Chapter 169
Chapter 169
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: Reunion (2)
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It was when the curtain had fallen halfway.
Someone leaped over the curtain and entered inside.
“Demian……!”
It was Athena right away. She came running, urgently calling Demian’s name.
Even after facing two high-class opponents, Athena bore not a single wound, nor even a speck of dirt on her clothes.
Demian wasn’t particularly surprised. Those sorts of high-class foes were merely nuisances to her, after all.
As she drew close, Athena wore an expression like she was on the verge of tears.
“I’m so glad you’re safe…… I’m sorry I couldn’t help…… I couldn’t get inside because of the curtain.”
As befitting a grand black mage, the black curtain Garot had deployed possessed tremendous strength.
Even Demian had concentrated his aura to the maximum when slicing through it.
So for Athena, there had been no way to enter from outside.
“Don’t worry. It’s all over now.”
Demian said, pointing to Mongchi’s corpse.
Mongchi had discarded his original body and formed a new one from darkness.
Thanks to that, Demian could use Mongchi’s former body as proof of the subjugation.
Athena’s eyes widened upon seeing Mongchi’s corpse. She let out a great exclamation.
“As expected! I thought you’d win without issue…… Wait, what’s that?”
At that moment, Athena pointed at Garot’s corpse and asked.
Garot had fused with Vagder and then had his entire body chewed by Fenrir, leaving him in a gruesome state.
“A monster? No, something’s off…… There’s even a human face on its forehead?”
“A black mage who was after this undead. He’s the one who put up the curtain too.”
“……A black mage? That?”
“He fused with the chimera he created. That’s why he ended up like that.”
Athena looked at Demian with a shocked face upon hearing that.
“……Wait, so you fought a black mage who fused with a chimera and the undead at the same time?”
“Not exactly. They were fighting each other, so I struck from behind.”
Demian didn’t tell the full truth.
With a black mage involved, the Church would dispatch investigators. That would reveal Garot as a grand black mage.
It didn’t make sense for Demian, known as high-class, to take down a grand black mage alone.
So he planned to fabricate it as him finishing off the fight between Mongchi and Garot.
“So you took down a black mage who made a chimera like that…… and a high-class-level undead…… and survived both?”
Athena’s face flushed bright red. Avoiding Demian’s gaze, she muttered in a small voice.
“T-Ten out of ten…….”
“You’re saying weird stuff again. What kind of score is that?”
“H-How can I say it with my own mouth!”
Athena spun around with a short yell.
Demian looked at her with the face of someone staring at a strange person.
* * *
After that, the two sent a letter to the Kingdom of Grape, informing them of the undead subjugation.
Not long after sending the letter, kingdom officials arrived.
“To think it could be this massive…….”
The officials gaped at Mongchi’s corpse.
But what shocked them even more than Mongchi’s body was Garot’s corpse.
Even to the eyes of ordinary folk who hadn’t trained in mana, an immense pressure emanated from Garot’s remains.
“To think there was a black mage capable of creating such a monstrous chimera…….”
“He deployed wide-area black magic too. No ordinary black mage.”
“The plague was likely spread by this black mage as well.”
The officials whispered among themselves while examining Garot’s body.
Then, the official who seemed to be the representative grabbed Demian’s hand and said,
“We’re truly grateful! Thanks to the two of you, we’ve eliminated a great threat to the kingdom! We don’t know how to thank you…….”
With that, the official gestured. Several soldiers brought a small metal box.
“It’s the Fire Essence Stone Embryo we promised!”
Demian received the box from the official. He slightly opened it to check.
In that instant, the surrounding temperature soared. It felt like standing under the blazing midsummer sun.
Inside the box was a tiny bit of red moss. It glowed crimson, as if it might burst into flames at any moment.
Demian closed the box again, and the temperature returned to normal.
“It’s the Fire Essence Stone Embryo, alright.”
“Of course. A promise with the Pafnir Mercenary Corps—who would dare break it?”
The official said with a beaming smile. Demian grinned back at him.
Demian stored the Fire Essence Stone Embryo in his subs pace and stepped back. Then Athena stepped forward.
“Hello. I’m Athena Hopper.”
At Athena’s introduction, the officials’ eyes went wide.
“Hopper? Isn’t that the Mercenary King’s surname?”
“No way…… Are you of the bloodline?”
Athena nodded. The officials looked at each other in great surprise.
“To think the Mercenary King sent one of his bloodline……,”
“He must have taken this commission very seriously.”
“We’ll have to send separate thanks.”
Athena spoke to the whispering officials.
“Then shall we start the additional settlement?”
“Pardon? Additional settlement?”
The officials stared at Athena with faces like they’d never heard of it.
“We delivered the Fire Essence Stone Embryo as per the contract.”
“That was for subjugating the wolf undead, right?”
Athena pointed at Garot’s corpse as she spoke.
