Part 7 of 8
…Why am I fighting this dragon anyway?
I don’t know.
I try to remember, but I can’t think straight, as if the snow has even piled up inside my head.
I know I was trying to get somewhere.
But where? I can’t remember.
I wanted to go somewhere, to go home to a particular place, but I can’t remember where that was.
All I can do now is try to defeat the enemy in front of me.
“GRAAAAAH!”
“Most pitiable, indeed. Is the desire to fight the only thought that remains in your mind?”
I keep attacking with both my swords.
My hands are too numb to move properly, and my frozen body is painfully slow.
With attacks like this, I won’t be able to put a scratch on this dragon’s scales no matter how long I keep at it.
But as I continue these stubbornly straightforward swings, the dragon finally draws back as if in annoyance.
“It would be a simple task to slaughter you. I would certainly like to do so, as thanks for laying waste to our mountains. But our lord has ordered us not to lay a hand on you so-called reincarnations, so sadly, I cannot put your mind to rest.”
The dragon flaps her wings, taking to the air.
I feel like she’s saying something important, but I just can’t seem to understand.
I hear its voice, but the meaning of the words doesn’t come through.
“…Still, if the cold was to finish you off, then that would only be an accident, not any fault of mine.”
The dragon’s mouth curls slightly.
I don’t know how to read a dragon’s expression, but she seems smug, almost mischievous.
That expression basically vanishes immediately, though, leaving only a cold light in the dragon’s eyes.
It’s a look befitting the ruler of this glacial hell.
“May you fall to ruin in this frigid land. It would be best for your own sake, as well.”
Finally, with a pitying glance, the dragon flies away.
The immediate threat is gone.
But the blizzard around me doesn’t relent.
I can feel my life force draining away just by standing in it.
I have to hurry.
…But to where?
I know I was trying to go somewhere.
Why can’t I remember?
I know it was a very, very important place.
But try as I might, I can’t seem to remember.
I want to remember, yet part of me doesn’t want to at all.
Because that place doesn’t exist anymore.
I lost everything.
My family, my pride, everything.
I have no right to go back there.
Not after I ae my own sister…
“Kill.”
That voice gave me an order.
I felt myself squeezing a small, skinny neck.
“Eat.”
Another order.
My fangs tore into skin, and the taste of blood filled my mouth.
…Did I just start to remember something I shouldn’t have?
I don’t know.
Maybe it’s better that way.
Either way, if I don’t get away from here, I’m going to freeze to death.
Where should I go?
As I stand there thinking, I see something go flying into the air from the ground.
Was it magic?
Well, I have no other destination.
Might as well go take a look.
Forgetting my initial destination entirely, I start walking toward the first thing that catches my eye.
I’M LOST
I awaken to the crackling sounds of a fire.
Good morning.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
As I lie there in a daze, Vampy notices me.
Then I remember everything that happened before I passed out, and now I’m wide-awake.
“How are you feeling? Everything in order?”
At that, I investigate the state of my body for a moment.
Nothing feels out of order.
I thought I remembered the arm Sael grabbed feeling broken to splinters, but now it’s perfectly fine.
The baby bloodsucker must have healed me while I was unconscious.
I nod to say that I’m fine.
“All right, then.”
Her reply is short, but I can tell that she’s relieved.
Since she saved me and all, I work up the nerve to thank her.
“Thanks.”
I might not be much of a talker, but even I have enough manners to show appreciation at a time like this.
“I-it wasn’t a big deal, all right!”
Wow. What’s with that reaction?
I thought you were supposed to be the crazy stalker character, not some aggressively shy girl.
Well, whatever.
At any rate, I didn’t wake up in heaven, so it looks like I survived.
That’s a relief.
I sit up slowly and look around.
All I can see are walls of ice.
The baby bloodsucker must have used her Ice Magic to make an igloo for us to take shelter in, I guess.
There’s a little fire burning in the center of the igloo, and Vampy, Mera, and Sael are sitting around it.
“Now that Lady White is awake, what should our next course of action be?” Mera asks, looking toward the baby bloodsucker.
“We meet up with Miss Ariel and the others, of course.” She responds without hesitation. “But it would be silly to run off looking for her. Since we got swept away in the avalanche, we don’t even know where we are right now. Our best bet is to give some kind of sign of our location so that Miss Ariel will come to us.”
Of course. That’s the first rule when you get lost like this.
Don’t go anywhere.
Otherwise, you’ll just get even more lost, and it’ll be harder for your rescuers to find you.
Luckily, Vampy’s magic can make a base for us and a fire.
