Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Bestia Mountain (5)
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"This is turning out to be a bigger headache than I thought."
A massive warp gate stood erect in the heart of the mountain.
Karl let out a soft sigh upon confirming its presence.
If it had just been a hatchery spawning beasts, it wouldn't have been this troublesome.
There were countless lunatics in the world, and he could chalk it up to one of them pulling some weird stunt on Bestia Mountain.
In that case, smashing the hatchery and tracking down the culprit for a sound thrashing would settle it.
But a gate changed everything.
Spatial transfer magic was among the highest-tier spells in the teleportation category.
Even Sion, a grand archmage, could only manage to teleport herself or force a few people at most. Teleporting this many beasts at once?
'At minimum, this is the work of a Magic Tower Master... or someone even higher.'
The culprit was likely no pushover.
And the reason behind it all wouldn't be anything ordinary, either.
"Yeah... this doesn't feel like something that'll wrap up nice and easy..."
Sion was thinking along the same lines as Karl.
'...This doesn't belong here at all...?'
The enormous warp gate before her eyes was one of the transport methods used by the Demon King's vassals.
It was something bosses commonly used in raids to escape players after defeat.
A gate from ultra-high-level boss zones, not something you'd see in a beginner area.
'...What the hell else has changed...!'
She understood that slaying the Demon King ahead of schedule had thrown the entire story off course.
She'd dealt with headaches involving Cloe and the slums because of it, but the vassals were another matter.
'You think I killed the Demon King early for no reason...!'
One of Rilteia's main contents was raid content against boss monsters, and the Demon King's vassals were those raid bosses.
Dealing with each one individually was a massive pain, so she'd taken out the Demon King first.
She never imagined the vassals would scheme from the shadows like this.
'No... let's think positive.'
The return condition wasn't the Demon King's Core anyway—it was 100% achievements, something she'd realized long ago.
Either way, there were plenty of vassal-related achievements.
If these guys she had to hunt eventually were rampaging right in front of her, it might not be so bad—
-Poke.
"Hey, Rion."
"Eek! D-don't scare me like that out of nowhere!"
"...Uh, sorry. Didn't think you'd react that much..."
Oh, for real.
Should I just whack him once with a hammer?
Nothing more, nothing less—just one solid hit.
"...Please don't do that again."
"Yeah... sorry."
'Gotta hold back...'
Suppressing her right hand itching to cast sub-space magic, she forced herself to regain her composure.
"So... why'd you call me?"
"Can you tell where that gate connects to?"
How the hell would I know that?
"Hmm... If I got closer to the gate, maybe, but from this far? No way..."
She wanted to snap back curtly but held her tongue again.
Right now, she wasn't Grand Archmage Sion on equal footing with the hero—she was his apprentice, Rion.
"...I see."
Thankfully, Karl didn't press with more questions after that.
He was being unusually quiet, which was a bit unsettling...
Eh, he's probably just worn out from recent troubles.
'Sion's apprentice...'
Contrary to Sion's thoughts, the hero was currently showering her with intense interest.
From the moment they first met on the southern front, he'd been observing her whenever he got the chance.
When he first heard reports about this "Rion" character claiming to be his old friend's apprentice, Karl hadn't cared one bit.
Fake self-proclaimed apprentice—that was the extent of it.
But the instant he laid eyes on Rion at the front, Karl's instincts told him his judgment was off.
Rion's first impression was striking, even to Karl, who'd seen countless eccentrics.
A seemingly innocent girl standing amid beast corpses, splattered in blood.
That contradictory sight reminded him of first meeting Sion.
[...What're you staring at?]
Just like Rion, Sion standing in the battlefield's center, drenched in monster blood.
Similar builds, even wandering around without a staff like a mage shouldn't.
The former could be coincidence, the latter master-disciple influence.
Same hair color, even the same quirks when casting magic.
And above all...
Playfully pranking people she disliked in silence—it matched perfectly.
His hero instincts screamed that Rion and Sion were the same person.
'Nah, no way.'
Karl shoved the notion from his mind.
No matter how imaginative, no one would mistake the girl before him for that Sion.
Karl was one of the few on the continent without prejudices against Sion.
