Conquest Complete
"I said I'd play it safe, but damn if it's easy to stick to that."
Thanks to the silver-furred weasel leading the way, we found Nidroga in no time. Surprisingly, she'd already reached the heart of the demon lair after tussling with the enemies along the way. And even more importantly, she was unscathed.
"This has gotta count as a comeback, right?"
"...Nidroga."
Of course, she wasn't exactly fluffy and pristine everywhere. But considering her track record at the Dragon's Nest, she was right—this was a solid performance. She'd smashed through dozens of golems single-handedly, and now she had the last enemy pinned down in a chokehold by grabbing his collar.
And that final enemy was...
Gunter Baldenhart, his usual sneer— the kind that always looked ice-cold—now twisted with utter bewilderment.
"The guy who knocked me out last time and somehow even possessed a succubus... this time, I went toe-to-toe with him."
"Nice mount on that white horse."
Esen smirked as she eyed Nidroga's tensed-up forearm bulging with power.
"Worth teaching you that choke, huh?"
"Good thing I learned it. If this bastard lets go of my arm, his neck snaps next."
Nidroga flashed a bright grin, then her face fell into exhaustion.
"But I'm beat. Mind giving me a hand?"
Gunter, who couldn't budge an inch, bared his teeth as our party members closed in.
Esen and Reni grinned back, aiming their elbows and hammer at his jaw.
"I can't believe this."
The altar generating the demonic energy lay in ruins. The thick, humid early-summer air, already heavy with it, was already starting to thin out. The demon lair, powered by that energy, would crumble to dust soon enough, and the monsters born from it would starve or flee.
On top of that, the terrifying Gunter Baldenhart was mumbling complaints like some grumpy uncle, his jaw already swelling.
"I gave Adamanthon just one job. Keep that porter of his in check. How the hell did even that go wrong...?"
"Yeah, he fucked it up so bad he ended up as fish jerky."
Islune Storm, dragging the shackled Gunter along, squeezed her eyes shut, clearly bummed about her brother's fate.
But Esen slung her arm around my shoulder with a thrill in her grin.
"Ever think maybe you should've trusted the reliable ones? Fuck with our porter, and you're fucked."
"One thing I can't believe? You said you had clairvoyance aptitude, right? A born stalker cultist like you, outmuscled by a dragon?"
Nidroga grumbled a bit resentfully as she got support from the sisters while receiving some healing on the side.
Gunter lifted his head and declared solemnly.
"No beast is stronger than faith, no steel firmer than devotion."
"Shouldn't have asked. Wanna hit him again?"
"Sure. No energy left for bullshit today."
Reni spun around and slammed a front kick full-force into Gunter's face—not the forehead or jaw, but right between the eyes. Just like how the diocese bastard had attacked us without a thought for the consequences, she didn't give a damn about what came after flattening him.
Gunter toppled backward, nose gushing blood like sauce from a dropped sandwich. Islune caught the bald guy's limp body with a startled look, then burst into cheerful laughter as she hoisted him like a duffel bag.
"You pissed off at me earlier?"
"If you hadn't pulled your weight in the fight, I'd have grabbed you by the hair and gone to town. But you fought well."
"Ha!"
Reni and Islune bumped fists solidly.
"...Is it really over? For real?"
As the atmosphere screamed mission accomplished and I started getting antsy, Nenya tapped my back with her staff from behind.
"Don't worry. We've got your back."
"...Not because you've got eight Tigresses riding piggyback on me—I'm just skeptical if these guys' schemes end here."
"Bilena disassembled all the downed golems' power sources once she figured out how they worked. The Tigresses are already shackled with the restraints Esen tested out."
Esen flinched, and Islune shot her a weird look. Nenya, oblivious, kept reassuring me.
"We even nabbed that crazy diocese head. Doesn't that mean we all did great? Sure, we're still inside the lair, so stay alert—but don't overdo it."
Nenya often eyed me warily because of the harem I'd built in the party, but when shit hit the fan, she stepped up like a proper adult. It put my mind at ease and gave me strength.
"...Yeah. We've all got gas left in the tank, so we can handle whatever pops up."
"Know why you're nervous? 'Cause you're gonna die by my hand. Shut your traps and unlock this before I gouge your eyes out!"
Garam Taiga, shackled and snarling, made her subordinate male Tigresses gasp.
"Harsh."
"It was a good fight, though. No need to get mad."
"We outnumbered them and still lost—threats make us look bad, don't they?"
The Tigresses chimed in one by one, and it must've gotten under Nenya's skin because she started sharply tapping their mouths with her staff. Shackled sloppily in Bilena's metal frames, they couldn't dodge and just took the hits—making even more racket in the process.
As I fiddled with my drooping ears, Bilena Nitro, getting support from the sisters alongside Nidroga, muttered.
"Human rights violation box..."
"What's that?"
"Uh... y'know."
"From one of those books you read?"
"...I don't wanna talk about it..."