That helps with the worst of the cold, and we can use the fire to melt snow for water.
Food is a bigger problem, but we just have to trust that the Demon Lord will find us soon.
That’s the gist of the bloodsucker duo’s conversation anyway.
Sael and I just sit and listen.
What else are we supposed to do?
I’m useless in battle, and Sael is Sael.
“If worse comes to worst, maybe we can eat this?”
Vampy holds up…a monkey.
Ah, it’s the one that grabbed on to her before.
Wait, that thing’s dead as a doornail!
Doesn’t that mean its monkey pals are gonna come looking for revenge?!
“Well, if it happens…you know.”
As if sensing my concerns, Vampy casts a meaningful glance toward Sael.
All eyes in the igloo gather on the puppet spider.
Yeah, that makes sense.
She’s the strongest fighter in this group, so if anything happens, we’ll have to count on her.
With all eyes on her, Sael’s expression doesn’t change, but she is definitely emitting a Me? Seriously?! kind of vibe.
Um, are we gonna be all right?
With Sael being the way she is and all?
Nah, it’s fine, no problem.
I’m sure of it. Probably. Maybe.
“Then I shall emit a signal. If I cast a spell toward the sky, I have no doubt Lady Ariel will see it.”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
Mera exits the igloo.
By the way, this igloo doesn’t have any entrance or exit.
If you want to go out, you have to use Ice Magic to make an exit.
As soon as Mera does just that, the reason for this annoying design choice becomes abundantly clear.
Eeeeek!
What is this?!
It’s freeeezing!
Mera fires a spell toward the sky and hurries back inside, closing the entrance behind him.
This is crazy, dude.
It’s way too cold out there. If we left an exit open, we’d almost 100 percent freeze to death.
I don’t think we could leave this spot even if we wanted to.
Vampy and crew might manage out there, but not me.
Nope. If I went outside, I’m sure I’d be a goner.
My defense against the cold, my blanket, was all frozen up even before I lost it in the avalanche.
Seems like I lost all my heating magic stones in the commotion, too.
In other words, I’m totally unarmed.
Technically, my clothes are meant to be somewhat cold resistant, but that’s nothing in the face of this frigid wasteland.
So I guess our only choice is to wait until the Demon Lord and the others come running to save us.
There were still extra blankets and magic stones in the carriage, so I’ll be able to get by with those.
With nothing else to do, we warm ourselves around the fire.
Vampy is prodding at the dead monkey, sniffing the blood around its mouth and stuff.
You know those things taste gross, right? Trust me on this one.
Now, after I turned into an arachne, I confirmed that my spider half and my human half had different senses of taste.
The spider half could eat all kinds of unpleasant things without much of a problem, but in the human half’s case, some things were too gross to swallow.
So if that monkey tasted gross to my spider body, you better believe it’s gonna be nasty for a human.
I ate tons of those things as a spider, and I hated every bite.
There’s no way a human can eat one.
I gently take the baby bloodsucker’s hand and pull it away from the monkey.
When she looks at me in confusion, I just shake my head.
You can’t eat that.
My meaning seems to get through to her. She wrinkles her nose and lets go of the monkey.
I can’t help but notice a relieved expression flashing across Mera’s face.
Yeah, you didn’t want to eat that, either, did you, buddy?
Maybe he just figured that desperate times call for desperate measures, and that’s why he didn’t stop Vampy.
He may be a servant, but he’s still able to warn his master when she’s about to make a mistake.
I guess during our journey, she must’ve gotten so used to eating monsters that she saw this monkey as a possible food source, even if it’s painfully obvious how gross it would be.
I’m not sure whether to be impressed at her hardiness or disturbed at her lack of girliness again.
I mean, look at Mera’s face, will you?
He’s all, Young Miss, no waaay can we eat that!
Vampy’s gotten more powerful and adaptable, but her maiden instincts have seriously lapsed.
Hmm. Well, uh, good luck with the romance, kid.
While I give the baby bloodsucker a tepid gaze, my hand casually touches the ground—and a shiver runs down my spine.
Something touched my hand when I put it on the ground.
It’s an enormous white scythe.
My personal weapon that I crafted from my own body.
You could even say that it’s my other half.
I thought it was still in the carriage, yet somehow, here it is.
When I absorbed all the energy of that bomb and turned into a deity, my body alone wasn’t able to take in all that power, so some of it flowed into this scythe. As a result, it’s got more than a few mysterious powers.
Even before I evolved, its abilities were usually based on my own skills, but what it did and when it did it varied quite a bit, and in ways that even I didn’t fully understand.
