The King's Hunting Ground and Lillian's Breakthrough
They had purchased the crystals, so now they needed somewhere quiet—but since they were already in the city, they decided to stop by the mercenary guild and look over the commissions as well.
Inside the guild, individual mercenaries were seeking companions to take on large-scale jobs together. Just as Lillian’s party was about to move and search for work of their own, someone who spotted them hurried over.
“Are you Wolf of the Wolf Mercenary Group?”
“That’s right.”
“What a relief. I was just about to come looking for you.”
The middle-aged man who introduced himself as the branch master of this guild made no attempt to lower his voice. He stated his business openly, as if it did not matter who overheard.
“There’s an important job. Could we speak somewhere quiet for a moment?”
“I’ll hear you out, at least.”
Lillian’s party followed him into the reception room he indicated. Seated on plush leather sofas, the three were served tea of rather ordinary quality.
“I truly apologize. Given the circumstances these days…”
“I understand. There aren’t many places that aren’t in chaos because of the undead.”
Still, he had put some care into it; the tea’s aroma was pleasant enough.
“Then I’d like to hear why you called us here.”
“First of all, this commission is neither suspicious nor dirty. We simply didn’t post it on the board so that every riffraff wouldn’t come flocking.”
There were famous powerhouses among individual mercenaries, of course, but most solo freelancers were regarded as having some disqualifying reason for never joining a proper company—or simply lacking the skill to do so.
“In other words, you need mercenary groups that already carry a certain reputation?”
“Exactly.”
“Explain in detail.”
The branch master began to lay out why he had needed to seek Wolf out in person.
In the Halrot Kingdom there existed a royal hunting ground that only members of the royal family—and those granted the king’s personal leave—were permitted to use. Deep within that hunting ground lay an underground mausoleum where the founding monarch who had established the kingdom, along with the founding contributors, slept.
“…I can roughly guess what happened without you saying another word.”
“If that were all, I would never have thought of gathering mercenary groups.”
“Then?”
“Followers of an Outer God have gotten involved.”
“!!”
As anyone might have expected, among those founding contributors the knights once loyal to the Halrot royal house had awakened as undead. The one who orchestrated it had been a nameless Lich. While the royal family was raising a direct army to subjugate them, an anomaly occurred.
Heretics who followed gods of other worlds—beings commonly called Outer Gods—attacked the Lich, seized everything the Lich had built, and subjected both the King’s Hunting Ground and the mausoleum to Dimensional Warping.
Dimensional Warping? Outer Gods?
Kaisent tilted his head at information he was hearing for the first time, yet kept silent and concentrated on the conversation.
“The King’s Hunting Ground has become a place the regular army alone can no longer handle, thanks to the dimensionally warped plants and beasts. The underground mausoleum where the heretics have nested is even worse.”
“If we aren’t going to burn the entire hunting ground to ash, we’ll have to secure an advance route while pushing toward the mausoleum.”
“And to make up the minimum numbers required for that securing work, we need mercenary groups—ones with a certain scale and proven record.”
“……”
Lillian recognized at once that this was a major commission, yet fretted over how dangerous it would be. An ordinary company captain would have asked about the pay first. To her, however, the Wolf Mercenary Group was a weapon with which she might one day take revenge on the Saryeong Kingdom.
“I’ve written every detail of the commission on this document.”
When Wolf remained cautious and no acceptance left her lips, the branch master held out a single sheet of paper.
“A thousand gold coins! And a five-year military weapon usage permit on top of it!?”
Priscilla, reading over the document at her side, could not stop the exclamation from bursting out.
A thousand gold pieces was one thing, but offering a military weapon permit as a contract condition also meant the Halrot Kingdom was that desperate.
Even if they hand us a military weapon permit, we don’t have the funds to buy the weapons. Long-term it’s a good offer, but long-term things need to be reasonably distant.
No—thinking about it, they could simply take the commission fee and purchase military weapons with it.
Of course they thought of that when they offered the permit. The idea is to recover whatever money we spend through weapon sales.
If the company had many mana users it would be worth considering, but unfortunately the Wolf Mercenary Group had only recently begun producing members who had learned mana at all.
“It’s too large a job. I’ll think it over and return.”
