Bloom (1)
"Charge—! All forces, charge!"
Wielding weapons steeped in golden light, the imperial army advanced. From a distance, it looked like a field of sunlit rye standing against a black tide.
The empire's soldiers sliced through the plague wave as easily as paper.
Ssshhk!!
Crack!!
Swords and spears laced with faint golden light cut through the thick hides of the plague rats with ease. Bodies that had seemed on the verge of collapse surged with vitality, and inexhaustible strength welled up within them.
"His Majesty the Emperor has been chosen by the gods!!"
"The gods protect the empire!!"
The soldiers' morale soared to the heavens. Behind them stood an emperor chosen by the gods, and their weapons were imbued with a radiant miracle.
What was there to fear?
Spears thrust forward and burst open plague rat skulls; swinging blades split open their bellies.
A one-sided slaughter continued. Though the plague rats crashed over them like a massive wave, the imperial army did not yield a single step.
The endless tide of plague rats died at the hands of soldiers who, by comparison, were but a handful. And so the one-sided massacre went on until the sun began to set.
By the time the dimming sun hung as an orange half-circle on the horizon, no more rats emerged from the sewers.
As if in a final thrashing, the plague rats had poured forth without end—but the soldiers had at last defeated every last one of them.
"Haa— ha—"
"...We... we di— mph?!"
"Hey!! Somebody shut that bastard's mouth!"
"You little shit, I told you! Not! To say! That!!"
"Ack!! Aagh!! That hurts!! S-sorry!! Ack!!"
In one corner, soldiers whose tension had finally broken collapsed to the ground to catch their breath, while others dragged rat corpses along, clearing the main road.
The golden light that had been pouring brilliantly from the emperor's scepter flickered, then snuffed out with a soft pop.
Caesar was not alarmed. The scepter had fulfilled its role; when the time came, it would display its power once more.
"Your Majesty, congratulations!"
"A great victory, a great victory!!"
Knights soaked head to toe in rat blood knelt before Caesar, offering the glory of victory to their emperor. With a solemn expression, Caesar praised their hard-fought efforts.
"Your contributions are great. But this is not yet the end. Unless we carve up the mother of these vile fiends, a victory is no victory at all!"
Caesar glared at the rat corpses with wide eyes. Even after a rough cleanup, the bodies were piling into a small hill. He would settle things with these disgusting fiends once and for all.
"If this many have come outside, their nest must be empty. We must carve up the mother of these filthy fiends and burn her as soon as possible!"
"You are right, Your Majesty!! Please allow me to take the head of that disgusting fiend's mother with my blade!"
"I too shall join as Your Majesty's sword!"
The knights cried out passionately at Caesar's words. They too wanted to lay eyes on the mother of these loathsome plague rats.
And when they met her, they'd start by planting a sword in her eye as a greeting.
Sparks flew from the knights' eyes. Caesar smiled with satisfaction and sought out Demonic.
Perhaps thanks to the scepter's power, the soldiers showed little loss of stamina despite fighting for so long.
Leaving the plague rat mother alive meant no telling how many more offspring she might birth—so he intended to press the attack swiftly and decisively.
"Sir Demonic, come here a moment."
"Ah, Your Majesty."
Demonic, who had been wiping blood from his clothes, approached Caesar. Behind him, Kenis trailed along, her red hair swaying.
Looking for all the world like a duckling following its parent, she drew a small smile from Caesar.
"Sir Demonic's daughter has proven most valiant."
"Pardon? Uh, Your Majesty? My daughter...?"
"Hmm? Is Dame Kenis not your daughter? Her eyes are the spitting image of her father's. If not, then I have been rude."
"Uh, we-ell... she is, but that's—"
Demonic's eyes began to spin. His expression remained as stern as ever, but his pupils whirled about, unable to find their bearings.
Behind him, Kenis's eyes darted every which way as well. Caesar roughly gauged the situation.
...They seem to have a rather awkward father-daughter relationship.
Interfering in another family's affairs never ended well. Caesar cleared his throat loudly, partly to set Demonic's endlessly swimming eyes straight.
"—Ahem!"
"Ah! P-please forgive me, Your Majesty."
"No, I spoke out of turn. In any case, Sir Demonic, what do you make of the present situation? In my view, now is the perfect time to eradicate the rats' nest."
Coming to his senses, Demonic fixed Caesar with a sharp paladin's gaze. From clumsy father back to cold, clear-headed paladin.
"...Not bad. As you say, a great number of rats left the nest all at once, and the soldiers and knights appear to have stamina to spare. If we stock up on supplies and then push in..."
"Mm, good. Discuss the details with the knight commanders."
Demonic bowed his head and murmured to himself. The knight commanders behind Caesar approached him and began discussing various matters—supplies and resource distribution, sewer maps, Friga's scouting, and so on...
Caesar tuned out the ensuing conversation. He was the one who painted the big picture; the fine details were for his subordinates to handle.
