Chapter 142: Spring Has Come
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 142: Spring Has Come
The fight was over.
The first thing the group did, now that all the monsters were dead and it was completely safe, was to rebuild the city.
Fortunately, this was a very easy task. Among them were Makina and Regina, who could handle the urban planning, and by combining their magic, they could restore the city in the blink of an eye.
In the process, the group also happened to rescue Linna and Linne, who had been trapped in the clock tower.
“You came to save us…!”
“What? You guys were here?”
“Huh?”
The group, who hadn't even known the two were there, stared at them in bewilderment. Linna and Linne grew dejected at the fact that the group hadn't come specifically for them, but had merely stumbled upon them by chance.
Still, they had been helped, so the two joined in the city's reconstruction.
Annihilating the debris and creating new materials. With so many witches gathered, nothing was impossible.
“—That was seriously fast.”
The time it took to rebuild the city was roughly seventeen hours. Having restored the city in less than a day, the group rushed to one place as if every second counted.
To the room where Yohan slept.
“Ugh…”
When they arrived, Yohan was having a nightmare, as if sensing their ominous presence. The witches watched him and let out little smirks.
As the moonlight glinted off the corners of their uncontrollably rising lips, the witches descended upon the sleeping Yohan as one.
When Yohan awoke, he realized his body felt unusually heavy.
‘Why is my body like this….’
Opening his eyes, Yohan let out a groan as he discovered the naked witches piled on top of him. After seeing their glistening bodies, he sighed, wondering just how much they had drained from him that he didn't even have the strength to stand.
Then, realizing he would have to do this every single day from now on, he fell into despair.
‘This, every day, every week…?’
One might ask if he could just handle it by taking on one of the eight witches each day. Surprisingly, that wasn't how it worked.
If one were to assume he had relations with all eight witches and came eight times, then even when he was with just one witch, he still came eight times.
The total amount of love he gave out each day was always the same. Paradoxically, the fewer witches he was with, the more fatigue and pain he had to endure.
‘But it’s not like I can suggest we do it with two or three of them every day…’
Even the twin sisters, who seemed to have the best relationship, had shown considerable reluctance at the idea of a threesome with him. It was doubtful the other witches would readily accept it.
Today? Today must have been a special occasion. The witches hadn't been able to hold him for a long time—they probably didn't have the patience to wait for their turn.
‘I’m so fucked.’
Yohan sighed and looked out the window. Dawn was illuminating the city.
The Empire had fallen.
Even for such a mighty empire, nearly all its cities, including the capital, had been captured. The emperor had vanished, and hundreds of thousands of people were dead.
No nation could function properly under such conditions—and so, the Empire had finally collapsed.
The emperor, discovered later, was actually pleased by this fact.
“This is for the best.”
“What is?”
“To be honest, I was getting tired of pretending to be a man. I should probably reveal my true gender with pride.”
“Hmm, so you’re going to be the emperor again?”
“Of course. Is there anyone more suited to be emperor than I?”
The emperor, Frederica, proudly announced her return to power. It was unlikely that people would accept some random person who suddenly appeared and declared themself emperor, but… Frederica solved that problem with ease.
“Witches, if you aid me, I guarantee you positions and benefits greater than before!”
“Hmm, sounds fine, doesn't it? They say someone who’s done it before does it best. I think the same applies to being an emperor.”
Yohan, who had little interest in power, replied as such, and there was no way any of the witches would oppose his words.
And so, with the power of the witches behind her, Frederica once again ascended to the throne.
As if its collapse had never happened, the Empire was restored to its former glory in an instant. The roles of Regina and Linne were crucial in this.
They simply annihilated the ruined cities and created new ones in their place. From the citizens' perspective, the cities reappeared in the blink of an eye.
“For every one that died, give birth. Give birth, and birth, and birth again. Give birth until the people of the Empire cover the entire continent.”
After the war with the monsters, the emperor encouraged the citizens of the Empire to have children. She provided jobs for married couples, houses for those who had a child, and additional subsidies the more children they had.
