Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 

THE HIDAL PLATEAU, due south of the Stalwart Castle.

It took Reyha half a day to sneak into various places in the Holy Precincts and get an idea of the situation.

Diane and the Schultz warriors were shocked by the dark elf’s report.

First of all, all ten or so conjurers, including the magemaster, were daemonists. They weren’t even trying to hide their shining golden eyes, a dead giveaway that they’d fallen under daemonic influence. There was no need to use the Daemon’s Sight. The conjurers were forcing daemonism on all the residents. Luckily, there weren’t many yet who’d been so corrupted that their eyes had turned gold. On the contrary, there were many who opposed daemonism and had been locked up in a dungeon.

“The patriarch was among the prisoners…as well as the firstborn son of the duke of Filsand.”

“Even the patriarch?!” Diane and the others were stunned to learn about her father’s situation. If Elisabel and Geo had been there, they would have been astonished to hear that Balzard, the firstborn son whose death was the root cause of turmoil in the House of Filsand, was actually alive.

“From what we’ve seen in the past, the flesh and bones of nobles make especially good offerings to the daemons. They must have been kept alive for a ceremony.”

The faces of the Schultz warriors grew pale at Lade’s explanation.

“My merciful lord would certainly instruct me not only to save the Schultz people, but Balzard as well. I’ll release the prisoners,” Reyha declared.

“We’ll help, too,” someone said.

“Yes, they’re our people, after all.” In response to Reyha, the Schultz warriors gathered around and started to discuss a plan to save the prisoners.

Then, Diane leaned in to ask Reyha, “What about my ma?! Was my ma captured, too?!”

“The patriarch’s wife, Cher, has become a daemonist, equal in rank with the magemaster. I overheard a conversation in which the magemaster referred to Cher as ‘Daemon Calix.’”

“I-It can’t be!”

Diane was at a loss for words. The warriors were outraged, too. Only Lade and Reyha remained calm.

“A Daemon Calix,” Lade mused. “That’s what they call humans who harbor a strong hatred. They groom them with an intent to have them fornicate with an Unholy Spirit.”

“Unholy Spirit?” Diane had clearly never heard of such a thing. “What happens when they’re joined with the Daemon Calix?”

“Beats me,” said Lade. “We always hunt them down before that happens.”

 

***

 

I returned to Bruno Village using Teleport and from there rode the phantom horse through the night, arriving in the Twilight Wastelands by morning. Teleport is a convenient spell that can transport you over long distances in an instant, but the magician has to know the location already. There is also a significant probability that it can fail, so I only use it in emergencies. This was one of those emergencies, so when I was done, I planned to return directly to my guest room at the Stalwart Castle.

I thought the wastelands would be creepier, but I honestly couldn’t really tell the difference between them and ordinary wilderness. I used Analyze, but I didn’t really sense any evil forces. I felt relieved that it wasn’t a case in which the land itself was contaminated by something. In this state, my idea might just work.

In order to check it out further, I wandered around on the phantom horse. I saw promising sights a few times, but none of them were quite right for what I had in mind. I was beginning to think that this might be harder than I thought, but after flying around for a few hours, I got lucky and found the perfect test subject. I immediately flew directly over it on the phantom horse.

Creeeaaak!

Its rusted skeleton echoed in the empty wilderness. There was a pale aura surrounding it. The undead’s body armor and the sword and spear in its hands looked like high-class weapons, so it must have once been a high-ranking soldier of some company or another. Behind him (or at least I think it was a him), there were dozens of lower-ranked soldiers armed with spears and clubs. While they seemed a bit clumsy, they were in a clear formation of two rows.

My goal had been simple: a relatively powerful undead monster who could command lower-ranked undead. Yes, this is ideal.

If you think about it, it’s kind of pitiful, being forced to march on even after death…

It was also pretty wretched of me to use the pitiful walking dead for my own purposes, but I decided to brush that out of my mind, if it meant helping humans who were still living. I’ll arrange a service for you later, so you can move on.

Just as I wondered if they would notice that a living person was flying above their heads, these death soldiers looked up at me. Deep in the dark eye sockets of their skulls were eerie, blinking red dots.

Creeeaaak…

“Be at rest…but stay with me a little longer. As a consequence of this spell…”

A few hours later…

My experiment using the Control Undead spell was a huge success. Phew.

 

***

 

Once night fell, Lade, Diane, and the Schultz warriors began their infiltration of the Holy Precincts. Reyha’s recon work revealed that worship was held in the temple at night, and the main daemonist participants, such as the magemaster, would gather there. At first, Lade had planned to infiltrate the Precincts on his own, but the panicked Diane insisted on joining him with half of her soldiers. The remaining soldiers and Diane’s lieutenant went to rescue the prisoners, led by Reyha.