“Hmm… Understood. I’ll wait for a favorable answer.”
Forcing a mercenary who did not want the work would only earn him curses. The branch master informed them that, considering the distance to the capital, a decision was needed within two days, then guided the party back outside.
Once they were outdoors, Kaisent naturally spoke first.
“What are Dimensional Warping and Outer Gods?”
“Ah—come to think of it, you wouldn’t know much about Outer Gods. First, you know that the weakening of the dimensional walls has brought humans from many dimensions into this world, right?”
“Yes.”
Outer Gods was the general term for divine beings who had learned that their followers had been transferred into the world of Zelsdad. Most of them were rational and cooperative—entities who communicated well and believed dimensional matters should not be meddled with lightly.
The problem was that gods of irrational, destructive worlds also existed. Those gods worked to remake Zelsdad into their own domain, sending followers or converting locals to destroy the world or terraform it into a likeness of their own. Naturally the gods of Zelsdad sealed dimensional holes from such beings as their highest priority, yet they could not simply ignore every new connection opening from other dimensions, so they could never focus solely on Outer God invasions.
Outer Gods who seized those gaps tore down the dimensional walls, poured their power into their followers, and continued the work of destruction and forced terraforming. Ordinarily they accumulated that power and released it all at once; this time, however, the cultists had simply spotted the chaos left by the vampires’ undead terrorism and struck.
“Undoing Dimensional Warping is simple. Destroy the Outer God’s sacred relic they carry, and it’s finished.”
“But only the result is simple. The process of getting there is the problem.”
“Because their common sense and values are nothing like ours.”
For the first time Kaisent felt genuine pity for the Halrot Kingdom. Just when the civil war had ended and they thought they might finally breathe, the vampires unleashed undead terrorism; while they were still scrambling to clean that up, cultists had trampled the royal family’s pride with yet another act of terror.
“But you don’t like the contract terms, do you?”
“Right. Especially the military weapon usage permit.”
She judged that even receiving the permit would be meaningless, and that in the worst case the entire mercenary group might collapse.
Priscilla, who had been listening quietly, thought for a moment and then spoke.
“Then how about demanding something else instead of the weapon permit?”
“The branch master only recited the official document that came down from above. Even if negotiation were possible, there are far more famous and larger companies than ours. Why would they bother negotiating with us?”
“Hmm… Yeah, it’s probably impossible…”
Lillian and Priscilla gradually leaned toward refusing the commission. Kaisent, however, did not share that view.
“I think positively of the weapon permit.”
“There’s no one who can use them.”
“I have this, don’t I?”
He tapped his belt. Countless thoughts flashed through the two women’s eyes.
“We only need to buy a few weapons. Skynet and I can reverse-engineer them. We’ll have to purchase materials, but it’ll still be cheaper than buying finished products.”
“……”
If anyone else had said such a thing they would have been asked whether they thought military weapons were a joke. Given the talent Kaisent had already displayed, however, the two women found themselves harboring a fragile hope that it might actually be possible.
“I don’t know much about Outer Gods, and I don’t know much about Dimensional Warping either. All I can do is widen the choices available to you.”
Through the size of the completion fee Kaisent had already sensed how difficult the job would be; he therefore limited his advice to giving Lillian more options. That alone was already more than enough, yet he himself did not feel it was sufficient.
If I were stronger, Lillian wouldn’t have to worry about things like this.
His woman was hesitating over whether to step onto a dangerous path. Having received his father’s mental training since childhood and growing not merely as a boy but as a male, he blamed himself—Lillian’s fretting over such a problem was proof of his own powerlessness.
“Let’s set this aside for later. Right now we need to focus on raising our Prana ranks.”
Lillian postponed the commission and decided to concentrate on the immediate matter of absorbing the crystals. They left the city, told the company members they would step away briefly to absorb Prana, and entered a tent pitched in a quiet corner.
“Priscilla.”
“Got it.”
Priscilla took up position outside the tent, eyes already promising to cut down anyone who made a ruckus.
“I’m going to take it now.”
“Yes.”
Lillian, now down to her underclothes, signaled to Kaisent—who had placed a hand on her back to monitor her condition—then swallowed the crystal.
