Chapter 24
Chapter 24
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Bestia Mountains (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From the moment I became aware of myself as a person until now, there hadn't been anyone by my side whom I could truly call a friend.
Whether strolling down the school path, eating meals, or spending time on hobbies, I was always alone.
The gazes of those around me were never favorable, and I was even labeled a social misfit.
My family, unable to bear it any longer, suggested mental treatment, but I couldn't have cared less.
It wasn't inconvenient or burdensome in the slightest.
This world functioned perfectly fine even if you lived it alone.
Interactions with others were unnecessary and worthless.
Spending energy on others was less efficient than handling my own affairs.
That mindset hadn't changed one bit, even now.
Still, even someone like me knew that a first friend was precious.
Even if that relationship had been half-forced into existence by the whims of the achievements window.
"...Who is it?"
"The black mage... must have realized the two of you were approaching during the skirmish and fled..."
I had always considered myself an utterly rational person.
To efficiently develop a character, one had to always embrace rational choices and judgments.
"Rion, I get how you feel, but right now—"
"Which direction?"
It didn't take long to realize that notion was a massive delusion.
The moment I saw Cloe collapsed before me, what surged through me was an overwhelming sense of loss, fear, and rage.
I hadn't anticipated that someone else's plight could stir my emotions to this degree.
'My mistake...'
If I'd been by her side... No.
If I'd just left Lily with Cloe, this never would have happened.
I'd hidden Lily away, fearing Karl might discover her and uncover my identity.
In my greed to conceal myself, I'd let Cloe get hurt.
'What an idiot.'
Me, getting this furious over someone else. Me, unable to do a damn thing right now.
All of it was idiotic.
The instant emotions overtook reason, the body lost control.
And seizing the reins in that moment was rage, burning hotter than ever.
"It hurts..."
Fortunately for Sion, there was at least one person left by her side to hold back that impulse.
"Calm down."
"Let go of me...!"
"Chasing after him now would just mean losing him anyway. You know that."
Karl restrained Sion, who was ready to bolt straight into the forest depths.
The vise-like grip on her wrist caused pain that made her shake him off, and that pain, in turn, restored her reason.
He was right.
Pursuing the black mage now would be futile; a warp gate likely awaited deeper in the forest.
She might miss him entirely and lose any leads on the incident's cause.
"...Sorry."
As the surging rage crumbled to ash and faded, it was replaced by shame.
Sion, who prided herself as a rational being both as a grand archmage and as a veteran of Rilteia.
'...Why did I get so emotional...'
For even her to nearly throw caution to the wind over a friend getting hurt—it was utterly embarrassing.
"...It's fine. Getting worked up when a comrade's hurt would be the weird part."
"..."
The sight of her momentarily emotional over a precious comrade's injury.
In Karl's eyes, Rion—valuing her comrades so deeply—didn't look bad at all.
'Definitely... not Sion.'
Karl still hadn't fully dismissed the chance that the Rion before him was Sion in disguise.
But after witnessing Rion's reaction just now, he could finally rule it out completely.
During the Demon King subjugation campaign, the journey had been smooth overall, but it always came with sacrifices, big and small.
And Sion had shown no reaction whatsoever to those sacrifices.
No sadness, no anger—just pure, emotionless detachment.
Sion never wasted feelings on others.
It was after that when Linie and Velka began treating Sion like a monster and distancing themselves.
"Let's head back to the front lines for now."
Either way, Rion's true identity wasn't the priority right this instant.
A mysterious demonkin had emerged, and a black mage had ambushed Olivia's group.
Just devising countermeasures against those two shadows was pushing the hero's mental capacity to its limits.
'Ha... If only Iris were here.'
"Can you walk, Olivia?"
"Yes..."
"We'll get the details back at the front lines. Let's return for now."
Now that they'd confirmed a new enemy's presence, lingering in the heart of enemy territory was unwise.
They'd gathered intel, but the enemy knew they'd been scouted, and some were injured—a half-success at best.
Even so, the scouting party turned their steps back toward the front lines.
Deep within the Bestia Mountains, at the warp gate where Sion's group had confirmed its location just moments ago.
