10
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 10
Vigo's mouth moved reflexively.
"That's not..."
Caesar's axe moved simultaneously.
Thwack! Thwack!
The heads of Tubby and Skinny disappeared.
Gordon wet his pants and crawled backwards like an insect.
"Aaaaargh! P-please spare me! Spare me! I have two children to feed! Please spa..."
Unable to overcome his fear, Gordon finally rolled his eyes back and fainted.
Vigo's expression became blank.
"W-what did you just do?"
"Were you planning to let these guys live?"
"There are procedures and laws to follow!"
"What if I let them go and they stab me in the back?"
"Of course they should be hanged! We should hand them over to the police, have the prosecutor indict them, and the judge..."
"And you'd build up your achievements?"
Gulp-
Vigo's Adam's apple moved greatly at Caesar's words.
"Police Chief Vigo."
Caesar pointed at Gordon and said:
"Just take care of this one. If you eat both, you'll get sick."
"Then Gordon..."
"I'd like to wake him up myself, but our relationship won't end here, Chief. I think we'll meet often, so I can't leave a bad impression."
Caesar wiped the blood off his hands with a wet towel and stood up.
"Wipe the blood off your face, Chief. You need to look pretty for the photo line, don't you?"
Vigo could only nod when he met Caesar's manic eyes.
***
Caesar and Police Chief Vigo stood before the reporters.
The reporters fired questions.
"Chief! What happened last night?!"
"We heard that mafia members entered the Hilton Hotel and caused a riot?!"
"Were there any injuries?"
Vultures.
Huddling together like pigeons in a morning park, hoping to scoop up a headline.
It's disgusting, yet their huddled appearance seems somewhat cute.
Vigo glanced at Caesar and then stepped forward. "Last night around 10 PM, a mafia group called the Kelvin Brothers ambushed Lord Caesar Sylvatil. Their goal was Lord Caesar Sylvatil's money, attempting to steal the reward money and legitimate acquisitions he received from the Empire for his great achievements during the demon realm war."
Packaging those gold bars and jewels as reward money and legitimate acquisitions.
I should definitely use that phrase when paying taxes later.
"Upon receiving the report, our police, along with Lord Caesar, immediately went to the Kelvin Brothers' hideout in Southline and captured the entire Kelvin Brothers gang. At the time, the leader and deputy leader of the Kelvin Brothers, commonly known as Big Brother and Small Brother, resisted fiercely, but Lord Caesar personally dealt with them."
Vigo took off his hat and bowed his head to Caesar.
"On behalf of the police and citizens of Southline, I sincerely thank Lord Caesar for upholding justice."
Caesar nodded with a smile.
The reporters eagerly took pictures, capturing this beautiful moment.
Good, good.
Caesar stepped in front of the reporters.
"I think I know what you're all curious about, but please understand that I can't say much as I was ambushed by those Kelvin Brothers bastards."
When Caesar showed the wound on his abdomen, the reporters pressed their shutters eagerly.
Today's newspapers will be filled with praise articles about the great Lord Caesar who took the mound with an injury.
"I answered the call of His Majesty the Emperor and Goddess Dre to participate in the demon realm war. In the midst of that, I learned who the true enemies of us humans are. The first was demons, and the second was the demon race."
"However, upon coming to Homigraph, I realized that there is another enemy to humans. It was the lawless ones who tormented the imperial subjects and faithful followers of the four goddesses!"
Caesar pretended to choke up and coughed once.
Promptly, Ramsky appeared and handed Caesar a handkerchief.
Skillfully standing in the photo line is also an ability.
Caesar smiled, patted Ramsky, and then opened his mouth.
"How can humans kill and plunder other humans?! They are infidels who directly betray the teachings of the four goddesses!"
"As a knight baptized by Goddess Dre, I simply cannot ignore infidels and lawbreakers running rampant in Homigraph!"
"I, Knight Caesar Sylvatil, who has sworn to uphold justice, swear to chase those who kill and plunder people to the ends of hell and reform them!"
At Caesar's words, people began to cheer.
-Caesar! Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
So this is why people do politics.
When hundreds of people chant my name in rhythm, it seems to create excitement out of nowhere.
Now is the time to step back.
But something caught my eye.
In the distance, the police of Smithmoor City were watching us with dissatisfied expressions.
The Hilton Hotel is not in Southline City, but in Smithmoor City.
Yet they don't know anything about what happened at the Hilton Hotel, and they're standing excluded from the photo line, so they must be quite upset.
Caesar extended his hand towards the Smithmoor police.
"Additionally, I thank the Smithmoor police who protect this city. Without their quick support, I would have died at the Hilton Hotel. Especially to the Smithmoor Police Chief! Thank you!"
The reporters begin to turn their cameras to take pictures of the Smithmoor police and their chief.