The crystal melted the instant it entered her mouth and sank into her body.
The crystal’s complex, varied energies meet mana and seep through the flesh, reconstructing the body from within. This is a micro-scale version of the bone-washing and marrow-cleansing Father performed on us.
Prana was the gradual work of reconstructing the body using those complex energies together with mana—stably, without side effects, shaping a physique suited for combat. Even with knowledge of internal energy methods and mana roads from other worlds, the reason people still clung to Prana was its superiority: anyone could grow stronger simply by swallowing a crystal.
If she endures this reconstruction she rises to the next rank. If she endures the limits of talent or the reconstruction itself, she rises again.
Having grasped how Prana advanced ranks, Kaisent suddenly felt a certain greed.
I learned how Father performs bone-washing and marrow-cleansing with my own body. Matching Father’s level is impossible, but while the body is already being reconstructed…?
But what if he failed? No—failure would be fortunate. What if some side effect appeared?
Timid Kaisent first thought of every possible worry, yet he felt no premonition of failure, so he gathered his courage.
“Lillian, don’t be startled.”
“??”
Concentrating on the crystal’s absorption, Lillian flinched when she felt alien mana from outside.
I need everything required for Lillian’s enhancement!
With a short prayer and a gathering of holy power as well, Kaisent poured it into the body currently under reconstruction. Finely manipulating his internal energy and holy power, he stimulated the meridians just enough to expel impurities and raise the level of reconstruction still higher.
Had an untrustworthy stranger done this, she would have severed their neck on the spot. Lillian chose to trust her husband and offered no resistance.
Whoooosh——
My body!?
As the reconstruction exceeded ordinary limits and her insides filled with internal energy and holy power, Lillian felt a flash of fear toward the unknown. A sound she had never heard before even rang out from within her flesh.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack
She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, yet entrusted everything to Kaisent.
“Huuhaaa…. It’s done, Lillian.”
When Kaisent lifted his hand from her back, the nerves locked by excessive tension finally loosened.
“My body feels so refreshing… Ugh! What is that smell!?”
“Uh… um….”
What she felt as the tension released was an unprecedented sense of freshness—and a stench that made her brow furrow of its own accord.
“It… it’s Lillian’s waste… products….”
“……”
The answer she received while continuing to demand an explanation only made her feel shame at her own foolishness for not simply letting the matter drop.
“Please wait a moment.”
Kaisent used holy power to create water above Lillian’s head and sprinkled it over her like a shower. Feeling her underclothes soaked in the foul water, she decided she would need a fresh set. After washing her body, he overturned the earth itself to bury the source of the stench.
“How does your body feel?”
“For now… incredibly refreshing. Strangely full of power. But you know that was extremely dangerous, right?”
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know when else we might get another crystal….”
When Kaisent—who had only said he would confirm the rise in Prana rank—suddenly poured power in and intervened, her heart had lurched. Yet seeing the small boy bow his head in apology while still glancing up at her complexion, the anger that had been about to surge could not even rise and simply subsided.
“Haa. Anyway, as long as the result is good.”
Lillian pulled on her outer clothes without undergarments and decided to return to her own tent to find a clean set. The moment she discarded the soaked underclothes and walked toward the garments she had set aside at a safe distance just in case—
Whoosh—Crash!
“Ugh!?”
Her body shot forward and she tumbled, unable to keep her balance.
“Li—Lillian! Are you all right!?”
“Lillian? What’s going on?”
At her sudden collapse Kaisent rushed over; at the commotion Priscilla came running as well.
“……”
She had experienced this once before. It was the moment she had first reached Expert—the starting point of the superhuman—when her mind could not keep pace with a body that had grown too strong too quickly.
Lillian seized her greatsword, which happened to lie nearby, and poured mana into it.
Wooooooong——!!
Until now, forming sword qi had only coated the blade in a translucent haze. The sword qi she produced now was no longer translucent; a vivid blue energy clearly sheathed the steel.
What martial artists called Sword Gang, and those who walked the mana road called an Aura Blade.
“Kaisent. Just what did you do to my body?”
Having demonstrated a technique only those of Master rank could perform, Lillian could only stare at the boy who had laid hands on her with a blank, almost foolish expression.