Not to mention, it did all those things without my willing it to do so, as if it had a mind of its own.
Just like it’s doing right now.
But it doesn’t do things randomly—there’s always a reason.
In this case, it probably came to me by way of teleportation, but that means something caused it to happen.
There’s some reason that I need to have my scythe on me right now.
In that instant, I don’t even wonder what to do.
An instinctive sense of danger overwhelms me, so I trust my instincts, grab my scythe, and stand up with it held out in front of me.
But somehow, that action winds up saving my life.
With a loud boom, the world around me suddenly changes.
I don’t know what happened or why.
All I know is that it’s painful.
It hurts.
My whole body hurts but especially my arms.
Not only that, but my vision is filled with pure-white snow.
Just as I realize that I must be lying facedown on the ground, vicious cold assails my entire body.
S-s-s-so cold!
I must be outside the igloo now.
I don’t know what I’m doing out here, but I know I’m freezing my butt off!
I have to get back inside!
But when I sit up and look around, I don’t see the igloo anywhere.
Instead, I see two big chunks of ice that must be the remains of the igloo.
Like what would happen if you chopped the dome in half, straight down the middle.
In fact, that’s gotta be exactly what happened.
But instead of focusing on the destroyed igloo, my eyes wander over to what stands beyond it.
A person?
There’s a person there.
Specifically, a man, who appears to be half-naked in this awful cold.
Actually, more than half. The only thing he’s wearing is a tattered piece of cloth to cover the most vital bits.
You some kinda pervert?! Wait, this isn’t the time!
But seriously, um, aren’t you cold?
Okay, now’s not the time for stupid reactions like that, especially not once I see his face.
It looks totally human, except for the two horns sprouting from his forehead…but that’s not why.
It’s the face itself that surprises me.
I know that face.
“Sael! Get him!”
While I’m frozen in shock, I hear Vampy’s voice cry out.
Immediately, Sael hops out of one of the two pieces of the igloo.
The baby bloodsucker peeks out of the other, checking around.
Luckily, it looks like they were in the safe parts of the igloo, so they didn’t get hurt.
Hmm? Does that mean that I got caught in whatever destroyed the igloo and thrown all the way over here?
As I belatedly realize what happened to me, the blood drains from my face.
The only reason I survived must be because I had my scythe at the ready.
I’m sure I would have died if it didn’t defend me.
That would also explain why my arms hurt so much.
The scythe must have used some kind of barrier to reduce the damage.
Otherwise, with my weak constitution, I would never be able to survive an attack that could destroy the igloo like that.
Attack… That’s right.
We must have been attacked.
By whom? Well, that’s obvious.
There’s only one new person around here.
The man with the horns over there.
So the man with the horns must be the one who attacked us.
No wonder the baby bloodsucker ordered Sael to attack him.
Sael whips out her six hidden arms and their respective weapons as she charges at the horned man.
Her crazy-high stats mean that she attacks so fast, a now-normal person like me can’t even follow her movements.
I knew that she produced her arms and pulled out her weapons before only because I’m familiar with her actions, not because I was able to see it.
It’s just like how even someone who knows a lot about guns wouldn’t be able to follow a fired bullet with their naked eye.
And they wouldn’t be able to stop that bullet, either.
Before I can call out to stop her, Sael’s already finished her attack.
Or rather, I guess she finished before I even thought about trying to stop her.
That’s how fast she moves.
And no ordinary person could survive an attack from a monster like Sael.
But somehow…
“Huh?”
Vampy murmurs in shock.
The man with the horns managed to block Sael’s attack with the katana he holds in both hands.
I can’t believe it.
How was he able to defend himself against Sael?
And as if to prove that it wasn’t just chance, he keeps parrying each of Sael’s successive attacks.
It doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to counterattack, but Sael’s attacks aren’t touching him, either.
They’re evenly matched.
I guess this guy with the horns is no ordinary person.
In fact, I think I know exactly who he really is.
After we’ve heard so much about him, it’d be crazier not to realize it.
The ogre. The one who wiped out all the adventurers in that town, got chased away by the imperial army, and caused all this abnormal weather by antagonizing the ice dragons.
He honestly looks way more like a human than an ogre, but he’s sporting some horns, so it’s probably a safe bet.
Maybe he underwent some special evolution from an ogre or something.
Anyway, for the time being, we’ll just call him Mr. Oni.
And if my guess is right, Mr. Oni is probably—
“Merazophis!”
A shriek from Vampy interrupts my thoughts.
Oof, my ears are ringing!
