#082 Aftermath
#082 Aftermath
He could not accept it.
He was the smartest of all goblins, and on the strength of that intelligence, he had been acknowledged by Zepar, the greatest black mage in Acedia.
Because he had been acknowledged, he had received this giant golem.
He had received the authority to command the armored beetles, and he had received the mighty power to merge with them into one.
And yet.
WHOOSH—!!
He was being helplessly battered by a colossal doll that had appeared out of nowhere.
He knew.
He knew at least that this was the power of a Hero.
He could feel his heart, smaller than a child's fist—his Mana Stone—trembling before the Holy Sword's power.
"AAARGH!"
But how could he retreat from this place?
How could he have come all this way only to stand still?
Before his eyes stood the enemy of his tribe.
As much as he had abandoned everything for revenge.
As much as he had offered everything to Acedia for revenge.
As much as he longed to receive a new name and be reborn.
"AAARGH!!"
He could never be defeated here.
"Narag Venomous Insects! Devour me! Gnaw upon my flesh and become poison to slay the enemy!!"
SPURT.
From within the golem, chains extended from the seat where Amutar sat and coiled around Amutar.
Crackle!!
As dark-red mana wrapped around the chains, Amutar's eyes blazed crimson.
As if burning away the last of his life force.
As if offering up all of his life and converting it into power.
Aaaah...!!
The armored beetle golem, which converted its pilot's life force into mana, grew even stronger.
Even under the enemy's mighty blows, it merely staggered backward; it did not fall, nor did it kneel.
Kreeaaak!!
By now, the goblin no longer even retained a shape.
All the blood remaining in his body, his vitality, his essence, his mana, even the Mana Stone that was his heart—all of it became the giant's energy.
"Re...venge...!!"
And yet what Amutar cried out for was nothing but revenge.
Fury toward humans.
Fury toward the Hero.
And revenge against their own tribe—
—What a load of bullshit.
From somewhere.
A voice was heard.
—You lot tried to attack a human village and got yourselves wiped out, and now you're throwing a fit about revenge?
The mocking voice resounded through Amutar's soul.
—Vanish quietly to the netherworld. You pathetic goblin.
WHOOSH.
A torrent that seemed to wash away his entire body, his entire soul.
Amid the agony of his whole body being torn to shreds by the surging torrent before his eyes, Amutar closed his eyes.
[Tch.]
The final moment.
What reached his ears was.
[Thinking you could accomplish anything with a mere goblin was the strange part.]
"Ugh, aah, AAARGH!!"
[Self-destruct.]
KABOOOOM!!
It was the final command issued by Zepar of the Acedia Demon King Army.
* * *
"Khk?!"
"...Ugh."
To think it would self-destruct at the last moment.
What could be the reason for wanting to kill humans that badly?
Humans and Demonfolk share a deep, long-standing enmity.
Demonfolk, for their part, prey upon humans, and humans, for their part, prey upon Demonfolk.
The cause was not me.
Pouring black ink onto a canvas already painted black does not make the color any brighter.
The conflict between humanity and Demonfolk has existed since ancient times.
For five hundred years, humanity and Demonfolk have continued their mutual slaughter, and when I recruited many Demonfolk into the Demon King Army, what I exploited to great effect was precisely their revenge against humanity.
—Hey. But if you go around killing everyone just for revenge, wouldn't that be boring?
—How are the farmers in the villages supposed to take revenge on Demonfolk? Better to just enslave those bastards.
—So let's take revenge on the kings and nobles, and enslave these weak humans! Rather than tormenting those weaker than you, we'll capture reasonably strong humans and torment them instead.
—Oh....
Of course, I redirected that into fury toward the ruling class, but the malice Demonfolk hold toward humanity is surely a will engraved into their blood, their souls, and their very genes.
Even so.
Right now, I am on the side of humans.
As one on the side of humans, I must eliminate Demonfolk.
More precisely, I am in a situation where I must stand on the side of humans and eliminate Acedia and the remnants of the Demon King Army.
As much as I style myself as the Hero's mentor and make use of the Heroes, I feel sorry for the dead Demonfolk—the goblin—but his death was unavoidable.
'To think the goblin who survived the Hero Village would end up like this.'
The faint mana I had sensed inside the steel giant.
It was unmistakably the mana of that goblin I had encountered back then.
The one who had fled alone, tail between his legs, while all his comrades died.
'To think that bastard would come here and end up like this.'
Honestly, it was somewhat shocking.
In all likelihood, the use of the Narag Venomous Insects had also been his doing, and a new variable had nearly emerged in a place I knew nothing about.
'Damn it all.'
To think a mere goblin nearly drained away the greater part of my mana.
If it had been a descendant of the Demon King Army I once ruled, that would have been one thing, but for some lowly goblin to siphon off an enormous amount of my mana was truly unforgivable.
If I had been left with almost no mana remaining.
If a situation had arisen where Lucius might have had to draw his Holy Sword here.
And if, in this place, I had not released Celsius's power and brought out the Spirit Machine.
'I might have had to use at least half of my mana.'
To save the village.
To save the people.
To win the favor of Lucius and the other humans.
I would probably have used my lifeblood-like mana, even at enormous loss, to blast the giant away.
"You did well, Liliez."
"Ah, yes."
Now that the battle was over, there was no need to keep lying on Liliez's lap like a cat.
