Chapter 87
Chapter 87
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Ditto (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Pass!”
A group of mercenaries passed through the gates of Rzhev.
“We’re not too late, are we?”
“I thought we left pretty early…”
“We need to join up quick and secure a spot. The later we are, the less we’ll get.”
There were mercenaries ahead of them and more behind, a clear sign that countless others had already flocked to Rzhev.
“But the damage doesn’t look as bad as I expected.”
“Yeah. With all those monsters swarming around…”
“And there don’t seem to be as many monsters as I thought either.”
After the monster wave, the ground outside the castle was still piled high with monster corpses, and butchers were hard at work separating hide, flesh, and magic stones.
Still, they thought, the numbers weren’t as high as the rumors had suggested.
It was an unbelievable number, to be sure, but it didn’t quite feel like the aftermath of an insane monster wave.
“What? Not here, but Adma? So this place was just the second line of defense?”
“They say the road from the Demonic Realm to Adma is paved with monster flesh.”
Hearing the chatter of the mercenaries who had arrived earlier, the newcomers’ eyes gleamed.
Just how many were there for them to make such a fuss? They had assumed the White Mercenary Corps had exaggerated the rumors.
“Have a lot of people gone over there?”
“It’s not certain yet. Rumor has it a fair number have gone, but many mercenaries haven’t made a move. I’m telling you, we’re among the first.”
Rumors were rampant that a part of the Demonic Realm had been purified and that the mercenary corps had been granted ownership of it.
An ownerless land. The uncharted Demonic Realm.
Ownership of the Demonic Realm. It was enough to make any mercenary’s eyes glaze over, especially in a time like this when work was scarce.
That was why they had chosen this place, wasn’t it? It seemed far more promising than the somewhat shady Empire.
“Jones, you go to Adma. We need to see the situation for ourselves to get a better picture. Quickly.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
With that, one of the mercenaries nodded and departed.
They had come to Rzhev, but they hadn’t signed on yet. They needed to test the waters a bit more, as they say.
To see if this place was truly worth pledging themselves to, even if it meant going against the Empire.
“The atmosphere isn’t bad. The other mercenaries look cheerful.”
“You’re right.”
As they crossed Rzhev to get to their assigned quarters, they observed that the mercenaries here seemed remarkably bright-faced for some reason.
“I expected it to be chaotic…”
Weren’t the White Mercenary Corps supposed to have suffered an unexpected blow? They’d heard many members had been killed or injured. Rumor even had it that the Captain was missing and the Vice-Captain was in a coma.
But for all that, the mood was far too good.
“What kind of magic did they pull off?”
At this point, he was getting curious. What kind of trick had these people pulled to be so composed?
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
He felt as though his plans were slowly going awry—his plan to lend a hand in their moment of crisis and secure a large stake in the Demonic Realm.
Of course, many of the mercenaries who had come here likely had similar thoughts.
***
“Hmm… I thought a few more would come.”
“This is more than I expected. Frankly, with the Empire backing the other side, I thought we’d see fewer.”
Glen nodded, satisfied with the sight of the mercenaries filling Rzhev.
It felt like everything had been going well since Kratos arrived. Not as a joke, but literally everything.
So much so that he wondered if all the problems that had been before him were always this easy to solve.
“It might be a good idea to slow down the monster butchering a bit more.”
“Even more? Aren’t we already working slowly enough?”
It had been Kratos’s idea in the first place to butcher the monsters very slowly, despite being able to process them quickly, and to pile them up rather than burning them.
But now he wanted to slow it down even more.
“It’s simple. The mercenaries coming here need to see it. How fiercely we fought to overcome the odds. And just how many monsters swarmed this place.”
“Ah…”
He hadn’t even considered something like that.
“No matter how much you talk, it’s not the same as seeing it for yourself. There’s a reason for the saying, ‘Seeing is believing.’”
“Seeing is… what?”
“It means seeing something once is better than hearing about it a hundred times. It’s from the eastern continent over there.”
He was beginning to wonder what kind of monster Prometheus had created. He had thought he was simply a disciple.
“You’re doing the same thing in Adma, right?”
“We’re proceeding even more slowly there. The monsters on the road to the Demonic Realm are mummifying anyway.”
The area near the Demonic Realm was fundamentally cold. So, rather than rotting, the monsters were freezing and mummifying.
The butchering process there was proceeding even more slowly than in Rzhev.
“Just as you said, mercenaries are lining up all the way to Adma—no, to the Demonic Realm.”
“They’re the type of people who only believe what they see with their own eyes.”
“Seeing is believing. That’s it, right?”
“That’s right.”
What could be more shocking than seeing the purified Demonic Realm with one’s own eyes?
No mercenary was ignorant of the Demonic Realm. But to be able to enter it?
Just as Glen had said, Kratos was certain this was an opportunity they absolutely could not resist.
“If you let things simmer for too long, they lose their flavor. We need to proceed as quickly as possible now.”
“Already? The Vice-Captain hasn’t even woken up yet. Will that be alright?”
“The Vice-Captain will wake up.”
Ditto was still absorbing the Vice-Captain’s demonic energy, and Kratos was also using his spiritual power to purify the demonic energy that had penetrated deep into the Vice-Captain’s body.
“The Vice-Captain is one thing, but the Captain is the real problem. Of course, his skills are exceptional, but being out of contact for this long is another matter entirely.”
At Kratos’s words, Glen fell silent. He was right.
Who could so easily harm a master swordsman of the highest caliber? But coupled with the mercenary corps’ current situation, it was indeed a cause for concern.
