It Is Right to Kill Them All
The hero had cut them down. It was right to kill every last demon. Every black mage who colluded with them deserved death. Anyone connected to those black mages should be wiped out without exception. That was the vow I made the day I saw a child in a village suddenly overrun by demons. The child clutched their mother’s hand, severed at the wrist. And on that day, I failed to protect even that child.
“Leon— I mean, Sir Vincent? What are you thinking about so deeply?”
“……”
“Ow!”
The Black Night’s gathering point, seized after I killed a demonic spirit. I only meant to rest against a nearby tree for a moment, but I must have dozed off. The moment those foul memories resurfaced, Lucy’s fidgeting in front of me grated on my nerves. I flicked her forehead.
“Let’s move. It’s time.”
“…Understood.”
The empire’s old imperial castle had been abandoned roughly three hundred years ago after a clash between the church and the imperial court. The original palace had housed a temple dedicated to the goddess, since the first Lebantheart emperor was a saint blessed by her. The trouble started with the third emperor and the pope of that era. They butted heads over whether the church was meddling in politics through the temple and whether placing a goddess’s shrine inside the secular imperial palace constituted blasphemy. The two sides refused to yield, clashing endlessly until the church finally declared independence and established the Holy Land that became the foundation of the Holy Kingdom.
“The third emperor claimed a curse had settled in the goddess’s abandoned temple, so he built an entirely new palace. Right?”
“I consider it wasteful, but the claim isn’t entirely baseless.”
“I’m surprised you even understand the concept of waste, Sir Vincent.”
Flick. “Ow!”
“…Curses frequently take root in objects or places that spirits once inhabited and then abandoned.”
“Tsk… Ah, I know that one. The vacancy theory, wasn’t it?”
The idea that anything a spirit has left behind retains an empty space in the soul, and malicious things are drawn to that void. It was a principle the demons often exploited when they toyed with the human realm.
I never imagined the black mages would be using it inside the old imperial palace, though.
Black mages were essentially trash who couldn’t even be called proper mages. If they had actually studied the art, they would have been called dark mages. The term itself combined the “ma” of demon with “surgery,” meaning they were pathetic brats who skipped all study and training just to beg demons for power.
Grind. The moment strength entered my fist, Lucy flinched and trembled behind me.
“B-but how will you find the entrance? If they’re using it as a base, they must have hidden it thoroughly.”
“……”
I stopped at a suitable distance from the outer walls, drove the Holy Sword into the ground, closed my eyes, and focused.
Whoooosh— Night air brushed across my skin. My sharpened senses caught the flow of air, sound, and mana above it.
It was one of the tracking techniques I had learned from the Bow Master alongside Serin. Back then she had been thrilled at acquiring such an impressive skill. Of course, my proficiency later far surpassed hers.
“That way. Let’s go.”
“Huh? Wait, what did you just do?”
“……”
I glanced back at her. It was impressive how she could keep chattering even after being hit so many times.
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
“Never mind. Let’s go…”
The path to the underground was not inside the castle but outside it. Beneath the collapsed ruins, I sensed a strangely flowing current of mana. I tapped the spot where the mana gathered most densely with the scabbard. The rubble rose into the air, revealing a staircase leading downward.
“Whoa~ It really worked?”
“Hoo…”
A sigh escaped me. The door’s construction was identical to the sealing techniques the demons used.
It’s the exact same mana arrangement I saw on the front lines.
That was why I could open a door I had never seen before in an instant. I pressed my throbbing temples, gave Lucy a nod, and descended.
I wondered exactly when and how deeply they had colluded with the demons—whether the demons had taught them this method or the black mages had taught the demons. The sheer number of bastards in this world who deserved death was giving me a headache.
After descending the long staircase, a thick, archaic iron door appeared. Voices drifted from beyond it.
“Name.”
“Vincent.”
“Token.”
“Token?”
I was disguised as Vincent through illusion magic. I had assumed that would be enough to pass any inspection, but apparently not.
Should have brought a token.
“…It was taken from me.”
“Without a token, I cannot let you enter.”
Hoo. Nothing ever went smoothly. The moment I reached for the hilt—
“Wait. I am his guide.”
“…Ashen Scales?”
Lucy stepped in front of me, presented her Ashen Scales identity plaque, and nodded.
“We’re in a cooperative relationship with Ashen Scales, aren’t we?”
The person beyond the door reached through the narrow slit and gestured for the plaque. Lucy placed it on the hand; it was withdrawn, then returned shortly after.
“…Enter.”
Surprisingly, that ridiculous little act opened the door without issue. I kept my expression neutral and followed Lucy inside.
“I’m finally done playing the slave.”
Lucy grinned, clearly pleased with herself. The sight made my head throb, so I shook it and muttered.
“Looks like they’re more deeply involved than I expected.”
“…The main headquarters probably isn’t connected.”
Lucy thought for a moment, then shook her head as though the idea were impossible. Honestly, the fact that they had let us in simply because of the Ashen Scales name suggested the headquarters was likely involved, but…
She must have her reasons.
Seeing how sincerely she worried for Ashen Scales, I kept my mouth shut. No need to make her anxious. Of course, if evidence surfaced, I would annihilate them to the third generation.
The sight that greeted us was grotesque. A vast underground cavern hung with countless chains and cages. And inside those cages—
“Hold it in. Just hold it in.”
—were slaves in terrible condition. Many of them were children.
