Chapter 315 - Boundary Line

The forces of our Alion, marching to defeat the Demon Emperor, were approaching our border with Magnar.

There was no point in forcing the troops to move, and doing that would just end up exhausting everyone before the decisive battle.

Currently, the forces to defeat the Demon Emperor were encamped for rest.

As for the White Wolf Knights, who were dispatched in the west, they were currently heading to the east———– That is, toward us.

Should I keep continuing like this and conduct a pincer attack against the Great Demon Emperor’s army, attacking from the east and the west?

Or perhaps, should we join forces with them first and go on the offensive in a joint front?

After all, Nyantan Kikeepat is with them at the moment.

[I miss Nyantan’s paperwork skills.]

I grumbled to myself in my barracks.

Even at this place, I had brought the finest tasks.

There are many things that I can’t entrust to my short-lived subordinates.

Handling them myself is faster, and doing as such makes me feel more secure.

It’s quite irritating when those you’ve entrusted tasks fail to live up to speed.

Retainers that don’t irritate you really are necessary.

In this respect, Nyantan passed the test.

From now on, she’s worth keeping close at hand and receiving my tasks.

I will use her skills to the fullest.

[Even so…… For the situation would go so poorly, and for our side to actually have a shortage of human resources……. This is just beyond expectations…… Haahhh, how troubling.]

The battle against this time’s Root of All Evil.

The series of events related to this battle.

I feel as if———— all of my expectations have been constantly receiving setbacks.

What caused all these deviations?

Where did all these deviations come from?

The failure of the most recent assassination against the Mad Emperor?

The betrayal of Takuto Kirihara?

The betrayal of the Takao sisters?

The disastrous defeat against the Faraway Country?

The loss of the Sixth Cavalry?

The betrayal of the Mad Emperor?

The loss of contact with the Heroic Sword?

The grand invasion of the Great Demon Emperor’s army, the largest invasion of the Root of All Evil’s troops in history.

West, south and east.

When you look at the results, victory was indeed achieved in every direction.

On the other hand though, some things were lost in that grand invasion.

Four Revered Saints.

Dragonslayer.

White Wolf King.

Jonato’s Saint.

Several excellent pawns disappeared from the front lines.

No———— Their loss wasn’t that much of a stumbling block.

In that case, wouldn’t the situation advance in a more favorable way?

Have there been other matters that lead my assumptions to crumble?

Or perhaps…… Something that happened in the past?

That being the case, I pondered about the events in the past.

Something that occurred even before the loss of contact with the Heroic Sword……

Perhaps, a very fatal oversight?

In that case———– What is it that had happened?

Lining up my memories and piling up my thoughts……

What was clearly unexpected was the death of the Black Dragon Knights———– The Five Dragon Warriors.

Above all that is the loss of the “Humanity’s Strongest”.

The one who killed them was Ashinto.

At that time……

At the Anti-Demon White Castle———– In the room where the wolves gather……

At that time, the representatives of each country gathered.

The death of Civit Gartland had become the topic of discussion.

While we were discussing amongst each other, a report came in that Ashinto had cursed and killed the Five Dragon Warriors.

[……………………]

That reminds me.

The Mad Emperor……

He was insinuating something about the legend of a God Killer.

Those words he said———— Was he probing something?

[I dismissed at that time as the usual sh*tty impudence of his sh*tty mouth…… but now that I think about it, fufu, perhaps, has he been probing for my reaction as well?]

As a source of some kind of assurance, perhaps.

————No.

Pulling my thoughts back, I rearrange them in order again.

The topic of Civit Gartland’s death arrived in the room where the wolves gather.

The news that came at that time was that a group of people claiming to have killed the Five Dragon Warriors, including Civit, had appeared.

Said group is touting that they have killed the Five Dragon Warrior with their Sorcery.

The name of this group———— is Ashinto.

Their Sorcery had apparently killed even the “Humanity’s Strongest “.

Speaking of Ashinto———— Belzegia, currently a member of the Fly King Squadron———— is said to have been a member of that group.

At that time, Ashinto seemed to have been divided into two factions.

This information was reported to us by Cattleya Stramius.

It seems that this information was told to her by Fly King himself.

The Ashinto was apparently divided into two factions, one made up of the minority and the other by the majority.

The leader of the minority faction was the Fly King———— Sorcerer Belzegia.

The leader of the majority faction was a Sorcerer named Muaji.

Muaji and his faction tried to kill the minority faction.

However, they were beaten back instead.

Incidentally, the bodies of Muaji and the others in the majority faction still haven’t been found to this day.

Gathering all these information, there’s a point that I’m concerned about.

Why is it that Ashinto was divided into two factions?

Currently, Seras Ashrain has joined the Fly King Squadron.

Apparently, she was being stalked by the Five Dragon Warriors under orders related to the Holy King.

She is believed to have been at the scene of the deaths of the Five Dragon Warriors.

In other words———— She probably met Ashinto there.

Seras was probably saved from the Five Dragon Warriors by the Ashinto.

After that, she began following the Fly King, a former member of the Ashinto.

