Episode 7
One morning when a cool breeze was blowing.
In front of the city gate, there was an endless line of people waiting to pass through from early in the morning.
Among the peddlers who came to sell their wares, the residents of a nearby small village, and the displaced people looking for work, there was a suspicious figure wearing a black robe.
“Hey, over there! Stop. Show your face.”
The guard leader's shout.
People who had already been keeping a considerable distance retreated. Some, already anticipating the incident, tried to run far away.
Rumors were circulating that the remnants of the warlocks who survived the war were running wild. Recently, even priests were volunteering to serve as guards, creating an uneasy atmosphere.
If the author is a warlock attempting to infiltrate the castle, things become dire. The moment the hand protrudes from his sleeve, the guard gestures nervously to his comrade. And then.
“What? You’re still a kid.”
The tension disappeared in an instant.
He was probably in his mid-to-late teens at most. His face, revealed, looked too young to be that of an evil warlock.
The hand that clutched the robe, as if embarrassed by the gazes that gathered around, made me feel a sense of pity.
“What is the purpose of your visit? Where are your parents?”
“I was wondering if I could find a job… My parents were at war….”
“I see. You don’t have to say anything more.”
Upon closer inspection, the robe was quite worn. Bloodstains and wounds were scattered here and there. It seemed like he'd had a difficult time getting here.
'Are you a guy who lost your parents and came to the city without a plan?'
There were quite a few. Ultimately, those who couldn't find jobs were creating slums and causing headaches, but there was no law that could prevent them from entering.
A priest in white robes approached the captain of the guard and whispered.
“No magic is detected. You are not a warlock.”
“Is that so? Pass.”
The security chief nodded and suddenly stopped the boy who was trying to cross the gate.
"If you can't find work, come see me. I'll find you some odd jobs at the guard post."
"…thank you."
A while later.
"phew…."
The boy, completely out of sight of the security guard, sighed deeply and said.
“Is this possible?”
* * *
-Let's go to the city first.
"city?"
-There are a few things to check.
The words spoken by the Demon King immediately after leaving the Demon Realm. They were words that were difficult to accept.
What had brought him to this damned demon world in the first place? The maddening hunt for warlocks in the city was so dangerous that he even abandoned his master's dungeon and fled.
Even though he possessed the Demon King's soul and learned some dark magic from him, his power was still weak. There was no way he could handle his madness.
-Your magical power is quite insignificant. It's not that you don't have magic to hide your magical power, but you don't even have the magic to maintain it.
Even though they absorbed several souls, their magical power didn't increase significantly. This was probably because they had little aptitude for magical power to begin with.
As of now, using just five or six magic bullets will drain all your magic. If you enter the city in this state, you'll be killed the moment your magic is detected.
-There is a way.
“What is it?”
-You can use all your magic power. This is a method that can only be used in situations where your magic power is insignificant.
Is that what you call talking?
If you use up all your magic power, you will definitely be able to avoid being detected for a while.
However, not only does magic recover over time, but the process itself can be dangerous. While not magical, tales of wizards becoming ruined from excessive mana use are even recurring in folktales.
Since magic comes from mana, the results didn't seem to be much different.
Unless you possess something like a dragon's heart or a demon's horn, your magical power comes from outside of you. If you block the surrounding mana with magical power manipulation, it won't recover.
“You’re saying that now….”
Blocking external mana? Easy to say.
But that means manipulating mana in its natural state solely by my will. And it must be maintained, not just for a short time, but continuously.
If it were as easy as it sounds, all the wizards in the world wouldn't have their mana read.
-Why can't you do it?
“…What abnormalities will occur to the body due to excessive use of magical power?”
If you try to use more magic than you possess, it's only natural that there will be a backlash. It's like sacrificing your own body to gain temporary power.
A story from an unexpected perspective. It meant that as long as you used exactly the amount of magic you had, there wouldn't be any problems.
After accurately determining your own magical power and using it all up, you can manipulate your natural mana to prevent magical power from recovering.
It was a task requiring an absurdly high level of magical manipulation, but I couldn't think of any other way to enter the city.
And now.
After practicing tirelessly for several days while moving to a nearby city, he was able to enter the city confidently, even avoiding the priest's eyes.
“Is there an execution today?”
“I guess so.”
"They say a large number of demon followers have been discovered in the slums. It looks like they won't be stopping for a while."
Hearing the excited voices of the people, a sense of crisis arose again.
The madness that began after the war still hasn't ended. I could clearly see what would happen if the magic blocking was broken even for a moment.
‘The problem is that it is not easy to maintain this state…’
I felt like my head was going to explode in real time.
The best record so far is just over two hours. I've already wasted a significant amount of time waiting for security checks.
It was dangerous if we didn't find a place to rest right away.
-A place to rest… How about a slum?
"ghetto?"
A place where a large number of demon followers were discovered. There may be guards or surveillance, but if the swarm has already been cleared...
