Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: To the Western Great Forest (2)
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“Is that the Western Great Forest?”
“It’s incredible…”
After a ten-day journey, we had finally arrived near the Western Great Forest.
We had taken down another band of bandits along the way, so morale was through the roof. But in the face of the forest’s overwhelming presence, everyone seemed a bit cowed.
“What an enormous forest, Sir Sion.”
“Is this your first time seeing it?”
“Yes. What about you, Sir Sion?”
“For me… it’s also my first time.”
That’s what I told Lieselotte, but in truth, I had been here before.
Back when I was Archbishop Hausel, that is.
“The villagers from nearby sometimes venture in to gather herbs or wild vegetables, and lumberjacks go in for timber. But they always stick to the established paths.”
Lotus spoke up from beside me.
“Every year, dozens of people go missing after wandering too deep. No one knows if they were devoured by monsters or simply starved after getting lost.”
“It’s certainly a dangerous place.”
“I heard that even when the Heresy Inquisition sent an investigation team, they suffered casualties.”
“We’ll need to be careful, too.”
I said that, but I wasn’t particularly tense.
Because… I already knew the internal layout of the Western Great Forest.
* * *
“Brings back old memories.”
Before setting out, I had spoken with Dietrich about the Western Great Forest.
“We infiltrated the Western Great Forest together with you, my lord.”
“It wasn’t just the two of us, though.”
“It was a mission to pursue Archbishop Gerkius, who had betrayed the Dialogue Church.”
Some twenty years ago, I had entered the Western Great Forest in pursuit of Archbishop Gerkius.
“The Western Great Forest will make you lose your way if you enter without knowing anything. It’s because the spirits play their pranks.”
“That’s right. The spirits are the problem.”
Spirits.
They are ‘mana lifeforms’ created when mana spread across this entire world reacts to specific natural conditions.
Though called lifeforms, they possess no physical bodies, being composed entirely of mana.
The Western Great Forest, rich in natural energies, is the region with the highest concentration of these spirits.
“Spirits mostly dislike humans. We destroy nature and carry the scent of artificial civilization.”
“But there are ways to earn their favor.”
“Exactly. By offering them gifts.”
What do spirits like?
As mana lifeforms, spirits neither eat nor own anything. Material gifts mean nothing to them.
What they crave… is mana itself.
* * *
“Lieselotte, take out what we prepared.”
After venturing a certain distance into the great forest, I gave the order to Lieselotte.
“No, what is all this?”
“They’re all mana crystals.”
“All of this is mana crystals?!”
The squad members were stunned by the size of the sacks Lieselotte had pulled from the carriage.
“Everyone, sheath your swords.”
“Captain, sheathing our weapons in a dangerous place like this is risky!”
“I know. But do it anyway.”
“But why…”
“Spirits hate metal weapons. Just keeping them in their sheaths will have an effect.”
“Spirits?”
Leaving the puzzled squad members behind, I used my sheathed sword to draw a magic circle among the trees.
Then I began placing mana crystals at key points.
“Captain, what are you doing?”
“I’m calling the spirits. We have to offer them gifts.”
“Gifts? To the spirits?”
“Spirits love mana. So they love mana crystals packed full of it.”
“……!”
When I placed my hand on the magic circle and channeled my mana, the mana crystals reacted, releasing their mana.
To the spirits, it must feel like the tantalizing aroma of a feast.
“The spirits are starting to gather.”
“……!”
They had all been diligently training their mana sense, so they could feel it now.
The invisible mana lifeforms converging on us.
“C-Captain. This isn’t… some kind of heretical sorcery, is it?”
“No, it’s a magic circle from Holy Spirit Church texts.”
“Ah, I see. That’s a relief.”
A lie, of course.
This was a magic circle handed down in the Dialogue Church—a sorcery of the darkest kind.
The Heresy Inquisition would have my head if they found out… but no one here would recognize it as a Dialogue Church circle anyway.
[The spirits are overjoyed and frolicking about. They seem to like the mana crystals you brought.]
‘I brought a massive amount, after all.’
Prior to this mission, I had secured a hefty budget.
Under the pretext that the Heresy Inquisition needed to fund such a difficult assignment.
Bernhardt and Gustav had stepped in to negotiate midway, and in the end, Helena approved a substantial sum.
I invested almost all of it in mana crystals.
‘This should be more than enough.’
Soon after, the spirits had drained every last drop of mana from the crystals and flew toward us.
They swirled around us, bestowing a mana-based ‘blessing.’
“Wh-what is this?”
“It feels all tingly…”
“Th-this isn’t something weird, is it?”
“Don’t worry.”
I calmed my subordinates with a steady voice.
“Now that we have the spirits’ blessing, we won’t lose our way in this forest.”
“……!”
Getting lost in the great forest is the spirits’ doing.
More precisely, the mana waves they emit while flitting about disrupt human senses.
But with their blessing, we gain a sort of immunity, preventing any disorientation.
“Of course, the forest is so vast and dense that we’re still in danger if we let our guard down. Stay alert and let’s proceed.”
“Yes, sir!”
Some squad members looked curious about how I knew this method, but none pressed me.
They had simply chosen to trust and follow me.
