he took out too many.
The movements of the faceless ghosts were unfamiliar and strange, but they weren’t very fast. Also, because slashing them would stall them for a bit, he felt no fear fighting them. What he was afraid of was what would happen after he killed them.
The faceless ghosts fired lightning bolts at him intermittently, but they didn’t do any damage, thanks to Alestra’s Bracelet. The creatures always fired their blasts simultaneously, which made them easy to handle.
After Zara decided he had bought enough time, he killed the remaining faceless ghosts one by one. After the last of the foster children exploded into powder snow and vanished, he braced himself and waited to see what would happen. Nothing.
He then noticed the girl was standing next to him. Her face was deathly pale.
Zara cleaned off his sword, sheathed it, and smiled.
“Doesn’t look like Gahra is angry with me.”
But he’d spoken too soon.
13
The ground rumbled. Over time, the quaking grew more intense. Zara and the girl held each other, waiting for the shaking to stop.
But there was no end to it. A clamorous noise reverberated through the mountains, sounding at once like thunder and as if something were being smashed into pieces.
Something’s coming. Something impossibly huge is coming from the ravine.
The presence Zara felt was enormous. An adversary with destructive potential rivaling a natural disaster was manifesting before them.
Thanks to the clear weather, they could see every mountain peak in the vicinity. The shaking was causing avalanches, sending snow tumbling down the mountains.
Zara shut his lips tight and observed the developing situation.
On the other side of the towering cliff, the face of an enormous woman appeared. Zara and his companion were standing about six meters from the cliff. The beautiful woman’s face was just over the edge, her eyes closed.
Actually, she wasn’t right in front of the cliff. Her face was actually several hundred yards away or possibly even farther than that. It only appeared to be closer because of its colossal size.
It was made of snow, ice, and rock, so rather than describing it as a giant woman’s face, it would be more accurate to call it a white, icy mountain carved into the shape of a woman.
If it stretched all the way up from the base of the cliff, which was so far down it wasn’t visible, then it was taller than any mountain that towered above Baldemost.
The mountain with the woman’s visage continued to rise. It had long hair extending past its waist in the form of snowy white icicles. Its enormous white face was a carved glacier. The full spectacle was reminiscent of a woman wearing a white evening dress.
The eyes and mouth opened rigidly, each revealing a jet-black abyss and nothing more. Her expression was twisted with hatred, pain, and sadness.
This enormous ice monster assuming the form of a woman loosed a wail from its “mouth.”
Ooooooooo……… Ooooooooo………
The sight of its mouth opening caused Zara’s stomach to turn.
The sound of its cry echoed off the surrounding mountains. The monster screamed again.
Ooooooooo……… Ooooooooo………
The area was enshrouded with black clouds, and a blizzard began raging. The monster enveloped itself in the black clouds and began to rock back and forth like a mother who had just lost a child.
Ooooooooo……… Ooooooooo………
The winds blew violently, as if responding to the wails of despair.
The gale assaulted Zara and the girl, carrying snow with incredible force behind it. Zara ducked, held on to the girl as tightly as he could, and tried his best to endure the blustering onslaught. After the wind passed, the girl let slip a whimper of despair, but she kept a brave face.
“That daughter of Gahra. If see her, too late. All die.”
The ground shook again. The quaking ramped up very quickly, to the extent that it seemed like it was trying to throw everything off the mountain.
While continuing to support the girl with his right hand, Zara used his left to take off his mask and then remove his hat and earmuffs, which were both made of animal fur. He then turned toward the enraged daughter of Gahra and called out with a loud voice:
“O Goddess! O Gahra! O daughter of Gahra! Please hear my words!”
Zara looked ahead with his feet planted firmly in the snow, undeterred by the tremors.
“I am Arza, son of Panzel! I am also known as Zara. I offer my humble greeting to the great daughter born of the gods Zara and Gahra!”
Zara’s right arm was wrapped around the girl, and she watched as he addressed the divine being with a sonorous voice.
“Spilling blood on your sacred ground was my crime. For that, I deeply apologize. I ask that you find it in yourself to forgive me. I drew my sword out of necessity to protect a group of humans, the beloved children of the gods. I was not making light of you or your family, nor did I see you as a god of destruction and attempt to drive you away. I beseech you. Let your rage be quelled.”
Hearing Zara’s calm, authoritative voice, his companion straightened her back, focused her gaze on the divine spirit, and stood by his side as if his words and thoughts applied to her as well.
The divine being fixed them both with a stare.
“If you honor my plea, I will become your sword and smite your enemies. Please be calm, O great god of the mountains! Please accept my humble declaration!”
Once Zara had loudly sworn his oath, he took off his right glove, bit the tip of his middle finger, and held his hand up to the sky. A stream of blood dripped down from the finger, which was picked up by the wind and inhaled by the raging deity.
But the tremors did not end. The blizzard, which had calmed for a bit, gained new ferocity. Zara and the girl grabbed each other and fell to the ground, their stamina all but drained. Their total lack of visibility and their inability to move made escape impossible. They merely did their best to endure the blizzard as they were thrown around by the earthquakes.
Zara had no idea how much time had passed. It seemed the blizzard and the shaking would never end. Eventually, though, the weather began to subside, and peace finally returned to the mountain.
When the sky cleared, they could see stars. Night had fallen.
Zara and the girl erected a tent in a mountain crevice. Zara opened his Treasury, pulled out the first pelt he found, then wrapped it around himself and lay down.
This was the first time either of them had felt fear or exhaustion of this magnitude. Unaware of who reached out first, the two hugged each other close in their desperate need for solidarity.
Zara knew a woman’s skin for the first time. It was a new experience for the girl as well. He was aroused by her scent, and after getting swept up in the flames of passion, the two made love. After joining multiple times, a single thought weighed on Zara’s mind before he fell into a deep sleep.
I wonder if that family is safe…
14
When Zara awoke in the morning, he was shocked by how refreshed he felt. Even the cut on his finger had healed completely. He took out his adventurer medal and ran a finger over it.
Normally, you needed the merchant skill Appraisal to scan an adventurer medal, but you could check the status of your own with a simple touch.
He had become level 68. He’d gone up three levels. Those foster children of Gahra, or whatever they were, must have given him a lot of experience.
But he wasn’t sure when the level-up had occurred. In dungeons, level-ups happened after a battle. In the outside world, though, you could only level up if you went to a shrine and had a priest or monk with the Oath skill pray for you.
He didn’t really understand what had happened, so he put the thought from his mind for the moment.
15
One week later, the two of them reached the ravine.
The girl said she was going to a trading post due west of their current location. Zara considered joining her but ultimately decided to travel east through the Great Ravine as he had originally planned.
There were multiple villages and a labyrinth within the ravine. The region was also home to many powerful monsters. There was a famous training hall in Aldana to the south, and Zara had planned to ask the martial artists there to train him.
As they were about to part ways, the girl spoke up.
“I decided my name.”
“Oh really? What did you pick?”
“Shariezara.”
“Shariezara. That’s a nice name.”
“You think so?”
“Yes, I do.”
The girl grinned wide. Zara thought he would never forget her smile.
He said his good-byes and headed east, occasionally turning around and waving. The girl spent a long time watching him go.
Shariezara. In the language of the mountainfolk, the name meant “the one who waits for Zara.”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter4.txt
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Interlude 2
Interlude 2
The minotaur felt a burning irritation. The cause was clear.
What happened to that human?
What happened to that human who broke my neck and triumphed over me in battle?
Why has that human not come back?
He has no worthy enemies other than me.
I have no worthy enemies other than him.
He has to come back.
Where is he?
The long wait was only the first source of the minotaur’s irritation.
It thought back on the human’s fighting style. In truth, it did not need to.
Ever since its first loss, the fighting style of that human had been constantly replaying in its mind, even as it fought other challengers. And in the many alternative scenarios the minotaur imagined, it never once defeated him.
That human bested the minotaur with his sword skill; with his muscle; with his barehanded technique; with his foresight, strategy, and his ability to bait his opponent; with his extensive knowledge of combat. The human used all of that to defeat the minotaur over and over again.
As I am now, even if we fight again, I will lose.
Every time that thought passed through its mind, it shook its head violently and punched a rock or the wall around it, refusing to accept the notion. However, the sharper its sense for battle became, the more unavoidable its loss felt.
A long time had passed since it fought that human. Because the minotaur had no way to keep track of time, it had no idea how many years or even decades it had been. It did, however, understand that it had been waiting entirely too long.
At first, it had looked forward to the wait. It would defeat all the strong humans who ventured into its boss room, and while anticipating its rematch, it honed its skills and studied human fighting techniques. It was happy to expand its knowledge.
But eventually, the minotaur began to feel that too much time had passed.
The human probably had used all this time to become even stronger. He was likely fighting countless battles in the world of light where humans lived and had grown stronger than the minotaur could ever imagine.
The minotaur knew it would no longer grow from its fights against the human challengers who ventured into its room.
No good.
No good.
This place is no good.
In order to fight him, in order to have a good battle, in order to kill him…
I need to find new battles somewhere other than here.
But where that place was, the minotaur did not know.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter5.txt
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Chapter 13: The Rock Man
Chapter 13
The Rock Man
1
Zara was traveling quickly up a rocky path, holding a war hammer with a slim handle and a relatively small head.
He heard a hiss, and another rock snake leaped out from behind a rock and attacked him. His hammer whooshed through the air as he swung it, connecting with the snake’s head, which made a crunching sound on impact.
Anyone who saw that would have been amazed this adventurer had the force to crush the creature’s head in midair. They would have also marveled at his skill with a hammer. A war hammer could be difficult to control thanks to the center of gravity being at the end of its long shaft.
But Zara himself wasn’t satisfied with his skill.
If Uncle saw that, he would probably say something like “that’s the sound your hammer makes, boy?”
He had a massive hammer stored in his Treasury, which Logan had given him as a parting gift. Because of its weight, however, it drained his stamina almost instantly whenever he used it. The hammer he was using now was a bit smaller, and he’d had it for longer.
Rock snakes lunged at him from left and right. Zara adjusted his position and crushed the heads of the two in a single swing. He also took care to avoid the venom that splattered from their bodies on impact.
At first, he had used a one-handed sword as he always did. Though they were weak monsters, rock snakes were formidable adversaries and attacked in waves. As a result, his swords quickly became damaged and unusable. After being forced to put a third one-handed sword back in his Treasury, he’d decided to fight with this war hammer.
Lord Percival would probably say that a sword won’t get damaged if swung skillfully enough.
Zara wondered how Percival would handle the situation in which he currently found himself. He very much wanted to be more like him one day.
No, Lord Percival would probably run through them all and avoid their attacks without even drawing his blade.
As Zara pondered this, a group of desert orcs appeared in front of him. Zara moved the war hammer to his left hand, drew his sword with his right, picked up speed, and charged directly at them.
It’s at least true that this is a road where lots of monsters appear.
That was what he thought about as he engaged the orcs.
2
The Great Ravine was a giant gash in the earth.
According to legend, it was created when the giant god Boho used his bare hands to rip apart the land between the Gahra Mountains and the highlands as a demonstration of his strength.
In a different legend, Chakrapokka, the god of water, washed away the land along with the greedy humans who lived upon it.
The Great Ravine was surrounded by the Gahra Mountains on one side and a mountain range continuing into the highlands on the other, both of which were difficult to travel through. In contrast, the inside of the ravine had a warm climate and was easy to traverse, despite the occasional strong wind and rain. There was also a river flowing through it.
As a result, there were lots of settlements in the Great Ravine, and it had even become a road connecting east and west and was often traveled by merchants.
There were grasslands and forests in the ravine as well, but the road Zara was on right now consisted only of steep cliffs and rocks.
Zara headed east after parting ways with Shariezara. He slept outside for three days and found a village on the fourth. As he was having a meal at an inn, he was approached by three villagers.
One of them introduced himself as the village headman.
“Are you an adventurer?”
“Yes.”
“Would you be willing to accept a request of ours?”
“A quest? You mean without going through the guild?”
“There are no adventurer guilds or anything of the sort around these parts. I assume you won’t take a request unless it’s through the guild?”
“No, that’s not true. I’ll hear what you have to say first, and then I’ll give you my answer.”
“Here’s the situation. Two months ago, a giant made of rock settled down in a valley on the edge of this village.”
“A giant made of rock?”
Zara had never heard of such a thing. It was most likely some type of monster.
“That’s right. It’s three times— No, five times taller than humans. It occasionally cries out in an unsettling voice. It’s a terrifying sound, which carries all the way to the edge of the village. The residents are scared and unable to focus on their work.”
That voice might have had a curse effect on the villagers, causing them to lose their nerve.
“If that was all, we could have just ignored it, but in these last two months, three villagers have gone missing. Fearing the worst, we approached the valley, and when we looked down into it, the missing people’s clothes and belongings were in the monster’s usual spot.”
“Huh. Something needs to be done about it.”
“You’re right about that. But there’s more to the story. The clothes in the valley were not just from this village. It seems a number of travelers have been falling victim as well.”
“Does the monster ever leave the valley?”
“We have never seen it do so. There are some who say it uses its cursed voice to lure victims into the valley.”
“Cursed voice?”
“Believing the number of casualties would only rise until the monster was eradicated, the villagers got some money together. We then asked a passing adventurer if he would accept our request. Once he saw the monster, though, he said the money we were offering as a reward was too little.”
The village headman told Zara how much the villagers had managed to scrape together. It definitely wasn’t a sum for which one would want to risk their life.
“We then turned to Narillia for advice.”
“Who is Narillia?”
“A married couple of apothecaries moved into this village four years ago. The wife’s name is Narillia, and she has a great deal of knowledge about many things.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Narillia said she would try out a number of poisons she had in stock. Unfortunately, none of them worked.”
Poison? For a rock giant?
Poison isn’t very effective against rock-type monsters. It’s not very effective against giants, either.
A poison effective against a rock giant would have to be very powerful. It isn’t likely that an apothecary in a remote village like this would possess such a poison.
“I then asked Narillia if there was any means available to us, and she said there may be one.”
“Oh really? What did she mean?”
“I suppose it would be better for Narillia to explain from here.”
The village headman turned to the person at his back.
“Jaka, bring Narillia here.”
Jaka nodded and left. When he returned, there was a woman following behind him. She was most likely Narillia, the apothecary.
Her luscious black hair fell around her in waves, glistening brilliantly, as if she had just taken a bath. She had jade eyes and thick eyebrows, a pointed nose, deep-red lips, and a slightly protruding chin.
She was dressed like an ordinary villager in her reddish-brown blouse and faded skirt, but even so, she had a powerful presence. If she wore the proper clothes, she would probably pass for a noble.
“Oh my. I wasn’t expecting someone so young.”
“This is the apothecary, Narillia. Narillia, could you please tell Zara about the method you proposed for defeating the monster?”
“Of course. Zara, was it? In order to kill the rock man, we need a certain poison. A special ingredient is required to make it, and that is the venom sac of a ketsarupa.”
A ketsarupa?
“There is a cave slightly north of this village, and it’s said there are ketsarupas in there.”
“Yes, that’s right. There have always been ketsarupas in that cave. That is common knowledge among the villagers,” added the headman.
“Poison isn’t very effective against rock-type monsters, but ketsarupa venom will undoubtedly work. Purification is a bit difficult, but with a bit of processing, I’ll be able to make a poison strong enough to kill even a stone golem.”
The cave was close enough that you could walk there and back in a day. Zara was given a map, but because it was mostly just one road, it seemed like there was no need to worry about getting lost. There were, however, lots of monsters on the road, making it dangerous to travel for nonadventurers.
“But this is too big a burden for a young adventurer like you. You don’t need to do anything unreasonable, Zara.”
“What are you saying, Narillia? Didn’t that rock man kill your husband?” interrupted Jaka.
“Oh, darling, I don’t believe my husband is dead. His belongings haven’t been discovered, after all. I’m sure he’s just fooling around somewhere, fawning over the discovery of some rare medicinal herb,” she insisted as the three men looked at her with pity in their eyes.
“Hmm. In short, this terrible situation is going to continue until someone reaches that cave. I just have to get there and procure a ketsarupa venom sac, is that right?”
The three men nodded in confirmation. Narillia looked somewhat flustered.
“Th-that’s right, but, Zara, do you know what a ketsarupa is?”
“Yes. I am an adventurer.”
Just then, a voice echoed from some distant place.
Nnnnooooo……eeeee……raaaaaaaa…
“Ah, th-that’s the monster’s cursed voice.”
“I see.”
The village headman seemed very frightened, but to Zara, the voice sounded more sorrowful than scary. It didn’t sound very “cursed” to him.
“Understood. I accept your request.”
“Oh! You’re actually taking it?”
“Huh?! Don’t be reckless, Zara.”
“I’ll be careful.”
3
He arrived at the cave. The road there turned out to be very simple after all.
Zara opened his Treasury and took out a dagger. He had a sheath attached to the side of his belt, and he stowed the dagger inside it. Without this dagger, he probably wouldn’t have been able to accept this request.
Ketsarupas were magical beasts with a monster level of 60. They looked like giant centipedes.
Their individual attacks weren’t very powerful, but they existed in great numbers in the dark caves they inhabited and had lethal venom in their pincers and tails. Their bodies also released a poison mist, so just the act of venturing into a cave inhabited by ketsarupas was deadly. Subjugation tasks were always assigned to parties of S-rank adventurers.
A ketsarupa’s venom sac was located behind its heart, so it couldn’t be extracted without killing one.
Zara held a one-handed sword in his right hand and a kite shield in his left.
Maybe I should switch out the one-handed sword for more power.
No. I need to become capable of fighting powerful enemies without relying on blessed weapons. That should be one of my major goals. Even using this dagger would be excessive.
After making up his mind, he ventured into the cave. He activated a Night Vision skill, and about two hundred steps in, an enemy appeared.
A ketsarupa had dropped from the ceiling.
It nimbly twisted its body as it fell and attacked with the large pincers on its head.
Zara dodged out of the way, waited for the enemy to land, and after its pincers clinked together, he severed one of them at its base. The pain caused the ketsarupa to flinch, at which point he cut off its other pincer.
Another ketsarupa leaped at him from the left. Zara angled his body to dodge its pincers, and it then swung its tail down from above its head.
He blocked the tip of its tail with his kite shield and slashed at one of its pincers near the base. His aim must have been off, however, because it didn’t look like it took any damage.
The first ketsarupa rejoined the fray and tried to crush him. Zara delivered a vertical slash to its soft underbelly, and it lurched backward, falling over and leaking bodily fluids. The second ketsarupa surged from the left and attacked with its pincers, but after Zara dodged, it crashed into the first and lost its balance. Zara then cut off one of the second monster’s pincers.
At that moment, his Sense skill told him a third was approaching.
I need to move now.
Zara made a quick decision, spun around, and ran for the entrance.
The two injured ketsarupas chased him, but the third did not. It hadn’t yet gotten close enough to Zara to acknowledge him as an enemy.
He ran until he was close enough to the mouth of the cave to see some dim light and turned around to face his two pursuers.
When ketsarupas ran, their bodies extended almost into a straight line, which made them a very easy target if you had the proper speed and skill.
One venom sac is probably good enough.
Zara sprang nimbly into the air and did a somersault above the leading ketsarupa. Then when its head was directly below him, he thrust his sword down, slicing vertically through its entire body as it charged past. Naturally, its heart and venom sac were bisected as well.
The other ketsarupa flew past him, stabbing with its tail as it did. Zara twisted his body in midair and largely avoided the strike, but it did end up lightly grazing his left leg just below the knee.
He landed and gathered himself.
The ketsarupa’s momentum carried it far past Zara. It turned around and charged again.
Zara leaped backward so the monster he’d already taken down wouldn’t get in his way. It was writhing on the ground, venom flying from its sliced-open back.
The ketsarupa charging at him was the one he’d cut both pincers off. It knocked aside the carcass of its dead companion as it ran at him. Zara dodged easily, then sliced open its shell at a joint in the middle of its body.
After that, his work was easy. He slashed off its rattling tail and waited until it almost completely stopped moving. He then cut out its venom sac, took a container he had previously been entrusted with from his Treasury, and placed the prize inside.
He checked his left leg, but his clothing wasn’t torn. It seemed he had only suffered a light bruise.
I’m disappointed I couldn’t do this without taking any damage.
Zara reflected on the fight as his instructor Logan’s angry face flashed across his mind.
4
He knocked on the door.
“Comiiiiing. Who is it?” answered a voice from inside, and the door opened.
Narillia’s beautiful jade eyes opened wide after she saw Zara.
“N-n-no way. Y-you’re back?”
“Yes, and I successfully procured a ketsarupa venom sac. Please have a look.”
“Really?! Ah, well, a-anyway. Come inside.”
Narillia invited Zara in and then inspected the delivery.
“There’s no doubt. This is a ketsarupa venom sac. You actually got one.”
“Yes, I did.”
“W-well. Ah, have you eaten lunch?”
“No, not yet.”
“All right, I’ll go throw something together, so wait here.”
The meal was extravagant and consisted of a lot of meat, so Zara couldn’t imagine it had actually been prepared so impromptu.
Whether you were a noble or a commoner, courtesy dictated that you use your own knife when eating at someone else’s house, so Zara used his dagger to cut the meat.
“This is delicious. I don’t know how you managed this taste after poisoning the food. You could work as a chef for a noble family.”
After she heard that, Narillia dropped her act. Her cheerful and kind demeanor vanished, and her beautiful face turned cold and arrogant.
“When did you notice?”
“The moment we first met. I’ve spent nearly two full years delving into a labyrinth. I know a monster when I sense one.”
“Why are you not dying?”
“The antidotes found in labyrinths don’t work in the outside world. It’s also common for items with poison-resistance blessings to not work outside, either. Still, some items are exempt from that rule.”
“I see. Since you managed to get a ketsarupa venom sac, your level must be high, right?”
“I’m level sixty-eight.”
“Sixty-eight? What is an adventurer as powerful as you doing in a place like this?”
For some reason, her expression and tone suddenly shifted back to that of a normal villager. Her amicable demeanor might have actually been her true character, surprising as that was.
“All right then. You’re level sixty-eight.”
Narillia closed her eyes, thinking about something. Her eyes then flashed open, showing vertically split irises.
“Then die!”
Her body began to morph dramatically, her clothes tearing in the process.
She doubled in height. She remained the same beautiful woman on the top half of her body, but the bottom half transformed into that of a giant snake.
She’s a lamia!
Lamias were hellish creatures that possessed the faces of beautiful women and long, serpentine bodies. They led their victims to ruin by tricking them with heresy. They belonged to the demon family of monsters and were female spirits that hated humans and their blessings from the gods.
As soon as he realized what she was, Zara threw his dagger. It pierced her heart the moment her transformation ended.
“Owwwwww.What…is this? What is this?”
Now it was Zara’s turn to be surprised.
Why?
Why did a demon survive being stabbed with Kaldan’s Dagger and its holy element?
“Ah, this feels somehow nostalgic. This really…hmmm…puts me at ease,” murmured the lamia, wrapping her hands around the dagger still in her heart.
Zara was at a total loss for words.
Then came a knock at the door.
5
“Narillia, you’re in there, right? Open the door. It’s me, Jaka.”
Zara had sensed someone coming. He’d decided it would be best to show the village this woman’s true form, but now that didn’t feel right. It would be better for the village not to know what she was until he fully understood what was going on.
“Narillia. Please don’t let him know that I’m here.”
Zara quickly retrieved his dagger and hid in the bedroom without making a sound.
“Huh? Um. Huh? I—I—I… Huh?”
Left alone, the lamia glanced around at her exposed form, the remains of her clothes on the ground, the food on the table, and then looked at the door.
“Narillia, is everything all right? I heard a shout. Is everything okay?”
“Ah, Jaka, h-hello. U-um, I was just… I was just having a meal. But I’m not dressed right now. Please don’t come in.”
“…Why were you eating without your clothes on?”
“W-well. I was eating. And then… My hair… Yeah, I got soup in my hair. So I started to wash it. And then… It spilled onto my clothes and body, too. So I’m wiping myself off. I-I’m naked right now, so don’t come in. P-please wait just a bit!”
“Oh, is that right? Sounds rough. Got it. I’ll wait as long as you need.”
Narillia returned to her human form, wet her hair, and cleared away her torn clothes. She was about to open the door but then realized she was still naked, so she went into the bedroom, put some clothes on, and welcomed Jaka in.
When she locked eyes with Zara in the bedroom, she gave him the dirtiest look she could manage and hissed at him to let him know they had unfinished business.
“I accidentally made too much food. You can have some if you like, Jaka.”
“W-wow. Of course, that would be great. Man, you just made my day, Narillia.”
Jaka was in very high spirits after being offered some home cooking. As if thinking she needed one more push to fully deceive him, Narillia offered him some alcohol as well. He refused at first, out of formality, but before long, he obliged and was plastered in no time.
He then began flirting with her.
“Narillia. I know you’re aware of my feelings. Your husband has already kicked the bucket. Won’t you be mine?”
“No, my husband will definitely return. I know it.”
“He was nowhere near as faithful to you. He probably abandoned you after catching sight of some other girl.”
“No, my husband still thinks of me every day. Even now. I know it.”
“A woman like you deserves better than a good-for-nothing man who couldn’t offer you more than this pitiful lifestyle. If you change your mind and decide you want to be with me, I can offer you lots of beautiful clothes.”
“Oh my. Have you become a powerful man, Jaka?”
“Just take a look at this. And this, and this. I’ll give them all to you.”
“Wow, these are beautiful. Huh? Isn’t that the ring Mina wore before she went missing…?”
“Huh? Ah, well, I guess it does look similar.”
“And this is the bracelet I gave Zando’s daughter. You… You’re the one who killed everyone!”
“Ah, sh-shit. Shut your trap, woman. I’ll kill you, too.”
“That’s enough.”
Jaka paled at the sight of Zara suddenly appearing from the bedroom.
“Y-you… You’re that kid who went to the cave. Shit. You set me up.”
Jaka tried to run, but Zara subdued him.
“Y-you bitch. You doubted me from the beginning, didn’t you? Then you had the adventurer hide, and you seduced me into giving you the ring and bracelet. S-so that’s how it is. The village headman must have been involved with this, too. Th-that was dirty. You’re a dreadful woman. You’re a monster. A demon. I’m going to call you a lamia from now on!”
“U-ummm…thank you?”
6
They dragged Jaka to the home of the village headman, and he confessed to his crimes. When they searched his house, they found a significant amount of damning evidence.
This meant that fighting the rock man was no longer worth the small amount of money the village was offering, so the request was canceled. Zara didn’t mention he had already gotten the venom sac.
“So you missed out on the reward money. At least take the ketsarupa venom sac. Honestly, you’ll be able to sell it for a much higher price than the request would have paid you.”
“The reward I want most is information. Would you mind telling me about yourself?”
“Right. That’s only fair. Come to my house one more time.”
The two of them returned to Narillia’s house, and she made some sweet smelling tea.
“Where should I start? Ah, before that, can I see your dagger?”
Zara gave her the dagger, and she hugged it to her chest.
“I knew it. This aura reminds me of Lady Kaldan,” she cooed.
“That’s a blessed item known as Kaldan’s Dagger, and it cures poison and status ailments, among other effects. Did you know the wicked dragon Kaldan?”
“She wasn’t a wicked dragon! Lady Kaldan was a very, very kind goddess!”
Surprisingly, Narillia said she was over one thousand years old and that she’d served as an attendant for the goddess Kaldan when she was a human.
The goddess Olgoria, however, was jealous of Kaldan’s beauty and popularity, and after convincing the surrounding countries of Kaldan’s wickedness, she brought to ruin all the nations to which Kaldan had given her blessings.
Narillia had stayed by Kaldan’s side longer than any of her other attendants, and Olgoria personally turned her into a lamia. Kaldan was unable to lift the curse. She’d apologized tearfully to Narillia, asked her to do her best to find some modicum of happiness, and then departed for the edge of the world along with the spirits of her husband and her familiars.
Zara was surprised by her tale. The goddess Olgoria was associated with wisdom and harmony and was worshipped in Baldemost and the northern part of the continent as one of the six major deities. Anyone in Baldemost would have said Narillia was speaking utter nonsense.
But Zara thought he should hear her out. He chose to listen because before he leaving on his journey, he’d been told another side of a legend widely believed in Baldemost.
7
On the day he would embark on his journey, Zara had gone to say farewell to Julius.
Their houses were of equal rank as they were both noble, landowning families, but House Goran wouldn’t have existed without House Mercurius. They owed everything to Julius for making Panzel his vassal.
And that wasn’t all. It was House Mercurius that had taken Zara in and raised him. Zara’s loyalty would forever lie with the royal family and with them.
Julius had prepared Zara an extraordinary present: the five blessed items treasured by House Mercurius.
Alestra’s Bracelet, which negated magic at the user’s discretion.
Kaldan’s Dagger, which protected the user from status ailments and poison.
Raika’s Ring, which fired offensive magic.
Ende’s Shield, which reflected physical attacks back at the user’s opponent.
Bolton’s Charm, which absorbed magic power and granted invisibility.
These five treasures were regularly taken into the labyrinth by the former head of House Mercurius, Percival. Two of them, Alestra’s Bracelet and Kaldan’s Dagger, had been in the possession of the minotaur. It was thought that the minotaur obtained them after killing Percival.
Alestra’s Bracelet was then given to Zara’s father, Panzel, by the minotaur when he was a young boy. Panzel had returned the bracelet to Julius, which was the impetus for bringing the boy in to serve House Mercurius. Panzel borrowed and used the bracelet from the time of the Pantram Revolt until his death.
Panzel also received Kaldan’s Dagger from the minotaur after becoming a knight and defeating it. The blessings of the dagger were what allowed Panzel to make it safely back to the surface from the bottom floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth. He then returned the dagger to Julius.
Panzel had been able to use all five of the blessed items. When Zara turned fourteen and it came time for him to challenge the Sazardon Labyrinth, Julius had him test them all out. When he did, Zara was able to activate all five blessings.
Julius loaned Alestra’s Bracelet and Kaldan’s Dagger to Zara at that time. Zara was able to become an S-rank adventurer in such an astoundingly short time thanks in large part to those two blessed items and to Bora’s Sword, which he’d inherited from his father.
“I want you to have these five blessed items on your trip.”
He summoned a servant sorcerer who specialized in rune carving. The servant then engraved Raika’s Ring, Ende’s Shield, and Bolton’s Charm with Zara’s mark of ownership. Alestra’s Bracelet and Kaldan’s Dagger were already marked. That was how the five treasures of House Mercurius wound up in Zara’s Treasury.
Julius had dismissed the servant and spoken to Zara with a hushed voice.
“This is a secret of our family, but I want you to hear it.”
It was widely told that Alestra’s Bracelet was bestowed upon the founding king by the goddess Pharah and that the founding king then granted it to the first head of House Mercurius. According to the story passed down in House Mercurius, however, Alestra’s Bracelet and all five of the treasures were given to the first head of the house by the dragon god Kaldan to reward him for his bravery and undying loyalty after he defeated her. It was also said that all five treasures could only be used by people whom the head of House Mercurius had recognized as worthy.
Baldemost Kingdom was established by the founding king and the heroes under the protection of the goddess Pharah after they defeated the wicked dragon Kaldan, who had caused so much suffering. It was fair to say this secret would cast doubt on the very origin of the kingdom. In other words, if word were to get out, it could spell the end of House Mercurius.
Zara was deeply moved that Julius trusted him enough to share that kind of secret with him.
“Arza. No, I should call you Zara. I looked up to my deceased father. I also looked up to Panzel, who was a hero this country could be proud of. I wanted to defeat that monster myself, but my battle is not in the labyrinth. Right now, I’m preparing myself for the most important battle of my life.”
Julius was forty-two years old and held the position of Blue Minister, the third-highest ministerial position. It was believed that he would soon rise to Red Minister, which would spark a battle between Julius and the Duke of Riga as each attempted to steer Baldemost’s government in the direction they desired.
“Zara, I am lending you these five blessed items until the day you defeat that monster. Take them on your trip and learn how to use them. And make sure to become so strong that you do not instinctively rely on their blessings.”
8
“What kind of person is your husband?”
“My husband? We met in the borderlands to the west. He was still a child at the time.”
Narillia said she’d spent ten years living with a family until they were killed by thieves. She then traveled alone with the one boy who survived, telling people they were mother and son. Due to the fact that Narillia never aged, however, that relationship eventually stopped making sense, so for some number of years they had been telling people they were married.
She had been living inconspicuously as an apothecary, helping people by utilizing the knowledge she had gained from Kaldan long ago.
“Is your husband still alive?”
“As I’ve been saying, he’s alive. You’ve been hearing his voice every day.”
“Does that mean the rock man is your husband?”
“That’s right. He was…cursed.”
“Why did you curse your husband?”
“I didn’t curse him! He just wanted so badly…”
“What did he want?”
“…He said he wanted so badly to be my real husband. I told him he would be cursed if we lay together, because I’m a lamia… Ngh… Hic… Sniff…”
“…Do you need a moment?”
“No, I’ll be okay… My beloved’s body became covered in snake scales, and even now, he suffers from a curse of creeping poison.”
“Snake scales? That doesn’t match the description I heard.”
“To speed up the removal of the curse, I covered his body in dirt, which enhances curse and poison removal and raises stamina recovery. Also, he wouldn’t have been able to withstand the poison if he’d remained the size of a normal human, so I made him significantly larger. I then used a charm to harden his skin and prevent the dirt from falling off. There’s a river in the valley, and even berries and edible grass, so he should have had enough food and water. I told him to stay quiet, but he’s been making an awful racket.”
The rock man’s true identity turned out to be that of a human in the middle of recovery. According to Narillia, he would return to his normal form in just two to three weeks.
9
Zara stayed at the inn for one more night and then departed early the next morning. For some unknown reason, his level had increased to 71.
Narillia kindly came to see him off and gave him a wide variety of medicines, which she said she had made herself. Some had questionable effects, however.
Zara thanked her, and when he was about to leave, he heard the voice again.
Naaaaa……uiiiiii……laaaaa…
Zara strained his ears and listened.
“Was that your husband again?”
“Y-yes.”
“What is he saying?”
“You should know. You’ve heard it enough times!”
“I’m sorry, I can’t understand him.”
Narillia looked away and spoke in a small voice.
“He’s calling my name. He’s saying ‘Narillia.’ ”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter6.txt
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Interlude 3
Interlude 3
Holding a broad longsword in its right hand, the minotaur left the boss room of the one hundredth floor for the first time in a while.
It was quickly attacked by a basilisk.
Basilisks were giant snakes that slithered through the corridors at high speeds. They had diamond-shaped heads so heavy and tough that they were reminiscent of giants’ hammers. Something that looked like the comb of a rooster or the dorsal fin of a fish extended from their heads and halfway down their bodies. Their mouths were comically large and packed with razor-sharp teeth strong enough to shatter stone.
The most fearsome part of the basilisk was its tongue. It could extend and branch as fast as lightning. It could also reach enemies from very far away. One touch of the tongue would turn the victim to stone. Being turned to stone in a labyrinth meant you were as good as dead.
Basilisks could also secrete a slimy bodily fluid. That fluid was a deadly poison that caused rapid decline of all bodily functions and relentlessly sapped the life of its victim.
The one hundredth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth was made up of hallways connected in concentric circles, with many stone rooms strewn about.
The staircase connecting to the upper floors was in the center, and the boss room was located in the hallway farthest from that point. The farther you progressed into the floor, the more basilisks you would find slithering around.
If you tried to avoid the basilisks by entering a stone room, however, in most cases you would encounter an even more dangerous monster. For that reason, long ago when humans first reached this floor, they reported that it was hell itself.
The minotaur cut off the tongue of the attacking basilisk and activated its Analysis skill, as well as a skill that gave it status-ailment resistance and kicked the basilisk’s head up into the air.
The basilisk lunged at the minotaur’s side as it rose from the ground. The minotaur quickly found the basilisk’s heart using its Analysis skill. For some reason, the basilisk’s heart was not near its head but nearer the middle of its body. The minotaur thrust its sword into the serpent’s underbelly and sliced open its heart. The monster’s hide was incredibly tough, but its underbelly was soft.
By the time it landed, it was already dead. Its giant body soon disappeared, leaving behind a breastplate. It was made with basilisk scales, which gave it high defense and also resistance to status ailments.
Basilisks dropped excellent armor. Wearing a full set would increase the user’s magic and physical defense and also reflect attacks inflicting status ailments at double the strength.
It was an item the minotaur no longer had any interest in, so it left the breastplate behind and continued walking. After it encountered one more basilisk and killed it, the minotaur stepped into a stone room.
There was a hydra inside.
Hydras were magical beasts that were designated disaster-level threats when they appeared in the world of humans. They had bodies as large as elephants and bore nine heads and a single tail. They were covered in extremely hard scales, and each of their heads breathed deadly poison gas as they twisted and turned around one another.
The biggest reason hydras were such a nuisance to fight was because of their regenerative ability. Even if you managed to cut off a leg, a head, or any part of a hydra’s body, it would grow back in the blink of an eye. Any injuries healed instantly as well. In order to kill a hydra, you had to first halt its regeneration, and the only way to do that was to cut off the heads responsible for it.
Two of the nine heads held the key to regeneration. Their location differed every time. By severing both nearly simultaneously, the hydra’s regenerative ability would be dramatically diminished.
In the outside world, there was a particular strategy that was considered the most logical way to fight one. First, you would use magic to both hinder its movement and locate the two heads responsible for regeneration and sever them together. You would then cut off the remaining heads and, using something like a ballista or a battering ram, continue to attack it until its life force depleted.
Hydras had the highest resistance to magic attacks out of all known monsters, and they had an astonishingly high level of vitality. Consequently, it was difficult to kill them any other way.
In other words, whether a human had any chance against a hydra depended on how well they could restrict its movement. It was a difficult thing to manage with any method other than magic.
Chains and ropes would be severed by the jagged scales, and even if hundreds of people were to try to move hydra all at once, they wouldn’t stand a chance against its weight and strength.
The method of trapping it by having it fall into a hole had been tried before, but that always ended in failure. The reason for that was because hydras had astounding leaping ability. No one understood how they were able to jump so high with their heavy legs. There were some who suggested it may have been a sort of flight. After jumping, hydras landed with force enough to demolish a small fortress.
As if able to sense something about the puny invader standing in front of it, the hydra jumped. It landed where the minotaur was standing.
If a human coming to this floor for the first time had encountered this hydra, they would have been extremely nervous about the sheer difficulty of the fight ahead.
However, all the minotaur was thinking as it faced this tenacious, multiheaded enemy for the first time in a while was how quickly it could defeat it.
The minotaur then engaged the hydra utilizing a method that humans had never thought of.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter7.txt
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Chapter 14: The White Princess Ishkriella
Chapter 14
The White Princess Ishkriella
1
K-tunk.
K-tunk.
The wheels of the carriage clattered as they traveled through the dark forest. A bearded man was holding the reins on the coachman’s platform. He looked to be around thirty years old. He was wearing leather armor under his coat and he had a greatsword at his side. A shortened cigar was protruding from his mouth.
“How many times do I have to tell you—that stinks,” complained a woman sitting next to him. She also looked to be about thirty years old or slightly younger. She was wearing a hat with a visor, as well as a coat.
“And as I’ve been saying, I’m almost done with it. But you know, this cigar is masking other scents. Once I finish it, you’ll get to enjoy my wonderful body odor.”
“Let the boy have that pleasure. I’ll go rest inside for a while. Mini-flare!”
After her incantation, three orbs of light the size of fists appeared from her chest. She had a staff at the ready under her coat.
The orbs of light hit three of the five monsters jumping down at the carriage from the trees. The monsters let out short cries and fell to the ground, motionless. She had delivered accurate hits to their vital points.
The other two monsters screamed and crashed to the ground as well. Each had a knife sticking out of its face.
“Return,” the man ordered, and the two knives flew to his hands. He reached out to grab a leaf, wiped the blood from their blades, and placed them back into the sheaths hidden in his leather armor.
“We’ve been seeing nothing but undead-type monsters here. That’s rare.”
“I’ll say. I’ve seen more undead monsters in the last five days than I’ve seen in my entire life.”
Monster was not a term that referred to any particular type of creature. It was just a name used by humans to refer to anything inhuman they considered a threat.
Some monsters were living creatures, and some were not. The nonliving creatures were referred to as undead or demon-type monsters, among other classifications. There were some that only had the appearance of living creatures and spawned fully grown rather than being born from parents. In most cases, nonliving creatures had hideous appearances, and the strongest ones attacked with vicious magic attacks or curses. Many were also capable of poisoning their enemies.
It was very rare to encounter undead-type monsters without going to specific labyrinths. Despite that, the group had been attacked incessantly by them for the last three days.
Before long, they arrived at a spot suitable for making camp.
“All right. It’s a little early, but let’s stop here for the night.”
“Sounds good to me.”
When the carriage came to a stop, a boy climbed out of it. It was Zara. He used a knife to cut down some branches that were in his way.
Next, a man around fifty years old wearing weathered priest garb got out. He took a look around the area, performed some kind of incantation, and raised both hands high above his head. This was a simple barrier spell often used when making camp. It made it difficult for monsters to approach and even had a number of beneficial effects such as stamina recovery.
The bearded man who was driving the carriage unfastened the horses and let them graze. The sorceress prepared a cookstove. Zara picked an even spot in the grass and laid down a pelt.
“The spot is ready.”
A box appeared from the carriage. It was sturdy and beautifully decorated and large enough to fit a small child. It was floating in midair as it left the carriage.
A woman wearing the white garb of a shrine maiden followed the box out of the carriage, holding her hands open as if carrying it. There was some distance between her and the cargo, however, so she wasn’t carrying it directly.
She was using the skill known as Invisible Hands. After quietly placing the box on the spot Zara had prepared, she let out a sigh of relief.
She was the White Princess Ishkriella. She was a famous soothsayer and this adventure’s client.
2
Zara had arrived at a big town after he made it through the Great Ravine. It even had an Adventurers Guild.
He’d considered taking on a request at the guild but had felt some hesitation. If he took a request, they would have to check his adventurer medal. Being an S-rank adventurer, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to avoid standing out.
While he was eating at a tavern, a bearded man approached him after looking intently around the area.
“Ah, you’re the one. I have words for you. Can you come to a room upstairs once you finish your meal?”
When Zara arrived at the room the man had specified, he was invited inside.
The bearded man was there, along with a woman in a white shrine maiden outfit, a second woman who looked like a sorceress, and another man dressed like a priest. The bearded man explained the situation.
“This woman here has business with you. She is the White Princess Ishkriella. I’m sure you’ve heard the name. As for the request…”
He nodded to a box that was set on the table.
“…Please escort this woman and this box to the Ocean Temple. The party will be me, you, and these two. We have a carriage, so travel will be easy. Ah, are you familiar with the Ocean Temple? It’s on the edge of the peninsula directly east from here, at the very edge of the continent.”
After being told the estimated number of days it would take to get there and confirming the reward, Zara accepted the request.
The bearded man’s name was Borante. He used a greatsword as his main weapon, but he liked to use a variety of weapons depending on the opponent. He was also partial to projectiles such as throwing knives.
The sorceress’s name was Himatra. She specialized in offensive magic. She was best at fire spells, and she could apparently also use a few binding spells.
The bulky monk’s name was Gondona. He specialized in support magic. He said he lacked combat strength, but he had pride in his magic power. His rugged mace suggested he may have been stronger than he claimed, however.
Zara understood just by looking at the three of them that they were elite adventurers. He was impressed such a capable party had been brought together in such a rural area.
“Why did you approach me?”
“Hmm? Ah. I approached you because of the White Princess’s divination. It was the same for everyone else here. She says many powerful monsters will attack on the journey, so she needs a powerful escort.”
Zara doubted whether divination could be that accurate and detailed, but he had already accepted the request.
“My name is Zara. My primary weapon…”
He paused and tapped the hilt of the blade sheathed at his hip with his right hand.
“…is the sword.”
3
Even Zara, who was a little ignorant of worldly affairs, had heard of the White Princess Ishkriella.
She was a wandering shrine maiden who was called upon by royalty and wealthy merchants to perform divinations. She would predict the weather, fortunes, the outcomes of wars, the details of schemes, childbirth, one’s path through life, and just about anything else. She had apparently never once been wrong.
She would occasionally refuse divination even if offered vast sums of money, and she would sometimes advise people to walk their own path instead of relying on her.
When the end of the White Princess’s life drew near, she would choose a talented young girl as her successor, and then they would both hide themselves away. Years later, after the girl learned all the techniques and inherited the divine protection of the gods, a new shrine maiden would appear bearing the name of the White Princess Ishkriella.
Thus, the White Princess had been traveling the world for over one thousand years while receiving divine revelations from the gods.
There were many who falsely assumed the White Princess’s identity. However much they claimed to have the power of divination, though, they couldn’t pass themselves off as the real deal if they weren’t always carrying around a box. The box never left her side, not even for the smallest of movements, and it always floated next to her through the use of the Invisible Hands skill.
No ordinary person could imitate that. The Invisible Hands was a rare skill, and more importantly, using it for even a small amount of time sapped the user’s magic power immensely.
It was well-known that she rode in her own personal carriage and protected the box at all times, all while employing the Invisible Hands skill the entire time. If one could replicate that without any kind of trick, they could make a lot of money for themselves, whether they were the genuine article or not.
The White Princess who was meditating in front of Zara was clearly the real thing. As the name suggested, her hair and skin were completely white. It wasn’t a vivid white but rather a clear, almost translucent white reminiscent of crystals or water. There was an inhuman quality to it.
“Has she caught your fancy, boy?”
“Yes, I’m intrigued. There’s something strange about her.”
“Ah-ha-ha. Well put. But speaking of strangeness, you’re plenty strange yourself. You seem like you’re already used to setting up camp.”
“I think so. But if you notice anything, please let me know.”
“Wow, you’re such a well-mannered boy.”
It was made clear on the first day that Zara was not used to camping in the middle of a forest, but no one in the group scorned him for his inexperience.
The reason for that was what had happened on the first night. Just before they’d reached the campsite, they had been attacked by five gargoyles. When Zara saw them, he’d immediately jumped out of his seat and cut them all down in the blink of an eye.
Himatra was serving as the coachman, and by the time Borante and Gondona jumped out of the carriage in response to her cry, Zara was already sheathing his sword, looking as calm as could be.
In the borderlands, being able to defeat a gargoyle alone was held as proof that one was an elite knight, but there was no way a knight could actually kill a gargoyle without help.
Gargoyles were undead-type monsters that were quick, cunning, and very resistant to magic. They were humanoid, but they lacked hair, grew fangs, and had bat-like wings on their backs. Their bodies were as hard and heavy as bronze, and being struck or scratched by one would result in a grievous wound. They could also fly freely with their wings.
They were difficult monsters to kill.
The gargoyles Zara killed had all been decapitated, demonstrating his abnormal talent. Borante had let out a gasp in admiration of the dexterous slashes Zara had inflicted upon them.
He was that skilled a fighter, but he wasn’t used to camping. Zara had even stared blankly when they tried to decide the watch order.
Adventurers who gathered in the countryside—and especially adventurers who took requests without going through the guild—almost always had some kind of guilty conscience. That should have been true for the boy, too, but his inexperience didn’t make any sense.
Himatra thought maybe he was a noble or the pupil of a high-ranking knight, and he’d become an adventurer after his family fell to ruin. That would give him a reason to not want to show his adventurer medal. But that didn’t fit, either, because Zara’s equipment lacked the elegance of the nobility. He was also clearly accustomed to his tools. This boy could not have been new to adventuring.
He was great at masking his presence, and he never seemed to let his guard down, even when relaxing. That did not suggest a lifestyle in which he had been pampered by servants. Himatra found this imbalance very odd.
In truth, Zara wasn’t totally unused to camping—he had experienced more than enough camping in the labyrinth. He had just never set up a campsite.
When he slept in the labyrinth, he didn’t use a blanket or anything to make himself comfortable and instead only wrapped his sword in a pillow or coat. He didn’t have to cut any weeds, and he rarely ever made a fire. If anything approached him, he had no choice but to deal with it himself. For that reason, his sleep was light and short.
In other words, it was because he was used to the harshness of camping solo that he had no experience setting up a large-scale campsite, and the idea of establishing a watch order had never occurred to him. He could also just use a potion to recover his stamina when in the labyrinth.
“Ha-ha-ha. Anyway, this smoked meat is delicious. I’m glad you joined us, Mr. Zara. This would go great with some wine.”
“Oh, come on, Gondy. It’s your turn to be on watch tonight,” Himatra chided. Gondona was clearly the oldest in the group, but Himatra spoke to him quite casually.
“Gond. You can snack all you want, but lay off the booze,” said Borante, also addressing him casually.
“This meat is truly delicious. What animal is it from?” asked the White Princess, her plate bearing multiple slices of pink flesh.
A moment earlier, Zara had taken a large piece of meat that looked especially well smoked and offered some center cuts to the White Princess.
He had procured this meat in the Gahra Mountains, and everyone in the group ended up loving it.
“It’s ettin meat.”
“I see,” said the White Princess with a wide grin.
Borante wore a thousand-yard stare. Himatra spat out her wine. Gondona brought out the next bottle.
Adventuring with a party is really fun.
Such were Zara’s thoughts.
4
It rained the next day. After a discussion, they decided they should stay put for the time being and keep an eye on the situation.
The White Princess was in the carriage with her box. Zara was inside as well, acting as her guard.
It was a four-person carriage, but the interior was more spacious than usual. It was likely built to allow plenty of room for the box and to make it easy to get it in and out.
The box was currently seated next to the White Princess, and Zara was sitting across from her. As Zara looked at her face, he thought she seemed both youthful and mature at the same time.
The rain wasn’t falling hard, but it was hitting the roof of the carriage without pause. The quiet atmosphere inside the carriage was giving Zara the sensation that he was somewhere not of this world.
“You’re a strange person, Zara.”
“Surely I’m not as strange as you.”
“I feel the blessings of the goddess Bora from you.”
“If you’re the one saying that, it’s probably true.”
“Are you always alone?”
“I’ve always gone into labyrinths by myself. I’ve been surrounded by teachers and guides from a young age, though, so I was never truly alone. I left to travel by myself about three months ago.”
“I see. I had a companion on my travels. But they grew old, fell ill, and died in that town. Truthfully, I was probably always alone… Long enough to forget what loneliness feels like, anyway.”
“When did you part from the last White Princess?”
“Hmm-hmm. That is what the world says of me. I’m actually the one who spread the misconception that the name and duty of the White Princess have been passed down over generations. That has never been the case. It has always been me.”
“So you’ve been the White Princess for over a thousand years?”
“Yes, that’s right. But you do not seem very surprised. I was right. You are a strange person.”
“Is it really okay to tell me such an important, long-kept secret?”
“My duty will soon be finished. The time is nigh,” the White Princess said, looking at the box.
“It’s said that this box is the source of your magic. Is it losing its power?”
“No, no. Nothing of the sort. It is finally time for what is being carried inside it to complete its journey. Watching over this box until then is the role I was given by my master. It has been a very, very long time.”
“Have you had multiple companions over the years?”
“Yes. Humans have very short life spans. I can no longer remember how many attendants I’ve had. But they all served me well. Normally, I dismiss them once they reach a certain age and hire a new one.”
“But you didn’t do that this time.”
“Yes. Because the end is in sight.”
Zara was going to ask the White Princess what awaited them at the Ocean Temple, but he didn’t get a chance. The party suddenly found themselves surrounded by a horde of monsters that had been gradually approaching the campsite.
Zara moved to engage the enemies, but Borante stopped him before he made it out the door.
“No. Gondona asked us not to help. Stay in the carriage, Zara.”
Zara closed the door.
These enemies were trouble. They had surrounded the camp in massive numbers, but what really bothered Zara was the way they walked and the presence he felt from them. These monsters were probably…
“Turn Undead!!”
Gondona’s incantation echoed through the rainy forest, and an intense light flashed through the area.
The effect of the spell was severe.
Turn Undead was a skill commonly possessed by clergymen, and it was capable of driving away undead-type monsters. If used unskillfully, however, it could excite the enemy and dramatically increase their attack power. It did no damage to anything other than undead monsters, but it could be used to draw attention.
A certain adventurer monk said it was a skill used to lure weak enemies into one spot so they could be wiped out all at once. It was also said that as the skill increased in rank, it would become capable of inflicting major damage to nearby enemies as well. That didn’t begin to describe what had been cast a moment ago, however.
Zara could see everything clearly from the small window of the carriage.
The nearby ghouls were struck by bolts of lightning and evaporated. Farther away, the revenants were blasted backward and didn’t get up. They then melted into slush and were washed away by the rain.
There had probably been over one hundred of those repulsive creatures, but they were eradicated with one simple incantation.
“Gondy! So you can do more than just drink wine!”
“Gond! Didn’t you say you couldn’t use offensive magic?”
“Ha-ha-ha! That wasn’t offensive magic.”
“Then what was it?”
“Just the discipline of a clergyman. Shouting like that made me hungry. Mr. Zara, would you happen to have any more of that smoked meat?”
5
The downpour became a light drizzle and subsided by the next morning. The party pressed on.
They hadn’t made it very far when they were attacked by a group of twenty weaker undead monsters led by one resembling a leopard.
Borante engaged the boss. The leopard monster was bipedal and wielded a wide, curved sword.
For a while, the beast competed evenly with Borante’s greatsword, but after he tossed a small bag into the air and cut it open, the monster’s movements grew sluggish, and Borante slayed it easily.
Himatra burned the weaker undead monsters to a crisp with three Flame Bombs.
“What was in that small bag?”
“It was filled with wild peppers, which had been dried and crushed into powder.”
“What kind of cowardly move is that? I thought you were a man.”
“You shouldn’t use fireballs in the middle of a forest.”
“It just rained, so it’s fine.”
“Ha-ha-ha! I’m glad to see you two are becoming so close.”
“Hey, Gondy! What the hell? Why are you drinking at noon?”
Later in the afternoon, they were attacked by around thirty more undead monsters. Their faces were fiendish, but they were only about as tall as children.
“I don’t feel much magic power coming from them, so I’ll be fine by myself. I’ll make this quick.”
Gondona watched as Himatra jumped out of the passenger’s seat and then muttered to himself.
“Those are zafans. They’re very strong against fire. They also attack using items, so their magic power is negligible.”
Himatra let out a screech, after which Zara leaped from the carriage and beheaded the enemies in rapid succession. After returning to the carriage and discovering Gondona knew all about those monsters, she was furious with him.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I had some of my hair singed off! Aaaand you’re drinking again. Didn’t I just tell you not to start drinking at noon? You drunk monk! Anyway, what the hell were those little ghosts thinking, using fire magic in the middle of a forest?!”
“You’re one to talk.”
They went the rest of that day without being attacked again. The following day, however, they encountered a much nastier enemy.
“Is that a dullahan?”
“Sure looks like it. This is my first time seeing one.”
“Yep, that’s a dullahan.”
The group had started moving early that morning, but now, a giant horse was blocking their path. The horse was being ridden by a headless knight in full armor.
To be more precise, its head wasn’t on its shoulders. It was being cradled in its left arm. The knight held a naked longsword in its right hand. It was a weapon that would normally have been too big to wield with one hand, but the monster could swing it without issue.
“This one’s mine. I’ve always wanted to fight one of these,” said Borante, and he moved forward to engage it.
A duel between the dullahan with a longsword and Borante with his greatsword began. They both fought with finesse despite the weight of their blades. It was a sight to behold.
“Looks like it’s my turn,” Zara said.
He headed for the back of the carriage where one more dullahan had appeared. Another swordfight ensued. Both duels ended at nearly the same time, and in each, the human had emerged victorious.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
“Ah!” exclaimed Himatra.
“Hmph. I knew it,” said Gondona.
As soon as Borante defeated the dullahan, two more appeared from behind it. The same thing happened on Zara’s side, which meant the party was now being attacked by a quartet.
Borante remained focused. He rushed at the two dullahans and swiftly defeated them. Zara made short work of his opponents as well.
But afterward, twice as many appeared. Four were in front of Borante, and four squared off against Zara.
Gondona turned to Himatra, who was about to go to Borante’s aid.
“Sorry to ask this of you, Ms. Himatra, but can you please restrict the movement of the four up front? It doesn’t have to be for long. Get Borante to come back here while they’re being held back.”
“What? Tch. You have some kind of plan, right?” Himatra asked, but she followed Gondona’s orders.
When Borante returned to the carriage, Gondona told him to throw knives at all of the dullahans. He smeared liquid from a bottle onto each blade.
“This is holy water. It should prove quite useful against our undead adversaries.”
“Got it, Gond.”
The plan was just as effective as Gondona had hoped. The extremely powerful dullahans vanished the moment they were pierced by the knives coated in holy water. Replacements stopped appearing as well.
Gondona turned around to help Zara, but he had already finished his off.
“Hooo. Impressive. You had a holy element weapon.”
Zara nodded. Gondona patted him on the shoulder and motioned for him to get into the carriage. Borante and Zara climbed inside, and then Gondona took the reins and had Himatra sit in the passenger’s seat next to him.
“That’s not fair! I just fought, too! …Hey, how many times do I have to tell you not to drink? Give me that.”
Himatra took the bottle from Gondona, put it to her mouth, and heartily gulped down some wine.
They were attacked by undead monsters every day of their journey, but thanks to the unique talents of everyone in the party, they were able to drive them all away.
“Look, we’ve finally reached the edge of the forest.”
“Yeah. But first we have to deal with those.”
Four pitch-black clumps were squatting off in the vicinity. When the carriage approached, they stood up, each glaring at the group with three shining eyes apiece.
“What are those?”
“They’re bugbears.”
“Ah, that’s what those look like. Hey, Himatra, what are you…?”
Himatra finished an incantation and fired off a spell.
“Summon Comet!”
“Wha—? Don’t use that here!!!”
A comet came crashing down from the sky, annihilating the four bugbears. They were unlucky to have been huddled so close together.
What was formerly the edge of the forest was now a giant crater. The trees, grass, and dirt that had been kicked up rained down over the party. Luckily, the spell didn’t start a fire, and after a brief argument, the party left the forest.
6
“Ms. Himatra, please take this,” said Gondona.
“Huh? What is it?”
“It’s a medicinal herb that hastens the recovery of magic power. It can be boiled, and I also hear you can eat it raw. Chew it thoroughly and swallow its juice together with your saliva.”
“Sounds a little weird to me, but thanks. If it can hasten my recovery even a little, I’ll gladly take it.”
“It’s apparently very bitter.”
Himatra tossed the herb into her mouth. A second later, she screwed up her face, but she didn’t spit it out.
As soon as they left the forest, they were attacked by swarms of locust and fly monsters. It seemed the bosses of each swarm were called Adoban and Nasu, respectively. There was an impossible number of enemies.
Gondona created a barrier to protect their client and her box, Himatra cast fire spells relentlessly, Borante used explosives to take out any undead monsters that approached Himatra, and Zara killed the bosses and brought the battle to an end.
7
They made it to the ocean. There was a beach, and the bright-green water stretched as far as the eye could see.
The salty ocean breeze felt fresh, and their vitality seemed to improve with every breath.
This was the first time Zara had ever seen the ocean, and he was deeply moved. He was excited after hearing that the island off to the right was called Yuto Island. That was the hometown of the great sorcerer Gil Linx. Zara had been hearing anecdotes about Gil Linx’s life ever since he was little, so the man’s birthplace felt like a holy land.
The party continued their trip to the Ocean Temple. They weren’t attacked by undead monsters for three whole days. At one point, they saved a traveling family from a pack of goblins.
They set up camp every day on a spot where they could feel the ocean breeze. The wine was delicious, and the fish were fresh. Himatra turned out to be a very good cook.
From then on, they were attacked by undead monsters many times, but none were very powerful. The strength of this party had much to do with how easily they got through those fights, however.
When they were about four or five days from the temple, the intensity of the attacks by undead monsters increased suddenly. They were frequently attacked while eating, and mental and physical exhaustion were beginning to set in.
“Everyone, listen up.”
Borante addressed the party after they finished eating dinner.
“We are about two days from the temple. However, if we get moving early and really push the horses, it’s not a distance we can’t cover in one day. What do you all say to trying to reach our goal by tomorrow?”
The three adventurers agreed, and the White Princess did as well. Everyone was confident this party could do it.
8
They departed well before morning. Unlike the forest, the area by the ocean didn’t get pitch-black at night. The attacks of the undead were fierce, but the party repelled them all, not letting them slow the carriage’s advance.
“Damn… There’s one medium-sized monster in the middle of the road up ahead.”
“I’ll take care of it! Please don’t slow the carriage.”
Zara jumped out and sprinted ahead. He quickly severed the undead monster’s legs and kicked it off the road. The carriage grazed the unholy creature as it passed.
Zara caught up to the carriage from behind. Gondona opened the door with excellent timing and let him in.
“Nice work, boy.”
Borante gave an impressed whistle from the coachman’s seat.
9
They continued their hurried advance while eating some food they’d brought with them to satisfy their hunger. A few hours past noon, Borante called out.
“I see it!”
Zara pushed open the door and looked ahead. The road traveling along the ocean led to a steep cape. On top of the cape was a grand building.
That’s the Ocean Temple.
“White Princess. We can see the temple. We’re almost there,” Zara said after shutting the door.
They were close, but everyone was deeply exhausted from how hard they had been pushing themselves. Gondona was able to fix up any injuries with his formidable healing ability, but their mental and physical fatigue were high as could be. Himatra, who had been firing off long-distance attacks without pause, was especially spent.
“Mr. Zara, I want to form a party,” said Gondona.
Zara was puzzled.
It was common to form an official party when exploring a labyrinth. It enabled experience points to be distributed evenly and made fighting easier, so it seemed like the obvious thing to do. There were many cases where life and death depended on everyone in the party knowing their proper positions and managing their stamina properly.
However, forming an official party outside of labyrinths was rare. It usually held no meaning and required that everyone reveal their real name and remaining stamina. It wasn’t something Zara wanted to do.
He didn’t understand why Gondona would suddenly say such a thing at that moment. However, he did as he was asked and formed a party with himself as the leader.
He then bent forward into the passenger’s seat and explained what they were doing to Borante and Himatra. He touched his adventurer medal to each of theirs and brought them into the party.
A thought occurred to Zara after he returned to the carriage:
This monk has probably spent most of his time in labyrinths.
While exploring a labyrinth, monks were in charge of managing the party’s stamina. The incredible stamina-recovery techniques used in labyrinths were impossible to execute in the outside world, however, meaning it fell to each person to manage their own.
Zara’s thinking was interrupted when the carriage suddenly tilted to one side.
“Shit. We were rammed. The front right wheel is gone. Sorry, guys. I’m gonna cut the horses loose,” said Borante.
The carriage was carried forward by its momentum, clattering loudly as it swayed left and right. It then lurched hard to the left and flipped over multiple times before it came to a stop upside down.
Zara displayed incredibly quick reflexes by grabbing the White Princess, kicking open the door, and escaping from the conveyance while it was still rolling. It looked like Borante also managed to successfully jump out of the carriage, but Himatra was thrown out, landing face-first onto the sandy beach.
The White Princess had fainted in Zara’s arms out of shock. That was not surprising, as she had been using Invisible Hands throughout that entire tense situation.
Himatra was groaning.
Zara laid the White Princess gently down on the sand and then heard Gondona call out to him.
“Mr. Zara, please hold back those monsters for a bit!”
Blood was streaming from Gondona’s forehead.
Zara’s attention had already been fixed on the enemies before Gondona said anything. He slayed them one after another.
When he caught sight of Gondona, he saw that the monk was praying with his head down and his knees in the sand. He was holding ritual implements, or possibly sacred seals, in his hands.
Borante was trying to treat Himatra when the two of them and Zara were enveloped in a gentle light.
Ah, I see. This is a level-up.
Zara finally realized something. Gondona was likely a clergyman with the Oath skill. That meant that if they were in the same party as him or if he had their adventurer medals, he could petition the gods to level them up. They must have earned enough experience points to gain a level during all the intense battles they had endured on their journey. Thanks to the level-up, their injuries were healed and their stamina and mental energy were restored.
“Gondy, that was amazing.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Gond.”
Borante and Himatra quickly resumed fighting, but Zara noticed something. Gondona’s injury on his forehead was still there. He had not leveled up.
How has he not leveled up after all those battles? Just who is this monk?
“Where’s the box? Where’s the box?!”
It was the White Princess. She had woken up.
The impact from the carriage toppling over had thrown its cargo out the door. Fortunately, it had landed on the beach, so it didn’t break completely. There were, however, some cracks through which Zara could see something white.
The White Princess rushed over to the box and inspected it.
“It’s started. But this spot should be okay,” she said as if to herself, looking at both the box and the temple on the cape. She then called out to the party.
“Everyone, the preparation of the contents inside this box will soon be complete. It cannot be moved right now. Please protect it until the task is done.”
“Understood.”
“Leave it to us.”
“You got it.”
“Ho-ho-ho. I’m ready.”
Creatures that looked like mermen emerged from the water all across the shore. They then began appearing farther and farther back, emerging from the waves one after another. They were sahagins.
The final battle had begun.
10
“Sanctuary!”
Gondona’s voice reverberated as he cast a spell. The box and the White Princess, who was praying in front of it, were surrounded by a semitransparent protective wall.
His voice is nice and deep.
“Blessing!”
Himatra’s eyes lit up in fury. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to hurl insults at Gondona. There was a perfectly understandable reason for her rage—he had cast Blessing on himself.
Blessing was an excellent support spell that dramatically raised physical defense. Its drawback, however, was that it only lasted for a very short amount of time. Boss battles in labyrinths were one thing, but there wasn’t much point in using it during long battles against many enemies.
If you were going to use it, though, it would have made sense to cast it on someone risking their neck by fighting in the vanguard or on a sorcerer with low physical defense. A monk hanging back from the front lines using it on himself appeared cowardly and selfish. It was only natural to be angry with someone for using magic power on something wasteful like that instead of on healing.
Her anger, however, quickly gave way to shock.
“Blessing! Blessing! Blessing!”
Gondona cast Blessing four consecutive times. Borante, Zara, and Himatra were all enveloped in the blue phosphorescent light that signified the support spell.
All three of them were dumbfounded. It took him no time at all to perform those incantations.
He’s preparing the next incantation in his mind as he casts each spell.
Zara got chills. He had heard there were sorcerers who could do that sort of thing, but this was the first time he had actually seen it. But his surprise didn’t end there.
“Repel Evil! Repel Evil! Repel Evil! Repel Evil!”
Starting with himself, Gondona once again cast spells on all four of them. A faint orange light appeared just outside of the blue aura already surrounding them.
“What is this?” asked Zara. He was unfamiliar with this spell.
“A technique to drive evil away. It provides a strong boost to physical attacks against dark- and demon-element monsters. Physical defense against dark-element attacks is also increased. You also have higher resistance to status ailments. Okay, let’s go.”
“Huh?”
The three of them still in shock, Gondona turned his back on his companions and rushed headlong at the sahagins, swinging a large mace as he ran. He knocked three enemies into the air, where they burst and died.
The sahagins were enraged, and they surrounded Gondona. He then began to swing his mace indiscriminately, every swing sending multiple foes into the air, where they all exploded.
Sahagins were enemies that not even an A-rank swordsman should have been able to defeat in a single blow.
What am I witnessing right now?
Now wasn’t the time for those kinds of thoughts. Zara, Borante, and Himatra were being surrounded as well. They had no chance of protecting the horses, so they struck them each on the rear to chase them away before charging into battle.
