Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Eastern Great Warrior
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Griffin Kingdom's eastern mountain path village.
This village, which one must pass through no matter what to reach the Marias Great Forest, mainly consisted of businesses catering to tourists, travelers, and hunters.
The restaurants were mostly taverns, and the tall buildings were inns for lodging.
The Griffin Kingdom itself had such a good reputation among citizens of other nations that there were many travelers, and the Marias Great Forest was practically a hunter's paradise teeming with beasts and magic beasts, so it was always drawing outsiders.
Today, too, the day in the mountain path village began.
People smiled and greeted each other, welcomed guests, and prepared breakfast.
Generous hospitality and fair prices.
It was the face of the Griffin Kingdom for travelers crossing the Marias Great Forest, so the villagers overflowed with pride in that role.
The positive influence and mindset spread from one to another.
A truly special place.
Two-du-du-du-du!
Amid the roosters crowing in the morning, a vibration shaking the ground arrived in the village.
"Hm?"
"Many travelers?"
Beyond the Marias Great Forest lay the Sahar Desert, once called the land of curses. And beyond that was the Jerman Kingdom.
The people wondered if a group of tourists from the Jerman Kingdom or perhaps an envoy delegation had arrived, and their gazes turned toward the forest entrance.
To greet the arriving group of guests, the villagers began waiting at the entrance.
Soon after.
A massive horde emerged from the shadows of the forest.
Every one of them was shirtless, with grotesque tattoos covering their entire bodies. What they rode were not horses but magic beasts called lizards, resembling dragons with horns, hideous fangs, and wings.
Whip!
The sound of wind splitting rang out.
Pak!
"Eh?"
A villager who saw the friend beside him struck precisely in the head by an arrow and collapsing let out an involuntary gasp.
But soon, another arrow flew in pursuit, piercing the villager's throat as he rolled onto the ground.
"It's the tribesmen!"
"What! Why are they doing this all of a sudden!"
"Th-they're crazy! The Marias Tribe has gone mad!"
The natives of the Marias Great Forest, the Marias Tribe.
They charged into the mountain path village in an instant and began ravaging everything.
The only survivors were livestock with value as food. Everyone else, men, women, children, and the disabled alike, spewed blood and slammed their faces into the dirt.
And leading them was the great warrior mounted on a black lizard.
Copper skin and a massive build. To show no weakness in battle, he had shaved his head completely. The great warrior raised the spear he gripped high toward the sky.
"Today, the wrath of Marias pours down!"
His rugged muscles writhed as if alive, and fierce hostility toward the Griffin Kingdom was contained in the spear tip.
"To avenge Great Chieftain Katoller and our Setima comrades!"
His resounding voice was hard to say contained mana but held a strange power, enveloping the entire village.
"I, Marias' great warrior Valkzar, stand with the spirits of our ancestors and guardian god Horua!"
With his words, red wings sprouted from his back.
Just like the guardian god Mountain Lord dwelling in the North Wedden Mountains.
They were the flame wings of Horua, the guardian god who dwelled in the Marias Great Forest.
"Our wrath shall pour upon the Griffin who call themselves noble!"
Just 2 hours.
In exactly 2 hours, they completely razed one village and immediately gripped the reins toward the next village.
* * *
With the first-years off on their field trip, I was spending my days as usual again.
Of course, it only looked ordinary on the surface; the reality was a bit different.
I was making quite a few preparations.
"Who's gonna eat you? Why are you so busy."
Pindenai, watching what I was doing from the side, glanced over and asked why.
The Black Necromancer beside her nodded in agreement, but of course I had no choice but to be busy.
I had gifted freedom to Aria Rias.
She was no longer the hero who would save this continent.
Thus, I had to devise a plan to save the continent without Aria.
In particular, dealing with Dante was proving quite tricky.
The part where I failed in the first playthrough.
If you kill Dante's leader, you can never reach the ending.
If you kill him, the boundary between life and death becomes unclear, and the continent perishes.
But following Dante's will was the complete opposite of my beliefs.
I needed to find a solution for this part, and worry about what came after resolving it.
'The good thing is we have plenty of forces and time on this side.'
Pindenai and the Black Necromancer as the top duo.
I could also employ Erika and even the Saintess.
Plus, thanks to my position as a Necromancer, I could receive help from the royals.
In truth, our forces were overflowing, and time-wise, it was just the start of the first-year second semester.
No need to rush.
'But you never know.'
As I acted, I had influenced things in many directions.
Starting from touching Dante, to the royal family's noble suppression.
Now, my game experience was just advisory knowledge, no longer at the level of foreseeing the future.
"Uncha!"