Besides, they needed their Captain.
“I’ll have to go.”
Kratos said, his expression hardening.
“There’s no one else who can.”
And besides, he was my disciple, wasn’t he? Not Kratos’s, of course, but Prometheus’s.
***
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
In the area where the survivors of the White Mercenary Corps were gathered.
Kratos clenched his fists at the sight of Dwalin, who looked much gaunter than the last time he had seen him.
Where had the confident Dwalin who joked with him gone? He was now just lying on a cot, letting out watery sighs.
No, it wasn’t just a watery sigh. There was palpable anger mixed in with it.
An unbearable rage boiling in his chest.
“I never imagined the weapons I made would be used to kill those I considered family…”
“That’s…”
He tried to say something, but no words came easily. He knew all too well the emotions Dwalin was feeling.
“Who could have thought they would betray us like that? That they would stab their family in the back… Just why…”
Dwalin couldn’t understand. What had they lacked, what had they been missing, to make such a choice? To drive those they once considered family into such a deadly trap.
“You must pull yourself together, Dwalin. I hope you can return to your old self.”
Even if this was a fantasy world where death was commonplace, it would not be easy to forget this incident.
Just because death was close didn't mean the depth of human relationships was any different.
But there was something Dwalin needed to know.
I took the crowbar and the shattered hammer from my inventory.
“There’s something you need to know. While it’s true that terrible things happened, with these weapons you made…”
Dwalin pushed himself up from the bed and sat on the edge, staring blankly at the weapons.
“…I saved hundreds, thousands of lives. I purified the Demonic Realm and saved Rzhev from the monster wave.”
Of course, the hammer had broken before then, but the crowbar had done its part, hadn’t it?
“Your actions were not in vain.”
Dwalin, lost in thought, remained silent for a long moment before nodding.
“I heard. We’re heading to the Demonic Realm.”
“Yes. The Mercenary Corps will likely set up a base in the Demonic Realm.”
“To think you purified the Demonic Realm… you’re no ordinary man. I’ve been there a few times myself, searching for minerals that can only be found there.”
Considering his age and the fact that he was a dwarf, it was entirely possible. Dwalin was old, even for a dwarf, approaching his twilight years.
“You’ll need my help a great deal, then. To set up a new base.”
“Yes. We plan to use the old royal castle as our new base.”
He was right. To establish a base in the Demonic Realm, Dwalin’s help was essential. In many respects. They would likely face constant threats until the entire Demonic Realm was purified.
“…In that case, promise me one thing.”
As far as I knew, a dwarf's grudge was truly deep and persistent. So much so that there was a saying: never earn the grudge of a dwarf.
Dwalin took off his shirt, revealing a long scar on his back that was still oozing blood.
“Haven’t you received healing from a priest?!”
“This is a wound from someone I considered my own child. It’s a scar that can never be erased. I don’t intend to get it treated until it heals on its own.”
“Even so!”
He haphazardly re-wrapped the bandages and put his shirt back on.
“With the weapons I forged…”
Dwalin stood up from the bed and clenched his fist.
“…kill those bastards who stabbed their family in the back. And recover their weapons, as many as you can.”
Dwalin’s fist trembled slightly.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re broken or shattered. I can’t stand the thought of those bastards possessing my work.”
I looked at Dwalin’s clenched fist and nodded.
“Gladly. I will do it gladly.”
A look of relief washed over Dwalin’s face at my willing acceptance of the task.
“By the way, what in the world happened to this hammer…?”
“Haha… I was busy cracking their skulls.”
Skulls, yes, but it was also clear that it couldn't withstand my strength.
It was a good thing the crowbar held up.
“Heh… well, I’ll be.”
Dwalin let out a hollow laugh at the hammer, which was so cracked that metal dust fell off at the slightest touch.
How in the world did one use a weapon to shatter it like this? This wasn't a matter of maintenance; it meant the weapon couldn't endure.
It was a matter of a craftsman’s pride.
“I’ll have to forge you a new weapon. Not one of my existing designs, but something entirely new. A sturdy one, at that.”
But he soon sighed, thinking of the ores currently available.
The facilities in Rzhev were decent, but they lacked materials. There were no materials that he felt were worthy of making a hammer.
He couldn't make a decent weapon with ordinary steel.
“First, I’ll need to find the right materials. It’s going to take some time.”
At Dwalin’s words, I took a few bones out of my inventory.
“That’s…!”
Recognizing the bones Kratos took from his inventory, Dwalin gasped and rushed forward.
“Where in the world did you get this? No, by the heavens. What is this…?”
It was enough to make his eyes pop. These were the bones of a dragon—so precious the word ‘rare’ couldn’t begin to describe them.
“Do you think you could forge a weapon with this?”
I wasn’t sure. Could a weapon be made from these bones, and could Dwalin even handle them? Many things had to fall into place.
“A long, long time ago, I once worked on a dragon’s scale with my father.”
A smile of pure joy appeared on his face. The chance to work with a dragon’s remains was an incredibly rare opportunity, and for a craftsman, it was a challenge that set his spirit ablaze.
“It’s more than enough. With this, I can forge a weapon worthy of you.”
Dwalin picked up the sturdiest-looking bone and the broken hammer.
“It will take some time. Forging a dragon’s bone is a tremendous challenge for a craftsman.”
“There is plenty of time. The wait for a great weapon is long, yet it always feels short.”
Seemingly pleased with my answer, Dwalin nodded and carefully wrapped the bones in a cloth. They couldn't let anyone see this.
“I will forge you the greatest weapon of my life.”