Turning toward the source of the cry, I see Mera looking like he’s in pain and the baby bloodsucker running up to him in a panic.
Come to think of it, Mera was sitting right across from me in the igloo, which got sliced in half.
If that attack blew me away, then it must’ve blown Mera away, too.
But while I had my scythe to defend me, Mera didn’t have anything to soften the blow.
“My deepest apologies. I was unprepared.”
Um, come on.
How were you supposed to be prepared for a complete surprise attack?
It doesn’t make sense to me, but knowing Mera’s serious personality, he’s probably ashamed to have fallen victim to a totally unforeseen sucker punch.
I guess he thinks he should have noticed earlier somehow.
“No, it’s fine. Let’s just heal your wounds.”
The baby bloodsucker starts casting Healing Magic on Mera.
Uh, helloooo? He’s not the only one hurting, y’know.
Just gonna ignore me?
I see how it is…
Left with no other choice, I use my scythe as a cane to drag myself to my feet.
My whole body hurts, probably from getting bowled over by that initial attack.
My arms are killing me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I broke a few bones.
And on top of all that pain, the cold just makes it ten times worse.
Hmm, this isn’t looking good.
I’m not gonna die immediately, but if things stay like this for too long, I might be in serious trouble.
I could freeze to death within the hour.
Shoot. We’ve gotta take care of this problem and make a new igloo to hide in.
How exactly are we supposed to solve this issue, though?
I look toward Mr. Oni, still locked in battle with Sael.
It really is amazing how well he’s holding his own, but I think Sael’s still going to win in the end.
Sael looks like she has a lot more energy to spare than he does.
Each of Sael’s stats is over ten thousand, she wields six swords, she can move them in typically impossible ways because she’s a puppet, and she’s even got Poison and Dark Magic like any good spider monster.
Between their high stats, solid strength, and tricky strategies, puppet spiders are really difficult to take on, especially if you’ve never seen one before.
Thus far, they’ve mostly faced only enemies so weak that they could kill them in one hit or enemies like the tank from two years ago that are so strong, they can’t even fight back, so the puppet spiders haven’t had much of a chance to show off their skills, but they really are multitalented.
They’ve got the abilities of spider monsters, and since they control human-shaped puppets, they can imitate human movements, too.
Not to mention, those puppets can move in ways humans can’t, and they don’t need to worry about getting hurt.
Frankly, as long as their stats are evenly matched, the spider puppets can beat just about anyone.
They’re invaluable allies.
…Even if it’s easy to forget that when they’re so useless most of the time.
Anyway, if this battle keeps going like this, my money’s on Sael to win.
It’s been so long since she faced an evenly matched opponent that it almost seems like she’s panicking and not using her abilities to their fullest, but I’m sure that’s just my imagination.
Yeah, let’s go with that.
Once Sael calms down, things will turn even more in her favor, I’m sure.
But should we really be okay with that?
I mean, this oni here definitely looks like—
“You’ve certainly done it now.”
Interrupting my thoughts yet again, Vampy stands up slowly.
You can almost feel the rage over her precious Mera’s injury rippling off her body.
I think I can actually see a black aura around her.
Um, hellooo? You’re still gonna ignore me even after you healed Mera?
I managed to stand up somehow, but I’m still in pretty rough shape, y’know.
So you haven’t noticed me at all? I see…
But that’s going to be a bit of a problem.
I have to stop the bloodsucker from charging at Mr. Oni, so I start wobbling my way toward her.
“Lady White!”
Mera, bless his heart, notices me first.
He stands up, his body already healed by the little vamp’s magic and his own automatic self-healing.
His clothes got torn up in the attack, so he looks kind of wild and sexy, like the cover of a romance novel.
Between him and Mr. Oni, that’s two men now who are severely underdressed for the cold here.
“Ah.”
The baby bloodsucker looks at me blankly.
What do you mean, ah?!
You forgot about me, huh? You totally forgot I existed!
“Oh dear! We’ve got to heal you right away!”
After a momentary look of Oops! Vampy hurriedly transitions to a panicked expression and runs over to me.
Yeah, I’m sure you really are panicked, but isn’t half of it because you forgot all about me for a minute there?
As she somewhat awkwardly starts the healing, I can’t help glowering at her a little.
But now’s not the time for such petty thoughts.
“Look.”
As Vampy heals me, I point at the oni, locked in battle with Sael.
I know it’s rude to point, but I can’t worry about that at the moment.
“Oh yes. That must be the ogre we’ve heard so much about. Ogres look a lot more like humans than you’d imagine, don’t you think?”
