A Hell Called Grandheim

We had finally left Eldviorn behind and stepped onto the main road that led to the capital, Grandheim.

"You lunatics. You people are genuinely insane."

Cernida's weary sigh drifted down from where she clung to my back. Probably because we had spent the entire trek out of the forest training. She treated us like we weren't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right in the head.

"Guess Cer here doesn't know how rewarding a good training session can be."

"Y-you barbarian! Don't you dare shorten this lady's name as you please!"

Cernida flew into a rage at Wolfgar's remark, then immediately started coughing — dirt and dust must have gotten into her throat. Being hauled through the forest on my back had left her looking thoroughly wrecked.

"You're a mage to begin with, aren't you? Why on earth are you doing this kind of training?!"

I was the one she understood the least. Not that I had much choice in the matter.

"I'm still an apprentice. I don't know how to use magic yet, so I'm starting with what I can do."

"Then you should be researching how to actually use magic! What is wrong with young people these days?!"

"Finally, someone who understands how I feel."

Leksan, the magic tool, jumped right in. He'd been quiet this whole time, but he clearly saw his opening. I raised my hand and gave my pocket a sharp smack. He let out a squeal and shut up.

"And why are you even carrying around a shoddy magic tool like that? Did that half-witted master of yours give it to you?"

Just like that, Zorbanof had been reduced to a half-witted master.

"This was made by a deranged mage who wanted to gather human corpses and reconstruct them with mana. I'm holding onto it so I can track him down and put a stop to his nonsense."

"Hah. This world really is crawling with people doing pointless things."

"And our master is not a half-wit."

"That's enough. If he doesn't even know the schools properly, he's some mountain hermit mage holed up in the hills. I wouldn't recognize the name anyway, so I don't care."

I'd missed my chance to brag about my master. I felt a little sorry for having done a disservice to a teacher the likes of which the world had never seen.

"More importantly, it's time."

She half-closed her eyes and rested her face against my back.

"When this girl wakes up, tell her you agreed to serve as her escort. Understood?"

"Got it."

So it was time for Seranea, the body's actual owner, to wake up. I waited quietly. A moment later, a groan slipped from her lips.

"Nngh... wh-where..."

"She's awake."

The crimson that had colored Seranea's eyes was already gone. What remained were eyes of a warm brown.

"Ah— y-you— kyaah!"

She let go of the arm around my neck and started to topple backward. I caught her just in time. Same as before — Seranea's sense of balance was truly something else.

Judging by the look of her, she'd once lived a refined life where other people handled everything for her. But life has its twists. She may have once been a young lady of the Silent Blood, but now she was a criminal on the verge of execution.

"W-what's going on? Wh-what do you intend to do with me, bringing me all the way out here?"

She asked, trembling from head to toe. Come to think of it, from her perspective, I'd tried to knock her out and then just... fallen over. She probably needed an explanation.

"Well, we decided we're gonna protect you!"

Wolfgar summed it up with remarkable simplicity. Better than I could've managed, given how bad I am with words. Sometimes being direct is better than dancing around it.

"M-me?"

"Seranea Fraise."

She flinched when I said her full name.

"Your factions fought over the Fraise Marquisate, you lost, and you ran. That's how you ended up like this."

"H-how do you even know that...?"

Because I'd just heard it all firsthand. But she stared at me in shock. Fair enough — a complete stranger had just laid out her entire situation.

"Why would you want to help me?"

Well, because I'd made a deal with Cernida. But from Seranea's perspective, that wouldn't make any sense. Cernida clearly didn't want her presence revealed. I figured I should at least honor my bargaining partner's conditions.

"Every time you lose consciousness, everything around you goes up in flames."

Her body twitched. That was the very reason she'd nearly been executed.

"You have a unique constitution. And I want to study it."

"A unique constitution?"

"I'm a mage."

Seranea's eyes went wide. As a Silent Blood, she understood the weight of that title better than anyone.

"So you understand why I said what I said."

The one I actually had business with was Cernida, so it wasn't a complete lie. It was only possible because of Seranea's constitution, after all.

"I see. So that's what this is."

Mages were an incomprehensible breed to begin with. That made "because I'm a mage" a conveniently easy excuse.

I only said it because it reminded me of Maria, who got kidnapped over her constitution.

Still, being a Silent Blood — as close to a mage as a non-mage could get — she seemed to know enough to buy it.

"Then... are you going to dissect me and study me now?"

Ah. Right. That's the impression mages give off.

Wolfgar flinched and looked at me too. Why are you surprised.

