The Black Serpent's Den
It seemed this small village was something of a dumping ground for black mages.
A place where failed experiments—the ones too precious to simply discard—were cast away.
That was exactly what this village was.
The village head and the villagers were nothing more than puppets for the black mages.
It was a human trafficking hub that periodically threw visitors to the wolves as bait in exchange for scraps of profit.
“Trash.”
“Gack!”
Lily moved her hand with utter contempt. The village head, his neck constricted, gagged as his complexion turned deathly pale.
To summarize:
They had intended to dispose of me after being commissioned by a black mage, all because a suspicious Gold-rank adventurer had appeared and started digging for information.
The problem was that I wasn't your average Gold-rank adventurer.
“What shall we do?”
“Hmm.”
I had obtained all the information I needed.
There was no reason to leave him alive.
“Dispose of him.”
“W-wait! Just spare my life! I’ll give you anything you want, if that’s what you desire. Please—!”
Thud—the village head’s head rolled across the floor.
A truly pathetic end.
“Whoa.”
Logan, who had been watching, let out an exclamation.
“Mister, you really aren't an ordinary adventurer, are you? Anyway, what happens to the request now?”
“It becomes a non-event.”
Of course, separate from that, I would have to stop by later to clean up the peculiar monsters, but for now—
“As you commanded, I have located the hideout of the black mage who was in contact with the village head.”
“Let’s go.”
This was more urgent.
Bang! I entered by shattering the door of the mansion where the black mage was hiding.
“Who are you people!”
The black mage was flustered by the sudden raid.
To think that even while startled, his body reacted instantly to try and cast a curse. He seemed to have a fair amount of skill.
“To enter a mage’s workshop head-on, you foolish bastards!”
“Tsk.”
I lightly waved my hand and wiped him out.
“What?!”
The face of the man who had been shouting so confidently twisted in an instant. Why, hadn't he expected this?
“Lily.”
“Yes.”
And what followed was smooth sailing.
Lily suppressed him.
“Extract every bit of information you can.”
“By any means necessary, sir?”
I nodded.
Lily blinked slowly and began to bind the black mage.
A moment later.
“Aaaargh!”
A scream rang out. It was the black mage’s scream.
Splatter—the sprayed blood soaked the floor.
“My apologies. Blood has splattered.”
Lily apologized in a nonchalant voice.
To me, not to the black mage.
“Y-you crazy bitch!”
The black mage, his fingernails ripped out, shouted in a trembling voice.
Of course, the shout didn't reach Lily.
With a cold glint in her eyes, she pulled out a thin awl.
“Now, quickly, spill what you know.”
“You crazy bitch! I told you everything—aaaargh!”
“It seems you aren't ready to talk yet. You’re surprisingly stubborn.”
“Gyaaaaaah!”
Hm. I never knew a needle could go into a human body like that.
“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”
“I wonder. How can I verify that you are telling the truth?”
“You crazy bitch…! Gyaaaargh…!”
For quite some time, we extracted information from the black mage as Lily dismantled him. Without a single drop of blood on her, Lily took off her gloves and spoke.
“……I have obtained most of the information.”
“For example?”
“A list of individuals who need to be dealt with.”
The individuals to be dealt with weren't black mages themselves, but collaborators who had been turned. Just like that village we had just finished cleaning up.
“Most of the kingdom’s upper echelon has already been compromised.”
Lily’s expression darkened. In this case, the entire upper crust needed to be replaced. I could clearly picture the chaos a country would face if its leadership vanished overnight.
“It can’t be helped.”
But we couldn't leave them be, either.
This place was practically their headquarters. If they had acted as pawns, there was a high probability they had been altered or modified to the point where they could turn into monsters at any moment, whether they knew it or not.
“And, I was unable to find the location of the enemies' base—or more accurately, the location of the one who appears to be their leader.”
“The reason?”
“They likely don't trust even each other. It seems he doesn't reveal his whereabouts to his subordinates.”
Well, they were people dreaming of the world’s destruction. It would be stranger if they didn't have that kind of paranoia.
But then, what to do?
“Hmm.”
It wasn't that there was no way to find him.
It was just that the method was a bit simple and crude.
Just as I was contemplating this—
“Um, mister.”
Logan, who had followed us this far, raised his hand hesitantly.
“……Can I say something?”
“What is it?”
Lily answered viciously in my stead. Her will to not let him get away with nonsense was clear.
“Haha, I know. A guy you just met saying something like this sounds pretty untrustworthy.”
Logan smiled bitterly.
“I’ve been watching the whole time, and you aren't an ordinary Gold-rank adventurer, are you?”
Well, that was a bit late.
As I nodded readily, he spoke with a serious face.