No, I know that part.
That’s not what I’m trying to say right now, though.
Wait, could it be that she hasn’t noticed?
I have no choice but to say out loud what’s been bothering me.
“Sasajima.”
This oni’s face looks very familiar to me.
But it isn’t one that I’ve seen in this world.
His face is among Hiiro Wakaba’s memories.
Along with the name Kyouya Sasajima, a Japanese high school boy.
“What?”
Apparently, I was right: She hasn’t noticed. The baby bloodsucker looks at me like I’m a crazy person.
So I’m forced to point at Mr. Oni again and say his name out loud.
“Kyouya Sasajima.”
“GRAAAAAAH!”
Looks like that name set him off.
The oni’s roar echoes through the area.
It’s an inhuman sound, the howl of an ogre.
Startled by the sudden noise, Sael freezes in place for just a moment.
And the oni swings down the sword in his right hand without hesitation.
The sword is wreathed in flames, obviously different from his attacks up until now.
Sael quickly recovers from her shock and jumps back, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Cutting through air, the oni’s attack smashes into the ground instead.
And then an enormous cracking sound fills the air!
Flames ripple out from the center of impact, accompanied by a shock wave.
The flames melt the ice, and the shock wave breaks the very earth!
Judging by the fact that Mr. Oni was evenly matched with Sael, I already figured his stats had to be around the ten thousand mark.
Since the earth dragon Araba was able to use magic to create pillars of earth instantly, and his stats were only around four thousand, you can tell that high stats basically grant the ability to cause natural disasters at will.
So with stats above ten thousand, just striking the ground can literally split it open.
But the results of that fracture are far wilder than I imagined.
Giant fissures start to spread from the sword stuck in the ground.
They’re so deep that I can’t even see to the bottom.
And by looking at the cross section of those cracks, I learn the cause of this unexpected level of destruction.
I had just assumed that this was ordinary ground, but that’s not true.
It’s actually made up of thick ice.
In other words, we’re standing on a glacier.
The oni’s flame-based attack broke the glacier, forming a giant crevasse.
Fortunately, the vampire duo and I are still standing on solid ground.
But Sael starts to get swallowed up.
Of course, Sael has Dimensional Maneuvering, so she can handle suddenly being airborne.
But that’s only if there isn’t someone attacking her.
“Sael!”
Vampy calls out a warning, but it’s a second too late. Mr. Oni launches an attack directly at Sael in midair.
He’s using the other katana, not the one in his right hand that broke the glacier.
The sword produces lightning that lands a direct hit on Sael!
Once the blinding flash and loud rumble have cleared, Sael is nowhere to be seen.
She must have fallen into the crevasse.
I don’t think she’s dead. If it was an enemy like the tank whose attacks could break through resistances, that would be one thing, but that was definitely lightning.
Sael has Lightning Resistance, and her magic resistance stats are over ten thousand.
She won’t die that easily.
But she’s probably not unharmed either, and we don’t know how deep that crevasse goes, so there’s no way of knowing how long it’ll take her to get back up.
Our most powerful ally is temporarily out of commission.
“GRAAAAAH!”
And then there’s the oni, who’s charging toward us with what definitely doesn’t look like friendly intentions.
We’re in big trouble.
THE NOTES OF BUIRIMUS THE SUMMONER
Empire Calendar 1379
Seventh day of the Month of Abu
Today I arrived at the location of my new position.
It seems that plans to create a foothold in the Mystic Mountains have been proceeding little by little since before my arrival.
I was concerned that I would have to build a village from scratch but found one already built at the base of the Mystic Mountains.
The people living there are soldiers who were sent here due to particular circumstances, like me.
They’ve all been stationed in this place because of bad behavior, violation of military regulations, and so on.
You might even call it a penal colony.
I’m impressed that they were able to build a village at all in a place like this, with monsters from the Mystic Mountains constantly appearing.
But this is where the hard work truly begins.
The mission that I’ve been given is to conquer the Mystic Mountains.
In other words, they want me to travel around this monster-ridden mountain range and secure a route to the demon realm.
There have been other attempts to cross the Mystic Mountains and invade the lands of demons, but all of them have ended in failure, thanks to the extreme cold and dense monster population of the mountains.
In other words, I’ve been tasked with the impossible.
I’m certain that my superiors do not expect me to succeed, either.
All they want is for me to die a dog’s death in the Mystic Mountains.
Either that or they think I can at least make some small contribution to the empire by reducing the number of monsters in the Mystic Mountains ever so slightly.
I have no intention of dying, of course.