Professor Per Petra entered the lab grunting. She was barely supporting a large box with both hands, and Owen rushed over to help carry it.
"Wh-what arrived?"
Since the research equipment I'd requested from the academy had started arriving recently, Per assumed that was it.
Sorry, but this time it wasn't something helpful for research.
"Pindenai, open it."
"Huh? Me?"
The box was large, but the contents weren't that heavy.
It was just thoroughly packed and secured because it was valuable.
Pindenai ripped open the box with a crackling sound and smashed even the protective case by hand, ignoring the instructions.
And inside was a round bracelet. One dyed blood-red and emanating an eerie aura.
"Ew."
"Wh-what is that? Scary."
Professor Per and Owen immediately backed away, but Pindenai stared blankly before casually holding it out toward me.
"What's with the bracelet?"
"Wear it. It's yours."
"......Huh?"
Pindenai looked back and forth between me and the bracelet with startled eyes. Her face turned dumbstruck, and unusually cautious, she began handling it carefully and slipped it onto her right hand.
Click!
With the sound, her eyes trembled slightly as if sensing something subtle.
As if realizing something, she infused mana into her hand, and soon the bracelet spread red light, transforming into a glove that wrapped around Pindenai's hand.
"What is this?"
"It's an item called the Hand of the Blood Ancestor. If you inject blood in a used state, you'll gradually feel your stamina filling up."
"You're giving this to me?"
"Yeah. It suits you well."
For Pindenai, who grew stronger the longer a battle dragged on, dragging out time was key.
In game terms, a blood-absorb item was essential.
In that sense, the Hand of the Blood Ancestor, which infused stamina into the wearer the more blood it absorbed, was perfect for Pindenai.
Moreover, it was originally her item.
'Pindenai's drop item, after all.'
The item that the boss version of her would spit out with a certain probability upon defeat.
Besides that, items like her main weapon Half-Dried Axe and Landing Machine turned Pindenai into a true chapter boss.
Thanks to Iluania digging up info, I heard the Half-Dried Axe would soon appear at some auction, but since Landing Machine was from the Clock Republic, I couldn't acquire it right away.
"I thought it was something good, but you just gave it so I'd grind hard, huh?"
I nodded that it was obvious to Pindenai, who asked while pouting.
"Test it when you get the chance."
"It's too boring here. No one to smack around."
When she clenched her fist, the red glove wrapping Pindenai's hand reverted to a bracelet.
Well, though Pindenai said that, from how she kept glancing at the bracelet, it seemed she quite liked it.
Thinking about it, wasn't this only the second gift I'd given Pindenai?
The first was the tobacco I gave her after returning from the Clock Republic.
Come to think of it, she hadn't smoked it, just kept lighting up other tobaccos nonstop.
"Did you smoke all the tobacco I gave you?"
Suddenly curious, I casually asked, and Pindenai plunged her hand into the front pocket of her maid outfit before pulling out a familiar case.
Inside were the ten pieces of tobacco I'd given her, neatly arranged.
"It's precious."
I'd seen her sniff it before, but she still hadn't smoked it. It was a bit surprising that not even one was gone.
Maybe that's why.
I just blankly stared at Pindenai, and she blankly stared back at me sitting there.
There was nothing particular to say between us, but in that moment when we were just gazing at each other without much thought.
Clunk.
The door opened, and Erika Bright entered the lab.
I naturally shifted my gaze from Pindenai to Erika, and she opened her mouth with a quite urgent expression.
"A contact from the royals came."
"From His Majesty?"
"It came through the dean office's crystal orb, so hurry and go."
The first contact since coming to the academy. I wondered if there was something he wanted me to do and thought it was good timing.
Whatever it was, maybe I could use this as an excuse to snag something useful from the royal treasury.
But the matter was bigger than I thought.
"The tribesmen living in the eastern Marias Great Forest crossed the border and are massacring citizens."
"Tribesmen?"
Leaving the others behind, Erika and I alone exited the lab and headed to the dean office.
Along the way, Erika quickly poured out the information she knew.
"They're raising the banner of revenge for Katoller the great chieftain... and the Setima villagers."
I stopped in my tracks.
Erika took a few more steps before stopping and looking at me.
"It's connected to the Setima villagers."
It was information I'd never heard before.
They had already resolved their grudges and fallen asleep.
"I'm not sure about that. But I heard the Zeronia Family, connected to the Setima villagers, set out to subjugate them..."
"And?"
"They got half-annihilated."
Haa.
Gideon, who's not at the academy right now, was probably involved too. I didn't care about their karma, but using the Setima villagers' name for the massacre was quite grating.
"Let's go for now."
I resumed walking toward the dean office.