#070 Vomiting Blood
#070 Vomiting Blood
Morning.
I sent the two of them down to eat breakfast on their own.
"But eating together..."
"I don't feel like eating this morning. You two eat."
"But Witch...?"
Rosemas kept glancing at me, worried.
"What?"
"Ah, I, still, eating together..."
"I said I'm not eating."
"Eep..."
It was clearly only a dream, one of the countless wishes buried in Rosemas's unconscious, so I shouldn't have let it prejudice me—but I kept looking at her through that lens.
"If I said once that I'm not eating, that should be enough. Do I have to say it two or three times?"
"N-no, that's not... sniffle..."
Even her sniffling was starting to irritate me.
Once I started seeing her in a bad light, the way she hid behind Lucius and whimpered looked like nothing but fox-like scheming.
"Hmm..."
Lucius, suddenly caught in the middle, began counting something with his hands.
From his left hand to his right, then from his right hand to his left.
His fingers kept folding and unfolding, and just as they were about to reach around thirty—
"Understood, Master. If you need anything, may I brew you a light cup of tea? Something warm."
"That sounds nice."
Lucius, as if trying not to cross me, hurriedly left the room with Rosemas.
The two of them would be enjoying their meal in the dining hall while badmouthing me, and in the meantime, I needed to convert the Libido absorbed through Rosemas into mana.
WHOOOOOSH.
I focused my mana as much as possible and gathered it into one point.
I gathered all the yin mana—the dream essence—scattered throughout my body into a single point.
The mana obtained through Libido was not in the heart but elsewhere.
Below the lower abdomen.
A member of the deep and dark council, Satan, called this place the "Dantian."
A living creature's mana mostly resides in the heart, but from the idea of creating a mana heart somewhere other than the heart, he created a kind of "Secondary Mana Heart."
I was trying to combine the method Satan taught me with Asmodeus's method.
It was my first time attempting this, but I intended to turn one of the most useless organs in this undead girl's body into the most meaningful one.
Sssss.
All the yin energy converted through Libido went to my lower abdomen.
"......Hoo."
Less mana leaked from it than from my heart.
The heart area was still hollowed out in my chest, so while it could be concealed with magic and clothing, the mana stored in the Dantian in my lower abdomen had no gap to escape through.
In certain specific situations, mana could still leak out.
For example...
'Dantian destruction.'
The Secondary Mana Heart called the Dantian was like a spare Mana Stone placed inside the body.
It had no physical form, but it clearly existed as a magical structure; destroying it would severely damage the body, making it a vital point.
In other words, I could use more mana than if I stored it only in my heart, but I would also gain another, more dangerous vital point.
The most representative example would be the Dantian being pierced by something like a thick, hard spear.
Without extraordinary measures, the Secondary Mana Heart would be destroyed, and restoring a vessel once broken was nearly impossible.
So I had to be truly careful.
There was generally no reason for my abdomen to be attacked, but occasionally there were lunatics who specifically tried to pierce through the stomach.
"...Haa."
How long had the Libido absorption and refinement taken?
My body was drenched in sweat.
As I formed the Dantian and mana rampaged through my whole body, my body had expelled a massive amount of sweat to regulate its temperature.
And then...
"Blergh."
As if expelling waste accumulated deep within my body, I vomited out a handful of the blood that had remained inside me.
"Whoa..."
To think there was still this much blood left in my body.
In the process of filling every corner of my blood vessels, even the capillaries at my fingertips, with mana and making mana flow in place of blood, I gathered the blood that had spread throughout my body and spat it out—the amount was enough to fill a hand.
At least because the blood remaining in my body had continued receiving mana, it hadn't rotted.
Should I be glad that the blood I expelled was clear?
I used fire magic to ignite the blood and quickly evaporated it.
"Hoo. Hoo."
After steadying my remaining mana with deep breaths, I swallowed a mouthful of the cold water in the room to wash the remaining blood from my mouth and throat.
The blood that had gone down into my stomach would be completely annihilated inside my body through heat magic, so now mana truly flowed through my body in place of blood.
"Hmm..."
I opened the window.
My sense of smell wasn't especially sensitive, but anyone entering the room would still find the smell of blood unpleasant.
SWISH.
A refreshing breeze came in and brushed past my face.
Outside, warm sunlight sparkled, and I swept back my wildly fluttering hair to tidy it.
"Master?"
I thought the wind was blowing harder than expected, but it turned out the door had just opened.
I let out a hollow laugh at Lucius, who had brought a teacup on a saucer.
'My mouth felt stale, too.'
Perfect timing.
I was already in a good mood after absorbing the Libido, and with a sip to wash away this lingering unpleasantness, it couldn't be better.
"Thanks. Did you enjoy your meal?"
"Yes. Um..."
"Sorry for snapping earlier. I was in really bad shape."
"Ah, ahh..."
Rosemas, who had been with Lucius, went pale and just blinked.