Even if I cannot conquer the mountains, if I slowly but surely produce results, perhaps I will eventually be permitted to return to the imperial capital.
The capital, where my beloved wife and newborn child await.
I cannot die before I have even seen my child’s face.
I know not when I will be able to return, but I must persist until then.
Sixth day of the Month of Maya
It has been some time since my arrival here.
In the beginning, I had to spend all my time maintaining the village, but I’ve gradually reached the point where I can also spare some time to explore the Mystic Mountains.
However, that exploration is currently proceeding at a painfully slow pace.
We’ve finally gathered enough cold-resistant equipment for our group, but they become meaningless when venturing deep in the mountains.
Even a short excursion is extremely dangerous in this cold.
On top of that, monsters that thrive in these climes often attack us.
Most times, we can barely make any progress before we’re forced to turn back.
And when we do make it past a certain point, goblins start to appear.
It would be reckless to attempt to engage with dangerous monsters like goblins in these conditions, so we turn back without confronting them whenever we see them.
While we must prioritize safety, we are simply not getting any results.
How am I to earn back the respect of my superiors at this rate?
I keep assuring myself to be patient.
Empire Calendar 1380
Twenty-Sixth day of the Month of Sata
Today, I received a letter from my wife.
Our daughter has been kidnapped.
As soon as I received the letter, I attempted to leave for the capital, but my aide stopped me.
This village is a penal colony in all but name.
If I leave without permission, I will be treated as a deserter.
Though I couldn’t bear not to act, my frantic aide somehow persuaded me to desist.
However, I am ill at ease.
I sent letters to every last one of my acquaintances in the imperial capital, pleading for a way to get permission to return.
Surely even the authorities in the capital would not deny me when my daughter has been kidnapped.
I am concerned most, however, for my daughter’s safety.
This village is a considerable distance away from the imperial capital.
Since I’ve just received the letter, that means that a fair amount of time has already passed since my daughter was kidnapped.
How is she faring?
I can scarcely bear to put pen to paper without knowing what might happen to my daughter as I do so.
Oh, gods.
Please protect my daughter.
Fourteenth day of the Month of Nahe
The only replies I receive from the capital say that they cannot permit me to leave this village.
It seems the conditions of my banishment are more serious than I realized.
I am being held responsible for the deaths of my entire squad, and so I was sent here because I could not provide sufficient explanation, but it turns out there is more to it than that.
The spider monster I encountered in the Great Elroe Labyrinth—the one that is now known as the Nightmare of the Labyrinth—has left its underground lair and started to wreak havoc on the surface.
There are rumors, I am told, that it was our squadron that provoked it into emerging from its nest.
This is the accusation is the real reason I’ve been sent to this place.
That would explain the help that Sir Ronandt has been providing.
He must feel guilty that I was forced to carry all the blame for the incident.
But it is only because Sir Ronandt was there that I survived at all.
I feel only gratitude toward him, not resentment.
Still, I am immensely grateful for his support.
In this remote region, we are always in need of supplies, and it is thanks to Sir Ronandt’s support that we have been able to get them.
So I must impose upon his kindness.
Besides, I now have urgent reason to rack up more achievements.
If I wait long enough, years perhaps, I imagine things will cool down enough that I will be allowed to return.
However, if I wish to ensure my daughter’s safety, I must get to the capital as soon as possible.
If I was permitted to leave, I would already be on my way, but then I would almost certainly be captured as a criminal of the worst kind.
If this was simply an internal affair in the empire, then perhaps they would be willing to consider the extenuating circumstances and allow it, but the Nightmare caused trouble in another nation.
If the empire chose to place the blame on me and relayed that information to the other nations, then they cannot let me off so easily.
In order to get back to the capital, I must present some great accomplishment to prove my worth.
What can I possibly do?
Fifth day of the Month of Haku
Recently, the goblins have been branching out of their territory.
It used to be that we saw goblins only deep in the mountains, but lately they appear even on the outskirts.
At this rate, they will soon encroach on the land near our village.
Thus, I have had no choice but to give my men permission to engage in battle with the goblins.
I only hope that there will be no losses.
Thirteenth day of the Month of Haku
I have learned the reason behind the goblins’ recent territorial expansion.
Their weapons have improved.
Goblins live far away from human settlements, forming their own small communities, but the level of their development has always been far inferior to us humans.
As such, their weapons were always quite primitive, but recently they have improved by leaps and bounds.
The weapons we seized from a group of goblins in battle were all superior in quality to our own.
Goblins are already a troublesome foe, but with weapons like these, they’re exponentially more dangerous.
