One Day More
The news that the resistance members' execution was scheduled for tomorrow had clearly spread, because the area in front of the governor's office was noisy from early morning.
Not only the people hired by the nobles, but even the families of the commoner resistance fighters had gathered in a crowd, making a racket. As I passed by the government building, someone shouted as if they were witnessing a witch hunt.
"Look! The Demon King's dog is passing by!"
"Get lost, you vile bastard!"
"This is our country!"
Let them shout all they want.
No matter how much they screamed, this country had long since become a colony of the Demon King's army.
Crack!
"Hm?"
I glanced up at the sound of something bursting above my head.
A broken egg failed to penetrate the wind barrier and slid down harmlessly.
Tomatoes and stones followed, flying toward me, but if I left them alone the front of the building would turn into a mess. So I decided to clean it up myself.
Thud!
When I snapped my fingers, a powerful gust of wind blew back everything that had been thrown at me, sending it straight back to the throwers.
"Kyaaah!"
"The demon is killing people!"
The protesters who had been so loud a moment ago scattered in all directions, screaming. It was as if the one who farted was now getting angry.
Whether they lacked the ability to learn or whether it was always a different bunch showing up, I shrugged and strode up the front steps with confidence.
Whoosh!
At that moment, an arrow flew from somewhere, aiming for the back of my neck.
Thwack!
I blocked it with superhuman reflexes and shattered the arrow, which had been enchanted with special magic.
"They're crossing the line…"
I had no intention of letting anyone who tried to take my life walk away freely.
Whooooosh!
I kicked off the ground and shot upward on a gale, scanning the buildings in the direction the arrow had come from.
A single shadow was fleeing in a suspicious manner.
I used the wind of the Gale Step to pursue at full speed. No matter how hard the bastard ran, he was still within the palm of my hand.
I closed the distance to the sniper in an instant.
He had wrapped a cloth around his face, so I couldn't make out his features clearly, but judging by his build and the condition of his hands and feet, he looked to be a man in his early to mid-twenties.
I changed direction instantly by blasting wind from both hands and delivered a dropkick straight to his exposed back.
"Kuhak!"
The sniper spat blood and flew through the air. He rolled across the roof of a building before tumbling off the edge.
Assuming he was just a pawn of the resistance, I followed him down to finish him off. When I landed in a fairly wide clearing, I realized something was wrong.
The surroundings were far too neatly arranged.
The moment I understood that, I wrapped my entire body in the wind curtain I used to trap storms.
It took about two seconds.
Dozens of spells flew at me from all directions and hammered against the wind curtain, but they couldn't break through the much thicker barrier I had deployed.
Eventually, the sniper who had been lying on the ground slowly stood up, and twenty to thirty men revealed themselves from all sides of the clearing.
Every one of them had elemental energy floating around their bodies. Mages.
They were probably resistance members from the Oz Youth Association who had been excommunicated from the Emerald Tower this time.
"Patrasch, Chief Financial Officer. For the sake of this country's future, you must die."
"You're awfully rude for a first meeting."
Purple Lightning Flash
I muttered the words and cloaked my entire body in violet electricity.
The difference between the Lightning Step I usually used and Ozma's Spell Armament, Purple Lightning Flash, lay in where the balance was placed.
If Lightning Step was balanced, then Purple Lightning Flash was speed only.
Soon, the enemy moved first.
I twisted my body to dodge the rocks erupting from the ground, then sprang upward like a spring.
Fire arrows chased after me like guided missiles.
I knocked them all away with my lightning-wreathed hands, then spread both arms to the sides.
Penta Spell—
Star Banner Lightning Halberd
Blue spears made of lightning filled the sky.
Their number was truly like stars.
The mages who had ambushed me looked up at me in horror, but I had no intention of showing mercy.
Crack!
The moment I clenched my fist, the lightning spears rained down toward the ground all at once.
"Kuh! Hold the line!"