"Hoo— I'm a bit tired."
A soldier quickly found a clean chair and presented it to Caesar.
"Ha... I can breathe again."
He sank heavily into the chair. The boiling excitement of battle subsided, and in its place, fatigue came flooding in.
The main road bustled with post-battle cleanup. The noisy chatter of soldiers hauling corpses filled the air.
Then, from a small alley connected to the main road, came the clanking of armor plates striking together.
"...?"
Kenis, who had been spacing out behind Demonic, reacted first. She swiftly drew her divine sword and aimed it at the shadows of the alley.
Clank— clank
The sound of thick armor plates colliding. From the shadowed alley, black armor slowly emerged. A crow mask covering the face.
It was Number 5.
"...Number 5? Where on earth have you been all this time..."
"...Patients..."
"Pardon? Patients?"
"...Demon... patients... time... se-a..."
Stumbling over her words, Number 5 collapsed forward. Once free of the dim shadows, her armor was revealed to be covered in pitch-black blood.
"Number 5! Number 5!"
Kenis rushed over at once. Then she spotted the pouch in Number 5's hand. Number 5 was still clutching the pouch, from which blood still dripped.
"There's a patient here!! An emergency patient!!"
At Kenis's cry, medics came sprinting from afar. They grunted and struggled to remove Number 5's armor, until Kenis, unable to watch any longer, tapped the joints with her hand—and the armor crumbled away in pieces.
A form-fitting undergarment clung tightly to Number 5's full chest. The rise and fall of her bosom was slight. Kenis hurriedly tore a strip of cloth and covered Number 5's chest.
She was a woman?!
Leaving the medics to examine Number 5 in haste, Kenis carefully opened the pouch Number 5 had been holding.
"...This is."
A head was inside.
A head frozen in a horrific expression, as if it had suffered until the very end. This was...
"A demon's head."
"Hyat!"
Kenis leapt into the air at Demonic's voice—he had somehow come up behind her. Demonic wore an awkward expression.
"Ah... I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to startle so..."
"Uh, uhh... It's fine. I'm okay..."
An awkward silence filled the space between them. Had Friga been there, she would have clutched her chest in frustration. Demonic was the first to break the awkward atmosphere.
"More importantly, let me take a look at that pouch."
"Ah, yes."
"This is..."
Demonic's eyes scanned the demon's head this way and that.
"Judging by the size of the horns, about a mid-rank demon. Hmm..."
"The horns?"
"Yes, you can tell by looking at the horns. A demon's horn size changes according to the magnitude of its power. See how the tips of this one's horns are slightly curled, and how large they are? That means this one was on the verge of advancing to high rank."
"Wow— I had no idea."
Kenis's eyes sparkled brightly. Receiving his daughter's admiring gaze for the first time in his life, Demonic began to get into it.
"Heh heh, this much is nothing special. You'll learn it all eventually. Of course, some things you'll have to learn through experience."
"That's amazing..."
"And looking at the wound on the neck—"
Kenis's praise set Demonic dancing. And so father and daughter shared a warm, harmonious moment, with a demon's head dripping blood between them.
The cheerful time continued until word came that Number 5 had woken up.
"Tsk—"
I gently rubbed my forehead, which felt red and swollen—whether it was just my imagination or not. Last night I'd dreamed of some woman swinging a hammer... It had been so vivid that my forehead still ached.
"What kind of stupid dream was that..."
Sitting in my office chair, I gently rubbed my head. Fortunately there wasn't much work today, and with it being payday, the office atmosphere was relaxed.
...Have I built up that much resentment over not being able to run the raid?
They say dreams are manifestations of the unconscious. Had not being able to run the raid the day before stuck with me that much?
But what could I do?
I still haven't decided what to give the emperor.
There were plenty of weapons that came to mind for an emperor. A flaming greatsword like the emperors in games, or a sword that splits into twin blades.
If I didn't limit myself to swords, there were even more. A massive hammer to smash enemy skulls, or a chainsaw that spewed fire—those would work too.
The problem was that I liked the emperor character too much. For the holy knight and the barbarian warrior, the right weapons had come to mind immediately, so I hadn't fretted much.
With the emperor, there were simply too many images that came to mind.
"Hmm— just give him a flaming greatsword? Isn't that too obvious...? Or a hammer? Ha, what should I give him so people will say I did a good job?"
My fretting grew deeper. My phone vibrated lightly, cutting off my thoughts.
Bzzzt
"Oh, paycheck."
I checked the salary that had hit my account, then snuck a glance over the partition. The manager was off today, and everyone else was on their phones.
Glancing around carefully, I launched the game. Web surfing while slacking off and playing games were worlds apart. If I got caught, I'd catch some heat.
So I'll catch some heat. Whatever.
My body itched with the urge to quickly find a weapon to give the emperor. Naturally, I headed to the shop's currency top-up section.
Should I start with just 100,000 won?
I casually topped up 100,000 won first.