Chapter 28: Isn’t This a Bit Much? (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 28: Isn’t This a Bit Much? (4)
Three days had passed since he obtained the Ring of the Madman and began preparing for the journey north.
The expeditionary force, including the knights and soldiers who had completed their preparations, set out for the North immediately.
Exactly a few hours after the expedition departed.
"Deus Macallian."
A man came to find Deus.
With long blue hair and a vertical scar running down his face, he was Piola, one of Calliban’s Master Knights and the man known as the Fourth Sword.
"I heard you laid hands on my disciple."
Piola spoke with an utterly frigid expression, making no effort to hide the fury in his eyes. Deus replied with a face devoid of emotion.
"Your disciple was insolent to my benefactor."
"Ha! And you think that's a valid reason to beat someone else's disciple to a pulp?"
"And you think it isn't?"
"……."
Piola’s face contorted at Deus’s retort.
The blatant rage on his face was accompanied by a surge of mana that instantly dominated the surroundings, causing cold sweat to break out on the nearby knights' faces. However, Deus, who took the brunt of that mana and killing intent head-on, simply reacted.
"Consider yourself lucky I didn't kill the boy, Piola."
Deus began to exert pressure of his own, releasing an even more ghastly purple mana.
The atmosphere became so volatile that it felt as if a bloodbath would erupt the moment someone reached for their hilt. But after a moment.
"Tsk."
It was Piola who turned away first.
Clicking his tongue and averting his gaze, he looked toward Count Palatio, who stood behind Deus.
"……Don't think I'll let this slide."
With those final words, he returned to his unit, which was currently resting.
Alon, who had been watching the scene unfold, thought to himself.
That was terrifying.
Watching Piola walk away, Alon felt a tingling sensation in his hands and unconsciously clenched and unclenched his fists.
So that’s a Master Knight.
Just the natural leakage of mana caused by a shift in emotion had been enough to make him feel momentarily suffocated. As he was processing this, a voice spoke beside him.
"Crazy…… He's a total monster."
Evan, who had also felt the Master Knight's power, wiped away cold sweat and cursed under his breath. Alon turned his gaze back to Deus.
Despite taking that bone-chilling mana head-on—mana so intense Alon could feel it from this distance—Deus looked completely unfazed. It served as a fresh reminder to Alon that Deus was indeed a Master Knight.
It wasn't that he had forgotten, but since Deus had been acting quite submissive toward him lately, seeing him like this felt new.
……Well, I suppose he's rude to everyone except me.
Recalling the rumors he’d heard a few days ago and how Deus had told Evan, "Shut up, old man," Alon nodded slightly. He truly was one of the Five Great Sins by nature.
Was saving his sister really the right move?
At first, Alon hadn't fully understood why Deus followed his lead so well, but now he had a vague idea.
Actually, it wasn't even a guess; the answer was obvious just by seeing how Deus treated his sister.
Wait, if I'm ever in a crisis while living as a Count later on, won't he come running to help if I call him?
Alon found himself grinning inwardly despite his stoic expression. However, knowing that even Deus might not go that far, he simply shrugged and returned to the carriage.
The expedition to the North continued.
* * *
Two weeks and three days later.
The expeditionary force crossed the border between Calliban and the North and arrived at the first established outpost. There, they received three pieces of news.
The first was the death of the Third Sword, Delman. There had been no word from him since the report that the eastern outpost of Calliban had fallen and an Outer God had appeared.
The second was that the Second Sword, Kiriana, who had headed out on the expedition earlier than the other two to the western forward base, had been severely injured during a battle with an Outer God.
And the final piece of news was...
"……The deceased, you say?"
It was the news that an Outer God was approaching the outpost, leading an army of the deceased.
"Yes. The Outer God is turning the slain soldiers and knights into the deceased and dragging them along."
At the messenger's words, Piola let out a deep sigh and muttered.
"This is troublesome."
"……."
Deus, who was listening to the report alongside him, chose silence.
If the messenger's words were true, the tide of war was effectively stacked against Calliban.
"“…….”"
Silence hung heavy in the meeting room.
Neither the Master Knights nor the nobles leading the soldiers dared to speak up in such a dire situation.
"……How about we retreat for now?"
One noble cautiously offered an opinion, and suddenly, a torrent of various suggestions began to pour out.
"Does that even make sense? Are you saying we should turn our backs and run from the barbarians?"
"That's not it! I'm saying the situation is unfavorable, so we should bide our time! Besides, the Second Sword is in critical condition, and Reinhardt hasn't returned from seclusion. Do you really think we have a chance of winning?"
"Do you honestly think the wounded can escape the barbarians marching on this outpost!?"
The meeting room instantly became chaotic.
However, the nobles' opinions ultimately carried little weight.