“The guy you’re looking for—he’s inside the guild, if you go through the basement.”
And immediately after.
“Gack!”
Logan clutched his chest and collapsed.
“A curse?”
“A classic method to prevent information from leaking.”
Lily’s brow furrowed. I stepped forward and caught the falling Logan.
“Hey. Are you alive?”
“Gack, g-gack.”
Not an instant-death curse, then.
“Gack, hehe…. Sorry for deceiving you, mister. My younger sibling is… *cough*… being held by those guys. That’s why.”
“That’s enough. Stop talking.”
“No. Let me speak. *Gack*, phew. My sibling is kind and diligent. Please, forgive at least that person. I beg you.”
Logan’s eyes grew dim. The strength drained from his hands as he left his request in a faint voice.
I looked down at him.
Still, this guy.
“Who gave you permission to die? Lily.”
“Yes.”
I took a top-tier potion from Lily and poured it into his mouth.
“Gack?”
Life returned to Logan’s unfocused eyes. I followed up by feeding him holy water.
“U-uh?”
“You’ve survived.”
I wouldn't know if he were truly dead, but if he were just on the verge of dying from a curse, I could save him as much as I wanted.
Top-tier potions? Holy water?
I had more than enough of those.
“I-I survived?”
“Yes. You survived.”
“U-ugh, gyaaaargh! W-wait a minute! Mister! It’s breaking, it’s going to break!”
I had grabbed the head of Logan, who was looking around in confusion.
I hadn't even used any strength, yet he was whining.
Anyway.
“Since you’re fine now, don't just give me vague information—tell me everything you know.”
“Alright! I’ll tell you! So let go of this!”
I let him go.
Logan, his head having been squeezed tight, gasped for air.
“I-I just came back to life, and I almost died again.”
“Hurry up and spill the information. You pawn of the black mages.”
“Y-yeah. I should.”
At Lily’s brutal urging, Logan opened his mouth.
It was true that the black mages had been pulling the strings behind the scenes when he was assigned as my guide.
The leader of the ‘Black Serpent’ hardliners, Varak, was a paranoid who couldn't even trust his own subordinates. So he needed a human he could use as he pleased, and that was Logan.
Logan had been moving in the light, doing Varak’s bidding while his sibling was held hostage and he himself was under a geas that prevented him from leaking information.
“I’m a sinner who deserves to die. No matter the reason, I helped create victims.”
Logan said in a voice heavy with guilt.
“I thought that if it were you, you could solve this. That’s why I told you—because if my life is used to pay for my sins, it’s a cheap price to pay.”
I think I understand.
Could this be?
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Then, what would you have done if I hadn't come?”
“……If an adventurer who looked as strong as you had come, I probably would have acted similarly.”
I understood well enough.
How the disaster had unfolded in the original story.
Some other outside adventurer had come, he had bet on them, and it had all blown up.
“Tsk.”
Still, I understood the motivation behind his choice. I stood up from my seat.
“Thanks for the information. I’ll handle the rest, so find a place to hide for a while. Let’s go, Lily.”
“Yes, Khalid.”
“W-wait! If you could, could you save my sibling? Their name is…….”
“Are there others being held besides your sibling?”
“There are! He’s been busy preparing something lately, so he’s kidnapped a lot of people.”
“I’ll have to be prepared to take in a lot of people. Hey.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Are your ears blocked? They’re telling you to get prepared.”
Logan’s expression brightened as he understood.
“T-thank you! I’ll be waiting!”
It was just a matter of convenience, anyway.
We arrived at the guild.
It was late, so there was no sign of anyone. Together with Lily, I found the basement.
“This is the place.”
The door leading to the tightly sealed basement.
“I will open it.”
Creak—Lily opened the door.
At the same time.
- Hahaha! You’ve fallen for it!
“……Ugh.”
A powerful curse that surged from the door burrowed into Lily’s body.
- To think you’d dare enter the sanctuary I built myself with your bare bodies. You ignorant fools who don't know your place!
The owner of this voice seemed to be the black mage we were looking for, Varak.
- Die while feeling the terror of death! It’s a top-tier curse that even the purification of a high-ranking priest cannot hear!
Varak laughed vilely.
“……My apologies, Your Majesty.”
Lily apologized nonchalantly.
“I told you it wouldn't have mattered if I had opened it.”
“Yes.”
- ……You lot, why are you so calm?
Varak asked.
Why, indeed.
“Lily.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Twinkle—the bracelet Lily was wearing glowed.
Her complexion, which had darkened, returned to a state of calm.
- A leaf from the World Tree……? How do the treasures of the Great Forest’s elves…?
How, you ask?
It was in the Imperial Treasury, wasn't it?