#042 Aftermath
#042 Aftermath
Black mages are mostly human.
Humans are mostly prone to fear in front of an armed enemy, and I had intended to use that to interrogate him.
So perhaps I had been somewhat complacent.
For the Demon King Belphegor.
Self-destruction.
The bastard had cast Bone Explosion, corpse explosion magic, on himself.
To be precise, it was magic that 'explodes bone.'
Even if one cannot explode another person's bones, it is entirely possible with a corpse or one's own body.
Destruction of evidence.
Since he had burst apart without leaving so much as a mouth behind, there was now no way to interrogate Shax.
A method of forcibly summoning the soul was probably impossible as well.
'Since Shax is unlikely to be his True Name.'
If I knew his real name, I could use necromancy to forcibly shove his soul into a doll or a skeleton and interrogate him, but regrettably, the summoning using the name 'Shax' had failed immediately.
It was not because it was Lucius's body.
Even with sufficient mana, power, and skill, it has no effect unless it is the 'True Name.'
'Still, that was impressive.'
If it was the Demon King Army.
The organization called Acedia was not my organization, but if my subordinates had survived and truly inherited the legacy of the Demon King Army.
Those who engrave into their hearts several times a day that the foundation of one who walks the path of evil is to use every means and method to screw over the enemy in the most vicious way possible.
I had forgotten for a moment.
That the Demon King Army was an existence that, when captured by the enemy, would rather take down the enemy even as a prisoner and drag at least one more into mutual destruction than survive wretchedly as a slave.
"......I took a proper hit."
Yeah.
I was had.
I, Belphegor, had let an enemy slip away right before my eyes.
I, Belphegor, who used to prepare for such suicides by seizing the soul with necromancy, shoving it into a doll, torturing it, and scraping out information, had let Acedia's trail slip away right before my eyes.
'Damn.'
Had I grown too soft?
Or had my preparations been insufficient?
Or was it that Shax's actions had inherited the legacy of the Demon King Army and thus surpassed my expectations?
His self-destruction had enough destructive power that, had it not been Lucius, flesh fragments and bone shards would have embedded themselves all over the body and killed him in the secondary explosion.
"......."
"Arthur!"
Fortunately, Lucius's body was completely unharmed.
Rosemas made a fuss from behind in alarm, but Lucius's body had no problems whatsoever despite Shax's self-destruction.
"I'm fine."
Wind's Protection.
A technique that wraps the Holy Sword's power around the entire body as a barrier, similar to the technique that had deflected all of the initial shots.
Shax had burst without inflicting any damage.
Blood and bone had scattered in all directions, but they had not affected Lucius's body in the slightest.
"For now... the enemy seems to have completely vanished, so I think we can rest easy."
"You're really... okay?"
"Of course. So that I am not in danger in any situation. I cannot carelessly harm this precious body."
I walked toward Rosemas.
Fortunately, Rosemas had been guarding my body obediently, and I approached my unconscious body.
"Could you set her down for a moment?"
"Huh?"
"Please lay her flat on the ground."
"Ah, understood. Arthur."
Rosemas gently set my body down on the ground, and I knelt on one knee toward my body.
And then.
Squish.
"!!"
Everyone was startled.
And with good reason, since I had grabbed my own heart area—my chest—without any hesitation.
'It is fairly big, though.'
For a small frame, the chest at least was solid.
Unlike the moment when it was a sacrifice, this lump of flesh was my mana reservoir.
'But in 500 years, the kids have gotten too small.'
From the perspective of 500 years ago, this body belonged to the considerably small category.
But as I walked around the Adventurers' Guild and observed others, I realized that humanity had degenerated over 500 years.
To me, a petite size was the average size in this era.
If the Crimson Mage were to come back to life and roam the world, everyone might kneel in shock at that tremendous mana capacity.
Enough sentimentality.
I pressed my palm firmly toward the heart, then closed my eyes.
"Arthur! Wha, what—!!"
"Release."
I release the Possession.
I pushed my soul into the core contained in the heart.
Whoosh.
As if being sucked in, my soul returned to my original body.
My consciousness gradually traveled along the hand toward the heart, and for a moment the world went dark, then bright again.
"......Mm."
I came to my senses.
Possession, complete again.
The Demon Core embedded in the heart reactivated, and the mana that had been flowing at a minimum began to spread from the heart through the vessels and throughout the entire body.
"......."
The moment I opened my eyes, what I saw was Lucius, staring at me with a dazed face and blue eyes.
"Lucius."
"......."
"Lucius?"
"......Ah, y-yes!"
Lucius startled and straightened up.
"I... what on earth...?"
He still had a dazed face, as if he had just woken from sleep and was not in his right mind.
"Lucius, are you with me?"
"I... what happened?"
"Mm...."
'His senses must be vague, as if he had a dream.'
Since he had moved with his body completely yielded to me, Lucius would have felt as if he were dreaming while I moved his body.