Zara was surprised yet again. He was cutting through the sahagins like butter with only light swings of his sword. Because he was dealing massive damage to them without even having to aim for vital points, most died in one hit. He didn’t need any technique or strength. Just swinging his sword was enough.
His defense had also been increased tremendously, to the point where a direct attack didn’t do any damage to him. In a melee like this, that was the best support one could receive.
I can’t believe we’re able to fight so calmly while surrounded by this many enemies.
Considering how powerful the buff was, it was amazing it was still active. Blessing, as well as the spell with the orange light, should have run out a long time ago.
Just when Zara was thinking the spells were lasting impossibly long, he heard Gondona once again cast Blessing and the orange spell four consecutive times.
Zara then realized why Gondona was casting the spells on himself first. When the support spells cast on himself expired, that meant the rest of the party’s support would expire, too. That gave him an easy indicator for when to recast the spells. In other words, he was using this method to ensure there would be no gaps. He probably intentionally cast the spells on himself to expire slightly before the rest of the party.
Wait. Isn’t support magic supposed to be impossible to cast unless your target is right next to you?
He had heard that Blessing could not be cast unless you were literally within breathing distance of the person you were casting it on. Also, even the smallest obstruction between caster and target should have rendered it impossible.
How is he able to cast this support while several meters away from us, in the middle of such an intense battle?
Zara didn’t really understand, but being in a party likely had something to do with it.
So this is what support is capable of.
The White Princess was still facing her box and praying. A faint light was flickering from within, gradually coming more quickly and becoming more intense.
Zara didn’t feel like the number of enemies had decreased at all, but they were doing a good job of killing all that approached them.
Eventually, they all fell into clear roles.
Zara gathered enemies together with hit-and-run attacks.
Borante was suppressing assailants over a wide range by using a morning star with a chain in addition to throwing weapons such as explosives and the daggers that returned to his hands after slaying his enemies.
Himatra was casting long-distance magic attacks to try to hinder the enemy’s advance, and she would occasionally use a large-scale strike to clean up clusters of enemies that Zara had assembled.
Gondona maintained support and protected Himatra while crushing any enemies that slipped through the party.
Their defense had been raised significantly, but they still suffered some damage.
Whenever injuries piled up and their movement became sluggish, Gondona would call out…
“Heal!”
…and they would recover. His spells were effective from a ridiculously long range.
If this is the benefit of forming a party, then joining one is well worth revealing my information.
The sahagins were still appearing at the same rate, but the defense had the battle under control.
We can do this.
Zara’s hope didn’t last for long, however, before something appeared to crush it.
Far beyond the water’s edge, the ocean parted, and a giant figure rose up.
It was Dagon, a creature said to be the god of the undead monsters in the ocean.
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, painting the waters a dull gray.
The god slowly advanced toward the shore, forcing its way through the sea and sky.
Zara, Borante, and Himatra all felt despair. Gondona then called out to them in a powerful voice:
“Everyone, over here!”
11
Unable to stop fighting for even a second, they shrunk their defensive perimeter to move toward Gondona and listened to his words.
“That is a demon god. I know a spell I think would be very effective against it. I don’t think I can kill it, but I can probably render it immobile for a bit. The incantation takes quite a while to prepare, however. During that time, I won’t be able to use Blessing or Heal. I’ll be completely defenseless. Sanctuary will probably expire partway through. Can I count on you three to protect me?”
Gondona knew a powerful spell that could turn this hopeless situation around, and he was asking them to protect him while he readied it.
They wanted to do as he said, but the reason they had lasted this long was because of his powerful defensive and recovery magic. They were also on the brink of total exhaustion already. By asking them to fight without support magic, he may as well have been asking them to sacrifice a limb—or even their lives.
No, wait. I can use that.
“Understood. Borante, Himatra! I have a request. Can you buy me enough time to pull out an item?”
They had no way of knowing what Zara was trying to do, but they answered right away.
“You got it!” said Himatra.
“You can count on me!” followed Borante.
Borante increased his intensity and pushed back the incoming sahagins. Himatra peppered nearby enemies with small, rapid-fire spells. They wouldn’t be able to keep up that pace for very long, but they were giving Zara the time he needed.
Zara opened up his Treasury. Doors made of blue light appeared opposite his open hand and then opened to the left and right. He did a quick search and pulled out a sword.
Borante caught sight of his Treasury out of the corner of his eye. He had already noticed that Zara had one, but this was the first time he had been in a position where he could see the operation screen.
Look at the size of that Treasury, the width of the screen, the complexity… That’s got to belong to a royal family or the head of a major noble house. Just who is this boy?
Zara closed the Treasury and rushed forward, quickly wiping out the approaching sahagins. The speed at which he ran and swung his weapon made him seem like a completely different person.
“I will drive back the enemies. Borante, please protect Himatra and Gondona. Himatra, please use only long-range spells!”
The two of them couldn’t do anything other than stay quiet and follow orders. That was how abnormal Zara’s strength and movement were in that moment.
The sword Zara was using was called Bora’s Sword, and its blessings were tremendous.
Attack Power ×3
Critical-Hit Rate up 20%
Movement Speed up 80%
Attack Speed up 80%
Health Leech up 10%
Mana Regen up 20%
Basic Stats up 60%
Automatic Damage Recovery
Every one of those blessings functioned outside of labyrinths. Zara had inherited this divine sword from his father. He had used it in the labyrinth before, but this was his first time wielding it in the outside world.
Its power was too much for a human to handle, so the consequences for using it were harsh. His father had actually died from overuse of Bora’s Sword.
If you filled a leather bag to one hundred times its capacity, used it up, and then filled it with the same amount again, the bag would eventually get worn out and break. For that reason, Zara had forbidden himself from using this weapon in the outside world. Right now, though, he was lifting that restriction.
His speed had increased so much that the enemies may as well have not been moving at all. His strength became so great that they would go flying from a simple swing of his sword. The blade also instantly healed any injuries he sustained.
Zara was laying waste to the enemy. The very small number of monsters that did manage to get past him were dealt with easily by Borante and Himatra, despite their total exhaustion.
As the battle raged on, Dagon slowly but surely advanced toward the shore. Gondona was still performing his incantation.
The closer Dagon got, the more apparent its humongous size became, and the more intimidating it appeared. Its force was so great that Zara wondered if he had any chance of beating it. When it was about to step onto the shore, scattering miasma as it walked, the spell they had been waiting for finally arrived.
“Conviction Hammer!!!”
Beams of light from high in the sky tore through the clouds and fell into the ocean. A vortex of light expanded and swallowed up the clouds, and in the center of it appeared a giant hammer, also made of light.
The hammer aimed for Dagon’s head, increasing in speed and scattering rainbow-hued fragments as it fell. The hammer was larger than the beast itself. It hit Dagon square on the head, creating a visual spectacle of richly colored light and striking a harmonious note that sounded like it came from a divine organ.
The adventurers forgot about the battle entirely as they watched the mythical scene play out.
Dagon swayed violently, smoke rising from its body, eventually falling backward and sending up a giant splash of water.
The sahagins that had covered every inch of the beach were hit with the aftermath of the light hammer’s blow and were blasted through the air, dying instantly. New sahagins stopped appearing, probably because Dagon had been defeated.
We did it.
Borante and Himatra collapsed, having lost power in their limbs. They had both hit their limits physically and mentally. Even Zara felt like he was going to collapse.
But he didn’t. He wasn’t able to. The pain caused from the aftermath of borrowing the divine sword’s power was so great, he couldn’t even faint. In a labyrinth, he could have just used a potion to heal the pain, but that wouldn’t work now.
D-did Father always endure this much pain when he used Bora’s Sword?!
Gondona was facedown in the sand, having also collapsed after casting that enormous spell. Zara wondered how much the priest was going to pay for pushing himself so hard.
Silence suddenly fell upon the beach. Zara heard nothing but the crashing of the waves. The sky was totally clear, as if the gray clouds had been driven away by the heavenly magic. Hints of red light signified the coming of evening.
The White Princess then called out:
“It’s hatching!”
12
The box burst apart and revealed a small white dragon.
A dragon.
Dragons were godly creatures that only appeared in tales of old. It was thought that seeing such a being in the current era was impossible (not counting the monsters in labyrinths that were referred to as dragons, which lacked even a shred of divinity).
But now there was a genuine dragon right in front of them.
The mysterious creature directed its innocent gaze at Zara, the blue of the sky and the red of the evening sun reflecting off its body. Its length was comparable to that of a twelve- or thirteen-year-old human child. It floated in midair, singing happily.
“Kwee! Kwee-kwee!”
Its head and abdomen were covered in scales that shined like pearls. Its back had bluish scales with a slightly hard texture. Its transparent wings were small, and it occasionally flapped them as if just remembering it had them. The reason it was able to fly despite being inexperienced with its wings was due to a special skill it possessed from birth.
Zara heard a thud. The White Princess had collapsed.
Zara ran over to her unsteadily. His body felt heavy and was wracked with pain. It was as if he were carrying a lump of metal on his back while wading through a dense swamp.
The other adventurers were still unconscious.
“Thank you very much. I was able to safely fulfill my duty. Please take this,” said the White Princess. Lying faceup on the ground, she presented him four jewels.
This was the promised reward. The stone he’d accepted before was extremely valuable, but he couldn’t even imagine what kind of prices these jewels would fetch. This reward was what this colorful group of adventurers had put their lives on the line for.
“Zara. I have something to ask of you.”
“What is it, Princess?”
“I would like you to name this dragon child.”
“I had no idea dragons still existed in the world.”
“Most dragons disappeared long ago. This child may very well be the last.”
“You were entrusted with this dragon egg by the person you served, right?”
“Yes. This is the first and last child of my mistress, Kaldan, and her honored husband. Lady Kaldan entrusted it to me. I am Paksalimana, a water spirit who served Lady Kaldan.”
“If you served the dragon god Kaldan, that means you should know Narillia.”
“Narillia! That name takes me back… She was so lovely. However did you come to hear of her?”
Zara gave her the gist of what had happened.
“Ah, so Narillia met someone dear to her, and they are living happily together. She is even finding joy in helping people. That is such good news. It is wonderful that I will be able to convey this news to Lady Kaldan. Thank you very much, Zara.”
The White Princess did not shed a tear—her body was already made of tears.
“Was the goddess Kaldan’s husband also a dragon?”
“No. Her husband was a human. He was a sorcerer of rare skill and one of the best dungeon makers in history.”
Zara noticed the Ocean Temple was emitting a faint illumination. It looked like the light was descending upon the newborn baby dragon.
“Why is the temple shining?” Zara muttered, and the White Princess answered.
“That temple is currently called the Ocean Temple, but originally, it was the Dragon Temple. The countries to which Lady Kaldan once gave her divine protection were in the vicinity of where the capital of the Gorenza Empire is today. After they were attacked by countries jealous of their prosperity, Lady Kaldan searched for a land where she could live in peace, and this is where she ended up. Eventually, people who served Lady Kaldan found their way here, and this temple was constructed.”
Narillia had said the goddess Olgoria became jealous of Kaldan’s beauty and popularity, so she’d made her out to be a wicked dragon and instigated the surrounding countries to attack and ruin the places under Kaldan’s safeguard. Kaldan had apparently come here afterward.
“Thanks to the deep faith of her people, this temple has a very strong protective power to this day. It is also imbued with the protection of Kaldan’s father and mother, the god of the heavens and the goddess of the earth, respectively. However, this land eventually became unsafe as well. Lady Kaldan said her child would perish along with her if they were together, so she entrusted the egg to me. She then left for the north with her husband, where their lives came to an end.”
Baldemost Kingdom was founded after the killing of Kaldan. As a descendant of the nobility of that country, Zara couldn’t help but feel pain in his heart as he listened to Paksalimana’s story.
“Among all the gods, Lady Kaldan subjugated the most undead monsters that brought pain and suffering to people. The malice of the undead runs deep, and Lady Kaldan’s scent coming off the egg made them consider it their sworn enemy. That is why for the last thousand years I have been continuously using magic to hide its presence. However, as time passed and the birth grew near, it became impossible for me to conceal the overflowing divine energy, and the undead began to attack. In order to drive them away, Lady Kaldan directed heroes of the modern era to my side. Even if you yourself have not noticed it, you and the others have formed a bond with Lady Kaldan.”
The White Princess’s body was becoming increasingly transparent, and her voice grew faint. She was probably at the end of her life. The baby dragon watched the White Princess with its adorable round eyes, occasionally looking inquisitively at Zara.
“The dragon child will be able to grow up safely in this land. Its divine spirit is already serving as a light that destroys undead monsters. As a result of its birth, the divine protection in the temple, courtesy of the god of the heavens and the goddess of the earth, has also been restored. All is well. All my promises have been fulfilled.”
After delivering those final words, the White Princess’s body turned into water, which disappeared as it was absorbed into the sand. Some of the liquid touched Zara on its way down, healing all his pain. An unbearable wave of exhaustion then caused him to pass out.
The baby dragon, with its body glowing red from the light of the setting sun, was left alone with the sound of the wind and the ocean waves.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter8.txt
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Interlude 4
Interlude 4
While the hydra was in the air, the minotaur activated skills that increased its attack power and attack speed. The minotaur then adjusted its position, and before the hydra’s large body fell, it cut off the monster’s front left leg from the inside and leaped.
KA-THOOOOOOOOOM!
The ground shook violently as the hydra landed and fell over sideways. Losing its left leg had thrown off its balance.
The minotaur touched down, ran across the still-shaking rock floor, approached the hydra, and quickly sliced through its dark-brown abdomen.
Unlike with basilisks, the underbellies of hydras were extremely hard, but there were a number of spots where it was comparatively easy for a blade to cut through. The minotaur had accurately stabbed its sword through an extremely narrow section. It then shoved its right hand through the gap, ripped out the beast’s heart, and ate it.
The hydra, which had been trying to use its heads and three remaining legs to pick itself back up, died instantly.
A hydra’s heart was the foundation of its immortality, and it would not die even if its heart was removed. Cutting up the heart would also do nothing, as it would soon heal itself. The heart was indestructible in this way. For this reason, humans considered attacking the heart pointless.
However, if you ate the heart whole instead of slicing it up, the hydra would die. Long ago, it was common for clans of dragons and giants to kill hydras by devouring their hearts.
But humans of the modern era were not aware of this, and the minotaur had not been taught the method by anyone, either. It simply felt a great power from the hydra’s heart and decided it wanted to try and eat it. When it did so, the hydra died. That was how the minotaur learned of this technique.
After the hydra died, a clump of dark-red meat the size of a child’s fist was left behind. The minotaur picked it up and placed it in its Bag.
It was a valuable item called immortal flesh. Aboveground, it was used to make powerful recovery medicine. It was said to cure sick people on the verge of death and return youth to the old. Its effects were not permanent, but it was tremendously popular among wealthy elderly people.
Also, because it was used as an ingredient for medicine made to restore youth and increase vitality, large sums of money and personal connections could be gained by selling it to women in the imperial palace.
Unless they were strapped for money, though, adventurers who obtained this delicacy did not sell it. The reason for that was because, if consumed in a labyrinth, immortal flesh would have the temporary effect of both instantly restoring any lost body parts and protecting you from lethal damage. Adventurers called that the immortal effect.
The immortal effect lasted for a very short amount of time, but it served as a final trump card for adventurers fighting on the bottom floor of the labyrinth.
The minotaur left the stone room. Its mood had not improved. Sure enough, no matter how many hydras it killed, it would gain nothing. It would find no joy from that kind of battle.
The metal dragon was a much better opponent. It was two or three times bigger than the hydras. Its three heads had two horns each, which it used to manipulate wind, water, and more. It could also create shock waves and had both extremely hot and cold breath.
It would spread its semitransparent wings, which glowed with blue phosphorescent light, and fly around the spacious boss room raining down lightning from its three tails.
Its scales were harder than hydra scales, and its resistance to magic and physical attacks was astronomical. To top it all off, it had high intellect, which allowed it to read the actions of its opponent.
At first, the minotaur had absolutely no idea how to defeat it. If it were to fight the metal dragon now, however, even that battle would leave it feeling hollow.
Give me a strong enemy.
A strong enemy that will make me suffer.
A strong enemy that will give me the strength to kill that human.
That was what the minotaur wanted more than anything. Its hunger for a good battle became a boiling stream that coursed throughout its body and felt like it would erupt through the pores of its skin.
What the minotaur did not know was that its wish was in the process of being granted.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter9.txt
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Chapter 15: The Ghost of the Elstoran Labyrinth
Chapter 15
The Ghost of the Elstoran Labyrinth
1
The first one to open his eyes was the monk Gondona. It was just before dawn.
A little bit later, Zara, Borante, and Himatra all woke up at around the same time. Surprisingly, Zara felt no pain. He felt refreshed and full of energy.
When he checked his adventurer medal, he saw that his level had become 79. The level-up before the battle had raised him to level 72, but he’d gone up seven whole levels after that. He did kill an enormous number of enemies, but even then, there was no reason for him to have gained so many levels. This kind of thing had been happening a lot lately.
“Gondona. I thought level-ups occurred after obtaining experience points from slain monsters. Is that wrong?”
“Hmm. From the practical understanding of adventurers, that is a very clear and easy way to think about it. You’re not incorrect. But if we were to get more into the true nature of it, a level-up is a phenomenon that shows the gratitude of the gods toward living creatures.”
“The gratitude of the gods? I don’t really understand.”
“Let’s imagine a man who sells steamed buns for a living. He assigns a price to each bun and sells them. However, if his cute granddaughter were to come along, he might give her a steamed bun without taking any money.”
“I can see that.”
“If that cute granddaughter of his was drowning in a river and someone saved her, he would probably shower whoever saved her with heaps of free buns.”
“The steamed-bun seller is the gods, and the buns are experience points?”
“Very good. They decide how many experience points each monster is worth, and they decide how many experience points it takes to reach each level. That would be similar to deciding the price of a steamed bun. The price and the compensation always appear to be in balance, so people think of it as a law. However, there is no actual proof of that. There may even be cases where the steamed bun seller is angry with a customer’s attitude and refuses to sell them anything. He would probably close down the shop.”
“If that’s true, then how did level-ups come to work like buying buns?”
“That I don’t know. Maybe the gods bestowed them upon humans as blessings. Maybe humans asked for them, and the gods granted their wishes. However they came about, they in some way fulfill the wishes of the gods.”
“Did I save a grandchild of the gods somewhere?”
“You probably did. Sometimes there are matters the gods want settled but can’t accomplish with their power alone, so they implore humans to act for them. To the gods, those who carry out their will in these cases are like the person who saved the steamed-bun seller’s granddaughter. The gods are thankful to that individual, and that gratitude is realized as a blessing in the form of experience points. If activated from the gods’ side, a level-up can occur without the need for a petition.”
“I see. Now that you say that, a number of things make sense.”
It seemed Borante and Himatra had also received major level-ups, so they listened to the conversation with great interest. But their interest only went so far.
“That’s enough about level-ups. Tell me what happened after I fainted,” Himatra asked Zara. She then caught sight of the white baby dragon.
“N-no way… Was this in the…?”
“This is thought to be the last dragon in the world.”
Borante and Himatra circled around the floating dragon to observe it. The dragon stared back at them and, finding this fun, flew one quick lap around them. Borante and Himatra tried again to walk around it. They then began circling one another until Himatra tripped over herself and fell.
The baby dragon squeaked happily and did a victory dance in the air above Himatra.
The morning sun rose over the calm beach.
2
Zara communicated everything that had happened after they collapsed as accurately as he could. Afterward, the group made a grave for the White Princess. They offered a prayer in front of it and then divided the reward among themselves.
“Gondona. Paksalimana asked me to name the dragon, but I can’t think of one.”
“I see. I don’t think there is any set way to do this, but let’s imitate the naming ceremony of a king’s eldest child. Okay, everyone hold out an offering.”
Gondona made a splendid altar using the materials he had on hand.
“Let’s get started.”
When Gondona produced a holy garment and put it on, everyone was shocked into silence.
“A—a cardinal uniform?”
“G-Gondy, you’ve gotta be…”
That was how they found out Gondona was not a monk but a priest.
Priests served a god or multiple gods by performing rituals, and monks served at temples by performing training and aid according to teachings. There were ranks among temples but none among monks themselves. Priests, on the other hand, were divided between the ranks of apprentice priest, parish priest, deacon, priest, bishop, and cardinal, from lowest to highest.
Zara had thought Gondona’s skills resembled those of a priest, but because he didn’t use a book of prayer or a staff, Zara’d assumed he must actually have been a monk.
The christening ceremony proceeded under Gondona’s guidance, and Zara named the baby dragon Freya. That was a word that meant treasure in an old language from the southern part of the continent. Gondona said the dragon was a girl, so Zara wanted to pick a fitting name. The group raised their hands to the sky to declare witness to the naming and celebrated.
They then held a banquet using the ingredients and alcohol they had used as offerings. They drank alcohol they hadn’t offered, too.
Previously unaware that Gondona was a clergyman of the highest possible rank, Himatra began referring to him with an honorific title.
“Pass me that meat, Father Gondy. Oh, and the wine, too. No, not like that! Give me the whole bottle. As expected of a cardinal. This wine is soooo good. Ten more of those please, Father!”
She still didn’t speak respectfully, however.
It seemed that Borante used to be a knight of decently high rank in a certain country, and he’d objected to a decision his superior had made while they were at war. After a great fuss that had ended with the injury of his superior, he’d fled.
Himatra said she’d been an apprentice sorcerer at the imperial court of a certain country, but after a superior had tried to rape her, she’d burned him to ash and fled.
Zara told them he had inherited a parent’s dying wish and was now traveling to broaden his horizons and become strong enough to defeat a powerful enemy.
Gondona did not talk about his past, but it seemed like the design of his priest garb during the ceremony gave Borante and Himatra an idea of where he came from.
After that, they talked about what they were going to do next. Gondona said he was going to the Ocean Temple. He would take the dragon child with him.
Borante and Himatra planned to return to the town from which the four of them had departed with the White Princess. Borante said he had some people to whom he wanted to boast about his accomplishments so he could shut them up once and for all.
Zara said he wanted to take a look at the homeland of Gil Linx and then head south.
“Come on, man. Just because you have some money now doesn’t make it okay for you to smoke cigars.”
“You’re the last person I want to hear that from.”
Himatra cast a spell to increase her physical strength, picked up Gondona’s mace, and used it to knock Borante down.
The mace hit Borante hard and threw him to the ground, but puzzlingly, he took almost no damage. No one pointed out the fact that Himatra had used support magic, despite saying earlier that she couldn’t.
The baby dragon seemed to take a great liking to the smoked ettin meat. Gondona discovered the meat turned into a delicacy when the dragon warmed the thoroughly smoked, hardened edges with its breath.
It turned out to be a very fun night.
3
The group split up the next morning.
First, Borante and Himatra departed with the two horses. The horses had run into a forest not far from the beach and returned after Borante whistled. Once their figures disappeared over the mountain pass, Gondona spoke.
“My level actually had increased as well when I woke up. And that wasn’t all. I surrendered half my life span when I used Conviction Hammer, but this morning, it seemed that rather than being halved, my life span had slightly increased. I must have received quite a large steamed bun.”
By half his life span? Does he mean half his remaining life span? Or half his entire life span? Can you actually see your own life span in the first place?
Zara was dubious of what he had just heard but decided not to question it. He was scared of what kind of ridiculous answer he might receive.
At first, the baby dragon did not leave Zara’s side. Once Zara passed all the smoked meat he was holding to Gondona, however, the baby dragon stuck close to the cardinal.
“I am going to spend some time praying in the temple. I will pray for you as well, Mr. Zara. Blessed be the gods. I wish you the best of luck on your journey, young adventurer.”
Zara bowed his head to receive a blessing and then departed. He took a deeply moving trip to Yuto Island, then returned to the continent and headed south on the peninsula along the sea.
After saving a caravan of merchants besieged by monsters, he agreed to become their escort. He tried to go his own way when they reached Aldana, but the head of the caravan asked him to stay until they reached the Holy Kingdom of Roahl. He said there were a lot of pirates in the area.
Zara had not planned to go to Roahl. It was a religious state located within Aldana that was allowed to operate as a small independent country. It housed several temples that were exalted by many countries, so it was seen as a holy land throughout the continent.
However, there were rumors of secularized priests instigating violence and also of power struggles between temples that worshipped different gods, so Zara didn’t particularly feel like entering the country.
Another reason he didn’t want to go to Roahl was the strict immigration check. Still, he had nothing to hide. He decided he would deliver the caravan as far as the checkpoint.
The checkpoint was a giant stronghold. Enormous walls surrounded it, and it was said there was a town immediately on the opposite side.
Zara thought about leaving once he saw the long line at immigration, but he felt that, after coming all this way, he may as well take a look at the town. In the end, he got in line.
They waited for a long time before it was their turn for inspection. The official who performed his inspection cried out once he checked his adventurer medal.
“Oooh, you’re an S-rank adventurer! Welcome to the Holy Kingdom of Roahl. In the name of the gods and of the hierarch, we are honored by your visit. Gods be praised.”
Zara had attracted the stares of everyone around him. Even the head of the merchant caravan he escorted opened his eyes wide in astonishment.
Things got rough for Zara from there.
He tried to accept his reward and take his leave, but the head of the caravan was persistent in trying to get him to sign an exclusive contract to become their escort. After Zara refused, the merchant offered to pay for his lodging for the night, but the adventurer refused that as well and said he would look for a guide.
It wasn’t just the head of the caravan. Zara was hounded by a great variety of people, every one of them trying to butter him up and form some kind of relationship.
“I’m going to the Adventurers Guild, so if you have business with me, take it there.”
After saying that, he somehow managed to make his escape. He shook off the crowds of people offering to show him around and arrived at the guild. Things got even worse for him there.
Saying he was going to the Adventurers Guild had simply been an excuse to get rid of the people swarming him, but now that he was here, he decided to see what kind of labyrinth there was in Roahl. When he requested information, he was asked to present his adventurer medal.
The employee was startled when he appraised Zara’s medal, leaving his seat for a while and returning with the president of the guild.
The president asked Zara to list his achievements in detail. Zara said he’d spent time adventuring in the Sazardon Labyrinth of the Baldemost Kingdom before deciding to go on a journey. He told the president he had taken a number of requests after leaving on his trip but declined to give details, citing client privacy.
It was perfectly understandable the guild president would show such strong interest in Zara.
To an Adventurers Guild, an S-rank adventurer was the most valuable commodity they could have and a trump card that allowed them to reject any interference that threatened their high level of independence. As such, they knew the whereabouts of their S-rank adventurers, and in high-priority cases, it was practically the guild’s duty to act as mediator for S-rank adventurers and protect their rights even if it meant negotiating against a country.
Whenever a new adventurer rose to rank S, that person was immediately bombarded by the guilds of that country and other influential people. Despite that, an S-rank adventurer had just wandered into this guild in Roahl by himself. His level was 79, and he was shockingly young; only sixteen years of age. To top it all off, rather than working for any kind of organization, he was on a trip to better himself. The guild president decided he would do whatever it took to tie this young man down.
He prevented Zara from leaving under the pretense of having to check urgent matters, then behind the scenes ordered his quick-witted employees to prepare alcohol, lodging, women, tourist information, attractive jobs, positions of high social rank, highly potent weapons, and anything else they could think of to try to win over this golden goose. Zara turned him down and left the reception room, ignoring the president’s attempts to detain him.
At that point, he once again found himself in a very uncomfortable situation.
The lobby was filled to capacity, teeming with people who had all manner of requests for Zara. Adventurers, merchants, and government officials all surrounded him and tried to chat him up, wanting to get close to this young S-rank adventurer who had arrived in Roahl without warning, like a shooting star.
People pulled on his hands and body. Others grabbed his hair. Before he knew it, he was robbed of his jacket, his hair was disheveled, and he was covered with numerous scratches and bruises.
If I was surrounded by sahagins, I’d just be able to cut my way through them. How am I supposed to deal with people?
Zara had only ever focused on training, so his interpersonal skills were unpolished. Also, having been born a high-ranking noble, he had no experience being swarmed by crowds of people and having requests and questions relentlessly shoved at him like this. Zara felt like he was being mobbed. The overwhelming hurricane of words and the close proximity of the crowd were beginning to make him feel like he might lose consciousness.
Aah… I feel like…I was stung by…a poison bee…
Adventurers who could easily defeat a level 50 monster would occasionally die after being swarmed by a hoard of level 5 or 6 insect or reptile monsters. Even if the poison of each individual monster wasn’t very strong, a person could be greatly hurt if swamped and stung in quick succession.
“I’m going to the labyrinth; would you like to come with me?”
Zara quickly grabbed the hand of the person who’d said that.
“Yes, please! Let’s go to the labyrinth!”
“Let’s get out of here first,” his savior yelled. Doing as he said, Zara pushed his way through the crowd and left the guild.
With the plan of action decided, all that remained was the execution. One effective combat technique when surrounded by a maelstrom of advancing enemies was to push and pull in order to create a thin line, which you could then quickly slip through.
The young man who’d invited him to enter the labyrinth had also emerged from the guild.
“This way!”
He was quick-witted and agile. He was probably a scout. The two of them ran down the street, slipped through alleyways, jumped up walls, and climbed onto roofs, eventually shaking off their pursuers.
“Man, you really are good. You kept up with me easily.”
Slightly out of breath and wiping away sweat, the man held out his hand.
“I’m Poriapul. Nice to meet you.”
They shook hands.
4
The scout named Poriapul led Zara to a cheap hotel where his companions were waiting. The two joined up with them and headed to the dining hall, and as soon as they all received drinks and made a toast, Poriapul introduced the group. Everyone grew extremely excited once they heard Zara was an S-rank swordsman.
The labyrinth was called the Elstoran Labyrinth, and it was what was known as a multiplex labyrinth.
A multiplex labyrinth sent all parties of adventurers who passed through its entrance into different phases. Coming across adventurers outside of your own party was an impossibility.
For example, if Party A entered the boss room on the first floor and defeated the boss and Party B entered at precisely that moment, the boss would still be there. In other words, it’s as if the two parties were entering different labyrinths comprised of the same contents.
Once you entered a multiplex labyrinth, you wouldn’t meet anyone other than the people with whom you entered. This was the labyrinth of Zara’s dreams.
Poriapul and his companions were all from another town in Roahl, and they’d formed a party to delve into the labyrinth and take on quests. They had been spending some time gathering information in this town and had a stroke of luck when they found a valuable ancient text. In that text was written a method of conquest that fulfilled certain conditions for the Elstoran Labyrinth.
“It doesn’t seem like you know the Elstoran Labyrinth. It’s famous in this country and is also known as the Ghost Labyrinth. There’s only one floor, and there are eight rooms. Skeletons are the only monsters. There are normal skeletons, red skeletons, and black skeletons. If you defeat the skeletons while fulfilling a certain condition, you are teleported to the boss room. The boss is a ghost, and it offers you prizes. The prizes are very rare and powerful weapons. No matter how many people are in the party, everyone receives a weapon that suits them. Apparently, if you reject the weapon, you’ll have to fight the ghost. But we’re not going to do that. The weapons are our goal.”
He wet his throat with some ale and continued his explanation.
“The hint for clearing the labyrinth is displayed on the rock by the entrance. There’s a long and thin protruding rock, the top of which is cut diagonally. There are twelve jewels inserted into it, and they shine in various colors. Every time someone clears the labyrinth, the gems change color. It’s said that they display how you should defeat the skeletons, but no one knows how to read them. In the end, everyone kills the skeletons at random and hopes they get lucky and get transported to the boss room.”
He gulped down some more ale.
“I can’t say that’s a particularly wise method, but once every two or three years, someone ends up being teleported to the boss room. And every time that happens, the color of the gems changes. Problem is, no one understood what those colors were displaying. Until now, that is.”
Poriapul pulled the ancient text out of his Bag and showed Zara a certain page.
“As you can see, this part right here is clearly depicting the colors of the twelve gems. The adventurer who drew this cleared the labyrinth when the gems were this color. He wrote down what he did to clear it that time, and…”
Poriapul suddenly leaned toward Zara and continued with a whisper.
“Don’t you see? The normal skeletons and the black skeletons have nothing to do with it. You can kill them or ignore them; they’re irrelevant either way. The ones that matter are the red skeletons. There’s a set number you need to kill in each room. You can’t kill any more or any less than that number. Once you’ve gone through the entire labyrinth and killed the exact right amount, it will satisfy the clear condition. The number of red skeletons we need to kill is written in this ancient text. Also…”
He smirked and struck the ancient document with his finger.
“…these colors are exactly the same as the colors over the entrance right now.”
At first, the strategy seemed rather straightforward, but the stipulation of dispatching a set number of enemies made things considerably more difficult. They had tried multiple times, but because the skeletons attacked in groups, it was easy to kill too many by accident. When fighting lots of enemies at once, it is difficult to keep track of exactly how many you have eliminated. For that reason, they had been looking for someone skilled in decision-making to join their party.
5
This sound is reminiscent of whacking an old tree.
That was what Zara thought after striking down another red skeleton. The group’s kill count was now in the dozens.
Zara was using the war hammer Logan had given him as a parting gift. It was very heavy but incredibly forceful, and the red skeletons stood no chance against it. Even the black skeletons were crushed in one blow. One of those black skeletons was approaching him from behind.
Why is no one supporting me? We’re acting individually right now instead of as a party.
They had a more-than-ideal party consisting of a scout, a swordsman, a warrior, a support sorceress, an offensive sorcerer, and a healing priest, but they weren’t taking advantage of that at all.
The scout was doing nothing other than counting the red skeletons they defeated.
The warrior said he would attract the regular skeletons, but because it took all he had to handle just three of them, that role was too dangerous to leave to him.
The offensive sorcerer was afraid he would kill too many red skeletons, so he didn’t participate in the fighting at all.
The sorceress was doing her best to support the party, but she couldn’t get near Zara while they were surrounded, so her spells always ended up fizzling out.
The priest would heal Zara when it wasn’t necessary, and when Zara did need a healing, the priest was always distracted by something else.
I should just pretend I’m doing this solo. That would be preferable to relying on them.
6
And so they advanced through the labyrinth. They had already killed the designated number of red skeletons in five out of the eight rooms.
Zara had already given up on receiving any offensive help from the other members. At this point, he couldn’t imagine killing too many red skeletons and having to go back to the beginning.
Let’s just get this over with.
Despite his frustration, he decided to ask the sorceress for something.
“When we go to the next chamber, can you cast restraint magic?”
She said she would do her best, and seeing her smile calmed his nerves.
They entered the room. There were several black skeletons inside, and Zara was proud of himself for having the foresight to ask for restraint magic. The sorceress then cast the spell…
“Earthbind!”
…on Zara.
Zara continued defeating the skeletons while unable to move his legs.
He learned two things in that room. The first was that Earthbind could be cast on party members. The second was that, once cast, the spell could not be removed until time ran out. He hoped to never again be in a situation where this information would prove helpful.
7
They were in the last room. Zara smashed the final red skeleton with his war hammer.
They then heard a low humming sound, and their surroundings became hazy. Before they knew it, they were somewhere else entirely.
The whole party was teleported together. In the middle of the room sat a table upon which weapons had been placed. There was a ghost on the other side smiling silently.
“Yes! We finally did it!”
“We actually did it!”
“Yeah! Our hard work has finally paid off!”
Everyone was celebrating together. Zara didn’t want to be the only one who wasn’t cheering, but he didn’t feel a shred of accomplishment. He couldn’t really feel anything other than relief—he would finally be freed from this nightmarish experience.
He suddenly realized the party had been broken up. They must have been automatically separated when they were teleported to this room. That way, everyone could make the decision individually about whether they wanted to fight the boss.
His comrades ran to the table and reached for the weapons that struck their fancy. Everyone who took one disappeared. They were probably sent back to the entrance of the labyrinth. He had forgotten to ask what happened after you grabbed a weapon.
The party members vanished one after another until Zara was the only one left, but the young adventurer had no interest in the weaponry. His gaze was locked on the ghost on the opposite side of the table.
8
Can a man be called beautiful?
His silver hair was long and straight. He had a small, oval forehead and kind blue eyes.
He was wearing simple silver cloth made of shining silk, which extended to the ground in many folds. A purple sash was loosely wrapped around his waist, holding the cloth in place. The sash was thin above his left hip and wide below his right, and an elegant knot hung from the right side.
The color of his face and skin was white with a slight hint of yellow. His eyes were a deep blue, and he was smiling. His long, thin, and delicate hands looked like they belonged to a woman.
His body was transparent enough to see the wall behind him, so it felt appropriate to call him a ghost.
“I’m surprised that anyone would summon me after such a long time. But because you have done so, I will do my job. To which labyrinth are you moving?”
“What do you mean by ‘which labyrinth’?”
“Hmm? Did you not summon me to adjust a labyrinth?”
“I do not know who you are. I came here after being asked to join a party to help conquer the Elstoran Labyrinth.”
“Conquer? What do you mean by conquer?”
“I completed the necessary objective to reach this room.”
“Ah, I see. That doesn’t really sound like conquering to me. For what reason did you come to conquer this labyrinth?”
“My party members wanted to obtain the weapons offered as prizes.”
The silver-haired man’s face was blank for a moment, and then he burst into laughter.
“That is delightful. Ah, it all makes sense now. I’m guessing a lot of time has passed. That was a little something I prepared as a reward for whoever made it to this room but lacked the qualifications to summon me. I never intended that to become anyone’s primary goal.”
“From what I have heard, when one reaches this room, a ghost will appear with some weapons. If you take a weapon, it becomes yours, and if you do not, you fight the ghost.”
“I can’t fight using that thing. The ‘me’ that usually appears is nothing more than a projection. Its appearance is the same as mine, but all it can do is tell people that it cannot fulfill their demand because they don’t meet the requirements. But you do meet the requirements necessary to be a client of mine. That is why I was summoned.”
“Can I fight you?”
“Hmm? You want to fight? I am capable of fighting, but I can’t be defeated. I have this ghostly body, after all. I am also a simple shadow that does not hold my original consciousness. The fact that I was able to appear, however, does mean that my real body is still alive.”
“Where is your real body?”
“Hmm. That is a difficult question to answer. All right, I’ll tell you if you swear you won’t visit me or tell anyone else where I am.”
“Then I won’t ask.”
“Ha-ha-ha. You’re a delightful person. My fighting ability is quite low, so I guarantee you’ll be disappointed if we actually dueled… Hmm?”
The ghost’s countenance changed as if just noticing something.
“No way, is that…?”
The ghost held his right hand over Zara. The operation screen of Zara’s Treasury appeared, and an item search began.
What the hell?! I’m not doing that!
It was definitely impossible to forcefully display the operation screen of another person’s Treasury. Yet that was exactly what the ghost was doing.
The display on the screen was changing constantly. Which meant someone other than the owner was actually operating it. Zara couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He froze in shock when a certain five items were displayed together.
Those five items were sorted into different categories, stored in different sections, and shared no search parameters, so no search could display them simultaneously on the same screen. Yet the five blessed items bestowed upon House Mercurius were right there on the screen together.
“Where did you obtain these five blessed items? Depending on how you answer, you could become the first human I’ve killed by my own hand.”
9
The ghost’s eyes had turned from blue to a brilliant yellow. The kindness in his gaze had vanished, replaced by a look as cold as ice.
Zara took a deep breath and answered.
“These five blessed items have been passed down for generations in House Mercurius of the Baldemost Kingdom. I have been told that the first head of House Mercurius was granted them by the dragon god Kaldan for his bravery and loyalty. The current head of House Mercurius has loaned them to me until I kill the minotaur in the Sazardon Labyrinth.”
For one or two breaths, the ghost stared at Zara, searching him. After that, his expression suddenly softened.
“I can tell from your demeanor that your words are straight from the heart. I apologize for threatening you. Please forgive me.”
The bloodlust vanished from the ghost, and his eyes returned to blue.
Zara became aware that he was sweating. The ghost was quite intimidating for an incorporeal being.
“I am familiar with the Sazardon Labyrinth. But the minotaur? Why would a swordsman of your level have a goal of killing a monster like the minotaur? Those five blessed items would certainly be overkill.”
“A little more than thirty years ago, a minotaur born on the tenth floor of the Sazardon Labyrinth defeated the monsters on every single floor, eventually reaching the bottom and killing the metal dragon some unknown number of times. It took over as the King of the Labyrinth and has been reigning ever since.”
“Huh? A minotaur? Don’t be stupid. Ah, that was rude of me. It’s not that I’m doubting you. But that labyrinth shouldn’t have the kind of unstable makeup that would allow such an irregularity. But of all things, a monster from floor ten. That can’t be a coincidence. Ah, wait a second. There are a number of things I want you to tell me. I also want to apologize. Let’s move to a different location. This isn’t exactly a fitting place for tea.”
The ghost closed his eyes for a while, seeming to think about something.
“What in the world? Everywhere I’m looking has fallen into ruin. What year is it, exactly?”
“It is the year 1116 of the Royal Calendar.”
“Royal Calendar? From what kingdom?”
“The Baldemost Kingdom. The year the goddess Kaldan, um, passed away was used as the first year of the Royal Calendar.”
“…My. This is surprising. An incredible amount of time has passed. Hmm. I wonder if that spot would be okay. Ah, it seems fine. Hold on, we’re moving.”
Their surroundings changed in an instant. They must have teleported, but Zara didn’t experience the uncomfortable feeling associated with teleportation. It usually felt like you were being dragged in multiple directions or turned inside out.
They were at a gazebo located in a garden full of blooming flowers. There was a marble table and two chairs made out of a material Zara didn’t recognize, but they were white and marked with luxurious carvings.
“Go ahead, take a seat. I apologize, but I am unable to make tea. Feel free to drink anything you may have in your storage. I am not capable of eating or drinking, myself. I’m perfectly fine standing, too, for that matter, but I’ll sit down.”
The ghost sat in the chair. His movement and seated posture were oddly elegant.
“That’s right. I became the final boss of that labyrinth. As you’re the first official victor in over one thousand and two hundred years, I need to give you a reward. What would you like?”
“Nothing comes to mind.”
“No, no, that won’t do. You’re going to make me lose face as a final boss. Okay. How about this?”
The ghost set a shortsword on the table. The blade seemed stunted even by “shortsword” standards, but it wasn’t as small as a dagger. It had a graceful color that suggested it was made of orichalc, but its red-painted tip gave it an ominous edge.
“With a small swing, this will produce a magic circle about six meters in diameter, and with a large swing, it will produce a magic circle about three hundred meters in diameter, which will crush everything it envelops. You can summon the magic circle near or far depending on how you swing the blade, so it’s a very convenient weapon. In order to use it, all you have to do is sacrifice the lives of at least ten people every year by your own hand.”
“I don’t need that kind of cursed item.”
“No, there’s no curse. As long as you use it properly, that is. It’s only when you forget to kill ten people that you will be cursed.”
“I don’t need it.”
“That’s too bad. Then how about this?”
Next, he placed a ring embedded with a gem on the table. The dark-red crystal looked high in quality, but something about it seemed odious.
“This is a kind of resurrection ring. It’s an inferior version of the Ring of the Underworld. If this is equipped, then even the largest of injuries will heal instantly, and you will be brought back to life immediately after you die. But like the Ring of the Underworld, it does not halt aging, so it grants immortality but not eternal youth. It is also weakened slightly by holy element attacks. Additionally, if you use this, a low-rank demon will become your master and you will have to serve it for all eternity.”
“I don’t need it.”
“If it’s the demon you’re worried about, don’t be. It’ll be no problem if you seal it beforehand. If you wish, I can help you with that. Once you seal the demon either within your body or somewhere in your clothes, it becomes quite convenient. When the owner of the ring dies, the seal is broken, and it will slaughter whoever killed you or anyone foolish enough to run off with your belongings.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Hmm. You are quite picky.”
After that, the ghost showed him a mirror that took over the mind of anyone who looked into it and also a helm that reflected any attack one day later with an attack one hundred times as powerful, but Zara didn’t want those, either.
“I really don’t know what to offer you. Just tell me if you see something that you like. All right, there are a number of things I want to talk about. Do you mind if I ask some questions?”
10
The first thing the ghost asked was what countries there were in the world, currently. He then asked about the minotaur in the Sazardon Labyrinth. Zara answered his questions to the best of his ability.
“Wait. What exactly is an adventurer? Huh. I didn’t realize that kind of holy occupation existed.”
“Potions sound really amazing. If you have any now, may I see them? My, that’s a lot. Interesting.”
“The rate of growth within labyrinths is quite high. I see. So that’s what filled the gap left behind by divine spirits. How clever. Given that the population of humans has increased and their countries are prospering, that must have been highly effective. But wouldn’t such a method only lead to stagnation? Ah, never mind that. That’s not a question for you. Hmm. I’ll have to look into that later.”
“Can you show me this ‘adventurer medal’? I find this surprising. It produces a number to represent strength and ability. These things called levels are an incredible innovation. It must represent the divine protection you have from the gods. Hmm. Very good. I’m sure this tempts everyone to fight and raise their levels.”
“So adventurer medals are issued in temples. I see, I see. This becomes your mark. If you delve into a labyrinth without carrying this, your level won’t increase, right? You don’t know? I assume that is the case.”
“What are these ranks? Do you receive anything when your rank increases? My. That’s interesting. Very nice. Though I don’t really understand why it increases not just by your level but also through requests from some guild. I wonder if your rank would increase just as easily if you accumulated good deeds without any relation to the guild or what they have labeled as quests. Ah, that’s probably the case.”
“Does that mean that if you kill people who haven’t committed any crimes, your rank will go down? Yeah, yeah. That sounds right. That’s good thinking. That way, people will be steered toward not abusing their strength. Without that mechanism, blood would rain from the skies.”
After asking a variety of questions, the ghost paused, his facial expression shifted, and he asked one more.
“By the way, from what you’ve told me, it sounds like no one has seen a dragon in the last thousand years. I mean outside of labyrinths, of course. Am I correct in assuming that?”
Zara fretted for a little while over whether it was okay to answer that question. He then felt a strong inclination to tell his host about what had happened.
“Yes. But just a few days ago a white dragon, the child of the goddess Kaldan and her husband, was born. Through a strange twist of fate, I was there to witness the birth and even received the honor of naming it.”
The ghost stood up suddenly. He then pressed his hands against the table and bowed his head.
“This is a very rude thing to ask of you, but can you please show me your memories? I’m begging you.”
Zara braced himself and answered.
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
While giving his thanks, the ghost reached out his right hand and touched Zara’s forehead. He then closed his eyes and began to mutter something. Zara was dizzy for a moment.
The next thing he knew, the ghost had already removed his hand from his forehead. The ghost’s eyes were still closed, and he appeared lost in thought.
Tears were streaming from his eyes. The tears that dripped down from his chin vanished in midair before they reached the table or the floor.
Zara wasn’t sure how long they spent like that.
The ghost then straightened his back, placed his right hand over his heart, and bowed deeply to Zara. His long silver hair hung low.
“Zara, I give you my thanks. You protected my child. I have no words to show my gratitude. You also chose a wonderful name and, most importantly, guided her to the appropriate place. I also won’t forget what you did for Paksalimana and Narillia. I will definitely return the favor someday.”
Zara was taken aback by the ghost’s words but could see he was being sincere, so he did not take the show of gratitude lightly. He stood up and returned the bow.
“I am happy I could be of help, but I had the guidance and the assistance of the gods. I am already receiving excessive favor as is.”
The ghost grinned.
“Yes… That was an answer straight from the heart. I want to speak to you for a little while longer, but as I have somewhere I want to go straight away, let’s say our farewells here. Ah…”
Something had caused the ghost’s figure to begin to fade.
“Shoot. I let myself get too emotional, and my spectral form has become unstable. Hmm. That’s too bad. I wanted to see my daughter at least once.”
His body was quickly becoming more transparent.
“Ah, don’t make such a worried face. My main body appears to be safe, so in time, this spirit form will recover. My main body is unconscious, though, so it will probably take a while. But it’s fine. I’m now looking forward to waking up again. I’ll need to give you a proper reward and return the favor for what you have done. For the time being, you can help yourself to anything on the table. Okay, Zara. Till next we meet.”
After the ghost finished speaking, he disappeared. Now alone, Zara was at a loss for what to do.
Where am I, and how do I get back? And what should I do with all these items that look too dangerous to touch?
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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King of the Labyrinth/King-of-the-Labyrinth-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt
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Copyright
Copyright
King of the Labyrinth, Vol. 2
Shien BIS
Translation by Luke Hutton
Cover art by Noriko Meguro
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
MEIKYU NO OU Volume 2
© 2019 Shien BIS. All rights reserved.
First published in Japan in 2019 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
Publication rights for this English edition arranged through Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
English translation © 2021 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: BIS, Shien, author.
Title: King of the labyrinth / Shien BIS.
Other titles: Meikyuu no ou. English
Description: New York : Yen On, 2021–
Identifiers: LCCN 2020043580 | ISBN 9781975317263 (v. 1 ; hardcover) | ISBN 9781975317287 (v. 2 ; hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Minotaur (Greek mythological character)—Fiction. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PL868.I8 M4513 2020 | DDC 895.63/6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020043580
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-1728-7 (hardcover)978-1-9753-1729-4 (ebook)
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-02-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/afterword.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Afterword
Thank you for purchasing the second volume of Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up! I am the author, Waruiotoko.
I thought that it might end after the first volume, but thanks to everyone’s help we were able to release this second volume too!
My previous work, My Real Life is a Dating Sim? Is What I Thought, But it’s Actually a Death Game, only got subsequent volumes for its manga adaptation, so I was incredibly happy to get a second volume this time.
Personally, I felt that having Euracia appear earlier than she did in the Naro version left it feeling like there wasn’t enough of her in volume 1, so in this second volume I wrote as much extra material as I could to make up for that.
I even wrote a side story for her that you can’t read elsewhere, so I hope you’ll enjoy that.
On top of all that, this work is getting ready to have a manga adaptation.
That will be happening after the release of volume 2, so I hope we’ll be able to bring you a Villainous Lord that’s different from the novel version.
Lastly, some words of thanks.
I would like to start by thanking the Famitsu Bunko editing department. I would also like to offer my deepest gratitude to raken, who has continued providing illustrations for this volume as well. It’s so moving to see Euracia drawn with such charm!
And more than anything, this is all thanks to all of you who read and support this work.
Please keep enjoying Villainous Lord.
Waruiotoko
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-02-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter1.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Chapter 1: A Promise to Keep
Some days after leaving the capital, the castle towers of Eintorian finally came into view.
It’s a powerful and emotional moment, coming home from the battlefield.
It hadn’t been long since Eintorian became mine, but it already felt like home.
“That’s Eintorian Castle,” I said, pointing to the castle towers. Jint stared at them before giving a silent nod in response. Perhaps it was to be expected, given his taciturn nature, but the journey had been a quiet one. Yusen and Gibun were making the trip separately because I’d ordered them to come with their families. When we reached the gates of Eintorian, my boring trip with no one but Jint for company was finally over.
“Your Excellency!”
“Master!”
Commander-in-Chief Hadin of the Eintorian Domain Army and the head chamberlain called out as they came to meet us, with soldiers following them.
“Your Lordship!” the soldiers all shouted before kneeling down before me.
The difference in discipline between when I first came to this world and now is like night and day. I see Hadin’s training is proceeding apace.
“The domain is already abuzz with tales of your heroism. I couldn’t be prouder of you, sir!” Hadin said as he knelt before me, looking every bit as pleased with my accomplishments as he said he was.
“Tales of my heroism? All I remember telling you is that I would be coming back home, though?”
“Oh, what are you saying? Word of how you drove off the Naruyans has already spread all across the country. How could we in Eintorian not have heard of it?”
Did the story spread all this way while I was spending time in the capital?
Eintorian Domain
Opinion: 85
Taking a look, Opinion had risen from 70 to 85, even though exempting the populace from taxes had only brought it up as far as 70.
I guess defending the nation had a major effect on it.
“Oh...” I scratched my cheek.
It’s not a bad thing. If anything, I wanted this kind of acclaim. I’m sure it will help us a lot when Eintorian goes independent after the destruction of the Runan Kingdom.
“Well, whatever. I’m heading back to the castle for now.”
“Yes, sir!”
The town was abuzz, just like Hadin said. All the people of my domain came out to cheer for my arrival. Their opinions of Erhin Eintorian had changed so dramatically, it felt as if he’d never been a villainous lord to begin with.
That Opinion of 85 is really starting to sink in.
The people’s passion was palpable as I arrived at the castle. I didn’t plan to just relax there, of course. Exhausted or not, I had things I needed to do. The experiences I’d been through since becoming a lord had given me a lot more stamina than I’d started out with.
Resting and surveying the domain can wait.
“Both of you, follow me to my office. You too, Jint.”
I planned to introduce Jint to the head chamberlain and Hadin and then head across the border to retrieve Jint’s sweetheart Mirinae immediately. I’d given some thought to dropping by there on the way back from the Runanese capital, but in the end, I decided it was best to at least prepare ourselves somewhat first.
I swear I’m going to keep my word. That’s my policy.
It’s why this had to be the first order of business now that we were back.
“Don’t worry, Jint. As soon as I’ve given my orders, we’ll be heading right back out.”
Our destination was the Naruya Kingdom, specifically a town along the border of the Sentreet Domain. Honestly, it was pretty close to the Eintorian Domain, seeing as it was a border town and all.
“Really?” Jint asked.
I had finally gotten a smile out of him. He’d been tense this entire time, and this was the first time I’d ever seen his expression soften.
“What would I gain by lying?”
I could see why Jint would want to rush there immediately, but I was uneasy about letting him go alone, so I had persuaded him not to.
I promised him that we’d go together. That’s why Jint’s waiting.
If he didn’t do as I said, he’d lose the guarantee that Eintorian would give Jint and Mirinae shelter. Without our backing, he was nothing but an enemy soldier who had deserted his own side. Of course, he was also holding back because he believed in my promise to make the two of them happy.
“You two must be curious about this man,” I said, glancing at Hadin and the head chamberlain in the office.
Hadin was quick to nod. “Yes, sir! Who the devil is he?”
“A new Eintorian retainer. He’s even stronger than Randall of the Ten Commanders, the one who invaded us before.”
“Stronger than Randall, you say?” Hadin looked at Jint, surprised.
“It’s more than just that. He’s so strong he even gives the famous Lord Erheet a run for his money.”
“My word...! Even Lord Erheet?”
When I name-dropped the most famous commander in all of Runan, Hadin’s jaw dropped so hard he forgot to close his mouth afterward. That was apparently a bigger surprise than Randall.
“Say hello, Jint. This is Baron Hadin, the commander-in-chief of the Eintorian Domain Army.”
At my instruction, Jint bowed his head to Hadin.
“I should also mention, I’m going to be heading to a Naruyan border town to bring this guy’s woman back for him.”
“So suddenly?!”
“I promised on the battlefield that I would, and my word is my bond.”
I should let Hadin and the head chamberlain know about his situation, at least. Hadin’s the commander-in-chief of my forces, so obviously he needs to know about his subordinates. As for the head chamberlain, he’ll be looking after Jint and Mirinae from here on out. Mirinae has her own situation, so I intend to have her stay in the castle for a while after I bring her here.
After telling the story as succinctly as I could, Hadin patted Jint on the back, his face full of emotion.
“You went through all of that? What an incredible man you are!”
Well, that’s just how Hadin was. The man’s loyalty didn’t waver one bit, even after being locked up in the dungeon by his villainous lord for a whole year.
“Then I will go with him. Clearly, I can’t let you go with him yourself, sir...”
Although, he did have an issue with getting ahead of himself.
“It wouldn’t sit right with me not to go myself. You don’t need to worry about what might happen to me. Or do you not have faith in my strength?”
“Perish the thought!”
“There you have it, then. Head Chamberlain, prepare two sets of peasant garb for us. We’ll need simple clothes that won’t stand out.”
“Yes, of course, Master!”
We’re traveling across the border to snatch someone, so we can’t afford to draw attention. Dressing ourselves as soldiers isn’t an option, and dressing as nobles is completely out of the question. Ideally, we want to bring her back quietly.
I mean, it’s not like we can just go in there with the army, right?
It wouldn’t be that tough to occupy the Sentreet Domain, but there’s no way that the King of Naruya would just shrug off losing the territory. He’d probably come after us for revenge, saying it was to prepare for the Grand Subjugation, or whatever.
That’d mean another war.
Now, that would be a pain. Even if we managed to win in the short term, Eintorian wouldn’t be able to amass the power that we need to go independent. Right now, what I need to be focusing on is the preparations for that, not another war. I’d like to keep this as quiet as possible. I probably don’t need to bring a whole army just to bring back one person.
“By the way, have we been making progress on construction work to repair the strategic pass?” I asked, suddenly remembering I had ordered them to do that.
When the supreme commander of the Royal Naruyan Army, Valdesca Frann, sent a decoy unit to attack Eintorian, they hadn’t even been able to use the pass because it had collapsed in an earthquake. It was going to be important for us to repair it properly in preparation for future developments. We had the money too, so I’d issued a repair order before leaving for the battlefield. I didn’t expect them to already be done with a major construction project like that, though.
“Yes, sir. We are going as quickly as we can. I suspect it should be finished by winter.”
“Oh, yeah? It’s a big project, so make sure to give it sufficient funds.”
“Of course, sir!”
Anyway, I can deal with all these administrative tasks once we get back from that border town.
*
It was still afternoon.
We took the road into the mountains after briefly surveying the construction ongoing at the mountain pass. The road leveled out on the other side of it, and we continued along that route for some time until the Naruyan checkpoint came into view.
Traveling merchants used to use this route before the war, but now it was shut up tight. If we wanted to go straight through the checkpoint, we were going to have to fight a war for it.
That being the case, Jint and I veered off the road midway and infiltrated the Naruya Kingdom by crossing the mountains.
With just the two of us—well, plus our horses—it wasn’t all that difficult getting through the mountains. There were some Naruyan patrols, sure, but they couldn’t watch the entirety of these precipitous peaks.
The problem’s going to be when we get into the foothills.
There were watch posts all around the base of the mountains, and the scouts there worked together with the border patrol units.
I expected this, of course.
“Let’s hurry to town!”
We spurred our horses as fast as they would go, and I had Jint lead the way. The mission was to extract a woman from a Naruyan border town as quickly as we could. While there was a need to be inconspicuous, abducting a person also required an element of speed.
We’re disguised, though, and they don’t know we’ve crossed the border. We can afford to be a bit reckless, was my line of thinking, but...
“Tch!”
Because the country was at war, the border guards were especially high-strung at the moment. A distant sentinel spotted us the moment we came out of the mountains and got on the road. Smoke rose from the watchtower before they even bothered identifying us.
We needed to move faster.
“They’re onto us! Let’s hurry!”
We managed to get out of sight of the sentinels somehow.
“Is it still a long way to town?”
“We should start seeing landmarks soon.”
After we’d ridden some distance, Jint pointed out some fields and hills that he recognized to me. Though I called them fields, they were small and barren.
“I always used to rest on that hill with Mirinae when I finished working the fields.”
“Oh, yeah?”
One glance was all it took to see traces of all the hard work that had gone into developing this land.
“I used to eat the herb porridge that Mirinae made for me over there. It was really good.”
Jint gazed at the hill for a while, basking in fond memories. Then he pointed to a town in the distance.
“There, that’s the town!”
Once the little town became visible on the other side of the hill, Jint urged his horse to run faster. The place looked like the last refuge of those who’d lost everything.
Border towns were at high risk of being put to the torch when there was war with a neighboring country. That’s why the only people who’d live in them were those like Jint and Mirinae with no other place to go.
Once we were sure no one was chasing us, Jint stopped at a ramshackle hovel on the outskirts.
“Mirinae!”
It must have been their home once. Jint dismounted and ran inside.
“Mirinae!!!” he bellowed her name again.
I had a bad feeling. There was no joy in Jint’s voice, only a fearful haste. When he emerged from the house, his face was as pale as I’d worried it would be. He continued shouting her name, as if possessed by terror.
“Mirinae...! Mirinae!”
Come to think of it, the whole town was quiet. I hadn’t noticed before now because we were in such a hurry, but we hadn’t seen a soul since getting here.
Oh, no...
I began to imagine the worst.
“Mirinaeee!”
Jint started searching the other houses nearby for her too.
In response to his shouting...
“Who’s making all that racket?”
An elderly man emerged from the neighboring house.
It was kind of a relief seeing someone. Jint was running around like a horse off its reins, so I left him to his own devices and approached the old man.
“Pardon me, but would you happen to know a woman who lives next door by the name of Mirinae?”
“Of course I do. I suppose that must be Jint, then?”
“Yeah.”
“I see. So he made it back alive. Everyone gave him up for dead once he got conscripted,” the old man murmured, an intrigued look on his face.
“Well, anyways... Where is Mirinae? I don’t see any townsfolk either, besides you.”
“She’s out working. There’s nothing left in this town, after all... Mirinae said she was going to the next town over to help work the fields and do needlework.”
“Got it.”
Oh, thank goodness. My heart was pounding for a moment there. What a relief.
It seemed the town was so desolate because of the draft. If all they had left were old men and women, I suppose that made sense.
“Jint!” I shouted as I jumped toward Jint, who was totally losing his head, and punched him in the face.
Thump!
I wasn’t using Daitoren, so without the bonus stats it granted me, my Martial was way lower than his. Normally, Jint would dodge it easily, but he was too far gone now.
“Pull yourself together! Mirinae’s off working in the next town over!”
Jint blinked at me.
“Really...?”
“Just calm down for now. Do you know where the neighboring town is?”
“Sure do.”
“Then mount up already! There’s no time to waste!”
*
“Are you okay, Mirinae?”
Mirinae’s hands were covered in cuts and scrapes. Because of all the work she had been doing out in the fields, they never had a day to heal. But Mirinae prided herself on her sewing, so she kept her needle moving with a deft hand.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Can you really handle all this work? I got what you asked for, but...” Malfie, the middle-aged woman who had come to work with her, said in a concerned tone.
There was a large bundle of old cloth in her hands: cloth for jobs that Mirinae had accepted.
“I need to make all the money I can. When Jint comes back from the war... I know he’ll be exhausted, so I want him to be able to eat his fill.”
“Oh, you poor thing...” Malfie felt bad for Mirinae. She figured there was almost no chance of Jint ever coming home. When those without power were drafted, they were just expendable. Her own brother had been drafted at a young age and died like that too.
Because of that, Malfie felt sorry seeing the way Mirinae waited so bravely for Jint to return and repeatedly told her that she should give him up for dead. But Mirinae, who lived only for Jint, stubbornly refused to accept it.
“Don’t devote your life to a man who might be gone for good...”
These words always met with the same response. Even when Mirinae was so exhausted she had bags under her eyes, there was a vital sparkle in them when she talked about Jint.
“Jint’s strong. He’ll definitely come back alive. Definitely.”
She repeated the word “definitely” like some sort of mantra. At that moment, they heard a voice coming from outside.
“Is Mirinae here?”
The unfamiliar male voice made Malfie and Mirinae look at one another. The other townsfolk looked over in suspicion.
“Who’s there?” Malfie asked, opening the door.
It was Erhin.
And beside him, looking restless, was the man they had just been talking about—Jint.
“Huh...?”
Jint and Mirinae’s eyes met. A moment later, each raced to the other so fast that you couldn’t tell which of them had moved first.
“Jint, you’re not hurt, are you?! No injuries?!” Mirinae asked as she felt his body all over, checking for herself.
“I’m fine,” he confirmed with a nod.
With that, Mirinae was finally reassured, and she nuzzled up against Jint’s chest.
“I always believed you’d come back alive. But the women in town kept on telling me you might not, so...I’m just happy to see you’re back. So happy...”
Tears streamed from Mirinae’s eyes.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-02-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter1_1.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
“If you died on me, I was planning to follow you,” she said, revealing her tragic resolve.
“It was the same for me,” Jint told her. “I’m just so glad you are still alive.”
Jint and Mirinae shared a passionate embrace.
I, however, was unfortunately going to have to be the insensitive clod who interfered with their touching reunion.
“Sorry to ruin the moment, but...we need to get going, Jint.”
They’d have plenty of time to bask in all these touching emotions after we were safely back in Eintorian. The smoke signal from the watchtower earlier meant there would likely be enemy soldiers searching the area, so we probably wouldn’t be getting out of here without a fight.
“Mirinae, there’s a lot going on. Let’s get out of here quickly,” Jint said, realizing what I was getting at, and scooped Mirinae up in his arms before putting her on a horse.
“Eek! Jint!”
Her eyebrows arched with surprise as she rode a horse for the first time in her life.
“We’re going on horseback? Hey, wait, this is...! Jint! You stole again!”
“Sorry...” Jint apologized reflexively. “Uh, wait, no. I didn’t steal it. This is his horse.” He pointed at me.
“Come to think of it, who is he?”
I looked at Jint and waited for him to answer. I was a little curious what he would say.
“My savior.”
“Your...savior?”
Jint surprised me a little, calling me that.
“I don’t know what happened, but I’m sorry,” Mirinae said to me. “Jint isn’t very talkative, and he’s terrible at explaining things...”
“I’m well aware of that. But it’s not important now. We’ll talk more later.”
I set my horse galloping, and Jint followed behind me.
“Wait, Jint!”
“Sorry. I’ll explain everything later!”
“This is the wrong way! Aren’t we going home?”
Her confusion was understandable, but we ignored her shouting as we raced back down the road we’d come from.
Along the way, we ran into the border patrol unit, just as I’d anticipated. They’d been searching for us a while now, and were understandably pissed off as a result.
“Think you can cross the border when it’s closed, do you? Are you Runanese scouts?!”
Sentreet Border Patrol
100 men
Morale: 76
Training: 85
The border patrol was made up of rather capable soldiers, as befit a nation like Naruya. There were units like this scattered across the border too. The system used for border defense was just about the same, whether you were in Runan or Naruya. The main differences were in unit size and their degree of training.
Based on information I’d received before, there were more than ten units of one hundred men on the Eintorian-Naruya border. They worked with the sentinels in the watchtowers, who gave them orders in real time.
Which means troops will keep rushing to our location. There’s only a hundred of them now, but that could grow to a thousand if we dawdle.
I triggered a skill to get away from the patrol unit. During the recent war, Jint and I had used guerrilla tactics to wipe out the enemy’s remaining manpower once Erheet Demacine drove them out of Ruon Castle. That had earned me some points when I leveled up, so my Martial score was now 64.
I’d even learned a new skill.
“Jint, I’ve got this! You pull back!”
“As if I could do that! I’ll help too.”
“Just protect Mirinae, okay? I can handle a group like this just fine by myself, but if anything were to happen to her, it would defeat the entire purpose of coming here!”
“Urgh... Fine.”
Jint must have had no counterargument, because he scooped Mirinae up in his arms and helped her down from the horse.
Ideally, I had wanted to break past the guards on horseback, but being on a horse made you an easy target for skills. With a Martial score like Jint’s, he could deflect ranged attacks from archers and the like with his sword, so he must have figured he was safer on foot.
“Jint? H-Hey, wait!” Mirinae cried.
Once I was able to see that Jint had taken the confused Mirinae a safe distance away, I turned to face the hundred soldiers.
Will you use Tremor?
I triggered my new skill.
When facing large numbers of enemies, what I needed was a skill with a large area of effect. The skills I’d already had were powerful in a one-on-one matchup, so this time I’d gone for an AoE attack skill. When I triggered Tremor, my body began moving automatically and thrust my sword into the ground.
Rifts then formed in the ground, starting from my blade and stretching out towards the soldiers’ feet!