These weapons must be the reason the goblins have been able to steadily expand.
But where are they getting such things?
It is no easy task to acquire weapons better than those of the empire.
The ones we are using are mass-produced products, but they are still weapons made by our homeland, which calls itself the greatest nation in the world.
Even our mass-produced weapons would never be considered inferior.
Most of all, these were sent to us with the help of Sir Ronandt.
But the goblins’ weapons are far stronger, the sort that an officer of the imperial army might be given.
Even the empire would have difficulty amassing more than a handful of such weapons, yet every single one of these goblins has one.
Where in the world are they coming from?
Twenty-Seventh day of the Month of Haku
At last, we have amassed enough of the goblins’ weapons to equip each of my men with one.
Today, we attack the goblin village.
We cannot simply allow them to keep expanding their territory, and most of all, taking control of the goblin village in the Mystic Mountains would be a considerable feat.
With an achievement like that, I may finally get permission to return to the capital.
We have determined the location of their village by using a bird monster I tamed to scout the area.
Since we have been prioritizing safety, our explorations have never gone that far, but it is not impossible if we push ourselves enough.
It will be a dangerous gamble, but if we succeed, the path back to the capital and my wife will be opened to me.
I have no choice.
Fourth day of the Month of Yafu
We succeeded in taking the goblin village.
Since we’d been attacking goblins outside the village to acquire their weapons and lessen their numbers, the raid went rather smoothly.
Most of the goblins left in the village were young children, their mothers, and elderly goblins.
Thanks to that, we did not suffer any of the losses I initially feared.
A few men were injured, but none was killed.
Truly, the gods smiled upon us.
Not only that, but we even resolved a long-standing mystery: the source of the goblins’ weapons.
One of the goblins had a special skill the likes of which we had never seen or even heard of before: Weapon Creation.
It’s a truly incredible skill that uses MP to create weapons from nothing.
With enough MP, the user can create a limitless amount of high-quality weapons.
It’s a terrifying skill, but that also means it’s an invaluable one to have on your side.
It was nothing short of miraculous fortune that I was able to enslave the goblin with that skill.
Fortune was on my side this day.
Otherwise, that goblin might have taken its incredibly valuable skill to the grave.
I was lucky that the goblin’s level was low, too.
It generally takes a long time to restrain a monster enough to gradually gain control over it, but this goblin’s level was low enough that I was able to do so more easily than I expected.
But while I’ve gained physical dominion over it, its mind still rebels against me.
I must continue to strengthen my hold until it is complete.
Enslaving a monster with an incredible skill like this is an even greater achievement than I could have hoped for.
I wiped out the goblin village, and I captured this goblin that can create high-quality weapons.
This should make the perfect souvenir for the imperial capital.
As soon as the empire finds out about this, they will have me return to the capital.
Soon, I can finally see my wife again.
And begin the search for my daughter.
Eighteenth day of the Month of Yafu
I wish to return to the capital as soon as possible, but first I must wait for their response.
Meanwhile, I have continued to train the goblin.
First, I must grasp the finer details of the Weapon Creation skill.
It seems to take a great deal of MP, so the goblin can make only one weapon a day at most.
Still, producing one high-quality weapon per day is extraordinary enough.
In addition, it appears that the quality of the weapon produced is directly proportional to how much MP is used to create it.
Thus, the wisest course of action would be to increase the goblin’s amount of MP.
I have been capturing monsters in the Mystic Mountains and bringing them to the goblin so that it can finish them off and raise its level.
After repeating this process over and over, the goblin evolved into a hobgoblin, greatly improving its base MP.
Its Weapon Creation skill has also leveled up, allowing it to give the weapons special effects.
As unbelievable as it sounds, the creature can now create magic swords.
Magic swords. Incredibly rare weapons created from the parts of powerful monsters that carry certain special effects.
Even in the empire, only a few of the highest-ranking officers carry magic swords.
And now we can mass-produce them.
With this goblin, I am guaranteed a high position.
Surely the empire will be eager to welcome me back to the capital.
How I long to return to my wife.
Is my daughter safe?
Has my wife fallen ill with worry?
My wife and daughter are all I can think about.
Eighth day of the Month of Kade
I still have yet to receive a response from the imperial capital.
Worse, my control over the goblin is beginning to reach its limits.
It is still under my control, but there is a darkness within it now.
The creature has gained ominous skills like Anger and Curse, and they grow in level almost daily.
It is clear that even though I have control over it, the goblin still carries a deep grudge against me for destroying its village.