I had let him experience firsthand how to use the Wind Holy Sword with his own body, but since it was his first time yielding his flesh, there was a high possibility he had not been able to watch properly.
The problem was.
"Lucius, do you remember what I said a moment ago?"
"Uh, um... I mean, what is this situation...?"
"Haah."
Lucius remembered nothing at all.
To be precise, he had not seen my splendid and beautiful battle at all.
"Lucius. Do you remember how you fought?"
"......Something feels hazy."
Lucius clutched his head with his hand.
With a genuinely troubled face, he glanced at me and the other two.
"...What happened?"
"It seems you can't remember."
A shame.
He would have gotten a feel for it if he'd seen it with his own eyes, but it seemed his mind couldn't withstand using a technique against a Great Demon King-class existence in the Mental World—especially with me acting as the master of the room.
My ego was so firm that Lucius's soul had fallen asleep.
'If he had seen it with his eyes, he would have at least roughly understood how to use it.'
I hadn't expected him to learn it in one go, but it was still a little disappointing.
'No. His body will remember.'
If I made his body remember, then once I taught him the trick, he would surely be able to use another power of the Holy Sword.
What mattered was what came next.
The lost trail of Acedia was something to think about later; what mattered now was the concealment of information.
"Morgen."
"Y-yes...."
To Hora Morgen, who had done nothing and only shrieked in panic from behind.
"I would like you to keep what happened here a secret."
I asked her politely and courteously.
"Lucius's power is unstable. I do not wish to get caught up in a troublesome situation by carelessly revealing his power."
"Ah, that...."
"M-Master...?"
"To explain briefly."
FWOOSH.
I lit a flame above my hand.
"I can forcibly draw out Lucius's latent power. What you saw, Morgen, was merely a fragment of it."
"A... fragment?"
"Yes. He has not reached it yet, but Lucius possesses the talent to potentially become the strongest swordsman in the world."
"M-me?"
"Of course."
There was no way he could fail to reach it with me teaching him.
"I-I don't understand. If you have this kind of skill, why...?"
"I would like to make it clear from the start that we need achievements, and that we want to quietly build up achievements in Normance."
"......Understood."
Morgen, having dealt with many adventurers, would have encountered plenty of people like us as well.
"...I'll keep it only in my heart. Your true... power."
"...True power, huh."
Lucius scanned the surroundings with a bitter face.
Was he standing there looking so conflicted because he thought the Holy Sword was his true power?
"...Next time, a bit more."
No.
While marveling at the feat he had committed—though I had done it—he seemed genuinely frustrated that he himself could not remember it.
"Lucius."
I walked over to Lucius and patted his back.
"No one is good from the start. You just have to do well from now on. Don't be too discouraged. Got it?"
"...But."
"You didn't feel it properly this time, but next time, try to feel it better. The true you inside you. Got it?"
It meant that if he was watching from behind as a Spirit Body, he should not lose consciousness and should watch properly.
"Rosemas, you did well too. Your technique was truly amazing."
"...Thank you."
It was sincere praise.
To shoot an arrow of mana into the ceiling and make it rain down in all directions.
It was a technique that could not even be attempted without precise mana control ability and enough mana to kill enemies even as it scattered.
Morgen was....
'Shouting hard from behind was enough.'
Participating in an outfit meant to receive as much of the Azure Moon Goddess's blessing as possible was good for safety, but her response to the sudden situation had been inadequate.
'I'll just meet Morgen as a receptionist.'
I didn't know what Lucius thought, but if Morgen was an acquaintance of ours—or if we could maintain a decent relationship with her as someone involved even if she wasn't a party member—she wasn't a bad woman.
Bringing it up right now could negatively affect the evaluation, so it could be discussed later.
"Um, Witch...?"
"What is it, Rosemas?"
"That just now...."
"Ah. I'll tell you later when we get to the lodging."
I would tell Rosemas separately about Lucius's secret power.
No matter how much I had talked around it, Morgen seemed to have fully understood my intent.
"Then...."
"B-but, Witch."
Rosemas quietly spoke up.
"When you first gave Lucius power, you held his hand, so why did you... grab his chest when releasing it later?"
"What?!"
Lucius startled in horror.
"No, I-I grabbed Master's chest?!"
"......Ah, that."
I lightly crossed my arms and shrugged.
"......I wonder? Lucius, how did that happen?"
"Wh-what?! I-I don't know anything about it!"
Right.
He wouldn't know.
Because I was the one who touched my own chest.
"...Hmm. So you can't even remember, yet you unconsciously touch your master's body."
"N-no. Master! This is unjust!!"
"Hmph. You can't even touch me normally, but when you awaken, you have no hesitation.... Are you a beast?"
"N-no! I have no memory of it!"
Watching the flustered Lucius.
'This is fun.'
My irritation at losing Shax seemed to subside a little.