The mages of the Oz Youth Association who had attacked me shouted desperately, but it was a futile effort. There was an insurmountable wall of rank between us.
Fundamentally, no matter how many mages two or more ranks below you there were—even hundreds—they stood no chance. From 1st to 3rd rank they were barely above ordinary people, so numbers might work, but beyond that?
"Kuaaaagh!"
One by one, the mages whose mana ran out were impaled by the lightning spears and turned into charred corpses.
Their comrades screamed in rage at the sight, but they soon met the same fate.
When the magic finally stopped, only two mages who seemed to have higher ranks and the sniper I had deliberately spared remained alive.
The two were probably 4th-rank mages who had broken through to become proper sorcerers. To me, they were still nothing special.
One of the exhausted men, his face pale from having his mana drained so quickly, shouted with an aggrieved expression.
"Why! Why do you demons, with such overwhelming power, still oppress us humans?!"
"Aren't you ashamed?! Wielding such great power without any sense of responsibility!"
I shrugged at their cries of the weak.
"Why should I, the strong one, feel ashamed? This world has always run on the law of the jungle."
I took a step forward as I spoke.
"You people have also trampled on those weaker than yourselves to survive. And now that you've become the weak, you're trying to pin the responsibility on the strong? Don't you think that's a bit selfish?"
I raised a hand and summoned wind.
The sniper who had been trying to escape had his ankle severed by an invisible blade.
"!!!"
The man rolled on the ground, screaming silently. Blood from his severed ankle soaked the earth.
The two mages trembled in terror.
But I had no intention of letting them live. Anyone who tried to take my life was better killed while I had the chance—less trouble later.
"How many people have you killed in the name of 'for the country'? Did you ever feel guilty when you killed them? No, of course not. If you had, you wouldn't be walking around with such calm expressions right now."
The first time I killed someone, I couldn't sleep at all.
But humans grow numb when they repeat the same act. Even if you feel revulsion and nausea at taking a life, eventually it becomes nothing.
Besides, from my perspective, there wasn't much difference between slaughtering demons and slaughtering humans. Both were intelligent beings who spoke, thought, loved, formed friendships, felt hatred, and held grudges. Only the name in front was different.
"Let's end this."
I wrapped both hands in the Gale Step.
The two mages backed away with terrified faces.
"Hiiik! Don't come closer!"
"I don't want to die!"
"So those are your last words? You're both more frugal than you look."
I muttered and beheaded both mages in a single stroke.
Two heads that didn't even realize they were dead fell to the ground. I looked down at the sniper, who could no longer move because of his severed ankle.
"In your next life, choose your targets more carefully."
The sniper, crawling on the ground like an insect, died like one.
After spending about ten minutes wiping out the Oz Youth Association members who had set up their cute little trap, I hurried back to the governor's office to avoid being late for work.
Today, an important meeting had been scheduled.
It was with Duke Mün Hen, the cousin of Prince Tiferius.
"Welcome."
"It's been a while, Lord Patrasch."
The handsome man with neatly combed black hair appeared to be in his early thirties, roughly the same age as me.
He was one of the most important figures in the royalist faction and one of the founders of the Oz Independence Association.
"There are too many eyes around, so this is the first time I've come here in person in nearly a year."
"You're a busy man. It can't be helped. Please, have a seat."
When he sat down across from me, I asked Agnes to bring tea and refreshments.
Duke Mün Hen removed his hat and sat down, his intelligent eyes gleaming as he asked,
"I heard the resistance members are to be executed tomorrow. May I ask what that's for?"
I shrugged at his direct question.
"To catch a big fish, you need the right bait. The execution is for that purpose, so you don't need to worry about it."
"What exactly do you mean by 'big fish'?"
"…You've been working as a spy for the past two years, Duke Mün Hen. There's no reason to hide it now."
I smiled as I spoke.
"A new hero."
One day left until the decisive battle.