Red beams shot out from between the cracks, and...
Rummmble!
The land caved in beneath the enemy, forming a massive hole that swallowed up over half of the hundred men.
As an added benefit, since this was a battle of one against one hundred, the system recognized that as a “battlefield,” which meant I was able to gain experience.
“Wahhh!”
The soldiers screamed, unable to understand what was happening. I looked at the status screen and saw only thirty of them remained.
No need to use skills now.
Will you use the bonus?
I swung Daitoren around as I finished off the survivors. Mirinae could do nothing but blink at this sudden development. Jint looked jealous of my skill.
“Jint, we’re crossing the mountains pronto. We need to shake the other patrols that are after us!”
We had to hurry because I knew a fresh border patrol unit would be after us before long. Fortunately, we managed to gain a significant lead. The many and varied border patrol units were converging on our position, though too late, and began to chase us.
“They’re Runanese infiltrators! Seize them! Hey, stop!” the member of the border patrol shouted as the guards pursued us through the foothills. I couldn’t help but scoff to myself. What kind of fugitives stop just because they were asked to?
Because I’d wiped out the first border patrol unit, it wasn’t all that hard to escape the others.
Mirinae was my sole worry, but somewhere along the way, Jint picked her up and carried her in his arms as he ran.
Once we were over the mountains, there would be no further risk from the Naruyan border patrol.
Even if they thought we were enemy spies, once we got away from them, that would be the end of it. While they might be able to send a person or two across the border after us, a whole patrol unit would amount to a declaration of war. The border patrol didn’t have that kind of authority.
After a long trek, the plains of Eintorian spread out before us.
That was proof enough that we’d successfully extracted Mirinae.
*
A few days later, Erhin had the head chamberlain prepare a house for Jint and Mirinae to live in—a lovely two-story home near the castle.
Unable to believe this change in their fortunes, Mirinae repeatedly asked Jint, “We’re really allowed to live here? You’re sure? I’m not dreaming?”
She’d never even dreamed of living in a place like this. Every house they’d lived in before had been so run-down it could have collapsed at any moment. Mirinae looked all around their new residence, sighing with emotion at each new discovery.
“Jint, look! There’s a bed! It’s so soft!”
After lying down on it for a bit, she went to the kitchen where she was in for another surprise.
“Just look at this kitchen! I’ve never seen anything like it! I’ll be able to make so many delicious meals for you here!”
When Jint walked over, she rested her forehead on his chest.
“Jint... I’m so overjoyed. If this is really happening, we’re truly blessed. Are you sure we can have all of this?”
“Yeah. That guy’s no liar—unlike the rest of the nobility.”
“Hold on, Jint. ‘That guy’...? You’re not talking about the lord, are you?”
“Who else would I be talking about?”
“You idiot! You dummy, dummy, dummy! How could you refer to His Lordship so casually?!”
“Well... That’s how I’ve been talking all this time...”
Mirinae pinched Jint’s cheeks, a look of exasperation on her face.
“You’re his retainer now, aren’t you? You need to show him the proper respect!”
“O-Okay...”
Jint said with a nod, his words slightly slurred by her grip on his cheeks.
“Anyway, so you saved the country with His Lordship?”
“That’s how it worked out. It wasn’t Naruya I saved, though...”
“You silly man! What does Naruya matter to us? It doesn’t, that’s what. From now on, this country, the one that accepted us, is our homeland!”
“Oh... It is?”
“Of course it is. They took in people like us... Fugitives. Besides, they recognize your talent... That’s marvelous! How do you think we should repay them, Jint? Just how many pieces of clothing will I have to mend? How many tens of thousands of them?”
Mirinae was counting on her fingers, but the numbers were far beyond anything she could count like that. Her eyes began to spin.
“Well, I’ll do my best! Oh, that’s right! I managed to save up this much with my needlework.”
Mirinae pulled out the precious silver coin that she had tucked away in her pocket.
“I’m going to buy you something nice to eat with this... So...we can be together...forever, right?”
With the silver coin clenched tightly in hand, tears that Mirinae had been holding back since they were reunited started to overflow.
The image of himself in jail flashed through Jint’s mind. If he hadn’t managed to make it back, then Mirinae would never have shed these tears of joy. His debt was great—so great, it wouldn’t be repaid even when his sword lay broken and his severed head rested on the ground.
As he thought about that, Jint’s hands tightened into fists.
*
Jint and Mirinae’s story didn’t end there. Several days after the head chamberlain found a house for them, Mirinae suddenly came to visit him.
“I’ll do anything. I’m confident in my sewing and I can clean too. Please, let me work!”
When I heard about it from the head chamberlain, I summoned her and Jint so I could speak to them.
Mirinae
Age: 21
Martial: 5
Intelligence: 59
Command: 10
Those were her stats. The numbers fascinated me. An Intelligence score of 59 when she’d never properly studied? Martial, Intelligence, and Command all represented both a person’s innate talent and the result of the effort they put in. Additionally, the system capped ability scores based on talent.
That meant there was an initial value based on the person’s talent, and hard work could raise their ability scores up to that talent cap. It took time to raise your stats through hard work, of course, and nobody—except for me who had access to the level-up system—could go beyond their talent cap.
However, there were some people whose talent cap had what was called A-class Breakout. Those with such a gift were able to get their ability scores over 100 and become S-class.
A person’s capacity for wielding mana was deeply connected with this.
There was a skill in the system that would allow me to view people’s talent caps, and having it would help me discover people with hidden abilities, but it cost 3,000 points. That wasn’t happening at my current level.
Even without the skill, I can be reasonably confident that Mirinae’s never worked to raise her Intelligence score. She was never in a situation where she could have done anything about it. So, assuming her initial score was 59, she might totally transform if given the chance to work on improving it.
Curiouser and curiouser.
“You want to work here?”
“Yes, Your Lordship!”
Mirinae had bowed down before me the moment she arrived, pulling on Jint’s arm like she was saying, “You hurry up and bend the knee!” to try and make him bow too.
“Enough of that. You don’t need to bow and scrape all the time. Besides, Jint is one of my retainers. As his wife, you should address me as ‘Your Excellency.’”
“Call you ‘Your Excellency’? I-I’m not sure I...”
Mirinae was clearly confused at the honor of being allowed to address me as the nobles of this world did. Her eyes wandered nervously. I decided to cut to the chase.
“Anyways, you wanted work, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I don’t know how to repay you... I’ll really do anything!”
“No matter how painful it is?”
“Yes!”
Hearing the resolve in her voice, I shrugged and said, “Why not try studying? Yes... How about learning to read for a start?”
Mirinae blinked at this for a good ten seconds before looking at Jint.
“Not Jint. He’s too far removed from that sort of thing.”
When Mirinae heard that, she pointed at herself.
“Me? I-I couldn’t! Never! Book learning is for the nobility!”
“Must I repeat myself? You are my retainers now, which makes you practically nobility. If you genuinely want to work for the sake of the domain, then you’ll start by learning to read. I have no intention of letting you work otherwise.”
Mirinae gaped at me, unsure what to make of this proclamation.
“But...! Are you sure I can do it?”
“That, I can’t tell you. But if you work at it, I’m sure you’ll get results. Let’s wait and see what those results are.”
Yeah. That part was a mystery to me too. Would her Intelligence score rise, like I was hoping it would? Or was it going to remain unchanged? There were all sorts of things one could have intelligence for too.
The intelligence needed to manage a domain.
The intelligence needed to wage a war.
It remained to be seen what kind of intelligence she possessed. It felt like I’d just bought a lottery ticket, and now I was waiting to find out if I’d picked a winner.
*
I’m currently level 19.
Wiping out the Royal Naruyan Army in the recent war brought me to level 18, and our battle with the border patrol while we were rescuing Mirinae pushed me up to 19.
My Martial is 64. I have 300 skill points remaining. I can’t neglect leveling up during the one year I have before Naruya starts the Grand Subjugation. I’ll keep searching for personnel too.
Ultimately, I’m going to keep needing to influence the outcomes of a variety of battles. Although, that will probably be after I have my own domain in order.
“Hadin, gather all our forces!”
My first order of business was to assemble the army to introduce my new retainers to them. This included Yusen and Gibun, who had arrived after us.
I’ve told Hadin about them already, but this will be the first time that the army as a whole sees the new retainers. Since this is such a choice occasion for it, I want to have a martial arts tournament with a prize and everything. I can see people’s ability scores, but no one else can. No one but me knows what Jint, Yusen, and the others are like.
This was why it was important to show off the martial prowess of the new retainers I had brought on board with a tournament.
The outcome isn’t important. It’s all about the process. Basically, making them understand just how competent the new folks I’ve brought on board are, and preventing any dissatisfaction that might emerge when I put them in important positions. Because no one in my current army is a match for Jint.
Even Yusen lost after crossing blades with him just once.
As I expected, Jint won the tourney, and Yusen took second place.
There was even a bonus match where all of the hundredmen took on Jint at the same time, and he still won with an overwhelming victory! I did that so they could personally get a feel for his strength.
Once the event finished, I announced my retainers’ new titles. Hadin, the only noble among the retainers I valued, was to remain commander-in-chief of my army.
In light of his high Command score of 90, I appointed Yusen to be lieutenant commander of the army.
Then I appointed Gibun and Bente to the newly established rank of thousandman. These two were the most suitable candidates for leading new units with a manpower of over a thousand men. Gibun had a Command of 76, and Bente’s was 82.
Now that I look at it, we have a serious shortage of personnel.
In Jint’s case, his Command was too low, so I appointed him as captain of a special operations unit that didn’t have any subordinates assigned to it yet. His rank was equal to the thousandmen.
With ranks reassessed, I took a look at our manpower next.
The Eintorian Domain Army currently consisted of fourteen thousand men, but that didn’t make a standing army. If you looked at European or Chinese historical standing armies, they generally only made up about one percent of the total population. This one percent weren’t foot soldiers, but specialized troop types like cavalry and horse archers.
However, whenever a war came, China often conscripted as much as ten percent of the population to fight. In that situation, one percent of the population made up the standing army, and another nine percent—usually farmers—were held as reserve manpower that could be called up in times of need.
By making them work the fields in peacetime, it became possible to raise up a tremendous portion of the population as soldiers.
Eintorian’s manpower consisted of both career soldiers and conscripts as well.
As things stood, the Runan Kingdom had a population of ten million, and the Eintorian Domain had a population of two hundred and twenty thousand. Since it was clear that war was coming, I intended to raise our standing army to ten thousand men and the number of conscripted farmers to twenty thousand.
My first goal is a combined total manpower of thirty thousand.
The primary issue was that, as a border province, we generally had a lower population than other domains, though it had much increased as of late.
Our population started at one hundred and eighty thousand, but my tax exemption policy and personal fame drew refugees from the northern areas of the Runan Kingdom once the fighting broke out.
Maybe our population would keep growing if I were to continue lowering the taxes a reasonable amount once the exemption ended and develop the land? Living on the border was always risky, but in troubled times, problems could crop up anywhere and people would choose somewhere safe to live.
If I can make people confident that they’re safe here, our population will continue to grow. Immigration may cause some issues, of course—but for now, I can loan them unused land and use them as extra manpower. Once we have a population of three hundred thousand, I’ll have thirty thousand soldiers at my disposal.
That’s my primary objective for now.
Will you draft troops?
In order to work towards that goal, I used the system to make it so I would have twenty thousand troops at my disposal.
Who will draft troops?
One somewhat interesting feature of the system was that a higher Martial or Command was reflected in the draftees’ Training score, and the higher the Popularity of the drafting commander, the less the public’s Opinion would fall as a result.
When Euracia was visiting the Eintorian Domain, I’d had her lend me a hand with drafting troops. In her case, it was her high Charisma score that had the effect instead of Popularity, but that’s probably because she wasn’t officially one of my subordinates.
Hadin — Popularity: 90
Jint — Popularity: 50
Bente — Popularity: 70
Yusen — Popularity: 50
Gibun — Popularity: 50
Mirinae — Popularity: 50
The starting value for Popularity was 50, and most of the new retainers had only just come to the domain, so this was to be expected. If anything, I was surprised to see that even Mirinae, who’d barely shown her face in public, still maintained a Popularity of 50.
I’d initially hoped that Yusen’s Popularity would quickly rise thanks to his amiable personality and ability to make friends, but those hopes aside, the only one suited to recruiting men right now was Hadin.
Will you have Hadin draft troops?
6,000 men can be drafted.
Expected Drop in Opinion: -5.
That was the message that showed up when I picked Hadin to serve as my right-hand. I struggled with the decision for a while before deciding to do it myself this time. Between the recent war Eintorian itself had experienced, and the seventy thousand Naruyans who’d invaded the Runan Kingdom, everyone was feeling tense these days.
I decided to appeal to those feelings.
“Naruya continues to build their manpower. Soon, an era of war and chaos will be upon us. The time will come for you to defend your families. When it does, I of course will be doing everything in my power to defend Eintorian. Yet I cannot defend this land alone. You, my people, will need to defend Eintorian and your families with your own hands. We will carry out this draft in order to defend Eintorian. So, allow me to promise those of you who will take to the battlefield this one thing: I will stand at the vanguard in that battle. I will always be there, leading the charge!”
With my own Popularity being pretty high, and the times being what they were, my speech in the plaza had the following effect:
Opinion increased by 2.
Surprisingly, not only did the public’s Opinion not fall, it actually went up by two points. Thanks to that, our manpower successfully rose by six thousand to become twenty thousand. I then reorganized these twenty thousand men to begin training them anew.
I entrusted Gibun, Bente, and Yusen with the task, with Jint’s assistance. I didn’t have many retainers, so everyone had to get involved. I planned to choose the members of the standing army from this bunch and pay them a salary. We would train ten thousand career soldiers.
From those ten thousand, we would choose two thousand of the best performers to form an elite unit. There were no knightly orders in this game, but I planned to make one anyway.
Thankfully, because our war chest was flush with cash, my struggle would mostly be against time. I had my Eintorian ancestors to thank for that. Now that I had done all this, all that was left was to raise the Training of my troops.
Am I just going to wait for that to happen? No, of course not. Because the absolute key thing is the foreign element.
In fact, thinking about what was to come a year from now, you could see just how important our ability to counter external threats was.
The Naruya Kingdom is very quiet right now, just like they were in the game’s history. History’s been rewritten, but the Grand Subjugation was never going to be an easy thing for them to start. The pride of Naruya is its ten elite units, each led by one of the Ten Commanders.
The units all had flashy names taken from the noms de guerre of their commanders, and were a pain in the butt to deal with in the game. Now I had to deal with those nuisances here in the real world. I could raise my manpower all I wanted, but the manpower available to a single domain paled in comparison to the manpower available to a king.
Closing that gap requires strategy and tactics: in other words, using my head. If I fight with manpower alone, I’ll never win. Of course, even if I do use my head, I need manpower to serve as my hands and feet, even if it’s smaller in scale than our enemies’.
That’s what I’m training now.
In parallel with that process, I intend to move forward with preparations to deal with foreign adversaries. My plan is to expand Eintorian’s influence in a manner akin to Zhuge Liang’s stratagem to divide the land in three in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
I expect to receive reports of a new war soon. Not between Naruya and Runan, but between the nations of the south.
In the game’s original history, the Runan Kingdom was already ruined by the time this war broke out, and the Naruya Kingdom stayed out of it as they were preparing for the Grand Subjugation.
But history had changed.
The relationship between the country where the war would break out and the Runan Kingdom meant things were going to get interesting.
And if they do, I’ll have a chance to get involved.
My plan might not have been as grand as Zhuge Liang’s stratagem, but it would lay the foundation for Eintorian’s independence.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-02-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter2.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Chapter 2: A New Battlefield
Eudante za Rozern, King of Rozern, was enraged and terrified by the Brijitian envoy’s words.
“Will you accept our demand for your surrender, sire?”
“Ngh...! I could never surrender!”
Eudante had only just turned fourteen.
The sudden death of his father, the former king, had brought him to the throne—but he was just an ordinary boy. Now he received an ultimatum from the neighboring country, Brijit, demanding to surrender and fork over the nation’s land. It was effectively a declaration of war.
The young king’s desperation-tinged shout was met with a smirk from the envoy.
“Oh, I see. Then you claim you can defend your country? Perhaps, rather than invite death, would it not be better to surrender and live out the rest of your life in a peaceful retirement?”
The envoy’s tone was arrogant, but none of the nobles could refute what he was saying. They could only tremble in fear of the Brijit Kingdom.
“I-I could never do such a thing. It’s my duty as king to defend Rozern’s land and people... I will not surrender. Now, begone before I have your head lopped off!”
The boy king was quivering, but he alone was thinking of what was best for his nation.
“If that is what you say, then I suppose the people of Rozern will become slaves. Will you have no regrets, even then?”
That gave the boy king pause. “If I surrender, will they be spared slavery?”
The envoy smiled faintly at the king’s words.
“Did you not read the ultimatum? It says ‘we will guarantee the life of the king and his family.’”
In other words, there were no guarantees for anyone else.
“That’s all the more reason I can’t surrender! Leave me at once!”
The envoy shook his head in dismay at the king’s irate shouting.
“You’ve made the worst choice possible, sire. Your people may find that death was a preferable fate to slavery. Heh heh.”
With that, the envoy left the audience chamber.
As he did, he had a smirk on his face. He’d never expected Rozern to surrender in the first place.
The royals who would be spared if they just surrendered, the nobles who were only thinking of how to save their own hides, and the people who were directly exposed to danger...
Driving a wedge between these three groups had been Brijit’s true goal all along.
*
Once the envoy departed, the audience chamber devolved into chaos.
“Sire, it’s still not too late to surrender. It’s our best chance to survive!” cried Count Sciara.
“Hardly! Have you forgotten the massacres the King of Brijit carried out against his own people?! How could we be safe after surrendering to a tyrant like that?!” countered Marquis Burkra.
“But...!” Sciara raised his voice further. “If we could just secure promises about the treatment of us nobles, you’d be fine with surrendering, wouldn’t you?”
Sciara sounded like he was perfectly fine letting the people be reduced to slavery. Burkra shook his head.
“What country could guarantee us such a thing? When a country surrenders to you, you purge their nobility. Time and again, history has proven this one fundamental truth. We’d be safer running for our lives. Or submitting to Runan.”
No one spoke up in favor of defending the country. The boy king was on the verge of tears as his pitiful nobles shouted back and forth.
He alone had the will to defend the people, but unfortunately he lacked the power to rally them to the cause as little more than a figurehead king.
At this point, Duke Lushake, who had been watching quietly all this time, opened his mouth to speak. “What are you all making such a fuss for? Our Queen Cedelia is the daughter of the King of Runan. Furthermore, Runan are our allies, and we even pay them tribute. We need only appeal to them for support!”
Sciara shook his head. “But the Runan Kingdom is in a bad situation because of the war with the Naruya Kingdom...”
“They need to keep up appearances for their other allies! Do you really think they could afford to abandon us just because their own situation is not so good?!” Lushake roared with anger.
Burkra joined Lushake’s side. “If we had support from the Runan Kingdom, which was even able to repel the Naruya Kingdom,” he added vigorously, “we’d have nothing to fear. We’d be more than able to fight Brijit then. And if we can’t expect reinforcements, we can run then!”
The other nobles clamored to agree with him.
“Is that all right, sire? We must send an envoy to Runan at once!” Lushake insisted.
“B-But who...?” the boy king asked hesitantly.
“There’s only one person we could possibly entrust with such an important task, isn’t there?”
“My sister...?”
“Who else?”
The other nobles all nodded in agreement.
*
Euracia Rozern, First Princess of the Rozern Kingdom, was the elder of the two children the former king left behind.
“Could there be some reason Brijit is suddenly threatening Rozern?”
When Euracia crossed the border and arrived in the Runanese capital, she was met by Battan, a noble who served as resident ambassador for the Rozern Kingdom there.
“The Brijit Kingdom believes that the Runan Kingdom has yet to recover from their great war with the Naruya Kingdom.”
“You’re saying that they think our Runanese allies will be unable to afford to send us help, then?”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
Euracia clenched her fists. “But what is the situation really? That is the most important detail. Is the Runan Kingdom truly unable to help?”
Battan shook his head. “The domains in the south of the Runan Kingdom couldn’t even participate in the recent war. That’s how fast the Royal Naruyan Army managed to advance to Lynon Castle. But it does mean that they have strength to spare. If only they had a decent commander to direct them... Well, with Rozern and Runan’s manpower combined, I expect we outnumber the Brijitians.”
“A decent commander, you say...?”
Euracia mumbled those words to herself repeatedly for some time.
*
Euracia was kneeling before the king in Runan Castle’s audience chamber.
“Your Majesty, the Brijit Kingdom is unfairly attempting to invade Rozern. Our own army sadly lacks the manpower to oppose them. I ask you, as our ally of many years, can we count on you to send reinforcements to Rozern?”
The Runanese king scowled when he heard her. He wasn’t interested in helping in the slightest.
“Cedelia’s asking me a favor? Honestly, if it’s so dangerous, she should just run away.”
“That is correct,” Duke Ronan agreed. “We need to keep the Naruya Kingdom in check now. We took considerable losses in the recent war, after all. I feel sorry for you as our allies, but the Runan Kingdom lacks the spare capacity to send reinforcements at this present juncture.”
The duke’s rejection was purely rational, in contrast to the king’s more emotional one. While it didn’t line up with what Battan had told her, it was still a response she could have expected. Of course, even if they’d had the capacity, Ronan wouldn’t have wanted to send troops to a war that held no benefit for the Runan Kingdom.
“Yes, that makes sense. We can’t let them invade us again. Euracia, was it? I’m sorry, but we’re still essentially at war with those monstrous Naruyans, you see. It’s going to be difficult for us to assist you.”
Hearing this rejection, Euracia sensed she was in a bad position as things stood, and attempted to sweeten the pot.
“If you help us, we will pay you five times the tribute we currently do! Please, sire, this is the best Rozern can offer!”
“Five times, you say?”
The king appeared to consider for a moment, but his expression already said he wasn’t interested as he spoke again.
“I can’t be sending off reinforcements for mere tribute. As Ronan said, we don’t have the capacity for it. We just don’t!”
As the king rejected her a second time, Euracia’s face grew ashen with despair.
*
In the game, Rozern was a country beset by many problems.
Ever since the death of their king, the royal family had weakened as a center of power, and the nobles ruled their domains with no regard for the people who lived in them. This was no recipe for patriotism. It was also why, shortly after receiving the declaration of war, the nobles all fled in fear of a barbaric invasion from the Brijit Kingdom.
However, even with the situation so bad, they didn’t fall easily. That’s because someone roused the fleeing soldiers and people, and fought the Brijitians to the end. Someone who’d had the people’s support from a young age. Her inborn charisma meant every speech she gave was met with roaring applause, and her popularity grew by the day.
She never betrayed their trust in her.
She fought on the front line herself.
Ultimately, that was where she met her end.
Based on the fact that Rozern collapsed within a week of her demise, you can see that it was her strength alone which had allowed them to stand for the months before that.
Of course, that’s just in the game’s history.
Her name was Euracia Rozern.
And now I watched on as she knelt before Runan’s king.
Euracia Rozern
Age: 20
Martial: 87
Intelligence: 57
Command: 95
She had come to request reinforcements purely out of a desire to defend her nation. However, she didn’t realize the amount of politicking it took to arrange such a thing. If she had brought the nobles on board before making the request, they couldn’t have refused so bluntly. Her high Command score was due to her inborn charisma, but that only allowed her to move the people and command armies.
Also, while I hadn’t seen it for myself yet, her high Martial score suggested she had an aptitude for mana. She was really more of a sober and honest commander type rather than a politician. Of course, it was no mere coincidence that I was here right now.
I’d already arrived several days ago.
The war between Rozern and Brijit was critical for me as well.
The chamberlains and ladies-in-waiting that I had bought off during my last trip to the capital passed me word of what was happening so that I could have an audience with the king at the same time.
She’d received a clear refusal. Still kneeling, Euracia bit her lip. I could sense her noble nature from her long, blonde hair. She had enough charm to captivate anyone. It was a noble allure, one that made her feel out of reach.
My interest, however, was in the dispatch of reinforcements.
Runan had to send those troops to Rozern.
“Your Majesty, I believe we should send troops. Please, allow me to command them!”
When I spoke up in favor of sending reinforcements as all of the other nobles opposed the idea, Euracia looked at me with surprise.
The king and his nobles did too.
“Don’t talk nonsense! Runan lacks the capacity to support such an action right now!” Ronan turned to face me, his tone irate.
“Indeed! Where are you going to go when you’re supposed to be defending me?!” the king shouted, sounding like a child.
Runan’s king is a coward. But he’s also incredibly greedy.
“Not even Naruya will be so quick to move again after a loss of seventy thousand men. I expect they’ll stay put for a year or so. Or am I wrong, Duke Ronan? I hear you’ve sent scouts.”
“You’re not wrong, no, but we’re in no position to go sticking our nose into other countries’ problems!” Ronan shook his head as he pushed back against me once more.
Yeah, this is why Runan’s screwed. I don’t give a damn what happens to Rozern. I’m sure they’ve got nothing but a bunch of rotten nobles and ill-trained troops, just like Runan. Rozern also borders a large number of countries, all of which can easily attack them, so they aren’t in a strategically advantageous location either.
That’s not true of Brijit. They’re on the coast with a chain of islands nearby that’s actually well-suited to secretly raising troops.
But the most important thing is Euracia Rozern.
I’ve already built a relationship with her, and if I can get her reinforcements this time, she’ll owe me one. Besides, with the help of her popularity inside Rozern, we’ll have an easy time inspiring the troops. We’ll hold off the invasion with Rozernan manpower, then use Runanese troops for a quick counterattack that takes Brijit!
In the history I knew from the game, the King of Brijit had a high Martial himself, and led from the front like Euracia.
Brijit destroyed Rozern, but was later destroyed by Naruya. Maybe they were somewhat exhausted by the earlier conflict, but Brijit simply never had the power to stand up against Naruya.
What if I couldn’t do what Naruya did? Then I’d have a hard time uniting the continent.
My goal this time was simple: kill the Brijitian king as he led his troops. I wasn’t going to let this chance slip by. It was a chance to preserve my own manpower while using someone else’s to win territory!
“My goal isn’t Rozern, sire. If you’ll entrust me with the reinforcements, I’ll stop Brijit’s invasion, and then go on the counteroffensive to wipe them out. With Brijit under your control, there will be no need to fear Naruya. This will be another step towards you becoming the victor of this continent!”
The King of Runan’s eyes widened at this declaration.
If he’s greedy, then of course he’d be interested in getting his hands on Brijit. Rozern already pays him tribute. But if he can get hold of Brijit as well, that would gain him considerable power. The greedy and foolish are easily caught with large bait.
“I have a number of plans. Like the one the Naruyan strategist used to rapidly advance on Runan’s capital. If I can’t do what he did, then I have no right to my post as advisor. Should I fail, I’ll return my domain to you and return to being an ordinary noble!”
The king gulped and hurriedly asked, “You’ll make Brijit mine—no, Runan’s? That entire domain?”
“Indeed I will, sire!” I stated outright.
The king exchanged glances with Ronan. It seemed neither of them were entirely sure what to do now.
“The southern domains of Runan suffered hardly any damage from the recent war. They sent their troops too late, so the war was over by the time they arrived. If you round up just fifty thousand soldiers from the southern domains, I will launch the counterattack against Brijit when they invade Rozern!”
There’s no helping the fact that Brijit’s going to become part of Runan’s domain once I destroy them. I don’t have the personnel or the manpower to manage the territory myself right now. It’s not yet time for me to go independent. Of course, that just means I’ll be letting Runan hold on to my conquest for me for a little while.
When the Grand Subjugation began and Runan fell to Naruya, I planned to seize and absorb Brijit without spilling a drop of blood. This strategy let me take aim at a large domain without having to use any of my own manpower. To pull it off, I needed to destroy Brijit first.
This was a big gamble for me too.
But that’s what makes this world so interesting!
I could see in the king’s eyes that he’d given into temptation.
I know, right? It’s an unbearably alluring proposal, isn’t it?
*
After dismissing everyone from the room but Ronan, the king asked, “Is it true that Naruya hasn’t moved?”
“Yes, sire. If we only send troops from the south, I think we should be fine for the time being. Erhin did say he would settle things within half a year... I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Erheet is leading the reconstruction up north, and I’ve sent scouts to keep an eye on any movements by the enemy.”
“I see. In that case... You’re sure we can go after Brijit, then?”
“I’m sure Erhin can pull it off. In the recent war, he made the enemy strategist leave empty-handed, didn’t he? And the man had his sights on our capital. If Erhin were to use that strategy on Brijit once they lose their king... I’m sure there will be nothing the enemy can do. Of course, this is supposing he can kill the King of Brijit in Rozern. I think the plan has enough merit to let him try.”
“Heh heh. It does, doesn’t it? It has more than enough merit. His own domain is on the line if he fails. I like it. Indeed, I welcome the gamble. Brijit, huh...? Gah hah hah hah!”
Seeing how happy his king was, Ronan opened his mouth to add a word of caution.
“But, sire. We should recall Erhin to the capital as soon as he takes Brijit. You mustn’t give the domain to him!”
“Oh, of course not. Erhin has a job to do, fighting the Naruyans. Once I have no enemies left, I’ll kill him. Heh heh heh. I have no use for one who doesn’t bear the blood of our royal house. That’s why I offered him a title for his deeds, but no actual reward. Heh heh heh!”
Duke Ronan was a relative of the Royal House of Runan. In short, they were kith and kin. He was also open in his desire to have Brijit for himself.
*
“Everything went as you said it would,” Euracia said in front of the palace, impassive as ever.
“You could look a little more surprised, you know?” I said emphatically.
Euracia’s brow furrowed. “I’m plenty surprised. Incredibly surprised, even. Honestly, our situation was hopeless until you appeared...”
Oh, is that a fact? You don’t look so surprised.
After saying that, Euracia took a step closer and looked up at me, her clear eyes gazing straight into mine.
“I sent you a letter saying I’d help, didn’t I? Have a little faith in me.”
“You did, yes, but...the Runanese king’s attitude was so firm... But, more importantly, how did you know Brijit would invade?”
I only knew because of the game’s history, but I couldn’t exactly go and explain that to her.
“Information makes the world go ’round, you know? I gather intel from around the continent and make plans to match what I learn. Without that power, there wouldn’t be much but despair waiting for me in troubled times like these. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“That’s a reasonable argument,” Euracia replied, her eyes still raised to mine, never looking away. Her expression remained as blank as ever, but there was something in her gaze that felt dissatisfied. “But I think there’s more to it. There’s something...odd about you.”
“Odd?”
“Yes, incredibly so. I can never figure out where your thoughts will lead. That’s what scares me about you.”
“Hey, now. I thought we’d cleared up the misunderstanding about me being a villainous lord, didn’t we?” I said, thinking there might be another misunderstanding, but Euracia’s eyes were unswerving. She told me that wasn’t what she meant. “Well, whatever. Just watch me. With the coming war, I doubt you’ll be able to take your eyes off me for a while.”
“I suppose not. First, we have to defend Rozern. I certainly have my suspicions about you, but I’m still grateful for the help you’ve given me!”
“Oh, yeah? Is that the look of someone feeling grateful?” I said with a shrug, but Euracia’s expression remained unchanged.
*
Sixty thousand elite Brijitian troops were gathered in the Luxenbaum Domain on the southern border of Rozern. The King of Brijit, Bautore, immediately gave the order to attack. At his command, forty thousand infantry charged across the border into the Rozernan domain all at once. Bautore watched them with satisfaction, his lips curling into a slight smile.
Oh, how badly he wanted this conquest.
The Brijit Kingdom had always been treated as far inferior to the Runan Kingdom and the Naruya Kingdom.
Bautore couldn’t stand that. It was a large part of why he’d started this war.
“Yaaargh!!!” cried the charging Brijitian troops.
It would be impossible for four thousand defenders of Luxenbaum to stop sixty thousand elite soldiers. Even with seven thousand forces now, thanks to a rapid recruitment drive after the declaration of war, they were still no match.
The terrified soldiers and their lord couldn’t do anything.
Ganeif, one of Brijit’s Three Royal Swordsmen, climbed the castle walls and laughed scornfully as he watched the lord.
“Kill him!” the lord shouted as he backed away in surprise.
Ganeif was faster, though.
As might be expected from a man whose nom de guerre was Ganeif the Swiftblade, his sword carved out the lord’s heart with speed and precision.
Bautore laughed out loud as he watched. Rozern’s forces were not much different from what he’d expected. Having reached the front of the castle, Bautore bellowed the orders, “Now’s the moment we’ve been waiting for! Charge into the castle! Steal everything that’s theirs!”
The words echoed far and wide, shaking the castle so hard it seemed as though it might crack. It was a death sentence for the Rozernan people.
“Eeeek!”
“C’mere!”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-02-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter2_1.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
The soldiers became like slavering beasts, hunting young women.
“Help!”
Most residents who were not young and female were killed on the spot. Women who’d hid inside the houses were dragged out by their hair. Tens of drooling soldiers surrounded a lone woman.
“No! S-Stop!”
All around the city, cries echoed back and forth. At this rate, it seemed like every last resident might be slain. However, the king chose just one hundred people at random to be spared. They were set free to bear witness to the hell he’d unleashed here.
“Go, and tell everyone what you saw. Tell them Brijitians show no mercy!”
He hoped to intimidate not just the Rozernan soldiers, but their entire populace. He wasn’t doing this just to let his men blow off steam: it was to show the people of Rozern that Brijit was merciless.
Their next target was the Briant Domain, which also fell without any effective resistance. Here, too, Bautore unleashed a fresh hell within the castle walls before releasing a number of residents to tell the tale.
As word spread, rumors gave birth to new rumors.
Bautore effortlessly trampled across the domains. Coming to a fork in the road he demanded both the Kesenbine and Tilant Domains submit.
“Surrender. Do as I say, and I will spare your lives. You will be untouched. That’s better than all of you dying if you resist!”
Every day, he stood before the domains’ castles to call for their surrender. Having already heard many a time about the horrible fates that others had met, the demoralized Lord of Tilant raised the white flag.
“Your Majesty, if we guarantee their safety, they say they’ll throw open the gates at once!”
“Very well. Have the enemy disarm themselves.”
There was nothing so amazing as entering a castle without a drop of blood shed. The best victories were the ones won without fighting.
“Good! I forbid any massacres in the surrendered Tilant Domain! Spare their lives.”
“Say what...?” Ganeif cocked his head to the side. Bautore arched an eyebrow at him. “Oh, no, it’s nothing!”
“Thoroughly trample any domain that refuses to submit. Kill the men; drag the women to Tilant to be raped and killed there. These Rozernans need the difference between those who submit and those who don’t carved into their thick skulls!”
These tactics would have massive influence throughout the war to come. They spread chaos between the lords, their retainers, and the people. The difference in manpower was overwhelming, and the lords submitted one after another.
The result was that the Brijitian Army had lost less than one thousand men by the time they reached the castle.
*
I took Euracia to the southern domains where we were to meet up with the Royal Runanese Army.
30 training, 30 Morale. The unit’s stats were terrible. The commanding officers consisted of two counts, five viscounts, and ten barons. This was all as Ronan planned. The viscounts and barons were nobles who’d led their troops here from various domains, but the counts were Ronan’s own retainers.
They’re here to monitor me, basically.
The leader was my second-in-command, Count Fihatori. He wasn’t openly dissatisfied with me, but he also had no intention of just meekly doing as I told him to. I had Jint hurry to join us as backup, but none of my other retainers from the Eintorian Domain were to join him. They were too busy training our army.
Because this was a foreign war, I only really needed Jint. The problem was that the king only gave me thirty thousand men. He explained that I could fight using these men for now, and he’d send more later to replenish us.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
That meant he wanted me to show him what I could accomplish with thirty thousand men first. He especially wanted to see if I could manage to kill Brijit’s king.
*
We ran to their aid with our thirty thousand reinforcements, setting up camp in sight of the border as the sun went down. The battlefield lay just across the border. Tomorrow, we would rush into Rozern.
It was tense in camp.
I was feeling tense too, of course. Because sure, I knew how things went in the game’s history, but that was no guarantee I’d survive. Nevertheless, I had to act.
If I could pull this off, it would create some slight possibility of unifying the continent.
The flames of the campfire rose up high.
Euracia, who had entered the camp earlier, perhaps unable to sleep due to the tension in the air, walked over to me.
“You can’t sleep?” I asked.
“No... May I join you?”
“Of course.” I nodded. She came closer and we sat shoulder to shoulder by the fire.
“The southern regions of Rozern are being trampled by Brijit. Their king is massacring our people!” Euracia’s clenched fist shook with rage.
We were receiving real-time reports on the situation in Rozern. I couldn’t blame her for not being able to sleep.
“The Brijitian king is using horrific tactics to force you to surrender,” I explained. “It’s the worst kind of war. And he has an overwhelming numerical advantage too...”
After a long pause, Euracia asked, “Do we stand any chance of winning?”
I’d love to know the answer to that myself. I have a winning plan in mind, of course, but I have no idea how things are going to play out.
“Does only having thirty thousand men concern you?”
“I saw you drive out the Naruyans with less than this. A massive Naruyan army, far more powerful than Brijit,” Euracia said, her eyes shifting from me to the fire. “So, it’s not that I’m worried. I want to hear your strategy. That’s what’s been keeping me up tonight. What are you thinking?”
“Well, of a strategy to beat Brijit, obviously.”
“But what’s your plan? If it protects Rozern, then...I’m prepared to do anything!” she declared, suddenly rising to her feet. But I had nothing to tell her.
She’s fundamental to my strategy this time. There haven’t been major changes from the overall flow of the game’s history yet. I think that might be because it’s decided based on whether each battle plays out the same as it did in-game. If she learned anything about what happened in the game, then there’s a good chance a battle from the game wouldn’t be recreated.
Basically, I was watching out for the butterfly effect.
“Calm down, Euracia.” I stood up, walked around behind her, and placed my hands on her shoulders. Then, sitting her back down, I said, “I do have a strategy, but I can’t explain it to you now.”
“Why not? You don’t trust me? I’d never breathe a word to anyone!”
“This isn’t a matter of trust. It’s so we can win.”
A look of doubt crossed her face as she stared at me with those strong eyes of hers.
“Huh? What do you mean...?”
“I’ll explain once we have the results. Here’s all I can say for now: You fight your battles. I’ll fight mine. Our strategies in this war are strictly separate.”
“But even if we worked together, we’d still have so few men... So, why?!”
“You believe in my strategies that repelled Naruya, don’t you?”
“I believe, certainly, but what exactly am I supposed to believe in when you’re giving me nothing to go on?”
“It’s all part of the plan. So, try trusting in me as a person, not my strategy.”
When I gave her a straight answer, Euracia fell silent.
“But more importantly, what were you planning to do if I hadn’t persuaded the King of Runan and come here?”
“I’d have returned to Rozern, and we would have fought by ourselves. Until I died. For as long as I draw breath, I will never hand over Rozern!”
Yeah, that’s it. That’s what she’s like in the game’s history.
“That’s the way. Don’t ever forget how you feel right now. If you just fight your own way, you’ll be able to defend Rozern.”
There was a confused pause. “I have no idea what you mean.”
You don’t need to know. No, you mustn’t find out. I see the look of discontent on your face now, but I’ll change that out on the battlefield.
*
After days of sad reports and unmitigated chaos, some good news arrived in Rozern’s palace for the first time in a while.
Word had come of reinforcements.
Eudante opened Euracia’s letter with unbounded joy. He’d only read a few lines of it when he exclaimed, “Everyone, rejoice! Reinforcements from Runan are on the way!”
A buzz ran through the nobles who heard this.
“Is that true?!”
“Ohh! That might save us!”
But as he read the letter, the king’s expression changed, darkening visibly as he continued. “But...they’re only sending thirty thousand men...”
Those words froze the room like ice.
Wrinkles formed on Commander-in-Chief Berack of the Royal Rozernan Army’s forehead as he asked, “Sire, could you have misread the number? We could never win with only that many. In the recent war where Runan stopped seventy thousand Naruyans they had a total manpower of a hundred thousand. How in the world are we supposed to fight with only thirty thousand?!”
“W-Well, their commander is the Count Eintorian, the one they say drove off the Naruya Kingdom. S-So... He’ll manage it, somehow!”
The nobles weren’t even listening anymore. The only thing that had mattered to them was the number of reinforcements. Even Duke Lushake, who had proposed requesting reinforcements in the first place, shook his head in dismay. No one was going to say, “Well, we have thirty thousand men joining us, so let’s try and fight,” in this situation.
The nobles who’d stayed in the capital, trusting in Runanese reinforcements, were now considering options for other countries to flee to. Even Berack left the palace with a scowl on his face. How was he supposed to fight with a mere thirty thousand troops? The Royal Rozernan Army had suffered from horrible levels of desertion and poor discipline, leaving only about ten thousand troops. That gave him ten thousand men with no will to fight, plus thirty thousand reinforcements.
Meanwhile, the enemy had sixty thousand elite soldiers. Not only that, the Brijitians had conscripted the surrendered armies from Rozern’s other domains, using them as slave soldiers that shielded them from incoming arrows. That meant they’d added twenty thousand slaves to their forces, bringing their total manpower to eighty thousand.
Forty thousand men would never stand a chance against that.
Berack was well aware of the morale and training levels of the Royal Army, and he’d concluded the war was unwinnable. His advisor Kaiten felt differently, though.
“Commander! I think it’s worth putting up a fight and seeing how it goes. Even if they’re only thirty thousand men, with the Count Eintorian leading them, I believe they’ll protect the capital somehow...”
“Shut up! One man doesn’t change the number of soldiers!”
“But Count Eintorian achieved victory in an even larger war...”
“Hmph, those stories were blown out of proportion. That’s just how rumors are. Besides, he can’t take advantage of the geography in this situation. He’ll be fighting on the open plains in front of the capital. What kind of strategy could he possibly execute there?!”
“We can’t let ourselves think like that. The lords who submitted already made a mistake. Their eagerness to surrender left the country in this awful shape... It’s not yet too late. We should regroup and consider how to fight back in earnest now!”
“Would you shut up?! Don’t talk like you understand!”
Kaiten was only managing to piss Berack off.
*
The Runanese reinforcements crossed the border and arrived at the capital of Rozern without incident. From there, we went directly to the palace for an audience with the king. He was as young as I’d expected, probably around middle-school age.
“I come with reinforcements, Your Majesty! This is their commander, Count Eintorian,” Euracia introduced me as we both knelt before the king.
“O-Oh, I see! Are you the Count Eintorian we’ve heard so much about?!”
“While I am not entirely sure how I should take that, I am indeed the Count of Eintorian,” I said, nodding.
With a look of urgency on his face, the king said, “Then let me ask you this: We hear the reinforcements from Runan are only thirty thousand men. Is there any chance of more joining you later?”
That question made all of the nobles look at me too. They seemed dissatisfied with the number of troops.
In other words, they think there aren’t enough. Okay, I’ll give them that. There certainly aren’t too many, that’s for sure.
Still, this wasn’t the worst possible scenario. We had enough to fight, at least.
“There is not.”
“Oh, no... You mean to stop the enemy with just thirty thousand troops...?”
The nobles all nodded at the king’s words. Euracia shook her head in dismay.
“Sire, these thirty thousand men were not easy to obtain. And they are more than enough to fight with. Have no worries. In the name of Rozern, I swear I will defend the capital!” she shouted, unable to maintain her silence any longer.
“I came here because I also believe there’s more than a good enough chance that we can win!” I agreed with her.
The nobles only sighed. Every one of them looked utterly defeated already.
*
Standing atop the castle walls of Rozern’s capital, which would soon become a violently contested battlefield, I asked Commander-in-Chief Berack, “What is the current state of the Royal Rozernan Army?”
I could have just looked at the system, obviously, but I needed to ask the question for its own sake. It would have seemed strange if I already knew before he told me.
“We have ten thousand troops. I tried to gather men from all the other domains, but they’ve all just surrendered or fled... We only have the capital’s basic garrison now.”
“That’s awful! Most of the domains just submitted without a fight?” Euracia interjected. Berack answered her with a firm nod.
“That’s correct, Your Highness. This is the reality we’re faced with.”
I had to admit, I hadn’t expected this. Basically, none of the domain’s armies had arrived to support the capital, and all we had was its original garrison, ten thousand men strong. Not even the domains north of the capital, which had yet to be invaded, had sent troops.
This was going to require a massive change in plans.
They were in no state to defend the place with just the Royal Army while I sent the reinforcements around elsewhere. While the King of Runan had been taking his sweet time getting these reinforcements together, Brijit’s invasion had proceeded at a breakneck pace, worsening the situation even more.
If we could have made it before the Brijitians invaded, this would have gone totally different. Well, not that I have time to gripe about it now.
“Anyway, how do you plan to fight them?” Berack asked me. “Between the Royal Army and your reinforcements combined, we still only have forty thousand troops...”
“We’ll have to take optimal advantage of a siege battle.”
That’s all I’ve got, for now at least.
Berack snickered at my idea. “The vaunted advisor’s strategy is simply fighting a siege battle? Hah hah. Oh, that’s just splendid.”
Turning his back on me with a mocking laugh, he walked off and descended from the castle walls.
I guess that means that the Rozernan commander-in-chief’s lost the will to fight too, then. Just look at the way he’s acting. And the stats tell me the Royal Army only has 8 Morale.
Euracia bit her lip with a pained look on her face as she regarded the commander-in-chief.
“I never thought Rozern was such a weak-willed country,” she said. “It seems that everyone’s already decided that the thirty thousand troops we’ve brought won’t do any good. Even though it’s not a small number of men, by any means...”
“The enemy do have more than us, after all,” I replied. “It probably feels that way even more strongly to those who aren’t experienced with war.”
“But there’s a vast difference in what we’re capable of with and without those reinforcements,” Euracia insisted. “If we put up a desperate struggle, I’m confident we can win. We can manage so long as our hearts are united!”
She’s right. We do need to bring everyone’s hearts together.
In other words, we needed to raise their Morale. Ultimately, she needed to give her nation’s soldiers the will to fight, because if fleeing was the only thing on the locals’ minds, there was no way the reinforcements’ Morale was going to improve.
I could come up with the best plan ever and it wouldn’t mean a thing if I’m unable to execute it.
I’d already known Rozern would be in this kind of awful shape.
*
“Your Majesty. We only have Ronaf and Beijen left to occupy before we reach the capital!”
“Heh heh. We already have them in our sights!” Bautore, King of Brijit, nodded, pleased with their steady progress. “Isn’t it about time for the Runanese reinforcements to be arriving in the capital?”
“Indeed it is!” answered the Brijitian advisor Isenbahan.
Bautore stroked his chin awhile before calling for Elante the Heavyblade, one of the Three Swordsmen.
“I will take Ronaf and Beijen before heading to the capital. You take the long route around and head there ahead of us. You are forbidden from attacking the castle before I arrive. Set up camps and thoroughly torment the enemy!”
“Understood, sire!” Elante answered.
Bautore looked back at the troops, and gave a satisfied chuckle. “Have no fears, men! You’ll have your fill of rape and murder in the two remaining domains, whether they surrender or not. Enjoy yourselves as we prepare for the decisive battle! Heh heh heh! Gah ha ha ha ha!”
The Runanese reinforcements were a paltry thirty thousand men. It was just like he’d thought: Runan had little to spare. Thirty thousand men were nothing to fear. Bautore continued shouting, assured of his victory.
*
In front of the Rozernan capital, the yellow uniforms of the Brijitian military started coming into view outside the walls. They had arrived sooner than I’d expected. We still hadn’t gotten anything ready yet, and morale was as terrible as ever.
It was to be expected, really, given it had only been a day since we arrived.
Royal Brijitian Army
Manpower: 20,000 men
Morale: 90
Training: 80
The army showed up with twenty thousand troops. From the look of it, they were some sort of advance party. The main force would still be attacking the other domains.
The problem’s the Rozernan Army’s pathetic 8 Morale.
The mere sight of this advance party had already sent the Rozernans into a confused frenzy. If it weren’t for the fact the gates were all closed, they would have deserted already. As soon as the enemy appeared, morale plummeted again. If this chaos was what the enemy had been aiming for when they sent the advance party, the operation was a rousing success.
Although, it didn’t look like they were going to lay siege to us immediately. They just stayed out there, putting pressure on the castle.
“The enemy! The enemy are coming!” came the startled report from atop the walls.
“Th-Those are Rozernan citizens!” Euracia cried out in surprise. Just as she said, the people who were pressing towards the walls were Rozernans who had been captured.
The Brijitians set the prisoners loose before giving chase, killing those at the very rear. If the prisoners stopped, they’d die. The people rushed to the walls for dear life. They kept on running as people tripped, or were pushed and fell and were trampled to death.
“H-Help!”
“Open the gates!”
The prisoners managed to reach the gates, but they would not open. The more the people wailed in despair, the more the Brijitian cavalry seemed to delight in murdering them. But if we opened the gates now, the cavalry would rush in with them.
We couldn’t open the gates, but at this rate, the Rozernans were just going to watch as their countrymen were massacred. In other words, their morale would fall even further. It was a dirty move, but it’d be effective at making Rozern suffer.
Whether they opened gates or not, Rozern would suffer casualties.
Trembling with rage as she watched, the princess gritted her teeth and raced down to the gates.
“Throw open these gates at once! Can’t you people see and hear your fellow countrymen screaming for help on the other side?!” Euracia shouted at the guards.
But Berack stood in her way. He booted the guard aside and stood blocking the gates personally.
“These gates must not be opened. Are you going to jeopardize the capital for their insignificant lives? No one—not even you—has the right to do that, Your Highness!”
Euracia delivered a swift kick to Berack, knocking him out of her way, before angrily shouting, “Silence! What point is there in desperately shouting that we must fight to defend our families and the nation if we then turn around and just watch as our own people die?! Those people out there are Rozernans, our own flesh and blood!”
Drawing her sword, she commanded, “You will open these gates at once!”
The guards hurried to do as she demanded, and the moment they did people rushed inside. Euracia raced out in front of them on horseback, surprising everyone with the speed of her steed.
“Didn’t you hear Her Highness?! Let’s go, men!” Advisor Kaiten shouted, ignoring a glare from Berack.
Euracia’s flying off the handle? Well, I’m not going to stop her. I’m the one who told her to fight her own way. Yeah, this is her fight. It’d be wrong for me to stop her. I need this to play out as per the game’s history. It’s laying fundamental groundwork for my future strategy.
“Fihatori!”
So with the intention of following her, I called Count Fihatori, who was second-in-command of the reinforcements.
He’s one of Duke Ronan’s retainers, but I don’t really have any choice but to trust him. Regardless of whether he deserves that trust, if we botch the defense here, we’ll both either end up dead or return to Runan in failure. That means we’re in the same boat, at least. I can trust him more than I can trust Berack.
“I’m going to the princess’s side. Leave the reinforcements in the capital. Close the gates if the cavalry starts getting near them!”
The vast majority of soldiers in the capital were reinforcements. That meant we had control of the city. By extension, so long as the reinforcements stayed in the city, Berack wouldn’t be able to close the gates again without our say-so.
“Commander! You could be going to your death, walking alone into a trap like this! You mustn’t do it!” Fihatori tried to stop me, looking surprised.
This guy doesn’t know about my Martial score. All he knows is that I can pull off a good strategy.
I didn’t have time to explain that to him, however.
“That was an order, Fihatori!”
My domineering attitude made Fihatori give up and back down.
“Remember what I said! So long as the enemy doesn’t come within two hundred meters of the gates, they’re to stay open! Don’t let Berack do whatever he wants!”
“Understood. But if anything happens to you, the reinforcements will withdraw immediately.”
He was saying if I died, there was no point in them helping Rozern. Well, that was fair enough.
“Let’s go, Jint. It’s your time to shine.”
I had zero intention of dying, so I nodded to Jint, then hurried outside.
*
She was a hero—always standing at the vanguard, swinging her sword in defense of the country. But the situation was different now. While she was away requesting reinforcements from Runan, Rozern failed to hold the line and was pushed all the way back to the capital.
But what she was at her core hadn’t changed.
If she does well, she can still rally the troops!
Euracia rode her horse out in front of the Brijitian cavalry in order to buy time for her people to get inside the walls. The cavalry she saw now were, in fact, special among the forces of Brijit. Because Brijit had many iron mines, the cavalry came to be known as iron cavalry due to their steel armor.
Their charge attacks boasted overwhelming strength on the open plains!
Though they were defeated by Naruya in the game’s history, that was only because they were up against an even tougher opponent. Had they been used properly, they might have been able to play a larger role in the game.
And Euracia stood against these guys alone!
“The gates are open! Charge!”
Once he saw that almost none of the defenders had sallied forth to meet them despite the gates opening, Elante ordered the iron cavalry to get into formation for a charge attack.
“What a bunch of bores. They aren’t even trying to buy time. If this is how they are, then there’s no need to wait for the main force! I’ll be the one who takes this castle!”
At this, all of the Rozernan soldiers who’d unenthusiastically followed Euracia suddenly got cold feet. Their horses whinnied as they pulled back on the reins—not just stopping, but actually starting to retreat. Some of the soldiers even took advantage of having gotten outside the castle to flee outright. Those who weren’t running trembled with fear.
Even Kaiten, the advisor to the Rozernan Army, who had been keeping up with her, fell from his horse before he could really fight at all.
That meant that, ultimately, Euracia was on her own.
She didn’t say anything, though. She simply charged the iron cavalry, sword in hand. As she swung her blade, blue mana impaled the iron cavalrymen she rode past through their chests. Her attack hit ten men all at once, but the deep blue mana whirled like a hurricane, tearing through each man’s chest.
Rossade
A valuable sword handed down through the Rozernan royal family.
This sword unleashes the user’s mana like a skill. The higher their mana score, the larger the effect.
Martial +3
That was the nature of the sword she carried.
Using Rossade to unleash her mana, Euracia cut down the steel-clad cavalrymen one after another, each one splattering her with his own blood. Euracia went on slaying even as her entire body was stained crimson.
After losing around twenty men, the iron cavalry captain who’d underestimated her finally snapped to his senses and yelled, “What are you fools doing?! She’s only one woman!”
The iron cavalry charged Euracia all at once. She continued advancing, unconcerned, taking them down with mana. The farther she went, the more enemies there were—but still she kept on moving forward, leaving nothing but the broken bodies of the iron cavalry and their horses running wild without their masters in her wake.
“Attack her horse!” shouted the captain of the unit of iron cavalry charging at Euracia. At some point, they had managed to get both in front of and behind her.
With such a massive difference in numbers, it had always been just a matter of time before they surrounded her. And soon enough, an enemy soldier’s spear tore through her horse, which let out a sharp whine. Euracia cut down the spearman responsible, but fell from her horse in the process.
The princess rolled across the ground. Still, she rose again, albeit somewhat shakily, and took up a fighting stance against the iron cavalry with her sword.
There was a trail of blood running down her forehead, perhaps from a cut she took when she fell.
It didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest as she swung her blade at the iron cavalry, but the fact they had already encircled her was a problem.
The enemy fell by the dozens in front of her with each swing of Rossade, but her back was exposed to the enemies behind her. Those enemies attacked. Of course, thanks to her power of mana and overwhelmingly higher Martial score, she was able to avoid their attacks. Still, dodge all she might, the enemy continued to charge in ceaseless waves, and eventually, one of their swords met the flesh of her back.
Blood gushed, and her face twisted in pain. Regardless, she didn’t back down.
Thrusting Rossade into the ground, she removed the pendant from around her neck and closed her eyes. As she did, a massive mana circle appeared around the spot where the sword had been thrust.
The circle flashed white, and a giant explosion spread out around her.
Boom!
The blast triggered a chain of secondary explosions as white light swallowed up all of the iron cavalry. After the big explosion, she remained the only one standing—every single one of the cavalrymen who had been surrounding her had vanished.
A magical tool! That white mana circle’s the power of a tool. Valdesca was using one too, come to think of it.
However, as Euracia leaned on Rossade for support, her strength all but spent, the Brijitian infantry rushed towards her.
They were led by a large man with heavy footsteps. The man who carried a greatsword as long as he was tall laughed.
“Excellent. Just brilliant work. I never would’ve thought Rozern had a woman like you. Now it’s my turn to have a go at you!”
Elante Modidev
Age: 41
Martial: 91
Intelligence: 31
Command: 71
The man’s Martial score was incredibly high. True to his “Heavyblade” moniker, he swung the sword as tall as himself with ease as he attacked Euracia. She quickly pulled Rossade out of the ground and struck back, but not even the blue mana was a match for her opponent’s sword.
Then the swing of his greatsword produced a powerful mana pressure that blasted her backwards.
“Hey, what gives? I thought you were going to make this at least a little fun. Is that all you’ve got?”
Elante took up a fighting stance facing Euracia as he complained. Euracia, all cut up from rolling on the ground, rose to trembling feet.
Rossade’s a treasure that manifests mana as a skill.
Even a user who didn’t have A-class mana could unleash the blue mana, but only using their own accumulated mana. Once that was all expended, they couldn’t use its power anymore. That said, I’d already been expecting that she would get hurt. It was absolutely necessary that she continue to put up a good fight in order to raise the Rozernan soldiers’ Morale.
As such, I stayed put and watched as she bled.
I won’t let her die, though. I’ll only let her get injured at worst!
As I watched her fight, I prepared my skills should the need arise for me to step in and protect her.
Once it looked like she was reaching her limit, I shouted to the Rozernan soldiers, “Men of Rozern! Do you feel nothing as you watch her fight like that?!”
Now that they had all seen Euracia’s fighting spirit, it was time to pull the trigger. If they saw her in that battered state and didn’t do anything, then Rozern truly was beyond saving. I’d be better off packing up and heading back to Eintorian.
But then something changed!
“Damn it! I’m going too!”
“Me too!”
“Her Highness has always looked out for us. She’s the one who saved me when I was being tormented by the nobles!”
“Yeah! You know, I think I saw her looking after an old woman who collapsed as she was passing by once too. Damn it all! Screw these Brijitian scum!”
The Rozernan soldiers drew their swords one after another. Their once-lifeless eyes, bereft of the will to fight, began to take on new color.
“We’re gonna save Her Highness!”
The men of Rozern all raced to get to her first. The more who joined them, the greater their ardor grew. It was infectious.
As they all rushed to Euracia’s side, they cried things like, “We’ll save her even if it costs us our lives!” and threw themselves in front of the Heavyblade to protect her. They moved with such vigor that no one would ever believe they were the same men with the lifeless eyes who’d been unable to do anything.
Royal Rozernan Army
Manpower: 5,700 men
Morale: 90
Training: 20
In that moment, their pitiful 3 Morale leaped all the way up to 90. Thanks to that, dozens of Rozernan soldiers fended off Elante’s attack on Euracia. Of course, the boost in Morale did nothing about their Training. They could grit their teeth and fight, but they were up against the uppermost elites of the Brijitian Army.
That’s why fighting on the open plains without any strategy could only end in defeat. But if they could maintain this level of motivation, there were all sorts of tactics that became viable. We could carry out operations from the other side of the castle walls.
It would require Morale, but we had that now! The way Euracia risked herself had awakened the soldiers.
“Jint, you take care of the small fry!”
“Got it!”
Jint, who had headed out here with me, swept aside the enemies in front of us with a brilliant attack and led the way to the princess’s side.
“You’ve done enough. Let’s pull back for now!”
I helped her onto a horse before getting on myself. She didn’t look like she was in any condition to ride alone. Of course, Elante came after us, trying to prevent our escape.
But this time Jint deflected his sword.
“Wh-What?!”
Yeah. That’s right.
For as strong as they made Elante out to be, he was weaker than Jint. That’s why I didn’t need to use Daitoren against him. We could have saved Euracia any time we wanted to. The only reason I hadn’t was because I needed the men of Rozern to realize they had to fight for themselves.
This was a battle I’d prepared for her, and she’d fought it well.
So, now it’s my turn.
“Huh? Are we running away?” Jint asked, giving me a blank look.
I motioned for him to shut up and follow me, then turned to speak to Euracia.
“There’s no need to keep fighting here. While you were buying time, almost all of the prisoners made it inside the capital.”
I’ve already achieved the goal of raising Morale. So there’s no need to fight anymore.
“In that case, hold on for a moment!”
Euracia pulled something out from under her collar and hurled it towards the enemy. Instantly, there was a burst of white light. It was like some sort of flash grenade.
“Let’s all pull back to the capital for now!” Euracia called out to the soldiers who’d begun fighting. They wasted no time following her call to retreat. So apparently, she had a number of tools at her disposal.
This one let us put some distance between ourselves and the enemy, but obviously, they came after us again as soon as the bright light dissipated.
“Damn it! It’s too bright! After them, at once! Call in the iron cavalry who were at the rear! We’re pushing through the gates!”
I could even hear Elante’s voice from behind us, giving orders.
“Do you know who that guy is, by any chance?” I asked. “He seemed like a rough and tough kinda guy.”
I knew his name and abilities from the system, but nothing more than that. Euracia was quickly able to answer my question.
“That’s Elante the Heavyblade, one of the Three Swordsmen of Brijit.”
“The Three Swordsmen? You’re telling me they’ve got three guys like that? Is he the strongest of them?”
By the time the game’s protagonist raised his country and started to fight, Brijit had already been destroyed by Naruya. So all I knew about them was that their tyrannical king led his forces into battle and died.
“No. The rumors say another of their number, the Swiftblade, is the strongest...”
This is the reality that a country like Rozern faces without a single commander with a Martial over 90. Elante’s strong, sure, but he’s not a top-class character by any stretch of the imagination. It’d be easy to kill him, but we’ll pull back for now. The Brijitian king probably only sent him here to lower our morale using the prisoners. It’s clear Elante’s overconfident, though. He must think he can take Rozern on his own. What Brijit doesn’t know, and neither does Rozern, is that there’s a commander here in the capital who’s stronger than him.
“More importantly, though, is this going to be all right?” Euracia asked as she looked behind us, her arms wrapped tightly around my waist. “I can see that we’ve put some distance between us and the enemy, but they might be able to break through the gates at this rate...”
Although she had slain a thousand iron cavalrymen, there were still nineteen thousand soldiers menacing the capital. It was only natural she’d be concerned.
“For now, we’ve gotta get to the gates!”
I rode between the capital’s gates with her riding behind me.
*
“That strategist, Eintorian, is a disgrace! Look at him run after all his bluster and confidence! Bwa ha ha ha ha! Serves him right!” Berack laughed out loud from on top of the walls.
Fihatori, on the other hand, felt Erhin had made the right call. There was no reason to fight a battle he knew he would lose. If the enemy could use mana, that meant he was an A-class commander. In Fihatori’s estimation, that meant the princess and the commander-in-chief stood no chance of beating him.
“Have our archers take aim to delay the enemy’s pursuit!”
He’s still our commander. I can’t let him go dying on me right now.
Fihatori ordered the archers to protect them. Beside him, tittering madly with a malicious grin, Berack murmured, “That’s right. Rozern deserves to fall.”
*
As soon as we were through the gates, I helped Euracia down from the horse. She was limping a little, but managed to walk somehow, possibly because she still had a little mana left.
“Shut the gates as soon as all our soldiers are inside!” Fihatori gave commands from atop the walls while providing support with his bow.
The problem, however, was the iron cavalry.
Rumble!
It was all infantry that showed up with Elante, but there were two units of iron cavalry in his twenty thousand-man force. Euracia had wiped out one unit of a thousand soldiers, but the other unit charged forward at an incredible speed. The enemy infantry weren’t fast enough to be a concern.
That’s why the cavalry were our major issue—they were faster than our own infantry forces. We had no mounted troops.
“Fihatori!” I shouted at my second-in-command. “That’s enough support. Give Jint two thousand archers and three thousand cavalry right away. Jint, you lead them and head out the west gate, not the south. We’ll close the west gate right behind you. Follow the plan I told you earlier. Also, Fihatori! You lead the remaining twenty-five thousand reinforcements and follow me. We’re going to the central plaza!”
After giving Fihatori and Jint their orders, I turned to Euracia and asked, “The iron cavalry aren’t afraid of arrows. Judging by the speed they’re going, they’ll breach the gates before the Rozernan infantry can get through. If they’re able to hold the gates and buy time, we can expect a massive enemy force to enter the capital. Now, the question is: Would you leave the gates open?”
“Well...!” Euracia trailed off, unable to instantly answer the question. But she quickly shook her head. “Those men risked their lives to save me from Elante! If I were to abandon them now because they didn’t make it in time, it would be impossible to move them to act like that again. Like you’ve already said, the morale of Rozern is on the line in this fight!”
That was the right answer. This was all about morale.
“I’m well enough to fight,” Euracia continued. “I will face the iron cavalry in front of the gates, and I’ll hold them off, even if it costs me my life!”
“Looking at this from a cold, rational perspective, you’re in no state to take on a thousand iron cavalrymen. Do you have another tool or something?”
Naturally, it took time for mana to recover. In her current condition, Euracia would only be able to muster as much strength as a common soldier. Her wounds must have ached whenever she moved, still bleeding as she was.
“No, not right now.” Euracia shook her head, biting her lip. “But I cannot abandon the men outside! If your strategy is to cast them away, then... I won’t be following it!”
“That’s the way. This is why they call you a hero. You’re deserving of that respect.”
“Huh? What are you talking about, so suddenly...?”
“If you fight your way, it should help see my plan to fruition. You’ve done that so far, so now it’s my turn to step up. Of course, I won’t be having them close the gates, for all the reasons you’ve laid out. If you trust me, then lead the defenders to the central plaza!”
Having said that, I turned my back on her.
In all honesty, if I were to make a cold, rational decision, it would be better to shut the gates immediately and give up on the men who are still out there. But right now, the most important thing is morale.
If I were to abandon the men who didn’t make it in time, there’d be no chance of morale improving any further.
The princess’s feelings—her will to fight alone outside the gates—made a major impact on the Rozernan soldiers. We could have killed Elante out there several times over. But if we had, we would have killed him and him alone. Even if the loss of their commander threw them into confusion, those are well-trained soldiers. If we’d launched a pursuit, it’s quite likely that they’d have turned the tables on us. Fighting a battle of cat-and-mouse on the open field would put our forces, which have the lower Training score, at a disadvantage.
It’d also mean leaving the castle unattended. That’d make it the worst possible option if it turns out there’s another unit around. If we can’t wipe them out by chasing after them, that means we need to try and do it another way.
I felt the intensity of Euracia’s eyes on my back, but said no more to her and moved to the central plaza.
*
I don’t know if she decided to trust me or just had no other option, but Euracia gathered the Rozernan soldiers in the central plaza. The iron cavalry, which had taken the southern gates, must have been waiting for Elante or something, because they hadn’t shown up yet.
As soon as he caught up to them, their arrival was imminent, though.
Yes. This is good.
“Why in the world are we doing this in the central plaza? If we let the enemy come in this far, they’ll occupy the capital!”
I shook my head and disagreed with the princess.
“It’s the only way we can decrease their numbers. Even if we held the southern gates, the enemy would retreat temporarily once they were closed. We’d just be letting twenty thousand men go at that point, right?”
“Isn’t stopping the enemy the best thing we can do?” Euracia’s voice rose, a look of incredulity on her face.
“In strategy, the best thing to do isn’t always so obvious. So watch. It’s time for me to do my thing.”
“What are you talking about...? H-Hey, you!”