The warmaster barged in with a ghastly look on her face, unbefitting the daughter of the clan’s patriarch. None of their clanspeople stood in their way to keep them from entering the Holy Precincts. Even when they came across the rare person blocking them, every one of them had eyes that glowed gold, so Lade cut them down without a word.

The temple was illuminated with the flickering of countless flames.

“P-Princess…”

“Why in the world are the warmaster and her warriors—”

“D-did you come to punish us?”

“That huge warrior! He’s from the warrior clan!”

“Are you here to hunt the magemaster and daemonists?”

The Schultz clan members who’d gathered for worship were divided into the left and right sides of the room. In the eyes of those who let Diane and Lade pass, she could see guilt, fear…and hope.

Diane gritted her teeth. “Ma! Magemaster! How could you?!”

Cher, the magemaster, the conjurers, and countless daemonists stood in front of an altar placed in the center of the temple.

“Diane?” Cher asked vacantly. Her eyes were a cloudy gold, and her mouth hung open. She was unquestionably already a daemonist, no longer herself. The altar she was leaning against had been built with a random combination of daemon, human, and beast bones. It was a pattern of pure hatred.

Diane didn’t know it at the time, but that altar was the Unholy Spirit. It was essentially the same as the altar Baron Corbal of Relis City had tried to make.

“Ma! What the hell’s going on here?! Why are there daemonists terrorizing the Holy Precincts?!” There was fury in Diane’s red eyes as she shouted.

But then she realized that aside from the magemaster and conjurers, most of the daemonists were foreigners. There were very few Schultz clan members in their ranks. This provided a grain of relief in the corner of her mind.

“He would even come here…to our place of worship…to disturb our ambition. That accursed magus…Margilus…!”

It wasn’t the hollow-eyed Cher, but the magemaster who responded to Diane’s words. However, it wasn’t the justification she expected. It was true that the adjutant had also known his name. But how did the magemaster already know that Diane and Lade were connected to Geo?

“First Relis City, and now here! He must be the King of Daemons! It is just as was foretold: Margilus is the true demon! He is the natural enemy of the daemons we worship!”

“And we are your natural enemies.”

“Huh?!”

Lade. He was the strongest warrior in the entire history of a clan who’d hunted daemons for five hundred years.

He prioritized this mission above all other things in life. He had no intention of giving audience to the magemaster’s screams. His greatsword swung in a smooth, mighty arc.

WHOOSH!

“Aaaagh!”

“Huh?!”

“Protect your heads…! Arrrgh!”

The daemonists who stood beside the magemaster were quicker than their leader. They stood in front of him, in order to deflect the steel storm with their bodies. Naturally, they were rapidly cut in two. Their severed pieces flew every which way.

“Get in there! Capture my Ma—and kill the rest!”

“Yeah!”

“Hyah!”

Diane hesitated, but then she made a decision. Barking commands to her warriors, she pulled forth her rainbow-colored blade. The warriors, previously gone pale at the sight of their transformed hometown, were now overflowing with the will to fight. They drew their spears and axes and attacked the daemonists.

“Protect the Daemon Calix and the Unholy Spirit! She is the one who will open the Epicenter! The time of the great brood is upon us!”

“Gruh… Graaah!”

“Shwaaa!”

“E-eek!”

“M-monster!”

At the command of the magemaster, the daemonists started to transform. They were the leeched ones Lade had spoken of before. Some saw their arms contort and harden into the shape of blades, like the long fangs of some profane beast, their entire bodies covered with natural stone armor. Some shot a corrosive, poisonous spit from their mouths. If Geo had seen this, he might have uttered something like, “This game just changed genres.” Of course, to the Schultz clan, it was like a monster from another dimension.

The residents could only look on in terror, dreading whatever came next. Some screamed and tried to run away.

“This way!”

“D-did we make it?”

As the commotion started in the temple, Reyha led several warriors in an attack on the dungeon. She easily kicked down the daemonists who were on guard and freed the prisoners. The patriarch and a young man with long, blond hair—Balzard, the firstborn son of the duke of Filsand—were alive. But they showed the tell-tale signs of torture. Although weak, they were still able to walk on their own.

 

***

 

The battle in the temple intensified.

“Whoooa! Look out!”

“Die, monster!”

“Arrgh!”

“Eeh hee!”