“We didn’t hear about a black mage like this. As you can see, he’s no ordinary one. We nearly lost our lives.”
Athena continued.
“We handled an extra dangerous enemy not in the contract, so we’d like compensation accordingly.”
At Athena’s words, the officials exchanged glances. Her strong resolve was palpable—they couldn’t just back down.
“We can’t accept that demand. It has to be per the contract…….”
“Oh, and you know about the kingdom’s high-class knights who interfered with us, right?”
At those words, the officials’ eyes shook greatly. They must have received reports on the way here.
“Th-That was…… Sir Olfys and Sir Valet acting on their own…….”
“You can’t brush it off like that. We suffered major losses because of those two. If anything, it’s the kingdom’s fault for not properly reining them in, right?”
The officials were struck dumb by Athena’s rebuttal.
“Then shall we discuss it in detail?”
Athena said with a bright smile. The officials had no choice but to nod.
* * *
After that, Athena engaged in a long conversation with the officials.
‘Her skill at sweet-talking bureaucrats is no joke.’
Demian couldn’t help but admire her as he watched from the side.
As the child of the Mercenary King, Athena showed tremendous savvy in this area.
“We’ll send someone from the Pafnir Mercenary Corps later. We’ll handle the detailed settlement then.”
As soon as she secured a firm commitment from the officials, Demian and Athena left the Kingdom of Grape.
The Church’s investigation team would arrive soon, and getting caught up with them would waste time.
“Father should be in the Kingdom of Peach by now.”
The Pafnir Mercenary Corps originally traveled the continent fulfilling commissions.
While the two were away, the Mercenary King had headed to the Kingdom of Peach for a commission.
From Demian’s perspective, having obtained his reward, he didn’t need to return to the Pafnir Mercenary Corps.
But he couldn’t act that way after forging a connection with the Mercenary King.
Moreover, they had to collect the additional reward promised after defeating Garot.
Thus, Demian headed to the Kingdom of Peach with Athena.
During the journey to the Kingdom of Peach, Demian fell into a few worries.
‘Now the Fire Essence Stone Embryo is in my hands.’
To ascend to master class, Demian needed two things.
A mana cultivation method as the foundation, and mana to fill the deficiencies.
With the Convergence Infinite Art, Mita Holy Water, and Fire Essence Stone Embryo in hand, his preparations were complete.
‘That said, I can’t consume them right away.’
Both the Mita Holy Water and Fire Essence Stone Embryo contained immense energy.
Even if neutralized together, they would still burden the body considerably.
He needed to make full preparations to fully absorb the two elixirs.
‘The black magic I sensed at the end is bothering me too.’
Right after defeating Garot, Demian had felt black magic leaving the scene.
It was black magic he had felt a few times in his previous life. So he easily identified the source.
‘To think Cardak was there.’
A man called the talent to lead the Ten Thousand Poisons School, but who wasted his life obsessing over Rubia.
In his previous life, Cardak had always stuck by Rubia’s side.
‘The plague Garot spread was probably made by that guy too.’
Cardak’s skills had been notoriously infamous even during the War of Ruin.
The extreme poison he developed independently was something even master class couldn’t withstand.
‘Of course, not at that level yet.’
He hadn’t reached that stage yet. Still, that didn’t change him being a dangerous foe.
‘Two grand black mages…….’
Cardak went without saying, but Rubia was dangerous too.
If Demian remembered the name, it meant she survived to the War of Ruin and caused countless harms.
‘Not a big deal.’
But Demian thought little of it.
Unless master class, black mages couldn’t touch him. Even grand black mages were the same.
In terms of black magic prowess alone, Demian overwhelmingly surpassed them. Plus, he had seven authorities.
Just the first, the Authority of Gluttony, could decompose most black magic.
Poison couldn’t be decomposed by the Authority of Gluttony, true. But that wasn’t a big issue.
‘Poison is only fatal when you don’t know it’s coming.’
With prior preparation, poison was useless. Cardak’s poisons were no exception.
‘As long as no one’s watching, I can handle it.’
Demian began sorting his thoughts one by one in his head.
* * *
After traveling steadily for over a week, Demian and Athena finally arrived at the Pafnir Mercenary Corps.
“Found it!”
Athena pointed joyfully at the Pafnir Mercenary Corps’ encampment spread across the plains.
“Why did Dad come all the way out here?”
She grumbled, but Athena’s face was beaming. Probably because she could see her father.
The two entered the Pafnir Mercenary Corps’ encampment.
But something was off.
Not just the mercenaries, but even the servants were all in chaos.
Demian and Athena could only be baffled. Then Athena grabbed a passing mercenary and asked.
“Hey.”
“I’m swamped, who…… Hah, Miss Athena?”
“Why is everyone like this? What on earth happened?”
At Athena’s question, the mercenary said with a dark face.
“The Mercenary King has collapsed.”