It looked like I hadn’t dispelled Euracia’s doubts in the slightest. I got the feeling that was the case for Fihatori and the reinforcements too. They all thought I was crazy, leaving the gates open to lure the enemy deep inside the capital.
While all of this was going on, the iron cavalry showed up in the central plaza with Elante leading the way. He must not have been able to use that big sword of his while mounted, because he had a separate horse carrying it.
Elante chortled down at us. “Are you a pack of fools? Bwa ha ha!” he bellowed as he dismounted his horse. “I thought you’d defend the gates, but you opened the way to the plaza instead!” Three iron cavalrymen carried Elante’s sword to him, every one of them heaving for breath. Elante took the sword in two hands and fell into a fighting stance as he turned to face us.
More and more soldiers pressed in from behind him. I checked with the system, finding that their number totaled ten thousand strong. They crowded in as if trying to surround the central plaza. With the exception of the iron cavalry, they were all infantry. The remaining ten thousand were probably still making their way through the gates.
I faced off with Elante by myself.
“Hey, you, stop!” Euracia called after me, but I ignored her.
It wasn’t just her. Fihatori, and the members of the reinforcements who had been up on the walls and witnessed Elante’s mana looked on with shock too. They were all totally scared of a commander with a mere 91 Martial.
I needed to show the Royal Rozernan Army reality. The fact was, there was no need to fear a Martial score like that.
Now it’s my turn.
“All right, I’ll start with those iron cavalry.”
As I said that...
Will you use Earthquake?
I unleashed a skill in their direction.
Rumble!
The ground instantly shook, forming countless rifts on the surface. Like a riverbed during a drought! Red light seeped out from the cracks, crimson as molten magma.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Soon they were wreathed in a roaring red hellfire.
“Hmph! That’s nothing!” Elante snorted, thrusting his sword into the ground like I had. Yellow light manifested in front of him.
A defensive skill! He has a Martial of 91. Even if his defensive skill momentarily boosts it to 94, that’s not going to make a difference. I’ve got 300 points in reserve. I can use my skills up to three times in total.
That meant I had two uses left.
I used Earthquake again with the surviving iron cavalry and Elante in range.
*
Boom!
Unless they had a special treasure like Rossade, only those with A-class or higher Martial scores could unleash their accumulated mana through their weapons. Erhin’s skill caused further cracks, followed by a fiery explosion. That one strike collapsed the iron cavalry’s formation.
Formations were the most important thing in battle. When a group broke formation, that created all sorts of openings to attack them with.
“H-He just...!” Euracia stammered, blinking in surprise.
She’d heard he was a mad genius when it came to military strategy, but never that he was also an A-class wielder of mana. She’d never have dreamed it possible. All she’d known was that his brilliant tactics let him retake Lynon.
“Never would’ve guessed the commander could do that...”
It was the same for Fihatori. Actually, everyone was shocked.
“He can’t possibly do this alone!” Euracia cried, grasping Rossade.
But maybe together, we can, she thought.
And yet, at that very moment, Erhin activated the same skill again, setting off another explosion of flames. Elante smirked as he too slammed his sword into the ground once more.
“Elante the Heavyblade, was it? Do you know the difference between confidence and conceit? The man who knows his enemy and knows himself is confident. The man who knows not his enemy, yet smirks, is merely conceited.”
Having said this, Erhin threw aside the sword he’d been holding. He then spread his hands, summoning a new sword that appeared with a flash of white light. Erhin immediately cast the summoned sword—Daitoren—towards Elante. As the effects of Earthquake faded, Elante pulled the Heavyblade from the ground, his brow furrowing.
“Now you’re just fooling around... Cease your worthless prattle!”
But Erhin’s sword was fast. Elante tried to defend with his greatsword, but his Martial score was only 91 to begin with, and a skill that let him momentarily raise it to 94 was no match for Erhin’s Crush. The enemy’s arrogance and incaution had gifted Erhin a victory.
Daitoren smashed through the greatsword like it was made of glass, then impaled Elante through the chest without losing any momentum.
“Gwagh!”
His heart pierced, Elante’s massive body...
Thud!
...fell to the ground as he let out a dying scream.
It only took an instant.
Euracia and the Rozernan soldiers, Fihatori and the Runanese reinforcements, and even the eagerly advancing Brijitians—all of their jaws dropped in awe.
That’s just how famous Elante was in Brijit.
Erhin walked over as if he hadn’t done anything special and pulled Daitoren out of the ground where it was now embedded. “Your captain’s dead,” he said matter-of-factly. “If you want to keep on fighting anyways, then bring it. I’ll take you on!”
With this declaration, Erhin sprang into the middle of the enemy. The thousand iron cavalrymen had been reduced to less than two hundred by his Earthquake. Once Erhin started firing off Martial 94 Attack commands at random with Daitoren, that number rapidly fell even further.
“What are you doing, Fihatori?! Now’s the time! The enemy is in disarray!”
Fihatori had been looking on in stunned silence, but Erhin’s shout snapped him back to his senses and he gave orders:
“B-B-Begin the attack at once. The enemy is in disarray. We have the advantage. Everyone, charge!”
“Yeaaargh!!!”
The Runanese reinforcements, emboldened by Erhin’s display of martial prowess, cheered as they rushed towards the enemy.
“Ah! We should go too. This is our capital. We can’t let the reinforcements do all the work!”
Despite her exhaustion, Euracia joined the fight on trembling legs. The roughly ten thousand soldiers who had breached the capital were so thrown into disarray that they began to panic.
“Retreat. Damn it! The captain’s dead. We’ve got to retreat!” a Brijitian commander shouted as he remembered that basic strategy called for a retreat in this kind of chaotic situation. However, that retreat spread word of Elante’s demise to the men in the rear, and the Royal Brijitian Army fell into even worse disorder.
*
As Erhin was fighting Elante, Jint was leading a unit of archers and cavalrymen out the western gates and around to the southern ones.
He asked Fihatori’s subordinate, Yorlen, who had joined him, “What’s a crane wing formation, exactly?”
“That’s what it’s called when we deploy in a semicircular formation, like a pair of wings, facing the southern gates.”
All Yorlen knew about Jint was that he was Erhin’s retainer, and was allowed to speak to him on familiar terms, so Yorlen ended up answering him more respectfully than he might have otherwise.
“That sounds too tough for me to understand. Anyway, just deploy in that formation!”
“It’s not all that complicated. This is one of the simpler formations,” Count Yorlen replied, before giving his men the orders.
“Good. Shower any enemies who leave the walls with arrows!”
“But will they be in any hurry to come outside when they look like they have the momentum to take the capital?” Yorlen asked.
Jint thought for a moment before replying, “How should I know? I just do what I’m told.”
Even if I’m ordered to die, he added to himself mentally as he gripped his sword.
Sometime later, the Royal Brijitian Army did, in fact, begin barreling out from within the city gates, surprisingly enough.
This was what Erhin had sent all the reinforcements’ archers here for.
“The enemy really is coming out!” Yorlen shouted with a look of disbelief.
“Better shoot them, then, huh?”
On Jint’s signal, they started to rain arrows on the Brijitian soldiers who fled through the gates.
“Urgh! Don’t push! There’s arrows!”
Even though they saw the arrows, turning back wasn’t an option for the Royal Brijitian Army. They would have been better off fighting inside the walls, but their commanding officers had all given the order to retreat at the same time in the chaos after the captain fell, and that had resulted in the worst outcome possible.
They rushed out of the capital in retreat, leaving them with no other recourse than to be met with a great hail of arrows once they were outside.
That was the hell they now faced.
“Once you finish firing, hold formation. Then head towards the enemy and strike. Don’t let a single man escape!” Jint said as he stood at the vanguard, drawing his sword.
*
The capital was awash in blood.
We didn’t have a choice. If we’d let those twenty thousand Brijitian soldiers go home, this war would have dragged on indefinitely. I needed to take advantage of this opportunity to ensure that didn’t happen.
Our troops had insufficient training, but against an enemy that had fallen into a disorderly mess and had their route of escape cut off, we would obviously still have the advantage. We were able to use the castle walls to cut off their escape from the enemy’s central plaza. But if I’d killed Elante outside the walls, they’d have been able to flee across the open fields.
It made a huge difference. Also, the most important thing in this battle was Rozernan morale. Maintaining that high score of 90 was the key.
The princess had fought on desperately by herself as the soldiers watched, and so long as she survived, their Morale would be preserved. Letting Euracia fight alone was a strategy I’d pursued, despite hating to do it to her, in order to improve morale. If we were able to eliminate the enemy because of it, then her sacrifice paid off.
Once we were victorious, I shouted to the soldiers of Runan, “This is another nation’s war, yes. But if Rozern loses, the south of Runan will be the next battlefield. What is Southern Runan? That’s right. It’s where your families live. So long as we win here, the battlefield won’t spread to Runan. That makes this your war too. Follow me. If you just do as I command, we can achieve great things with minimal casualties! And when the day comes that we win this battle and advance on Brijit, I am certain His Majesty will reward you all generously. You’ll all be paid so well that you and your families will be able to go on living safely and comfortably!”
This was something the men who’d come to fight a foreign war needed.
A motive.
That’s why now that I’d shown them my power, and had a great victory in hand, it was the perfect chance to raise their morale.
“Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The reinforcements cheered when they heard me.
Morale is now 80.
Their Morale score shot up unbelievably fast.
Brijit likely had stronger commanders still. Some of them might have skills that could neutralize Crush, and if more than two of them were A-class commanders, then Crush would never be enough to let me win on its own.
This is where the real battle begins.
Fortunately, Euracia’s hard-fought battle had raised morale, so my preparations were now complete.
*
“I saw your work. It was wonderful. Truly wonderful. You’re amazing!”
The young king was so full of glee, you would have thought the Brijitians had been driven off completely. But the war wasn’t over yet. We did hold the advantage now, true, but it wasn’t time to celebrate.
“Your Majesty, the true battle is only just beginning. Please, save your praise for after we’ve defeated the Brijitians.”
The king nodded in agreement.
“R-Right you are! Okay! Let me see to it that you are amply rewarded when the time comes!”
The look in the king and the nobles’ eyes had changed with this battle. The princess’s had too. Euracia, wrapped in bandages, gave an intense nod of agreement. Fortunately, her wounds were not deep. They were just scratches, nothing serious like a broken bone. She was back to work the next day after a good night’s sleep.
“Thank you, sire. I’d like to ask something of you to help with our victory now.”
“Of course!” the king shouted, and his nobles nodded in agreement.
I politely took my leave, having taken stock of how everyone’s opinions of me had changed, then left the chamber with the princess.
We headed to the barracks for a war council. As we walked through the palace, shoulder to shoulder, Euracia suddenly stepped out in front of me to block my way.
“Why did you hide it from me?! I never knew you were so strong! Do you have any idea how famous the Three Swordsmen of Brijit are?!”
“I never really tried to keep it a secret. It would be more accurate to say I’ve just never had the opportunity to show off that side of myself before.”
“Maybe so, but... Um! Could I trouble you to spar with me? I never had the chance to cross blades with you when I infiltrated the castle in Eintorian.”
She clenched her fists with great determination.
“You want to get stronger, I take it?” I asked.
“Yes. Because becoming mighty is righteous!”
I’d understand if she were to say that might makes right, but she thinks getting stronger is righteous in and of itself, huh?
“So, what you’re saying is that training is righteous?”
“Yes. If I remain as weak as I am now, I cannot defend anything.”
“I see... Well, whatever. My subordinate, Jint, is stronger than I am, by the way.”
“Whaaaa?! He is?!” Euracia suddenly got a grim look on her face as she gripped Rossade.
That’s one more person for her to fight, I guess.
“So, you don’t doubt my strategy anymore? I haven’t forgotten the look you gave me when I said we should gather in the central plaza...” I changed the topic, as there were more important things to address than her training right now.
Euracia had no response for that. Maybe she felt called out? After some time, I tried asking a slightly different question.
“I told you, didn’t I? The plan was for me to fight my own battle. I trusted in your ability to raise the men’s morale. That means even you were incorporated as a part of my strategy. It’s why I couldn’t tell you in advance. If you knew what I was up to, and were just acting, there was a chance that the Rozernan soldiers wouldn’t react to your desperate struggle.”
If she had known someone stronger than Elante was waiting in the wings to save her, she might not have fought so hard. I don’t think I’d have been able to draw out that image of her as the hero of Rozern.
“Do you believe that I used you?”
It was certainly one way of interpreting things. That’s why I asked, but Euracia firmly denied it.
“No. I don’t mind being used if it’s to defend the country.”
“Yeah, I figured you’d say that.”
“But to think you’d use such a roundabout plan to wipe out the enemy... It’s true, I was a little doubtful. You wouldn’t tell me your strategy, and you just watched as I was fighting all on my own...”
“Hold on. If things had taken a turn for the worse, I planned to help you no matter what, strategy be damned. I wasn’t about to let you die there. Please, trust me on that.”
“If that’s the case...” Euracia suddenly bowed her head to me. “I’m sorry!”
“Huh?”
“From now on, I’ll trust you with all my heart! No matter what you say!” she declared with determination.
She looked so serious I couldn’t help but poke some fun at her.
“And if I say the sun will rise from the west?”
There was a moment’s hesitation. “Then the sun will rise from the west.”
“Seriously?”
Euracia nodded. “Because you say it will.”
“For the love of... Listen, it’s great you trust me and all...but your failure to trust me before now is still a great sin. I can’t forgive it so easily.”
When I said that to the woman who’d even nodded at my nonsense about the sun rising in the west, she gave me a troubled look.
“Th-Then what would you have me do?!”
“Well, it’s simple. I’ve seen a lot of your angry and cold expressions before now, but I haven’t seen you smile once. So, could you smile for me? I don’t care if you have to fake it.”
Ever since I met her at Eintorian Castle, I’d been smitten by her beautiful face, yet there was one thing I found incredibly disappointing about it.
She never let me see her smile. That hadn’t changed since we returned to her country. It only made me want to see it more.
“Well, you see...” Euracia furrowed her brow. “I can’t remember ever smiling before...”
“Not even once?”
“Not that I can recall.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve been shouldering the expectations of my people for as far back as I can remember... My father taught me to live for the nation. ‘You unite and inspire the people, so you must never show weakness,’ he told me. It was a favorite saying of his, and I’ve lived by it. As a guardian of the nation, showing only my strength...”
Well, I kind of saw this coming, because that’s exactly what she was like as the hero of Rozern in the game’s history.
“Listen, just turn up the corners of your mouth like this and smile.”
In the end, I put my hands on her mouth. Then pulled.
“Oooooooowww!”
She raised both her arms and screamed while stamping her feet. I was worried she was going to kick me, so I withdrew my hands. If she booted me with all her strength, I’d go flying.
I’d better call it quits before she humiliates me.
“Oh, fine. I’ll give up for now. Let’s talk about that sword and the tools you used in battle...”
“This, you mean?” Euracia asked, holding Rossade.
“Could I take a look at it?”
She nodded and then handed me the sword, scabbard and all.
It was a beautiful sword, as one would expect. But it seemed it only bestowed a +3 to Martial in my hands. That was probably because it was a treasure that let a B-class mana wielder unleash their mana as if they were using a mana skill. But as I had no accumulated mana, I could only receive that enchantment as a bonus.
“Oh, and I have other tools as well. I used up the ones I brought with me, but there are still more in the palace’s treasury.”
“Oh, I’m intrigued.”
“I could show you around it, if you like. You could even pick out a few tools there if they’d be of use to you.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yes. In order to win this war, we’d part with them gladly,” the princess said then immediately turned her back to me. “Come, it’s right this way!”
She headed underground right away. The treasury was apparently in the palace basement. I followed her to a massive door. There was no one there to guard it. When Euracia held her hand up to the door, it reacted to the ring she was wearing. The door opened on its own, shining with white light.
This feels like the facility in the basement of Eintorian Castle.
There seemed to be a mana circle involved here too.
This facility was likely built in ancient times. Considering that white light is also associated with sacred power, could that mean the ancient facilities left on this continent have some connection to the game’s management team? Are the treasures like tools of the gods or something?
Rossade’s an item-class treasure. The white light denotes something more special, associated with bonuses or perhaps something even greater. Like Daitoren. Could there still be more bonuses to hunt down?
That’s what I thought when I saw treasures or tools associated with white light, but I had no leads to go on. For now, I just followed Euracia into the room.
“So this is your royal treasury...”
There was an incredible number of jeweled chests containing untold riches, along with expensive-looking arms and equipment on display. Of course, just because this was a treasury that didn’t mean all the treasures here were recognized as special items by the game. Nonetheless, I had a feeling there would be several that it did.
Incidentally, the game’s items were broadly divided into two categories: treasures, which could be used over and over—and tools, which vanished after just one use. Case in point, the tool that she’d used yesterday—the one which emitted white light—had immediately crumbled to dust.
“The tool I used was one of these pendants. There’s only a couple left, though,” she said as she put one on. “If there’s anything you think you’ll need, whether it’s one of the weapons you see over there or something else, just say so. Would you like to use one of these pendant-shaped tools yourself?”
Euracia pointed at the last remaining pendant.
“Hmm, I think you should use it to protect yourself. I’ll let you know if I need any of the weapons.”
“Sure. Take as many as you need!”
I began searching the treasury in earnest to see if any of the treasures here were item-class. As I did, I found something unusual in one of the chests. The system recognized it as an item.
Rinkitsu
A treasure with the luck of the moon.
Raises the user’s Charisma.
It looked like an ordinary bracelet, but there were some intricate designs on the inside of it. This clearly wasn’t just any old item. I tried it on, but there was no point. The only info I could see about myself was my Martial score, after all.
“Have you taken a fancy to that bracelet?” Euracia asked with an odd look on her face. It was meant for a woman to wear.
“Yeah. I have.”
“Oh, really?”
I smiled and approached, then gently took her by the wrist.
“I think this might be a treasure with ancient mana residing in it. I have the ability to appraise such things. It shouldn’t be left lying in the treasury like this.”
“Huh? This thing?”
“You’re going to believe me if I say the sun will rise in the west, right? Well, there’s not much point in me wearing this. Its ability would be much more effective on you. The mana which resides in this treasure heightens your charisma.”
With that, I put it on her wrist.
“Huh? Is that a fact?”
Euracia Rozern’s Charisma score has increased.
Euracia Rozern’s Command is now +2
Yeah, Euracia’s Charisma score heavily influences her Command. The higher it is, the more willing people will be to follow her. So this is the perfect item for Euracia.
Just as I’d predicted, increasing her Charisma also gave her Command score an impressive +2.
She already had a high Command score due to her ability to influence soldiers with her Charisma, and now her Command’s even higher!
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
“It really suits you. The golden color is a perfect match for your hair... It’s almost like it was made specifically for you.”
“You think so?” Euracia stared at the bracelet.
Well, she didn’t seem to have any intention of taking it off, at least. Having her Command go up was a good thing. I left her to herself and took another look around the treasury.
Yeah, I figured as much. Even though this is a treasure vault, hardly any of the things here are item-class.
After taking one look around, all I’d managed to discover was the bracelet I’d put on Euracia’s wrist. That, and a single sword. It was an odd one, brown in color and lacking any patterns on it. It didn’t look like it was made of iron based on the color, but when I hit it on something there was no mistaking that it was.
Nameless Sword
A sword crafted in ancient times.
Martial +2
It might not have had a special effect like Rossade, but it still provided a +2 to Martial.
It’s still a valuable treasure. Ordinary weapons don’t have this kind of effect.
Of course, when I saw the +2 to Martial, Jint was the first person who came to mind.
“Euracia, what’s this sword?”
“Oh, that one? It’s an odd color, isn’t it? Father told me it’s very old. Rossade has been passed down through the Rozern family for generations, but that sword is one of the treasures we received as part of our share after the Twelve Continental Families destroyed the ancient Eintorian Kingdom.”
The Twelve Continental Families.
That was what they called the twelve houses that destroyed the ancient Eintorian Kingdom, and the leaders of each became kings of the twelve countries they carved out of it.
“It must be pretty valuable, then, huh?”
“No. We’ve only held onto it because it came from the time of the ancient kingdom. If you need it, it’s yours!” Euracia said without hesitation. “Oh, hold on! Could it be there’s some secret about that sword? You mentioned you have an ability to appraise such things! It just looks like an ordinary sword to me, though...”
She brought her shoulder next to mine as she gazed at the sword, mystified by it. Standing this close to her, her pleasant fragrance stirred my senses.
“I don’t know if it has any secrets, but it’s not just any old sword. Jint doesn’t have a proper weapon, so could I let him use it in battle?”
“Please do!”
As she took the Nameless Sword in hand and looked it over, I noticed the ring on her finger.
“What’s that ring, by the way?”
Sacred Ring
An ancient treasure.
That was all the explanation the system gave me. It showed no additional effects, so I had to ask. It seemed that all the rings, pendants, and accessories she wore were tools.
Well, no, the ring’s not a tool—it’s a treasure, I guess. Since she’s able to use it more than once.
“This? It’s the key to the treasury.”
“It only works as a key?”
I have one too. The key to the treasure storage facility under Eintorian Castle.
“To the best of my knowledge, yes. I suppose it also makes for a pretty ring?”
“I see.”
Now that I think about it, these facilities... One’s in Eintorian Castle, while the other is in Rozern’s palace. What if they were built underground by the ancient kingdom and the kingdoms founded by the Twelve Families?
I sensed these facilities might have some connection to the game’s bonuses and special items.
Wouldn’t it be worth checking other palaces to see if they have anything similar in them?
“I don’t suppose the King of Brijit uses a treasure too?” I asked.
“I wonder. I’ve never heard that he does. None of the treasures that the Twelve Families divided amongst themselves after destroying the ancient kingdom, like that brown sword, seem all that impressive.”
They wouldn’t have divided them among themselves if there really was nothing to them whatsoever. It might not be much to look at, but it must hold some secret. Were they just unable to pass that knowledge down to future generations? Well, it’s something I should definitely look into once we’ve occupied the Brijitian capital.
“Anyway, I’ve seen enough of the treasury. Let’s move to the barracks. I’ll explain my strategy for crushing Brijit.”
It’s a strategy that’ll let us take the enemy’s capital once the Brijitian king falls.
I’ve already got it all planned out in my head.
Now, let the counterattack begin.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Chapter 3: Birth of a Battle Fiend
Experience List
B-class Strategy x2
Victory over A-class opponent as D-class x4
You are now level 21.
Defeating Elante made me gain two levels, bringing me from 19 to 21. That gave me 300 points for going from 19 to 20, and then another 300 for going from 20 to 21. Combined with the existing 100 points, I had 700 points in total. The higher your level, the more experience it took to level up. The reason my level had only gone up by two despite receiving x4 experience was that I’d reached level 20.
Well, the important thing is that it still went up.
I had 700 points, so the first order of business was to raise Martial.
Your Martial is now 65.
That left 400 points. I opened the skill purchase screen as I debated how to spend them. I’d already used some flashy skills to raise Morale in this most recent battle, so I wanted defensive skills over attack skills at the moment for practical reasons.
There seem to be a lot of high-Martial commanders. I’ll need defensive skills so I can run for my life if a plan goes awry.
The issue was that I couldn’t buy skills however I pleased. Each time I purchased one, the system generated a new available skill at random. In the case of attack skills, I could at least designate whether I wanted one that was single-target or area of effect, but defensive skills didn’t even offer that level of choice.
Still, all the skills that could be generated had equal power, so the key thing was ease of use. Also, by using a skill multiple times, a skill’s proficiency (which is basically its level), would increase and it would get stronger.
Anyway, there was no question that what I needed right now was a defensive skill, so I paid the 200 points to buy one.
You gained 30-Second Invincibility.
The skill I got was kind of iffy.
As the name suggested, it could deflect all attacks for a duration of thirty seconds. Also, it wasn’t just self-targeted—I could use it on someone nearby to make them invincible too. It was a skill with some useful applications, sure, but... Honestly, the duration felt too short.
I wish it was longer.
*
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Bautore said with a sharp glare, demanding that things be explained to him again.
“I’ve checked repeatedly, and it seems to be the truth!” the thousandman replied, trembling beneath his gaze.
“Elante got twenty thousand men wiped out and died himself? Ridiculous!”
Bautore kicked the thousandman so hard that he went flying. As soon as the man stopped rolling across the ground, he got on his knees again. Then, because he couldn’t change the facts, he just bowed his head over and over.
“I know I forbade him from fighting a siege battle. How in the world did he manage to lose twenty thousand men?!”
“Even I’m not sure of that, sire...”
Bautore swung his drawn sword. Then, after ordering the execution of every last citizen of the Ronaf Domain, which they had just captured, he returned to the castle and began murdering the maids to blow off steam.
“S-Spare me!”
“Eeeeeek!”
Screams echoed throughout the castle for some time. When the massacre was finished, Bautore grumbled, “Damn it, Elante...”
Elante had been his most loyal man, and one of the Three Swordsmen who were expected to do great things in the wars to come. He shouldn’t have died so easily.
Curse them for killing my precious servant.
“Is Elante truly dead?”
As Bautore trembled with rage, Isenbahan, who had been working to ascertain the facts of the situation, rushed forward and bowed down.
“It seems to be true, Your Majesty...”
“I want details... Tell me, exactly how did he die?!”
“W-We still don’t have a good grasp of that. But we’ll get to the bottom of it, whatever it takes!”
Bautore shook his head at Isenbahan.
“No, you’ve done enough. That won’t be necessary. We advance on the capital at once. I’ll kill them. Kill them all. I’ll wipe out the Rozernan royal family, and send them to comfort Elante’s soul!” he shouted with bloodshot eyes.
*
The first thing I did after stopping the Brijitian Army’s advance party’s incursion into the capital was to destroy all manner of provisions in the surrounding area.
A massive city like the capital was surrounded by vast farmlands. While, fortunately, it wasn’t the harvest season for wheat or rice, the same couldn’t be said for other crops. As such, I deployed thirty thousand men to harvest everything in the immediate vicinity and burn the rest. If we left the fields as they were, we risked them becoming food for our enemies, so there was no other choice.
Soon after that was done, I received word from my scouts that the Brijitians were coming from Ronaf.
This was good news, as far as I was concerned. If the enemy acted hastily out of anger, that only served to give my side the advantage. I had been praying that Elante’s death and the extermination of twenty thousand soldiers would cause their king to do something rash.
Those prayers had now been answered. The enemy forces hastily assembled themselves in formation outside the walls.
Royal Brijitian Army
Manpower: 35,500 men
Morale: 90
Training: 80
Being a well-trained force, even this sort of rapid advance hadn’t disrupted their battle lines. The first to arrive were the enemy’s iron cavalry. That said, cavalry were of no use whatsoever in a siege battle. Not until the gates were open, at least. The iron cavalry wouldn’t be doing anything until then.
Once they were fully deployed, the Royal Brijitian Army immediately began to assault the walls.
This was also good news.
I had been hoping they’d perform a forced march all the way here from Ronaf in order to seek revenge. This rapid advance was a blunder for them. Their supply train couldn’t hope to keep up. That meant they’d had to leave their provisions at Ronaf and come with only their offensive units. The infantry would have run here carrying only enough food for their immediate needs. They likely planned to receive resupply from Ronaf if this turned into a protracted battle.
That was a grave miscalculation.
*
“That is the Rozernan capital, Your Majesty.”
Bautore ground his teeth as he looked at the walls, still seething and wroth.
“However, I believe we should refrain from charging in until such time as we’ve ascertained just how the enemy were able to kill Elante.”
Advisor Isenbahan tried to convince Bautore to be cautious and not get ahead of himself. However, one of the Three Swordsmen, Ganeif the Swiftblade, glared at him and answered on his lord’s behalf.
“You insolent cur! We’ll know that well enough once we fight them!”
Bautore nodded in agreement with this outburst from Ganeif.
“He’s right. Don’t make me repeat myself, Isenbahan.”
“I’m terribly sorry, sire...!” Isenbahan hurriedly bowed in the face of Bautore’s glare.
“But we can’t afford to let our guards down. I plan to deploy Ganeif. Men, we’re going to take the Rozernan capital! Make them all bleed!”
At their king’s command, the Brijitian infantry all charged at once.
*
I met the enemy force on the castle walls.
The Royal Rozernan Army had a Morale of 92. Rinkitsu, which we had found in the treasury, raised Euracia’s Command score to 97, and that in turn had provided another +2 modifier to Morale.
Euracia led from the front again this time.
“Loose your arrows! Shower them with every bolt you have! And don’t forget the rocks too!”
In accordance with Euracia’s orders, the commanding officers all shouted her commands, and the men began firing in unison. The Runanese reinforcements did likewise. The situation was overwhelmingly in our favor.
In all honesty, the Rozernan and Runanese armies’ Training scores were pretty low, but the fact this was a siege battle was more than enough to make up for those low scores. With the walls as our shield, together with our high Morale, we had a reasonable chance of winning this.
If you grouped the Rozernan and Runanese armies together as the United Army, then at the start of the battle it looked like this:
United Army: 29,443 men
Royal Brijitian Army: 35,500 men
Our forces held the home advantage, and the enemy didn’t have the numbers necessary to overwhelm us! We greeted our foes with a hail of arrows. The screams of charging Brijitian footmen spread far and wide across the land.
Their vanguard fell beneath the rain of arrows.
United Army: 29,443 men
Royal Brijitian Army: 34,230 men
That attack had reduced the Brijitians’ numbers by eight hundred men. The enemy used their sacrifice to put ladders up against the walls. The United Army kept shooting and rained rocks down on the men attempting to climb the ladders.
United Army: 29,300 men
Royal Brijitian Army: 32,110 men
By the time the United Army ran out of arrows, the Brijitian Army’s numbers had fallen even further. However, with the archers unable to provide support, the number of enemy soldiers climbing the ladders went up.
The United Army fought desperately, throwing rocks and striking with spears and swords to keep the enemy from taking the walls.
The battle raged for over two hours.
Euracia, Jint, and I mercilessly slew enemies climbing the ladders. Obviously, the Royal Brijitian Army were taking nothing but losses. The situation was clear to see from up on the walls.
Underneath a Brijitian royal banner flapping in the wind stood the Brijitian king in his shining armor.
If I can see him, I can learn his stats!
He was too far away for me to use Crush against—if I tried, I’d just get a message telling me the skill couldn’t be used. Checking his ability scores from here was no issue, however.
Bautore Brijit
Age: 54
Martial: 93
Intelligence: 69
Command: 98
He’s got a Command score of 98 from his high charisma and absolute state authority. He’s the opposite of Euracia, who inspires the soldiers to follow her because of her charm and personal affinity with them. His Martial’s high too. But now that I’ve raised my Martial another rank, I should be more than capable of fighting him.
The man standing beside him had a rather high Martial score too.
Poholizen
Age: 29
Martial: 95
Intelligence: 4
Command: 5
He must be one of the Three Swordsmen that Euracia told me about, Poholizen the Blastblade. Given his nom de guerre is along the same lines as the other two’s, I naturally have to assume he’s got some kind of skill.
In terms of recognizable traits, he had a larger frame than Elante. He was almost more like a beast than a man.
Yeah, a beast. I should think of him like a wolf or a bear.
He had a high Martial, but a piss-poor Intelligence. With a score that awful, it really was like fighting a bear.
He’s the kind of opponent who’d be easy to outwit. That’s probably why he’s the king’s bodyguard.
Ultimately, he didn’t pose a major problem. The slender man approaching the castle was another matter. He had four swords hanging at his hip and an odd air about him.
Ganeif Katekin
Age: 45
Martial: 97
Intelligence: 40
Command: 74
His nom de guerre was the Swiftblade, and he had the abnormally high Martial score you’d expect based on that. You could say that he lived up to Euracia’s opinion of him as the strongest of the Three Swordsmen.
With a Martial of 97, if he could use mana skills, then that would definitely put him above A-class. He was unquestionably the biggest problem in this siege battle. He was the mightiest man in Brijit, perhaps even the entire south.
To think that Brijit had a commander who was the equivalent of Lu Bu from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
That was the man who’d just started climbing one of the ladders.
Bautore’s plan was probably to send him in to cause chaos and make it easier for the rest of his troops to act as a result. A simple idea, but since he had someone this strong to execute it, the strategy was going to be a pain to deal with. That said, it wasn’t like I hadn’t prepared countermeasures.
“Pour the boiling oil and throw more rocks!” Fihatori commanded, seeing the look I shot at him.
“Erhin! That man there is the one they call the Swiftblade, Ganeif!” Euracia shouted, adjusting her grip on Rossade.
Ultimately, this battle hinged on whether or not we could halt Ganeif, but I wasn’t wholly convinced I could defeat him myself. His ability scores were higher than I’d anticipated. Even so, there was no avoiding it. The man was a trial I had to overcome!
In order to avoid the boiling oil, Ganeif thrust his sword into a crack in the wall, unleashing mana through the blade to create a powerful recoil that sent him spinning into the air, far above the walls. But that wasn’t enough to keep gravity from dragging him back down.
He was still too far away to land on the wall.
Or so I thought, until Ganeif started releasing mana as he swung his sword in midair. This created a blast wave that used to propel himself and land on the wall.
*
Euracia rushed at Ganeif, swinging Rossade, her attack timed to hit him the moment he touched down! Ganeif swung his sword to stop the strike. Thanks to her actions, he ended up landing on top of the parapet.
He wasn’t able to get enough propulsion. He must’ve had to change direction at the last moment to block Euracia’s attack.
“Everyone, rush him at once! Don’t give him an opening!”
The soldiers rapidly converged on Ganeif. They attacked to keep him from getting down off the parapet where he would have more space to maneuver. Jint was there, leading the charge, wielding the Nameless Sword I found in the treasury.
Ganeif was visibly surprised by the weight of Jint’s attacks as they confronted one another, but there was no overcoming the difference in Martial scores. Even with the item equipped, Jint only had a Martial of 95. It goes without saying that he began to be pushed back.
This was the moment I had been waiting for.
Now’s the time, while he’s distracted fighting Jint!
Will you use Crush?
Now that my Martial was 95 with the bonus factored in, Crush had a power of 100! I summoned Daitoren to unleash a skill, which had now reached the realm of S-class. As I did, Ganeif suddenly sheathed his sword while fighting Jint. Not one to miss such an opening, Jint swung.
I immediately triggered Crush.
At that moment, Ganeif drew his blade again, with a technique that moved faster than my eyes could follow! Was this one of his mana skills? Light erupted from the sword as he drew it!
Instantly, Ganeif’s Martial broke out to 102.
There was no doubt that this was his special ability.
I reflexively used 30 Second Invincibility on Jint. Although we were putting our lives on the line in this battle, I had zero intention of losing him in another country’s war. Once I had counteracted Ganeif’s mana skill with 30 Second Invincibility, I would impale him using Crush.
That was the plan.
However, Ganeif instantly noticed Crush and turned towards me, changing the direction of his blade of light to hit it.
What incredible combat instincts!
But because he’d had to change direction so suddenly, he wasn’t able to completely deflect Crush. As a result, Crush tore through his shoulder instead of his chest, blowing his left arm off. The skill he’d used had a power of 102.
If they had hit each other head-on, he’d have completely annihilated Crush, but fortunately I was still able to injure him.
What’s more, the force from Daitoren knocked him off the parapet!
As he plummeted, Ganeif drew the third of four swords he carried and swung it towards the ground, slowing his descent with a burst of mana. The result was that he was able to land without slamming hard into the ground, but he still collapsed. Blood spurted from the messy stump of his severed left arm like a fountain.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Brijitian soldiers rushed to his side as he fell to the ground in a puddle of his own blood, the last of his strength spent. It was visible even from a distance, so trumpets began sounding the enemy’s retreat.
It was a shame I couldn’t kill him, but I’d still blown his arm off, and judging by the amount of blood he’d lost, he wouldn’t be recovering any time soon.
United Army: 28,700 men
Royal Brijitian Army: 30,110 men
It was a massive victory that reflected the advantages of fighting as the defender in a siege battle. The enemy force took mass casualties, but ours was barely harmed.
Our forces cheered as the enemy fled.
“What was that? He’s not a monster, so how...?” Euracia forgot the joy of victory as she shook her head in disbelief at Ganeif’s survival.
“I may not have been able to kill him, but we can still call this a success,” I reassured Euracia before adding, “However, the most important part is yet to come. This is where the real battle begins,” because I didn’t want her letting her guard down just yet.
Euracia nodded firmly. Today’s victory wasn’t a big deal. Things were about to begin in earnest.
Of course, the plan originally called for Ganeif to die here. I’d predicted the King of Brijit would send him to attack the walls. It was a shame he survived, but I’d still injured the centerpiece of the enemy force, so the plan could go ahead without issue.
If I were to hesitate now, we’d probably lose any chance of a quick resolution to this war. To that end, I left Euracia in charge of the capital as we’d discussed, while I took a thousand cavalrymen out through the northern gates, which were the opposite side from where the enemy had set up camp. Their scouts would detect the move, no doubt, but I didn’t care if they discovered us at this point.
The Brijitian Army was already a fish on the line.
*
“Damn them! How dare they cut our supply lines!” Bautore struggled to contain his seething anger when his advisor gave him the report.
A shadow had fallen over his once confident face. Of course it had. Even he, the king, had barely been able to eat today.
He ordered his men to search the fields, but there was no food to be had nearby. Yet if he sent his men any farther afield, they would be ambushed. That was why he could only clutch his head now. Eating rice or wheat when it had just begun to grow and was still green was like munching on weeds. The unfamiliar food would just upset their stomachs.
“They’ve even wiped out the soldiers we sent to protect the supply unit. Still, if we keep on sending men, it will impede our attack on the capital!” Isenbahan said with a troubled look on his face.
Just then, a new report arrived.
“What now?!” Bautore roared.
“Well, you see...” Isenbahan opened his mouth hesitantly. “We’ve...lost contact with the iron cavalry unit that we sent out to secure the supplies...”
“What?! Curse them!” Bautore shouted. It only made him hungrier.
“Why don’t we send out Poholizen?” Isenbahan suggested “Surely he could...”
“No,” Bautore rejected the idea. “If I sent him, he might eat all the rations just to sate his own appetite. Worse yet, the enemy might deceive him and then he’d never return!”
Isenbahan was quick to agree. Poholizen was a poor choice for this kind of mission because of his tendency to rush forward without thinking.
Things were bad, and getting worse.
Even as they fought against their own stomachs out here, there was no progress in their siege of the capital. The assaults continued, but all they did was bleed them of more troops. In fact, all their siege weapons had been burned today. The king had been starving for three days now, and he hadn’t been letting the rank and file eat for even longer than that.
Their failure to make progress should have been a foregone conclusion. Ganeif, who’d lost a lot of blood after his arm was blown off, still hadn’t regained consciousness.
All Bautore could do was rage.
*
We won the three-day siege battle!
Our United Army’s Morale actually rose after this battle. Due to the nature of siege battles, casualties were limited too.
United Army
Manpower: 27,300 men
Training: 20
Morale: 95
The Royal Brijitian Army, however, was greatly diminished.
Royal Brijitian Army
Manpower: 26,110 men
Training: 80
Morale: 50
They had fewer men than us now. That was thanks to the many casualties suffered from repeated defeats. In addition, their Morale declined precipitously from 90 to 50. It was obvious it would go down if they kept on losing, but this massive drop had to be primarily due to starvation.
Bautore and the soldiers who had rushed in, enraged at the death of Elante, had been unable to receive supplies.
I then made my move to chip away at their Morale even further.
Jint and I led a unit of a thousand cavalrymen, seeming to appear out of nowhere as we destroyed the enemy’s supply units. The United Army had scouts watching Ronaf Castle, and whenever they sent a report, we crushed the supply lines at once.
As a result, after five days of unbearable hunger for Bautore, he started his retreat to Ronaf Castle despite having had the Rozernan capital in sight. Of course, this was largely thanks to Euracia, who, with her Command score of 97, defended the capital without letting Morale fall.
There was only one thing the Royal Brijitian Army could do: gather their military supplies at Ronaf Castle, then march on the Rozernan capital again with all their rations.
Of course, I could have taken Ronaf Castle before the Brijitians retreated. Yes, I could have taken it and burned all their food. But I didn’t, because there was hardly any point.
If I had, they would have received reports of the castle’s fall and detoured around it to some other occupied territory. Even if the Brijitians were starving, I couldn’t beat their army with an ambush team made up of a thousand men. That meant occupying Ronaf would only cause the enemy to gather food in a different territory.
If that was what was going to happen, then I was better off settling things for good in Ronaf, the closest domain to the Rozernan capital. That’s why I watched as the enemy retreated there.
Of course, I wasn’t just watching.
My next plan was already in motion.
*
Bautore was ambushed by the United Army right before entering Ronaf Castle, but Poholizen easily swept this ambushing force aside.
“Look! See how they run!” Bautore cackled as he watched them, seeing that they were no match for his elite forces.
Bautore had been in a terrible mood during the retreat. Without food for his men, he couldn’t take the Rozernan capital as soon as he wanted, which infuriated him. He’d been left gnashing his teeth because he knew rushing ahead was his own blunder, but now that he’d fended off the ambush, he was in higher spirits.
“Even without Ganeif, we can force the gates of their capital open once we have our supplies. We saw just how gutless the Royal Rozernan Army was when we fought them. How stupid too. If they’d taken Ronaf instead of only targeting our supply units, we would have had to retreat much farther!”
“You have a point there,” Isenbahan agreed. “We only left a force of a thousand men at Ronaf.”
“They were so intent on cutting our supply lines that it never occurred to them to dispose of the stockpile at Ronaf. Imbeciles.”
Hoping to wipe away his own failure somehow, Bautore pointed out the enemy’s strategic blunder and laughed all the louder.
“This is all because we let our guard down. We’ll prepare our forces and return to the Rozernan capital as soon as possible. No more underestimating them. We’re going to destroy Rozern!”
There was no way out. Having already had his self-confidence damaged by being forced to retreat, taking the capital was the only thing he could think about now. The enemy were stronger than anticipated, so his advisor Isenbahan would have liked him to consider his strategy more carefully, but it was impossible to broach the issue. To do so would wound Bautore’s pride. Isenbahan didn’t have the courage to risk his life to offer that advice.
With no one to stop him, Bautore kept muttering, “I’ll destroy them,” like some kind of curse.
*
The reason I ambushed the Royal Brijitian Army in front of Ronaf Castle was incredibly simple: to infiltrate the enemy in the chaos. Jint and I put on stolen uniforms and joined the crowd of enemy soldiers to get inside occupied Ronaf Castle.
I temporarily delegated command of the United Army to Euracia and Fihatori with orders to wait a short time, then advance and surround the castle. No one inside Ronaf Castle took any note of us.
Soldiers in the Royal Brijitian Army only recognized the other people in their ten-man unit, or maybe their hundred-man unit at best. They had no idea what anyone in the other hundred-man units looked like. That was because the Royal Army were a collection of soldiers gathered from every region of their country.
“The provisions are stored in the warehouse beside the barracks. We can finally eat, everyone!”
Overwhelming hunger drove the soldiers to rush to the warehouse the moment they were inside the castle. It was total chaos. An army lives or dies by its discipline.
Obviously, Bautore couldn’t just stand by and watch this.
At the king’s order, a commanding officer shouted, “This is a royal command! Restrain yourselves a little. Food will be distributed soon enough. You are to stand by at the positions designated for your respective units. I am issuing strict orders to behead any man who causes disorder. If you are not in the supply unit, move away from the warehouse immediately!”
The soldiers grumbled, but obeyed and backed away from the warehouse.
Now I had a chance to check out the warehouse for myself. The soldiers in the designated supply unit were carrying out the provisions. The warehouse was a rather large building.
“Hurry it up! Our orders are to set out for the capital again tomorrow!”
It sounded like Bautore was planning to take all the supplies and move again immediately the next day.
But I’m not going to let him.
“Hey! Go back to your unit! Are you looking to get killed?” the commanding officer shouted at me and Jint, who had been staring at the warehouse this whole time.
I signaled to Jint with my eyes. He nodded and ran towards that officer. In an instant, he’d cut him down. At the same time, I used Earthquake on the piles of provisions and the soldiers of the supply unit. My skill set the front of the warehouse on fire, burning the men too.
“Jint, protect the door to the warehouse!”
Once I saw Jint nod, I left him there, and headed into the castle.
My objective, of course, was to burn all their provisions!
*
When flames rose from the warehouse, Isenbahan rushed out of the castle in shock.
“What is happening?!”
“We believe it’s the work of spies wearing our uniforms. They’ve infiltrated the provisions warehouse!”
“What?! Why didn’t you kill them immediately?!”
“Well...”
Obviously, the officer he had asked was wondering the same thing.
His soldiers had, in fact, stormed the warehouse. But the one at the door was none other than Jint. The men who came at him only succeeded in getting themselves decapitated. They tried flanking him, and they tried surrounding him on all sides—but the starving soldiers couldn’t kill Jint.
“What’s with him?”
An angry Bautore soon appeared on the scene, Poholizen at his side.
“How have you let just two men burn our provisions?! Damn it! Everyone, pull back! Poholizen, you go. I want that man there torn limb from limb!”
The men made way at Bautore’s command.
“I’m hungry! Hungry! Hungry!” Poholizen shouted, shaking his head.
“If you just kill him, you can eat all the food you want. Now kill him. Okay?”
“Him? I just have to kill him, and then you’ll let me eat? Really?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I’ll kill him!”
Poholizen raced towards Jint at the sound of the word “food.” A loud grating sound echoed throughout the surrounding area as their blades crossed.
“Hurghhh! Die! I’m hungry! So, die!” Poholizen roared as he swung his sword.
Jint’s actual Martial score was 93, but using the Nameless Sword boosted it by +2 for a total of 95. With such stats, Jint was more than a match for his enemy.
His Martial was on par with Poholizen’s, but Jint had the advantage against an opponent who charged in heedlessly. Jint’s style was to instinctively calculate his enemy’s moves. Not only did he refuse to die, he stopped all of Poholizen’s attacks, enraging the enemy commander.
“Argh! Why won’t you die?! You’re such a pain. Die! You can’t stop this one. Blast Wave!”
After saying this, he swung down his sword with both hands. When it touched the ground, there was an incredible explosion around Jint.
Kaboom!
Bautore nodded with satisfaction as the skill landed a direct hit on Jint.
“Surely, he can’t withstand Poholizen’s Blast Wave. Get to work putting out the fires in the warehouse immediately!”
Those were Bautore’s orders, but the men who rushed through the smoke left behind by the Blast Wave came back out screaming. When the smoke cleared, Jint appeared. He’d used his sword to unleash all the mana he could in order to endure the Blast Wave, leaving him only mildly singed.
Of course, Jint couldn’t help but be surprised that he’d released so much mana—much more than he’d thought possible. He gave the Nameless Sword a sideward glance. He’d been thinking there was something mystical about it, but this wasn’t the time to investigate.
He adjusted his grip and took aim at Poholizen.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
*
There were a lot of provisions, so it ended up taking longer than I had planned to burn them all.
When I left the warehouse, Jint was in awful shape—apparently he’d been pushed to the brink. His clothes and hair were all burned, but his skin was comparatively unscathed. He was up against Poholizen though. Of course it’d be a tough fight. His opponent was one of the Three Swordsmen.
“Jint! Are you okay?!”
Jint immediately nodded.
“Okay, we’ll use a flanking attack. Let’s kill him and get out of here!”
We’ve done what we needed to. Escaping has priority now.
Jint and I jumped Poholizen together. Poholizen swung his sword around, trying to kill us, but I had a Martial score of 95 with Daitoren equipped. He didn’t stand a ghost of a chance against me.
Crush would end this, but I didn’t even have to use it, because I had Jint with me. While I used the Attack command to cross blades with Poholizen, it freed Jint up to circle around behind him.
He’s fast!
He might not have been on the same level as Ganeif the Swiftblade, but Jint was still pretty fast.
“What? What’s happening? When did you get there?!”
Obviously, Poholizen got distracted by Jint and turned to face him. In other words, he’d turned his back to me.
I’d expect nothing less from a commander with under 10 Intelligence.
I laughed mockingly at his ineptitude as I stabbed him in the neck using the Attack command. As blood spurted, Jint proceeded to impale him through the chest. Run through from both sides, Poholizen fell, never to rise again.
“Hurry and kill them! I’ll bestow a title on whoever does it! Kill them no matter what it takes!” I heard an enraged Bautore shout as he commanded his men from a distance.
I didn’t expect him to be handing out titles.
That brought soldiers swarming at us from all directions. Giving noble ranks to commoners was almost unheard of. Conversely, that just showed how desperate our enemy was. If anything, this was an opportunity for us. I had Bautore completely within my field of view.
If I can kill their king here, that would be the ultimate way to distinguish myself on the battlefield.
Yes, it certainly would be.
“But I need him to live for now.”
The Brijitian king can’t die here. If he does, Brijit will install his son or some other blood relation as their new king and go on the defensive.
Obviously, that would throw their country into disarray, but if I was going to occupy them, then I needed to kill the king on his home turf.
I’ll let him escape, but I’ll crush as many of his soldiers as I can to prevent them from regrouping.
With that decided, I didn’t hesitate.
Will you use Crush?
I activated Crush and threw Daitoren—with the effect set to incapacitate! The soldiers between me and Bautore were all blown away by Daitoren, wrapped in white light.
“Urgh...!” Bautore hurriedly drew his sword.
But he can’t stop it. Bautore has a Martial of 93.
He’s a powerful foe, no doubt, but my Martial score is 100 when using Crush!
I put on a smirk, assured of my victory... Until, at the last possible moment, a blade of light appeared and collided with Daitoren. My sword was knocked skyward, spinning through the air before it stabbed into the ground.
“You’re kidding me!” I shouted angrily.
Deflecting Crush would take an overwhelmingly powerful foe with a Martial score of over 100. There’s only one of those in this war.
I looked in the direction the blade of light had come from. Of course, there stood Ganeif, wrapped in bandages, with his left arm obviously still missing. Leaning on some other soldiers for support, he glared at me. He must have been on standby inside the carriage because of how weakened he was by his wounds.
I respect his pure martial prowess and terrifying loyalty, but I don’t need any subordinate who could just follow orders and massacre innocent, unarmed people without remorse.
Capable or not, this man was strictly my enemy. And he was already badly injured.
I expect he used up the rest of his mana with that skill. No matter how high his Martial score is, the guy isn’t any threat to me right now.
That didn’t stop him from talking a big game, though.
“Defend His Majesty. We don’t need to protect the walls. If we kill these guys, we win! Form a layered encirclement around them right now!”
He was no match for Jint or me, but he was trying to move the men to action by keeping up the appearance of Brijit’s strongest warrior. It must have reassured the men, because they recovered a little from the Morale hit I’d dealt them when killing Poholizen, and started moving around more proactively.
First order of business is to kill Ganeif, then.
“Jint, the enemy’s numbers are basically inexhaustible. We’re going to kill that guy and then pull out in the confusion!”
If we kill Ganeif, the enemy will have no one left to rely on. If we can just escape after that, we’re in the clear.
“I’ll carve you a path out of here. No matter what it takes!” Jint nodded in agreement and charged at Ganeif.
Uh, wait, hold up. We were supposed to go together.
In a troubling development, Jint was quickly surrounded by enemies, and I lost sight of him.
*
Jint didn’t even see Ganeif appear or notice the soldiers gathering one after another. He would make a path out of here even if it killed him. He was entirely focused on risking his life to carry out the mission he’d tasked himself with.
If Erhin could withdraw safely, then he didn’t mind dying himself.
“Jint, is it okay for us to be this happy? I still can’t believe it.”
Mirinae said that to him every single day as she studied for the first time in her life. She told him that reading books was interesting. That learning was fun.
It was the same for him.
He’d been the lowest of the low, but now the other soldiers looked at him with respect. No one in Eintorian ever looked down on Jint.
They could live like human beings. Live as humans ought to. Even if he were to die here, Erhin would look out for Mirinae. His faith in that allowed him to offer up his life without the slightest hesitation.
Jint kept on running.
“Loose your arrows!”
Even as arrows began raining down on him at the order of the thousandman commanding the archers, Jint charged on undeterred.
“Jint!”
Erhin had been planning to issue more orders, but Jint went and ran off before he could. Erhin tried shouting again, but Jint had already turned into a battle fiend, so Erhin’s voice didn’t reach him. The hail of arrows couldn’t stop Jint. He swatted them aside, closing in on Ganeif.
“Damn you!” Ganeif bellowed, drawing his sword.
The mightiest man in all of Brijit, known as the Swiftblade—versus a battle fiend who had earned no such name, but had distinguished himself in war. The collision of these two powerful men ended so quickly it was somewhat disappointing.
Ganeif didn’t have enough mana left to stop Jint. It was only his pure indomitable spirit that kept him standing on the battlefield at all.
“Step aside!”
As their blades were about to cross, Jint suddenly changed the angle of his and lopped Ganeif’s head off. Weakened as he was by not having had time to recover his mana, Ganeif’s blade was no match for Jint’s.
“Damn you! How dare you kill Ganeif! Damn youuuuu!” Bautore shouted in impotent rage. From a distance, of course. My Crush attack had forced him back a ways.
In addition to my go-to skill, Crush, I actually had two more things I could rely on while Jint and I carried out this operation to destroy the enemy’s provisions.
The first was 30 Second Invincibility. This newly acquired skill would be seriously useful for retreating at a key moment. And since I still had Daitoren available, I could use the sword to get close to Jint, then used 30 Second Invincibility to give us time to get on horses, we could probably make it a good distance away.
But that’s not going to be enough on its own. Thirty seconds is short.
That’s why what I needed right now was the second tool that I’d received from Euracia.
I should be able to use the powerful explosion from this tool as an effective means of escape.
Of course, I couldn’t use it now, with Jint isolated and surrounded.
First, I need to join up with Jint. No matter how far their Morale’s fallen, I need to be careful when there’s this many enemies around. Daitoren has a clear time limit on how long I’m able to use it. I’ll use the tool to clear a path, then we’ll run to the wall, using 30 Second Invincibility to protect us from arrows!
That was my plan as I ran over to Jint, who was caught in an infinite loop of fighting and killing.
“Why are you here?! It’s dangerous! Hurry up and retreat!” Jint, who had kept on fighting without losing any of his vigor since killing Ganeif, shouted when he spotted me.
The soldiers had started attacking me too, so I used Daitoren to fend them off, but I was quickly fenced in on all sides.
Their numbers seemed endless.
“I wasn’t ordering you to charge in alone before. We were supposed to go together,” I explained, preparing to use the tool here. Of course, the enemy kept attacking the whole time, so Daitoren never rested.
That might’ve been why Jint shouted, “Urgh...! I’ll carve a path for you no matter what!” and swung the Nameless Sword with a pained look on his face.
That’s when it happened!
Jint’s Nameless Sword released a white light, and the land began to shake like there was an earthquake. The ground turned brown—the same color as Jint’s Nameless Sword. Earthen swords shot out of it, catching me off guard. Its area of effect wasn’t large, but all of the soldiers caught in range of this bizarre skill fell and had their feet and legs skewered, leaving them to topple over. Even the soldiers who fled were chased down by the earthen blades like guided missiles.
Jint’s Martial increased by +1
At the same time, his Martial rose from 93 to 94. My retainer was growing! Although he was an A-class commander, Jint couldn’t use mana skills. When Erheet faced Jint, he’d asked why he didn’t use them.
It seemed that the question had been bothering Jint ever since, but in the end, he hadn’t been able to do it. Now, one had just triggered for him.
Was it because of the Nameless Sword, or his resolve in the face of death? Or was it his incredibly selfless desire to save me? I didn’t know, but what I did know was this: it had just created a far better situation for our escape than the tool would have.
I pushed through the confused enemies to mount a horse that had belonged to a now dead officer.
“Jint, get on! Hurry!”
I rode the horse over to Jint who stood there, surprised by the fact he had just used a skill. The soldiers, who were in turn shocked by the power of it, were unable to do anything as we made our way to the front of the gates.
Bautore had been out of range of the skill, but in fear of its peril he pulled back even further, so he failed to order anyone to pursue us.
We’d put some distance between us and the enemy. Discarding the horse, we climbed up onto the walls. This was faster than trying to open the closed gates.
Once we got up top, I shouted, “Jint! Get on my back!”
“Huh?”
“There’s no time to explain! Just ride!”
Once Jint climbed onto my back without having any clue as to why, I jumped down from the wall. Then I triggered 30 Second Invincibility.
I happened to have just 100 skill points left.
This is my trump card!
Normally, my legs would’ve shattered when I hit the ground, but thanks to 30 Second Invincibility I was completely invulnerable. That let me land without issue. The soldiers who’d chased us onto the walls were so shocked that they didn’t even try to pursue us any further.
Not that they would have, even if they weren’t so shocked. For just ahead were our forces, who had completely surrounded Ronaf Castle. As an aside, I’d leveled up for killing Poholizen, which earned me more points. I put off spending them for now as I met up with Fihatori who was rushing over to us.
*
Rejoining our army after jumping from the castle walls, I sent Jint off to see the doctor, then gave orders to my forces which had encircled Ronaf Castle.
“Keep the entirety of Ronaf Castle fully surrounded! Once the area is completely sealed off, don’t approach under any circumstances. Hold your positions even once the enemy comes out. We’ll use the line formation!”
The enemy couldn’t hold out inside the castle. They had no provisions, so they’d starve to death. As such, they had no choice but to come out, having already been starving for five days. If they’d had provisions, the enemy would have waited to recover before sallying out to meet us, so there would have been no point in just surrounding them like this. In such a scenario we would want to rush in right away, since the enemy’s morale would recover as time passed.
But them having no provisions turned things around. The enemy needed to hurry. The lack of food alone was enough to make them panic. Especially when they’d seen it burned with their own eyes.
Royal Brijitian Army
Morale: 10
The result was that their Morale fell to 10. Of course, the enemy would come out to break through our encirclement and flee. Once they did, we’d have the advantage. No matter how big the difference was between our Training levels, with this big a gap in Morale, we could win a field battle.
The tables had turned.
In short, we were now in a situation where we could aim to wipe out the enemy when they emerged from Ronaf Castle. Morale aside, they had been starving for over five days.
They had no strength left to fight.
Naturally, the Royal Brijitian Army understood that the longer they stayed inside the castle, the worse their disadvantage.
That’s why they made their decision fast.
The enemy eventually came out of the southern gates. This was surely because they recognized the futility of attacking the Rozernan capital to the north without provisions. They’d want to try withdrawing to another occupied territory and secure a supply of food there instead.
“Maintain the line formation at the southern gates. And form a second line behind the first one on each side!”
The line formation was not complicated. They’d be able to maintain it even with their low level of training. Fortunately, we were in a situation where we only needed to use the most basic of formations.
“Loose your arrows at the enemy as they attack!”
If they had higher morale, the enemy front line might have been able to hold formation, but with only 10 it was just impossible. The enemy’s numbers fell precipitously as arrows rained down on them before they could assume defensive positions.
Royal Brijitian Army
Manpower: 19,231
Training: 80
Morale: 5
Only 19,231 enemies remained.
“Wipe them out! The enemy is starving! You have nothing to fear from them! But don’t kill their king, Bautore. Let him go.”
Once all our arrows had been loosed, I gave the order to attack. My forces collided with the enemy.
It was truly intense, witnessing the Royal Rozernan Army grit their teeth and follow Euracia as they fought to avenge their fallen comrades. After about three hours of head-on conflict, the result was already clear to see.
United Army: 24,931 men
Royal Brijitian Army: 4,311 men
A major difference had emerged in the size of the two opposing forces. The enemy fled, demotivated, and the gap widened as a one-sided pursuit began.
It was a truly overwhelming victory.
My strategy this time had been to trap the enemy in Ronaf Castle and wipe out everyone but Bautore. Obviously, it put my own life at risk. This was when I realized I needed to act a little more carefully. For now, though, the crisis had passed, and victory was electrifying.
Of course, I had no intention of letting it end here.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Chapter 4: Getting Closer
I didn’t join up with the pursuit unit organized to chase Bautore after he escaped from Ronaf Castle.
I had deliberately let just Bautore escape after the battle that wiped out the Royal Brijitian Army. It was part of my plan to occupy Brijit. Yes, this was to be the last operation—the one that would wrap up this war for good.
It was also the first idea that came to mind after I boasted about occupying Brijit in front of the King of Runan. Once I was able to raise Rozernan morale and secure a victory, it was just a matter of using the enemy’s retreat to my advantage.
It’s a gamble, of course.
It wouldn’t be possible to occupy Brijit in such a short time without gambling. No matter how great our victory was, if we chased our fleeing enemies into the Brijitian Kingdom proper, we’d be forced to take a number of domains one at a time.
Unlike that lengthy approach, this plan will let us take Brijit all in one go! Gamble or not, it’s worth giving it a shot!
I gathered the commanding officers of the Runanese reinforcements for a meeting about my plan.
“As I’m sure you’re all aware, the Brijit Kingdom lies to the south of Rozern, and there is a huge mountain range between the two countries.”
When Brijit and Rozern were formed after the fall of the Ancient Kingdom, they drew their border along the mountain ridge. These impassable mountains were known as the Kryl Mountains.
“Trade between Brijit and Rozern used to be conducted along the eastern edge of the mountains, and that’s where the defeated Brijitians retreated to.”
The capital of Rozern was in the northwestern part of the kingdom. Bautore had to head southeast first in order to retreat to Brijit’s royal capital. On top of that, the capital of Brijit was in the southwest of their territory. With the Kryl Mountains to the north and the coast to the south, it capitalized on the land as natural barriers to repel invasion.
Because of that, the King of Brijit had to detour far to the east to go around the impassable mountains, before heading west again.
“I intend to overtake our enemies as they flee. The plan is to head due south from the Rozernan capital, occupy the Brijitian capital before they get there, and greet the retreating enemy when they arrive.”
I planned to take the capital with a ruse, which amounted to this: basically, we would pretend to be the fleeing Royal Brijitian Army in order to enter the capital before the enemy could arrive.
Enemy uniforms littered the ground after the intense battles we’d fought.
“But Commander! The Kryl Mountains are famously impassable. Stories of their peril are known even in Runan!” Fihatori sounded concerned.
“Consider it a challenge. If we can cross the border first, we can occupy the Brijitian capital, kill their king, and throw the entire nation into chaos all at once. The Brijitians were our targets all along, weren’t they? If you consider what will happen if we’re successful, you’ll see it’s worth taking on the challenge. Besides, I believe we can do it with our current morale. Listen to me, Fihatori. Whether the men can cross the mountains or not will ultimately rely on the skill of their commanding officers. This is a job for you and me. Don’t you have any desire to push your own limits?”
Fihatori mulled over what I’d said for a moment.
“If you insist, then I’m ready to try. It’s certainly true that if we succeed, then it will only be a matter of time before Brijit falls. With their king dead, the Three Swordsmen slain, and so many of their men fallen in battle...”
“There you have it. Include that in your report to the duke, would you?”
“You knew about that?!” Fihatori asked, surprised.
“In your position, it’s only natural you would be sending reports to him. Do what you have to do and then start getting ready. I’ll bet it gets incredibly cold up near the mountain ridge, so make sure that we have warm clothes. Our battle’s only just begun, Fihatori.”
“I’ll use everything I’ve learned in my military career to prepare for it.”
Fihatori nodded, then left the meeting room with the other officers.
It won’t be simple, of course. But crossing the Alps won Hannibal crushing victories during the Punic Wars, and I can’t imagine the Kryls are any steeper than the Alps. So, we’ve got to do it! So that I can make this world mine.
Euracia opened her mouth to speak. “May I go with you?” She had apparently wanted the other officers to leave before she asked this.
“You?”
“Yes. Please, let me come!” Euracia nodded forcefully.
I wasn’t too keen on the idea, though. It wasn’t a battle worth dragging her along to. Besides, her wounds from before still hadn’t healed, the bandages she wore still in place.
“Rozern’s already won the war. So I don’t think a princess like you needs to risk her own life for this. Besides, you’re injured. Wouldn’t crossing the mountains in that state...be a bit much for you?”
“No. Brijit is Rozern’s enemy. They massacred the people in the border towns before this. When you look at it that way, I feel it’s naturally my duty to see this through to the end. Please. I can rest after it’s done!”
Well, she’s got a point.
Whatever the case, no one could deny she’d played a huge role in this war. Without her raising their morale, it would have been difficult to get the Rozernan soldiers to act, and we wouldn’t have been able to push the enemy into a crisis so easily.
If she was this eager to come, I couldn’t justify saying no.
*
Thus began the advance on Brijit.
The temperature fell as we climbed into the mountains. This cold was going to be the greatest obstacle to crossing the Kryls. The soldiers and these low temperatures did not get along. This world generally had temperate weather throughout the year. Even the winters were warm. That’s why the troops were struggling so much against this cold.
In fact, I suspected that the reason the Kryl Mountains were considered impassable was simply because of this cold. Frankly, though, I felt like Japan’s winters were chillier. That’s why I could handle it just fine, but the soldiers couldn’t.
They shivered as they tried to bear the cold. I could tell they weren’t used to it at all. I’d heard the mountains were steep, but they weren’t as bad as I’d expected. They weren’t as high as the Alps. Maybe two thousand meters or thereabouts.
That’s way lower than even Mt. Fuji. Still though, the terrain here was treacherous. I had my 30 Second Invincibility to fall back on in a pinch, but some of our men fell to their deaths off the cliffs, or were crushed under the weight of rocks crumbling from the mountains above.
Our troop numbers had dropped a little because of this. With their wits dulled by the cold, some of the soldiers ultimately slipped to their deaths.
When we stopped our march for the night, Fihatori and the other commanding officers had shrunk into themselves for warmth. This was wreaking havoc on the Morale that we’d worked so hard to build up.
At some point, their Morale score had fallen to 70. The promise of enough reward money to ensure they’d be set for life once we occupied the Brijit Kingdom seemed to keep them enduring, though.
We lit campfires, but they still had to get pretty close to the flames in order to feel any warmth. Even Jint made himself small and kept quiet.
“You okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah. This is no big deal.”
“You’re shivering, aren’t you?”
“No. I’m deliberately moving my body. Not shivering.”
“Okay, then.”
It seemed pretty obvious he was shivering, but whatever. He was just being stubborn. As we were talking, Fihatori came over.
“Commander, perhaps you should use this...” he said, offering a heavy blanket.
“Fihatori.”
“Yes?”
“What do you think is the most important thing for a commanding officer to have?” I asked him a somewhat sudden question.
“Bravery, I think. There’s nothing a commander can do if he’s frightened.”
“Bravery’s important too, of course. But the most important thing is the trust of his men, wouldn’t you say? With trust, they’ll naturally come to obey him. So I won’t be needing that blanket. The men need every last one they can get.”
If the commander was the only one with a heavy blanket, all that would do is earn him the resentment of his men. If anything, I needed to show them I was suffering just as much as they were.
I needed to stop their Morale from falling any further, after all. I went around to each thousand-man unit, moving together with the soldiers. We ate and shivered together. Obviously, I never used a blanket. I slept together with them, shivering in the cold. I also gave speeches to each unit to boost their motivation.
“You must all be tired from walking today. I am too. I’m sorry to gather you all like this when we’re finally able to take a break, but there’s something I should make clear. We’re all suffering here. Me too. Even so, I’m managing to endure the same conditions as all of you. So I’m sure you can take it too. If you can endure, Brijit will be ours. That means the reward will be yours too. Your names will be recorded in history as the soldiers who crossed the mountains to occupy Brijit. Become witnesses to a history your descendants can pride themselves on!”
I went around encouraging the men with talk of the rewards and glory they would have once they returned. It definitely lowered the number of soldiers complaining. The look in their eyes changed, and their Morale score never fell any further below 70.
