Chapter 182 : Woodrock (1)
Woodrock (1)
There were once three people known as the mightiest in the Imperial Court.
At first, they were aura users whose mastery of swordsmanship had reached its utmost limit.
From there, through further training, they stepped into the realm of masters, known as Experts, and even among Experts, there were ranks: regular 〉 middle 〉 high.
It was commonly known that Late-stage Expert was the very peak of swordsmanship.
From that point on, it was not just about performing tricks with a blade.
They could reproduce sword aura with a powerful aura, demonstrating strength similar to a calamity.
This was a realm that could fairly be called superhuman, or even above and beyond that.
Amazingly, there was yet another rank above Late-stage Expert, but in the entire history of the Imperial Court, none had ever reached that level.
None, that is, except for three people.
"Hmm... Looks like it's dead, doesn't it?"
"Did we go too hard?"
Two of those three—the old men—were poking at the corpse of a demonkin whose neck and back had been twisted.
"Well... does it really matter? Hiccup!"
"Wahahaha! Who cares! As long as our food carrier is safe, that's all that matters to us!"
Swordmasters, known as the pinnacle of the blade.
The two who had once achieved that realm alternated between hiccupping and bursting out laughing, saying it all worked out in the end.
"Hey, food carrier! Are you alright?"
"Of course he's alright! We protected him!"
"Haa..."
Ferus was dumbfounded at the two calling him their food carrier.
Even as he sighed, he couldn't help but be astonished by their recent movements.
"Are these guys really supposed to have lost their strength?"
They had once been called Swordmasters, the pinnacle of humanity, but now, both had lost all their strength, not to mention their former pinnacle.
Where they had once been able to emanate wild aura, they could now only produce the power of an aura beginner.
And yet they accomplished movements of that level.
No wonder doubt crept in.
"It's true, both of them have lost their strength."
"Then why are they still so powerful?"
"That's..."
The answer was surprisingly simple.
"They're still formidable, even when rotten."
Even though they both lost their strength for personal reasons, their actual skill had not disappeared.
Just as people with amnesia sometimes find their body remembering things before their mind does, their know-how as Swordmasters was still intact.
"If they're still that good, I hope they'd stop leeching off my research lab with that skill."
Given their formidable skills, Ferus couldn't help but sigh.
"After all, I'm the one who'll have to clean up this corpse."
"No, you might not have to."
"What do you mean by that?"
What had made him say there was no need to clean up the body?
In that instant, Ferus noticed the corpse twitch slightly.
"If it's still alive, there's no need to bother."
As soon as those words were spoken, the body seemed to flinch again.
Thanks to that, he realized Louis was right.
"Pretending to be dead in front of me is pointless. I can hear your heartbeat."
"Oh... I see."
Ferus stared at the demonkin faking death, a sinister look on his face.
This was, after all, the one who had just tried to kill him, so he was considering how to torment him.
"Wait, the guy's neck and spine were both twisted, and yet he didn't die?"
"True."
Thinking about it, it was very odd.
For any human, such a fatal injury would mean certain death, and even normal demonkin would die from such wounds.
"What's more, there's a scent I recognize coming from this one."
There was no doubt he must be hiding something special.
Otherwise, how could he have survived?
"Anyway, I'll need to take him along. Headmaster, would you come with me?"
"Me?"
Why was he suddenly being asked to accompany them?
That couldn't have been the whole reason for this visit.
"In fact, one of the reasons I came here was to bring you to our village."
"Really?"
Ferus widened his eyes in surprise—it was true.
But a particular issue occurred to him.
"Wait! Then what about those guys?"
He gestured at the two Swordmasters now rolling drunkenly on the ground.
He was ashamed to call them Swordmasters anymore, but leaving them to mind his lab could be disastrous.
"If I leave them here, all my precious research might get smashed."
"How about hiring security?"
"Idiot. You think security could possibly control those guys?"
They had been monsters who could subdue demonkin with their overwhelming movements.
Even as has-beens, they had enough left to be called monsters; there was no normal way to handle them.
"In that case..."
In the end, Louis resorted to trickery.
****
"Aw, damn it! Why do we have to be dragged along?"
"Haa... what a bother..."
In the end, Andrew and Laika also boarded the carriage to Seifert Village.
To the two in the back, grumbling in every way, Ferus spoke from the front seat.
"If I left you two alone, who knows what would happen? Just like last time, when you made sure I couldn't use my newly developed magitech device."
"I said I was really sorry about that, didn't I?"
"I really meant my apology."
"If that apology is sincere, then stop complaining about coming along."
At Ferus's retort, the two fell silent.
Sulking without being able to do anything, they were the very picture of children being punished.
"If Elder sister Silia were to see this, she'd have a fit—Andrew old man."
He wondered what kind of reaction there would be to seeing his grandfather Andrew acting so childish.
Louis smirked inwardly, looking forward to it.
"Silia? Haha... Is she doing alright?"
"She's doing a lot healthier than an old drunkard. Don't you want to spend your twilight years in a somewhat decent manner, grandfather?"
"In a decent manner..."
Andrew pondered at those words.
What did it mean to live decently?