The Monica sisters asked like understanding moms, and Bilena went pale, clamping her mouth shut. We decided not to pry—better not to know. My list of things I didn't want to know just grew.
Contrary to my worries, the expedition wrapped up safely. The moment sunlight hit us from above, Bilena latched onto me like a cicada and burst into sobs.
She wouldn't let go all the way back to the army camp. Only after the sisters cleared their throats at her flushed face did Bilena wobble down, hiding her snot-and-tear-streaked face behind her bangs.
I pulled the obsidian shard from my pocket and handed it to Nenya. She shrugged without taking it.
"You could do it."
"I got crowd phobia from dropping trou earlier."
"For real?"
"As if. Just passing the buck 'cause I wanna lay low—no spotlight soon. Little me's too lazy, so big adult, you handle it."
"Bullshit."
Nenya snickered as she took the obsidian shard, held it high, and shouted.
"Everyone! Demon lair conquered!"
The cheers were epic. The young soldiers, braced to be torn apart by monster hordes, unleashed the mana they'd saved for battle in a massive roar, like they were burning it all up.
The camp, which had looked like a village unity meeting, quickly turned into a real one. Laughter mixed with card-shuffling sounds; somewhere, foam from pilfered beer shot skyward. No idea where the ingredients or pots came from, but some guy started cooking up something decent with potatoes and chicken.
The commander, Lorenzo Salamanca, and even the actual NCOs in charge seemed to have given up on control early. They were probably relieved too.
"...Is that a beer keg those guys are rolling, with 'Lorenzo' written on it?"
"Must've swiped it from our warehouse half a klick away. Cheeky bastards. Called me 'sir' earlier and all."
Lorenzo laughed warmly despite his words and turned to us.
"We've received a debt we can never repay. Thanks to you, all six nearby villages that survived will carry your adventure as legend in their hearts from here on."
"I see."
"...Of course, we know your services aren't free. On my name, I'll rally the people and gather payment worthy of your efforts within a month."
"Got it. But we already took a promissory note from the grand duke. We signed it together, remember?"
"Frankly, I'm not sure His Excellency Lindborg would accept it. He's... thorough, shall we say."
"Don't bother scraping up cash. Better you smile instead."
Lorenzo, soon to shed his forced rank and return to village chief, gave a wistful smile as I mimed lifting his mouth corners.
"I couldn't bring myself to say it, but when the demon lair appeared, several folks vanished before we could even prepare."
"We heard. Centipede-dog things slithered into villages and bit people. Your daughter too...?"
Lorenzo squeezed his eyes shut in anguish.
"Villagers must've gossiped. Yes, my daughter was one of them. Some came back as corpses; militia found others barely alive. But my daughter..."
"Came back alive. Miraculously."
The colonel blinked in a daze, and Islune and Nidroga giggled as they stepped aside. A girl behind them teared up.
I shrugged.
"Her name Enrica Salamanca, right?"
"This can't be real."
"Why else would those young bucks raid your place for beer without a care?"
Maybe because we'd cleared the big hurdle, the expedition ended on a heartwarming note. On the way back through the forest, with the demonic energy fading, we found 'Enrica Salamanca' in a centipede burrow where the things had withered and died.
Courtesy of the Tigresses pulling off something unexpected at the end. They'd sniffed out the kidnapped girl's scent of sorrow and fear right away.
"If your weasel hadn't crawled into its cage all tired and passed out, we'd have found her way faster than those idiots lying around."
"The weasel needs to smell her belongings to start tracking. Annoying as those airheads are, gotta give 'em credit for this one."
Esen shook her head like she couldn't admit it. Probably stung her pride that she and her crew hadn't detected the missing person's scent themselves.
Thanks to the sisters' clean antidote work, Enrica just needed rest and family now.
Lorenzo shuffled over and, before we could even soothe her with smiles, dropped to his knees and hugged his daughter tight. Then he bawled like a pro, tossing dignity out the window.
...This wasn't the picture I had in mind.
"That stubbly-bearded fucker crying like a gross hippo."
"Shut that mouth, or I'll yank your teeth."
Garam clammed up at Reni's low warning. Nidroga muttered with a guilty look.
"Thinking about it, maybe we shouldn't have sprung this like a surprise gift."
"...Yeah. Should've spilled sooner. Got too hyped we made it back safe."
"S-sorry, sir. We were thoughtless."
"No, no! Absolutely not! You have nothing to apologize for! N-not here—let us host you properly at our home—"
"Colonel, stand up first. We can talk rewards later."
A horn blared from somewhere, and pale-faced NCOs rushed to haul Lorenzo up. He stood dazed, arms still wrapped around his daughter.
I'd been basking in the warm fuzzies, but now it felt interrupted as I turned toward the camp. Far off, a flag emblazoned with a hero sword fluttered.
Islune tilted her head.
"Hero families often use hero swords as crests. Not certain, but... I think it's..."
"Lindborg the grand duke?"
"Looks like it."