We went off the road, forging our own trail by breaking branches and cutting down trees. We endured the cold and kept on walking. I intended to live alongside my men until it was over. It was tough, of course, but I sucked it up and tolerated it because I wasn’t going to get my hands on Brijit otherwise.
But unless I showed up with a whole pile of blankets, things weren’t going to get any better. I’d halted the precipitous decline in Morale, so now it was time to work on practical steps to remedy the situation.
Is there some way to conserve warmth until we can make it past this area near the summit?
I remembered an instructional video that I’d seen online ages ago. I didn’t know if it would work, but it was worth a shot. So, I went around to each unit again.
“Fihatori! We’re going to heat rocks the size of a man’s head in the fire. I want you to take the men and gather as many as you can!”
“Wait, Commander! If we heat the rocks, we’d burn our hands! That sounds dangerous...” Fihatori shook his head in shock at what I was asking of him.
“That’s not a bad idea either, you know? Do you want to try it?”
“I-I’ll pass.” Fihatori was confused.
“Obviously. If you were to carry them directly, you’d burn yourselves. Once the rocks are up to heat, we’ll gather them all in one place and then put out the campfire. Then, once a new fire has been built, dig a hole where the old one was!”
I started digging with the other soldiers at once. We stopped quickly, though. It wouldn’t be good for the hole to be too deep.
“Throw all of the heated rocks into the hole!”
Heated rocks take a long time to cool, especially under the ground already heated by a campfire.
“Cover the hole with dirt!”
The rocks were soon hidden from sight. I tried touching the dirt placed over them. It felt like things had worked out pretty well.
“Try lying down here.”
Fihatori was quick to do just that, far more convinced by this idea than when he thought they’d be carrying heated rocks.
“Commander... It’s warm!”
“Oh, it is? But you were just saying u heating the rocks would be dangerous, weren’t you?”
“No, if this is what they’re for, then that changes things!”
“Now that you get it, it’s time to get up. We have appearances to keep up as nobles.”
“B-But...”
“Neither you, I, or the other officers are to use it. This is for the men!”
I dragged a reluctant Fihatori to his feet, then had the soldiers heat rocks and bury them the same way.
Obviously, no matter how well the rocks held their heat, it still only lasted for a limited time.
“Take shifts heating as many as you can. If you can lay down for even ten minutes that should warm you up.”
It’s important for the commander to show he’s doing something, even if it’s not actually all that useful, right?
As I went around letting the thousand-man units see this, Morale improved, rising another 5 points to a score of 75.
*
Thanks to doing everything in my power to encourage the soldiers, we made it over the peak and started working our way back down the mountain. The farther we descended, the warmer it got.
Obviously, we lost some men to the precipitous terrain, but that was well within the range of expectations. But even though we’d been able to cross the mountains, it would have been hard to move right on to invading Brijit—at least under ordinary circumstances. Normally, the Brijitian capital would be defended by a massive garrison.
Not now, though.
I’d destroyed the massive army that Bautore personally led in the invasion of Rozern, and also killed the Three Swordsmen. With Bautore still working his way around the mountains to retreat, he wouldn’t be making it back to the capital for a while yet.
That meant Brijit’s capital was practically unoccupied.
So, as long as we got there before him, we’d won.
The enemy capital was right at the base of the mountain. As we hurriedly descended towards our goal...
“Huh...?” Euracia, who had been following us through this cold so silently I almost forgot that she was there, suddenly cocked her head to the side.
“Is something the matter?” I asked.
“Um... The ring suddenly started shining. It’s only shone when opening the treasury before now...”
There was, indeed, a white light emanating from her ring.
That’s when it happened!
The ground began to tremble like an earthquake, the tremors sending cracks through the ground beneath her feet. The land crumbled out from under her, and she fell.
If she falls from here, she’ll surely die!
“Fihatori, keep advancing! Prepare for battle in front of Brijit’s royal palace! I’ll catch up once I’ve saved the princess!”
Shouting that in the spur of the moment, I immediately leaped off the cliff without a second thought.
“Commander!”
Obviously, I wouldn’t do something like this without a plan. I’d have been an idiot to throw myself off such a high cliff if I wasn’t totally confident in my ability to survive it.
I’ve got a skill, after all. A skill that lets me survive any fall!
Once I’d jumped, I quickly found her, still falling. But she was far away.
We’re falling at roughly the same speed, so it’s going to be impossible to catch up to her like this.
And so I summoned Daitoren and used Crush on the ground. But this time, I didn’t throw the sword, just performed the motion. Empowered by my use of Crush, Daitoren dragged me along with it. As a result, I was able to catch up to her in midair. Just before I did, I nullified the effect, and took her in my arms.
“Euracia!”
“Erhin...? Why?!”
“Don’t ask! Just hold on tight!”
Timing’s going to be key here. The invincibility only lasts for thirty seconds.
Timing it so that I triggered 30 Second Invincibility just before we hit the ground, I landed with no more trouble than if I’d taken one step down a flight of stairs.
There was no physical shock to my body, so obviously Euracia was fine too. She looked at me in utter disbelief.
“Wh-What in the world...?”
“It’s a mana skill. Like a skill that lets me land anywhere, you could say?”
“Oh, the one you used when you jumped from the castle walls! But still... How could you jump with so little hesitation? It’s too dangerous!”
“You’d believe me if I said the sun will rise in the west, right?”
“Huh?”
“Well then, believe this. Believe it no matter what. I jumped because I knew I could save you. It would be unthinkable not to save a comrade who’s fought alongside me when I was perfectly capable of doing so.”
“Wh-Whaaa... But...”
Euracia puffed up her cheeks a little and stared at me. I felt like her face had gotten a lot more expressive than it used to be. But I couldn’t stand the silence when she was looking like that, so I set her down on the ground.
Euracia’s legs must have been shaking, because she immediately sat down. I left her there and looked up at where the cliff had collapsed.
A massive gate had appeared in the cliffside, and it was still shaking as it emitted a white light. That’s what had caused the earthquake on top of the cliff.
“More importantly, do you know anything about that gate?” I asked.
“No... It’s my first time seeing it,” she replied, looking at her ring, which shone as if resonating with the mana circle of the massive gate.
The ring reacted to it, then. That probably means this gate is deeply connected to the relics of the Ancient Kingdom. In that case, I can’t afford to overlook it.
“Well, let’s go up to the gate, then,” I suggested. “It’s not like we can climb the cliff...”
“That’s a good idea!” Euracia nodded, then stood up once she regained enough composure.
Together we approached the gate, which was still vibrating.
“Do you mind if I try opening it like the treasury?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Once I nodded, Euracia pressed the palm of her hand against the gate, her expression tensing slightly. The mana circle drawn on the gate let out a burst of light and the shaking stopped as the gate opened up.
“Huh?! It really opened!” Euracia exclaimed. “But this is Brijit Kingdom territory, so why would the key to Rozern’s treasury work?”
“That ring is a treasure from the Ancient Kingdom, so maybe current domains have nothing to do with it? The Ancient Kingdom covered the entire continent.”
“Oh, that makes sense!”
The Nameless Sword I gave to Jint was from the Ancient Kingdom too. There might be something useful in here.
The place had aroused my curiosity.
“Equip your sword, Euracia. Let’s check out what’s inside the gate. Exercise all due caution, okay?”
“Understood.”
I stepped through the gate warily, since there was no guarantee that this place was safe like the treasury. As I did, the passageway leading deeper inside lit up, cutting through the darkness. Little mana circles shone on the ceiling.
“Huh...” Euracia followed with a tense expression on her face, looking around the cave in bewilderment.
“It’s a good thing there are lights... It looks like there aren’t any side paths, so let’s head straight towards the back.”
Once Euracia nodded her agreement, we walked down the passage for a while. It was a straight corridor with nothing to see but mana circles on the ceiling. It had been well over half an hour at this point, so now I was using an ordinary sword in place of Daitoren.
That leaves 30 Second Invincibility as my only lifeline, and I’m only able to use it one more time.
The situation was far from reassuring, but we kept on going, never encountering either danger or a way out until—finally—something changed.
There was a wide, open space at the end of the narrow tunnel.
We looked at one another, and then we both nodded.
With a gulp, we set foot into that space.
That’s precisely when it happened!
“Eeeek!”
“Whoa!”
Suddenly, the ground opened up and we fell.
A pitfall!
Infuriatingly, we had just stepped into a classic trap. Unable to tell how deep it was in the darkness, I activated 30 Second Invincibility despite myself. That used up the last of my skill points, but I had no choice. If there were metal spikes or bamboo spears at the bottom, I’d be skewered to death otherwise.
I also took Euracia in my arms, just as I had when we’d fallen from the cliff earlier.
We had been walking pretty close together, so it was easy to get my arms around her without using a skill like Crush this time.
I may have been imagining it, but it felt like she was clinging just as tightly to me until, at last, my back impacted the ground. For better or for worse, there had been no need for me to use my invincibility skill—there was nothing on the ground where I landed.
The hole that had opened up in the floor quickly closed, leaving us in darkness.
It was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything.
The walls were smooth, without anything we could grab onto—and from what I saw before the hole closed up, the ceiling was too high to reach by jumping.
What a perfect hole for us to starve to death in.
“Are you okay, Euracia?”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-02-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter4_1.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
I couldn’t see in the darkness, but I had fallen back-first while holding Euracia after using 30 Second Invincibility, so she had ended up lying on top of me. It was that position that seems to happen all the time in rom-coms. I also felt something soft and bouncy asserting its presence.
“I’m fine. How about you? You seem to have ended up underneath me...”
“I’m all right too.”
As I sat up, despite not meaning to, we ended up hugging one another in a seated position.
On top of that, I was touching something voluminous. This had to be the softness of a breast. Her assertive bosom sent my brain into a tizzy, and I seemed to have surprised her too, because we both pushed each other away at the same time.
“A-Anyway!” Euracia stammered. “What is this hole? It’s too dark to see anything down here... It’s kind of...”
“Scary?” I suggested.
“That’s not it. But being trapped in the darkness...”
Yeah, that makes sense. The darkness itself isn’t a problem. I mean, she had no problem spending the night out in the mountains. Is she claustrophobic, then?
“It’s not scary, but I don’t like it. Not being able to see anything makes me feel more lonely... I feel like I’ve been living all alone ever since my father passed away. I mean, I haven’t been able to treat my brother like a little brother ever since he became king...”
“It’s okay. You may be trapped, but you’re not alone, right?”
“The way you say that...! Honestly... You’re such a bad man! I should have expected no less from a villainous lord.”
“Wait, how does that follow? All I said was that you’re not alone.”
When I asked that...
“N-Never mind!” Euracia hurriedly stammered.
Not being able to see her expression, I couldn’t tell what had gotten into her all of a sudden.
“You sure are an odd one, Your Highness. Well, anyway, maybe we should count ourselves lucky to have a quiet moment like this in the middle of war?”
“Erhin. What are you talking about? How is falling into a trap good luck?”
If it weren’t for the darkness, I would probably have gotten a good look at Euracia being genuinely confused, but instead I only heard her voice.
In response to her question, I explained, “Being trapped down here is giving us a chance to talk, isn’t it? Just the two of us, huh? I’m pretty happy about it, actually. We’ve always been moving around with the soldiers, so we haven’t had any chance for this sort of thing.”
“Stop it, you dummy! What am I supposed to think when you say something like that? Anyway, I don’t like it when you call me ‘Your Highness.’ Call me Euracia instead.”
“Huh? Haven’t I been calling you Euracia all along?”
“You called me ‘Your Highness’ just a minute ago!”
Because I was joking with you.
“That was just me fooling around, emphasizing how weird you were acting. I don’t want to treat you like royalty, so I call you Euracia when we’re not in public. That’s my right, since I won the bet we made in Eintorian.”
“Do you want me to stab you with Rossade in the darkness?” Euracia replied coldly.
Please don’t do that. In this situation, I’d die.
Despite her tone, the fact we were still so close our shoulders were touching was probably a sign of our mutual trust for one another.
I trust her because I’ve seen how she lived in the game, as well as everything she’s done since I met her—but I don’t know how much Euracia trusts me. It’s got to be at least a little, given how close we are. Honestly, that doesn’t feel half bad.
“But...”
“Hmm?”
“You’re the first person who’s been willing to call me by name and not treat me like a princess. Honestly, you’re such a villain.”
It sounded like she was praising me, but what was with that bit at the end there?
“Why do you keep calling me a villain? What nerve, after I helped save your country!”
“I respect you for that!” Euracia shouted emphatically.
Respect, huh? If making a capable woman like her my retainer was all that I wanted, then that respect wouldn’t be a bad thing. In fact, it’s something to be welcomed.
But somehow, that didn’t feel like enough. No, it wasn’t enough at all.
“But more importantly, Erhin...”
“Hmm?”
Suddenly, Euracia’s tone grew serious.
“If you have a skill that will let you escape on your own, please, just go, and don’t worry about me! I wouldn’t want to hold you back.”
Obviously, I had no clue how to respond to that. Where was I supposed to go by myself? Was this what she’d been thinking?
“Did you forget what I’ve been saying all this time? If you say something like that again, I’ll get mad.”
“But...!”
“When I said that it might have been lucky we got trapped here, it’s because I have a way of getting us out. We can escape from here. Obviously, it’ll take some time because I need my mana to recover first. In five hours I’ll be able to use my skill again and I think it’ll let us escape.”
“Is that true?”
“I wouldn’t lie about this.”
“Well, okay then.”
Yeah. Five hours. In five hours, I’d be able to use Crush again. Once it refreshed, I planned to use it to smash through the ceiling and escape.
“But, ‘I’ll get mad’... Pffft!”
At that moment, I heard a slight laugh in the darkness. In all this time before now, her expression had never changed. She had been the very picture of a lonely princess shouldering the fate of her kingdom all by herself. And now she was laughing?!
“Euracia, you just laughed, didn’t you?”
“Oh, come on! How am I supposed to remain professional if you’re going to say stuff like ‘I’ll get mad’?! No one’s said that to me since my father did when I was a little girl... What have I been putting on this act for all this time...?”
“Did you just drop an incredible revelation like it was no big deal? You’ve been putting on an act all this time?”
“Yes. You might call it the act I needed to put on in order to live as a princess. My father told me to always act with dignity, so that no one would look down on me. At some point, my expression became all stiff, and I started putting on an act whenever I was in front of other people.”
“So, if you just laughed, does that mean you’re done with acting?”
“Just in front of you, for now.”
“Only in front of me?”
“Yes. If you’re someone I can respect more than my father...then I don’t mind. That’s something I decided a long time ago. I obey the people I’ve decided to trust. I chose to trust you when you commanded it, so I’ll obey you. So, don’t run away, okay?”
“As if I’d run away. I’ll be by your side, no matter what.”
Her high Command and Charisma will be a great help in war. But even without those talents I’d be grateful to have her at my side.
“H-Hold on... I’m not proposing to you!” Euracia cried.
“Oh...! Yeah. I take it all back, then!”
Now that I think about it... What am I talking about, saying I’ll always be by her side?
I didn’t know what to say now. There was a long silence between us.
“Hold on, did you just laugh again? You just stifled a laugh, didn’t you?!”
“I did not! I was just at a loss for words. I’m always so weird when I’m around you... Ever since you pulled on my cheeks to try and force me to smile!”
“I shouldn’t have done that.”
Yeah, I wanted to see her smile. But to think she’d laugh in the darkness like this. I feel like I’m missing out, not being able to see it.
“I’m sorry. Well, anyway, let’s rest a little for now. It will take another five hours for my skills to recover, so it’s a good opportunity to recuperate too. I know I’m tired, but you probably haven’t slept properly after our march through the cold mountains either, right?”
It wasn’t cold here, so it was a perfect place for a rest. Although we were trapped in the darkness, that also meant there were no other threats.
“Let’s do that.”
Hearing her approval, I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes.
Waves of exhaustion rolled over me, and I was overcome by drowsiness.
*
When I awoke, Euracia was sleeping on my shoulder. It probably happened naturally as she drifted off.
“If she’d just be like this more often, she’d feel more like a princess...”
To be fair, she has to be even more worn out than I am. She hasn’t slept much during our trek through the mountains, or at any point during the war, really.
Leaving her be so as not to wake her, I called up the system. The text itself lit up so that I was able to read it without issue. On checking, I found Crush had recovered. That meant we could escape now. Possibly because of me moving, Euracia slipped off my shoulder and fell slightly.
“Ah...!” Her eyes shot open as she made a noise like a high school student who had briefly nodded off in class.
“You’re awake?”
“Was I sleeping?”
“Yeah. Like a log.”
“I-I was... Is that so...?”
“But more importantly, my mana’s recovered. It’s about time we got out of here.”
With her awake now, there was no reason to stick around. I stood up immediately.
I’m going to bust a hole in the ceiling with Crush. A pitfall is a trap where the ground opens up beneath you, so I’ll crush the bit that opens and break us free!
I aimed Crush at a forty-five degree angle.
“Euracia. Hold on tight to me. And don’t let go no matter what.”
“Like this? Or is this better?”
“Like that is fine. Here we go!”
I activated Crush. The motion instantly took us flying up through the hole it blasted in the ceiling. At last, we were free from the trap. The light of mana circles on the corridor ceiling welcomed us—no sight could’ve been more gratifying after all that darkness.
“Wow! That was incredible! I never would have thought you could use your special attack this way.”
“I know, right? But don’t fall for me, okay? You aren’t my type,” I said with a shrug of my shoulders. Euracia raised her hands in anger.
“What’s this, out of nowhere?! You aren’t my type either!”
Something was clearly different. She was more open about her emotions than before.
“Did you realize there’s drool on your face, Your Highness?”
Euracia looked shocked at this revelation before quickly turning away. Shocked and embarrassed. It was a natural human expression. It had been too dark for me to see when she’d laughed for a brief moment inside the trap. So this was the first time I was seeing her face so expressive. Like I’d expected, her face looked totally different when it was full of emotion compared to the stiff expression she’d had up until now. It had been like looking at a cute doll before, but now it felt like the doll had come to life.
“Th-That can’t be right!”
“You’re tired. It happens. Anyway, I think this is the first time I’ve seen your face look like that, instead of your usual tense expression... You know, you’re way cuter like this.”
“That is not true! And ‘cute’...? First you say I’m not your type, and then this?! It’s not fair! And my name is Euracia, not ‘Your Highness’!”
“I just called you that as a joke, you know? Didn’t you get that? Your Drooling Highness!”
“Urgh... You’re such a villain!”
Even the way she raised her hands angrily was adorable in this situation.
“Anyway, let’s head in deeper,” I said, beginning to move cautiously. “Test the ground with your sword as we go, just to be safe.”
After some time, we came to a massive hall. The floor of this chamber was dominated by a gigantic mana circle, making it clear at a glance that it was no ordinary place. Euracia’s ring was silent—apparently it only responded to the gate. As she entered alongside me, Euracia cocked her head to the side.
“This place is kind of strange,” she said.
“What do you mean? Do you sense something?”
“The amount of mana in the air is different. Denser, you might say...”
It’s dense with mana? Does she mean there’s more here than elsewhere? I can’t sense mana myself, so I wouldn’t know.
“Isn’t it good that there’s a lot of mana? Seems like it’d be useful for training.”
“When there’s a lot of mana, your mana recovers quickly, but the maximum amount of mana you can store in your body is determined by your natural talent for wielding it. Of course, even without talent, it’s possible that you could potentially raise that limit by training diligently for a long time, but I’ve never heard of it happening in a short time just because the air was particularly dense with it...”
Yeah, that makes sense. Increasing the maximum amount of mana your body can store would mean raising your ability scores. A-class or B-class commanders can store way more mana in their body than your average person. It’s on an entirely different level like that.
“Wait... Whaaaaa?!”
But this time, her reaction was even more strange. The way she responded to things was changing moment by moment.
“It’s weird. The mana... It’s violently shaking inside of me...! Huh? Wha?”
Euracia closed her eyes, still standing. At the same time, the gigantic mana circle on the floor shone white! Euracia abandoned herself to the flow, putting her hand out in front of her. As she did, a round blob of energy appeared over her hand. It was blue, the same color as her own mana. There was a change to Euracia’s ability score as the blue mana was sucked into the palm of her hand! Her Martial rose from 87 to 89. An incredible +2 increase.
“Your maximum mana just went up, didn’t it?”
“Yes. I felt the mana flow into me...and increase my capacity. What in the world...?”
Euracia looked at me with considerable surprise. How should I know what’s going on? Not even being able to sense mana, I had no answer for her.
“By the way,” she added, “after that sudden increase, I don’t sense mana anymore.”
“None? At all?”
She gave a firm nod.
That would mean this mana circle has the effect of raising a person’s maximum mana value. That wasn’t a thing in the game, but maybe it’s something like a bonus quest or a bonus item?
The mana circle began to shine again. That meant it could raise another person’s mana—mine, specifically. But it wasn’t like I used mana myself. That’s why, unlike with Euracia, it changed nothing for me. I opened up the system and kept staring at it, but nothing changed.
“How is it for you?” Euracia asked, approaching me. I didn’t know how to respond.
What about Daitoren? It’s an item with white light. And it has its own level too.
This mana circle also gave off a white light. So they were the same type. Both the bonus item Daitoren and this mana circle were created by the game’s management team! I thrust Daitoren into the mana circle. Well, if it can’t do anything for me, I might as well try it on this.
That changed something.
Usually, Daitoren only shone with white light when using Crush.
But it emitted a powerful white light as it resonated with the mana circle, and also spawned countless little white lights that filled the space around us.
Daitoren is now level 2.
Daitoren’s Martial cap is now 105.
Messages popped up one after another!
True Crush has been created.
Instantly kills or incapacitates an enemy with up to +5 Martial.
Also neutralizes the opponent’s mana skills.
A Martial cap of 105. Daitoren boosted my Martial by +30 for half an hour, but up until now that +30 could only bring me to a maximum of 100. That meant if I equipped Daitoren when I had a Martial of 70, it would raise my Martial to 100, and if I equipped it when I had a Martial of 71, it would only raise it to 100, not 101. That cap was just raised by 5 whole points.
In other words, if I equipped Daitoren when I had a Martial of 75, it would raise my Martial to 105. That would put me on the higher end of S-class.
Of course, if I equipped it with a Martial of 76, my Martial would still only be 105. If Daitoren goes up to level 3, that cap would probably rise again too. So far, this all made sense to me. But as for the new skill it had generated, it said that it could neutralize an enemy’s mana skills, but what exactly that meant was unclear.
Did it neutralize them and attack? Or just neutralize them?
Although, come to think of it, the game never had abilities that were both offensive and defensive.
“Hmm... How mysterious.”
Euracia looked at the shimmering white lights that had filled the hall, a contented look on her face. With all those motes as a backdrop, she shone almost like a goddess. How could I have told her she wasn’t my type? Honestly, that was a total lie. Was there a man in this world who wouldn’t have been captivated by her charms? If she had been born into my old world, she was attractive enough that she could have aimed to become a top-class celebrity. On top of that, she also had a certain nobility to her. Her regal nature elevated that pretty face of hers several times over, making her feel unattainable.
Yeah, she’s even out of my league. This world is like a game. Uniting the continent will have to come first. I don’t think I can achieve unification by also pursuing romance on the side. That’s why conquering this world has to be my priority for now.
Once that’s done, then I can look to the future.
Will I go back to my own world? Or keep living in this one? Yeah, that’s the question. Maybe I’ll get the choice once I finish my conquest? This world used to be a game. They’d better at least give me the chance to make that decision.
Anyway, this goddess looked on, mystified, standing by my side as she watched Daitoren absorb the light motes.
“That has to be a hundred times more light than for me... Did it just get a hundred times stronger?!” she asked, her eyes full of hopeful expectation, as if my gain was her own.
“No, of course not. Just a little, okay?”
The mana circle vanished after Daitoren’s level went up. It was no longer active. Did that mean it had a limit of two people? We must’ve used up all the mana the circle was releasing. In that case, maybe there were places like this in other kingdoms.
It seemed highly probable. Since it responded to Euracia’s ring, that meant it was built by the Ancient Kingdom. And if that was true, it was unlikely they’d only ever built one of them, here in Brijit, the southernmost territory. What if there were even more incredible facilities in the capital of the Ancient Kingdom?
That would be excellent.
If I could find them, wouldn’t I be able to raise not just my abilities, but those of my retainers up to the limits of their talent? In the game, I was able to boost their abilities with items. Did this mean that kind of fun character-raising feature was still in play here? If so, I figured this was all part of the bonus. Everything related to the Ancient Kingdom was.
The problem was I didn’t know where they were.
Come to think of it, could it be that the treasures that the Twelve Houses split among themselves—the twelve treasures, including Jint’s Nameless Sword—are hints to their locations? No, hold on. Those twelve treasures can’t just be hints. Hmm. I have absolutely no idea.
It was Euracia’s ring that found this place. The pendant-shaped item that I used to access the gold vault under Eintorian Castle didn’t react to this kind of facility at all. That likely meant that the facility inside the castle wasn’t built in the time of the Ancient Kingdom. It was a treasure amassed by generations of Eintorians, seeking to regain their former glory after the fall of the Ancient Kingdom. That being the case, as things stood, Euracia’s ring was my only means of finding places like this one.
“Euracia. That ring of yours... Could I borrow it sometime?”
“This? Of course, I wouldn’t mind lending it to you...”
“Oh, great!”
“But I can’t.”
She wouldn’t mind, but she can’t? What’s that mean?
As I was wondering that, she held the ring up in front of my eyes.
“Ever since I first put it on, I haven’t been able to take it off. Father tried to remove it, but couldn’t...”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes. We always thought this ring was the key to the treasury, so it should have gone to my little brother, the king... But once I put it on, it wouldn’t come off. I guess you could say that, after that, it was decided that I would be the one to hold on to it...”
Sure enough, it didn’t want to budge. It was like it had merged with her finger.
Does this mean she was the key to all the bonuses? Assuming there’s only one ring, that is.
“Do you need it so badly you have to look so serious?”
“Uh, well...”
Because it was connected to the bonus items, the urgency of my need for it must have shown on my face.
“Then allow me to cut it off. Losing a single finger won’t kill me,” Euracia said plainly, taking hold of Rossade.
“Wh-Whoa there, settle down. What’re you saying? You just need to help me when I need it. No need to chop your finger off.”
“Are you sure?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m sure. Don’t say crazy stuff like that. I don’t want your finger...”
“Hmph! You want to say you don’t need a finger from a woman who’s not even your type? Is that it?”
Uh, no this isn’t about that. I don’t need any fingers.
She kept on staring at her hand. If I left her like this, she might really cut it off, so I decided it was time to change the subject.
“Anyway, let’s get out of here. If this was really made in the time of the Ancient Kingdom, there must be an exit on the Brijitian side too.”
If this facility was like the treasuries in the Eintorian and Rozern Domains, this place was likely connected to somewhere in the Brijitian capital too. If so, and if we could infiltrate the city through that point, that would be a far more certain death blow to Brijit than us going back and trying to chase after the United Army. It might be a risky bet, but it was one I was strangely convinced I would win.
*
After that, we walked for another half a day before finally reaching the exit. As I’d predicted, it was connected to a wall in Brijit’s royal palace. Nobody had ever imagined there was a hidden corridor behind the wall, so everyone was shocked by our sudden appearance.
“Intruders! Assassins!”
The palace guards moved into action, but they were no match for Euracia’s Martial, or for mine when I was using Daitoren. Given that our goal was just to run away, not to wipe them out, it was impossible for them to stop us.
“Are you okay, Euracia?”
“Yes! I’ll have my revenge for Rozern!”
“Okay, let’s keep going all the way to the gates.”
We escaped the palace and fled to the castle gates. Because that secret passage was connected to the inside of Brijit’s palace, it made things simple. Even more so than when I fought to hold the gates open at Lynon Castle. That’s because Bautore had taken the vast majority of the Brijit Kingdom’s manpower with him, leaving the palace with far fewer defenders than Lynon Castle had.
I’d given Fihatori orders to descend the mountain and set up camp in front of Brijit’s royal palace. In a way, this had ended up serving as a test of his capability. Would he be able to lead an army and be of assistance to me? Jint lacked any talent for leading forces. That’s how I was feeling as we fought our way to the gates, anyway. We slowly started to open the massive gates of the Brijitian capital. This was a castle bereft of its lord. It was basically empty.
“Euracia, we probably don’t need to fight anymore. Look outside.”
Once I saw what was out there, I was convinced. Even if Fihatori was part of Ronan’s faction, he was still a highly capable commander.
“Oh?” Euracia came over to where I was standing and looked outside.
She must have seen it too: Fihatori, standing at the front of the army, with the massive flag of the Runanese Army. My eyes met with his, and I nodded.
“Everyone, advance into the castle!” he commanded the Runanese forces that had crossed the mountains.
Jint was already rushing forward before he gave the order, and the open gates of Brijit welcomed the battle fiend inside. The result was that we occupied the Brijitian capital in less than half a day. It was a hollowed-out shell, with only the palace garrison left to defend it. There was a large noble class in Brijit, but they were only nobles. There was nothing they could do without troops to command. Obviously, our main enemy was still out there, swimming free, so I left their flags flying from the castle towers as I returned to the palace.
Now all that remained was the big fish—the King of Brijit.
There was just one last battle to go.
*
In order to make sure she looked good for the final battle, I pointed out to Euracia that her hair was an awful mess. I wanted her to look properly majestic.
“Hey, do you plan on showing yourself in front of the enemy looking like that? You’ve got an image to maintain. Shouldn’t you go into the final battle looking awesome?”
“Huh...? Do I look strange somehow?”
“There’s a mirror in the room over there. You should see it for yourself.”
After giving me a dubious look, Euracia trudged off to the room I’d pointed to. Then, sure enough...
“Huh? Whaaaaa?!”
There was a cry of disbelief. She totally looked like a ghost. She had messy hair like the famous one that came crawling out of TVs. Yet she was still beautiful.
“Wh-What in the world...?”
Hands trembling, Euracia began brushing her hair in front of the mirror. But she was making a mess of it. This was a woman who’d lived with nothing but a sword in her hand. Her maids had always done her hair for her.
“You’re not brushing it properly... Do you think you can get it back to how it was that way?”
“I-I can manage that much...!”
It was only getting worse, so I snatched the brush out of her hands.
“Our intel says that the King of Brijit will be arriving soon. There’s no time, so I’ll do it for you.”
“Huh? You will?” She looked at me uneasily.
Obviously, there were maids in this castle. But we couldn’t trust them in the slightest. It wasn’t completely out of the question that they might suddenly try to assassinate Euracia while brushing her hair. That was just an excuse, though. I mostly just wanted to do it myself.
“Just sit still and give me a chance.”
I gently stroked her hair from top to bottom with my palm. Her pretty hair swayed in my hand. Then I used the brush, gently working my way down. Little by little, I got all the flyaway hairs under control. It would’ve been best if she could wash her hair first, but there wasn’t time for that. In which case, the next best thing to do was to either tie it back or braid it.
“I’ll braid it for you the way you normally have it.”
“You can do that...? Unbelievable. Even I struggle with that a little!”
Unsurprisingly, she wouldn’t admit outright that she couldn’t do it. Well, it was only thanks to my little sister that I knew how. My mother was always busy with work, often leaving me to look after my sister, so I’d learned how to do her hair thanks to that. I’d had to do it for her all the time when she was in elementary school.
Now she was over twenty and could look after herself, but back then she’d always been asking for complicated styles. She was a real pain in the butt.
Little sisters are the worst.
Anyway, that’s why I was confident I could do Euracia’s hair for her. I set to work, doing the best job I could.
“Well?” I asked.
“It looks nice... But... Just how many women did you have to get close to, to get this good? Running your fingers through their hair...”
She looked at me suspiciously. Clearly this was a misunderstanding.
“That’s not how it is. You’re the first one outside of my family. There may be lords out there who have a bunch of women serving them at their leisure, but I’m not one of them. Love is important to me.”
“Huh...?” Euracia looked at me with disbelief.
What’s going on with her image of me?
“Liar.”
“I’m telling you, it’s true.”
“What kind of love?”
“What kind...? The kind that makes your heart race just thinking about your lover, even when they’re not around?”
“Hmm... You’re that pure, are you?”
“Yeah. What, are you the type that could marry or go out with just about anyone?”
“Of course not!”
“Well, how about throwing away your status as princess for love, then? If you stay in Rozern, you’re eventually gonna get married off to some noble or royal from another country that you’ve never met. You know that right?”
“That’s the one thing I don’t want. If that ever happened, then I’d slit his throat on our wedding night and kill myself too!”
She’d kill herself? Extreme, much?
“Uh, or you could just reject the political marriage in the first place. Or run away if that wasn’t an option!”
“You mean run away after I killed him?”
I mean you should run away before you end up going to his place at all, obviously. And you know that too. Honestly, this woman...
“You wanna fight?” I asked.
Euracia looked away.
“You...smiled just now, right? Like you’re enjoying it!”
“Whatever do you mean? I did no such thing.”
I tried to call her out on her blatant smiling, but she was back to her usual princess face, denying it in an instant.
*
Faced with the terrible results of his invasion, Bautore had been left with no choice but to give the order to retreat and run for his life. Less than two thousand men were able to escape with him. It was clear to anyone that continuing the war was impossible. Because of that, he was retreating to his own domain now.
“We’re going home to Brijit! We’ll be back! We’ll never forget what happened here! Never!”
Bautore gritted his teeth and ran for home. Obviously, the Royal Rozernan Army gave chase. Escaping his pursuers with great difficulty, Bautore returned to his own country.
The Rozernans didn’t keep following across the Brijitian border. Bautore snorted at their timidity.
“They really are no big deal. These cowards can’t cross the border because they fear to tread on Brijitian soil! Gah hah hah hah!”
Bautore still believed this defeat had been caused by his own bad planning. The enemy weren’t so impressive! With his usual self-confidence, he believed that so long as he didn’t let his guard down, he still could reoccupy Rozern.
As much as he hated to, he recognized that his losses were considerable. Seething with rage and with a single-minded focus on how he would absolutely be coming back for revenge, Bautore shouted, “Isn’t that right, men?!”
His men, however, felt differently. They didn’t want to see any more of the Runanese reinforcements that had crushed them at every turn. These soldiers, with bellies filled with nothing but water, couldn’t possibly be of one mind with Bautore.
“What’s wrong?! Why can’t I hear your voices?!”
Enraged, Bautore cut down the closest soldier.
“We can’t do anything without spirit! Now, let me hear you raise your voices!”
When they saw this, the nearby soldiers forced themselves to cheer out of a simple desire not to be killed themselves. But it was the worst thing he could have done. His Command, which had been maintained by his personal charisma up until now, rapidly plummeted...from 97 all the way to under 70.
Obviously, he didn’t realize this.
He’d led his men in this heavy-handed way, enduring starvation until they reached a domain on the other side of the border. He was thinking about it simplistically, believing the problem would be solved once they had eaten.
“We’re going back to the capital! We’ll prepare our forces and then have our revenge!”
“Of course, sire! I swear we’ll have our revenge!”
Isenbahan agreed with him in order to protect his own life. Internally, he was thinking that maybe he would be best to make plans to flee the country as soon as they got back.
And so, Bautore finally returned to the Brijitian capital. However, he was met with silence at the gates.
Seeing this, Isenbahan cried out in surprise. “Why has no one come out to greet His Majesty on his return?!”
That’s right.
It was normally expected that not only the nobles, but all the servants of the palace would greet the king when he returned. They had sent a messenger ahead when they arrived in a nearby domain. Because they weren’t returning victorious, there was no need for a grand celebration, but tradition demanded they at least all come out to greet him.
This was nothing less than an affront to his rights as king. Bautore’s face turned red with indignation as he approached the gates. For some reason, the massive gates of the Brijitian capital were unmanned, without the garrison or even a gate guard anywhere to be seen.
It was awfully quiet inside the capital too.
No one walked the streets. His people were nowhere to be seen.
The soldiers gazed around as they entered the silent city. They looked to one another, cocking their heads to the side in confusion. Their commanders did the same.
“What in the world...?” Isenbahan murmured, a look of suspicion on his face.
Once they had all entered the capital, harboring these doubts, the gates suddenly closed behind them. At the same time, soldiers who had been lying in wait came rushing out of the alleys and other places they’d been hiding. Men who had been hiding atop the castle walls also came down in front of the closed gates, cutting off their escape route.
These soldiers were not Brijitian. Incredibly, the men in uniforms of the Runanese Army had suddenly appeared in the center of the royal capital.
“Y-You curs! How...?! How are you here?!”
Bautore was speechless at this unbelievable development. Of course, Erhin was standing at the vanguard of the Royal Runanese Army.
*
It was finally time to put an end to this war.
The gates were closed and surrounded by soldiers. There was nowhere to run. The King of Brijit had no hope in this situation without Ganeif. He couldn’t fight against twenty thousand men in the completely enclosed space of the walls. There was no denying he was completely surrounded.
“A mere cur like you, stop me? Impossible! I am the master of this continent!” Bautore bellowed in my direction.
I wasn’t even looking at him anymore. He was just a genocidal maniac. Nothing more, nothing less. Unlike Valdesca Frann of Naruya, he wasn’t a strategist, or a man of great character who could have still inspired awe and respect in me.
“Attack! Wipe out the Brijitian remnants!”
At my command, the Runanese troops that were surrounding the Royal Brijitian Army rushed out from all over. A one-sided battle soon commenced. Euracia ran towards the King of Brijit. Her Martial score was already about equal to his, but Bautore also needed to take on the rank-and-file soldiers at the same time.
In other words, he was no match for Euracia.
This is the price for your massacres in Rozern!
In vengeance, Euracia impaled Bautore through the throat with Rossade.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-02-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter4_2.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
“Yeaaaaaaahhh!” The Runanese soldiers cheered at the death of the enemy’s king.
The Brijitians who saw it began surrendering, their fighting spirit vanquished. No, they’d never truly had the will to fight to begin with. That’s why this war essentially ended the moment their king perished.
“Woooooooooo!” The Runanese soldiers let out an even more excited cheer.
Standing among them, I shouted, “This is all thanks to you people. I am sure you’ll be paid your due reward. So feel free to get drunk on victory. I’ll even allow you to drink alcohol today. But you mustn’t lay a hand on the people of Brijit. I intend to prosecute war criminals to the fullest extent of the law!”
*
Fihatori slammed his hand down on the table. The King of Runan had ordered Erhin to return.
Hearing news of this before Erhin, as a retainer of the Ducal House of Ronan, Fihatori shook his head. He didn’t like the king’s decision. There were another fifty thousand troops being sent to reinforce them, so it was only a matter of time before the domains of Brijit surrendered.
As such, the king wanted to recall Erhin before the occupation began so that he could give all the credit to a member of his dynasty.
“I never realized our country was this rotten.”
As far as Fihatori was concerned, at this point Erhin was a comrade who’d fought alongside him. Not only had Erhin been open with him, he’d even entrusted Fihatori with command of the front line, where it was easiest to distinguish himself.
That’s why Fihatori had opened his heart to Erhin. He only meant to monitor him at first, but he’d totally changed his mind along the way. Fihatori had also fought alongside Erheet Demacine, a fellow retainer of the Ducal House of Ronan.
He respected Erheet too, of course, but Erhin had two things Erheet didn’t: the power to unite his troops, and a strategic mind.
To that end, Fihatori burst into the provisional office with the intention of persuading them to change their minds.
Even if that ended up going against Duke Ronan’s wishes.
*
I started preparing to go home. There had been a rapid shift after we took the Brijitian capital. The King of Runan, hearing reports of what happened, had dispatched an impressive fifty thousand more troops. He’d only given me thirty thousand to protect Rozern and destroy Brijit. Once he saw that it was becoming a reality, he’d hurried to send more.
Was that his greed, causing him to focus on the big prize dangling in front of him instead of the danger of Naruya?
I predicted this, of course. His greed will be the ruin of Runan. If he sends troops to Brijit, that will make it all the harder to fend off the impending Grand Subjugation from Naruya. And once Naruya takes the capital, I plan to absorb the leaderless domains of Runan!
That would mean conflict with Naruya, surely, but it would all come down to a battle of strategy. As such, I didn’t have time to waste here now that my objective was accomplished.
Of course, I hadn’t fully occupied Brijit. But that was a job for the newly dispatched Runanese troops.
And the King of Runan wants it that way too, I’m sure.
It defied common sense to replace the commander who had taken care of the most vital and dangerous work, but I was actually appreciative of the snub.
Naruya is the real enemy—one that a minor opponent like Bautore isn’t even worth comparing to. I’ve done what I set out to accomplish, so I can go home without regrets. I can always retake this domain later.
“They’re ordering you to return to Runan at once as soon as the fifty thousand men arrive!”
“If that’s what they want, I guess I’ll have to return, then.”
Noticing my utter lack of emotion about this, Fihatori frowned.
“Once they’ve recalled the commander who occupied the Brijitian capital, I expect Duke Ronan’s subordinates to arrive en masse. You’re not going to tell me you don’t know what that means, are you?”
What it means, huh?
There was no way I couldn’t have known. The king and duke meant to occupy all of Brijit, then steal the credit for my accomplishment.
“Before I answer that, you’re one of Ronan’s men, aren’t you? I’m surprised to see you’re so concerned about me.”
“No... This is different!”
Fihatori unexpectedly shook his head. It was as if he truly thought what they were doing was beyond the pale. Fihatori Delhina was a talented man, to be sure. The problem was that he was a retainer of the Ducal House of Ronan.
He was a count, but one without a domain of his own, which meant he was lower ranked than I was in the peerage. There were a lot of landless counts. Especially ones serving as retainers to high nobility, like the duke.
That’s what he was.
If he kept his mouth shut, this might even be an opportunity to receive a domain of his own. Unlike me, who wasn’t part of Ronan’s lineage, he was one of the duke’s retainers. Most of the credit for what I’d done was probably going to him. If he was saying this to me in spite of that, did it represent a change of heart?
That’s not a bad thing. I always welcome talented people.
Fihatori had been an upstanding leader in the battles we fought.
He’s shown me he can do wonderful work.
He also excelled at following orders precisely.
But it’s too soon.
Considering his circumstances, I can wait a little longer before having him join me.
With that thought, I shrugged. “Well, it’s fine. I have no desire to get embroiled in political struggles. Anyway, I expect you’ll be getting a domain in Brijit after this. Congratulations. Heh heh.”
“I don’t think it’s any laughing matter! And I could never! I won’t accept such a reward while you receive nothing, Commander!”
“That’s not the way to do this.” I shook my head. “If you’re really concerned about what’s in my best interest, then stay in Brijit. If you’re given a domain, take it. And continue to swear loyalty to Duke Ronan. If you’re able to amass power in your domain, then I’m sure you’ll be able to help me out someday.”
“What are you talking about...?”
“There’re more important things right now. The rewards to be paid to our men, for one thing. I kept talking about how they’d be rewarded to keep them motivated.”
“But will His Majesty make good on that promise? Based on what I know of his personality...”
Fihatori’s eyes suggested it might be impossible.
Yeah, that’s right. There’s no way that the King of Runan’s ever going to pay the soldiers those rewards.
“He likely won’t. But it’s important to be true to your word. If I don’t keep my word, then I doubt the soldiers who served me so well this time will ever listen to me again.”
It’s incredibly important to win the men’s loyalty. Especially since I mean to absorb Runan’s manpower later.
“If His Majesty won’t pay, I’ll have to reward them personally. I’ll send the money, so could you make sure the men get it for me?”
“Of course I will. By my honor, I swear to make sure the other nobles can’t embezzle it. But are you really going to head back like this? If you were to stay, then...!”
“You’ve got to look at the big picture. If you get too caught up on the little things, you’ll miss out on it.”
As I said that, shaking my head, Fihatori looked back at me with his mouth hanging open like an idiot.
*
He wasn’t the only one questioning things. Euracia was too.
“Erhin, I wanted to ask you something.”
“And what might that be?”
“Um... What is your objective? I want to learn about your ideals. Because I can’t imagine you’re the kind of person who’d be satisfied as nothing more than the lord of a small domain.”
She picked up on that, huh? She’s got a better eye than I gave her credit for. Fihatori didn’t seem to have figured it out, though.
“What is it you dream of? Could it be...” Euracia looked both ways to check that no one else was around. “You hope to become the King of Runan?”
Honestly, her words surprised me. Because while she was wrong, she also wasn’t too far off the mark.
“You’re thinking too small.”
“Huh...? Did you say small? Runan is small?”
“Setting that aside... In regard to my ideals, they’re nothing too grand. Happiness for me and my comrades...that’s all I want. The continent is in a state of chaos. Most nations will invade each other if they see the slightest opening. That’s why the havoc of war never ends. The only way to find happiness in an era like that...is through unification. If the continent is united as one, then peace will naturally follow.”
This was just me saying things in a grandiose manner. My actual goal was to beat the game. That meant unifying the continent. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if we got peace as a result?
It was obvious, looking at history, that the era of unification that followed the Sengoku Period was better for the people. Comparing life in the Sengoku Period to life under the Tokugawa Shogunate in the Edo Period, the latter was obviously better. A world where war raged every day was totally different from one where there was continuous peace, even if it was only on the surface.
Especially since this continent was originally one country.
“That’s why I intend to fight. To end all war. Of course, even after unification, there will be another war someday. But between a country where there’s times of peace, and a land that’s at constant war with itself, anyone should be able to see that the former is preferable. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Once the land was united, it wouldn’t be easy for another war to start. Assuming that the unified kingdom was governed by a reasonable administration, peace would probably last for centuries. That’s how it was in Earth’s history, after all.
Euracia just stared at me. “Peace for Rozern,” she said at length, “and for everyone on the continent... Is that what you’re talking about?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Everyone, without distinction.”
“Is that possible?”
“Who can say? It’s what I’m going to work towards. So, if you want to cast aside the Rozern name, and work with me as just Euracia, you’re welcome anytime.”
Euracia blinked for a moment at this proposal.
“The scale of this discussion has gotten a little too big for me. Who in the world are you?!”
“More importantly, Euracia...”
“What? Please, don’t confuse me anymore!”
“No, no, this is about something else. Come to Eintorian anytime you’d like. You’ll always be welcome there. You have no friends, right? I’m offering to be your friend.”
“What are you saying?! Of course I have friends!”
“Oh, yeah? Who?”
“There’re...maids I get along with!”
“Can you call that having friends?”
“Urkh...!”
Euracia began shaking. It seemed I’d hit her where it hurt.
“I don’t know!” she shouted angrily and stormed out of the room.
*
In Runan’s royal palace, the King of Runan greeted me with great satisfaction. “Gah hah hah hah!” he bellowed. “I always believed in you. Excellent work. Just marvelous. You really did it!”
“You did well, Erhin.” Duke Ronan didn’t hesitate to praise me either. The problem was that praise was all I was getting.
They seemed disinclined to give me any reward. Their intentions were so transparent. Honestly, they surely thought I was a sucker.
“I take it all of Brijit shall fall into Runan’s hands soon, Your Majesty?”
“I suppose so. The extra troops I sent seem to be doing well. Gah hah hah hah!”
“No one can deny that I was the one who made it possible for them,” I declared to the king’s laughing face.
The king and Duke Ronan looked to one another, as if the moment had finally come. The smiles faded from their faces. It felt like they were already planning to dispose of me once the war ended.
“Hmm, couldn’t they, though? You never know, really. It might have been possible without you. Perhaps Fihatori could have done it by himself.”
The king was spouting nonsense. They didn’t come greedier than this.
“Sire, I won’t ask much of you. And I know it’s my fate to keep fighting on your behalf. I may not have done much of import, but could I ask for some reward, no matter how small?”
When I mentioned future wars, the king coughed a little. He looked like he’d realized, like it or not, he had no choice.
“Yes, I suppose so. You’ve accomplished something. Nobody’s denied that. You’ll have to be rewarded. Yes, a reward. Will a gold bar do?”
Oh, screw you. I’ve got all the gold I need. More than Runan’s economy.
“You are the one who can use that gold best, wouldn’t you agree, sire? Could I, perhaps, have a domain on the Brijitian coast instead?”
“A domain on the coast?”
“Yes. There’s a place called Loctoin. I hear the coast is beautiful there.”
“Loctoin? Hey! Fetch a map at once!”
Soon, a map was spread out in the audience chamber, one on which I could point out that domain for them.
“Why a domain on the coast?” Ronan asked, seemingly reluctant to give me even this tiny scrap of land.
“I’ve always wanted to own a domain on the coast. A quiet, little stretch of land by the seaside. I intend to set it up as a resort. I’d say that will lure in some fine women, wouldn’t you?”
“Aah, right. I’d forgotten you were so excessively fond of women. Well, it seems small enough we could give it to you, but...”
“Then could I ask to have a document to that effect made here and now, pressed with the royal seal?” I asked.
“Sire, I don’t believe there’s any need for such haste. Erhin, could you return again tomorrow?”
Ronan’s greedy. He won’t let even a small domain slip away so easily.
I nodded, not having any other choice. The next day, I came for another audience with the king. It was obvious what Ronan had been up to the night before. He’d ordered a thorough investigation of the land I requested.
He knew that they were going to have to give me something to keep using me in future wars, but he had no intention of giving me a domain from which I could expand my power base.
“I discussed the coastal domain you requested with His Majesty,” Ronan said, pointing to one spot on the map. “I’ve picked out an even better place than the one you mentioned. A domain by the name of Bertaquin. There really is nothing there, so you’ll be able to blow off steam there without attracting public attention. Heh heh heh. A secluded beach, completely surrounded by mountains. No matter what you do there, no one can easily flee, right?”
He pointed to a spot in a remote corner of Brijit. A little seaside city. Honestly, you couldn’t even call it a city, and the domain was totally surrounded by mountains. Really, mountains were about all the domain had in it.
“I can have that domain?”
“Yes. We’ve prepared a rescript pressed with the royal seal. It took a lot of work to find the best domain for you. Do you not like it?”
“P-Perish the thought...!” I said, laying it on thick.
The two of them both looked at me as my expression clouded over.
“I gratefully accept, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, you do? I’m glad you like it, then. Gah hah hah hah hah hah!”
The king let out a roaring laugh, thinking he’d managed to fob off a worthless domain on me in place of any real reward. Mentally, I sneered at him as I accepted the rescript and left the palace. Yeah, that’s right. The joke was on him.
Bertaquin, which had seemingly nothing to speak of, was precisely the domain that I’d wanted all along.
I had predicted that if I asked for a seaside retreat, they’d give me the most worthless piece of land on the Brijitian coast. That’s just how the king and Ronan were. Ronan was probably laughing at my mistake in mentioning using it as a resort when he picked this domain for me. He figured that, given Bertaquin was ideal for my stated purpose, I couldn’t possibly say no. Obviously, I never had any intention of refusing.
In fact, Bertaquin had the most abundant iron mines on the continent.
Eintorian had to import iron because of a lack of it, but those imports were managed by the royal family. That had made iron rather difficult to come by. Iron was a strategic resource, and every nation managed it judiciously. As such, being able to harvest it from my own domain was a massive gain.
Of course, Brijit hadn’t known about the iron in Bertaquin either.
In the game, the mine was only discovered once the territory was developed, and then it overflowed with iron. So only I knew about it at this point.
Yes, indeed.
This iron was what I’d wanted more than anything from this war.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Final Chapter: Heroes’ Respite
Jint had a rare smile on his face as we were about to arrive back in Eintorian.
“You’re in awfully good cheer. I don’t see you smile often, Jint.”
The man remained impassive no matter what I gave him, but it was a totally different story when it came to Mirinae. We had found a lot of stuff in Brijit’s treasury, and I’d allowed Jint to pick something out as a present for her. There was enough there that I could have let him take as much as he pleased, but receiving a large amount all at once wouldn’t have as much of an impact.
But giving a man returning from war one beautiful treasure? That was far cooler, right?
“I wasn’t smiling!” Jint insisted. “I was just practicing the expression.”
The heck does that mean?
“A shame you’ll have to return home looking like that though, all bandaged up.”
Jint’s chest wound hadn’t healed yet, so he couldn’t take the bandages off yet.
“What’re you talking about? It’s fine. When a man comes home from war, you expect him to have some wounds!”
“Oh, yeah?” I challenged him. “You can talk big in front of me, but you won’t sound so tough in front of Mirinae.”
“That’s not true,” Jint firmly denied it. I mentally scoffed at his bravado.
Anyway, that’s how Jint and I returned to Eintorian. There was much more to do still. I needed to get that iron mine developed, after all.
“Master! Welcome home.”
When we arrived at the gates of the domain, the head chamberlain and all my retainers, who had learned we were coming somehow, were there to greet us.
“Your Excellency!” My retainers bowed before me.
“You don’t need to greet us like this. On your feet, everyone!”
I dismounted from my horse and gave each of my retainers a pat on the back. Not that there were that many of them.
“Oh, right, Hadin. Did anything happen in the domain while I was away?”
Nodding to acknowledge the question, Hadin said, “No, sir. Nothing of particular note.”
“What can you tell me about the state of the domain’s forces, Yusen?”
“They’re improving, little by little! But before that, I heard about what happened. Hard as it is to believe...”
“We’ll discuss it at length later. I want to survey the domain starting tomorrow. Get things ready so I can.”
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
“Okay, you’re dismissed!”
I left behind my retainers who all looked eager to talk to me about one thing or another. I was dead tired. I didn’t have the energy left to start managing the domain right away. I couldn’t remember a good night’s sleep since going to the war zone. That’s why, with my castle home in sight, there was no room left in my head to think anything but this:
I just want to sleep!
“Your Lordship!”
Mirinae, who had been standing at the back of the group, rushed forward. The moment she did, Jint, who’d been standing behind me, looking a little out of it, burst into a grin. I’m sure she wanted to call Jint’s name first, but called out to me instead because she knew how to read the room.
“Jint didn’t cause you any trouble, did he?”
“Of course not. It’s thanks to Jint that I made it back in one piece. But I got him hurt out there. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be! We have a greater debt to you than you’ll ever know, my lord! It’s only natural he’d put his life on the line to protect you!”
After saying this, Mirinae approached Jint.
“You dummy. You’ll need to train harder! How could you let yourself get hurt after boasting you’re the strongest all the time?! Come with me!”
“Hold on, Mirinae! What about our touching reunion...?”
“Oh, shut up!”
Mirinae dragged Jint off by the ear. Battle fiend or not, he couldn’t fight back against her.
And he was just saying it wouldn’t be like this too. What a hoot.
Well, even with the two of them acting like that, Jint still looked overjoyed to see Mirinae again. I have to confess I was a little jealous, honestly.
“Let’s head to the castle, Head Chamberlain. I’d like to put everything aside for the moment and get some rest.”
“Understood!”
I climbed into the carriage he’d prepared, planning to get some sleep. Leveling up, sorting items—it could all wait. When the carriage finally came to a stop, my one and only home, Eintorian Castle, stood before our eyes. When I went inside, all of the maids were there, bowing their heads in unison.
“Welcome home, Master!”
It was a sight anyone would envy, but one I had become so used to that it stopped even registering at some point. This was probably what it meant to become numb to something.
“Just get back to work already. I’m going to my room.” I coolly ignored them as I headed towards the stairs.
I want to rest. I desperately want to rest!
“Actually, Master, there is a guest waiting for you,” the head chamberlain called after me.
A sudden visitor?
“A guest? I’m too tired today. I’ll see them tomorrow.”
“Is that so?”
“Hold on? Head Chamberlain... You haven’t prepared women and had them sent to my room, by any chance, have you?” I asked with a harsh look, realizing what he might have meant by the word “guest.” The head chamberlain hurriedly shook his head.
“Certainly not!”
“Good then. I’m going to sleep, so see to it no one interrupts me until I call for them. Understood?”
Having given these strict orders, I climbed the stairs. I had only gotten solid rest a few times in recent memory. Most days all I’d been able to get was a nap. Ironically, I had the feeling that the only lengthy rest I’d been able to take was the five hours I spent in that trap with Euracia. As a result, my feet quickened their pace of their own accord.
The bedroom was finally in sight.
I opened the door!
I saw the bed, at last—my bed, the place I could sleep!
This was the bed where I’d first awoken in this world.
It was the only place I could sleep soundly now.
This was the home where my heart was in this world.
I jumped into bed without delay. Then threw the covers over myself.
So comfy. This is it.
Soon my eyelids were growing heavy, and my body sluggish.
But that’s when it happened.
Suddenly, the window shattered with a loud smash.
Just as I was drifting off!
“What now?”
I sat up and looked towards the window. Wind came in past the shattered glass, along with an uninvited visitor. The same one who’d destroyed my window before. The moment our eyes met, she gripped Rossade, facing me in the same fighting stance she had used that time as well.
“Are you...a villainous lord?”
She asked me the same question as then too.
Oh, yeah. That’s right, huh?
I had dropped by the Runanese capital. And then I was delayed there for a few days. So it wasn’t impossible, time-wise, for her to have gotten here before me.
“And what if I am?” I asked.
“I’ll kill you,” she replied, much like back then, leveling her blade at me with a bloodthirsty look on her face.
“Whoa, hold up! Hold up! Seriously? Stop it! Euracia!”
“Hmph! This is your punishment for ignoring a guest.”
“You’re saying that merits a death sentence?”
“...”
Euracia’s sword hand stopped. Although, the fact that I could feel it pressed up against my throat was still a bit of a problem.
“You’re treating me far too coldly after saying you’d welcome me as a friend!”
With that, she lowered her blade. But because she’d jumped onto the bed with a lot of force, we suddenly found ourselves very close together.
“Besides!” Euracia exclaimed.
“Huh? There’s still more?”
Euracia started acting coy when I asked that.
“Once I returned to Rozern and thought it over, you were the first person to ever joke with me, and it was my first time ever being treated like a friend...”
“You’re going to kill anyone who jokes with you?”
“I lowered my sword, didn’t I?! Anyway, that’s how it is!”
How what is? What is she on about? How did she come to that conclusion?
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“Nothing more, nothing less!”
“Like that tells me anything!”
Euracia’s cheeks got a little flushed. Then, with a somewhat frustrated look, she continued.
“I want to be somewhere where my heart feels at ease! In Rozern, I’m not me—I’m the stern princess. Unable to laugh or cry...”
“Huh? So you’re saying your heart feels more at ease around me?”
With a meek nod, Euracia graciously admitted it.
What’s going on?
“You don’t like that?” she asked.
“Uh, it’s an honor, actually,” I replied.
Yeah. I mean that genuinely. Of course it’s an honor.
“I said before that I’ve decided to trust you, and I’ll obey you. That’s why I came. And I want to see what becomes of your ideals... Won’t you let me be with you?”
“Hey! Whoa, hold up!”
“What is it?”
“Why’re you gripping Rossade again? Are you gonna kill me if I say no?”
Euracia twitched a little, letting go of Rossade, then began to play with her hair with one hand. Then she burst out laughing. She was showing me a rare smile! Despite all the time we were in Rozern together, I’d only heard her laugh like this twice. Once in the darkness, and once just now.
Which meant I’d never seen it properly before now. I’d tried pulling on her cheeks to force a smile once, but that had ended in a colossal failure. To think she was finally smiling naturally. Because I’d wanted to see it so badly, I found her smile somewhat dangerously charming.
On top of that, Euracia moved closer to me.
“It’s not like that! I want to ask you something. I was thinking I might threaten an answer out of you.”
“Another question? Didn’t you ask me everything back then?”
“It’s a very important question,” she stressed, moving closer again.
She was so close I could hear her breathing.
Scratching her cheek with her index finger, Euracia took a deep breath.
“You said I wasn’t your type, didn’t you? Well... What is your type, then?”
Martial 92.
Command 97.
A person with stats like those was suddenly asking me my type.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Copyright
Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
by Waruiotoko
Translated by Sean McCann
Edited by Ori Starling
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © Waruiotoko 2021
Illustrations by raken
First published in Japan in 2021 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
J-Novel Club LLC
j-novel.club
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: July 2023
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
Epilogue: What Makes a Person Your Type
I woke to the sound of birds chirping.
I feel well-rested.
There was a simple reason I was so happy about that: because this wasn’t my room. It was still my castle, though, so it wasn’t hard to sleep here.
There was, of course, a reason I had been sleeping in another room and not my own bed.
*
“My type?”
“Yes...!”
“Why are you suddenly asking?”
“Because...!”
Euracia got that far and then looked away. Then, looking at the bed, she rubbed her eyes slightly. First with one hand, then with both. Did she still look anything like the icy princess of the battlefield like this?
“I’m starting to get sleepy.”
Then, without answering my question, she lay down in bed. In my bed. In short, she was dodging the conversation. Thankfully, she wouldn’t be pressing me about my taste in women. If I was this exhausted, then she must have had it even worse. She’d slept even less than I had, after all. And yet she’d come all the way to Eintorian in that state.
I don’t understand the need for such a forced march.
Euracia had gone back to Rozern. She could have rested up there first.
“Hey, Euracia! Are you planning to sleep here? You already have the room in the castle you were using before! Wake up!”
This elicited no response. She kept dozing away, breathing softly in her sleep.
Did she just change the topic and then pretend to fall asleep?
I couldn’t understand why. It was a fact that we were both dead tired, and that I’d gotten sleepy as soon as I saw the bed too. But still, could she really fall asleep so quickly in my bed?
If this is just one manifestation of her feeling relaxed around me, then, well... That’s not a bad thing.
This was the woman who’d skewered the King of Brijit through the throat in order to settle her country’s grudge against him. She never hesitated to use her sword. Showed no mercy when it came time to hold true to her convictions. She’d told me that was just a face she put on for others to see.
But the way she was acting now was too far removed from that. Realizing I had been staring at her for a while, I shook my head.
If she trusts me so much, then I can’t possibly betray that. If I were to lay a hand on her just because she fell asleep in my room, then I’d be back to being a villainous lord. And if she’s really just sleeping here because she’s tired, then touching her would be a crime. She’s vitally important to me.
There’s nothing else for it. I’ll have to go to another room myself.
I tried to move, but then realized she was clutching my clothes.
“Euracia? Listen, it’s okay if you want to sleep here. But could you let go of me?”
She didn’t budge.
Seeing no other option, I took hold of her hand and tried to open it up, but she had such a death grip on me that I couldn’t.
Ultimately, it turned into a bit of a battle.
*
And so, that’s how I ended up waking in another room. I yawned and stretched. My stamina had recovered pretty well thanks to a good night’s sleep. So, I headed out into the corridor. I was concerned about Euracia, so I headed straight to my bedroom. I rapped lightly on the door.
Knock, knock.
“Yes!” came the reply from inside. She was apparently awake.
Euracia was sitting on the bed when I entered. Her long hair was still a mess, and her expression was a bit dazed.
“You awake?”
She stared vacantly in my direction, blinking repeatedly before she slowly opened her mouth.
“Why am I sleeping here? And in your bed...?”
Why do you sound like someone who got black-out drunk?
“You’re telling me you can’t remember?”
Euracia blinked some more before nodding.
“Yes.”
“You chased me out. You were sleeping so peacefully, so I slept in another room.”
“Th-Th-Th-That can’t possibly be right!”
“But it is. Now how about you wipe that drool away.”
“Huh?”
Euracia brought a hand to her mouth.
“Eeeeeeek!”
She ran right out of the room. Thanks to that, I was able to reclaim it for myself. The bed still smelled faintly of her lingering fragrance. Feeling stupid for thinking about that, I went over to look at the broken window. The weather was fine—neither hot nor cold. So the lack of a window didn’t bother me that much.
Once I had basked in the sun for a little, staring into space, Euracia returned.
“Ohhh, I’m so exhausted. Listen, it sounds like a lot happened, but please, forget all of it!” she shouted, possibly out of breath from running.
Her previously sleep-addled features were now keenly awake.
“Uh, you can ask me to forget all you want, but it’s not that easy...”
“For-get a-bout it!” she demanded again, enunciating every syllable.
But what am I supposed to forget? The sight of her face when she’s just woken up?
“I already saw drool on your face when we fell into the trap, so...”
“Oh, you’re right. It did happen then too, now that you mention it. How odd.”
“What’s odd?”
She cocked her head to the side, seemingly perplexed, then explained, “I’d never slept in front of another person. Which means I hadn’t let anyone see me like that before... I can’t sleep all that well normally, so the idea of me falling sound asleep in front of another person is just impossible!”
Come to think of it, she felt the need to ask me if she’d really fallen asleep when we were in the trap too.
“You feel relaxed around me, right? Maybe that’s why?”
Euracia fell silent and stared at me. She soon nodded.
“You...may be right. Because I can’t find any other reason.”
“Seriously?”
She accepted that so easily I didn’t know how to respond.
“What’s that reaction for?! Anyway! That’s how it is! I’m going now!”
With that, she ran off, even though I still had more to ask her. Like why she was clutching my clothes in her sleep. She was holding on way too tight for it to have been just an accident.
But with Euracia already gone, I’d missed my chance to ask.
“Oh, well.”
I sank into the bed that still smelled faintly of Euracia and indulged in the luxury of going right back to sleep after waking up—a first for me since coming to this world.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 2
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Afterword
I am Waruiotoko. This is now my second series published by Famitsu Bunko.
Like my other series, this one is also based on a game world.
My previous work, My Life’s a Romance Game? Or So I Thought, but it Turns Out it Was a Death Game, was inspired by romance games, but this time it’s a strategy simulation game.
The kind of game where you unify the country was a major influence on me back when I was in middle and high school, and I enjoyed such games greatly, so this is what I wrote when I wanted to make my own world based on that.
In this first volume, the main character is still fighting for the country he’s attached to, but in future volumes, he’ll gradually begin fighting for his own country. Euracia, who appeared in the early part of this volume, will become an important character next time, so I hope you will look forward to that and see what happens.
Also, this series has a manga adaptation planned in Square Enix’s Gangan Joker, so please check that out too.
Finally, I would like to thank the Famitsu Bunko editing department and Ryoko Watanabe who assisted in bringing this novel to publication.
Also, I would like to thank Raken, who drew the illustrations. I feel the beautiful art helps the protagonist and other characters shine that much more.
But more than anything, this book was able to be published because of you, the readers, who’ve supported me.
I hope to keep working hard and write more entertaining works.
Waruiotoko
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Chapter 1: The Villainous Lord
You have reached Level 99!
You have successfully unified the land.
The in-game messages sparkled. This was my current obsession—a game set in another world’s warring states period. I’d been playing it extensively since launch. Now, finally, I had succeeded in unifying the land under my control.
You have a message from the management.
The moment I finished clearing the game, a message window that I’d never seen before popped up. Did the game management team really send direct messages to players?
This was a single-player game, but it did have a leaderboard that tracked players’ conquest scores. It required internet connection for that, which meant it was certainly possible they could have sent me a message.
Do I get a bonus of some sort? Like an item?
My curiosity piqued, I decided to just click the message and see what it was about. Once I did, another message filled the screen.
The management team highly approves of your strategy. Now try for glory. This is a bonus given only to the number one player—you.
Reward Details
Once you have prepared yourself to go for glory, the first thing you will need to do is to acquire the bonus. This can be done by Exploring on the first map.
Glory, you say?
Was there a sequel, or something? I’d completely cleared the game. My character had started in a rural village, become a king, and then successfully unified a land torn apart by war. I didn’t think a second playthrough would be much fun, so I hadn’t planned on doing one, but the word “bonus” caught my attention.
If they were going to come out and say it so obviously, I was starting to think that there might be some sort of secret story content.
Where on the first map do I need to Explore?