"I-I'm sorry!! I had no idea!!"
"It's not like feeling sick comes with advance warning. I'm actually grateful, you know? You accepted my apology like this, Rosemas."
"W-Witch...!"
Now she was about to cry from sheer emotion.
I truly couldn't fathom this elf's emotional swings.
Ah.
Could it be that they'd grown closer while eating?
Since they'd slept in the same bed, wouldn't the next step be for me to get a separate room and lock the two of them in the same room together!
"Sit down, Rosemas. Lucius, you too. I'm going to properly go over today's schedule now."
"May we sit?"
"Huh? Of course. Sitting isn't exactly difficult."
I seated the two at the table, then picked up my teacup.
But then.
Bzzzzz.
"Ugh, why are there so many bugs?"
FWOOSH.
I burned the bug with fire magic.
The bug burned up in an instant and scattered to the floor as embers.
Since it was a flame made of mana, it wouldn't spread even when it touched the ground.
"Um... using mana on bug-catching...?"
"It's fine. This much is nothing. Actually, I feel better after expelling all that."
Thanks to the strike at Normance, I could now finely adjust the mana output in my body.
"First, today..."
"Witch! We have a serious problem! The missing livestock has been found dead!!"
"...Looks like we'll have to move right away."
An incident had occurred.
* * *
Inside a dark cave.
In the cave where not a single point of light could be seen, countless living creatures were writhing.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
The things that looked like bugs were chewing and swallowing something.
If there had been light, the cave would have been filled with grotesque scenes that made people sick to their stomachs.
The bugs, larvae and adults alike, were chewing something with their teeth.
Chewing and tearing at flesh softer than ordinary meat, the bugs grew larger.
"......."
Watching that sight from above the cave, atop a barrier of mana, was a goblin in a white robe.
Wearing glasses, he recorded observations on the chart in his hand as he checked the bugs' condition.
"...Condition good. Just one more day now."
Creak, creak, creak.
With the sound of rolling wheels, an iron cart arrived in front of the goblin.
Inside the cart were organs and intestines that looked as though they had been pulled from all sorts of beasts, and the goblin frowned and covered his nose.
"Ugh."
The smell was foul enough to nauseate even a goblin.
The animals had clearly been killed only recently, yet the stench was so revolting that he suspected the meat might have come from diseased livestock.
"Number 99. Drop."
The goblin picked up the staff placed beside him and struck the floor.
Then the magic circle he had been standing on moments before deactivated, and one side of the iron cart opened, sending the lumps tumbling into the pit below.
Splat, splat, splat.
Whether the bugs below were crushed by the falling chunks of flesh or not, the goblin dumped every last bit of the beast entrails without leaving a single piece.
"Water Elemental."
Then he even used magic on the cart, spraying water to wash away the blood, and struck the ground with his staff to unfold the magic circle again.
Thud, thud-thud.
Some of the bugs capable of flight tried to soar into the sky but were blocked by the magic circle and smacked their heads.
The adults that had already eaten their fill wanted to burst outside at any moment, and the goblin watched them with a sinister grin.
"Hehehe. You're already so desperate to get out. I feel the same. I want to show my power to those human bastards as soon as possible... heh heh."
Flutter, flutter.
Beneath the robe.
Something protruding from the goblin's back fluttered.
The goblin cackled and checked the crystal orb in his bosom.
"Acedia. Objective. The ruin of the County of Odron. The one in charge is..."
Amutar Akshkil.
At the directive with his own name boldly stamped on it, the goblin bared his teeth and grinned savagely.
"The reward... the title of Hell Marquis, 'Ronove.'"
A new name bestowed directly by the Great Demon King.
Since Demonfolk grow stronger by receiving names from beings stronger than themselves, a name given by none other than the Great Demon King Belphegor would surely spread his infamy far and wide.
"Ngh, heh heh."
Amutar raised his right hand.
His right hand was like a sharp hook, just like the bugs beneath the magic circle.
"With this power... heh heh, after I establish a goblin kingdom, I'll trample the Heroes beneath my feet... hee-hee."
Amutar savored the "power to rule over bugs" granted to him and steadied his breathing.
"Zepar, these bugs you gave me, I have raised and raised them this much...!"
Narag Venomous Insects.
"Please watch, Zepar. This legion of venomous insects commanded by Amutar Akshkil...!"
* * *
"Lady Droniel, from here on..."
"It's fine. From now on... you know, right?"
"Yes. I will call you [Black Lotus]."
"Good."
The woman concealed in a jet-black coat and black mask steadied her breathing as the village came gradually into view.
"Listen carefully. Our identities must never be revealed. We are adventurers who came to resolve a request... Arthur?"
The woman saw.
Beside the golden-haired young man, two women following as if flanking him on either side.
"......."
Droniel—no, Black Lotus—fiddled with her scabbard and gripped the reins.