When Lucy sensed my rage building to the point I could barely contain it, she grabbed my arm and tried to calm me. I barely clung to reason, clenched my teeth until they creaked, and gave her a single nod.
“Let’s go.”
Lucy nodded, cold sweat pouring down her face.
The cavern was wide open, so there was no fear of getting lost. At the center, amid the cages, lay the ruins of a collapsed temple. Around it swarmed dozens of suspicious figures in black robes.
I wondered why every evil organization seemed obsessed with black robes.
Roughly thirty that appear to be black mages.
They had smashed the head off the goddess statue that once stood in the temple, placed a black crystal orb on the stump, and gathered in a circle around it, murmuring.
As I walked over to blend in with the crowd, Lucy nudged my arm and whispered.
“Won’t they detect your holy power?”
“Don’t worry. The very first thing I practiced on the front lines was hiding holy power.”
In my inexperienced days, demons who could track holy power had nearly killed me several times. Thanks to that, I could now perfectly conceal not only holy power but every trace of mana and aura I possessed.
“—The grand plan is ready.”
“It will begin soon, heh heh heh.”
“It has been so long…!”
…So what exactly is the plan?
They were only cackling among themselves. The urge to start by slicing off all their legs flared up, but I endured. They would reveal it soon enough.
“Ooh! That person is coming…!”
Listening to their droning, pedantic exclamations made me yawn from sheer boredom. I never expected the tedium to continue, but eventually my patience snapped and I reached for my sword—
“…You have lost quite a bit of dignity, Vincent. Have you gone astray after drowning yourself in women?”
The bent old woman who looked the oldest happened to meet my eyes.
“Uh… yeah. Something like that.”
“…I see. So that is why you brought the woman beside you?”
I stepped on Lucy’s foot before she could scowl, signaling her to stay quiet, and shrugged.
“She is a branch manager of Ashen Scales. I thought she might prove useful.”
“Is that so… I do not know who she is, but bringing even an Ashen Scales branch manager. You have worked hard.”
Snap. The moment the bearded old woman flicked her fingers, every black mage in the cavern drew their staves at once and glared at me.
“…It seems I was noticed.”
“It is laughable that you thought you would not be. If you wished to imitate Luke, you should have at least learned his real name.”
“Ah, so Vincent was an alias. You knew from the start and still opened the door—correct?”
“Even so, I will not kill you painfully. The Ashen Scales branch manager has value, after all.”
Lucy looked at me with a tearful expression that asked what I planned to do now. Honestly, I found it almost comical. These fools who had been born human yet chose to collude with demons possessed this level of deductive ability? I had assumed their intelligence was on par with dung beetles.
“Luke still hasn’t located the hero. Really, what has he been doing all this time?”
“The hero’s whereabouts?”
“Yes. The sole variable in this plan is the hero himself.”
“Hmm…”
I imitated the old woman and snapped my fingers. The sound wasn’t as crisp as I’d hoped.
“…! The hero!”
The underlings’ shocked cries filled the cavern the instant they saw my true appearance.
“Hero! Hero!!”
“Please save us!!”
“Hero…!!”
The prisoners in the cages reacted first. Dying eyes filled with a slender thread of hope as they screamed at the top of their lungs.
“…Oh ho. I never expected the hero himself to pay us a visit.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect it either. That you bastards would be here.”
“Revealing yourself… Does this mean you wish to negotiate?”
After a moment, the black mages—except the old woman—muttered in unison. Purple chains of mana erupted from the floor and bound Lucy’s limbs. The spell itself was simple, but the more people supplied mana, the stronger it became. For all their shallow magical understanding, the sheer volume of power they gained through sacrifices made the chains terrifyingly solid.
“H-hero!”
By now Lucy was truly frightened. Tears welled in her eyes as she turned to me.
No. I had grown tired of meaningless exchanges.
Clang—
But the chains were not strong enough to bind a Sword Master.
Lucy was strong in her own right. Her senses and judgment were excellent. She had always prided herself on her ability to accurately gauge another person’s strength.
She had believed Leon was still among the weaker Sword Masters. Considering his age, simply reaching that realm was a terrifying level of talent.
But the scene unfolding before her eyes proved every one of her assumptions wrong.
Everything was wrong. That… that’s not human. It’s a monster.
It wasn’t anything complicated. Leon simply walked. Calmly, as though nothing in the world could hinder him. That alone was enough to shatter the chains that Lucy’s full strength could not even scratch.
He drew his sword, gripped it tight, and took a cutting stance. The moment his palm closed around the hilt, it felt as if the very air—no, space itself—was being sucked inward.
Lucy could not perceive the swing. She only registered the stance right before the cut and the moment after. Just those two images.
He cut. He cut everything.
And then—
Both knees of every black mage split horizontally.
“Kyaaaaaaaack!!!!”
“Urgh…!!”
“K-!!!!!”
“Aaaaaah!!!!”
Only Leon and Lucy remained standing. The black mages collapsed like towers whose foundation pillars had been yanked away.
“Hero—!!! Urk…!!”
The old woman who had swaggered with numbers rolled across the floor, eyes bloodshot, screaming with pure malice as she glared at Leon.
“Lucy.”
“Y-yes?!”
“Do you have a favorite number?”
“Umm… three…?”
“Understood.”
Leon nodded. The mere intent to swing his sword caused radiant aura to surge forth, flooding the entire cavern with brilliant light.
“Three. Exactly three will be spared.”
The fury he had suppressed for so long finally poured out.