#009 Disaster
#009 Disaster
Five hundred years ago.
Back when I was at the height of my infamy as the Demon Dragon Belphegor, the wars of that era were clashes of sword and magic.
The side that secured more mages won.
The side that secured more Sword Masters won.
Or the side that secured enough sheer numbers to overwhelm even mages and Sword Masters and simply bulldozed through won.
That was how I brought victory to the Demonfolk.
There were times I fought on the front lines myself, times I ran guerrilla operations against Heroes and eliminated the Hero first, and times I wore Heroes down through waves of successive combat.
In that process, humanity developed greatly.
Ah, they say war is the engine that drives human civilization forward, don't they?
Humanity grew rapidly on the back of war.
They began researching how to kill Demonfolk as efficiently as possible without getting hurt themselves.
Magitech.
A technology that bound the Demon Realm's magic and mana together with dwarven engineering and elven Spirit Arts began to develop.
I knew this technology well.
Before I was finally defeated in the Middle Realm, I had acquired a magitech engineer’s technology through a deal with that engineer in the Human Realm.
In any case, the magitech that began because of the Demon Dragon Belphegor had a considerable impact on human civilization.
A technology that had started for war gradually seeped into every corner of human history, and through Demonfolk who had been summoned to the Middle Realm, it flowed into the Demon Realm as well.
The most iconic product of magitech is the 'gun.'
A terribly simple principle: pull the trigger and the bullet inside fires.
An easy killing weapon that lets even a child kill a knight by simply getting hold of a single gun and lodging a bullet in the knight's neck.
So why does some backwater village chief have one...?
"Heh, heh heh. What good is shooting a bow well or handling a sword well? Get shot and it's all over."
"V-Village chief...!"
"Lucius, I've disliked you ever since you were young. You were some stray picked up from who knew where, yet you carried yourself like an abandoned noble brat with some tragic backstory."
"......."
I had no interest in the relationship between Lucius, the village chief, and the guardian who had taken Lucius in, but the situation was starting to turn in a strange direction.
"Hand over the red-haired witch behind you quietly!"
"N-No! This person is...!"
"She's a calamity!!"
"That's enough, trash."
I pushed Lucius aside and stepped forward.
"Threatening people with a gun. Do you really think a gun like that can do anything to me?"
I doubled down on the bluff.
If that man truly believed I was the red-haired witch, he would hesitate for a moment at the sight of me standing composed before a gun.
"Hah! Even a witch dies if she's shot!"
But there was none of that.
"Witch, don't even think about trying any tricks!"
It would have been nice if he'd fallen for the bluff, but the man kept trying to confuse Lucius with his made-up story about a red-haired witch bringing calamity.
His mouth called me a witch, but in reality he thought of me as nothing more than a powerless girl.
"Get on your knees, witch! Lucius, that witch is deceiving you right now!!"
"That's...."
The only person they were trying to deceive was Lucius.
Since they could take me away secretly if they could just subdue Lucius, my only current ally, they were trying to persuade him.
Lucius was strong in close combat, after all.
"How absurd. If I were truly a woman with no power, wouldn't your real aim be to lock me up and do unspeakable things to me?"
"Hah, shut up, witch of calamity!"
"You keep going on about calamity, calamity... It's unpleasant."
Now was the time.
"I am the 'Crimson Mage,' who broke a long seal to save humanity."
"Crimson... what?"
"The Crimson Mage. You don't know it?"
"...What the hell is that, you crazy bitch."
"......."
To not know the epithet of a witch who ranked among the top five of the Heroes who gave me the most trouble five hundred years ago—how could this be?
'What's going on, Crimson Mage.'
Had five hundred years passed and that legendary battle where she blew away an entire mountain range against the Demon Dragon Belphegor not even been passed down?
Or was this place just so backwater that these people didn't know?
"......."
But then again, Lucius didn't seem to know either.
I didn't know the details about the Crimson Mage myself.
I just knew she was an incredible beauty, had red hair and red eyes similar to my current appearance, and earned the epithet 'Crimson' because she used fire magic brilliantly.
Ah, and her chest was staggeringly large.
A woman who walked around with breasts each bigger than my head, and whose skill ranked among the top ten Heroes—so I had mentioned an epithet that happened to suit my current appearance well.
But they didn't know it.
These people seemed to know nothing about the Crimson Mage.
In that case....
"You really don't know? She defeated the Demon King Belphegor and—"
"Aaaagh!!"
The village chief screamed.
The chief's son and the underlings behind him also recoiled in horror and stepped back.
"She really is a calamity! To utter a name that must never be spoken!"
"What changes just from saying a name?"
"Calamity will come!! You wretch, you're determined to destroy our village!!"
Killing intent began to fill the village chief's eyes.
He had been leering at me until moments ago, but now he seemed to have set even those lecherous intentions aside and was genuinely trying to kill me.