A noblewoman in flashy attire stood there, utterly out of place amid the barren mountain landscape.
Her dress seemed glamorous at first glance but was riddled with holes, giving it a tacky air.
A demonkin with lustrous golden hair fluttering and a massive pair of horns protruding from her head.
A beauty who could turn the head of any man.
"I don't much like children who fail to keep their promises."
The woman's mood was visibly sour.
She didn't even glance at the black-robed man who'd come to see her, her displeasure plain.
"My apologies. I ran into an unexpected variable on the way."
The robed man who'd ambushed Cloe's group mere minutes ago showed no sign of wilting under her icy demeanor.
"It's an honor to meet you like this, Lady Liriana."
Instead, he dropped to one knee and bowed his head to her.
"My name is humble and unworthy to utter before nobility, but it is Erberht."
-Shing!
A whip-like blade dangled before Erberht's throat.
A razor-sharp edge hovering as if ready to sever his head at any moment.
"Indeed, Erberht. Remember that only He may call me by name."
It was Liriana's warning.
A stern admonition never to address her so familiarly again.
"I shall remember."
Erberht brushed off the rudely perilous warning with a smile and got down to business.
"As you must know, milady, the hero is currently pinned down in the Bestia Mountains."
The magical beast rampage in the Bestia Mountains was their fabrication.
All of it orchestrated to draw the hero from the Empire.
"I know that much. You didn't summon me just to report, did you? To enact the next phase of the plan?"
"Yes, exactly."
Erberht had meticulously controlled the beasts' numbers to rattle the front lines.
Not enough to break through, but just enough that they couldn't hold without the hero.
That cunning ploy alone had made the Empire ignore requests for aid, trapping the hero at the front.
"Forgive me for saying so, but I believe we need to adjust the plan slightly."
"Adjust?"
"Yes. I suspect the rats have already confirmed the gate's existence."
Erberht himself and the gate's presence had likely been relayed clearly to the hero's side by now.
He wasn't sure if Liriana's involvement had leaked, but they'd at least realize Prifre's forces alone couldn't handle it.
In that case, the hero would drag reinforcements here no matter what, ruining the plan.
"Before their reinforcements arrive, we'll unleash every beast we've prepared."
They had no choice but to strike first.
Once the full beast assault began, the hero would surely rush to destroy the gate before they overran everything.
"What if the hero doesn't come?"
"He will. It's the choice that minimizes casualties."
Once the hero was lured to the gate, send the beasts charging into Prifre.
"The Empire's hero, Karl Leonhardt. Does the Empire have any hope more radiant than him?"
The hero was the Empire's hope.
If Prifre—bolstered by that hero—fell to the beasts.
"Once that hope is crushed, the Empire will waver."
"So the goal isn't Prifre itself... but the hero's symbolic value."
"Precisely."
First shatter the hero's symbol, then slowly erode the Empire.
Starting with the Empire, gradually dismantle all of Rilteia.
"Quite clever, child. If He were here, He might have granted you a margrave's title."
"You flatter me."
After outlining the revised plan, Erberht immediately began summoning the beasts from beyond the gate.
To crush the front lines without giving them a moment to respond.
Returning to the front lines, Karl wasted no time devising a strike plan against the gate.
"No time. They've already realized we've spotted the gate."
The moment they confirmed a demonkin lurked behind it all, this incident demanded full seriousness.
That demonkin was likely a remnant of the Demon King's fallen forces.
"We need every resource available—nearby cities around Prifre, local adventurers, everyone."
Blocking them with Prifre's current forces alone was practically impossible.
So the hero scrambled to rally every available soul he could—
-Wooong!
But the enemy had no intention of granting them that time.
"Hero! Mana fluctuations again—"
-Wooong!
"Wha..."
-Wooong!
-Wooong!
Not once, but multiple waves of mana pulses resounding in succession.
The hero knew those pulses signaled beasts crossing through the gate.
"...Looks like they have zero intention of giving us even a moment."
Mana activations firing repeatedly at this timing.
It meant only one thing.
The beasts' full assault was about to overwhelm the front lines.