The leeched ones were extraordinarily unnerving. But the Schultz warriors, led by Lade and Diane, didn’t hesitate. Lade brandished his gigantic greatsword, a blade that exceeded two meters in length. Diane swung her enchanted rainbow sword, mowing down the creatures one by one.

Lade always used the same style of swordsmanship. He specialized in speed, impact, and destructive force. Any of those qualities would be frightening on their lonesome. When he combined them all together, the strength of his massive blade seemed almost infinite. Even the leeched ones’ skin, covered in unnatural scales and stone, shredded apart like paper.

As for Diane, if Geo were to use Sense of the Adept to analyze her, she would probably be a Level 6 Warrior. In general, she was considerably strong, but her speed and muscular strength were lacking against monsters and nonhumans like the leeched. The fact that she could swing wildly and still cut down so many enemies was thanks to the power of her divine sword. It just needed to come in contact with its targets to kill them. The sword’s power, combined with her own courage and rage, upgraded her combat ability to a level that could equal any warrior of the clan.

“Damn you! Damn you, you accursed warrior!”

After losing most of his followers, the furious magemaster screamed at Lade. But he wasn’t going to stop at just screaming out abuses. When he put his hands together and pointed them at Lade’s massive, blood-drenched body, they shot a toxic-looking purple light, which transformed into a giant skull, twice the size of a human, with three eye sockets.

VWOMMM…

“Erk!”

This skull was known in conjuring as an evil spirit. The spirit, an incorporeal, disembodied force, wrapped itself around Lade’s massive body without suffering so much as a scratch from his blade.

Diane flicked her eyes toward him. “You okay, big guy?!”

“Haaah!” The magemaster cackled. “Yes! Evil spirit, suck his very essence dry! Leave him a dead, empty husk!”

For a moment, there was silence.

The magemaster was undoubtedly a powerful conjurer. If he used this evil spirit on a normal human, they wouldn’t be able to walk, or even move. They’d die a pitiful death within seconds.

But Lade was no normal human.

“Hrngh!”

The conjurer hesitated. “What?”

Lade kicked off the ground, still tangled up with the purple skull. Lunging, he closed the gap between him and the smirking magemaster.

It only took one swipe of his sword.

“AAAIIIIEEE!”

The magemaster had been cut clean in half at his waist. The severed pieces fell to the ground.

As his dreadful scream echoed in the temple, the glowing skull slowly disappeared.

 

***

 

My experiment in the Twilight Wastelands was a success. Once I was satisfied with the result, I used Teleport to return to the guest house at the Stalwart Castle. I gave my report and also asked about the state of the castle in my absence.

First, it seemed that several spies had managed to infiltrate the guesthouse. I’d expected as much. I was relieved that they’d been unable to open the windows with Wizard Key. After being beaten by the Invisible Demons, they all ended up running away. According to Elisabel, they were from the intelligence brigade, direct reporters to the duke and his court sorcerer.

Regarding negotiations to build a trade route, Ild and Feivel had entered into discussions with some of the duke’s officials. This, too, was going smoothly.

“It seems that both the aristocratic faction and the military faction have given up on trying to assassinate us,” Elisabel told me, giving a quick report on the diplomatic situation. First of all, Agveil himself, who was part of the aristocratic faction and had previously given actual assassination orders, came to the guesthouse to apologize in person. He claimed that he would lock his mother Alaine in the Filsand nunnery. According to him, she was the mastermind behind everything. He said the duke had already agreed to this. The local nobility was in turmoil.

“My stepmother is in an awfully bad spot now, so things might work out. I mean, it seems like Agveil is realizing that he can’t hide under her skirt anymore.” Elisabel appeared more refreshed than relieved. I got the impression that the boy had been dragged along by his mother, and it would be better for him to distance himself from her a bit. But even so…

“Does he really think a simple apology would make everything better after trying to kill you…? I really don’t understand blue bloods.” As usual, Ted voiced the exact commoner’s opinion that I had in mind myself. Do you have your own magic medal hidden up your sleeve, Ted?

“This is what happens when powers shift,” said Elisabel. “It would be best if his intentions have truly shifted to match his words. We’ll see.”

Clara snorted. “As far as I could tell, Agveil just wanted to do something because he’s afraid of Margilus.”

Well, if our resident nobles said so, it must be true.

The other report was on the actions of the military faction. Their policy seemed to have changed to trying to invite me to their faction as Elisabel’s husband. One corner of the guest room was overflowing with their gifts (incidentally, we re-gifted Agveil’s own tokens of gratitude to everyone else that brought us packages).

“There’ve also been a great many beautiful women calling,” Ted said, somewhat envious.