[This only prevents us from getting lost. It won’t help us find Ashurai on its own.]
‘You’re right.’
Over a decade ago, Dietrich had entered the Western Great Forest with Ashurai in hand.
He needed the spirits’ power to repair the damaged blade.
‘Deep in the Western Great Forest lies a massive underground lake where the primordial spirits were born.’
Long ago, in a hidden underground lake deep within the Western Great Forest, the primordial spirits came into being.
They are the ancestors of all spirits and were said to possess immense power.
Legend has it that a certain spirit mage once subjugated these primordial spirits, and the sword he forged with their power was Ashurai.
‘The power of those primordial spirits still lingers in that underground lake. It’s the only place that can repair Ashurai.’
Dietrich had headed for the lake to fix Ashurai.
But upon hearing from a comrade that I had died, he abandoned the sword and fled the forest.
Thus, Ashurai should still be slumbering in that lake.
‘So… I just need to get there.’
As I lifted my head with that thought, a twinkling will-o’-wisp appeared before us.
“Wh-what’s that?!”
“A ghost?!”
“They say the Black Forest is haunted by the spirits of those who died lost…”
The subordinates grew agitated, but I raised a hand to quiet them.
“Everyone, stay calm. It looks like the spirits are guiding us.”
“Th-the spirits…”
“Are guiding us?”
“Yeah, it’s flickering like it’s telling us to follow.”
Another lie, of course.
The floating light before us now was none other than Dietrich.
He was disguising himself as a spirit to lead the way.
‘If I admitted knowing Ashurai’s location, it’d be too suspicious.’
We’d already raised eyebrows by offering mana crystals to the spirits. Knowing Ashurai’s spot on top of that would be overkill.
Helena might nitpick it in her report later, so better to play it off as the spirits’ goodwill.
“They must have figured out we’re searching for Demon Spirit Sword Ashurai. They probably remember the Heresy Inquisition knights who entered the forest before, hunting for it.”
“Ah…!”
“The Inquisition once speculated Ashurai was stored where the forest’s mana converges most strongly, but they couldn’t pinpoint the exact location. The spirits know, though.”
“If we follow them, we’ll find Ashurai!”
We began making our way through the forest, following Dietrich in his spirit guise.
All the while staying vigilant. The spirits’ pranks were no longer a concern, but the great forest teemed with all sorts of monsters.
[Hey.]
Suddenly, Igzard’s voice rang out.
[I sense considerable mana nearby. A lot of them.]
‘Monsters?’
[Not ordinary ones. This is…]
Igzard trailed off.
‘What is it?’
[Rare ones. Undead.]
‘Undead…’
Ordinary lifeforms die once and that’s the end. But if mana infuses a corpse for some reason, it starts moving again.
Such beings are called undead. A prime example is the ‘zombie,’ which arises if a body isn’t properly purified before burial.
The Holy Spirit Church teaches that undead must be prioritized over other monsters. Death is the law of the world as ordained by the Holy Spirit, and undead defy that law.
The Dialogue Church holds a similar view… though they occasionally produce mages who pursue corpse-manipulation magic.
‘People who died lost in the forest? Or undead from monster corpses?’
[Hard to say.]
Dietrich must have sensed the undead too, as he flickered in warning.
“Something’s off. Everyone, draw your swords.”
“Is that okay?”
“The spirits will understand.”
As ordered, the knights drew their blades.
Then, eerie shadows began emerging from the dark forest, one by one.
“Skeletons…?”
“Skeletons!”
Skeletons.
The term for undead reduced to bare bones, with all flesh gone.
They may look frail with no muscle, but they wield stronger mana than regular zombies.
It’s only natural, moving solely on mana power.
‘Skeletons in the Western Great Forest?’
Undead form when mana infuses corpses, but in the Western Great Forest, various creatures swiftly decompose bodies and absorb their mana, making undead rare.
They do occasionally spawn in damp caves rife with foul mana… but I’d never heard of skeletons here.
“Form up as trained!”
“Yes, sir!”
Pushing aside my doubts, I gave the order to my men.
There were quite a few skeletons, but well within our combat capabilities.
“Skeletons have no vital points! They’ll keep coming even if you decapitate them or sever their spines, so target the limbs instead!”
“Got it!”
The silently approaching skeletons charged.
Edwin, Lieselotte, Lotus, and the others unleashed sword auras, smashing the skeletons apart.
“Sir Sion! Skeletons coming from that side too…!”
“I’ll handle them all.”
Seeing over a dozen skeletons closing in, I moved without hesitation.
I shaped my sword aura into blades and sliced them down one by one.
“……?”
In the midst of it, I sensed something off.
‘There’s something at the neck vertebrae.’
Flash!
After sweeping my sword to fell all the skeletons around me, I examined the scattered remains on the ground.
‘Every skeleton has intricate runes carved into its neck vertebrae.’
Not etched by knife or awl.
Magical runes.
‘These are… the incantations from Archbishop Gerkius, whom I killed years ago?’
Over twenty years back, the archbishop who betrayed the Dialogue Church and fled here.
Traces left by the Dialogue Church’s greatest necromancer, a master of undead creation.