I rose from Liliez and stood facing her.
"Recalling the Spirit Machine is similar to reverse-summoning a Holy Sword. Would you like to try it once?"
"B-but, if this suddenly disappears...?"
"You don't need to worry. It lowers you down automatically."
"...Understood."
Liliez placed a hand over her chest and whispered softly, and soon the Spirit Machine began to slowly turn into light and fade away.
[Celsius. Returning to 'Poison'.]
"Th-this voice is...?!"
"That's Celsius's voice. Ah, it's not a living creature or anything. Don't misunderstand."
The Spirit Machine was merely a doll.
"...You'll be talking with her often later, so you can learn about that later."
"Pardon?"
"I should explain, but I don't feel like repeating what I've already said. Please lower us down. Over there."
I pointed behind us.
"The bugs were all caught up in the Holy Sword's torrent and died, so now we just need to handle the cleanup. And we need to release the people inside that barrier over there, too."
"Ah!"
"Right? Now, go on."
Liliez released everything as I instructed.
The Spirit Machine quickly shone like light and vanished upward, and Liliez and I slowly descended to the ground within the droplet.
"B-but, is it really all right to release it?"
"Yes. Of course. I guarantee it. If you're really uneasy, you can put up a barrier around the venomous insects and then call the people over."
"I'll do that."
SWISH.
Liliez spread a barrier over the place where we had fought, then released the barrier that had confined the people.
"Hero!!"
Everyone came running.
The faces of those running toward us were filled with excitement, with an indescribable fervor.
'Of course they would be.'
They had just witnessed with their own eyes a Spirit Machine that had once fought one-on-one against the Great Demon King Belphegor—once as a god, once as a demon god.
Ah, I'm not talking about Celsius.
I'm talking about a different Spirit Machine.
Still, considering that Celsius was not much different from that Spirit Machine, there wasn't any real difference.
"Master!"
"Oh, yeah."
While everyone else sought out the Hero, Lucius came running straight to me.
"I'm going to talk with the people, but let me tell you one thing in advance."
I lightly flicked my index finger against Lucius's ring.
"You have one too, so don't worry."
"......."
Lucius smiled with relief.
"Um, Master."
"Yeah."
"...Will you ride it with me later?"
"Of course."
It would be rude not to help from the passenger side on his first drive.
And besides.
"There's no one else who can handle this thing as well as I can."
* * *
Whoosh.
On a cliff overlooking the village.
A white-haired woman with short hair toyed with her mask as she gazed at the people gathered in the square.
Two women stood at the center of the surrounding crowd.
The blue-haired Hero, the Water Hero Liliez Caesar Cross.
That was of no concern to her.
Whether the current Holy Sword Hero was on the verge of the final stage of Holy Sword Awakening or not—that was not what mattered to the white-haired woman.
What truly mattered was the existence standing beside her.
"The Crimson Mage, Bel."
GRIT.
The woman bit her lip as she looked at that loathsome red-haired witch.
"...Traitorous bitch."
Glaring coldly at the mage Bel, she clenched and unclenched her fist; on the ring finger of her left hand was a ring like a white flower.
"So after being reborn in another body, what she does is use the new Heroes to line her own pockets... Ha."
GRIND.
"I don't know what she's planning to do using the Heroes, but I will never hand this over."
The woman clutched the ring, ring finger and all.
Then she raised it to her chest and quietly bowed her head, murmuring something in an exceedingly small voice.
"My Demon King...."
Which Demon King it was.
Only she alone knew.
"...Please watch over me. Until I bring the real you back into this world, I will continue to live for you."
Rustle.
The woman stepped toward the empty air.
Then something invisible lifted her up.
That something.
It resembled the insect monster that had fought on the battlefield, and it also resembled the Spirit Machine that had newly appeared.
"...I should test those things out."
[Are you all right, Master?]
A clear woman's voice.
Each time the voice resounded, a white spherical orb inside the Spirit Machine's cockpit sparkled.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Humans are all like that anyway. Especially a bitch like that who does nothing but suck up to humans... to men."
GRIT.
Beyond the screen.
The sight of Witch Bel boasting with a triumphant face to the blond young man was simply revolting beyond words.
"She knows nothing herself. She only learned about it thanks to my Demon King...."
[Shall I eliminate her?]
"Not yet. I don't know what that bitch is after, but there are bastards more irritating than her that I need to get rid of."
[You mean Acedia.]
"Right. Those sons of bitches... They summoned his body without permission. And on top of that, they tried to summon him into that body and control him...."
[So their goal is indeed to get their hands on us?]
"Probably."
The woman sighed.
"The first person to obtain all seven Holy Swords was him, and the only one who can release all the Spirit Machines is him."
[That is dangerous.]
"It is dangerous. Their goal is... Ha. Damn it, what the hell is that bastard after?"
GRIND.
"When I find him, I'll kill him—that piece of shit Zepar."
[Then what will you do about that one?]
"...For now."
The woman toyed with her ring and twisted the corner of her lips.
"Shall I personally confirm the power of the Spirit Knight that the traitorous bitch boarded? At any rate...."
The place where the woman's final gaze landed was the blond, blue-eyed young man.
"...That one seems to be a Hero too."
[Reversed Arpe, as you will.]
Inside the cockpit where the woman, Arpe, sat, the walls were plastered with photographs of a man in a black suit.