Then the police chief smiles brightly and waves his hand.
‘Right. You look so much better when you smile like that.’
‘Let's keep smiling and seeing each other often from now on.’
Caesar stepped back.
At that moment, a reporter shouted.
"Lord Caesar! Will you continue to stay at the Hilton Hotel?! Isn't it dangerous?!"
"What's there to be afraid of when we have the Smithmoor police? Haha."
The sound of the police chief being won over can be heard from here.
Caesar waved his hand and entered the Hilton Hotel.
***
While Caesar was resting, three people gathered in the Hilton Hotel lounge.
Police Chief Serom of Smithmoor.
Police Chief Vigo of Southline.
And lastly, Ramsky.
Serom was fuming.
"How could you proceed with such a matter without even a word to me?! Aren't we, the Smithmoor police, the only ones looking like fools here?!"
Ramsky bowed his head. "I sincerely apologize, Chief Serom. I'm embarrassed to have no words to say."
"Would you care to explain everything that happened?"
Then Vigo spoke up. "I'm sorry, but please turn a blind eye to this matter. We'll hand over some rough documents, so please write up a report as best you can."
"Huh... I must have misjudged you, friend! After all these years we've known each other!"
"That's why I'm asking you to cut me some slack, as a friend."
As Vigo gave a signal, Ramsky handed over a small key and a ticket.
"It's not much, but here's a small gift. Didn't you say your daughter is getting married? There's a small villa owned by Parker Bank at Lake Pierburn, it might be nice for their honeymoon. And here's a train ticket."
Serom put the key and ticket in his inside pocket and said, "Hmph! Do you think I'll let this slide because of this?!"
"That's why I'm making this difficult request."
Serom cleared his throat and then spoke. "Know that I'm letting this go today thanks to Sir Caesar! If Sir Caesar hadn't saved face for Smithmoor, I would never have let this slide so easily."
This was correct.
If Caesar hadn't mentioned Smithmoor, it would have been extremely awkward.
'At least he's not completely crazy.'
When he smashed Kelvin Brothers' head in front of the police chief and Ramsky, he seemed like a barbarian, not a human at all.
Serom stood up from his seat. "From now on, I'll be in charge of the Hilton Hotel security as long as Sir Caesar is here, just so you know. Tsk tsk. How on earth did you manage things for the mafia to run wild in a safe hotel?"
Serom left the lounge with somewhat light steps.
Only then did Vigo wipe his sweat with a handkerchief.
"If that guy had found out about today's incident, we would have been in big trouble."
"Indeed."
"Do you know how many police academy classmates have lost their jobs because of him? If that cursed tongue of his had moved, we would have been finished."
Vigo also stood up.
"Well, I have a lot to deal with, so I'll be going now. By the way, you're going to have a tough time from now on."
"...I should think of it as welcoming a client who is too much for me to handle."
"He's certainly not an ordinary person. Either he's crazy or he's extraordinary. One thing's for sure. I wonder why someone like that didn't make a name for himself in the demon realm war?"
"I heard he was originally a wandering knight, so he didn't get many chances to participate in battles."
Vigo clicked his tongue. "Tsk tsk. All incompetent ones should have their heads cut off. That's the only way this chaotic empire will stand straight."
As Vigo was leaving the lounge, he said, "Well, I'll see you later."
Ramsky heaved a deep sigh.
Those guys are lucky.
Ramsky still had work to do.
Finding Caesar's damn mansion.
"Damn it! How am I supposed to find a mansion where 20 maids can live?!"
Ramsky's hair fluttered in the air.
***
They say there are three types of people in the world.
Those who don't repeat their own mistakes are ordinary.
Those who learn from others' mistakes are extraordinary.
Those who repeat the same mistakes are idiots.
If someone were to ask which category Caesar belongs to, he could say he belongs to the first one, ordinary.
"I need to make and take some beneficial elixir."
To be laid up because of a low-grade bullet made by an amateur gunsmith, not a mage-use bullet or a regular bullet made by a gun company.
If it had been a regular bullet from S&W or Double S company, his insides would have been mashed up.
"Ugh... It hurts like hell."
When he smashed Kelvin Brothers' head with an axe, adrenaline was pumping so he moved without feeling pain, but now that he's lying down resting, it hurts like crazy.
He's been injured many times during the demon realm war, but misery loves company, and when he looked around, there were always scratched-up fools gathered together, so it seemed to hurt less.
But now it's lonely too, which makes it even more pitiful.
Caesar took out the elixirs from his bag.
There were only five blue magic grass roots left, a honey jar from a giant-horned bee, and a black two-headed snake.
"I should eat the black two-headed snake first, right?"
The honey from the giant-horned bee also has the effect of increasing physical durability.