"Die!!"
With a click.
"!!"
BANG!!
The village chief pulled the trigger.
I grew dizzy at the sight of red blood spurting before my eyes.
"Lucius!!!"
"Guh...! Are you all right?"
"Why—why in the world!!"
This madman.
"I'm... fine. Guh...!"
Lucius had been shot in the shoulder.
He had thrown himself to protect me and taken the Magic Bullet in my place.
"Why did you throw yourself in front of me!!"
"Protecting, my master... guh...!"
"Don't talk! Damn it...!"
I couldn't use Heal.
Magic had attributes, and this undead body could not use Heal, a light-attribute spell.
To be precise, I could only use it by expending all the mana I currently possessed.
For an undead to use light-attribute magic, it consumes an enormous amount of mana. With the mana I currently had, I could easily burn a hundred people to death, but healing a single person was difficult.
So....
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"What do you mean, what's wrong!! You spoke the Demon King's name, so now death will come to this village!!"
"What kind of fucked-up shit is this over nothing but a name?!"
"Just?! You crazy bitch! Is the Demon Dragon a joke?! The worst Demon Dragon who tried to destroy humanity—is that a joke to you?!"
There was no reasoning with him.
And no way to heal Lucius.
...No, there was one way.
'Grab the Holy Sword.'
If he grabbed the Holy Sword, his wounds would heal, and he would gain the power to overcome the gun.
The gun the village chief fired wasn't a bullet-firing weapon but a 'Magic Bullet' type that fired condensed mana, and its speed was only slightly faster than a Magic Missile.
It was called a gun, but if you thought of it as a staff that could fire Magic Missiles, there was a way to break through this situation.
So.
"Step back, Lucius."
I sat Lucius down on the bed, then grabbed a broomstick roughly the length of my body.
Crack.
I channeled mana into my foot and snapped off the bristle end, and my broomstick became a wooden spear.
"Hah, what good is that thing here—"
Thunk!
One strike to the village chief's shoulder.
Faster than the gun, faster than Lucius's movements, I drove the spear tip into the village chief's shoulder in exactly the same spot.
"Gyaaagh!"
The village chief howled, and red blood sprayed.
The men beside him were startled for only a moment before they began charging at me with furious eyes.
"Hmph."
One strike toward the nearest one approaching.
"Aaaagh!!"
The man recoiled at the spear tip aimed at his throat and threw his hands up, and I drove the broomstick into the gap beneath his raised arm—his exposed solar plexus.
Crunch.
For most humans, the solar plexus is a vital point.
Unlike the brain or heart, which are protected by the skull or ribs, the solar plexus is one of the easiest places to subdue someone with a blunt strike.
"Ghk...!"
The man's eyes rolled back as he dropped to his knees.
In that instant, I pulled the spear back.
"You bitch!"
"Who are you calling a bitch?"
Toward the one who had dared to call me a bitch—the one Lucius had struck in the jaw—I swung the spinning spear upward.
The man hastily threw his head back, and my broomstick sliced through empty air.
"Hah! Is that all you've—"
Crunch.
The end of the broomstick, spun one more full rotation, drove toward the man's groin.
For humans—for men—there is one more vital point that delivers deathly agony when struck.
Women too, but for men the pain is especially severe.
" "
The man retreated without a word.
The impact was strong enough to break the broomstick, and I could unmistakably feel something crack.
Now all that remained was....
"S-Stop!!"
"......."
The village chief's son.
Supporting the village chief, he shouted at me while clutching the gun in the chief's place.
"Move any further and I'll shoot!"
"...Damn it."
His gun barrel was aimed not at me, but at Lucius.
It was aimed precisely at the heart, and my broomstick had shattered when I'd just crushed the other man's balls, leaving me with a short broken spear.
The shortened spear couldn't reach Lucius in time.
The mana I used for body enhancement had also reached a point where using any more was dangerous.
"Drop your weapon!"
"Master!! Don't!!"
"...Leave Lucius alone."
I threw the broomstick aside.
If I could catch the instant the gun barrel moved away from Lucius, I might have a chance.
'Aim at me.'
Not Lucius—me.
But the village chief's son was cunning, and with disgustingly sharp instincts, he kept aiming at Lucius.
"Heh, heh! Don't try any tricks! I won't leave you alone! Before I kill you, I'll—!"
A moment of life and death.
If a situation came where I might have to stake this body's life, then I....
"Lucius. Trust me. I will...."
In that instant.
Clang clang clang clang clang————
The alarm bell signaling an emergency began ringing throughout the village.
The village chief's group panicked, and I panicked too.
"...What?"
"It can't be... because of the gunshot?"
From far away.
Countless faint Demonfolk presences began approaching the village.
And then.
"Village chief——!! Goblins are launching a night raid!!!"
"C-Calamity witch!"
"......."
Huh.
Is this for real?