"For us, living decently meant holding a blade and fighting our enemies."
"You're going back too far."
"For you, it's 'the old days', but for us, it still feels like the present."
If people are too shaped by their era and environment, they get stuck there—this is how so-called old cranks are made.
"This friend is right. 'In order to keep the peace, we must always be ready to fight.' Once that became the truth of our lives, it never changed."
Laika also agreed with Andrew.
"Even if it does change, how long would it take?"
"A few decades, probably."
"By then, we'll be buried in the ground."
"So what's the point in living decently?"
For them, fighting enemies and protecting people's everyday life was their everyday life.
But stripped of their power, that everyday life was no longer possible.
So what should they do now?
They were at a loss for what they could do, having lost their reason for existence.
Apparently, drinking was a way to relieve that stress.
"Rather than pouring your worries into alcohol, why not think about something else?"
"Something else?"
"The two of you clearly haven't lost your skills. Why not try making use of them for something?"
"You're not suggesting we go back to the front lines with these rusty skills, surely?"
No one, even as a joke, would say such a thing to those who had retired at the end of their prime or because of injury.
"Of course not. In your current state, more people would be disappointed than expectant if you tried to fight as you used to."
"So what could we do?"
"Hmm..."
Louis shared their worry and, unable to think of an answer, they arrived at Seifert Village.
****
As soon as they arrived, there was someone Ferus wanted to show them.
The Great Devil Eramon, imprisoned in the underground interrogation room of the lord's manor.
"So this is the Great Devil you mentioned?"
"Yes."
"But the appearance is completely different from what intelligence said."
The Great Devil known to the world was a huge monstrous figure, yet Eramon looked simply like a demonkin woman.
"And why is she wearing a blindfold?"
The moment Ferus tried to touch the cover she wore, Louis stopped him.
"Don't touch it. The moment you take it off, you'll be brainwashed."
"Brainwashed?"
"I almost got caught, myself."
Strictly speaking, he actually had been.
Had Mirianne and Frederick not helped him, it might have been too late.
"I see."
Ferus withdrew his hand and examined her body here and there.
"Indeed... The aura here is leagues above a normal demonkin. So what do I need to do?"
"You already know, don't you?"
Louis spoke, pulling out the artifact blueprint Ferus possessed.
"She has the same thing. All you have to do is take it."
"What...?"
At that, Eramon, who had been lying still as if unconscious, suddenly shouted in alarm.
"You absolutely cannot!!"
Eramon's outburst startled Louis and Ferus.
"That, more than anything, must never be taken! Anything else, but not that—it's as important as our very lives!!"
At her desperate plea, Louis scratched his head.
He had suffered a lot during the interrogation because of that very thing.
"Even if I were to die, I could never hand it over!"
What a thing to say, when she couldn't even die thanks to her regeneration.
"Hmm... So she really does have it. I can feel your blueprint resonating."
"......!"
At those words, Eramon broke out in a cold sweat.
Indeed, Louis could feel something beating in the blueprint, like a heart.
"Then all we have to do is steal it... but that's not going to be easy."
Even while captured, Eramon fiercely guarded her body.
Of course, it wasn't as though she could raise a guard or cast some magic defense while tied up.
Rather, she had simply locked her body tightly against losing that item—like closing a pocket tightly shut.
"Still... it's hard to believe this woman is a Great Devil. Something feels off."
"There's a way to answer that question."
Louis threw the demonkin who had tried to kill Ferus onto the floor.
"Kahek! Humans... What are you planning to do to me...?!"
"That voice... You're Vamp, aren't you?"
In that instant, Eramon's expression changed, as if she recognized the voice.
And then, from the mouth of Vamp, the demonkin, came a shocking statement.
"Mother...? Mother, why are you here...?!"
Mother?
Louis' mind froze at those words.
"The Great Devil has a son?"
Naturally, Ferus also wore an incredulous expression.
"Yes! Mother is the demonkin who officially inherited the Great Devil's power. She would never bow to the likes of you!"
"Inherited?"
So he'd been completely entrusted with the Great Devil's power.
"Some of my questions are finally being answered."
The truth was, Eramon had not always been the Great Devil.
She had been an ordinary demonkin, but inherited the power in full, becoming the new Great Devil.
"So what happened to the original Great Devil?"
There must have been a Great Devil who transferred their strength.
"They no longer exist in this world. That's why Mother was reborn as the new Great Devil."
At those words, Louis immediately thought of Pram.
Pram, too, had inherited the power of the now-dead World Tree in full.
Since she had originally been a normal demonkin, there was no issue with any blood relationship.
"Wait, mother?"
Suddenly remembering something, Louis clicked his tongue.
"So, you tried to hit on me while having a child?"
"......"
Eramon could not answer Louis' question.
Judging from her embarrassed expression, she seemed ashamed herself.
"Mother, try to hit on you? What are you talking about!"
At Vamp's indignation, Louis smiled crookedly.
"Wanna know?"
Louis took out a magitech device that recorded past events.
From the crystal-ball-shaped device, light shone and a scene appeared in midair.
"Huh?"
The image projected showed a married woman hitting on a young man.