I was bursting with curiosity. I couldn’t be satisfied with just clearing the game anymore. I looked around, searching for the bonus. But for all my searching, I couldn’t find any bonus on the in-game map.
Is the management team pranking me?
It was the only thing I could imagine at this point. I pulled up the company’s home page on my PC. It had a contact form, so I shot off an email asking them what that in-game message had been all about. Just as I was thinking about how I was going to lay into them if they said it was a joke, I looked down at the clock.
My sense of accomplishment at clearing the game had vanished—no thanks to that message from the management team—leaving me with only my exhaustion. It’s already three in the morning. This wasn’t the time to sit around waiting for a reply.
“Aaah-haaa!”
I was yawning now, so I turned off the game. No, I tried to turn it off. The moment I did, I felt faint. Darkness closed in on me, and an intense dizziness overcame me.
*
I woke up.
Today started like any other day. I yawned and stretched, as was my habit. It helped clear my head a bit after waking up.
“Huh?”
What I saw in front of me, however, was completely new. I closed my eyes, thinking I must still be a little sleep-addled. Then, after rubbing them, I tried taking another look.
However, the unfamiliar scenery remained unchanged.
Is this someone’s house? I’ve never seen this bedroom in my life. It’s got this luxurious, medieval Europe vibe. I don’t think I’m drunk. Ah!
That’s when I remembered. When I tried to power off the game, my vision had gone dark, and I’d passed out after a horrible dizzy spell.
What? Am I still out cold dreaming, then?
I pinched my cheek in an attempt to wake myself up.
“Ow!”
It hurt. I’d pinched too hard.
But one thing was certain. This wasn’t a dream.
There’s no way it’d hurt like this in a dream!
Someone must have moved me after I lost consciousness.
Shuddering, I looked around me once more.
Have I been kidnapped? Where am I?
I walked to the window in front of the bed, and opened what looked like curtains.
I’ll open the window and look outside.
Outside the window was...
“What the heck?”
The absentminded words escaped my throat unintended. My jaw dropped. This wasn’t the kind of scenery I knew—the urban jungle. No, there were just clusters of one- and two-story buildings here, surrounded by a castle wall. The sun shone over the wall, making the entire area look like something from a foreign country.
But this was no time to stand around sighing at the beauty of the place. This was reality in front of me—not something on a video game screen.
The situation was utterly incomprehensible.
I’d heard some towns in Europe still looked the same as they had in the Middle Ages, but that wasn’t the sense I got here. There wasn’t even a hint of modernity. Not in the outfits people wore, or in the fact they went around on horses and in carriages rather than driving cars.
Also, I was in a castle. The biggest building in the city. I had to be, since I could see the whole city from here. I was standing by the window in that castle bedroom, when...
“Have you awoken?”
...a knock came at the door, disturbing my panicked thoughts.
Thinking it might be whoever had set up this situation, I raced over to open the door.
“What’s going on?! Why am I here?!” I demanded of the old man on the other side.
He looked at me questioningly. “Master?”
Now I had an old man calling me “master” too.
“Who’re you calling ‘master’?! And who the hell are you?!” I demanded, unable to figure out the situation. The maids standing behind the old man looked at one another, absolutely terrified by my questions.
“I am your head chamberlain, Landers. And you are Lord Erhin, the master of the Eintorian Domain. What manner of jest is this?”
The head chamberlain looked bewildered. But I was the one who was really confused. Me, joking about this? Get real.
No, wait. Erhin...Eintorian? Eintorian’s a name that shows up in the game that I was playing right before I passed out. No, that can’t be it, can it?
A lot of pretty important late-game events took place in the Eintorian Domain. Come to think of it, I seemed to recall the name of the lord of Eintorian who appeared near the beginning of the game was Erhin Eintorian.
He says I’m Erhin Eintorian?
“I doubt it, but is this the Eintorian Domain, in the Runan Kingdom?”
“Yes, of course. It is indeed the Eintorian domain in the Runan Kingdom.”
“And you’re telling me I’m Erhin, the lord of that domain?”
“Yes, Master. What...do you intend to do today?” the head chamberlain asked, his face still fearful.
I’m being deathly serious here, so what’s he talking about? No, it doesn’t really matter. Basically, as far as they’re concerned, I’m Erhin Eintorian, the character from the game? So does that mean I’m inside the game? Impossible.
It was impossible, yes, but looking at the head chamberlain, the maids, and everything else around me, I had to admit that it made the situation seem a lot more realistic.
It’s still too absurd to even consider, though.
“A mirror... Is there a full-length mirror anywhere?”
“On the floor below this one, Master!” one of the maids answered.
“Where on the floor below this one?”
“W-We will bring it at once!”
The maids ran off, probably having mistaken the question of where one was for an order to go fetch it. I was in a hurry to see myself, so I didn’t stop them. Why in the world did they think I looked like Erhin Eintorian?
“And a map! Do you have a map of this country?”
“A map? But of course. Please, wait just a moment,” the head chamberlain responded, then took off at once. He was incredibly quick about it. Well, he had been calling me “master,” so I suppose that it was only to be expected.
I returned to the bedroom and sat on the bed.
Astonishing as it seems, I’ve clearly entered the world of the game I was playing.
Eventually, the maids returned. They entered carrying the full-length mirror between them, their expressions still as frightened as ever.
But I don’t have time to assuage their fears now.
I looked at the mirror.
My body stiffened at the shocking facts. I was speechless, unable to hide my bafflement.
The reflection in the mirror...wasn’t me.
It closely resembled the in-game graphics of Erhin Eintorian. Tall and slender, but also boasting attractive muscles and a high nose. A pretty boy whose sharp eyes went well with his silver hair stared back at me.
I was definitely Erhin Eintorian, only I looked like a live-action adaptation of the drawing.
“This is me...?”
“Master?”
“I’d like to be left alone.”
“Y-Yes, at once!”
The maids obediently scurried off. Not long after, the head chamberlain returned with a large map.
“Master, I’ve brought the map you—”
I held up a hand to silence him in mid-sentence.
“Leave it there. Also, see to it that no one enters this room until I call for them.”
“Understood.”
The head chamberlain reacted the same way as the maids had, vanishing in a hurry. The large door to the bedroom closed, leaving me in solitude once more.
I’m a 25-year-old video game enthusiast. Now, all of a sudden, I’m in a scene out of a game. I’ve even become one of the game’s characters.
As unbelievable as it was—and I didn’t want to believe it—it was plain to see that I was inside the game.
Don’t tell me this is what they meant by “glory.” Are the game devs gods or something?
The reality I was being presented with was impossible. Unless the game devs were omnipotent. Considering I wasn’t surrounded by 2D or 3D graphics, but a real world built to the game’s specifications, that only made it that much more likely.
The head chamberlain’s expressions, the way he acted, and the maids’ fearful reactions...they were all so human.
Is this what they meant by glory? The game becoming real? I love games, so if this were a normal game, I’d be beside myself with glee about now. It’s not like I was all that attached to the real world anyway.
But there’s a problem. This is a war game—a game where your life is at risk as you try to survive in a chaotic era of bloody conflict.
I was getting a headache. No, I’d had one for a while now, but it was reaching new heights.
I tore at my hair as I laid out the map the head chamberlain had brought me.
The names of the regions on the map, the countries... They’re all exactly the same as in game.
“Hold on, then that means...!”
That’s when I realized the biggest issue. If I was the same Erhin Eintorian from the game’s main scenario, I had a major problem.
Erhin Eintorian’s not the protagonist. No, worse than that, he’s not even a side character. He dies right at the start of the game. I’m that guy, of all people?
This game was the story of how the countries were reunified after a civil war broke up the ancient Eintorian Kingdom centuries ago and created a situation akin to the warring states period of Japan.
The Eintorian Domain was one of the most important regions in the game, and there are frequent struggles to gain control of it. But the key thing here was that, at the start of the game, Erhin Eintorian—which now meant me—was immediately killed in a surprise attack by his neighbor, the Naruya Kingdom.
His death marked the start of the game.
In the game’s backstory, after centuries of war exhausted all belligerents, the rulers agreed to an armistice in order to prevent an outright collapse, leading to nearly two decades of peace.
However, just as people are getting used to peace, the ambitious young king of the Naruya Kingdom starts a war. And Erhin Eintorian dies in the opening hostilities of it.
On top of that, Erhin Eintorian was a villainous lord. He liked wine and women, and had no compunctions about killing the innocent. That was the kind of guy he was.
That’s gotta be why the maids were terrified by every little thing I did.
But why, out of all the characters, do I have to be a guy who dies at the start? What happens if I die in this world? Do I die in real life? Or just go back to it? That’s the biggest question. No, odds are I just die, right? I mean, I feel pain in this world, so that’d make sense.
If that’s really the case, I can’t be careless with my life. If there were no death, there wouldn’t be pain either. I feel real pain when I slap or pinch my cheek. Which means I might really die. If the gods are the ones who brought me here, maybe that makes it even more likely?
Though, that’s assuming my soul’s been transferred to the world of the game they created.
Sigh...
My head was killing me. I was going crazy. Basically, I needed to escape the demise fate had in store for me.
Can I use the system, maybe...?
The game had a level up system that only the protagonist could use.
There was no equivalent system for NPCs.
The game’s real now, but what if only I, the player, can use its systems? That’d give me some hope. Yes, so long as I have the systems! Players can level. The leveling system allows the main character to achieve rapid growth that no one else can match. If I’ve got that, then maybe I can survive!
I set about trying to check this theory, since it felt like it might help my headache to subside a little.
System. System. Yeah, I don’t really know how to use it. How should I, assuming I can? Normally, I’d use the controller, but I don’t have a gamepad here. Then, what about stats...? That’d be a reasonable thing for them to give me for a bonus! Gimme the stats!
Ryuichi Hasegawa/Erhin Eintorian
Age: 25
Lv. 1
Status
Skill: Check Information
Items
When I cried out internally with all my heart, surprisingly enough, stats appeared. The moment I saw the status window, I felt like I was going to tear up at my reunion with a long-lost friend. That’s how elated I was. On top of that, it looked like the status window in the game. No, it was completely identical.
No doubt about it, this is the status window I know.
I pointed at Status with my finger.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter1_2.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
“It doesn’t matter if he’s one of the Ten Commanders, because he’ll be facing me now!” I boasted as I sent my horse galloping towards Randall.
Just as everyone who had witnessed Randall’s feats of martial prowess started thinking I was a reckless idiot, the two of us collided.
“That was a cowardly trick you pulled. You cheeky little wretch! I’ll kill you now! Gah ha ha ha ha!”
Sneering, Randall swung his spear at me with all his might. It was a heavy-looking iron spear, but he made it look effortless.
He’s pretty confident.
And, fair enough, he had the skill to back it up, but he was still no match for me as I was now.
When I executed the Attack command with Daitoren in hand, my blade crossed with Randall’s spear.
Randall swung like he intended to slay me with just one stroke, and a look of disbelief crossed his face as he followed through with further attacks. Obviously, I used the Attack command and stopped all of them from meeting their mark.
In melee battles, long weapons have a reach advantage. But I’ve got the higher Martial score. Besides, my weapon is a super special class.
Because of that, my attacks started to push Randall back. The man swung his spear down at me with mounting confusion evident on his face.
“Die, die, dieeeee! How dare a mere lord thwart me like this!”
I stopped this attack with the Attack command too. It was clear I had the upper hand, but we were at a standstill. My attacks were pushing him back, true, but I couldn’t go for the killing blow either. If he managed to run out the clock and last for thirty minutes, then I was a dead man.
Well, in that case, I’ll use my skill. I’ve got a weapon skill now. One that I can only use with Daitoren.
Crush
Rend through everything you touch while swinging.
Will instantly kill or incapacitate an enemy with a Martial score of up to 5 points higher than your own.
Usable once per 30 minutes.
My skill could take out anyone with up to 5 more points of Martial than me in one shot, and it even came with the option to decide whether I wanted to kill or incapacitate them. Normally, insta-kill skills only let you kill your opponent, but there was a good reason why this one gave me the choice. This was a game about war and conquest. The devs had added this Incapacitate function in response to gamers demanding the ability to capture and hire enemies they liked.
That feature was faithfully replicated in this world too.
Also, the scary thing about Crush was that it allowed me to kill any enemy with a Martial score up to 5 points higher than my own with one attack.
I can only use it once every half an hour. It won’t do me any good if there are two powerful enemies. But this skill gives me the ability to walk around the battlefield. It’s a huge lifeline. I can make it through this battle because of the bonus. Without it, I bet I’d already be dead by now. Heh heh!
I had no intention of recruiting Randall, so I resolved to use Crush for the one-hit kill.
Whoosh!
The moment I did, my hand threw Daitoren at Randall on its own. The weapon smashed through the enemy’s spear with a white flash, then buried itself into the man.
“Wh-What?!”
Incaution and arrogance were killers on the battlefield. Daitoren violently impaled Randall’s head.
“I-Inconceivable...!”
And so, with one final dying scream, a fountain of blood erupted from his head. I must have looked like a coldblooded slayer, but I hadn’t been swinging the sword of my own volition. You might even say it was the Crush command that murdered him.
Besides, this is a game world turned real, and I’m in a war zone. I’m not going to be stupid and start hesitating to kill people on the battlefield. Yeah, I just have to think of this as a game!
Randall’s corpse immediately fell from his horse. The area went silent once he hit the ground with a heavy thud. Everyone, enemy and ally alike, stopped fighting and turned to stare with their mouths hanging open. I’ll bet no one thought Randall would bite it just like that.
Now’s the time!
If I was going to break their momentum, the opportunity was now, while their morale was at its lowest.
“What are you doing?! Their commander’s dead! Mop up the rest of the enemy army!” I shouted in the vague direction of my forces with a yell that came from the very bottom of my stomach.
“Yeaaaaaaaaah!” came their triumphant cheer in response.
Morale is now 90.
My forces, now with a Morale of 90, loosed their battle cries as they charged towards the enemy. Their opponents, shocked by the loss of their commander, began to retreat, lost and confused in the chaos.
This was just what I’d been waiting for. I wasn’t going to let them leave here quietly.
“Bente, raise the signal again. It’s time for the second ambush!”
“Finally, huh?! Gah hah hah hah hah!”
Bente looked overjoyed as he ran off to light the signal. Soon, I could see its smoke rising high into the sky. When Hadin saw this signal, he’d send our retreating foes into further confusion. I had some help from the system, but I’d just won a real-life battle! And my greatest prize from the battle was my own life, which, by all rights, I should have lost today.
Those two facts had me really worked up.
The sense of tension was so much greater than watching it play out in a game, and so I felt all the more excited by having won. It filled me with a sense of satisfaction, knowing that the bonus I’d received made it entirely possible that I could unite this warring land under my control.
*
The enemy had broken ranks and began fleeing down the narrow pass that cut through the mountains, which actually ended up causing them to take even greater losses. I had my forces pursue them all the way. Dawn had broken by the time we’d fully seen them across the border.
I ordered my men back to the barracks. Once they’d been instructed to get some rest, I returned to the lord’s castle by noon. Once there, I entered my bedroom, informing the maids and head chamberlain that I was not to be disturbed, and set about checking my level ups at once.
You are victorious.
You received experience for winning the battle.
Experience List
C-Class Strategy, Etc. x1
Victory against Enemy with 3-1 Advantage x3
Victory against E-class to B-class Enemy x4
The Strategy etc. experience reward is based on how efficiently I carried out my strategy. And they’re giving me a C? Was there a superior strategy?
I want to score As, not Cs. Well, no, as a gamer, what I really want is to score an S-rank, but this was a battle with my own life on the line. I don’t get any do-overs.
So, I’m pretty satisfied.
Having defeated a force three times the size of mine and killing Randall provided me extra experience.
From that, I can conclude that even if I use Daitoren for the +30 bonus, the calculation for the experience points needed to level up is still based on my original Martial of 58. One of the basic rules of this game is that you gain more experience for beating enemies that are stronger than you. So, the bonus let me earn a whole bunch of experience.
You are now Lv.2.
...
You are now Lv.8.
I’ve leveled up all the way to level 8.
You received level-up points.
Points in reserve: 700
You get level-up points for every level. I went up seven levels at once, which gives me a whopping 700 points. These points are really precious. There’s a whole mountain of things I ought to use them on.
Purchase Skills
Martial Enhancement
Item Enhancement
I can use points in these three categories. But that’s not all. Activating the skills I purchase also costs points. I can’t use them if I run out. Obviously, that only applies to normal skills, and the skills included with weapons have special limitations not related to points.
Leveling up from 90 to 91 provides a ton of points because it’s such a high level, so I won’t really need to worry about points so much once I get there. But at my current low level, I’ve got to plan things out and use them cautiously.
For now, strengthening my weapons is the priority. Just being stronger lowers the risk of dying. Because might makes right on the battlefield.
Martial Enhancement
Will you enhance your Martial? It will cost 200 points.
Currently, my Martial score sat at 58. When it reached 60, the point cost would go up. So, raising Martial wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It was going to get pretty expensive. But you only live once, and Martial’s important, so it had to be my top priority.
Once I accepted the message inside my head...
Your Martial is now 59.
...my Martial immediately went up by 1. Then, since my target was 60, I raised it again.
Your Martial is now 60.
I expended a total of 400 points raising my Martial by 2. I had a simple reason for not going beyond 60. When I used the bonus, it would take me to 90. That put me in A-class. There was a considerable difference between B-class and A-class.
Once my Martial was 60, I chose Weapon Enhancement.
Will you enhance your weapon? It will cost 300 points.
I did this to check the cost. The price had risen from 200 points to 300. That’d be because I was now in D-class. I had 300 points left at the moment.
Hrm, what should I do...?
My Martial’s hit 60 for now, so do I want to buy a skill? They’re pretty indispensable on the battlefield. They let you use special abilities, so having a number of them and using them effectively will save my hide in dangerous situations.
Of course, weapon enhancement’s not a bad idea either. The stronger my weapons, the less likely I am to die. Of course, I expect enhancing Daitoren to eat a ton of points.
Daitoren Lv.10/10
Will you enhance this item? It will cost 5,000 points.
I checked, just in case. I could only laugh. I moved over to Purchase Skills without hesitation.
The people of this world use a special power called mana to execute their skills. The more powerful a commander, the more special techniques they tend to have. Obviously, there are some guys who are just strong without skills too. I can’t use mana because I’m not from this world. But in my case, I can use skills through the system.
Attack Skills
Defense Skills
Special Skills
There are three types of skills. I could probably use an attack skill right now. Offense is the best defense.
Will you purchase an attack skill? It will cost 200 points.
I bought the skill, and the message instantly refreshed.
You have gained a skill.
Sweep Lv.1
Works on enemies with a Martial from 0 to 40
Massacres enemies within a 2-meter radius
Costs 50 points per usage
It created a basic skill that would sweep away large numbers of enemy soldiers in one go.
This’ll be really useful on the battlefield.
It cost 50 points, and I had 100 points left, so I could use it twice.
Two times isn’t going to save my life. That’s why leveling up is going to be so vitally important. Anyway, I’m the only one in this world who can level up, which means I’m also the only one who can rapidly raise my Martial score.
That was the kind of world I’d been transferred to all alone.
*
The enemy withdrew, and I was victorious. There were fewer than two thousand survivors on the opposing side, and we were able to wipe out much of their manpower on the mountain roads.
Having lived through all this, Bente had drunk himself stupid. Not that he was too inebriated to keep his hands from pouring yet another glass down his throat. His face burned bright red now.
“Hundredman! You’ve had more than enough!” one of his subordinates shouted as he shook Bente’s shoulder, unable to just sit back and watch any longer.
“If I can’t drink on a day like this, then when can I? Ah hah hah hah!” Bente responded, his words slurred with inebriation and punctuated by a boisterous laugh. Then stripped his clothes off and went totally wild.
“Hey, old man. Get this. Our lord wiped those Naruyan bastards right the hell out. He’s no longer anything like the lord you all used to know. He took down one of the Ten Commanders of Naruya with one blow! Gah hah hah hah!”
Bente started putting on a nude show. His subordinates rushed over, risking their lives to stop him. Word of Bente’s behavior would spread throughout Eintorian.
“Did you hear? We were almost in big trouble.”
“The Naruyans invaded again, right?”
“They say the lord stopped over ten thousand men.”
“My son saw the battle, you know. Never would have thought our lord had it in him...”
“I heard it was fifty thousand, not ten.”
“He stopped fifty thousand men with only five thousand?”
It was mainly Bente who exaggerated the story. Thanks to his bragging, the story of the lord’s exploits rapidly spread throughout Eintorian. They’d thought their lord could do nothing but fool around and make his people suffer, and yet now they learned he was strong enough to halt an enemy invasion.
If he’d lost, the Naruyans would have plundered all the towns and cities inside his domain, killing the men, and raping the women. It was a vicious cycle that had repeated time and again.
Infamous as he was for his past behavior, fending off this invasion undoubtedly did wonders for the lord’s reputation with his people.
*
I just won the battle. I’m sure having protected the people will leave a strong impression on them, but nothing else has changed. My reputation as a villainous lord hasn’t been wiped away.
I need to take the people’s opinion of me into account, since it’s going to be vitally important as I develop this domain.
I lay in bed thinking about this stuff, and just as I began to yawn—suddenly, the window shattered as an intruder burst through it into the room and leveled a sword at me.
This came out of nowhere, and I hurriedly got out of the way as I activated the system and checked the person’s information.
If I had to guess, someone might have sent an assassin after me.
Euracia Rozern
Age: 20
Martial: 87
Intelligence: 57
Command: 95
But I was completely wrong. My intruder was a beautiful woman with blonde hair. I knew Euracia Rozern’s name well. The game’s history called her a hero. But what was she doing, bursting into my bedchambers?
Martial of 87. Command of 95. Her stats were top-tier in this game.
The unexpected guest kept her sword pointed at me as she asked, “You’re Erhin Eintorian?”
It was a question she knew the answer to. Given she’d been able to target my room with pinpoint accuracy, she must have investigated already.
“What if I am...?”
“Then you have to die.”
I have to die?
Who’d just go along with that?
“And why should I have to die?”
“Because you’re a villainous lord who makes his people suffer. I believe that’s reason enough.”
A villainous lord, huh? Yeah, that’d be true. If I were the same Erhin Eintorian from the game, that is. But I’m not.
“You’re making a fundamental mistake here. I’m no villainous lord.”
I gave a disinterested shrug despite her blade being mere inches from my nose. No matter how this played out, I wasn’t going to die.
With a Martial of 87, she was stronger than Randall, making her one of the mightiest people on this continent—but she was still less powerful than I was when using the bonus. I could also knock her out easily with Crush.
“Not a villainous lord, you say? You’d claim that, in spite of how far word has spread of your misdeeds? How shameless,” she said, her brow twitching.
Her expression remained as cold as ever. Yet her long, blonde hair and beautiful countenance oozed nobility. The cold look suited her captivating eyes, so beautiful they would make you gulp. If I kept staring into them, I was going to fall in love. Wait, no, this isn’t the time for that.
Right now, I needed to escape the threat of her blade. She might not be a danger to me, but it’d be hard to talk with her sword pressed up against my throat, right?
If she’d just settle down, I knew she could be reasoned with. The game called her a hero, after all. I summoned Daitoren to my right hand, preparing for battle, just in case it came to that.
“What kind of villainous lord would risk his life on the battlefield to protect his people? If you were in Eintorian, then there’s no way you didn’t hear of that battle, right?”
“Weren’t you fighting to save your own hide?”
Yeah, that’s one way to look at it.
“But it gave you pause, right? If it didn’t, you could have slammed that blade through my neck without stopping to have this little chat. Isn’t that right, Miss Intruder?”
Her info didn’t tell me anything about her personality, but I tried this line of questioning for a start.
If she intended to kill me immediately, she’d have run me through as soon as she entered the room.
It seemed there was something on her mind, as she stepped back and bit her lower lip.
“It was a good strategy, even if you are a villainous lord. Good enough that it made me want to learn from you. But knowing the way you exploit your people, I have no intention of having you teach me!”
“Hold on!” I shouted, raising my voice as I attempted to clear up this misunderstanding which wasn’t a misunderstanding at all. “Listen, I’m not an evil lord! Have you, personally, ever seen me exploit my people?”
She paused a moment. “I’ve heard things, here and there. Your infamy is known even in Naruya.”
“Yeah, and they’re wrong about me. If you want to argue about justice, then why not see for yourself? If you rush ahead like this, you’ll be making a horrible mistake.”
Her brow furrowed when I asked if she’d seen it herself.
“Well, no, I haven’t seen it directly, but...” She trailed off.
Sensing my chance to win this argument, I loudly countered, “See? I told you so. Watch me for yourself, and if you see that I’m a villainous lord, then kill me. Why not give it a week? I think you ought to act on what you see, not just what you’ve heard. Not everything you hear is true, right? I mean, there could always be false information mixed in.”
I made this suggestion rather than immediately use Crush on her because of her stats and the portrayal of her in the game’s history.
I dunno what she’s doing here, but this is an opportunity. I want to get her on my side if I can.
“If, after you’ve watched me, you decide that I really am a villainous lord, then I’ll offer up my head without any resistance.”
“And if you’re not...?”
“Then we both go back to our ordinary lives. I’ll expect an earnest apology for this misunderstanding though, of course.”
I knew I couldn’t make her my subordinate immediately, so I decided to propose this one-week period as a way of keeping her tied down.
First thing to do is set up the event flag. This isn’t a dating sim, but event flags are still important when it comes to recruiting personnel. So, yeah, I need to set things up for the future.
“Very well. There’s some logic to what you’re saying, so I will see for myself.”
With that declaration, she exited through the window, even though the room had a perfectly good door.
But then she came right back in—through the window, of course.
“I’m sorry... I don’t suppose you’d happen to have any spare rooms, would you?” she asked, her expression remaining as impassive as ever.
*
Martial: 60
Intelligence: ??
Command: ??
Faction: Eintorian Domain, Lord
Faction Opinion: 40
I was an ordinary human being. I could use the system and bonus to raise my Martial, but that did nothing for my physical stamina. And so, having been up all night fighting, I was spent. After parting ways with Euracia, I went to bed and passed right out. By the time I woke up again, a whole day had gone by.
Also, I wasn’t sure why, but my Opinion score had risen from 10 to 40. I didn’t recall doing anything special. Well, okay, I did win the war. I guess that meant that, even with my reputation as a villainous lord, I could win some acclaim by fending off an invasion? If the invasion succeeded, the people of my domain would have been killed or taken prisoner, so, yeah, it made sense that it would improve their opinion of me somewhat.
Anyway, the key thing was that Eintorian didn’t fall.
I’d survived. Now I had to figure out how to live as Erhin. I also had no idea how the Naruya Kingdom would act now that I’d rewritten history. Would they still try to force through the invasion from the north, like they did in the game?
That remained to be seen.
I’m not going to be able to see the butterfly effect of the changes I’ve made right away. I’ll develop my domain until I can confirm what the situation is. In order to clear the game, I’ll need to unite the land under my rule.
“Head Chamberlain.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Could I ask you to bring me all documents concerning the financial state of the domain and our tax rate?”
“Our financial documents, sir?”
“Yeah. I need to study up... What’re you staring at me for? Hurry up and go,” I said, urging the head chamberlain to get on with it because he was gawking instead of moving.
“Yes, sir! At once!” He turned and was soon out of sight. It was clear he’d wanted to say something, but what? I decided to ask him when he returned with the materials.
“Did you have something you wanted to say to me, Head Chamberlain?”
“No. Not at all.”
Once the head chamberlain set all the materials down, he and the other chamberlains bowed their heads and took their leave.
Was I imagining it? Well, whatever.
I decided to start by examining the tax records for the domain.
This takes priority for now.
I needed to get a grasp of the current situation if I was going to rehabilitate this domain after the villainous Erhin allowed it to rot. The writing wasn’t in Japanese, but I was mysteriously able to read it, and quite quickly too. That was probably the system at work.
“Wow... I’ve got no words for this. He sure was a villain, I’ll give him that.”
I found myself shaking my head as I looked over the ledger.
This is the agricultural era, when farming is everything. Yet he was taxing the farmers in his domain eighty percent. This is just atrocious. I ought to make it so my people aren’t struggling to survive, at least. Taking eighty percent of their harvest is not normal.
In the Runan Kingdom, the tax rate set by law was fifty percent. And of that fifty percent collected, twenty percent was offered to the king. However, in Eintorian, they were currently taxing eighty percent of everything.
It’s the domain’s tax officer who’s been doing it. One of my vassals, of course.
“It seems the rumors that you’re a villainous lord were true.”
As I was perusing the documents, Euracia, who had been reading over my shoulder since who-knows-when, pointed her sword at my neck.
Is she a ninja? The study window’s open, so she must’ve come in through there. I was so fixated on the documents I didn’t notice. This is clearly a problem.
The system may have made me stronger, but I’m still very much an ordinary person. I need to be planning ahead for surprise attacks. I mean, I trust her for now, but still.
“Uh, no, that’s not how it is. In fact, I was letting the retainers who’ve been robbing the people go free up until now so that I could round up the ringleaders. When I inherited the domain from my father, I played villainous lord so that I could find these kinds of scoundrels and then bring justice to my lands by eliminating them.”
“You’re making excuses again...!”
“Ultimately, what we have here are just words on paper. You still haven’t seen anything for yourself, have you? The man who’s been at the head of all this extortion, the tax officer? I intend to investigate him.”
“You claim it wasn’t on your orders, then?”
“Of course not. Swear to God.”
Yeah. I’m totally innocent. The problem is this Viscount Bold Den. He’s been extorting the people alongside Erhin. It’s clear he’s one of the retainers I ought to remove first. Anyway, I’ve got to meet him and see what he’s like.
“Head Chamberlain.”
“Yes, Master.”
I called the head chamberlain back in. If I had one suspicion about the man, it was that while I initially thought he was frightened of me, he didn’t seem to actually be. But he did do everything he could to curry my favor. Well, he was fast and capable, so I wasn’t going to let that bother me.
“Could you call Viscount Bold for me? I have questions for him.”
“I’ll summon him at once.”
Obviously, the head chamberlain took a sidewards glance at Euracia, but he held his tongue and left without asking anything.
“Are you planning to stay there the whole time?” I asked her once the head steward left the room.
Euracia shook her head, then vanished from the window once more.
Seriously, the woman acts like a total ninja.
Also, I had asked her if she planned to stick around because I was asking if she wanted to meet Viscount Bold with me, but now that she’d taken off, it didn’t really matter.
I can’t tell what she’s thinking.
Soon, Viscount Bold arrived in my study. Seeing him for the first time, he just looked like a regular fat guy. As for his base stats they were, uh, kind of terrible.
“You called, Your Excellency?”
This old guy is one of the key figures who’ve been tormenting the people of this domain? Was it on Erhin’s orders, or did he put Erhin up to it? That’s the key thing. Was Erhin the only villain, or were they both evil?
“It seems you were victorious in the battle with Naruya. I should have expected no less from you, my lord!”
Viscount Bold suddenly started bowing and scraping, then moved on to showering me with praise.
“To think, a lord taking to the field of battle himself! Oh, I simply cannot describe—”
“Anyways,” I interrupted, unable to take any more of his obsequious babbling. “I want to talk to you about the taxes.”
“Yes, Your Excellency. What about the taxes?”
“Can we raise them further? I’ll be needing funds for my lobbying efforts in the capital, after all.”
“Ah, yes... I believe that it might become problematic if you were to raise them any further, my lord.”
Oh. He’s going to push back on that, is he?
“We’ve been exploiting the people with all of the different taxes you’ve invented before now, haven’t we? What harm can one more do?”
“Well...”
“Take care of it for me, Viscount Bold.”
“But we are already bleeding them for copious amounts of money, I’m not sure they have any more to extract...”
“Oh, I see. Well, in that case, I suppose there’s nothing we can do. I’ll have to reconsider.”
“I should have known you would be so quick to understand, my esteemed lord!”
Maybe Viscount Bold’s not such a bad guy? Was Erhin the only villain here?
“You are free to go.”
“Yes, my lord.”
It’s too soon to make a call one way or the other. I need more evidence.
I decided to start by looking through the documents again.
Yeah, these taxes were all from Erhin and Viscount Bold scheming together. Viscount Bold was definitely the one who came up with all the different tax categories. After all the collaborating he’s done, it’d be hasty to assume he’s a good guy just because he opposed raising the taxes further. It was a mistake for him to help with it in the first place. But by that logic, wouldn’t a good person have no other recourse but to say the right thing and be jailed for it?
I was starting to confuse myself. It was possible that the guy was just good at doing what he had to in order to get by in the world.
I’m getting a headache. Probably because I’ve been staring at paperwork all day.
“Head Chamberlain! I’ll be using the bath!”
So, I decided to take a bath. Baths are the best. I soaked for a while to soothe my exhausted body. With my mood brightened somewhat, my headache started to subside by the time I finished dinner. That’s how things were when I headed back to my bedroom.
If this were just an ordinary game, then I wouldn’t have so much to worry about. In a game, you can always just do things over. But here, one mistake could put me in an unsalvageable situation. That’s why I’m getting headaches from stressing over things.
Damn it!
I walked through the darkness and sat down on my bed as I brooded over my current situation. As I did...
Squish.
...I thought I felt my hand touch something incredibly soft and pulled back without even meaning to.
“Huh...?”
I looked around the bed with surprise. There was clearly someone there. I’d just felt myself touching them. And in a rather soft, bouncy part of their anatomy, at that. I found my resolve and pulled back the covers.
I was halfway to triggering the Attack command when I saw who was under there and froze up. There were two naked women lying in my bed.
Yes, two beauties, without a scrap of clothing on either of them. Both of them were incredibly busty too. I backed away, unable to cope with the situation. If I kept looking, I was going to get a nosebleed.
“Y-Your Lordship?”
The women sat up and looked at me. If anything, they seemed shocked by my reaction. The way their bosoms bounced as they moved was driving me crazy. Thankfully, they both hid themselves under the covers again out of embarrassment. It got their breasts out of sight at least, but they still looked too sexy. Wait, no, no, no, no!
“Head Chamberlaiiin!”
“Yes, Master.”
I summoned the head chamberlain once more. It felt like I’d been doing that all day today, but this time I really needed him. I don’t think I’d ever been more desperately in need of his assistance.
“You called?”
“What are these women doing here?!”
“I prepared them for you, as per usual. ‘Have two naked women ready for me in bed.’ Everything is as you instructed. Tonight’s women were provided by Viscount Bold, of course. He said he was confident that you would be satisfied with them, and left with the most boisterous of laughs...”
As per usual? Oh... I totally forgot. That’s right. I’m Erhin. Erhin had been drowning in women. He was even captured fooling around with them on the day Eintorian fell and he got decapitated. So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
But still, he was doing this kind of thing every night? With a woman on each side of him? Sighhhh. Just how long has he... No, no, that’s not the point.
So, he’s been calling women to his room like this all the time? It sounds like Viscount Bold sent these women to me in an effort to curry my favor, though. I can’t go acting like Erhin did in the game right when I’m trying to shed his reputation as a villainous lord. If I was going to embrace it, then that would be another story, but I’m not going to.
Of course, the one good bit of news is that Viscount Bold sent me these women, so that’s proof that he’s not a decent guy.
“Head Chamberlain. You may go for now.”
“S-Sir...?”
“What is it? You look like you have something to say.”
For just a moment, a look of mild surprise crossed the head chamberlain’s face. Normally, he just nodded, so this was the first time he’d reacted to something I’d said this way. That didn’t stop him from quickly putting his poker face back on, though.
“N-No, not a word!” he stammered, and then rushed out of the room.
What was that about? Well, I’ve got other things to deal with at the moment.
I turned my eyes back to the two women. Now that my excitement over their unexpected nakedness had subsided, I noticed they were trembling beneath the blankets. They’d likely been brought here and stripped at least half against their will, like in the absurd old custom of offering virgin sacrifices to the gods.
I kept my distance, so as not to agitate them unnecessarily, and asked my questions from a distance.
“Just calm down for now. Who are you two?”
“W-Well...”
The two of them exchanged glances before opening their mouths almost in unison.
“I am Nera from the village of Melan.”
“I am Nara from the village of Yurta.”
Then, after giving their names, they burst into tears. I’ll bet that would have only served to please the original Erhin more.
“Viscount Bold sent you here, yes?”
“Yes...”
“And you meekly did as he said. Do you have any idea what kind of place this is?”
“Yes. We know...”
What’re they crying for? That’s not the answer I wanted to hear. Looks like I need to change the question.
I approached the bed.
“You two haven’t heard the rumors, have you?”
The two started trembling as I walked closer.
“R-Rumors...?”
“The rumors that say Lord Erhin’s a sadist who gets off on tormenting women as they cry. Your tears are only going to get me more riled up.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed they were lying in, and gently grabbed the woman closest to me by the head.
“And the rumors that he’s a real cruel bastard. The kind who’d violate you in front of your parents to see them suffer, and then kill all of you. Well, is that tasteless or what?”
“N-No!”
“Y-You wouldn’t...! P-Please! Spare us! We beg of you!”
The women shook their heads and wailed.
“You’re going to tell me everything Viscount Bold told you before having you come offer yourselves to me. And if you don’t, I’ll have your parents summoned immediately. Hopefully, you understand that I’m far more terrifying than Viscount Bold ever could be. Got it?”
Word of my infamy had spread far and wide. The two horrified women looked at one another, overcome by tears, until a small, weak murmur escaped.
“B-But... But...”
“I don’t know what he’s threatened you with, but I’m more than capable of protecting your lives. If you’ll tell me the truth, that is. Or would you rather we enjoy a fun night together? Who’s up for a mad display of blood and screams? Heh heh!”
“Eeeeek! N-Nooooo!”
“If we talk, will you...will you really spare us?”
“I’ll keep my word, but you’re going to have to choose between me and Viscount Bold. This is your only chance. Even a child could tell which of us holds more power.”
The two of them cast their eyes around evasively until, finally, one of them cracked and confessed the truth.
“O-Okay. I’ll talk... Viscount Bold swore us to silence, saying he’d kill our families if we didn’t do as he said. He also told us to...to make you drink this once you fell asleep!”
Huh?
The woman produced a small vial from somewhere on her person and then prostrated herself before me.
What is this...? Poison? No way.
“P-Please, spare me. I beg of you... I don’t want to go through that hell. Please, just kill me and get it over with. No, please, spare me! I don’t want to die!”
Well, damn.
Honestly, I never had any intention of sleeping with these girls, so there was no way they could have slipped me the poison, but that was still a close call. And here I’d just been hoping to shake them up a bit and see what information I could get out of them on Viscount Bold.
So, he wasn’t just sending me women to curry my favor. He was plotting to poison me all along?
“That’s not poison, I hope?”
“P-Please, spare us. We were told it’s not poison—just a nutritional supplement—but it would render you unconscious for a few days...and then, once he became lord, he would rescue us.”
Yeah, as if he’d ever help them. Given all they’ve said, that’s definitely poison. And the lethal kind, at that. Once they knocked me off, the first order of business would probably be for him to kill these women as assassins. That way they couldn’t divulge their puppet master.
“Sigh... Not this again.”
That’s when it happened.
I felt the tip of her sword at my throat again.
To tell you the truth, I was waiting for it from the beginning this time. There was no way she wouldn’t show up. Yeah, this was a scene she couldn’t possibly miss, and somehow still misunderstood.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to conclude I’m the evil one here.”
If she’s been watching me this whole time, the misunderstanding should have been cleared up.
When I pushed her about it, the cold steel was retracted.
Then, standing beside me, she asked the women, “Is Viscount Bold the mastermind?”
When they nodded in response, she turned to go. I grabbed her by the arm.
“I’ve kept quiet until now because I needed decisive proof. Are you going to spoil it for me? Your task is to watch me. You can make your judgment after that.”
“Is that right?”
She came to a stop. Fortunately, it seemed I’d persuaded her, so I shouted, “Head Chamberlain!” in the direction of the door. We needed to make sure the two women were protected.
The head chamberlain soon rushed to my side.
“Master! Is something the matter?”
“I want you to protect these two women. It appears that Viscount Bold was trying to assassinate me.”
“M-My word!” the head chamberlain exclaimed, blinking in surprise.
“First thing’s first. I need you to protect their parents as well, to make sure the viscount doesn’t do anything to them. Oh, and don’t go letting women into my bedroom anymore. My womanizing days are over now. If I were to continue the way I have been, my dreams of helping our domain recover will never come true.”
“Come again...?”
I seemed to have surprised the head chamberlain again, but in a different way from last time.
“Fooling around with women is not how a lord should be. You understand what I’m saying, yes?”
“Well... Er, um, I’ll see to your request at once!”
“And one more thing. Pass a message to Hadin for me. He’s to bring the domain’s forces to the front of the castle immediately.”
It’s a good thing I changed the commander of the barracks and secured my control over the military. Looking at Hadin’s record, he’s the polar opposite of guys like Berk or Viscount Bold. In a way, maybe the viscount resorted to this kind of skulduggery because I suddenly assumed control of the military?
Well, even if they’d been able to stay in control of it, there’s no one in the Eintorian Domain who’s a match for my Martial when I use the bonus. That includes this woman here too.
“You know, I’m impressed. You did well to restrain yourself earlier, when I was threatening the two of them.”
“I was so furious that I was about to burst in on you, but then I went and dropped my sword in my anger. By the time I had picked it up, the conversation had turned in a strange direction, so I decided it was better to keep quiet and listen.”
“What? So it was only out of sheer coincidence?”
“It’s a good thing too!” she exclaimed, then, murmuring to herself, repeated, “Yes, a good thing,” with a firm nod. Her face remained impassive, but there was conviction in that nod.
*
Hadin led the domain’s forces to surround the residence of Viscount Bold, easily putting down his personal forces. When I entered the house and had the viscount brought before me, he acted almost as if he were blameless.
“What is going on here, Your Excellency?! Why would you do this to me?!”
“Playing dumb, are you? The women you sent me have already confessed everything.”
“N-No!” Viscount Bold went pale as a sheet for a second, but quickly regained his calm demeanor and shook his head. “This is a misunderstanding! Why, I would never attempt to poison you, my lord! They must be the ones who plotted all this!”
“Poison me? I believe I only said they had confessed to everything?”
“...”
Caught in a lie, the viscount fell silent.
He looks aghast at his own ineptitude. Not a surprise, given that he just confessed to the crime without meaning to. But, hey, now I can extirpate the cancer that’s been infecting my domain, so that’s nice.
“W-Well... I-I heard a rumor about it!”
“Even if you weren’t responsible, I was already thinking there’s something fishy about you. Now, stay quiet while we investigate.”
“This is tyranny! Hey, unhand me!”
Obviously, he didn’t stay quiet, and instead decided to start throwing a tantrum.
“Bureaucrats, you comb through the Bold Estate’s ledger and other documents. And Hadin, you work with the soldiers to find and confiscate all of the viscount’s assets!”
“Yes, my lord!”
As my men began turning his house upside down, I could see Viscount Bold’s pallor getting worse and worse.
“E-Enough of this! Begone from my house this instant!”
In short order, we had confiscated a number of gold bars and other treasures, as well as the deed to the property. Other than that, there was a warehouse full of grain, and more luxury goods than I could possibly count.
And so, once we checked Viscount Bold’s ledger against the one in the castle, we found a number of discrepancies. In short, that meant the viscount had been embezzling a substantial amount of tax money.
There was a reason he’d pushed back against me when I said we should raise the taxes. He’d not just been taxing the people at eighty percent—he’d been taking more from them in secret, bringing the tax rate to over ninety percent. And those extra taxes had all been going directly into his own pocket.
Yet, despite all this heavy taxation, the people never revolted because of the fear instilled in them by a powerful class system. If they rebelled and killed their lord, the king would get involved, and that could only mean their deaths.
Even so, if taxes this heavy had been leveled against them for a long time, something would have happened already—but Erhin had only become lord recently, so discontent was still just beginning to mount. Or rather, his father had only just died, and Viscount Bold hadn’t started exploiting the people until after that.
“Y-Y-Y-Y-Your Excellency!” Hadin stammered, spittle flying from his lips, as he raced over to me. The way he looked at me had changed since the war. I could sense the respect in his eyes.
“What’re you so worked up about?”
“Look at this. It’s a secret letter from Viscount Bold to the Naruya Kingdom!”
Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s something to get worked up about. Nothing I hadn’t anticipated, though, of course. He’d need outside support to become lord after he killed me. So, I guess that means he used the embezzled funds to lay the groundwork for that with the Naruya Kingdom, not the Runan Kingdom? Was he hoping to offer the domain up to the Naruyans in exchange for them making him lord?
“So, to summarize... Viscount Bold raised the tax rate to eighty percent, but still wasn’t satisfied and continued secretly exploiting the people for more. Then, on top of that, he was conspiring with a hostile nation?” I said as I looked down at the secret letter.
Hadin nodded profusely.
“Heh heh! I see how it is! Have the viscount thrown in prison for assassination, tax theft, and attempting to overthrow the state!”
Even if I was mad at him, the guy was still a noble. Also, this wasn’t my country—I only ruled a domain within the Runan Kingdom—so I was going to need the king’s permission in order to execute him for plotting a civil war.
Well, with all this evidence, even the corrupt Runan Kingdom is going to have to hand down the death sentence. Because, everything else aside, his collaboration with the Naruya Kingdom is a serious case of treason. Of course, I’ll need to make up a story where it was all Viscount Bold’s doing, and the newly appointed Lord Erhin knew nothing of it.
“And, in accordance with the laws of the kingdom, all of the assets he embezzled will be returned to the domain!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Make it known throughout the domain that any vassal of mine who makes the people suffer like this will receive the same punishment. You are to report all of Viscount Bold’s schemes to His Highness.”
With Viscount Bold disposed of and his assets seized...
Domain income increased.
+15,000,000 runan.
The income of my domain had just risen massively.
The runan’s the currency of the Runan Kingdom. That’s fifteen million runan, and it costs ten million a year for the domain’s upkeep. Which means I’ve got enough to run the domain for a year with money left over.
The current assets of Eintorian amounted to roughly thirty million runan, and once I added Viscount Bold’s fortune to that...
45,000,000 runan.
...was the sum total.
That’s a lot of money for one person, but not a whole lot for funding an entire domain. If I could put it all towards managing the domain that would be one thing, but when you consider I also need to develop the army to prepare for future wars, it’s a piddling sum.
Even just drafting men costs money. And there’re limits to how many I can draft too. If the domain’s population is small enough, it may not even be possible to raise the size of our levies. If I build a domain that’s easy to live in, word will spread and population will drift here from elsewhere, so I need to develop the farmlands even if it ends up costing a lot to do it.
Which means money is everything when preparing for war.
Obviously, the additional funds will help a lot. Because what my domain needs most right now is Manpower. We lost a lot of soldiers in the battle the other day. The current size of my domain’s forces is about three thousand. That’s nowhere near enough to defend it.
Will you raise troops?
Current recruitment limit: 15,000 men
I activated the system just to check what drafting troops would cost, and tried setting the value at one thousand men.
This will cost 2,000,000 runan.
If a thousand men costs two million runan, then ten thousand men will cost twenty thousand runan. Yeah, that’s as obscenely expensive as I expected. But it’s an investment I should make. If I’m going to put together an elite force, I need at least ten thousand men as a starting point. And when I consider my current finances and population, ten thousand men is exactly what’s realistic.
But Opinion’s going to drop the moment I draft them. I need to be prepared for that.
“Hadin.”
“Yes, Your Excellency?”
“The Naruya Kingdom’s invasion has left us with no choice but to restore and increase our manpower.”
“I agree,” Hadin nodded.
“I’m thinking of drafting ten thousand men, and I’d like you to be the one to train them.”
“Ten thousand, so suddenly?”
“If it’s rations you’re concerned about, we’ve secured enough supplies from the assets we confiscated here. Our top priority has to be defending the domain. I assume the people don’t want to become slaves to Naruya, right?”
“Of course not. If you’ll trust me with the task, then I’ll work myself to the bone building a strong army! I’ve been saying that since before I was dismissed as commander...”
Hadin had been about to say more, but he suddenly fell silent. He must’ve felt he was prattling.
Well, considering Hadin’s Command score, I think I can more than trust him to handle it.
“Okay. I’ll trust you. Enlist those ten thousand men at once, and train them thoroughly, along with the existing three thousand!”
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
No need to hesitate on drafting troops, then.
Will you use 20,000,000 runan?
The Eintorian Domain’s Manpower changed by +10,000.
The domain’s forces’ Preparation decreased by 10.
The domain’s forces’ Morale decreased by 20.
The domain’s Opinion decreased by 20.
The people’s opinion of me had been improving a little, but it now took a precipitous drop.
There’s no way of avoiding that with a sudden mass mobilization, even if we did just have a war with the Naruya Kingdom. Especially when you consider that the sudden boost in Opinion was representing their gratitude over me preventing the invasion, not a change in the way they saw their lord.
On top of that, half the domain’s funds are gone in an instant. Sigh... Just goes to show that money’s important in this world too. Incredibly important. I can’t keep ruling like a villainous lord, but if I adjust the taxes to fifty percent, it will eat into my funding. It’s good to be rid of Viscount Bold, but there’s still no end of problems to deal with.
To that end, the need to raise the people’s opinion of me was becoming a new and pressing concern.
*
If I’m going to conquer the land, then ten thousand men isn’t going to cut it. But they’ll have to do for now. There are all sorts of limitations to deal with. For one thing, I don’t have the population to raise more. As a dangerous border territory, Eintorian’s not that populous. Which means there’s more than a few things I’ll need to do before I can unite the land beneath me.
Where do I even start? I’m short of personnel, money, and levels. In order to develop the domain, I’ll need to raise my level first. There’s a mountain of things to do, and no preset route to take, which makes it even harder to decide.
I returned to the castle, my head hazy with thought, and headed straight to my bedroom. I’d been up working all night instead of resting, so I felt like I was going to nod off the moment I lay down.
And yet, at that moment, the head chamberlain, who had been walking behind me, suddenly stepped in front of me and then got down on the floor, kowtowing.
“Master...”
This was unexpected.
What’s he groveling for all of a sudden?
“What are you doing, Head Chamberlain?”
“Well... I’ve heard that you will be dismissing Viscount Bold and reforming the tax system!”
“Uh, yeah, that’s the plan. But what’s it got to do with you groveling in front of me?”
Don’t tell me he had ties to Viscount Bold. Is that it, and he’s turning himself in due to a guilty conscience?
“I believe you also said earlier that you would end your womanizing ways and devote yourself to restoring the domain...”
“What of it?”
Instead of answering the question, the head chamberlain just looked up at me.
“Were you doubting me because of my sudden change in behavior?” I asked, thinking that might be it, and scratched the back of my head.
It was true that the head chamberlain should’ve had ample opportunity to notice the discrepancies between me and Erhin.
“I’ve been thinking about this since I was a kid. I figured I ought to experience all sorts of things. By acting the villain, I could weed out the other scoundrels, and that would allow me to revitalize the domain. That’s why I’ve endured until now. Also, if word spread that I was incompetent, people would start to underestimate me. That’s exactly what I wanted. It’s what let me pull out a victory against the Naruya Kingdom. Now that I’ve shown my true colors in the recent war, I intend to keep them on display permanently. I’m done deceiving all of you!”
“I’ve felt the great change in you of late, Master. It’s absolutely moving... If you wouldn’t mind, would you tell me what your aspiration is?” the head chamberlain asked, still on his knees and making no attempt to stand back up. I couldn’t imagine he had any ties to Viscount Bold. He’d been serving since the previous lord’s reign, and came from a house that had been loyal to the House of Eintorian for generations.
“My aspiration, huh? I guess that’s gotta be restoring the Eintorian Kingdom. My plan is to build a domain where everyone can live lives of plenty.”
“Ohhh, Master! It is just as the former lord said! He told me that, as you were his son, surely the day would come when you would carry on his will...!”
There’s no need to cry over it.
Looks like he bought my weird excuse. Of course, the way I act may have changed, but my voice and appearance haven’t. So it’s not realistic for him to imagine I’m a totally different person. I’m sure he’s never even considered that sort of supernatural explanation.
Well, that works out fine for me.
“Oh, get up already. What if the other servants see you prostrating yourself like that?”
I put an arm around the head chamberlain and helped him to his feet. Then he bowed his head to me again, saying, “In fact, there is something that the former lord told me I was to give you once you became a man who could carry on your ancestors’ will. It has always been on my mind... I’ve longed for the day when I could finally give it to you!”
Something the former lord left for Erhin? It looks like he had his own concerns about his son’s profligate behavior. That’s gotta be why he didn’t give it to him directly, and instead left the head chamberlain with instructions to do so when Erhin started to show better judgment.
But what is it? His last will and testament? Or maybe a memento?
“You have something for me from my father?”
“Yes. This way. Finally, the burden is lifted from my shoulders...”
The head chamberlain began walking and indicated I should follow, so that’s what I did. He headed down the stairs, and we didn’t stop on the first floor but continued to the basement. I saw the big iron door that led to the place where I’d previously obtained the bonus, but the head chamberlain didn’t stop there. It looked like our destination was elsewhere.
“This appears to be a dead end?” I said, describing exactly what I saw.
The head chamberlain shook his head. “It is true that the hall ends here, but there is a secret to this place that only the former lord and I knew about,” he explained, holding a pendant he had been wearing up to the wall.
As he did, a giant mana circle—something like a magic circle—appeared.
They usually showed up when you activated a skill in this world. When the mana circle vanished, the wall did too, and behind it there was a set of stairs heading down.
“This way, Master,” the head chamberlain said, calmly descending the steps.
There was a place like this hidden in the lord’s castle?
I stared, absolutely speechless, at the space that had suddenly appeared for some time before hurrying after the head chamberlain. It was a pretty long staircase.
It’s so dark here. Pitch black.
The only thing shining was the steps, which made it seem pretty indisputable that the space had something to do with mana. In front of me, the head chamberlain finally came to a stop.
Looks like we’ve reached the bottom.
Once I moved up to stand beside the head chamberlain, he pointed at what was in front of us.
“It is over there, Master. The fortune that your family has amassed in order to restore their nation in all the time since the Eintorian Kingdom fell to other states, reducing them to mere counts of a border province!”
I tried to look in that direction, but it was so brilliant that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Squinting until I adjusted to the blinding light, I was finally able to see exactly what was there—a massive fortune in gold and treasure.
“So, basically... You’re telling me the House of Eintorian has been dreaming of restoring their kingdom for generations...and these are the war funds for it?”
“That is what I was told. Please, understand how the former lord must have felt, Master. If you will, then I could die right now with no regrets!”
Could it get any better than this? Who knew a character like Erhin had this kind of massive fortune. It’s going to be real convenient when it comes to covering the costs of my conquest.
I smiled despite myself.
This changes all sorts of things. One of my worries is essentially resolved now. The need to both manage the domain and prepare for war, the need to amass strength... This can more than pay for all of it!
I stared at the treasure for a time, thinking. Then, accepting the pendant from the head chamberlain, I became its absolute owner.
The best thing about this secret place is that, even if another country were to seize this domain, they couldn’t get in here without the pendant I now hold.
If I have the servants move the treasure out of here, then its existence will become public, but only I, the one with the pendant, can get into the place where it’s hidden.
I let out a cheer of glee before ordering a team of service to spend the rest of the night carrying out one tenth of the treasure.
The total sum of the treasure came to roughly a billion runan. Combined with the domain’s existing funds, that came to... 1,025,000,000 runan. If I used it to develop the domain, the population would grow, allowing me to recruit more soldiers, and they would eventually provide military power.
The House of Eintorian was originally a royal house. That’s why they had been preparing for generations, raising war funds in order to restore their kingdom. With my funding secured, a plan immediately came to mind—a plan for raising Opinion. I called Euracia in order to put it into action.
Hey, if I can put her to use, then I should, right?
“Now that the guy who was exploiting them’s gone, I need to improve the people’s opinion of me. I’ve gotten my hands on some money too.”
Obviously, the fortune left by my ancestors is far more massive than what I seized from Viscount Bold, but there’s no need to go out of my way to reveal that.
“You’re going to raise their opinion of you?”
“That’s right. In light of the situation, I need to raise popular sentiment, and use the power of it to train more soldiers to resist the invasion. Is that not what a lord ought to do in these chaotic times we live in?”
When I turned the question on her, Euracia quietly nodded. I could probably take that as agreement.
“I’m heading to the central plaza to do that. Will you come?”
“I will. I’m interested.”
Euracia followed me there.
I’d given the head chamberlain his orders in advance, so there was already a large crowd gathered in the plaza. Euracia and I stood before the people together, and I announced my very important new political strategy.
“My people, who have been tormented by Viscount Bold, know that all of the evil you have suffered to this point were by his design, and I merely acquiesced in order to gather evidence of it. But now, the evil one has been captured. To apologize for what you’ve all been through, I hereby exempt you from all taxes for the next year!”
I’ll improve the people’s impression of me by pinning all of the crimes on Viscount Bold. It’s a total villain move, but, well, I’m sure it’s fine just this once. As long as I can use what I’ve gotten my hands on to raise the public’s opinion of me. I have plenty of money, so I don’t need to worry about taxes.
The people of the domain had been worrying that I was about to announce another outrageous policy, so it took them some time to process what I’d just said. Once they did, though, it didn’t take long for them to start cheering. That’s because the quickest way to the people’s hearts was exempting them from a year’s taxes.
Up to this point, the fruit of their toil in the fields had largely been stolen from them, but now it was all theirs to keep. It was more than enough to instantly change their feelings towards their villainous lord.
Opinion has risen to 70.
Opinion increased by +10 due to a high Charisma score.
Opinion is now 80.
Yeah.
That’s what I brought Euracia for. It was important to change how she thinks about me, but I also wanted to recheck the relation between ability scores and Opinion.
Her high Charisma raised Opinion by a full 10 points. Just having her at my side made it a joint ability check. Euracia’s Command score of 95 was born of her high Charisma. Her Charisma score functioned just like in the game, and provided a +10 to Opinion.
Of course, she was just happily watching the people cheer, completely oblivious to that fact.
*
Tutankha, king of Runan, wanted to tear his hair out. He seemed absolutely terrified as the eyes of all the nobles gathered in the audience chamber focused on him.
“Your Majesty, they’ve already come as far as the Deran Region and the Ruon Domain...” said Duke Ronan, the commander-in-chief of the army.
“The enemy is almost upon us! How long do you people intend to keep letting them beat us?”
The Kingdom of Naruya’s invasion had begun in the north, and the unprepared Kingdom of Runan had lost battle after battle. Obviously, the northern territories had fallen hopelessly, and now the Naruyans’ army of conquest was nearing the capital. The incompetent King Tutankha was most concerned about his own safety, and lambasted his nobles as he desperately tried not to die.
“Come to think of it, I heard the Eintorian Domain was also invaded?” Tutankha said questioningly, having managed to recall a report from the other day despite his stupidity. This was an incredible surprise, given that he often forgot reports he’d heard only an hour ago.
“Indeed. Yet Eintorian is fine. There was no further invasion, and the enemy’s forces are focused on the northern front.”
“Which means the lord of Eintorian won the battle with the Kingdom of Naruya, right?”
“Yes. For now, at least...” Ronan furrowed his brow. That’s because he’d heard rumors about Erhin, the lord of Eintorian. People said that, after inheriting the title a few years ago, this Erhin fellow had proved to be an incompetent lord who did nothing but misgovern his domain.
“Based on the reports we received from the domain, he held back a force of fifteen thousand from the Kingdom of Naruya with only five thousand men. Honestly, I find it hard to believe. I can only assume he’s inflating his accomplishments...”
“But he still stopped them, didn’t he?”
“Either he got lucky, or it was a scouting party at the largest.”
Tutankha shook his head at what Ronan was saying. The capital was about to be invaded. If they had a lord who had experience winning battles, he needed to stand on the front line. Now was the time to take any action that even marginally improved their chances.
Tutankha immediately commanded, “His experience winning battles is important. Send him to the front lines to protect the nation at once!”
“But, sire. Erhin’s abilities aside, as a lord of the frontier, he has the important task of defending our border...”
“Damn the borders! Our capital is threatened! I’m giving you an order as your king!” Tutankha roared. As a retainer, Ronan was ultimately forced to nod his head. It would be treason to go against his orders.
“I-In that case, we should leave his soldiers on the border and call him here on his own.”
“That makes sense. Leave the border to his troops while we have the lord prove his ability on the front line!”
Having declared this as if it was the epitome of good policy, Tutankha rose from his seat and left the audience chamber.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter2.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Chapter 2: Personnel—The Hidden Gems Only I Can Find
Eintorian Domain Army: 13,432
Training: 50
The troops’ level of training prior to my arrival had decayed considerably, but thanks to Hadin’s efforts, it was now steadily rising. I was confident that with a few more months of hard work, the new recruits would turn into a competent military force. I’d been maintaining my policy on taxes too, so the people’s Opinion still remained unchanged at 80.
“Your Excellency!”
I was sitting on a chair in the shade of the trees, watching the soldiers train with satisfaction over how smoothly things were proceeding, when Hadin rushed over with a look of shock on his face.
“S-S-Sir! We’ve just received reports of an invasion from the northern border... The front collapsed, and now the enemy have pushed as far as the Ruon Domain!”
Hadin told me nothing I didn’t already know. Defeating the Naruya Kingdom here didn’t seem to have generated any sort of butterfly effect just yet, so their invasion of the Runan Kingdom was proceeding along its historical route.
That was actually convenient for me, though. It meant I could take advantage of what history I knew.
“Is that true?”
“Yes, and they’ve brought a great army. I’m told that the enemy number in the hundreds of thousands!”
“Huh. Well, all we can do for the moment is devote ourselves to training. Buck up, Hadin. What’s going to happen to us if our commander loses heart?”
“R-Right... Forgive me my lapse of composure!”
“Master!”
Now the head chamberlain rushed over to me. From the way he was calling out between ragged breaths, it looked like he’d come here in a hurry.
“You don’t need to run around like this yourself. You know you could just send someone to deliver a message...”
“There’s no time to talk about that now, Master. A-A messenger has come bearing orders from the king!” the head chamberlain exclaimed, pointing in the direction of the barracks. I could see a commander riding a horse bearing the king’s standard and his troops there. The man on the horse was carrying a scroll of some sort.
Orders from the king? Well, this is unexpected. The war up north has been following the history I know, but elsewhere things are going differently. Not that I can be sure if that’s good or bad for me just yet.
Anyways, since there was an envoy, I went to go see him. Unless I wanted to commit treason, I needed to show the royal messenger every respect that I would the king himself. That was the law. Once I arrived at the entrance to the barracks, the man dismounted from his horse.
“You are Erhin Eintorian, lord of Eintorian, correct?”
“Yes, I am.”
Hearing my response, he unfurled the scroll.
“The lord of Eintorian must serve the king’s command!”
I dropped to my knees at the sound of his powerful voice. It was, of course, law that a lord must bow before the royal envoy. Once he saw that I had done so, the man began reading aloud.
“Count Erhin Eintorian, allow us to praise you for your victory over the Kingdom of Naruya. We hold your abilities in high esteem, and therefore we order you to join the royal army and put your skills to use at once. In light of the present crisis, you are dismissed from your post as a border lord. Leave the border to your troops, and come defend the country by leading soldiers on the front line.”
What? So, basically, he wants me to go to the front line and serve as a commanding officer there? The royal army is basically an upgraded version of the individual domains’ armies. Normally, they call the forces that defend the king in the capital the royal army, but when there’s a war, they gather the troops from across all the domains to form a united military.
But the border regions are exempted from that due to the constant risk of war breaking out on the borders. Their manpower isn’t moved around even in times of war. Obviously, in a more dangerous situation, all forces would be mobilized to defend the capital, but things haven’t degenerated to quite that point just yet. That’d be why they’re only calling me and not my entire force.
What do I have to gain from going to the front line? I have all the money I need to revitalize my domain. I need to increase my population to be able to raise more troops. I’ll use the money to suck up population from other regions, train troops, and then rebuild the domain. My current situation allows me to do that as much as I want.
Right now, my biggest problem is a lack of capable personnel. They’re going to be essential to bringing the land under my dominion. And yet, I don’t have a single person in my army that I’d consider excellent. But what about on the front line? Lots of commanders are going to gather there, and I’m sure many of them will be superb. I need to look for potential allies among them. That’s a must.
Besides, staying in Eintorian won’t afford me many opportunities to level up. I don’t even know when the next battle will break out. Meanwhile, there’s battles every day on the front line. That means I can aim to level up. That’s the biggest thing. Obviously, there’ll be risks. But I’ve got the bonus!
I had a weapon to defend myself, so it was worth trying it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
In the game’s history, Eintorian loses, and then this war destroys the Runan Kingdom. I’ve stopped the first part of that for now, but if the Naruya Kingdom takes the capital, they’ll be back to invade Eintorian again. My domain here in Eintorian isn’t powerful enough yet.
I needed to prevent the destruction of the Runan Kingdom to buy time so I could develop more man power.
Basically, I need the Runan Kingdom to act as my shield for a little longer. If I can go to the front line and delay their destruction, then that will give me time to build up my domain’s power. Personnel, level ups, and time. I stand to gain plenty.
There was no need to hesitate.
Having made my calculation, I respectfully accepted the written orders. “I, Erhin Eintorian, lord of Eintorian, do humbly accept His Majesty’s command!”
*
“Did you call for me?”
Euracia wasn’t in her room when I went there, so I’d asked the head chamberlain to call her to the study. For some reason, she appeared through the window.
Use the door, would you? The door.
“Where’ve you been?”
“I was looking around the domain. Seeing the way your policies are put into effect, the soldiers training, and all sorts of other things.”
“With all you’ve seen, you must have changed your opinion of me by now, right?”
If she hasn’t by now, then she’s never going to.
Fortunately, she answered me with a nod. “I admit it. I was wrong about you. I really do need to make up my mind based on what I’ve seen and experienced for myself, not just what I heard. Just like you said.”
“Well, yes, but...even once you do see things and experience them yourself, there are times when you still might have misconceptions. If you witnessed a scene without knowing what’s been going on in the background, for instance. Like with the women in my bedroom. I think it’s never good to rush to a decision. So, maybe the most important thing is to have a wealth of information.”
“I see. You could be right about that.”
“So, can I expect an apology, then?” I said, raising my shoulders with a swagger.
Euracia nodded, then, just as quickly, knelt down before me.
“I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience that my misjudgment caused you.”
Uh, there’s no need for her to go that far. Especially considering her position.
I quickly took her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet.
“I never said you had to kneel. The first princess of the Kingdom of Rozern shouldn’t bow to others so easily, now should she, Your Highness?”
Yeah, that’s right. She’s a princess of Rozern, and the elder sister of the current king.
Their previous king died suddenly, leaving a fourteen-year-old to ascend the throne, and she’d been supporting him since.
Rozern was a small tributary of the Runan Kingdom, and, in the game at least, they got wrecked pretty badly. Right after the Kingdom of Runan fell, most of the Rozernan nobility fled out of fear of a barbarous invasion by neighboring Brijit.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter2_1.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Still, they weren’t destroyed easily.
That’s because someone roused the fleeing people to fight back and resist to the bitter end. Someone who’d had the support of the people ever since they were young.
Using her inborn charisma, she gave speeches that were received with unending applause, and her popularity grew by the day. She never betrayed the support they showed her. In order to defend her country, she rallied the people of Rozern after most of the nobility fled, and stood on the front lines personally.
Obviously, since she was leading the charge, she ultimately fell in battle.
From the fact that, after her death, Rozern fell within a week, you can see that it was largely her strength that had preserved them in the months before that.