Another goblin that I subjugated on the same day has long since submitted to my control, but this one must have a remarkable force of will.
Somehow, I feel an ill omen about all this.
Perhaps I should not have raised its level so and forced it to eat its own kind so that it would gain titles?
It may have been wiser to wait until it was completely under my control before strengthening it.
After all, this goblin does have that mysterious skill called n% I = W.
If memory serves, the Nightmare of the Labyrinth had the very same skill.
I have heard nothing further about the Nightmare; perhaps the rumors have simply not reached this far.
Still, that was an incredibly powerful monster.
It would be no surprise if it caused serious problems.
And this goblin has the same skill.
Does that mean it’s of a similar nature to the Nightmare?
If so, then the day may come that I can no longer control it.
And yet, I cannot afford to let go of this goblin.
I must return to the capital as soon as possible.
The notes end here.
THE DEMON LORD AND THE ICE DRAGON
“I messed uuuup!”
Things have been going so well, I let my guard down!
I chose the wrong way to deal with those monkeys, big-time.
Shit.
White’s gonna die!
“Aaargh!”
I kick at one of the dead monkeys to vent my frustration.
It’s all their fault that things got so complicated.
I could’ve finished the rest of them with a flashy move, but I was afraid to set off another avalanche, so I wound up taking way too long to kill them all.
And while I was doing that, White and the others got swept out of the range of my detection.
I just hope they’re all right…
“Let’s go find them, quick!”
Snapping orders at Ael and company, I look down at where the avalanche led.
“In a hurry, are we?”
A telepathic voice from above stops me in my tracks.
Looking up, I see ice dragon Nia, the ruler of the Mystic Mountains.
She descends to the ground near us, landing with far more grace than you’d expect from her giant form.
“Yes. So why do you need to bother me right now?” My tone comes out harsher than I intended, but I’m pretty annoyed right now.
“Oh dear. You seem to be in a foul mood.”
“If you’ve got no business with me, I’m going to head out now, okay?”
“If I had no business with you, surely I would not have shown myself like this.”
Nia’s teasing tone just annoys me even more.
“Oh my, how frightening.”
Recognizing my frustration, Nia smirks even more infuriatingly.
For half a second, I consider killing her on the spot, but that time could be better spent looking for my lost friends.
“Come now—wait a moment.”
As I start to turn away, Nia stops me again.
Honestly, talking to her stresses me out so much that I want to ignore her.
“I would not have spoken were I simply passing through, but I do wish to raise a complaint or two about all the destruction you’ve just caused in my domain.”
“…What’re you getting at?”
“Dear me. An apology following wrongdoing is the natural course of things, is it not?”
Damn her!
Is she threatening me at a time like this?!
“I don’t think I did anything wrong, actually. It was just an accident. Not our fault.”
“Alas, think of my poor kin. With all these powerful outsiders wreaking havoc in my domain, and right under my nose at that, surely they will be unable to sleep soundly for all their terror. What a cruel fate.”
The ice dragon shakes her head with exaggerated lamentation.
I’d almost forgotten.
It’s been so long since I saw her that I almost forgot which of the dragons was the most obnoxious!
“Want me to relieve them of that terror by putting them to sleep forever, then?”
I’m half-serious with this threat, but Nia seems unbothered.
“Are you quite certain? I doubt my lord would sit idly by as you slaughtered my kin.”
It’s awfully petty of her to name-drop Gülie right now, if you ask me.
I guess when the god’s away, the dragons will play.
That being said, the god really would back her up in this situation, which only makes it even more obnoxious.
“Besides, I do not think to ask anything so dramatic of you. The liquor you have in that carriage, for example, would be more than enough.”
Yeah, I guess that would be a small price to pay for her to leave me alone.
But it was a bad idea to piss me off even more at a time like this.
“I’ll pass.”
“Hrmmm?”
Nia looks surprised; she must not have expected me to say no.
If she thinks mentioning Gülie is enough to get everyone to do whatever she wants, she’s dead wrong.
“Are you quite certain?”
“That’s my final answer. You sure you wanna keep pissing me off? ’Cause I will end you. Don’t think I won’t.”
Nia becomes flustered, probably sensing that I’m dead serious.
“Wait, wait! If any harm comes to me, my lord will be truly cross, you know!”
“Yeah, well, it’s too late for that. I’ve already killed Gakia. Do I have to spell out the rest for you?”
Nia freezes. “What did you say?”
“Earth dragon Gakia’s dead. I killed him. The wheels are already turning; you just don’t know about it.”
Earth dragon Gakia.
Part 7 of 8