In the end, the heads of this expedition were the two Master Knights.
When the nobles, who had been arguing for a long time, finally looked toward Piola and Deus, Piola spoke.
"……I will give it some thought. I shall reconvene the meeting shortly, so everyone, go and cool your heads for now."
With that, Piola stood up.
Deus also rose without a word and stepped out of the tent.
Upon exiting, his eyes met the same greyish wasteland as always, but...
"……."
To Deus's eyes—eyes that had reached a certain level as a Master Knight and could see the actual manifestations of mana—the grey land looked entirely different.
A red snowfield.
At least, that was how the grey world appeared to Deus.
He stood in silence, observing the bizarre world where ominous red mana had corroded the sky—a sight both beautiful and horrifying, one that naturally made even him feel a sense of intimidation.
He glanced at Piola, who was likely seeing the same sight, before turning his gaze elsewhere.
There stood Alon, the Great Moon.
Despite being faced with this gruesome world, Alon sat with eyes devoid of any emotional change, absentmindedly warming himself by a fire and eating a sweet potato.
Unlike Deus, whose gaze was stolen by the crimson world the moment he turned his head, Alon didn't spare the red world a single glance. Instead, he was munching on his food and muttering something under his breath.
"Diffraction, condensation, one point, extinction—"
The Great Moon was muttering words that Deus couldn't understand, acting as if he had seen such a world many times before.
Watching him blankly, Deus felt a surge of curiosity about Alon's words and his true purpose for coming to the North.
Of course, he had a vague idea that the Great Moon was here to deal with the Outer God, but that didn't clear up all his questions.
After all, from Deus's objective perspective, the Great Moon didn't seem to possess particularly strong power, neither in the past nor now.
Perhaps he simply cannot see this scene…….
Deus glanced back up at the red sky.
This was a horrifying landscape that only those who had reached a certain stage and achieved Awakening could see; it was enough to make him frown instinctively.
But what if Alon simply couldn't see it?
Then his behavior would make some sense.
Just as he was thinking that.
"Ugh, seriously, just get lost—!"
Deus turned his head at the sudden high-pitched shout. There, a knight and a mage stood facing each other in a confrontation.
"Please, just a little more! Don't you realize how serious the situation is!?"
"Whether I know it or not, no matter how hard I try, I can't do anything more than this! And I have to leave!"
"But just one more time……!"
"No! I said I can't, you blockheads!!"
A mage was screaming hysterically, while knights were stubbornly clinging to her.
From the armor of the knights, Deus easily recognized them as members of 'Eunyoung,' the knight order of Calliban’s Second Sword, Kiriana.
……The Vice Tower Master of the Blue Magic Tower?
And he realized that the person facing them was Penia, the Vice Tower Master of the Blue Magic Tower.
"Seriously, I was already dragged here away from my research, and I have so much to do! Why are you being so pathetic!?"
"But a person's life comes first……!"
"That's why I'm saying, the treatment is already finished and there's nothing more I can do from my position! Don't you understand!? It's not that I don't want to do it, it's that I've already done everything I can!"
Deus watched with curiosity as the girl—hailed as a rising star in the magic world, an unprecedented genius, and a prodigy who had reached the 6th Tier at a young age—threw a tantrum. Then, he understood.
He remembered that a facility had been built at the Calliban outpost to study the 'rituals' of the barbarians in collaboration with the mages of the Blue Magic Tower.
The Vice Tower Master…… She's strong.
As Deus sensed the extraordinary aura radiating from her, he thought for a moment.
"Anyway, stop making demands and just keep a good watch! And I have to go, so move!"
Penia, irritably pushing the knights aside as she walked, scowled deeply as she saw Deus standing in her path and opened her mouth to—
"What are—"
—but she couldn't finish.
"……you looking at?"
"……?"
Deus looked at Penia's suddenly blank expression with confusion.
But he soon realized that she wasn't looking at him, but at someone behind him.
"Wh-Why are you……?"
A flustered voice, clear to anyone listening, escaped her lips, and a vivid look of terror began to surface in Penia's eyes.
It was as if she had seen something that should absolutely not exist.
Seeing her body tremble slightly, Deus naturally turned his gaze to where Penia was looking.
And there.
"……?"
Alon, who had been chewing on a sweet potato until a moment ago, was looking back at Deus and Penia with a bewildered expression, caught between their contrasting reactions.
And then, a moment later.
"It's been a while, Vice Tower Master."
"Ye-Yes! Helloooo……!"
"Have you been well?"
"I-I've been very well……!"
Deus watched blankly as Penia—whom he had clearly recognized as a powerful individual—lost all her hysteria and shrank back like an abandoned kitten on the street, her head bowed low.
Was I…… simply ignorant?
……Deus engaged in a brief moment of self-reflection.