Before war broke out with the Naruya Kingdom, she’d been traveling the world in order to strengthen the Rozern Kingdom. That’s what led her to hear about a certain villainous lord and visit Eintorian.
Her personality won’t let her abide injustice.
Looking at her ability scores, her high charisma made soldiers obey her, which manifested itself in her Command score. She’d used that strength when fighting Brijit. Also, looking at her high Martial score, she probably had potential to use mana too.
You might say she’s more of a pure fighter type than a politician.
Of course, she never expected me to know her true identity, so she rose to her feet with a look of considerable shock on her face.
“How do you know about that...?!”
“I just told you, the most important thing in the world is information.”
“If you knew everything, then why play dumb?”
“Because I didn’t think you’d want it known?”
“I’m thoroughly defeated...”
Euracia bit her lip in chagrin. No need to get so bent out of shape over it.
“By the way, is it true that you’ll be going to the front lines?” she asked.
“Of course,” I replied. “In the same way that you’re traveling the world to protect your country, I’m obligated to defend mine. If they say I’m needed, then I have to go.”
“I heard that Runan has been losing battles day after day. They say that Naruya has far greater man power.”
“I’m gonna win. Watch me pull it off.”
“Oh, you will...?” Euracia said, trailing off with a look on her face as if she were agonizing over something. Then, after a moment’s silence, she asked, “Could I join you, perhaps? I wish to learn about war, and I believe my skill with a sword can be of use to you. I know I shouldn’t boast, but I can assure you I’m not weak!”
If she was willing to fight alongside me, she’d obviously be useful. I’d already seen that for myself when I used her 95 Command to raise the people’s Opinion. But I couldn’t do that now, because she couldn’t take part in Runan’s war due to historical events that were yet to occur.
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not?”
“Watch me fight instead. There’s no issue with you watching from a distance. After that, you should return to Rozern by next month. If the information I’ve received is correct, Rozern’s territory is about to be threatened by Brijit.”
“N-No!”
“I can’t make you believe me, but that’s all the more reason for you to watch. If I’m able to defeat the Naruya Kingdom, then won’t that mean I’ve got the intel and tactical mind to pull that kind of thing off? Once I’ve proved that, you’d better listen to me and hurry back to Rozern.”
She couldn’t respond.
Based on the serious expression she’s making, it doesn’t look like she’s going to dismiss what I said out of hand, but, well... In the game’s history, she’s supposed to die fighting to defend Rozern. I intend to make it so she can protect her country, of course, but there’s no way I’m going to let her die. The game’s history exists to be changed, after all.
Regardless, I needed her to go back to Rozern for the battle that would follow if I defeated Naruya.
If things go as planned, we’ll meet again in due time.
In the capital of Runan.
*
The interim headquarters of the Royal Runanese Army had been set up at Lynon Castle in the Lynon Domain, not far from the capital. Their commander-in-chief was Duke Ronan, who could be said to be the leader of all the other lords.
Ronan was holding a meeting with the advisor to the royal army, Heina, on the topic of personnel assignments. As commander-in-chief, he was in charge of giving orders to the commanders of all the individual units. Directly beneath him was his lieutenant commander, but the advisor was the one in charge of planning the army’s strategy.
This prestigious post had already changed hands three times in the course of the Kingdom of Naruya’s invasion. The first died on the battlefield. The second had gone missing.
The third appointee was Heina Berhin, widely known in the capital for her brilliant mind. She also happened to be a relative of Ronan’s. Under normal circumstances, her position would have been widely coveted. However, with the defeats piling up, no one wanted to touch it now. In all likelihood, they’d go down in the history books as the advisor who let the country be destroyed.
“Where can we even put Count Eintorian?” asked Ronan.
“I’ve thought about that a bit myself...” Heina replied, pausing for a moment before she addressed their biggest headache. “I believe a supply base would do.”
“Are you serious?” Ronan asked, his expression dubious. That’s because the supply unit was incredibly important, delivering provisions from the royal capital to the battlefield.
“I intend to have the current commander of the unit assume the position left open when Count Nolan died up north.”
“No, there’s no way we can allow someone with as vile a reputation as Erhin assume such a vital post,” Ronan protested, but Heina continued explaining.
“Commander! Can we send him to the front and trust him with thousands of soldiers’ lives? Weren’t you so worried by the prospect that you asked me to find a suitable place to put him?”
“Because it’s an order from the king. But giving him the supply unit? Is there nothing better we can do?”
“There won’t be any issue with the supply unit, whereas if we sent him to the front line, there’d be no controlling him. He might get the unit we put him in charge of wiped out. With that in mind, I believe it’s better to send him to the supply unit where we can monitor him. I’ll watch him like a hawk. If he does anything strange, I’ll report it to the king, and have him rescind the order to put him in an important position. I have this all planned out. Trust me.”
By the king’s command, they were forced to give him a position. However, he was a count. He had to be given a post higher than unit commander. That was how the class system worked, so this was Heina’s only solution. Because, in this situation, there was no position they wanted to give to a profligate count who did nothing but fool around.
*
I left Hadin to defend the domain.
What if something happens while I’m away? That’d be terrible. But so long as the treasure remains intact, I’ll figure out a plan. Besides, I’m the only one who can access the treasure. No one can get into the sealed room but me.
Knowing I had a lifeline let me head north without reserve. On the way there, I spotted a long, snaking line of refugees.
It stretched on, seemingly endless. From the northern border to Lynon Castle to the capital, where they thought that they might be at least somewhat safer. With the country at war, in some ways, I should have expected to see something like this. Refugees were an inevitable by-product of conflict.
The procession of refugees was an obvious display of just how dangerous things were in the Runan Kingdom now.
I followed the flow of refugees upstream until Lynon Castle finally came into clear relief. In the narrow definition, Lynon Castle referred to the castle belonging to the lord of the Lynon Domain, but in a broader sense, it could also refer to the castle city surrounding it as well. Generally, during wartime, people used the broader definition.
The castle walls enclosing the city had a total of four gates, one in each of the cardinal directions. When I arrived at the west gate and identified myself, I was escorted into the interim command headquarters. I was met there by the advisor to the royal army.
Heina Berhin
Age: 27
Martial: 60
Intelligence: 81
Command: 55
Her Intelligence score is superb.
She was a highly capable woman.
Must be a noble, given she’s been appointed advisor.
“You’re Count Eintorian, the lord of Eintorian, are you?”
“Indeed I am, Advisor! It’s an honor to meet you.”
If this were a company, then she’d be my superior several levels above me. I tried to show her the proper respect when I greeted her, but all that got me was a glare in response.
I guess I’m not welcome here, huh?
“Good of you to come.”
“The very existence of the state is at risk. If there’s anything I can do for you, I’ll do it.”
That response made her brow twitch as she gave me a look of contempt.
Uh, I don’t think I said anything wrong there.
But it was at least in part because she knew well Erhin’s infamous reputation.
Womanizing and debauchery. That’s what Erhin Eintorian’s known for, after all. Looks like I was called here solely on the decision of the king of Runan. The royal army has no use for a man of my horrible reputation. Well, I’ll just have to make them thoroughly reevaluate that opinion going forward.
“How is the situation?”
Listen, you really don’t have to give me that look of contempt every time I say something.
But getting the information was more important than pointing that out to her.
“Not good. The Manon Domain’s fallen, and now the enemy are marching on Ganen Castle and Bern Castle. There’s an ongoing battle outside Ganen Castle. If those two castles fall, they’ll arrive here at Lynon Castle in no time. Then next will be the capital, and Runan City will become a battlefield. We’re resisting with all our might to keep that from happening, but we were pushed back too much in the early stages, widening the gap in our man power levels...”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter2_2.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Ganen Castle and Bern Castle?
That meant the enemy were already a stone’s throw from the capital. If I were trying to come up with a title for this, it’d be The Runan Kingdom: A Desperate Situation!
“Well, not that it does any good telling this to you. You won’t be going to the front line, after all,” Heina said, abruptly stopping her explanation.
“But where else would you send me in a situation this dire?!” I asked, unable to understand.
I get that I’m not welcome here, but there’s been a royal order so they can’t not use me. Where exactly is she planning to send me?
“One of the front-line commanders died, so I sent the commander of the supply unit to replace him. I’ll be having you serve as his replacement.”
The commander of the supply unit? Huh? That’s not the front line, but it’s still just as important. You look at me with that kind of contempt, but you’re still going to send me to the supply unit? Supply is one of the most important roles in war.
Well, okay, yeah, it is an important role, but, looking at it another way, it’s also one where all you have to do is follow orders. She’s so transparent. “The royal army has no use for incompetent commanders.” That’s what she’s saying, right?
I could only assume I was being made a fool of here.
“I see. The supply unit, is it?”
“It is. Now head to the supply base.”
“Very well. By the way, where can I find His Highness, the duke? No, I mean where can I find the commander-in-chief? I’d like to pay my respects.”
“The commander is incredibly busy. You should keep your mind on the supply unit!”
Oh, yeah?
There was nothing more to be said. I mentally clicked my tongue at her, then left behind Lynon Castle and the cold, no, downright icy reception they’d given me.
If that’s how they’re going to be, I’ll have to develop my forces in the supply unit until my chance comes. I’ll absolutely need the unit to be loyal to me if I’m going to intervene in this war, after all.
*
Inside the supply base behind Lynon Castle, Yusen the hundredman was unable to sleep at night for just one reason. He was worried for his widowed mother, who was deathly ill. It would have been so much easier on him if he could have watched over her final moments before the war broke out.
Were he on the front line, he’d be able to forget it all and fight to defend the nation, but here in the rear, his feelings for his mother were becoming the more pressing concern. She’d raised him all by herself. She was everything to him.
“You all right, captain? You haven’t been looking so good lately...”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Yusen had a temperate personality and had always looked after his men, but the dark look that had fallen over his face the whole time they’d been stationed at Lynon Castle concerned them. One of the other soldiers who saw this exchange jabbed the questioning soldier in the ribs and shook his head. It was a sign that he shouldn’t be bringing it up.
When they finished sorting through the supplies and it was break time, the onlooker hauled the questioning soldier aside.
“What?”
“Gibun, you really shouldn’t ask the captain that.”
“But I’m worried.”
“Man... You know the captain’s mother hasn’t got long to live.”
The soldier called Gibun recoiled in shock, his eyes widening. No, apparently, he hadn’t known that at all.
“Oh, right. You were dispatched elsewhere for a while, huh?” the other soldier, Donnay, said, realizing his mistake.
“Yeah. But anyway, is that true?”
“He’s always taken good care of her, which makes it even more painful to see him go through this.”
Gibun’s face twisted with grief. It was Yusen who’d helped him out when he was short on money before he was dispatched elsewhere. He’d happily loaned him three months’ worth of pay without saying another word about it.
“Is there nothing that can be done? Like sending him on leave...”
“This is wartime,” Donnay said, shaking his head.
Gibun sighed. He wanted to do something, but he had no way to. It wasn’t like Yusen hadn’t been searching for some way to see her himself either.
He made up his mind and then went to visit Lieutenant Commander Hadan, who was currently directing the supply unit. Of course, the man’s subordinates blocked the way and wouldn’t let him into the tent. Hadan was in a real sour mood today. When the commander left for the front, he’d assumed he was going to be the one taking over. Instead, some boneheaded lord from the countryside was taking the position. The noise outside his tent only served to agitate Hadan further.
“What’s going on?”
“He keeps insisting on seeing the lieutenant commander...”
“Let him in.”
Hadan had them let the noisy Yusen into the tent with every intention of taking his frustration out on him.
“What is it?”
As soon as he stood before Hadan, Yusen suddenly got down on his knees. Then, pressing his head to the ground, he started to explain his situation.
“Just one day... Give me just one day’s leave. I’ll fight to the death after that!”
He hadn’t forgotten his duty for a moment. He simply wanted to see his mother in her final days.
“Ha ha ha!” Hadan bellowed in laughter when he heard this. Yusen cocked his head to the side, unsure what to make of this reaction.
“You’re not the only soldier who has a personal situation to consider. If you were a grunt, I’d understand, but this is just pathetic coming from a hundredman! Hey! Drag this fool out of here and give him a good lashing!” Hadan shouted raucously, blowing off steam.
Yusen’s face twisted horribly. Not because of the lashes he would receive, but because of the despair he felt as he lost all hope.
When he returned and his men saw the whip marks left on him, their expressions grew uncertain, and they voiced their displeasure.
“This is just horrible.”
“Shh! They’ll hear you,” Yusen shushed his men, holding up his index finger to his lips.
There were more men in Yusen’s hundred-man unit who felt indebted to him than he could keep track of, and a lot more outside his unit who respected him for his humanity. Gibun rounded up his fellow soldiers to hold a secret meeting without Yusen.
“I still haven’t paid the captain back,” one man said.
“Me either. He just told me I could pay him back a little at a time. Even though I know he can’t have that much himself.”
The other soldiers nodded and said the same.
“Money’s not the only debt we owe him. The captain’s always looked out for us, first and foremost.”
After more similar sentiments were voiced...
“...”
...a silence fell over the soldiers.
Gibun was the one to break it.
“Anyway... We’ve gotta find a way. Some way we can help the captain...”
“Do you have a plan?” asked Gibun’s friend, Donnay the tenman.
Everyone was paying attention to Gibun. He fell silent for a while, then started scratching his head.
“When we head out to supply, it’s with multiple hundred-man units, so he needs to work together with the other hundredmen. There’s no way of tricking people there. Our only chance is now, while we’re still on standby after returning from supplying the troops. You know how we form patrol units while on standby, right?”
Donnay nodded at Gibun’s words, adding, “Yeah. We were just assigned this task. They just sent another ten hundred-man units out with supplies, so it’s our turn to patrol those units’ posts. It’s true, when you look at it that way, this is our only chance.”
“Definitely!”
“You’re right!”
The other soldiers voiced their agreement.
Once they did, Gibun started to explain his plan.
“We’re going to be put in charge of Sector 12 soon. Our hundred-man unit will be handling all the patrols. That’s when we’ll have our chance. We can let him slip away then. And... I have some good news.”
Gibun paused for dramatic effect, frustrating everyone.
“There’s more?”
“What is it?”
“Tell us already!”
Gibun quickly continued at their urging.
“I heard this from a friend who works in Hadan’s tent. Hadan’s been called to a meeting with the advisor tomorrow. He sounded pleased about it, thinking he’ll be given a mission of some sort. Well, Hadan’s one of her people, and he was always hanging around command HQ in the hopes of getting to do something big. Anyway, if Hadan’s away from the unit, then this is the best chance we’re going to get. I doubt we’ll get another opportunity for the captain to sneak away.”
The men all stood up when they heard what Gibun was saying. They felt, just as he did, that this plan was their only option.
Of course, they couldn’t have known that Hadan had been called to take part in a conspiracy to ensnare Erhin, and the arrival of the new commander of the supply unit would doom their efforts.
*
The supply base was behind Lynon Castle along a key road to the capital. Materiel arrived from the capital and various domains, and was then stored at the supply base until it was distributed to the battlefields.
They put the supply base at Lynon Castle, where the interim command headquarters is?
If Lynon Castle fell, they’d instantly lose all of their provisions and supply routes, so it obviously should have gone somewhere else.
Royal Runanese Army Supply Unit
Manpower: 10,000
Training: 40
The supply base has ten thousand troops. That’s not many.
Five thousand were there to protect the base, while the other half delivered supplies to the battle lines.
So, I effectively only have five thousand.
Their level of training was a disaster. It wasn’t just Erhin’s forces that had a problem with lack of training, it afflicted the entirety of the Royal Runanese Army. They had essentially no units that were properly trained. Small wonder they lost their country without much of a fight.
This was a shabby supply unit with less than 50 Training, and that wasn’t the only terrible thing about them. I was led to the commander’s tent as soon as I arrived. I didn’t have a problem with that. It was the lieutenant commander who suddenly barged in that I didn’t like.
Hadan Gerdick
Age: 40
Martial: 50
Intelligence: 25
Command: 35
Those are some awful stats. He only got to be lieutenant commander because he’s a baron.
Of course, it wasn’t his abilities I took issue with, but his attitude.
“Congratulations on your appointment. I’m Hadan, your second-in-command.”
“Erhin. It’s a pleasure.”
“Now, with that out of the way. I know this supply unit better than anyone. I hope you’ll think of your stay here as a vacation. What I’m trying to say is this: please, don’t do anything.”
As if I wasn’t going to get upset, being told that out of nowhere.
“You want to run that by me again?” I said crossly, but Hadan kept going with his nonsense.
“The advisor says you are to leave everything to me.”
The way he took an arrogant tone and dropped a mention of the advisor irked me.
Looks like the advisor’s taken moves to keep an eye on me. This guy seems to have an awful lot of faith in her too.
“The advisor has summoned me, so I will be heading to Lynon Castle, but please relax and do nothing while I am gone. Have I made myself clear?”
Having dropped that cheeky remark, he turned and left without waiting for me to reply. I let out an exasperated laugh.
What’s his problem? Just ignore him. Even if he’s acting on the advisor’s order, ignore that too. The game’s history tells me that Lynon Castle is about to become a battlefield. The advisor won’t have time to worry about me for long.
If I do what the main offender responsible for the destruction of Runan says, I’ll end up dying with her. So, I can ignore her. In fact, if I can get a firm grip on the supply unit by the time it happens, I’ll be able to stand on the battlefield.
That’s why I decided to completely disregard his warning and called up the hundredmen.
I want to get a look at the personnel for now.
“I’ve been appointed as your commander from today onward. I am simply informing you of the change in command, and there are no other changes. Carry out your duties faithfully so there are no disruptions to our supply operation!”
Two of them openly smirked when I said that. Probably Hadan’s direct subordinates.
The rest had tense looks on their faces. None of them really looked like they were on Hadan’s side. He apparently wasn’t that popular. That was convenient for me.
Looking around, I found just one person with superior stats.
Yusen
Age: 39
Martial: 82
Intelligence: 60
Command: 90
Hundredman was the highest rank a commoner could aspire to. That meant he’d been in the army for quite some time. If his ability scores were this high, I wanted him as a retainer.
The higher your Command score, the more quickly and efficiently you could raise the Training level of your troops.
He had a whopping 90 Command.
I feel like I just unearthed a pearl from the mud!
There really were excellent personnel on the battlefield! This was the moment that confirmed that for me.
*
Finding new personnel is great and all, but I can’t neglect my duties as commander either.
I dismissed the hundredmen before I went around surveying each of the units.
I mean, even if I do find talented people, I can’t just suddenly say, “Hey, join my side,” right?
The units were moving according to a planned supply strategy. The supply base was on top of a fortress, but the soldiers lived in tents so that they could pull out at any time. The largest of those tents was the one meant for the commanding officer of the unit—the commander’s tent.
I headed there, and read through all the different documents regarding the supply base. You might say I was studying up on it. After spending half a day familiarizing myself with the current state of supplies inside the base, I went to scout out the area.
If there’s an enemy raid or the need to withdraw, I need to know the terrain in advance. I’d be a laughingstock of a commander if I panicked because I didn’t know the lay of the land around my own base. And just looking at a map won’t cut it. I need to see things with my own two eyes.
I chose Yusen as my guide, figuring that I could both do my scouting and get a feel for the man at the same time. Two birds with one stone, right?
“How many roads lead from here to the battlefronts at Bern Castle and Ganen Castle?”
“There are three: one that goes through Lynon Castle, one that goes around it, and the one that passes through the mountains you see to the east. However, considering the difficulties involved in bringing soldiers through the mountains, I suspect the only practical roads are the two leading around or through the castle.”
There was nothing all that special about the local geography. Nowhere to lay ambushes. It was just an open field—grass as far as the eye could see—and the base was positioned on top of a hill with a broad view of the area, allowing guards to detect any enemy raids.
“Okay. Guess we’ll check out the road that goes around, then.”
“Understood. Right this way, Commander!”
I followed Yusen on horseback. Half an hour of riding around and surveying the topography had passed with minimal conversation when we came to a fairly wide river. We’d come out pretty far, and it wasn’t good to be away from the unit too long.
I’ve been able to check out the terrain all the way out here, so mission accomplished.
I turned to head back.
Of course, I had another objective in going scouting, and we need to actually talk if I want to accomplish it.
“You, what’s your name?”
“I am Yusen.”
“Have you been in the military long?”
“Since I was a child. So over two decades, I guess?” Yusen scratched the back of his head, chuckling as he told me that.
Twenty years is a long time. Sounds like he wasn’t drafted but voluntarily chose the path of a career soldier. We’re at war now, so a lot of people are being conscripted, but normally people enlist of their own accord.
“Commander, look!” Yusen stopped embarrassedly scratching his head and pointed towards the north. “Enemies on the road that goes around Lynon Castle!”
Enemies? That road is behind us.
Surprised, I turned around and saw he was right. A cloud of dust was rising into the air, and I heard hoofbeats as it got closer.
“Those are Naruyan scout uniforms!” Yusen shouted.
I quickly confirmed his report with the system. There were ten men—a scout unit made up of rank-and-file soldiers, just like Yusen said.
“There’s ten of them...can you handle that, Yusen?”
“Of course!”
Yusen had an impressive Martial score of 82, while the leader of the scouting party’s score was only 30. It wouldn’t be a problem. As proof of that, Yusen ran over and cut down the enemy soldiers with ease.
One enemy soldier fell from his horse.
Then a second. A third. A fourth.
In no time, Yusen had polished off eight foes.
“Take at least one of them alive! We’ll want information.”
Captive soldiers could be a source of intel, but Yusen was going to kill all of them, so I ordered him to take prisoners. The scouting party had charged at us with their horses in a single column with gaps between them. Now, only two of them remained.
“Surrender, and your lives will be spared!” Yusen shouted loud enough for the furthest man to hear. Soldier #9 wasn’t in a listening mood, however, and he rode in, sword raised in one hand, without attempting to slow down at all.
It was the soldier in the rear who reacted. He pulled back on his reins at the order to surrender—but his lack of experience caused his horse to rear back, whinnying—and he fell to the ground.
That was a really nasty fall. He was going to have some broken bones, at the very least.
Clang!
Just as I was distracted by that, it happened!
The ninth soldier and Yusen crossed blades.
Steel collided with steel.
I thought, Yusen’s gonna win, of course, but when I looked away for a moment his sword went flying and spun high through the air. The enemy had disarmed Yusen and sent him tumbling to the ground with a single blow.
This was unexpected.
I rushed to Yusen’s side, shocked.
Will you use the bonus?
This is impossible. Yusen was unhorsed in a single blow despite his 82 Martial?
It couldn’t have been a mere coincidence. The enemy pointed his blade at the fallen Yusen. His life was in desperate peril.
Jint
Age: 21
Martial: 93
Intelligence: 41
Command: 52
When I saw the enemy’s stats, I got shocked all over again.
93 Martial! The surprise was dizzying.
That puts him in an entirely different dimension from the rest of the ordinary soldiers in his unit. No, that Martial score was simply unimaginable. He’s only 21 too. There’s still a ton of room for him to improve at that age. He’s got the stats to be one of the Ten Commanders of Naruya, yet he’s just an ordinary soldier.
Was he a farmer that they pressed into service as a rank-and-file conscript, maybe? If that’s what happened, it’s possible that they never noticed his incredible Martial. Only I can see people’s ability scores, after all!
The enemy soldier moved to kill the unhorsed Yusen.
Yusen’s gonna die if I don’t do something. There’s only one thing I can do. At 93 Martial, he’s even stronger than I am with the bonus.
“Stop!” I shouted as I triggered Crush without hesitation.
Daitoren’s weapon skill, Crush!
The overwhelming skill that lets me kill or incapacitate anyone with a Martial score up to five points higher than my own.
I couldn’t possibly kill such a promising man, so I chose to incapacitate him.
The moment I did, a flash of light ran through Daitoren, and with that flash the blade flew forward, reaching Jint’s throat in an instant. He made an attempt to sweep Daitoren aside, but the stats said it was impossible.
The system is absolute. No, it must be absolute!
I waited for the result with great conviction. The moment sword met sword, the area was washed in blinding white light.
Once that light faded, what remained was Daitoren, stabbed into the ground, and my formidable foe, fallen from his horse and unconscious. I rushed over to confirm he’d been knocked out.
No problem. He’s out cold! The only issue is for how long.
Knocking him out is one of Crush’s functions. It’d be pretty pointless if he woke back up right away. If he were to regain consciousness and resume fighting, all I’d have accomplished is to waste a usage of Crush.
Assuming I must have at least some time, I rushed over to Yusen, dismounted, and extended my hand to him.
“You okay, Yusen?!”
“Commander... Thank you for saving a useless fool like me!”
I’d rushed to his side to help him to his feet, but Yusen actually knelt before me instead.
“Of course I’d save my subordinate,” I told him. “And don’t call yourself useless. You’re more than strong enough. The problem was who you were up against. That guy was unnaturally strong.”
“Humiliating as it is to admit this...he sent me flying with a single blow. Ha ha ha.”
Yusen bit his lip with chagrin as he acknowledged his opponent’s strength.
“I’m just glad you’re not dead. Well, can you walk?”
“Yes. I’ll manage,” Yusen replied as he did just that.
He knows how to fall safely. That 82 Martial isn’t for nothing. He’s on a completely different level from that enemy soldier with a Martial of 30 who started thrashing around in agony after falling from his horse. The guy I used Crush on is just ridiculous.
“Let me see you ride. Riding a horse takes all your muscles, after all. If there’s anything wrong with you, we’ll find out fast.”
Yusen mounted his horse when he heard me say that. Then, he nodded.
“No problem!”
“Glad to hear it. Now, I have a request. I plan to take the man who fell from his horse and the one I just knocked out prisoner. Head back to the unit and fetch some chains and manacles. I’ll want you to bring a cart to carry them in, and some men too.”
“You want me to leave you here alone, Commander? I can’t do that. Come back with me. I’ll return with some men to capture them later!”
“Nah. We wouldn’t want them waking up and running off in the meantime. It’s better if I stand watch. Now, get going.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right... I’ll hurry as best I can, then!”
With that, he left, and I found myself a place to hide.
If that Jint guy woke up, I’d be in trouble. The bonus was still active, but I’d have to wait another five hours before I could use Crush again.
I checked my level while I was waiting, but it hadn’t changed. I’d expected as much. Just because I fought didn’t mean my level would increase.
The enemy’s death is the deciding factor. I won’t get experience just practicing. Yeah, that makes sense. If I got experience just for knocking out enemies, then I could level up by repeatedly knocking Jint out and waking him up.
There’s no way they’d have made that possible.
*
Night fell—the night when Yusen’s subordinates were also hoping to enact their plan.
“Captain!” Gibun called out as he entered the tent.
“What is it?” Yusen replied, looking up at him.
“Could you come with me?”
Gibun looked worried. Yusen hurried to his feet.
“What is it? Another fight? If the lieutenant commander gets wind of it, we’ll all be whipped, you know...” Yusen said, clicking his tongue unhappily.
“Well, something like that. Ha ha!” Gibun answered vaguely, scratching the back of his head. He then went outside the tent, and Yusen followed him.
“Where’re the guys who’re fighting? Not out on patrol, right?” Yusen asked with a look of exasperation, but Gibun refused to give him a clear answer as he led the way to Sector 12. That’s where Yusen’s men were.
The men all gathered around in no time. That’s when Gibun made the suggestion to Yusen as representative of the group.
“Captain! Everything’s all set up. We’ll cover for you for a day or two. Please, go and visit your mother.”
There was a noticeable hint of surprise in Yusen’s eyes at this unexpected statement from his subordinates.
“Guys... You do know that desertion is punishable by summary execution, right?”
“But Captain...! The commander just arrived today, so he probably doesn’t know anything... With Hadan away, today’s your chance!”
“You’re wrong. I was just out scouting with the commander. I can’t see us getting anything past him...”
When the hundredmen were dismissed after the assembly, Yusen had been immediately called by the commander while his men were carrying out their duties patrolling Sector 12.
Obviously, it was impossible for a common soldier to keep track of everything going on inside the unit. There was a lot that they could have learned if they’d tried to, but they made the mistake of moving into action as soon as they’d confirmed that Hadan would be away.
“Well, I doubt he’ll be calling on you again so soon,” Gibun suggested, but Yusen firmly shook his head.
“If I do it this way, I’ll cause trouble for all of you. I can’t have that. It’d be far better for me to desert on my own!”
Yusen had considered desertion himself. He just hadn’t committed to doing it. So, while he was genuinely happy about his men’s suggestion, he knew it wasn’t realistic. If he deserted alone, he’d be the only one to die for it—but if he did things their way, they’d all be punished.
“He’s right, you know. Desertion is a capital offense,” said a sudden voice from behind them.
Everyone turned in shock. Yusen instantly knelt down when he realized who it was, and then the other soldiers did the same.
“C-Commander!”
“Eeek! What’s the commander doing here?!”
The soldiers screamed at Erhin’s sudden appearance.
“Desertion is a capital offense.” Those words told them he’d heard everything.
Yusen immediately pressed his forehead to the ground.
“Commander! It’s not their fault. I bear all the responsibility.”
“No, Commander! The captain didn’t know anything. We forced him to do it...”
“Hey, would you shut up?! Don’t say anything you shouldn’t.”
They’re both desperate to claim responsibility.
Erhin scratched his cheek with his index finger. This scene told him exactly what kind of person Yusen was. A hundred-man unit with bonds this tight would be useful on the battlefield. The supply unit’s overall Training was only 40, but taken on their own, Yusen’s hundred-man unit must have had a fairly high Training.
Yusen’s Command score is 90. That’s damn impressive.
Between the captive with the monster-like Martial and Yusen here, Erhin wanted to cry out in delight at the appearance of two such capable people. Of course, they weren’t his just yet, but he was still happy to have met two potential recruits.
“So, why exactly were you trying to desert?”
“Commander! The captain’s mother is...” Gibun started to explain the situation on Yusen’s behalf.
Once he’d heard everything, Erhin closed his eyes.
They were trying to sneak him out, then cover it up? Are they ignorant or just stupid? Well, it’s heartwarming, I’ll give them that.
Having thought all this, Erhin said, “Still, desertion is a serious crime.”
Yusen’s men hung their heads.
And yet, the next words out of Erhin’s mouth blindsided all of them.
“But you know what? I haven’t seen anything. It’s absurd for a soldier to put his family first after coming to the battlefield, but if she’s that important to you, then go! And then pay me back for the life you were about to throw away when you return to the battlefield!”
*
On my second day as commander of the supply unit, I received a report that Jint had woken up. It happened precisely five hours after I knocked him out. That meant Crush had a duration of five hours when I used it to incapacitate someone.
I took a shower and then headed to the prison tent.
Since he was staying put like a good prisoner, he presumably didn’t have any skills that would let him sever his chains. Besides, now I could use Crush any time I wanted to. That’s why I was able to enter the tent without any fear.
Inside the gloom of the tent, there were two soldiers, both bound with chains. One was in the back, sleeping. The moment I entered, Jint fixed me with a glare and the stare down continued for a while.
Is this what they call a psychological battle? Nah, this is pointless.
“Did you sleep well?” I asked, ending the senseless staring contest.
Or so I thought, but Jint just kept on glaring at me without a word in response.
“Looks like you didn’t sleep. Now, stop glaring at me like that and let’s have a little talk. I rate your martial abilities quite highly.”
He stayed completely silent. I tried talking to him repeatedly, but never got a response. As proof of that, Jint’s eyes were completely closed now.
In fact, it was the soldier sleeping in the back, awakened by the sound of my voice, who spoke instead.
“That guy’s always been silent. I can talk on his behalf, if you want. If you’ll promise to release me, that is!”
“Silent, you say?”
“Yeah. He never responded to anyone, even in our unit.”
I see. So he’s always been like this, huh?
“You’ll tell me anything, then?”
“Just spare my life! If you’ll let me go, I’ll tell you anything!”
Time for a change of objectives, then. From recruitment to interrogation.
“I can spare your life. But I could also kill you here and now.”
I drew the sword at my hip and put it to the soldier’s throat.
“Eeek! Have mercy. P-Please, spare me!” the soldier cried, trembling.
This is the guy who got scared and tried to run away when he encountered us, only to fall off his horse. He seemed a lot more timid than the other nine. Well, that makes him easy to interrogate, at least.
“Tell me honestly. What were you scouting for? What is your unit preparing to do?”
“Well...”
“Listen, if you try to get clever with me, I’ll kill you instantly.”
I pressed the sword flush against his throat to show I meant business. A thin trickle of blood ran down his neck.
“I’ll talk. Honestly. I don’t know the details, but I think we’re preparing some sort of surprise attack. That’s why we were sent out to scout.”
“A surprise attack? On this supply base?”
“Yeah, that’s right. That’s all I heard. I don’t know the details either. I was just given orders to come scout the place. Honest. P-Put the sword away now, please. Spare me!”
It’d be more suspicious if a common soldier like him knew too much. This could be fake information, or it could be real. Even if he thinks it’s real, he could have been fed false info by his commander in the Naruyan army before being sent out to scout.
Of course, the odds are the surprise attack is real. When I went out scouting yesterday, Yusen showed me how there’s a road that comes here from Ganen Castle without passing through Lynon Castle first. If the Naruyans learned about that road while marching on Ganen Castle, it seems obvious they might want to raid the supply base.
A successful attack here would leave Ganen Castle and Bern Castle with a shortage of food. Even if we set up other supply lines, it would take days, and the defenders might begin to starve in that time. That’d be a major hit to morale.
Also, if they occupy this supply base, that’d make it especially difficult to set up alternate supply lines. The enemy has more than enough to gain from it, so his story isn’t completely unbelievable. Although, the way they sent in a scouting party so blatantly is suspicious in and of itself. It’s almost like they wanted us to capture them and make them talk.
Does that mean they’re deliberately informing us about the surprise attack?
“Very well. If what you’ve told me is true, I’ll spare you. But if it’s a lie, you’ll die. Now we get to wait and find out.”
“Eeeeek! I-It’s true. That’s exactly what I heard. I don’t know the rest of the details, but that’s what my commander said!” the enemy soldier cried desperately.
Jint, meanwhile, remained calm and unmoving, eyes closed.
He’s unperturbed even in this situation. That makes me want him even more, but the problem is that it’s impossible to even talk to him. I’ll have to think of something.
I decided to leave Jint as he was for the time being and went outside the prison tent. I had bigger concerns now. On my way to where I was going, I stopped by the tents where Yusen’s hundred-man unit were gathered.
“C-Commander!”
When they noticed me, Yusen’s men stood at attention, placing their right hand over the left side of their chest. That was this world’s salute.
“I have something to tell you. I’ll be rounding up the hundredmen after this. There’s something I need to have a meeting with them about.”
“B-But our captain’s currently...” Gibun replied, so startled his voice sounded like a hiccup. His fellow soldiers gathered around, looking hesitant too.
“Don’t you worry. I’ll say Yusen’s away attending to other duties. I just came to tell you in advance so that you’re not surprised. Anyways, you, your name was Gibun, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. I am Gibun!”
“You’re a tenman, yeah?”
“Indeed, I am!”
“They tell me you’re Yusen’s right-hand man.”
“Well... Ha ha ha! Something like that.”
“Then you’ll attend the meeting in his place.”
“A-Are you sure?”
“I have orders for all of the hundred-man units, so someone needs to act as a stand-in.”
Once I’d explained the situation to Yusen’s hundred-man unit, I went to the commander’s tent and called for an emergency meeting. Even if the enemy had some other target in mind, as the commander of the supply base, I needed to prepare for a surprise attack.
“As I’m sure you’re all aware, we caught some enemy soldiers while out scouting yesterday. Well, one of them spilled his guts. The enemy that occupied Ganen Castle have discovered the road that goes around Lynon Castle and are now planning to raid this supply base.”
“Whaaaaaa?!”
“Is that true, Commander?”
“A-A-A raid?!”
The hundredmen gathered in the command tent all started making a fuss. That’s how important this information was.
“There’s no question that the prisoner told us what he knows. Although, whether the attack is coming or not is less clear,” I said with a shrug.
“S-Send a report to Lynon Castle at once!” exclaimed one of Hadan’s subordinates. “I can’t believe this is happening while the lieutenant commander is away!”
“I’ll send a report, yes, but only after considering countermeasures...”
What would having him around even change?
The supply base was situated in a fortress on top of a hill along the road leading to the capital. It was also surrounded by castle walls, even if they weren’t very high. The one unique thing about it was that, in order to ease the transport of supplies, each sector had its own doors, so there were a lot more entrances than a castle city with gates in the four cardinal directions.
“We haven’t the time! I’ll report to him at once!” the hundredman who I’d had my eye on as Hadan’s man since yesterday ignored what I was saying and took off running.
Blatantly ignoring his commander? Well, with his superior officer being who he is, I shouldn’t have expected any better from him.
“Well... Setting that aside, we need to prepare for ourselves. Whether what our prisoner said about the surprise attack proves to be true or not, we should be more than able to fend them off if we’re ready for it.”
Of course, since we’re inside a fortress, we can hold out against attacks to some degree. But I predict a long, drawn-out battle, and we won’t be able to carry out our supply duties while it’s happening. That’d be just what the enemy wants.
On top of that, with our current level of Training and Morale, it’s questionable if we can make it through a long battle. It may look like we should have a terrain advantage here, but we really don’t. What good is a supply unit that ends up isolated?
There was terrain outside the base that would be easier for us to fight on. If there were some way to take advantage of it to rapidly drop the enemy’s morale and drive them off, that would be an effective strategy. It won’t be too late to hole ourselves up in the fortress afterwards if that plan fails.
“I will be giving new orders to each hundredman regarding the countermeasures we’ll be taking. You’re dismissed for now to explain the situation to your men. Be ready to move into action at a moment’s notice!”
Once I’d given those orders and dismissed the meeting, I had Gibun stay behind. I had something to ask him.
“Gibun, you stay.”
Gibun looked around, waiting for the other hundredmen to file out before walking over to me.
“Is this about the captain?”
“No. I’m sure Yusen will be back eventually. I have something else to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Could you tell me which of the hundredmen have an axe to grind with Hadan? The ones who don’t obey him.”
“Who has an axe to grind with Hadan? Well, um, that would be...practically everyone. Everyone but the hundredman who ran off to report to him, and one other, hate the man’s guts.”
“Oh. Is that a fact?”
“Yes. The lieutenant commander is...scum—No!”
Disrespecting a member of the nobility was a crime. One usually met with immediate punishment. Gibun hurriedly covered his mouth as he belatedly remembered that I, too, was a member of the nobility.
“You can insult scum like Hadan all you want.”
I chose to allow it. If he ever insulted me, I’d punish him. But that detestable prick Hadan? Eh, whatever.
“Y-You mean it?”
“Yeah.”
“Th-Then I’ll do just that. He’s rotten to the core—always looking for the tiniest fault in the hundredmen so he can have them whipped...”
“I see. So, there’s a lot of ill will built up against him?”
“Yes!”
This was good news for me. Now was my chance to eliminate Hadan and seize complete control of the unit!
“Then which hundredmen are close to Yusen and trustworthy? Are there any we could share Yusen’s absence with?”
“I’d say pretty much everyone likes the captain, but Hundredman Jido is probably closest to him.”
“I see. Okay, I want you to get your hundred-man unit ready to deploy immediately. And call Hundredman Jido here for me.”
*
“A surprise attack, you say?” Advisor Heina asked, sounding surprised.
“Yes,” Hadan answered her. “The new commander says he made a prisoner talk.”
“What...?”
Heina was taken aback. Erhin had captured an enemy scout so soon after being appointed and managed to make him talk?
“It is true that he captured an enemy soldier. He must have gotten lucky, I’m sure.”
Lucky, huh... Heina scratched her head in confusion. The enemy were already advancing on Ganen Castle. Given the current situation, she couldn’t write off a raid on the supply base as utter nonsense.
Duke Ronan, the commander-in-chief, was currently preparing to lead the sole elite force left in the Runan Kingdom’s military, his own house’s troops, in a decisive battle at Bern Castle. It was the one place he refused to give up.
It would be a massive hit if his supplies were disrupted now.
Heina was a relative of the House of Ronan, but not in the direct line of succession. Because of that, she had sought the position of advisor in order to raise the profile of the House of Berhin, which was often looked down on in the Runan Kingdom’s noble society due to their status as a branch family.
She didn’t want her treatment in noble society to get any worse. That’s why she really couldn’t afford to mess this up. Especially not now, when she’d received the important task of defending Lynon Castle in Duke Ronan’s absence. It was a huge burden resting on Heina’s shoulders.
“For now, have that prisoner brought to me. I’ll interrogate him personally.”
“Understood!”
No sooner had Hadan accepted the order than Heina took it back, saying, “No, wait!”
Heina looked at the map again and began racking her brain. Ganen Castle and Bern Castle weren’t about to fall. She couldn’t see that happening. That meant the supply base was her primary concern.
“I’ll go with you. We’ll take half of the man power from Lynon Castle with us to the supply base!”
“U-Understood!” Hadan nodded. But, after struggling with the decision a little longer, Heina changed her mind yet again.
“But, still. If this were a diversion, and they launched a surprise attack on Lynon Castle... No, with Lynon Castle’s man power and high walls we could still hold out. So the supply base comes first...”
Heina bit her lip as she considered a variety of possibilities.
“Hadan. Head back to the supply base immediately. You aren’t to leave the fortress under any circumstances. Order the commander to do the same. He must meet the enemy attack inside the fortress, no matter what happens!”
“Understood. But, Advisor, I can’t imagine the soldiers in the supply unit will be capable of handling this...”
“If there really is a raid, I’ll come to reinforce you personally. Just to be safe, I’ll lead half of our man power from Lynon Castle to a position between the castle and the supply base. You’ll be able to hold out long enough for me to come to your aid, I’m sure. If there’s an enemy raid, you raise a smoke signal!”
Yes. If this was a diversion, and they attacked Lynon Castle, she could return immediately, while if there was a genuine attack on the supply base, she could rush to their aid. It was a flexible plan that worked for either outcome.
Heina, convinced she’d come up with a superior strategy, sounded immensely satisfied with herself as she gave the order.
“And have the captured soldier sent to my camp. I’ll interrogate him myself.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll head back to the supply base!”
*
In order for the enemy to launch an attack on the supply base, they needed to use the road from Ganen Castle that went around Lynon Castle. That was why I sent the hundredman that Gibun told me about, Jido, on a scouting mission.
I ordered him to standby on the side road with two hundred troops, and send a message if there was any movement from the enemy.
Once those two hundred men and the others out on supply missions were excluded from the total, I was left with forty-eight hundred troops.
I excluded all of the hundredmen who were on Hadan’s side from the operation to prepare against the attack. Yeah. I gave them separate orders to defend the inside of the fort. Then I advanced to the side road with my forty-eight hundred troops.
Fighting inside the fortress would guarantee our defeat. There was a risk of it falling before reinforcements could arrive from Lynon Castle.
If that’s going to happen, we need a plan to catch the enemy by surprise and drive them off all at once!
For that, I had the river that cut through the middle of the side road.
It’s knee-deep, which isn’t really that deep.
If we dammed the river so that it was only ankle-deep, and then released the water behind the dam all at once, we could probably wash away hundreds of enemy soldiers.
Against an army of a hundred thousand, or even a million men, this strategy would be completely useless, but there was no way they would mobilize that many men in what was supposed to be a surprise attack. Raids like this lived or died on the speed with which they were executed.
If they do come with a force of that size, then we need to withdraw to the fortress and hole up there immediately. But our invaders, the Naruyan army, aren’t even on that scale to begin with.
Of course, this water attack can’t sweep away enemies spread out over a wide area. The river’s not big enough, and it’s impossible to hold back that much water anyway. It’d only be doable with sufficient men and time, as well as a river with lots of flow. My aim here is to use the water we hold back to temporarily divide the enemy. Then we attack the ones who’ve crossed and wipe them out before going after the remainder of their forces.
I hurried our march along until the river was in sight.
The enemy has to come down this road if they’re going to attack the supply base, so of course we’re going to lay a trap upstream.
“We’re going upstream to dam the river. Follow me.”
I started by gathering the hundredmen in front of the river and explaining the plan to them. They were all bewildered at first, but must have acknowledged the idea had some chance of success, because they quietly obeyed me as I led them all upstream.
“This looks like a good spot. Block off the water here. Have all your men work in teams to do it. Understood?”
With that order, they began building the dam. Forty-eight hundred men moved into action as one.
Fortunately, no messenger had come yet.
As the work was progressing, a soldier from our forces ran over to me. Well, this particular soldier might as well have been an enemy, so far as I was concerned.
It was none other than Lieutenant Commander Hadan himself.
“Commander! There’s no time for this. I have orders from the advisor. Stand by inside the base and don’t do anything reckless!” he announced the advisor’s commands with smug superiority.
‘Stand by inside the base’? That’s got to be the worst possible idea. It won’t be too late to pull back if we fail here, after all.
But Hadan’s words seemed to give the hundredmen pause. His mention of the advisor only added to that.
“Hey, what are you doing?! Pull back to the base immediately!”
Hadan didn’t even wait for my response before he started barking orders at them. The hundredmen and their soldiers, who had been hard at work, all stopped to watch us.
This guy’s screwed in the head. I should just ignore the advisor. When you consider what’s about to happen to Lynon Castle, the advisor’s just a loser.
Rather than follow her commands and lose with her, I’m better off winning this battle, even if it means countermanding her orders. In fact, winning here would be actively beneficial to me. I brought only the hundredmen who are discontent with Hadan in case something like this happened.
He’s only a baron and I’m a count. Besides, even if he brings the advisor into it, I’m the actual commander of this unit, not him. If I go through with this, the advisor’ll probably get pissed and call me back to Lynon Castle—the center of the action.
“Ugh, just shut up.”
With that decided, it was time to act. Hadan’s Martial was only 50. I pointed the back of my hand at his throat and triggered the Attack command. With a 10-point difference in our martial scores, I could knock him out whenever I wanted.
Hadan went down with a groan.
“I’ll bear all responsibility for this. Continue with the plan at once!”
“A-Are you sure...?”
“This is the most effective way to defend the supply base. You won’t be held responsible, so don’t worry about it. I’ll take all of the responsibility!
“Understood!”
When I then pointed at Hadan and said, “Gibun, put this guy in a corner somewhere,” everyone seemed to cheer up and nodded.
“Right! On it, sir!” Gibun chirped and then dragged Hadan off, chuckling.
The many carts that we had access to because we were a supply unit made this operation possible. But it wasn’t just carts; the fortress where the supply base was located hadn’t been in use prior to the outbreak of war. Thanks to that, the walls were crumbling in a number of places, and had been hastily repaired with sandbags and rocks—repair supplies I repurposed for dam building.
With thousands of men working on it, we soon had something that held back the water like a real dam.
If we let the water build up behind it a little and then break the dam so it’s released all at once, the enemies crossing the river are sure to panic. Especially the cavalry. Their horses’ll go wild with the fear of death. Then we take that opportunity for a quick strike. They can’t be bringing that large of a force with them for a raid, anyway.
The preparations were done by nightfall.
Still no sign of movement from the enemy. I worried that they would appear before the trap was laid, but they didn’t show up even once it had been.
The water behind the dam had now built up to the same height as it and was flowing over the top. There was nothing to be done about that. The enemy just needed to show up before the dam broke.
If the water’s up to the height of the dam, that’ll be more than enough to throw them into chaos!
Dawn came as we waited for the enemy to appear.
Hadan woke up.
“Urgh... Commander, what is going on here?”
“Shut up.”
I knocked him right back out, of course.
It might be weird to bring this up after already using it so much, but the Attack command sure made things easy. It’d be impossible for a normal guy like me to knock out a tough guy like Hadan without the system’s support.
Once I had laid Hadan low again, a soldier came running towards me from off in the distance.
There’s our long-awaited messenger. That means they really did launch a raid. Well, I’m still dubious if it’s really coming. What kind of surprise attack announces itself in advance and gives the opponent time to prepare?
Well, I’ve got some ideas of my own on that. For now, though, winning is the key thing. No matter what the enemy may be thinking, I don’t have any intention of losing.
“That’s the signal! Everyone, deploy! Gibun, lead Yusen’s hundred-man unit and follow me. I want all the other units to lie in wait on the field behind the river, just like we planned. You attack once the dam breaks and the water hits the enemy. Got it?”
“Yes, sir, Commander!”
The hundredmen and soldiers who’d been half asleep on the job jumped up and hurried back to work.
Once I’d urged them into motion, I led Gibun and his hundred-man unit north of the river on horseback. When we crossed the river, with its water level greatly diminished, we saw Jido and his two hundred soldiers pulling back.
When he saw me, Jido brought his horse to a stop and shouted, “Commander, it’s the enemy’s raiding party!” with a look of urgency on his face. “Wh-What do we do? We need to do something, take some countermeasures...”
He was gasping for breath—panicking.
“What’s the scale of the enemy force? Give me a detailed report,” I asked him calmly.
“Their main force is a cavalry unit. The soldiers I had watching from a higher vantage point reported there’s a unit of infantry in the rear too.”
“I see.”
Cavalry were to be expected in a raid. It sounded like they’d added an infantry component with an eye to taking the fortress too.
“None of the enemy got past you, right? Were you strictly monitoring them?”
“Of course! We expected they might have scouts, so we were meticulously careful. Nothing passed us but wild animals.”
If they figured out our plan, it was over. That’s why I’d sent out a full two hundred men to watch for them everywhere. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like it was going to be a problem.
“Okay. You link up with the forces on the other side of the river and get the full details of the plan from them. I’ll move once I have a fuller grasp of the enemy’s scale.”
“Understood!”
After watching Jido’s scouting party go, my unit hid ourselves and waited for the enemy. I need to check their scale. Knowing the number of enemies would let me take more certain countermeasures against them.
After some time, I saw the unit of cavalry Jido had told me about kicking up a cloud of dust. I immediately activated the system.
Naruya Kingdom Army: 5,320 men
Training: 80
Morale: 80
I saw a well-trained enemy force—small in scale, but still more than a supply unit with a Training score of 40 could handle.
Still, at this scale, the plan would work on them.
Raiding parties had generally been around this size in the game too. I knew this world well because I’d already experienced it through the game.
I don’t really know for sure, but it looks like their troop numbers are the same as in the game.
*
“Everyone, listen up! We’re going to cross that river! Our objective is the enemy’s supply base!” the enemy commander, Randall’s younger brother Hirina, bellowed as he chased after Erhin and his men. He’d expected the raid to be discovered and already included that in his plans.
Now, a river appeared in front of Hirina’s cavalry. It was a broad river, but the water level was rather low. The enemy force, more than fifty-three hundred strong, split into four groups as they began to cross.
As Hirina’s lieutenant and his men finished crossing, and the rest of the men moved to follow them—it happened!
Roar!
Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise.
“What’s that sound?” Hirina cocked his head to the side and looked in the direction it was coming from.
However, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Commander?”
The lieutenant was about to remind him that their target was the supply base, and they didn’t need to get distracted by anything else, but then his face twisted with shock. There was a massive surge of water coming at them from upstream.
Around five hundred cavalry had finished crossing, but one thousand were still making their way across, and another roughly four thousand infantry troops behind them hadn’t even begun to cross yet.
Their main force, the cavalry, were swallowed up by the onrushing water. As the height of the river rapidly went from ankle deep to chest high, the force of the water started to sweep away man and horse alike.
Whinny!
The horses’ distressed cries echoed in all directions, joined by the screams of their human riders.
Eeeeek!
“What’s happening?!”
Soldiers abandoned their horses and tried to swim, but the current was too strong for them to resist.
“Wahhhhh!”
This wasn’t the end of their troubles either. Hirina was shocked. Not only were his men caught in the muddy flow of the river, they now had the enemy converging on them from both sides.
“Damn it all!” Hirina cursed, drawing his sword.
So many men and horses, gone in a single water attack. Well, he had more left than he’d lost, but they were in a state of utter disarray, and having suddenly been divided was a big part of that.
“Attack!” Gibun shouted, leading his hundred-man unit in a charge. The hundred-man unit trained by Yusen, with his long career in the military, was better trained than any of the others, so they had no trouble with the charge attack.
The problem was the other hundred-man units. Their men quaked in their boots as they attacked. Even a hundredman like Jido appeared frightened. Only Gibun, his hundred men, and Erhin could fight properly. Even with the enemy in disarray, the soldiers of the supply base were losing to Hirina and the Naruyan cavalry in spirit.
Seeing this, Erhin shook his head in dismay.
This is the sad state of the supply unit. And they thought these guys could’ve held out at the fortress? Absurd.
The way things were going, he was going to lose even though the plan was a success. Erhin sensed the need to kill the enemy’s momentum and raise his own forces’ confidence.
There’s only one way!
Erhin sent his horse galloping towards Hirina. The man’s Martial was 80. That was pretty strong. And yet, when Erhin rushed towards him, bonus equipped...
“Gwagh!”
...he lopped Hirina’s head off without giving the man any chance to fight back.
When Daitoren flashed, he shouted out loud!
“Fight without fear! The enemy is confused. Look at their commander’s head. These enemies are nothing. Jido, man up, would you?”
“Y-Yes sir, Commander!”
Hoping for an even more dramatic effect, Erhin used a skill, triggering Sweep on the mass of enemies as a show of his own majesty.
Boom!
When he used the skill, all the enemies in range died in a flash of white light. Everyone froze stiff when they witnessed such an intense mana skill.
“M-Mana!”
That included his own forces, who were especially shocked by how off-the-charts Erhin’s power was.
“You can use mana, Commander?!”
“That doesn’t matter,” Erhin answered Gibun curtly. “Focus on driving off the enemy!”
Then...
Wooooo!
The soldiers of the supply unit, having regained their vigor after seeing him use the skill, cast their fear aside as they brandished their swords. That went for the hundredmen too.
And so, they completely mopped up the enemies who’d crossed the river. All that left were the remaining forces on the other side!
When Erhin took the lead, the soldiers who were entranced by his use of mana cheered as if they were under the illusion they’d wielded that power themselves. They quickly began crossing the river, now returned to its normal level, after him.
Their morale was on the rise! The enemy had lost their commander, and all that were left now were the infantry in the rear.
This was the first victory for the Runan Kingdom Army.
*
“You’re telling me he won...?” Heina murmured, trembling, when she saw the report.
He’d wiped out five thousand enemy soldiers to secure a massive victory. And, on top of that, his own losses were minimal.
“Impossible. That’s just not possible!”
Heina was mad with jealousy.
If the commander-in-chief were to learn of this, my position would be in danger. That was the first thing that occurred to her.
Erhin’s a count. I’m a countess too, but after something like this, it’s entirely possible he could drive me from my position.
If she let herself be driven from power by someone she’d thought of as incompetent as Erhin, the House of Berhin would surely be a laughingstock. She could never suffer the indignity of it. But more than that, she couldn’t stand that Erhin had disobeyed her orders and acted on his own. Heina’s eyes were no longer on victory.
Forgetting the risk to the nation, she racked her brains solely for the sake of her own glory. Erhin had ignored the advisor’s orders not to leave the supply base. Even if they were equals in terms of nobility, she was still his superior in the army’s command structure. That was an indisputable fact.
So, this is insubordination. Blatant insubordination!
Having found the perfect charge, Heina called for some of her soldiers at once.
“Arrest the supply unit’s commander for insubordination!”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter3.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Chapter 3: The Trump Card of Miracles and Reversals
I won the battle, but could only laugh at the result as I looked around the dank, cave-like dungeon of Lynon Castle. That’s where they’d locked me up.
The charge? Insubordination, of all things!
Obviously, Advisor Heina was responsible for this.
When we won the battle and returned triumphantly to the supply base, the hundredmen were all beaming.
That didn’t last long. Things changed in an instant. Once we reported our victory, soldiers rushed to the base from Lynon Castle.
Advisor Heina’s so easy to figure out.
She summoned me to Lynon Castle not because I’d won the battle, but for disobeying her orders. Then she had me jailed.
The hundredmen like Gibun who had my back protested that this was unacceptable, but they got slapped down by Hadan.
So, that’s why I was in the dungeon of Lynon Castle.
But the primary author of my “misfortune” was myself. I had deliberately gotten myself arrested.
I had a feeling Heina would treat me this way even if I won the battle—one only reinforced by the way that she looked at me like I was an insect.
Going by the game’s history, this is still only the earliest stages. The protagonist goes into action after the Runan Kingdom falls. I only saw the war that ruined the kingdom in the prologue, so I don’t know many of the finer details about it.
What I did know, however, was important—the most important historical fact of them all.
Ganen Castle should be falling right about now. And just one day after that, Lynon Castle falls too. That’s the history, as I know it. I don’t know how it plays out, but it’s a fact that they fall. How in the world could they make Lynon Castle fall just one night after taking Ganen Castle?
I couldn’t shake the notion that it might have something to do with the raid on the supply unit. They’d moved far too openly. Even though their scouts never returned, they not only didn’t call off the surprise attack, they even gave us time to prepare for it. My forces had finished preparing long before the attack began.
If they’d launched the attack the moment we captured their scouts, I doubt I would have been so suspicious. Basically, they knew that we’d caught their scouts, and yet they held off on the raid long enough to give us time. Even though there was the risk of their plan leaking!
That’s why I focused my attention on the movements around Lynon Castle at that same time. From what I’d been told, Advisor Heina had left her post after news of the raid came in.
What if that’s just what the enemy was aiming for? What if their true aim wasn’t the supply base, but to draw Heina away from Lynon Castle? If that’s what it was, they succeeded. I still don’t know what they were planning to accomplish by luring Heina away from the castle. The enemy didn’t attack Lynon Castle in her absence. They were attacking Ganen Castle at that time.
The answer’s here at Lynon Castle. If I’m here, I’ll be able to find out, and once I do it’s time to go on the counterattack. If I can just defend Lynon Castle, it’ll change history completely. My goal is to retake the castle!
That’s why I had come along quietly.
This world is like a game, but it’s real. The idea of taking control of it really excites me. Nothing could make a game-lover like me happier. I swear this world will be mine!
I had another reason for letting them arrest me too: Hadan took the prisoners to Heina’s place. That meant Jint was here too. If I could just persuade him to join me, somehow, that would massively boost the odds of my current plan succeeding.
Anyway, that’s how I ended up in solitary confinement.
They didn’t put nobles in the same jail as commoners. I was being treated to the luxury of my own private cell because of my nobility. Jint was towards the front of the prison. I’d checked that in advance.
But there’s something I need to do before I go to him. It’s time to level up.
I’d won a victory preventing the enemy raid, so I had experience.
Experience List
B-class Strategy x2
Victory against B-class as D-class x3
That enemy commander, Hirina or whatever his name was, had a Martial of 80, so the experience I got was tripled as a result.
My strategy using the river was B-class. Thanks to that, I rose to level 11.
You received level-up points.
Points in reserve: 550
I got 500 points this time. I was level 8, so I received 100 points for reaching level 9. Then, starting at level 10, I received 200 points per level, which brings it to 500 in total. The remaining 50, I already had.
Will you enhance your Martial? It will cost 300 points.
I started by raising my Martial by 1.
My current Martial’s 61. That’s such a small change it may not seem significant, but if I keep on raising it, I’ll be strong someday.
I left myself a reserve of 250 points. Considering the point cost for using my skills, it was probably best if I paid attention and used them as the situation demanded.
*
“Hey, jailer!”
Now I was leveled up and ready to meet Jint, but nothing was going to happen if I just stayed quiet. Since we were fellow prisoners, I decided I’d win him over by figuring out his needs and weaknesses.
He’ll definitely be an important element when it comes to my goal of retaking Lynon Castle once it falls. Of course, I’m still going ahead with the plan even if I’m unable to get him on my side. And if the plan fails, then I bail.
I had a number of plans, and my best one was to persuade Jint.
“Jailer!” I shouted again since he didn’t come the first time. Finally, a soldier appeared looking annoyed at me.
The jailer sighed heavily. “What is it?”
“I have something for you to tell the advisor. Come in here.”
“I won’t be doing that.”
“What? I don’t plan on staying in this cell for the rest of my life. What do you take me for? I’m a high noble. A count. If you could convince the advisor to free me, I’d reward you generously... I’ll give more money than you’ll ever be able to use.”
I tried enticing the jailer with money.
“Do you mean that?!”
I’m a count. They’d have trouble executing me for anything less than treason. Nobles don’t get more than a slap on the wrist for insubordination. At worst, I’ll be stripped of my current position in the military and sent back to my domain. That kind of thing happens all the time in the Runan Kingdom. That’s the class system for you. The jailer should know that too.
“Of course I do. But this is important information we can’t afford leaking. Come inside the cell. Don’t worry. I’m not going to try to escape. Why would I go to the trouble when I’ll soon be free anyway?”
“Y-You do have a point there.”
Having made up his mind, the jailer, led astray by my promises, fell over himself in his rush to open the door and get inside the cell.
“So, what do you have to say...?”
As if I’d have anything to say.
I immediately triggered the Attack command and pummeled the soldier with my fists.
The guy had a Martial of 25. Knocking him out was child’s play.
Plucking the key ring from the fallen soldier’s hip, I proceeded to the jail cell where Jint was being held.
Thock!
Biff! Bap!
I could hear them beating someone inside.
“Talk already! How long’re you gonna keep quiet, huh?!”
Jint’s interrogation was over, but they kept on abusing him under the pretense of extracting information.
What, are they just blowing off steam?
One of the other soldiers beating Jint said, “Hey, look at this. He’s got a ring hangin’ ’round his neck. Looks like a pricey one too.”
“Oh, yeah? A ring, huh?”
Jint couldn’t resist, bound hand and foot as he was. Even with his high Martial score, he couldn’t use his power in that state.
But surprisingly, when they took his ring, he spoke out loud despite never speaking a word before then.
“N-Not that!”
It must be important to him. He wouldn’t break his complete silence otherwise!
“I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything. Just, please, give it back!”
“You idiot. It’s too late for that. Besides, we don’t need information anymore. You’re gonna be our punching bag until you die. Oh, yeah, come to think of it? You know your loose-lipped buddy? That guy’s already dead. Managed to piss off the advisor. Heh. Just kept begging for his life without telling her anything. Now it’s gonna be curtains for you too! Ha ha ha!”
From that point on, all I heard was the sound of blows.
Eventually, the soldiers came out. When they did, I headed back to my own cell temporarily. Once I was sure they were gone, I moved through the silent halls of the prison and entered the cell where they were holding Jint.
The man showed emotion. That’s important. This is a big step forward, assuming I can talk to him.
Jint was trembling. No matter how he pulled at the chains binding him to the wall with his bloody arms, he couldn’t get himself free.
“Is the ring that precious to you? Breaking your silence over it.”
“...”
Jint raised his head when I suddenly entered and started talking.
He seemed a bit surprised when he saw me.
“W-Was this your doing?!”
Looks like he’s remembered me. He’s come to a horrible misunderstanding, though.
“You misunderstand. While it’s natural to fight an enemy you meet on the battlefield, and I did win our fight there, I don’t recall beating or torturing you once you were my prisoner. Your problem is with my superiors who took you away. Those same superiors who then locked me up here for insubordination.”
I sat down beside Jint and continued talking.
“What I’m trying to say is we’re fellow prisoners now.”
I’d approached him hoping we could have a conversation, but Jint bit his lip and turned his head away.
Is he going to refuse to talk to me again?
“I could retrieve that precious ring of yours.”
The ring seemed like it was key, so I at least tried making the offer.
“You’re a prisoner too, aren’t you? How would you get it back?”
“I don’t plan to stay in here forever. As a noble, they’d never dare bind my hands. That’s how I was able to beat up my jailer and come this far. It wouldn’t be all that difficult for me to knock out those soldiers who were in here earlier and get your ring back. I’m not tied up, after all.”
I noticed that Jint’s eyes wavered slightly at my suggestion.
Looks like he really cares about that ring.
I’d found a hint in the most unexpected place.
If there’s something about it that sways his emotions, then that’s where to start persuading him!
“What do you want? I have nothing to offer you,” Jint said.
“Oh, nothing much,” I replied. “Why not join me, since you’re going to die here otherwise? I’ll save your life, and get back what they took from you!”
“Now you’re mocking me... I can’t do that!” Jint shook his head in a firm rejection.
“And why not? If you’re so attached to that ring, then that means you still want to live, right? If you have something to live for, then you ought to be willing to tell me what I want to hear, even if you’re just lying, in order to get out of here and win back your freedom... Why aren’t you trying to save yourself?”
Yeah, I didn’t understand that. With all his strength, he might have had a chance to escape. Like while they were transporting him from the supply base to the dungeons of Lynon Castle, for instance. Yet here he was, quietly imprisoned in Lynon Castle.
That went for our conversation just now too. The way he talked, it was like he had no desire to live.
“If you have something so important to you, then why aren’t you trying to live for it?!”
He gave no answer. But the way he acted was clearly different from at the supply base. So, I pressed on with another question.
“Does that ring have something to do with someone important?”
Jint reacted to that.
I knew it. The ring’s a symbol of love.
It was clear to me that the ring was also the key to moving this stoic man.
“Okay, look. I’m gonna get your ring back. Let’s loosen up the conditions a little. I want you to tell me about the ring. You don’t have to become my ally. If you’ll just tell me about the ring, I’ll get it back for you. Then you can at least die with it in your possession. That’s what you want, right?”
“As if I could trust you.”
“Why would I lie? What do I have to gain from hearing your story?”
“...”
Jint looked at me closely. There was indecision in his eyes. So, I waited. Our psychological stare-down battle lasted for several minutes. Jint was the first to talk.
“Will you really let me die with the ring?”
“If you tell me your story, I’ll get it back for you. I’ll keep that promise no matter what.”
“Why are you so eager to hear about it?”
“Simple curiosity. But the important thing for you should be getting back what you lost. If you really do want it back, then you just have to listen to me. That’s all there is to it.”
*
Jint made his living picking pockets in a Naruyan city. It was the only way an orphan like him, discarded by the roadside, could survive there.
Jint showed a gift for fighting from a young age, and easily seized control of a band of fingersmiths and cutpurses. Even so, they were just a tiny group that had to pay dues to a larger organization of ruffians in the city.
It wasn’t much of a life, but Jint wasn’t alone. There was a girl, Mirinae, who had been with him since he was young. He could be happy so long as she was around. He lived for her smile, after all.
“Welcome home, Jint.”
Yeah.
“I know you have to pick pockets, but be care about whose you pick, okay?”
This sort of ordinary day-to-day existence.
“Oh, my. You’ve got a grain of rice stuck on your face.”
It was what gave Jint the will to live. Mirinae felt the same way, of course. She wanted to go on living with Jint, each of them supporting the other. But their peaceful lives couldn’t last forever. Not when Mirinae was so attractive.
One day, when the two of them were fifteen, tragedy struck.
“Jint! This is bad! They’ve taken Mirinae!”
Jint had just come back to the hideout after a day’s work when his fellow thieves gathered around him, making a fuss. Mirinae had been dragged off—by the ruffians they paid tribute to. At that moment, Jint lost all sense. He grabbed a weapon and headed straight for the place where he knew they hung out.
“Mirinae! Mirinaeee!”
When Jint kicked in the door and barged inside, the goons mocked him with raucous laughter.
“Mirinae? Heh heh. We gang-raped her, man. She was a good woman, you know? Virgin too. But, hey, the organization needs money, so we sold her to the slavers. They’ll pay good money for a woman like that. It’d be a waste to just sell her off, though, right? So we all had a taste of her for ourselves first. Sorry, man. Guess we should’ve let you have a go at her too, huh? Bwa ha ha ha!”