The welfare was so extensive that people wondered where all the money was coming from, and the citizens of the Empire began popping out babies left and right.
As a result, the Empire recorded a birth rate of 10.0.
While the Empire fell and was rebuilt, the Kingdom remained surprisingly peaceful. The reason was simple: the Kingdom was weak.
Its technology was at a medieval level, so its soldiers charged with polearms, not even matchlock guns. Witches, who could be considered humanity's decisive weapon, were persecuted and forced to live in hiding in forests and caves.
Their divine power was a bit annoying, but that was it. The polearms of the Holy Knights couldn't even scratch the scales of a Malyong.
So, they were ignored. They survived for the simple reason that they were weak—a feeble kingdom that the ancient monsters could crush whenever they pleased.
When this Kingdom heard the news of the Empire's fall, the first thing they did was hold a troop send-off ceremony.
“The long years—the long time of oppression has ended. Those bastards from the Empire collapsed under the weight of their own greed. Swallowing up that ruined land will be easier than taking bread from a child.”
The Pope blessed the army with these words.
“It is a Holy War! A Holy War! Make the name of God spread throughout this entire continent!”
The army, blessed, marched out. Most monsters were crushed by the army's overwhelming numbers.
Nothing stood in their way, and so they believed they could occupy the ruined Empire without any trouble.
Even God himself did not doubt it.
“What are those things?”
“…Golems?”
The advancing soldiers discovered giant robots standing at the border. With their primitive medieval knowledge, they couldn't figure out what they were.
It was only natural. They were unmanned bipedal weapons developed by Makina using her magic to its fullest extent. The 25mm autocannons mounted on their hands were more than capable of shredding humans and monsters alike into tattered rags.
Of course—these medieval knights, gathered under the name of God, did not understand the concept of a gun.
“Out of the way!”
A high-spirited Holy Knight stepped forward. Raising his blade, filled to the brim with divine power, he swung it at the machine before him. Surprisingly, the holy blade succeeded in cutting through the Titan's reactive armor.
Fwoom—!
The exploding reactive armor blew off both of the Holy Knight's arms. The knight stared down at his now-empty shoulders, his eyes wide with bewilderment.
“What in the…”
[Intruder detected.]
This tool, developed to kill monsters, was naturally even better at killing humans.
Whirrrr—
The 25mm autocannon swiveled and took aim at the army.
What followed was an obvious conclusion that needs no telling.
Massacre, and more massacre.
After a sea of blood and flesh had been created, a truly horrific outcome—the Holy Knights finally succeeded in cutting the Titan in two.
“Pant, pant—! This demonic machine…!”
As the Holy Knights who had cut down the Titan through blood and sweat felt a mix of terror and relief, the heavy sound of footsteps echoed from the distance.
[Intruder detected.] [Intruder detected.] [Intruder detected.]
It was more than three new Titans. As the muzzles of the mass-produced weapons aimed at them, the Holy Knights fell into despair.
“Oh, God…”
How could this be?
A moment later, 25mm rounds swept across the land.
The world was undergoing a cataclysm.
The Empire had fallen and been rebuilt, and the Kingdom was throwing its soldiers away against it.
Nature itself was in chaos, with monsters vying for the throne left vacant by the mass death of their kind.
While the world suffered in chaos and confusion, a small cabin in this forest seemed to be the only place detached from the mortal world of suffering.
“We ended up back here after all.”
“Yeah. We did.”
In front of the cabin, Yohan sat on a rocking chair, calmly observing the scenery outside. Spring had come, the sunlight from the sky melting the snow.
It was a spring where hope sprouted and new life bloomed.
Lost in post-nut clarity, Yohan watched as new sprouts began to grow.
‘Why is this sprout being born?’
What is life, and what is existence?
What exactly am I?
Why can I nullify magic?
It was a spring swayed by all sorts of stray thoughts.
‘Why… did I fall into this other world?’
Yohan carefully looked up at the sky. Would the god that the people of this world believed to exist in that sky know the answer?
He wanted to meet them. That was what Yohan thought.