“It seems they really want to entice you, Master Margilus.” Ild joined in, furrowing his brow. That was a problem. Well, as long as they didn’t intend to do us harm, I could probably just ignore them.

“And?” I asked Elisabel. “Did you think of a way to persuade the duke?”

She shifted her weight. “Yes. I will show you the final diplomatic negotiation ever executed by Elisabel Roney Filsandia.”

 

***

 

“Diane? Oh, Diane… Why didn’t you bring Elisabel?”

“Ma! What are you saying?! What happened to you?!”

They were in the temple, now strewn with the fallen bodies of daemonists. Actually, there was one daemonist left: Diane’s mother, Cher, wife of the patriarch. She leaned against the unsettling altar, dazed. Her golden eyes reflected nothing of reality. She wasn’t even able to hold a coherent conversation with Diane, who was shaking her shoulders and trying desperately to talk to her.

“Elisabel… If we only had the blood of a Schultz princess…it would be complete. But it’s too late now.”

“Ma… Hang on!”

“Move.”

Lade trudged toward Cher, holding his massive sword. The patriarch’s wife stroked the altar that the magemaster had called the Unholy Spirit.

Diane knew what that one word meant. She held out both arms, standing defiantly in the path of the strongest swordsman in all the warrior clan.

“Hold it, big guy! My Ma is just a little drunk, that’s all! She’s not a daemonist!”

“That’s right. I’m not a daemonist… I’m…ah, I can’t stand it anymore! It’s too much. My head, my heart…they’re going to burst with this loathsome hatred!”

Cher started writhing, screaming as her eyes glowed more and more golden. Her upper body swayed unnaturally; her grey hair started to twist and stretch of its own accord.

“Shaaaylaaa!”

“Ma?!”

“Hrngh!” Lade held his sword with the point straight forward and tried to stab Cher. Diane turned to her mother, trying to hug her. But Cher’s metamorphosis happened before either of them could reach her.

Cher’s head swelled up with such force it looked like it would explode.

She was no longer a human—she was a mass of darkness. Just before that darkness swallowed up Diane, Lade grabbed her by the back of the neck.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Cher’s swollen head swallowed the Unholy Spirit, quivering as it grew larger. In just a few seconds, it was already the size of a bull…and soon, the size of a shed.

“So, the Daemon Calix is the Epicenter. She’s the nest.” Lade’s normally steady voice was just a little shaky.

A jet-black sphere towered over the stunned Schultz people, Diane, and Lade. On its surface, geometric lines resolved into the shape of a pupil.

It was the same as the daemon nest that Geo Margilus had destroyed, deep in the Valley of Daemons.

 

***

 

“What do you think, Margilus? It’s pretty good, right?”

“Mmm…”

Somehow I’d found myself observing Filsand military drills on the parade ground in front of the Stalwart Castle. I was in a magnificent command post about five meters tall. Next to me were the duke, dressed in the same black clothing he’d worn when we first met, and the pale-faced prime minister. The new captain of the guard (and former suitor) was also there. He seemed to have already recovered from losing consciousness from Stun Lightning and looked well. Although he did avoid making eye contact with me.

According to the prime minister, fully three thousand knights and soldiers were assembled below us, training in formation.

“It’s amazing,” I offered. “They’re extremely disciplined.”

The black army was actually moving in perfect synchronicity. They were divided into horizontal rows by brigade and changed formations from a V formation to an Λ formation based on the hand movements of the duke.

“The full military is three or four times this size. There aren’t many armies in Sedia with his level of skill or quality of armor. It’s only thanks to the prosperity of Filsand that we’re able to maintain such a fine standing force.”

“Mmm. I see.”

Rather than the militia or peasant levy one might expect from medieval Earth, the armies of Sedia were mostly composed of full-time regular soldiers—otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the daemons. This fact held true in Filsand. Clearly the duke knew that an army this large was proof of his tremendous wealth and power.

Ahh…now I get it.

“My castle is still pretty small,” I admitted. “I certainly couldn’t field an army like this. And we don’t have that much revenue, either.”

“Heh. Well, you’ll just have to keep building up your power from now on. But you can’t do that without soldiers and cash.”

The duke was probably trying to show me that even if I had the strongest power as an individual, he was above me militarily and economically. I was well aware that I needed more than one giant mech to win a war.

“So how about it? Are you ready to team up with me yet? I aim to absorb Velde as soon as possible. After that, you can take all the lands due west and north for yourself.” He finally declared his intent to invade Velde out loud.

“So, you intend to divide the continent between us? That’s a pretty grand plan.”

