Chapter 93
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 93
"You mentioned the Demon King is in Knecht. How do you plan to find him?"
"I have no way of finding him myself, of course."
Hadn't they already confirmed it? Swallow knew how to use Polymorph. He could also hide his presence from humans. There was no way to find such a being in a city as vast as Knecht.
"But there is someone searching for the Demon King even more desperately than we are."
Finding the Demon King was a task best left to the Demon King.
"Which means..."
"Sir Sturman, how much time is left?"
"...Seventy-eight minutes remain."
Seventy-eight minutes until Uin Historia arrived in Knecht.
"It's a little early, but that won't make much of a difference. Shall we begin?"
The magic scholar asked no more questions. Ar, who had been smiling faintly into the distance, murmured in a low, serious voice.
"You are about to witness a rare sight."
* * *
"Dammit, drinking in broad daylight."
Behind him, excited voices and the clinking of glasses were still audible.
The tavern was an antlion's pit; get too close and you'd be grabbed by drunken comrades and dragged into the fray. Birkus had to wait for the perfect opening to make his desperate escape.
"Everyone was so prim and proper before the drinks started flowing, but it turns out they're all heavy drinkers except for me."
The request was to subjugate the Lizardman army in the Yellow Mountain Range. It had taken the Diana Silver Deer Subjugation Squad, the B-rank squad Birkus belonged to, a full month to complete it.
It was a high-difficulty mission for a B-rank squad and every bit as dangerous as its rating suggested.
Because of this, every part of the subjugation had been meticulously planned and executed. They had endured all manner of hardships, including going unwashed for days to prepare an ambush.
In the end, they completed the request without a single casualty.
This drinking party was their reward for all that hard work.
Since the squad captain had generously rented out the entire tavern, they would probably be chugging down alcohol until late into the night.
Come to think of it, how much longer would this go on? At least another six hours, probably.
"This is going to be rough."
If he kept accepting drinks for another two hours, he would definitely collapse. Birkus was sure of it; he knew his own body best. While most people's tolerance for alcohol grew with age, Birkus found his only weakened as he entered middle age.
"Birkus! Hey, Birkus! I think he ran off! Go catch him!"
A drunken shout echoed from inside the tavern. It was the squad's priestess. Frowning, Birkus fled down the alley.
The priestess had threatened him earlier. 'We have things to discuss over drinks today, so don't you dare run away!' If he got caught now, he was a dead man. He'd probably drown in a barrel of booze.
"Ah, this is killing me. Seriously."
He really shouldn't have drunk everything they handed him.
Full of belated regret, Birkus leaned against a wall as he shuffled down the alley. If he cut through here, he should find the magic shop that sold sobering elixirs. He needed to clear his head first.
"Just gotta drink a ton of water and sober up."
As he made his way down the alley, he noticed someone ahead, leaning against a wall.
His vision swam, the figure doubling. Birkus stumbled forward. As he got closer, he recognized a comrade from his squad.
Did he drink too much, too?
Hunched over in the deep shadows of the alley, his comrade was vomiting violently. A foul stench hit Birkus as he approached. Just how much did he drink to be that sick?
"Are you... alright?"
Birkus stepped closer, reaching out to pat him on the back. Only then did he realize something was terribly wrong.
He wasn't vomiting.
His comrade was spilling his own entrails onto the cobblestones.
And his double vision... it wasn't from the alcohol. There really were two figures.
—A human-sized creature was latched onto his comrade's back, ripping the guts right out of his body.
His eyes met the bizarre monster's, and it immediately lunged.
"Aaaah, aaaaargh!"
His drunkenness vanished in a flash of cold terror. Birkus screamed, reflexively drawing the short sword at his waist as the monster swiped with its sharp claws.
Rip!
The sound of tearing flesh echoed through the alley.
* * *
Ar's grey eyes gazed down at the pandemonium that had erupted below.
His expression was devoid of emotion. He was simply observing the natural outcome, reaping what he had sown.
The same was true for Sir Sturman, the old knight of the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights, and the green-haired escort knight.
Even as hundreds of homunculi dropped to the ground and began indiscriminately attacking people, their expressions remained blank.
Or perhaps they were just suppressing their emotions so thoroughly that it only appeared that way.
The magic scholars of the 'Third Eye' were just as unfazed. To them, this was all just an experiment, and their eyes held a hint of detached amusement.
The only one gripped by pure horror was the leader of the Magic Tower Polaris, who had been kept in the dark.
"W-what is happening..."
The leader's hands trembled violently. His expression made it clear that whatever he had expected, it wasn't this.
What is this? This... this is wrong.
The leader started to speak his mind but quickly read the room and shut his mouth. A chilling certainty washed over him as he looked at their faces.
This chaos was intentional. Everything was going according to plan.
"You needn't worry too much," Ar said in a calm voice, as if reading the man's thoughts. "Knecht will not be wiped out."
Wasn't that why they had prepared Uin?
No matter how strong Marmolia had become, Uin was a Hero capable of single-handedly wiping out an entire Demon King's army, Demon King included.
Even as a homunculus, Marmolia would be no match for Uin. Uin was the brake designed to stop Marmolia from running completely wild.
Besides, Swallow wouldn't want Knecht destroyed, either.
This conclusion was based on an analysis of the situation.
Swallow had come to Knecht, yet the city remained untouched. In other words, he hadn't laid a finger on it. He had likely spent his entire time here polymorphed, and since not a single strange rumor had surfaced, he must have done nothing to draw human attention.
He must have a reason for staying quiet. It was highly probable that his goal was related to staying by the side of the Demon King named Melju.