However, the giant-horned bee honey is all collected from flowers bloomed from magic grass, so it's specialized in increasing aura and expanding magic circuits.
The black two-headed snake is different.
If you boil and eat this whole, your skin becomes as hard and tough as its scales, muscle density increases rapidly, and finally, regeneration ability also improves.
For Caesar, there's no better tonic than this.
But just boiling and eating it is the most inefficient and ineffective way.
In the field, you just boil and eat it because there's nothing else available, but to eat it properly, it's best to go to an alchemist and have it made into an elixir.
Of course, if elixirs were delivered regularly like in Barre, it would be right to just eat them as they come, but now he's in a position where he has to obtain and eat elixirs.
Unless such high-quality elixirs just fall from the sky while walking, it's right to squeeze out the maximum efficiency even when eating one.
"Since Sapientia is right next door anyway..."
After resting for a few days, it's time for an outing.
Caesar picked up the phone in the room.
***
Finn glared at Caesar with a disgruntled expression.
"So why are you taking me along?"
"I don't know anyone in Sapientia. I thought you might know a good alchemist, so I called you."
Finn sighed.
"I need to take care of patients."
"I'm a patient too, you know?"
"How are you a patient?!"
"I got shot, didn't I?"
"Do you think it makes sense for someone who got shot to be walking around on the streets after just three days?!"
"But I suffered from a high fever for three days and was in a lot of pain."
"Really?"
"Really. You usually get a fever when you have a big wound, right?"
Originally, when you get a wound, all sorts of bacteria invade.
That's why they give you antibiotics to kill those bad bacteria.
But in this damn era without even penicillin, what can you do?
You just have to endure it.
In this era, it's not that those who survive are strong, but only the strong can survive.
Finn was startled.
"Then you should have called me! Do you know how many people die from fevers!"
"Steel becomes stronger when it's heated."
"You idiot! Let me see!"
It seems this guy has a habit of speaking informally when he gets angry.
Or maybe this is his true personality.
Come to think of it, isn't this guy's cousin a division commander?
He's likely to be from a good family too.
No, to begin with, only people from good families can become surgeons.
It's an era where you can't go to school if you don't have money.
Finn lifted Caesar's clothes and looked at his stomach.
"You've changed the bandages impressively well."
"I can't let the wound get worse."
"How can someone who knows that not call a doctor?"
"What could you have done if you came?"
"I was going to give you a shot of the medicine I've been experimenting with!"
"You were going to use me as a guinea pig?! Are you crazy?!"
"If you're going to die anyway, isn't it better to contribute to medical advancement before you go? If you're lucky, you might even survive."
"You're not normal either."
Caesar couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
"By the way, do you know how to make medicine too?"
"You may not know, but I graduated top of my class from Charis Medical School, and I passed the general pharmacology training at Valentine Magic Tower with top marks. I'm an elite, you see."
"Then why are you living in such a backward place? If you're elite, shouldn't you be making a lot of money?"
"Because when people get sick, they all go to pray."
Finn looked out the window with a bitter expression.
"It's true that the potions sold by the Royder Church are effective. But the number of people who can afford those potions is limited."
"While those people pray day and night, their wounds fester and their internal organs rot. In the end, they either have to amputate limbs due to festering wounds or they die. I've seen this countless times. If only they had come to me for treatment instead during that time..."
Caesar seemed to understand what Finn was worried about.
People in this era don't trust hospitals and doctors very much.
Why would they go to a hospital when there's the Royder Church selling potions that definitely cure you just by applying or drinking them?
So even when they get a fever, lose a finger, or have their ankle crushed, they don't look for a doctor but go to a priest and beg for a potion.
But the problem is that the quantity of potions is limited, they're expensive, and they can't treat diseases caused by bacterial and viral infections.
Most people don't know this truth and either pray for a kind priest to provide them with a potion or come to church and pray hard until the goddess heals them.
Meanwhile, patients who miss the golden time end up dying or living with lifelong disabilities.
Finn looks at Caesar with a deflated expression.
"Do I seem like a nonbeliever to you?"
"No."
Caesar looked at the magic towers soaring high into the sky and said, "You look like a doctor who saves lives. That's all."
‘I couldn't see what expression Finn was making as he bowed his head deeply, but it seemed like a fox rain was falling only on top of his head.’[1]
‘By the way, he's getting emotional in this unexpected situation.’
‘He seems to be more sensitive than I thought.’
‘... Is that why he didn't go to the military?’
Footnotes:
1] n Korea, one common term is "fox rain" (여우비), referring to a legend about a tiger marrying a fox, causing a cloud, who loved the fox, to weep behind the sun. For this reason, the day of a sunshower is also called 호랑이 장가가는 날 "tiger's wedding day". If you ask me how this relates to the guy getting deeply moved. I have no idea.