Thus, he knew the bizarre rumors swirling around her were far from truth.
But even he held one firm belief.
Sion never mingled with others.
So Rion traveling with that Maier girl? Extremely unlikely to be Sion.
'Could be Lily, but...'
Her movements ruled that out.
[Hey, Sion.]
[Eek!]
[...Sion?]
[D-don't call me so suddenly like that? You scared me...]
The more he watched, the more Rion evoked memories of his old friend.
Maybe...
'No way... blood relative?!'
It was plausible.
Sion, who shunned others, taking an apprentice.
The apprentice sharing Sion's quirks, build, and hair color.
'As expected, you're a genius, Karl Leonhardt—nailing it with clues like these.'
Adding the blood relative angle made everything click perfectly.
'Sion getting married? Unlikely, so probably...'
Siblings?
Sion's younger than she looks. I figured she'd be some grandpa.
All doubts about Rion cleared up, and any hesitation binding Karl vanished.
And the now-unhesitant hero...
"Hey, Rion."
"...Yeah?"
"You like booze by any chance?"
Began chipping away at Sion's favor in real time.
"Hate it."
"Oh."
Didn't expect this to match Sion too.
Blood's thicker than water, huh.
The fool's delusion grew beyond repair.
Rejected on his drinking invite to Rion, Karl refocused on the task at hand.
Though labeled a "wild eccentric" by those around him, he knew how to separate work from play.
"Hey... doesn't it look like it'd slice if I swung big?"
Of course, that didn't make him normal.
"...Huh?"
What crazy talk is this?
"That gate, y'know. Beasts keep pouring out from there... feels like a big horizontal slash would do it."
"That massive gate...?"
"Yeah. Wanna try?"
Here we go again.
"Are you insane...? What if it backfires? We came just to check the gate's location—let's head back."
"Hmm... but I really wanna slash it once..."
Why am I doing what the Saintess used to?
Back in the Demon King Subjugation Party days, Karl occasionally let instinct override reason.
[Wait, just one sip, for real...!]
[Herooo...! That's an obvious trap!]
[It's fine, I won't die!]
When he threw a fit to drink the Succubus Queen's poisoned wine, the Saintess had suffered greatly.
Post-party, Vice Captain Olivia must've taken over that role.
'Kinda get why Olivia's so worn out now...'
Ignoring Karl mumbling "I bet it'd slice...", Sion figured it was time to descend.
"Um... Hero, the duration's almost up."
The reason: Silent Magic's effect was ending.
She could recast, but stealth spells like this weakened with overlaps.
"Hmm... Fine, let's head back."
-Woooong!
Another massive mana wave emanated from the gate.
Closer this time, it hit even harder.
"They just keep coming, no end in sight. Where the hell are these things from?"
"No kidding..."
Karl and Sion assumed another beast horde had emerged.
But not a single beast appeared around the gate.
Only a lone woman, seemingly human at a glance, stood there.
But she wasn't human.
The pair of horns on her head proclaimed her a demonkin.
A woman in a gaudy dress riddled with holes for a tacky look.
Her excessive exposure might wrinkle noses, but her seductive poise and stunning beauty turned it into allure.
"W-why her...?!"
One of the Demon King's Seven Calamities, master of the Throne of Lust.
Lust Marquis Liriana—one of the culprits behind the Bestia incident.
"...I could take her, right...?"
"...?"
Stealth attack and done...?
Just close my eyes and go for it?
Ortega Magic Tower, Master Cedric's office.
Cedric stared blankly at the documents on his desk.
[Class 1 Wanted: Black Sorcerer Erverbert]
[Sighted 11 days ago in Prifre, Leonian Empire]
[No confirmations since]
The Magic Tower traitor and continental war criminal, Black Sorcerer Erverbert.
The trail of the fugitive they'd tracked for years went cold in Prifre.
"Should I have told Luna's apprentice after all..."
Coincidentally, Rion had headed straight to Prifre upon leaving the tower.
It was unlikely, but there was a slim chance she'd encounter the black sorcerer.
"No way she'd run into him, but better safe than sorry."
Sion's devotee, Cedric, immediately sent her a message.