Since he came to a human city to achieve his goal, he wouldn't want it destroyed. In fact, depending on the situation, he might even step in to stop the homunculi from tearing the town apart.
"There will simply be a few sacrifices."
Knecht's population was just over forty thousand, wasn't it?
As a mercenary city, about half that population consisted of subjugation squad members. This meant it wasn't just filled with helpless civilians who would passively take a beating.
According to Ar's calculations, casualties would not exceed fifteen percent by the time Uin arrived.
Six thousand people at most—a small number compared to the Empire's total population. The incident could easily be swept under the rug as a 'regrettable loss of life.'
"Even so... must you attack the citizens of Knecht...?"
Finally, the leader of the Magic Tower Polaris mustered the courage to ask. It wasn't a question so much as a plea.
He could turn a blind eye to the inhumane alchemical experiments of the 'Third Eye,' but he could not ignore a massacre happening in the city where he lived.
"You seem quite worried," Ar replied without a hint of hesitation.
There were plenty of reasons. It was partly to provoke Swallow into revealing himself, and partly to package this whole series of events as a single disaster to minimize suspicion from the Empire's high command.
But Ar didn't voice any of these reasons. Instead, he simply took the leader's face in his hands and gently turned his head.
"Look at that sight."
*
Rip!
The clash ended in Birkus's victory by a hair's breadth.
His short sword slashed across the homunculus's shoulder. Blood sprayed from the deep gash.
"Kieeeeeeek!"
The homunculus stumbled, losing its balance. Seizing the opportunity, Birkus corrected his stance and severed its neck.
Without a second glance at the head that thudded to the ground, Birkus sprinted back toward the tavern.
What... what in the hell is happening?!
His head throbbed with a sharp pain, perhaps because the alcohol hadn't fully worn off despite the sudden shock.
Gripping his short sword tightly in one hand and pressing his temple with the other, he kept running.
It was a monster unlike any he had ever seen.
Defeating it in a single blow had been pure luck. If he had been a moment slower, he would have been the one spitting blood. It was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
He had to warn his comrades. He had to warn everyone.
By the time Birkus reached the main street, it was already a living hell.
Monsters that had appeared from nowhere were attacking people all over the city.
Birkus threw open the tavern door. Fortunately, his comrades were safe. As seasoned warriors, they had already grasped the situation. They stood with weapons drawn, all traces of their earlier celebration gone.
Vigilantly scanning their surroundings, Birkus and his comrades headed toward Knecht's downtown area. They advanced slowly, methodically eliminating any homunculi they encountered.
"...What is that?"
Then, they all gasped in despair.
Standing tall in the center of the downtown area, a homunculus dozens of times larger than the others loomed in silence.
Ar wore a perfectly innocent smile. Listening to that voice while watching the massacre unfold below, the leader became certain.
"Isn't the sacrifice of the Empire's citizens for the sake of progress a dazzling sight?"
This man was a lunatic.
Phase 5
Screams and battle cries tangled chaotically in the air.
Smoke billowed, explosions roared, and blood splattered.
The humans fought desperately.
In an ordinary lord's territory, the ground would already be littered with corpses, but Knecht was a mercenary city through and through.
One in every three residents was a member of a subjugation squad, and many of them were skilled veterans. Every one of them had stared death in the face countless times.
Few were foolish enough to overestimate their own abilities when facing a completely unknown monster.
Despite the sudden crisis, the squad members fought with as much composure as they could muster.
Of course, not everyone was victorious. Corpses littered the ground, but the survivors forced themselves to look away, banding together to find each other.
"Kieeeeeeek!"
Birkus's simple, precise, and heavy sword strike tore through another homunculus's neck.
The Diana Silver Deer Subjugation Squad, Birkus's unit, was one of the groups that had successfully formed a defensive line. Shield-bearers with tower shields held the front while swordsmen, heavily buffed by support magic, sliced off the homunculi's heads.
Yet, their advance came at a cost.
The monsters that had suddenly appeared in the city were no ordinary beasts. Anyone who had crossed blades with them for even a moment realized that.
They were completely unpredictable.
The monsters' joints bent in unnatural ways. Some would suddenly twist their wrists to attack from an unblockable angle, while others spun their necks 180 degrees to tear at a squad member's throat with their teeth.
You couldn't afford to think about blocking. You had to kill the enemy before its attack landed.
It's like they were designed specifically to kill humans.
Birkus himself would have died several times over by now if not for the protective magic.
He poured his entire soul into every cautious sword stroke.
The squad's mages could only maintain two layers of protective spells on each person, but a single hit was enough to shatter both. One mistake, even with magical support, meant losing your head.
"Prioritize protecting the citizens! Our goal is defense, not annihilation! Do not break formation under any circumstances!" the captain of the Diana Silver Deer Subjugation Squad bellowed.
Receiving the order, Birkus gritted his teeth.
He could see people outside their formation being slaughtered, but he couldn't go to their aid.
Already, three members of the Diana Silver Deer Subjugation Squad had lost their lives.
...They hadn't lost a single member while fighting the Lizardmen in the Yellow Mountain Range, yet here, three had died in just five minutes.
Even though the number of homunculi was steadily decreasing, the despair in his heart only grew.
No matter how many they killed, it didn't feel like the situation was improving.
He shifted his gaze.
In the distance, the creature he'd seen earlier—the hideous monster dozens of times larger than the others—was still visible.
Yes, that was it. That thing was the source of their despair.
Dammit, dammit, dammit.
He felt that unless they defeated that giant homunculus, nothing would change.
Just as a shadow of despair fell over him, the captain of the Diana Silver Deer Subjugation Squad shouted an order.
They were to maintain formation and link up with another group of survivors they had spotted.