Finding the slum wasn't difficult. It was a place far from the city gates, off the beaten path.
As I walked further, the condition of the surrounding buildings changed.
The stone walls were cracked, the wood was rotting, and the place began to smell like it hadn't been cleaned. Then, at some point,
“Is this it?”
The streets were a mess, as if soldiers had already plundered them. Collapsed buildings, strewn corpses. It was more like a ruin than a slum.
“Living people….”
-There's no immediate sign of anything happening.
People were clearly saying that they'd discovered a follower of the Demon Tribe. Could that mean everyone in the slums?
'That can't be...'
That's impossible. If the Demon Tribe had so many followers, humanity wouldn't have achieved such a great victory in the war against the Demon World.
In the first place, what can you do even if you have followers in a situation where the war ended with the Demon King's defeat?
“Ugh.”
The thought didn't last long. The headache and fatigue that were creeping in made it impossible to concentrate any longer.
I took my scythe out of my pocket, just in case, and immediately lifted the magic block. Feeling my magic slowly recovering, I leaned against the wall of the half-collapsed building.
"so."
Perhaps it was thanks to my magical powers having recovered somewhat, my physical condition quickly improved. At least I no longer felt like I was about to vomit or collapse.
Now what you need to know is why you came to the city.
“Why don’t you start telling me now?”
I had to know what I had to check to risk my life and come to the city.
-Nothing much. I just need to investigate the warrior.
“About the warrior?”
-It's not that I didn't have my subordinates investigate, but... Back then, things were shrouded in secrecy for various reasons. I guess it was because they were worried about information leaking into our demon world.
It was certainly as the Demon King said. Even the news of the hero's birth was only heard after the war with the Demon Realm had fully escalated. Information about him must have been kept strictly confidential.
“Can we get that information now?”
"You're human, yet you don't understand humans very well. You'll probably find a book about your life written down by now."
“…You’re not even human, so why are you pretending to know so much?”
-Well, that's natural, since he's a devil.
After spending a few days with him, I realized that the Demon King absolutely refuses to listen to a single word he says. It even sounded quite plausible, which was a bit unsettling.
That's why there's a saying called the devil's whisper.
“But what are you going to do with information about the warrior now?”
I understand the Demon King's desire for revenge against the Hero. He was the one who took his life and left him in his current state. If he were standing before me right now, I'd want to tear him to pieces.
Of course, if you rush in with just that mindset, this time your soul will be destroyed.
-You bastard, do you really think I'm here to get information for some personal revenge or something?
"no?"
-I told you so. My vengeance is not directed at warriors, but at goddesses. Warriors are merely tools of the goddesses. Is there anyone who, having been attacked by a robber, would harbor a desire for revenge against the robber's sword?
“It must be there…?”
But the warrior is a tool.
Could it be that this was how it was perceived from the perspective of a demon king, not a human? This was the only way I could handle it when I made my soul contract with him.
-Of course, I want to tear the warrior to pieces.
“What the hell is this guy?”
-… Well, even if I do, it's just venting my anger. It's not that important, so let's continue with what we were talking about. About what I've been planning ever since I was defeated by the first warrior a thousand years ago.
"uh?"
The first warrior. The legendary protagonist known to all, and the founding emperor of the Millennium Empire.
Why is this story about him suddenly coming up?
“Surely, you were the demon king who was defeated by the first warrior?”
The name Alderion sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's like a name from a fairy tale from my childhood.
-… A warrior is a being created to slay the Demon King. He must be protected by the law that guarantees his slaying. The important thing was the conditions for the creation of a warrior.
“You died twice to humans?”
-Are you not going to listen?
The Demon King asked in a serious voice. He seemed quite offended by the question of whether he had been killed twice by a mere human.
Thinking back on all the things he'd been through at the hands of the Demon King, he felt a burning desire to tease him more, but he didn't know how he'd get revenge later. For now, he thought it would be best to hold back.
There will always be plenty of opportunities in the future.
-… I made some inferences based on the actions of the first warrior, but the information wasn't very reliable.
Come to think of it, I heard that the details of the legend about the first warrior differ slightly from region to region.
There are stories of him pulling out the holy sword from the sanctuary and becoming a warrior, of him being recognized by the dragon that guarded the sword, and even of the goddess herself descending upon him and forging the holy sword.
If the warriors of that time were still alive today, we could obtain more accurate information. By comparing that information with that of the first warrior, we could deduce the conditions for the warrior's birth.
“The conditions for the birth of a warrior….”
This would undoubtedly be valuable information. Historians and admirers of the hero might be eager to learn more.
But where do you use it if you know how to do it?
“To prevent the next warrior from being born?”
-You should have noticed this much. Didn't I clearly say it before? If the goddess sets the rules...
The Demon King is a being who interprets it as he pleases and laughs at it.
The warrior is one of the laws created by the goddess to slay the demon king, who is beyond human reach. What does it mean for the demon king to twist that law?
-You, become a warrior. My warrior who will kill the goddess.
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