“I’m itching to get started,” the duke confirmed.

“Amazing…”

Looking around, both the prime minister and the captain looked genuinely happy. I supposed that was to be expected after they’d served the duke for so long. I was starting to think that shipping his first wife off to the nunnery was part of the duke’s master plan. After all, she had strong connections to Velde, and would surely oppose his scheme.

This really was a conversation with a genuine warlord. I’d be lying if I said that being party to such a conversation didn’t excite me a bit. However, I’d already chosen my path, and it wasn’t that of a warlord, but that of a wizard.

I thought maybe I could just refuse, saying “I would never do something so foul,” or maybe, “Only pigs start wars,” but in the end, I didn’t manage anything so fancy.

“Nah. I’ll pass.”

I shook off the temptation. The former went against my policy of being seen as non-threatening by the duke. If he knew I was a good man (not that I believed myself anything so pure), then he would gladly take advantage of that. In the unlikely scenario that Mora was taken hostage… That thought scared me. And the latter…well, insults would just be stooping to the duke’s level.

“What’s wrong? You’re not scared of a battle against humans, are you?”

“No, not exactly…”

It was hard to find the right balance here.

“Anyway, let’s find a quiet place to talk.”

 

***

 

A “quiet place” meant that we gathered in the war room of the Stalwart Castle.

On my side were Ild, Clara, Feivel, and Elisabel. On the duke’s side were the prime minister, Agveil, and other important officials.

The official topic for discussion was the trade route. The real topic was a strategy meeting about the duke of Filsand’s invasion of Velde.

As expected, the trade talks were simple and ended quickly. It was thanks to Ild and Feivel hashing things out with the duke’s economic advisors in advance. We had already achieved one of my goals in coming here.

“Now, let’s discuss a military alliance between the duchy of Filsand and Castle Getaeus!” the prime minister said.

It’s the anti-daemon alliance, I thought, but I kept my poker face. Elisabel stood up to speak instead.

“Excuse me. I would like to address the duchy of Filsand.”

“Huh?”

Her manner of speech was that of someone visiting from outside of the duchy. The duke and his people did not look happy about it.

Just then…

“Hey!”

Clara’s high voice echoed in the room, disturbing the atmosphere. Her blue eyes were looking out the window. We all looked in that direction, too.

“An Arcane Postcard? It’s from Reyha.”

There was a fairy outside the window holding the postcard I’d sent to Reyha, with a reply on it. I forgot myself for a moment and read it over. “This is bad…”

“What’s going on?”

“What happened?”

The duke and Clara asked their questions almost in unison. I tossed the postcard to Clara and answered immediately. “Your Grace, a daemon nest has appeared in the Schultz settlement. A daemon army thousands strong has already emerged, and they’re headed north.”

“What the hell?!”

Daemons were the natural enemy of all humans. This was common sense even in Filsand. The color drained out of the duke’s face.

“I’m going to check on the situation and rescue the Schultz clan. I would like to ask you to accept refugees if necessary.”

“Those barbarians?!”

“Please.”

In the postcard, Reyha had said that it might be necessary to bring Schultz clan refugees as far as Filsand. I made my appeal with greater force than anything else I had ever said to the duke.

 

***

 

While the duke had a bitter look on his face, he agreed to accept temporary refugees. I asked Clara to take care of the rest and immediately flew south. Just as its name suggested, the phantom horse was a super express mode of transportation.

If I were to walk, it would normally take around three days just to get to the Schultz fortress. According to Reyha’s postcard, the daemon nest had appeared beyond the clan’s fortress, somewhere deep in the Holy Precincts, which were now overflowing with a daemon army. Reyha, Lade, Diane, and all the Schultz clan survivors had abandoned the fort and escaped to the north. If that was the case, then I should be able to find the refugees before reaching the fortress.

After I’d flown on the phantom horse for a few hours, the sun began to set. Just then, I noticed people running for their lives on the plateau’s parched land. As far as I could tell through my Telescope Lens, it was definitely the Schultz clan. Everyone seemed exhausted. Well, that only makes sense. There’s a horde of daemons chasing after them.

“I really appreciate you coming with me. Now, take the reins.”

“E-eep!”

I wasn’t alone. Agveil, second son of the duke of Filsand, was riding on the phantom horse with me. When I’d started to head off alone, the duke had called out to stop me, and had asked me to take Agveil along. He’d said, “I know he doesn’t have any experience.” I didn’t know what his true intentions were, but right now, I grateful that I had Agveil to control the horse while I chanted spells.

“Open, Gate of Magic…”