There was no way Jint could stay sane after hearing that. He drew his knife. Tears streamed from his eyes. Blood flowed as he bit his lip. He didn’t even want to imagine Mirinae’s shame.
Her smile.
Her kind heart.
How could they do that to such a gentle woman?
“You little shit. Put that thing away. You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
Ten men kicked aside their chairs as they got to their feet, but Jint’s knife slashed through the throat of the nearest one.
Jint was born with a gift for wielding mana. Even though all he’d ever engaged in were some street fights, his abilities had still developed to an abnormal degree. He was young—only fifteen years old—but he was already far too powerful for a bunch of local thugs to handle.
Not that he realized that himself.
“Kill him!”
The surprised ruffians all rushed Jint. But Jint was many times faster than them. His knifework was frighteningly fast. And his power was unbelievable.
“S-Stay back...!”
After watching the horrible deaths of nine of his buddies, the last thug knelt down in utter terror. Jint charged in and continued to mercilessly pummel the man’s face.
“Where is she?! Where did you take Mirinae?!”
“S-Spare me...!”
“Talk, damn you!”
“The Hiruone Trade Group... We sold her to—”
Slice!
Jint clenched his fist as he watched the man’s severed head sail through the air. His hand was trembling. This was the first time he’d killed, but he felt nothing.
His only thought was taking Mirinae back. The girl was everything to him. Let her be safe. Let her still be alive. If she’d smile for him just one more time, he didn’t give a damn what else happened.
From that day on, Jint began wandering in search of the slave traders. Finally, after three years, he finally tracked them down. It took a level of tenacity no ordinary person could imagine. Once he managed to sniff out the slavers, he brutally murdered every last one of them on the spot.
Having fought a number of real battles over the past three years, Jint threw himself into the fight with no regard for his own life. He’d do anything for information. Work for dark organizations. Carry out bloody assassinations in conflict zones. He lived like a war fiend. Perhaps thanks to that lifestyle, Jint’s Martial was already above B-class by this point.
But he couldn’t find Mirinae.
The slavers had already sold her to a baron in the provinces. Jint rushed to that city. He didn’t even think twice before assaulting the manor of the baron that the slavers had told him about. Many soldiers stood in his way.
“Who’re you?!”
Jint let his knife do the talking. The manor had thirty guards.
“Call for backup immediately!”
It would take time for the domain’s army to arrive. Jint lacked the ability to calculate exactly how long, but he was confident his speed was a match for anyone’s. He smashed and smashed.
Once he broke into the manor house, Jint finally found Mirinae.
Even after three long years, he knew her at a glance. The moment he found her, a single tear rolled down his face. He didn’t care what happened to him.
But when he saw her in this weakened state and imagined the hellish days she must have been through, he couldn’t take it.
“Jint? Is that you, Jint?”
The tears overflowed from Mirinae’s eyes as she was reunited with Jint, just like she’d dreamed she would be.
The only reason she’d made it through the three years that made her yearn for death was because she had something she needed to tell him. Even though she felt she no longer had the right to.
Three simple words.
That was all they were, but she’d never been able to say them.
I love you...
She wanted to make sure Jint knew it. If she couldn’t tell him this, then she’d never be able to rest in peace, not even in death.
This pair of parentless waifs with nothing in all the world but each other had faced a depressing trial.
Jint held Mirinae’s hand tight.
“Let’s run away, Mirinae!”
And so, they slipped out of the city together.
The domain’s forces belatedly moved into action, but Jint helped Mirinae onto the back of a stolen horse and they raced off without looking back.
Shaking off their pursuers several times, they escaped to a border town that was as far from that city as possible. They’d heard rumors that there were towns near the border where those who’d lost their livelihoods to war gathered.
Mirinae tried to take her own life several times on the journey there. She would thrash about in her sleep, groaning at night. But Jint was always by her side, trying to persuade her that the two of them should live on, together.
“I can’t live without you.”
That was what finally convinced Mirinae to stop trying to throw her life away.
They settled in the border town where those who’d lost everything went, and there, Jint lived the quiet life of a farmer with Mirinae.
They could only afford one meal per day, but they were happy. So happy that, at some point, Mirinae started to smile like she used to.
But another trial awaited them.
A new king took the throne. The old sovereign who’d maintained a policy of peace died, and a young, ambitious new monarch took to the throne.
And so, the order for general mobilization was issued, and they began mercilessly conscripting people from all regions of the country. Of course, the powerless people who lived in poverty in the border town were not going to be spared from the draft.
“Take care, Jint. I’ll wait for you here. I’ll be waiting no matter what. I know you’ll never die in the war. I believe that wholeheartedly. Because you’re strong. So don’t run away anymore, okay?”
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter3_1.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
After hearing those words, Jint became a soldier in the Naruyan army. And he was soon made a disposable pawn in a scouting party. Mirinae gave Jint the ring as proof of her love. That made it the second most important thing in the world to him.
*
“And that’s my story... That ring means more to me than my life. Can you really get it back?”
Jint looked up at me as he finished talking.
“I’m sure a lot of guys have a story like yours, but not many of them stood by the women they loved to the end. No, I doubt any did... They’d have to be off in the head. I’m impressed, I’ve gotta admit.”
He’s crazy.
That was my honest impression. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. The man was insanely driven. Like they say, love is blind. Now I wanted Jint on my side even more.
I’m not going to come across many personnel of his caliber. Twenty-one years old with a Martial of 93. There’s endless room for growth there. And he’s earnest, to boot.
Unlike Randall, who was too conceited to be worth employing despite his skills, the more I learned about Jint, the more I liked him.
“But with all you’ve told me... I’d expect you to be more eager to live. I think you should have faked a surrender, then fled back to your girlfriend or found some other way to survive. I don’t understand why you’re acting like this.”
Yeah. If he had someone so precious to him, it only stood to reason that he’d struggle to survive, and yet that wasn’t his reaction.
“The new king of Naruya declared that we were to kill as many enemies as we could and die rather than be captured. If we come back home after shamefully becoming prisoners, then our families’ lives are forfeit.”
There was always a risk of prisoners leaking information. Although, their king sounded like the kind of guy who’d give that sort of order regardless. He was ambitious and managed his country with a strong centralization of power. He’d never tolerate his soldiers becoming prisoners.
He hated the idea of losing the war so badly that he was willing to reward the families of those who died gloriously in battle with riches, and slay the families of those who died pathetically.
Of course, some soldiers put their own lives above those of their families. One of the men I captured was like that. His desire to survive was perfectly natural.
But Jint’s the total opposite.
“I was confident in myself, of course. I didn’t think I’d lose to anyone. I believed I’d fight with my head held high and come back victorious. But then you captured me. That’s why I can’t go back. I have no choice but to die. If I don’t, Mirinae will be held responsible. Even if I could flee with her, we’d be fugitives for the rest of our lives. I don’t want her to have to live in fear anymore.”
The king of Naruya was manipulating the public to make them distrust one another. He instituted a policy of providing monetary rewards to those who turned in anyone who acted against his policies.
Basically, the king’s making his people monitor one another. If Jint goes back home without an official discharge, the two of them will have to go on the run again. Someone would definitely report them. They’d never know peace.
Jint seemed incredibly averse to the idea of making his woman a fugitive once more, even if that meant dying instead. He was committed to making it so that the woman, Mirinae, could keep living in the town she was in.
“And that’s why you’re going to die here?”
“That’s right. I’ll die for Mirinae’s freedom.”
“So you’re going to die holding a grudge against me?”
“I was confident in myself, but I still lost. It’s my own arrogance that beat me. I’m not going to resent you for that.”
Jint was firm. His will was unbreakable. But I still didn’t understand it.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I said, venting my feelings. Jint looked at me quizzically.
“You think I’m kidding?”
“You can just live somewhere else. If you never go back to Naruya, they’ll assume you died in battle. I think that living with your love for each other, even if you can’t meet, is a better fate than death, don’t you?”
“We have nowhere to go. And no, if I can’t be with her, I’d rather die!”
Jint shook his head firmly.
He’s so determined. He’s only willing to live for her sake. So, if I’m going to gain him as a retainer, then I’ll need to get my hands on the woman too.
“What do you mean you have nowhere to go? I’m the lord of Eintorian. If you come to Eintorian, Naruya will never notice. They’ll assume you died in battle.”
“You think I could do something so shameful?!”
“Just hear me out until I’ve finished. My domain in Eintorian isn’t far from the west border where you lived. You’ll change uniforms and become one of my retainers. It’s not like I’m asking you to join the Royal Runanese Army. If you join me, then I’ll do whatever it takes to bring Mirinae to Eintorian so she can live with you. Happily, with no one to hold the two of you back.”
“What’d you just say...?”
“Do you think anything is going to change if a tyrant like your current king unites the land? Besides, what has the Kingdom of Naruya ever given the two of you? Nothing but suffering, right?”
Jint didn’t respond, but he didn’t deny it either. In fact, I could see in his eyes that he was wavering.
“I’m going to build up the Eintorian Domain, but not into a land where everyone can live easily. That kind of country where everyone’s happy is just a dream. But at the very least, I intend to make it the best country possible for those who are willing to obey me. So, follow me. I’ll make it so you two can live happily!”
“You’re just trying to trick me with pretty words too, aren’t you? I’ve had plenty of guys try to sway me, but they all had ulterior motives,” Jint shouted, his tone indignant.
You’re right.
But there was more to it than that. Even though I’d decided to treat this world as a game, I had no intention of going back on my word.
“My dream is to conquer the world. And once I do, I plan to make everyone who’s helped me happy. Well, it’s fine. You don’t have to obey me yet. The day I end this war and return to Eintorian, I’m going to help you save the woman you love so you two can be happy again. I won’t force you to join me until then. Just stay with me and watch. See if I’m a man who keeps his word. If you decide that I’m not, then you can do as you please. Die if you want to. With that precious ring of yours clutched to your breast.”
Yeah. That’s my entire pitch.
“Think it over. I’ll be getting you your ring back, as promised.”
With the conversation finished for the moment, I left the cell.
I’ll save that Mirinae of his. It’s the only way to get Jint! But first, I need to get his ring.
I headed upstairs to retrieve it. The dungeon was in the basement, and the jailers were always standing by on the first floor—usually gambling or asleep on the job—but what can you expect, really?
“By the way, what happened to the guy who went to see the nobleman?”
“Who knows? Went out, I guess. Maybe he got paid to do something?”
“That’s a noble for you. I should’ve gone myself. My prisoner only had this crummy ring on him.”
There’re two soldiers. Fortunately, it looks like they’ve still got the ring. Should be a while still before they change shifts.
“You two. Can I have a moment?”
“Hey, you’re...!”
“H-H-How’d you get out?!”
I approached the two guards and triggered the Attack command as they rose in alarm.
Thud!
Bam!
I beat the two soldiers unconscious, took the ring, and headed out. I didn’t have much time, after all. Jint was important of course, but so was history, and it was time for a historical event to take place. Assuming that history as I knew it hadn’t changed, that is!
Bwoooon!
That was the moment when a trumpet sounded.
That’s the signal that enemies have been sighted.
I hurriedly slipped out of the prison and went outside. The soldiers were panicking over the sudden crisis.
There’re no commoners in Lynon Castle. They’ve all been evacuated.
No one was going to stop me while I wore the uniform of an officer in the Royal Runanese Army. I was able to move about relatively freely, so I went up on top of the castle gate and checked the scale of the enemy force.
Royal Naruyan Army: 10,213 men
Lynon Castle Garrison: 23,410 men
We have an overwhelming man power advantage. No, more importantly, the Naruyan army’s way too small. I can’t see them taking Lynon Castle in a day with that. Sure, they have a Training score of 80, and the castle garrison only has a score of 40. But the defenders hold an absolute advantage in a siege battle. Everyone knows that.
Even with our low Training score, the numbers say Heina should be able to hold out for at least a week as long as she doesn’t open the gates and surrender.
“Hey! What’s going on here?”
Because I was wearing an officer’s uniform, a soldier stopped and saluted me before immediately answering my question.
“We don’t know. We’ve been ordered to increase our alertness because Ganen Castle fell, but I don’t know any of the details... The advisor’s gathering everyone, so head over there!”
Just how are the Naruyans going to narrow the man power gap and take Lynon Castle?
“It’s an attack! An enemy attack!”
The Naruyan army was already attacking the gates. Not the southern gates where I was standing, but the northern ones.
Crash!
That was the sound of a battering ram violently striking the gates.
The defenders have the advantage!
Just like I’d predicted, the battle was starting in a way that gave the Lynon Castle garrison the advantage.
I can’t see Lynon Castle falling quickly like this.
But the instant I thought that, the situation rapidly changed. There was a war cry from the western gates.
Yeahhhhhh!
Then, suddenly, fighting started inside the gates.
Because the enemy focused their attack on the northern gates, Heina placed scouts and then focused her forces on the northern gates too. Because of that, there was a rather small number of soldiers at the western gates.
Now, suddenly, the enemy were inside the castle! The western gatehouse was taken in no time, and they opened the gates. The heaviest fighting was in the north, but now there was a breach from a direction they hadn’t been expecting.
The enemy came from inside the castle!
To be precise, they were coming out of the underground waterway beneath Lynon Castle.
They used the underground waterway? That’s impossible!
There was an iron grate blocking the intake that let water flow into the castle. People couldn’t get in through there—only water and maybe fish.
If they tried to remove the grate, their efforts obviously wouldn’t go unnoticed.
How in the world did this happen? No, don’t tell me...
I get it. When Heina was away from the castle! What if they did the work while she was away? The raid on the supply base that I always thought was fishy—it was a diversion! The scouts they blatantly sent along the road around the castle—they were a diversion too.
The scouting party and the raid itself were both diversions.
They were all sacrificial pawns.
Their real goal had been to get Advisor Heina to panic over the raid and leave Lynon Castle.
Did they create a route to infiltrate the castle while the advisor was away, then? The royal army’s got 40 Training and 30 Morale. Their force at Lynon Castle is just awful. What would happen if Heina led a large number of troops away from the castle in a situation like that?
They’d slack off, of course.
What if the enemy used some kind of trick or plan to bust through the grate on the aqueduct during that time? There’re all sorts of ways they could have done it.
Heina leaving the castle was what sealed her defeat. Even with the gates shut tight, the enemy were able to infiltrate the castle the moment the advisor took all the officers away from it.
Come to think of it, the diversionary operations really started in Eintorian.
The plan to attack Eintorian to draw the Royal Runanese Army’s attention while the main force attacked from the north—that was the same kind of strategy!
Everything’s going according to a script authored by the Royal Naruyan Army strategist. Whoever that is, they’ve got our Advisor Heina dancing in the palm of their hand.
It looked like Naruya had quite a capable strategist—one capable of outwitting Heina!
Yeah, well, whatever. This is all within the bounds of my expectations. I can change how history develops from here. The castle’s going to fall like it did in history anyways.
I hadn’t known how the castle was going to fall before now, but I was already formulating a plan for how to take it back.
Something like the Trojan horse from the Greek myth.
With my resolve set in stone, I returned to the dungeon.
*
“Take this gold nugget. This war broke out unexpectedly, and you haven’t been able to see your mother since hearing about her health troubles, so you don’t know all the details, right? There can’t have been anyone to buy her medicine while the war is going on. If you’re going to go so far as desertion, then do the best you can for her before you come back.”
Yusen looked down at the gold nugget Erhin had given him. It was to pay for his mother’s medicine—medicine that had become all the harder to get hold of because of the war.
In fact, Yusen’s mother was on death’s door because she hadn’t been able to get the medicine she needed. Erhin also gave Yusen a badge that would prove he was a retainer of the House of Eintorian. The idea was he’d use it in the capital to secure the medicine. A noble’s name would grant him access to medicines that the common folk didn’t have access to.
Yusen couldn’t reject the kind offer. The life of the woman who had raised him all on her own was on the line here.
And so, as a result, his mother was saved, all thanks to Erhin lending him the gold nugget and his name. That meant Erhin had not only saved Yusen’s life in battle, he’d saved his mother’s life too.
It was only natural he should be prepared to give his life to help someone who’d done so much for him.
That was why, after Erhin was taken away to Lynon Castle, he ran off from his unit as soon as he heard the castle was under attack.
There was someone following Yusen too. It was Gibun.
“Captain...! Wait for me! You can’t go alone!”
“Gibun? Why did you leave the unit?!”
“Someone needs to go with you, even if it’s just me! Don’t worry. I’ve told the others to stay with the unit. Those were the commander’s orders, after all,” Gibun said with a voice hoarse from all the shouting he’d had to do to finally get Yusen to stop.
“The commander’s orders?” Yusen asked, head tilted quizzically.
“Heh heh. I have orders to pass to you too, Captain. Here.” Gibun smirked as he produced a letter from his pocket. “It’s a letter for you from the commander. I came after you so I could deliver it.”
“A letter for me...?”
Surprised, Yusen began reading the letter.
Its contents hit him with a shock like a hammer to the head.
*
It was dark now in Lynon Castle, and fortunately there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
Jint and I slipped out of the dungeon in the chaos, and hid ourselves in a secret space under a small temple in the city. I’d gone around asking the soldiers from Lynon Castle about potential places to hide before going there. There was no way the Royal Naruyan Army were going to know the area better than the locals when they’d only just occupied it.
Incredibly, the soldiers told me that this temple was built millennia ago.
I’d meticulously planned out every aspect of my strategy in advance. We lay in wait beneath the temple until late at night before heading out to the street. Then I watched the sky while avoiding patrols.
It was the night after they took Lynon Castle, around the time when the enemy soldiers were getting their rest. The moon shone peacefully in the cloudless sky. Gibun had taught me a system for telling the time based on the position of the moon, which told me that it was now three o’clock in the morning.
It wasn’t as accurate as a clock, of course, but Gibun would be using the same method, so we’d have roughly the same sense of what time it was.
I’d left Yusen and Gibun orders to start their mission at around one o’clock. That was two hours ago now. If they did as they’d promised, I wouldn’t have much time to relax.
I raced out of the waterway and used the system to check the north gate. It was defended by thirty-four soldiers—thirty on top of the walls and four in front of the gates.
“Jint.”
Jint was as impassive as ever. He just followed behind me. Maybe he’d accepted the idea of staying by my side and watching to see if I was a man of my word, because he didn’t say another word about dying after that. Although, he still clutched the ring to his chest, as if to say he was prepared to die anytime.
“You’re not curious what I’m trying to do?”
“You’re trying to run away, right?”
Well, I’m keeping that option open as a last resort. I can’t throw my life away, after all.
“Not quite. Even if I ultimately run away, I plan to take the castle back first.”
“Are you crazy...? How’re you gonna take a castle by yourself?”
“With a miracle?” I offered with a shrug. Jint looked at me strangely.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“To tell you the truth, the movements of your scouting party allowed me to infer a number of things. They stood out as especially suspicious.”
“Like what?”
“Your people already knew the terrain and the location of the supply base, so why do you think they still sent your party so close to the supply unit?”
“How should I know? We were just following orders.”
“And that’s why you got taken out. The Naruyans planned to throw your unit away from the get-go. Just to give us information. Well, they probably had multiple ways of going about it. I don’t really know. The point is, the Naruyan military brass used you guys as sacrificial pawns. That includes wasting a talented man like you. Yeesh, I don’t even know where to start with how bad that is.”
“It’s not like that country ever did anything for me... I can’t say I’m shocked at this point,” Jint responded without any particular surprise.
“Yeah, I suppose not. Anyway, I found it suspicious. Something about it wasn’t sitting right with me, even after I’d stopped the surprise attack on the supply base. But now that I’ve seen the operation that took this castle, I can confidently tell what the enemy strategist was thinking. Now I’m going to wreck their plans. That’ll be proof of my strength.”
“What?”
“Also, once I’ve proven myself by accomplishing what you see as impossible, I’m hoping you’ll see that it’s also true that I am capable of saving you and your woman so the two of you can live happily ever after..”
“...”
He says he’s ready to die to protect her, but it’s only human to want to live by her side in happiness instead.
“So, what do you plan to do?” Jint asked.
“It’s simple, really. Just charge the north gates, then open them. Running away’s not going to be my first objective, at least!”
“There must be at least ten thousand Naruyan soldiers inside the castle. What kind of miracle are you trying to pull off?!”
I took off towards the north gates without answering him. I’ll let my actions speak for themselves.
“Who goes there?! Identify yourself!”
The soldiers called out to me from up on top of the walls, but I ignored them and kept charging the gates.
“Mirinae tells me I’m an idiot,” said Jint, who’d followed after me. “That’s why she told me I shouldn’t try to act on my own. I don’t know if helping you is the right move. Is it really going to bring us happiness?”
“It will. If you follow me, you can say goodbye to living on the bottom. Making you happy will be child’s play next to the miracle I’m about to pull off. And not just you—her too. Trust me. And trust in the miracle!”
Bwooon!
The soldiers who’d detected my surprise attack blew a trumpet from the watchtower. Enemies would soon close in on us from all sides.
I used my skill Sweep to take out all four of the guards at once, clearing the way for Jint and I to reach the gates. Wasting no time, I made short work of removing the long bar that held them shut and throwing it aside.
“It’s the enemy!”
The thirty men up in the watchtower came down one after another.
“Jint! Will you lend me your strength until I clear the gates?”
“...”
He gave no response one way or the other.
Well, whatever, I formulated this plan under the assumption that I wasn’t going to have Jint. I’ll just have to do it alone!
I turned to face the soldiers who’d come down from the watchtower. If I left my back open as I threw wide the gates, that’d be like asking them to kill me, after all.
“It’s the enemy! They’re trying to open the gates! Kill them immediately!”
Once I’d cut down thirty men and could get back to the gates, more reinforcements started coming down from the watchtower on the opposite side. When I decided to face them, the unit of infantry that had been sleeping nearest to the gates started to swarm around me.
There were easily over a hundred soldiers. I was taking care of it all, so Jint did nothing.
I don’t know what he was so worried about, but his eyes just kept darting about in confusion. As if something were distracting him.
I’ve got points left.
So, I activated the Sweep skill on the oncoming soldiers. It was pretty effective against enemies who grouped together in big clumps like they were. The drawback was that it lacked the power to punch through the gates, but that was all you could expect from a basic skill.
Ka-boom!
It was still lethal. The big explosion blew away all the soldiers in range.
The problem’s that more keep coming.
I’d bought myself some time though, so I turned and began opening the gates.
Creeeak!
Once the gate bar was removed, it was typically a straightforward task for two soldiers to push the gates open. But since it was just me on my own, I had to put in some extra effort.
Ultimately, I got the gates open. As I did, the enemy rushed in again.
Attack command.
Attack command.
I started relying on the system to cut my enemies down. I met the enemy at the open gates. The gap between them was narrow, which prevented them from surrounding me, but things were still gradually getting out of hand.
One soldier avoided my attack and managed to graze my arm with his sword, sending a gush of blood flying.
“Urgh...”
I glanced at Jint, but he’d gone outside the gates completely and was watching from a position of safety. Once I was injured, I accepted I was going to have no choice but to activate the bonus. The soldiers in front of me all had low Martial scores, but it wasn’t looking like I could hold out against their sheer numbers.
One commander with a Martial of 61 can’t possibly hold out against hundreds of men. But with a Martial of 91? That’s another story!
As I repeatedly used the Attack command, Daitoren cut down enemies faster than the eye could see.
The problem’s that the number of enemies keeps on growing as time goes by. But I’m almost there. If Yusen and Gibun keep to the plan, then I just need to hold out a little while longer!
And so I kept swinging Daitoren and holding out in the bloody battle that unfolded in front of the gates.
“Can you really make a miracle happen?” Jint asked from behind me in the middle of combat. “I’ve fought like you did before, back when I was trying to get Mirinae back, and I was miraculously able to save her. Watching you reminded me of that, and now that I see it my body’s telling me I’ve got to help you out. It says, ‘If he’s willing to put his life on the line like this for a miracle, then try putting your faith in him!’ Are you really going to keep your promise and make me and Mirinae happy, just like you got my ring back?”
“Leave it to me. I’ll make my miracle happen here. For the sake of you and Mirinae too. That’s what I promised you!”
Once I shouted that, Jint leapt out in front of me.
Thanks to the mountain of bodies and the narrow gate slowing the enemy, he was able to find an opening to pick up a fallen enemy’s sword and join the fray.
“I’ll do whatever you ask if you keep your word. I’d give everything for a happy life with Mirinae. So, just this once, I’m going to believe in you. Now, let’s see just how you’re going to pull off a miracle here!”
Gwahhhhhh!
Jint swung his sword around, cutting down enemies one after another.
He’s got a Martial of 93, an ability score that puts him near the very top in this world!
“So, to make Mirinae happy...all of you guys have to die!”
At that moment, the war fiend went wild. Jint faced a hundred soldiers with ease! Fountains of blood gushed forth—carnage under the moonlight. Enemy heads fell one after the other, too numerous to count. Once he drew his sword, he had the power to tear through anything in a single blow. His speed was on a whole other level too.
He’s truly worth a hundred men!
I felt a laugh coming on.
Yeah, that’s right. This is what outstanding talent looks like. This is the kind of superior personnel that I’ll need if I’m going to unify the land.
I felt my chest heating up with excitement. Jint wasn’t even using skills. In this world, having a Martial score of 93 meant that he had just that much mana built up inside him.
Does he not know how to use it?
His speed and power showed the mana accumulated in him, of course, but he didn’t use skills to unleash it through his weapon.
Well, I can ask him later.
Jint spun around doing nothing but normal attacks as he lopped off enemy heads one after another. He massacred them like a manifestation of the grim reaper. Even if he took some minor cuts himself, his defense was ironclad, never allowing any strike to hit his vital points.
Thanks to his efforts, the volume of enemies reaching me dwindled. It gave me the leeway to defend the gates. He was fighting alone, but his Martial of 93 made all the difference. No soldier here had the power to oppose him.
There was a mysterious smoke, like some sort of heat haze, rising from his sword.
That’s mana!
A loud trumpet sounded from inside Lynon Castle, and more soldiers began swarming us by the minute. Now it went far beyond the hundreds who had fought us at the beginning—they were coming at us by the thousands.
“We’ll fight together, Jint!”
“Together?”
I left the gates and ran to Jint’s side.
I’m done buying time. If the miracle doesn’t happen, then it means something’s gone wrong with the seeds I sowed with Yusen. And if so, the plan has failed.
If the miracle was going to happen, now was the time for it.
“What’s wrong? Never had anyone who’d fight back-to-back with you before? Don’t you think it’d be fun, facing down death together? I think it’ll be a blast! Gah ha ha ha ha ha!”
I laughed like a madman as I matched my movements to Jint’s. Our massacre quickly painted the ground before the gates crimson. I stood on ground Jint had already soaked with rivers of blood, taking advantage of the bonus to cut down enemies.
Around the time I slew my five hundredth soldier, I started hearing loud hoofbeats from outside the gate. I turned to find a unit of cavalry wearing blue uniforms—the Runan Kingdom’s color!
Yes. Thankfully, the miracle had happened. Yusen had followed the plan!
The man who led the cavalry’s charge through the gates swung his spear at the enemy soldiers. Light rushed forth from the weapon—right onto the heads of the onrushing enemies! Hundreds of heads flew into the air, the light having swept them away like the grim reaper’s scythe, every body spurting a fountain of blood.
“You’re Count Erhin?”
What an incredible mana skill. I’d had no doubt that, if all went according to plan, and if I kept the gate open, our troops would come through it.
But this man’s appearance caught me somewhat off guard.
Erheet Demacine
Age: 42
Martial: 96
Intelligence: 70
Command: 92
The Runan Kingdom’s number one commander, Erheet the Demonspear!
Much like Naruya’s Ten Commanders, Erheet was the most famous man in the cesspool of corruption that was Runan. He was Duke Ronan’s right-hand man, and in the game’s history, he’d followed his orders to defend the palace, fighting there alone until he died still standing on his feet.
“You have my respect for the fight you’ve put up. Now I, Erheet, will help you from here onwards!”
With that booming declaration, Erheet charged the enemy.
Guhhhh!
His spear slew many soldiers with each swing. That’s just how amazing a Martial score of 96 was. Also, the cavalry unit following him had Training and Morale scores that put the rest of the Royal Runanese Army to shame.
“This is what you call a miracle...?” Jint asked, his back still pressed to mine.
“Well, miracles come in many forms,” I replied with a shrug and a smirk.
*
After the fall of Lynon Castle—while Erhin was still biding his time in the dungeon—Jend, Lord of Bern, rushed into Bern Castle’s meeting room with a sense of urgency.
“Commander! Commander!” he cried. He must have run some distance, because he was out of breath. “This is terrible! L-Lynon Castle has fallen!”
Hearing this death sentence from the castellan, Commander-in-Chief Ronan had to grip the table to support himself from the onslaught of a sudden dizzying headache.
“Commander!”
“Where’s Heina...?! What’s she been doing when she was supposed to be defending the castle?!”
“We’ve received word by carrier pigeon that the advisor is currently withdrawing to the rear with her troops!”
“She’s retreating after failing to defend Lynon Castle?!” Ronan roared, slamming both his palms down on the table.
This wasn’t just an issue for Bern Castle anymore. If Ganen and Lynon had both fallen, Bern would be isolated. Without Lynon Castle behind them, they wouldn’t be free to bring in supplies anymore.
“How can we fall to the enemy like this?! What about the future of the Runan Kingdom?!”
One of Ronan’s aides, who had been listening to him vent as he was faced with the worst possible situation, cautiously suggested their own withdrawal.
“For now, I suspect we should pull back from Bern Castle... As things stand, we’ll be isolated here, and if that were to happen the country would truly be finished. Shouldn’t we pull back to the strategic pass leading into the capital and reorganize before the enemy prepare themselves?!”
“Is that the only way...?” Ronan said, shaking his head. It was true, though, that any delay now would complicate the withdrawal. In fact, if the enemy isolated Bern Castle and then advanced on the capital, they really might lose everything.
After a long pause, Ronan finally said, “Prepare to withdraw.”
It was the only choice he could make.
Ronan was leading his own personal troops, the elite soldiers of the Ducal House of Ronan, one of the major noble families. They were one of the few elite units in the Kingdom of Runan. Obviously, he hadn’t trained these men for war, but to maintain his own political power. Had he been thinking about war, he’d have put together a large-scale military force instead of a small, elite unit.
Regardless, Duke Ronan had been prepared to fight to the death defending the homeland with his men, but the enemy had seen that and chose to bypass Bern Castle to take Ganen and Lynon instead.
Lynon Castle was right next to Bern Castle.
Because of that, the slightest delay would leave them stranded in the palm of the enemy’s hand.
Ronan put together a plan to abandon Bern Castle and pass Lynon Castle as they withdrew to the capital. Anyway, because they were so well trained, they were able to rapidly begin pulling out. Then, as they were passing Lynon Castle, someone appeared, standing in their way.
It was Yusen.
“Who are you?!”
Despite wearing the same uniform, Yusen was immediately seized for suspicious behavior. Yusen identified himself and requested a meeting with Ronan saying he had something important to discuss.
Obviously, the idea of them letting a mere hundredman meet the commander-in-chief was laughable.
“Is that you, Yusen?”
Fortunately for Yusen, one of the commanding officers recognized him. It was a spot of luck made possible by his two decades of military service.
“Commander!”
“What are you doing here?”
“I have something important to discuss. It involves the retaking of Lynon Castle. Time is of the essence, so could I ask you to arrange a meeting with the commander-in-chief and explain it to him personally?!”
“Retaking Lynon Castle? What in the world...?”
The commanding officer was noncommittal, but Yusen still clung to the man for help.
“I absolutely need to run this by him. If he’s unable to meet me, I’ll give up. So please, pass him a message at least!”
“Hmm... If it has to do with retaking Lynon Castle, we can’t ignore it. Wait a moment.”
The commanding officer who had recognized Yusen nodded, then reported what had happened to the commander-in-chief.
“Commander! One of our hundredmen has something urgent to tell you about Lynon Castle. I can vouch for his identity. It seemed important, and he’s requesting to speak to you personally, sir. He’s one of my former subordinates, and not one to tell tall tales. He says it involves retaking Lynon Castle. Will you hear him out?”
“Retaking Lynon Castle? Has Heina come up with a plan then?”
“He says every moment counts, so he wants to tell you himself.”
“Bring him at once!”
This would have been unthinkable in peacetime, but the current situation changed everything. If a commoner in the capital had blocked his path saying they needed to talk to him, Ronan would have knocked their head off, but things were different now. He summoned Yusen immediately.
As soon as he was before the commander-in-chief, Yusen got down on his knees, pressed his forehead to the ground, and started shouting.
“Commander! I’m sorry to barge in, but I bring urgent news!”
“What is it? Talk.”
With Ronan’s permission, Yusen explained.
“The commander of the supply unit, Count Eintorian, is currently engaged in hostilities at Lynon Castle. He ordered me to meet you here as you passed Lynon Castle and deliver the message personally.”
“What? Count Eintorian?”
Not Heina, but Erhin? That wasn’t a name he’d expected to hear. Having given Heina the order to dispose of the man due to his reputation for incompetence, Ronan cocked his head to the side at this.
“You’re saying that man predicted I would be passing through here at this very moment?”
“Precisely, sir!”
His prediction was that once word of Ganen Castle and Lynon Castle reached them, the defenders of Bern Castle would move to the strategic pass leading to the capital to avoid isolation.
It was something Erhin could see coming because he knew from the game that Lynon Castle would fall.
And his prediction came true.
“When you say that he’s engaged in hostilities, what do you mean exactly?”
“Well... Count Eintorian infiltrated Lynon Castle alone. He’s going to open the north gate at night, when most of the enemy are drunk after their victory!”
“You fool! What is this nonsense you’re talking?!” Ronan shouted at the absurdity of it.
Even late at night, there would be sentries. They’d quickly rouse the others and defend the castle. That much was obvious. That would mean opening the gates while facing thousands of enemies. The story was totally unbelievable, of course.
“You’re not an enemy agent, trying to lure my forces into Lynon Castle, are you?” Ronan’s tone turned harsh, full of suspicion towards Yusen.
“Perish the thought, sir. I’ve served the Runan Kingdom all my life. I don’t care if I die due to your suspicion of me. But I want you to send soldiers to the open gates so that the risk Count Eintorian is taking isn’t in vain. This is all part of his plan. I have a letter for you here. Please, if nothing else, could you at least confirm for yourself that the gates have been opened?!” Yusen shouted desperately as he thrust the letter towards Ronan. He’d struck his head on the ground so hard that blood was running down his forehead.
Ronan read the letter. It spelled out the details of the plan, but he still couldn’t believe it.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/chapter3_2.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
It would be completely impossible to open the gates and then hold out there alone.
“Count Eintorian wields mana. If he can get the gate open, he can hold it for some time,” Yusen opined, thinking back to the displays of martial prowess he’d seen from Erhin.
Even if it cost him his life—even if he had to end his own life right here—he intended to get Erhin’s message across. It was the least he could do to repay him.
“The Count of Eintorian, a mana wielder? Absurd...!” Ronan was saying with obvious exasperation when Erheet, who had been watching in silence all this time, spoke up.
“But Commander, if the gates truly do open... We can’t afford to miss this opportunity. Or to waste the loyalty of the man who fought to the death to open them!”
“Could it be... Were the rumors around Erhin mistaken?”
As Ronan cocked his head to the side thoughtfully, Yusen realized it was time to push the issue.
“Please, just see for yourself! If he can manage to open the gates, it should be more than possible to retake Lynon Castle like he describes in the letter!”
“Well, yes, that is true...” Ronan said, stroking his chin.
He worried about the possibility of the enemy opening the gates themselves to lay a trap—in short, the possibility Yusen was an agent of their adversaries—but it seemed unlikely. The enemy had already taken Lynon Castle. Would they really give up the inbuilt advantages of a siege battle to lure in Runan’s elite troops? No matter how many enemy soldiers inside the castle were armed with bows, his forces still vastly outnumbered them. They’d be in danger the moment the gates opened. Assuming the enemy were to employ such a reckless strategy, they’d be giving him a chance to retake the castle instead.
“I’ll check the gates. Could I ask you to prepare a hundred men for me? If the gates are open, I’ll send up a smoke signal to inform you,” Erheet, who had been earnestly listening to Yusen, proposed.
He felt that, if Erhin really was putting his life on the line, then he ought to rescue his comrade as a fellow Runanese commander. He also thought that any man whose subordinate would risk their life pleading for him like this deserved to be trusted.
“Besides, if he truly can use mana at will, then we’ll need him in this war.”
Ronan thought about the proposal a moment before nodding. He felt it was worth trying, at least. If the gates were closed, then all they had to do was continue their march to the capital as originally planned.
“Fine. Go check it out at once!”
“Understood!”
After seeing Erheet off, Ronan gave the order to all his troops.
“We advance on Lynon Castle!”
*
Duke Ronan would retreat from Bern Castle in shame, and his forces would pass by the enemy-occupied Lynon Castle but be too intent on their flight to do anything about. That was history as the game told it. His forces were the numbers that I desperately needed for the retaking of Lynon Castle.
That’s why I bet everything on Yusen.
Of course, the best outcome would have been if Duke Ronan attacked Lynon Castle on his own and I happened to be there to appear and open the gate for him. That would’ve freed me from the need to fight to keep the gates open until my allies arrived.
But alas, I wasn’t so well trusted that he was going to attack Lynon Castle on my word alone. That necessitated opening the gate first and having the duke see for himself that I had. That was the core of this operation!
“We keep fighting for now. Lynon Castle’s not back in our hands just yet!” I said to Jint, never letting up on the Attack command.
Jint, Erheet, and me.
Now that three A-class characters—each with a Martial score over 90—had taken control of the battlefield, the enemy lost a lot of their momentum.
“Who are you people?! How can you do this with so few men?! Kill them and close the damn gates! Hurry!” the enemy officer roared.
His stats weren’t all that impressive. He didn’t have Erheet’s or Jint’s martial prowess. Still, it remained a fact that the enemy had more troops.
“Everyone, gather at the gates! Can I ask you to come too, Lieutenant General?”
I was planning to join up with Erheet’s forces and hold off the enemy’s attack at the gates. His arrival meant that it was just a matter of time now.
“Let’s do it!” Erheet nodded as he cut off an enemy’s head, joining me to gather our forces at the gates. The enemy were quick to surround us. It looked like the entire enemy force, numbering over ten thousand men, were all awake now. Jint and Erheet were massacring enemies in front of the gate, but the area was already awash in enemies.
“Do you have a plan, perhaps?” Erheet asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “If my man Yusen has properly conveyed the plan, then the enemy gathering here is actually favorable for us. They’ll make for easier targets.”
“I see how it is,” Erheet responded, impressed.
“I’ll kill them all and surpass the commander-in-chief! Gah ha ha ha ha!” the enemy officer shouted, roaring with raucous laughter.
“Don’t be silly. Try looking up!”
The moment I said that, it got bright on top of the walls. Our forces had lit torches. This had been my last instruction to Yusen. A rain of arrows immediately fell upon the enemy. Terrible screams echoed across the castle grounds. There was nothing they could do but fall prey to the arrows.
“Begin the attack!”
Not long after, a unit of cavalry charged through the gates.
The one who’d given the order to attack was none other than Duke Ronan, commander-in-chief of the Runan Kingdom.
Victory was now in sight!
When dawn came to Lynon Castle, it was in Runanese hands once more.
*
Back in the capital, the king was raging.
“Those damned imbeciles. If they were going to lose like this, maybe we should have just surrendered from the beginning?”
He had been shouting all night since word came that Lynon Castle had fallen.
“This won’t do. It’s too dangerous here. I’ll abandon the capital and go to the south.”
Count Bordey opposed this idea.
“Sire, the capital is the safest place in the kingdom. Evacuating elsewhere will not help... Besides, in addition to the forces down south that haven’t joined up with us yet, we’ve also sent a request to our allies for support, so it would be better to remain here in the capital...”
“Would you shut up?! The state only survives if I survive!”
Sadly, the king was only thinking of his own life. Even if they seized his territory, he didn’t care so long as he made it out all right.
“Curse that Ronan. He said he could defend me. And some ‘Demonspear’ Erheet is. How pathetic. Prepare to retreat at once. Hurry!”
The king got off his throne with a sense of nervous excitement and began jumping around. In the midst of this, the captain of the Royal Guard rushed into the room.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“What is it now? No... Don’t tell me the capital itself is already threatened!”
If the captain of the Royal Guard was rushing into the room, that meant he had something to report. The king blanched.
“Good news, Sire! We’ve just received word that Lynon Castle has been retaken!”
“What?”
The king’s tremulous expression changed. The other nobles gathered in the audience chamber reacted in much the same way.
“So soon after it fell? Was the report of its fall in error?” Count Bordey asked as the king kept blinking, completely at a loss for words.
“That’s not it. The reports say that after the castle fell it was retaken due to the efforts of Count Eintorian!”
The captain of the Royal Guard handed the king the report which he began reading. Soon, the king smiled and erupted into boisterous laughter.
“Pfft ha ha ha ha! Pfft ha ha ha! Look at this! Look at it!” the king shouted at his nobles, laughing. “What do you say to that? The report says Count Eintorian, whom I summoned, retook Lynon Castle! What do you fools who opposed me on it due to his reputation have to say to that?! Can you still oppose my decision now?! Pfft ha ha ha! I was right!”
It was true the king had decided to summon Erhin on his own.
The king had been ready to desert the capital at any moment, but now he ran around the room with excitement.
“There’s no time to waste. Order them to make Count Eintorian an advisor in the royal army at once! Hurry!”
It was unquestionably the king himself who had put the kingdom in this position in the first place, but he gave orders as though this victory was somehow his own accomplishment.
*
The third-highest rank in the Royal Runanese Army: advisor! That’s the rank they appointed me to for retaking Lynon Castle.
Heina was dismissed. She had pleaded to the end that I should be punished for insubordination, but it did her no good. When I knelt down and acknowledged I had gone against her orders, Ronan decided to treat it as if I were acting under the king’s command and not charge me with a crime.
At long last, I was finally able to control the entire military and fight the Royal Naruyan Army without anyone getting in my way!
Obviously, the first order of business was to drive the Naruyans off as soon as possible.
That will buy me some time. No matter the country, it always takes a while after one war ends before they’re ready to start another because of the supply issue and the need to replenish and train their troops. In the game’s original timeline, it was a year after the Royal Naruyan Army conquered the Runan Kingdom before their king started the Grand Subjugation.
In the game, one year after the fall of the Runan Kingdom, Naruya launched what was called the Grand Subjugation, a campaign to unify the land using the vast numbers of troops that Naruya had cultivated.
The Naruyan king’s only just taken the throne. It’ll obviously take time for him to raise an army of tens of thousands. So I’ll have time to build up Eintorian’s power once this war ends.
From what I had been able to find out after retaking Lynon Castle, none of the Ten Commanders had been involved in the battle. For some reason, the enemy hadn’t seen fit to send them along on the invasion from the north.
“The king of Naruya is likely testing himself. Still, as embarrassing as it was to lose to an experimental invasion like that, His Majesty should be thinking about preparing for war now. Our allies will have noticed Naruya’s ambitions too, so they’ll be easy to persuade. So, we just have to overcome the current crisis!”
That was the reasoning Ronan gave me when I asked him why. It had been less than a year since the new king took the throne, but word of his ambition had already spread across the continent. Ronan’s view was that he sent in the army he had developed over the last year without the Ten Commanders to see how they’d do.
Of course, Ronan didn’t seem to have any intelligence to back that theory up.
If the Runan Kingdom had that kind of espionage ability, they wouldn’t have lost without being able to put up a fight. Anyways, the key thing here is that the Ten Commanders aren’t in this war. They didn’t participate in the war in the game either. There’s no way to know the exact details of why not at the moment. But the reason doesn’t matter. All that matters is defeating the invaders. If the Ten Commanders aren’t around, then the only one we need to watch out for is the enemy strategist!
*
Experience List
B-class Strategy x2
I got a B for strategy.
The plan had a high degree of risk, since if Duke Ronan didn’t send troops, we couldn’t have taken back the castle. If I’d retaken Lynon Castle without relying on the duke for backup, maybe I’d have gotten a higher grade, but there’s no point speculating about that. It was impossible to do it without joining up with the royal army.
You are now Lv. 13.
Regardless, I still went up two levels. Level ups are calculated off a base experience value, and then modifiers are applied. The base value is simply how many enemies you kill. If one of those enemies has a higher Martial than you, that adds a multiplier in this system.
This time, I killed a lot of enemies because I fought by myself for an extended period instead of leading troops.
You received level-up points.
Points in reserve: 500
I gained 400 points. I’d spent some of my reserve points to use skills in the battle, so the 400 I gained were added to my remaining pool of 100. Since I’ve got more points now, I’ll immediately put some into enhancing my Martial.
Will you enhance your Martial? It will cost 300 points.
Your Martial is now 62.
It’s only a small increase, but it’s important to build it up one step at a time. Soon enough, I’ll have a score of 70. That leaves me with 200 points. I plan to hold them in reserve for now.
*
Valdesca Frann slammed his head down on the desk. Then he picked his head up once again, a dazed look on his face. His forehead was turning red. Even in spite of this, he smacked the desk with it again, and it got even redder. Mert jumped a little every time as he watched on.
Valdesca’s always like this, thought Mert. He engages in self-harm whenever something’s bothering him.
That’s why he couldn’t stop the duke. He could only watch.
Slam!
Frann smacked his head against the desk once more before shaking off the pain. This was all because the enemy had taken back Lynon Castle.
His plan had been perfect, but some incomprehensible actions on the enemy’s part allowed them to retake the castle. The enemy acted almost as if they knew Lynon Castle was going to fall in one night.
Their victory hadn’t been mere happenstance. Acting in a manner that suggested they knew the Naruyans’ plan, the Runanese had used Ronan’s forces which were retreating from Bern Castle to take back Lynon Castle.
“By the way, I believe I asked you for intelligence on Runan’s new advisor.”
“About that. We gathered information, and everything was as expected.”
“The lord of Eintorian, the commander of the supply unit, and the person who retook Lynon Castle. It was all him?”
“Indeed, it was!”
The diversionary attack on Eintorian, the surprise attack on the supply unit, the seizure of Lynon Castle—this man was present for all three of these failures. He’d swept the legs out from under them. It was thanks to him that the enemy had concentrated their man power up in the north too, instead of dispersing their forces in response to the advance party’s attack on Eintorian as originally planned.
“Commander... What do we do now that they’ve retaken Lynon Castle...?”
If things had gone accordingly, they should have been in the Runanese capital by now. Valdesca clenched his fist as he came to one, firm resolution.
“Have no fear. I never thought we’d need to use the House of Frann’s power against the Runan Kingdom, but this time we’re going to win!”
*
Having taken Castle Bern without bloodshed, the Royal Naruyan Army advanced on Lynon Castle.
Royal Naruyan Army
Manpower: 48,720 men
Training: 80
Morale: 60
The Royal Naruyan Army had invaded with seventy thousand troops, but they’d lost over twenty thousand in the raid on the supply unit and the battle at Lynon Castle. Their initial Morale of 80 had plummeted by 20 points too.
The Naruyan troops encamped outside Lynon Castle immediately launched a total offensive.
They need to take Lynon Castle before attacking the capital because if they ignore the castle, it’ll cause problems for their supply lines later. That would leave them isolated between Lynon Castle and the capital. You can’t fight a war on an empty stomach, so if they can’t take Lynon Castle and secure their supply lines, there’s no point in advancing on the capital.
Considering that, I could understand the total offensive. I still had my questions about the way they were doing it, though.
“Their attacks are too simple. And it’s suspicious how they’ve concentrated the attack on the north gates too... This could be a diversion.”
“A diversion, you say?”
“It’s possible. Let’s divide our forces. Concentrating ourselves in the north to answer their focused attack isn’t our best move. We should have men at every gate. Also, though we’ve blocked it off, we can’t overlook the underground waterway either. We need to continue searching all of Lynon Castle.”
That was my proposal at the commanders’ meeting. Ronan adopted my idea, and left me in charge of the intensely contested north gates. I returned there as soon as the meeting finished.
The enemy’s continuing their simplistic attack. It’s a little too...orthodox, you might say. Pound on the gates with siege weapons, and use ladders to climb over the walls.
Their tactics were all too common. The attack was still focused on the north gates and the area around them. Honestly, we didn’t have the spare man power to split up. If we ran short of men, they’d smash through the north gates. Still, the enemy strategist would think of that too, so it was essential that we keep investigating all of Lynon Castle.
Which is why I’ll have to make up for our man power shortage in other ways.
“We’ll destroy the enemy battering rams. Pour the molten iron!”
“Yes, sir, Advisor!”
After making the proposal to Ronan, I had the weapons of our fallen enemies melted down and turned to molten iron. We had former blacksmiths among the soldiers at Lynon Castle, and a lot of smithies for them to work in, so there was no problem getting it done.
The rams burst into flames as soon as the molten metal touched them!
The plan takes advantage of the way molten iron can burn up wood in an instant. It’s way faster than setting them alight with flaming arrows.
“We’ll burn the ladders too! The longer this drags on, the worse our position will be!”
Burning their rams and ladders would inevitably sap the enemy’s enthusiasm. If we could manage to do that, then it would be our turn to go on the offensive.
Yeahhhhhh!
With the siege weapons destroyed, our side’s morale rose. The focused attack on the north gates bogged down, and the enemy were forced to withdraw.
“Don’t let your guard down! It’s not over yet!” I shouted to my men, watching the enemy’s movements.
Eventually, the retreating soldiers came to a stop.
They’re out of bow range.
“Huh?”
That’s when twenty men carrying big shields advanced on the gates. They were all protecting a single man. This move was incomprehensible to me.
Once the man reached the castle gates, he looked up from the center of the group and shouted, “Are you Erhin Eintorian?”
He was looking straight at me.
The enemy already knew my face.
Well, there were plenty of survivors of the Naruyan attack on the supply unit, so nothing to be surprised about there. I just want to know what this situation is.
“Yes, and?”
I could say one thing for sure: I now knew who the strategist tormenting Runan was.
“I’m terribly sorry, but you’ll have to die!”
As he shouted that, a massive mana circle appeared before him—a powerful one, radiating golden light.
*
Valdesca Frann
Age: 28
Martial: 90
Intelligence: 96
Command: 90
His abilities are straight As! How is he so unparalleled?! And just look at that magic circle!
There were two ways of manifesting mana, and this was one of them. It involved complicated formulas in the creation of a mana circle, and while it was normal for mana circles to be far more powerful than weapon-based mana skills, they needed to be created in advance to be activated. That meant they had the drawback of requiring preparation, but we’d been fighting at the north gates a long time. He must’ve finished the mana circle while we were.
Which meant this battle at the north gates was, in fact, a distraction, but that was entirely within the realm of expectation. It was the entire reason why I’d reduced our man power here and had our men patrolling the entirety of Lynon Castle to prevent whatever the enemy strategist was planning.
“In the end, victory will be Naruya’s!” he declared, full of confidence.
Well, he was right to be confident.
He’s delayed our forces at the north gate!
Even with some of our forces sent elsewhere, the largest group was still here at the north gates. I couldn’t see Ronan being able to defend Lynon Castle alone after repeatedly losing to this guy. As he raised his hand, the entire enemy force behind him split into two.
They’ll be heading for the east and west gates.
It looked like the only way to stop him now was to destroy the mana circle. The problem was that the moment he used it, his Martial score rose from 90 to 99. Once it triggered, it went back to 90.
That means his Martial score is 99 with the mana circle, and 90 without it. It’s the same logic as how I have a Martial of 92 with the bonus, but an effective Martial of 97 when I use Crush.
That meant the barrier I was seeing in front of me had a Martial of 99, and my Martial 97 Crush couldn’t break it.
“Gibun, you calm the men! Have it done by the time I get back!”
I’d deployed Yusen and Jint on other missions, so I gave Gibun his orders and then raced down to the gates.
Valdesca Frann’s magic circle, huh?
I felt like I was finally starting to get a grasp of what it was.
It’s because the game actually starts on the day of Naruya’s Grand Subjugation, one year from now.
This was all stuff from before the game started. It was explained in the game, but for whatever reason, Valdesca’s name never came up there. This was the true identity of the character who was only identified as the Royal Naruyan Army’s strategist. The great nation that once held dominion over the continent, the Ancient Eintorian Kingdom, was ruled by the Twelve Continental Families and the Royal House of Eintorian.
Nothing is forever, of course. As the kingdom waned, it splintered, and each of the Twelve Continental Families created a country of their own. Naruya, Runan, Matein, and the others had originated with the Twelve Families. The House of Frann were also one of the Twelve Families and, together with Naruya, had built the Naruya Kingdom. The king of Naruya with his S-class mana, the Ten Commanders of Naruya with A-class stats, and then Valdesca Frann—these people were the reason why, even in the game, the Naruya Kingdom was the strongest force on the continent, and served as a sort of final boss.
Still, while I knew who Valdesca was, I’d never predicted that he was the enemy strategist because he only really became a significant presence in the game’s history in the second half. I only remembered him because I knew the second half of the scenario, but I’d had no idea he was present from so early on.
Well, forget all that for now!
“Stop! Valdesca Frann!”
When I went down to the gates and shouted his name, Valdesca approached me with a dubious look.
“How do you know my name? It hasn’t been made public yet, even in Naruya.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be fair if you knew me but I didn’t know you, now, would it? I’d rather you not underestimate me.”
“I don’t know what sorts of intelligence-gathering capabilities you possess, but you’re finished now. To the best of my knowledge, no one could destroy this mana circle but His Majesty himself!”
I shook my head at this confident declaration.
“Valdesca Frann! You’re so full of yourself! This isn’t over yet!”
The mana circle had a Martial value of 99. There was no way to destroy it, not immediately. But I had the system on my side.
His Martial score is extremely high. That means that, yes, there is a way! A system I can use on high-Martial commanders!
So, facing him with total confidence, I shouted, “One-on-one!”
Will you challenge your opponent to a one-on-one battle?
I activated the system’s One-on-One command! Such was the system I had access to—the commands I’d used in the game worked in this world too. The dueling mechanic was an element that was present in the game I’d been playing, and in others like it. There were lots of similar one-on-one duels in the Sengoku period too.
This world’s no different from the Sengoku period. Lots of countries have fractured apart and are battling in order to form one country. That’s why there need to be one-on-one fights.
Still, there were lots of situations in the game where it wouldn’t allow you to use One-on-One. That’s because, normally, while you’d want to challenge commanders who were weaker than yours to single combat, the game prohibited you from activating One-on-One. There were only a few exceptions in special circumstances where it did allow it.
For that reason, it was a useless command in a lot of ways. Seriously, who would challenge a commander who was stronger than them to single combat? But when a weaker commander used One-on-One against a stronger one, it always activated. Yes, one hundred percent of the time!
That was my current plan.
My Martial’s 62. Valdesca’s is 90. And the system only applies to me.
I figured that meant so long as a weaker person challenged a stronger one, I would meet the conditions to activate it! Additionally, One-on-One created a space in the game where only the two characters existed—a One-on-One arena!
Once that zone manifests, it should let me out of his seal!
Things went as expected. As soon as I activated One-on-One, the area around us went dark. In that instant, the golden light of the barrier shattered, and blue walls formed around me and Valdesca. The arena for our exclusive battle had formed!
“Wh-What?”
Valdesca’s face twisted in shock as he looked around the space, despite showing no change before this.
“H-How...?!”
At last, his gaze fell on me, shaken. He seemed pretty confused by what was going on.
“You destroyed my circle...? What in the world...?”
The system’s powers just look like mana to the people of this world. That means, to him, I apparently just used more powerful mana than he has!
I approached Valdesca who had a grim look on his face.
“The King of Naruya is the King of Destruction. He is a being that brings calamity to this world. Do you accept that path?”
“It is the duty of House Frann!” Valdesca shouted before adding, “But what is this...?!”
Will you use the bonus?
Now I just have to take him out. There’s no way I’m gonna be recruiting him given the House of Frann’s deep ties to Naruya!
That being the case, the sooner it was done the better.
Never give a mana circle user time in a fight. It’ll be a pain if he manages to make one. Now’s my chance, while he’s still confused.
I gripped Daitoren and charged Valdesca.
Without the mana circle, his Martial’s 90.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Only a bit higher than mine with the bonus!
On top of that, as he was now, Valdesca was too unnerved to respond to my attacks. He hadn’t yet recovered from the shock of his magic circle being broken.
I’m going to finish off the man who accounts for a good third of the Naruya Kingdom’s combat potential here and now!
My sword was drawing closer to him—but that’s exactly when it happened!
“Your Highness!”
Suddenly, three men appeared in front of him.
Here, in the One-on-One space?!
“Defend His Highness!” one of the men shouted, and the other two sprang towards me.
They appeared to be retainers of the House of Frann.
In that case, I’ll use Crush!
I took aim at Valdesca. Daitoren flew straight towards him with a beam of white light. His two subordinates who’d moved between us fell, but not before Valdesca and the man beside him disappeared with a red magic circle!
They’d disappeared just as suddenly as they’d appeared.
Shit! I wanted to finish him off no matter what. But how was I supposed to stop him from teleporting like that?
It was the same type of magic as the magic circle used to store the gold beneath Eintorian Castle.
I think he’d used an item similar to the pendant that I used to get inside the vault, but the House of Frann were students of mana. They’d spent over a thousand years researching it. I couldn’t really complain that I’d had no countermeasures.
I’ll just have to get stronger. That’s all.
The mana circle he’d used had a Martial value of 99, while Crush only let me handle Martial scores of up to 97.
Once I raise my Martial another two points, I won’t have anything to be afraid of!
The one other saving grace was that Crush’s knock-out effect lasted for five hours. That was more than enough time to drive off the rest of the enemies without Valdesca around.
*
Valdesca awoke from his wanderings in the abyss. He had a splitting headache.
“Ungh...!”
The retainer who’d saved him knelt before him.
“Your Excellency!”
“Mert...?”
The moment he saw his retainer Mert, he knew why he’d awakened here.
“Did you use the Frann family treasure?”
“It was the only way to save you, sir. I will accept any punishment!”
The ancient treasure contained a mana circle that the House of Frann had created over the course of a millennium. Because of their powerful mana, such treasures each had their own unique characteristics.
“Then...the treasure was destroyed, I suppose.”
“Yes... I’m terribly sorry!”
“Well, it’s no matter. You’ve done nothing wrong. It’s my own fault for not knowing my opponent... More importantly, our forces!”
“Again, I’m terribly sorry, but without knowing when you might awaken, I couldn’t have them remain on the field... This is Loen, along the Naruyan border.”
Loen. That was the first domain they had stationed their troops in for this invasion. They had started from there and taken the northern domains of the Runan Kingdom one by one.
“...”
Valdesca ground his teeth.
He even got the best of me. There’s no way our forces could hold out against such a man without me there to guide them.
“Order all our forces to retreat! We should withdraw at once. Send the messengers out immediately. We must save every soldier we can...”
“Understood, sir!”
It was a total defeat. He’d lost in every way. Valdesca quivered.
Erhin Eintorian. To think there was such a man in the Runan Kingdom. One who could not only defeat me, but destroy my magic circle as well!
“Next time, if there is a next time... I swear...”
Slam!
Valdesca slammed his head against the wall as he muttered.
*
Their commander-in-chief, Valdesca Frann, had vanished. That alone sent the Royal Naruyan Army into a state of panic. There were a number of officers who served under Valdesca, but none were as capable as he was. By the time they learned the strategist had fled in defeat, they had already lost much of their man power.
“Retreat! Pull back!”
By the time the commanders ordered their troops to retreat, their man power had been reduced to eighteen thousand men. The Royal Naruyan Army abandoned not just Bern Castle and Ganen Castle, but began to withdraw from all of the occupied territories.
Yusen and Gibun laid in ambush along their retreat. That cost them further man power losses, and when they finally managed to escape, they headed for Ruon Castle, to the relative safety of the supply base there.
“Open the gates!”
When they arrived at Ruon Castle and saw the royal flag of Naruya and the ducal flag of House Frann flapping in the wind, the Royal Naruyan Army breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the castle. Setting down their weapons, they began relaxing here and there. Their flight had been just that desperate. And as soon as they’d let their guard down, a thousand soldiers wearing the Naruyan military uniform assaulted them.
“Kill them all!”
Fully exhausted and without a strategist like Valdesca, the Royal Naruyan Army were mercilessly slaughtered.
Furthermore, at the head of that unit of one thousand troops, wearing the garb of a common Naruyan soldier, was the head of House Demacine of the Runan Kingdom, Erheet Demacine.
When the mightiest warrior in Runan swung his spear, the troops who had already been thoroughly exhausted when they entered the castle fell before him, unable to fight properly. Those who’d remained outside were so terrified that they gave up on the supplies there and fled.
Without their crafty tactician Valdesca, the Royal Naruyan Army received a one-sided beatdown.
Erheet, who had led this surprise attack, let the enemy flee and closed the gates.
“We aren’t going to pursue them, Lieutenant Commander?”
“That won’t be necessary. Everything’s gone as the advisor said. They’re already in the palm of the advisor’s hand. As such, I should continue following the plan he laid out. We’ll seize the enemy supplies. There’s nothing to worry about.”
When he first told me to lie in wait here—not join in the battle at Lynon Castle, even though the castle must be in danger—I thought it was an absurd idea. But ultimately, everything went just as planned.
“I’ll have to share a drink with him once the enemy are eliminated. Yes, we’ll drink all night long!”
Erheet was sincerely pleased to see a man of such unusual talents had appeared beneath Runanese skies.
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Final Chapter: War without End
The enemy were wiped out. We were greeted with applause on our return to the capital. My only remaining task was an audience with the king. I couldn’t declare myself independent yet, so there was no way out of it.
A gaudy throne of gleaming gold.
Unlike the declining Runan Kingdom, the throne still sparkled.
It feels almost paradoxical.
I bowed before the king as I took in this sight.
“So you’re Count Eintorian, are you? I was right about you. I knew you would protect the country! Ha ha ha!
The greasy king showered me with words of praise. It was almost like he wanted to say he was the one who’d won this war.
“I certainly defeated our enemies, but I couldn’t possibly say I defended the country. The soldiers were able to fight their hardest because you were here, Your Majesty. This was all thanks to your power!”
Obviously, there was no need to rub him the wrong way right now, so I told the king the words he wanted to hear. He let out a big laugh, pleased with my response.
“Ha ha ha! I like you. Oh, I really do. If you continue to save my country, I wouldn’t even mind giving you the title of duke. I expect great things from you!”
Duke. That’s one of the highest ranks in the nobility. Basically, the king’s trying to ingratiate me to him. But what I want is to be king myself.
I had an opportunity to take over this world, and the system was letting me make it a reality. The system had sent me to this world to “go for glory.” That likely meant something along the lines of, “we’re giving you this system to work with, so go conquer the world.”
If I chose not to strive for glory, whatever that meant, I had no guarantee that my current lifestyle would continue indefinitely. The system might disappear, I might go back to my ordinary life...or I might even die.
That’d be the worst.
I wasn’t about to miss such an exciting opportunity.
Even if there’s no telling when I might die on the battlefield, this is still way better than the monotony of the real world!
I would conquer the world for my own ideals. Even if I failed and died, that was still millions of times better than living an uneventful life.
So, a ducal title in Runan means nothing to me.
“Thank you, Sire. If you call for me, I will come to your aid at once.”
Obviously, I still needed to stay in the king’s good graces for now, so I knelt down and gave him that response. Ronan, among many of the other nobles present, were visibly displeased with what the king had just said to me.
That probably means they’re not going to let their own power be eroded. The only simpleton here’s the king.
“Do you really mean to return? Why not leave your lands to your retainers and stay here in the center of the nation?”
After the audience ended, Ronan began subtly probing me with questions.
He can’t possibly want me staying here to amass power.
“No, I’d still like to see to my domain,” I responded.
“I see. I won’t stop you, in that case. Come to me if you change your mind,” Ronan said blithely with a nod of his head.
But I had no interest in the power struggles of the capital. I needed to develop my own nation.
There’re the countries of the south, and Naruya in the north—powerful enemies abound. I plan to have Runan keep shielding me until Eintorian’s able to build up enough power. If Runan is destroyed in Naruya’s Grand Subjugation, Eintorian will appear on the world stage during the resulting chaos. I just have to bide my time and wait until then.
Of course, when that time came, I would be the lord who started from Eintorian, one small city among many, and went on to unite the entire continent. There were many cities represented by circles and squares on the game’s map, and I was going to start with just one of them.
There’s too much I need to do. I’ve got a year from when I return to Eintorian.
This coming year felt like it was going to be the most important. Everything would start from here. Fortunately, I gained a lot from participating in this war. First of all, Yusen and Gibun. They came of their own volition and knelt before me.
“Will you accept us as your subordinates?”
“What’re you talking about? You already are.”
“I heard you would be leaving the royal army. But how am I to serve at your side if you do that? If you’ll take me as your retainer, I’ll give my life for you!”
“As will I!”
The two of them spoke as one. And they were telling me just what I wanted to hear, of course.
“Are you both serious?”
“Of course!”
“Even if the result is betraying Runan?”
That was the most important bit. When I made that nebulous statement, they both exchanged glances. Then, they answered in unison.
“A retainer of a noble house follows their lord’s commands!”
And so, Yusen and Gibun became my retainers. That made three recruits, including Jint. And it wasn’t just new personnel I gained, but also time and fame. That meant I was right to join in the war.
And with those results, I returned home to Eintorian.
*
Some time earlier, Euracia was watching the war, just like she had been asked to. It was currently dawn on a day in the middle of the battle for Lynon Castle. She’d appeared before Yusen as he ran north to meet Ronan.
That’s because Yusen had run into one of the units of the Royal Naruyan Army scattered around the northern regions. She’d been cutting down Naruyan soldiers one after another.
Runan’s an ally of Rozern, after all. It’s not wrong of me to join the battle.
“Thank you! You really saved me! But who are you?” Yusen asked, but she shook her head.
“I was just asked to do this by Lord Eintorian. Don’t mind me. Carry on and do as you must.”
Euracia spoke impassively as she faced the onrushing soldiers. Yusen hesitated a moment, looking at her, but then hurried on to meet with Ronan. Euracia watched him go before keeping the enemy busy for a little while and then retreating. She found a high hill nearby which she could use to watch the battle at Lynon Castle from a distance. She wasn’t sure why, but watching Erhin fight when he was surrounded by the enemy made her blood boil.
If there had been a man of his will and mental fortitude in Rozern, her father, the king, wouldn’t have died so pitifully. It made her want to test her own strength even more. She wanted to rush to Lynon Castle right away. But by the time she made up her mind, Ronan’s troops were already pushing through the open gates, and Lynon Castle was retaken in no time.
Euracia bit her lip as a cheer went up, celebrating an outcome to the battle that went beyond anything she could have imagined. Because it was proof that what he had said might be true.
The crisis bearing down on Rozern...
As she thought of her young brother, the current king, Euracia raced off towards her homeland. That was to be the spark for another conflict. The one in which, in the game’s history, she was to meet her end.
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Officially Translated Light Novels
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up/Only-the-Villainous-Lord-Wields-the-Power-to-Level-Up-Volume-01-[J-Novel-Club][Premium]/copyright.txt
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Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
Copyright
Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up: Volume 1
by Waruiotoko
Translated by Sean McCann
Edited by Ori Starling
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © Waruiotoko 2020
Illustrations by raken
First published in Japan in 2020 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
J-Novel Club LLC
j-novel.club
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: May 2023
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