A brief headache came and went. I figured laying out conditions here would make things easier to understand.

"There are three things I want from you."

Seranea swallowed hard and listened.

"One: eat every meal properly."

"Ah... yes."

"Two: exercise every day."

"Y-yes?"

"Three: get a good night's sleep."

She stared at me, completely blank.

"...Is that all?"

"What, you got a problem with that?"

"N-no. If those are a mage's instructions, of course I'll follow them."

Her face said those weren't conditions at all, but I didn't care. The real terms would be fulfilled by Cernida. All Seranea needed to do was stay healthy and in one piece.

"That's it, then. We're heading to Grandheim."

"W-wait a moment. Mage, if we go to Grandheim like this, people will come after me again."

She had a point. Her appearance was already well-known. Anyone hunting her would start moving again.

I'd rather avoid unnecessary fights myself.

I thought it over for a moment, then something occurred to me. I rummaged through my things and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pulled out Leksan.

"Leksan."

"What."

"If you can attach flesh, you can reshape a face with it, right?"

Leksan gathered human corpses to construct muscle and bone. A person's appearance could change completely just from putting a little extra flesh on their face. With his ability, altering someone's looks should be possible.

"It's not particularly difficult, but..."

"Do me a favor."

"Why should I?"

I hoisted him up high.

"Fine! I'll do it, okay?! You brute!"

Would've been nicer for everyone if he'd just listened the first time.

"Take me to a monster."

"A monster?"

"I don't have enough flesh to work with."

So a corpse was a corpse, I guess. Didn't matter what kind. As it happened, we'd taken down a monster on our way out of the forest. I brought Leksan over to it, and he absorbed some of the flesh. After a portion of the monster's meat vanished, I brought him straight back to Seranea.

"Seranea, take this."

"...Is this a magic tool?"

True to her Silent Blood heritage, she recognized it at a glance.

"Yeah. It'll help change your appearance."

"I see. In that case..."

She knew perfectly well she was being hunted. So Seranea took Leksan without complaint.

A moment later, flesh flowed out of Leksan and spread across her face. She'd been reasonably good-looking, but with lumps of meat stuck here and there, her features turned ugly.

"Um... how do I look?"

"You got ugly!"

Wolfgar answered with brutal honesty, and she started feeling her own face.

"The contours of my face have definitely changed. With this, no one would recognize me."

She looked satisfied just to have a different face, even if it was an ugly one. She must have been through quite a lot.

"That's everything, then. Let's go."

We set off along the road, and a thin mist began to gather around us. Grandheim was famous for its frequent fog. And with such a dense population, the monster spawn rate was extraordinarily high. And yet Grandheim still reigned as the capital. The reason was right there.

High ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠above, piercing through the fog like a lighthouse rooted in the earth. Even from this distance, the sheer scale of the walls was overwhelming.

The impregnable fortress Grandheim boasted of. The Iron Citadel.

Countless large-class monsters had hurled themselves against those walls, trying to bring them down. Not once had those walls ever fallen.

They weren't ordinary walls that just happened to be big, after all.

A colossal amount of mana overflowed from every inch of the stone — a barrier regularly maintained by the mages of the two schools stationed in Grandheim. That was why even several large-class monsters running wild couldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so much as scratch them.

The walls were visible, but we still had a long way to go. So we kept walking along the road.

Before long, the smell of blood drifted through the fog. Not human.

"Monster corpses?"

Wolfgar caught the same scent and peered through the mist.

At the base of the walls, an enormous number of monster corpses lay strewn about. The blood-smell was thick — they had attacked the walls not long ago.

A monster wave led by a large-class. When a large-class monster crossed dimensions, it typically brought a horde of small- and mid-class monsters with it. A wave like that had apparently crashed against the walls.

In the distance, I could see a massive, boar-like large-class monster. So even a wave of this scale was nothing to them. As expected of the capital.

"Haren. Look over there."

Wolfgar pointed past the large-class monster. I followed his gaze, and a moment later, my body went rigid.

It wasn't just one large-class monster.

Dozens of them ringed the walls. At least.

And every last one of them was dead.

I swallowed without meaning to.

A single wave led by one large-class monster could wipe a village without a mage off the map. Two large-class monsters had been enough to reduce the Jefran barony to ashes.

And yet here were this many of them. And walls that had stood firm against every last one.

A strange thrill ran through me, rising from somewhere deep inside. I couldn't even begin to guess how strong I might become in Grandheim.

This is the capital.

A hell for monsters — and a hell even for the hunters who came chasing fame.

Grandheim.

At last, I felt it. We had arrived.