She is indebted to him———— Or at least, she has some sort of favorable emotions toward him.

Having come to this conclusion, my thoughts broadened.

Did Ashinto divide into two factions over the treatment of Seras Ashrain?

It’s possible.

That Elven Princess Knight has this magical nature that makes people crazy.

A magical nature that especially drives men crazy.

I’m starting to see an unexpected turn in the situation.

Ashinto may have eliminated the Five Dragon Warriors in order to take Seras for their own.

But then, a dispute occurred over Seras.

For example……

A certain minority faction took Seras and secretly sneaked her away.

The majority faction tried to chase after them, but they got the tables turned against them.

Well then……

Since they are a minority, they should have been at a disadvantage in numbers.

This shows that the Fly King’s skill as a Sorcerer exceeds that of Muaji————

Gan!

Unable to hold back my frustrations, I kicked the desk set up nearby.

[Something…… Something about this doesn’t feel right.]

No————

In any case, the “end” is already in sight.

Wouldn’t that mean whatever it is exactly that had happened in the past isn’t important?

Yes.

The path to the end is already in sight.

Ayaka Sogou will defeat the Great Demon Emperor.

After that, I will kill that unpleasant Ayaka.

That annoying Hijiri is already dead.

Itsuki, without her sister, is insignificant.

Yasu is also considered dead.

Same goes for Oyamada.

As for dealing with Takuto Kirihara, that isn’t a problem.

If he gets in the way, I will just kill him————- That is, if he still hasn’t been killed by the Great Demon Emperor.

If the Great Demon Emperor just dies, that makes it so that the end is already in sight.

If I could just acquire the source of Tyrant’s Miasma————- The Prime Origin that the Great Demon Emperor holds, everything will finally begin.

Everything that occurred until this moment would just be trivial.

All of it.

……tak, tak, tak……

I rhythmically tapped a finger on the desk.

Even after coming to this conclusion though, an inexplicable sense of something being out of place somehow irritates me.

I shifted my gaze to the side, to which I found the desk I had just kicked.

The bundle of papers on the desk was slightly crumpled by the impact.

However, the files fortunately didn’t fall to the ground.

This would save me the trouble of having to call those short-lived species and have them pick them up one by one.

Browsing through the files, I pursed my lips.

[Just dealing with the Forbidden Curses is already troublesome, and I now have to deal with whatever this Sorcery is…… Many Ancient Magic Tools are unknown even to the Deities, and they’re surprisingly irritating to deal with. ……Hmm? Perhaps, is it that they aren’t really Ancient Magic Tools…… and are actually poison? Ahhh…… The information they’re spreading to the public is that their poison is a curse huh. I see…… However, could something like that really kill that Civit? Even managing to kill John Doe or Ruin Seal……, ————?]

My gaze falls on one of the reports.

I pulled out the one that caught my eye.

Holding it in my hand, I looked through it.

A sentence that briefly entered my gaze caught my attention.

Running my eyes over it, I couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.

[Urza’s……]

Come to think of it, back when I was in my office in Alion……

“Ah…… Also, Vysis-sama, the other day, Urza’s———–“

They had apparently put in writing what they had failed to report back then.

I got curious.

In the document, written on it was “the catacombs in the Dark Forest”———– In other words, the Disposal Ruins.

I have always had the entrance and exit of the Disposal Ruin under constant survey.

What was mentioned here was the report from the survey team.

The response of the crystal used for the survey was apparently different from usual.

The Captain of that survey team judged that it was just the crystal reaching its lifespan.

He didn’t consider such a thing an “anomaly”.

“Since it was deemed not urgent, the request for replacement will be made after 6 months passed, during the time of the periodic report”.

That was what the Captain said.

If there’s nothing unusual, the report will be made at the time of the periodic report.

When there’s an anomaly, the procedure of reporting it is somewhat cumbersome.

The reason for this is that the information is delivered to Vysis through a different route than usual.

A request for the exchange of the crystal is also considered as an “anomaly”.

They must have found it troublesome.

I couldn’t help but curse upon reading this.

However, one of his subordinates seemed to think it might be a bad idea not to report this anomaly to Alion, so he reported it to us.

This may have been an act of prudence on his side to avoid responsibility for his Captain’s actions.

However, what this short-lived human had done is commendable.

Under the condition that he would do all the procedures himself, the person made the report himself.

However, even after the haste in reporting———— the report of the anomaly arrived much later to Alion.

[…………………..The lifespan of a crystal?]

That crystal shouldn’t have had any response.

That was a condition that wouldn’t have been possible unless someone had escaped from the Disposal Ruins.

My greatest mutant masterpiece———– Soul Eater.

That thing actually got defeated?

No way……

By whom?

How?

[…………………………………………………..With Sorcery?]

However, this Sorcery isn’t an Ancient Magic Tool…… but poison.

Poison huh.

Poison?

…………………………..

[Sorcery…… Poison…… ————–Abnormal State Skills.]

Taking my eyes away from the damned document, I looked up.

As if I had just received a revelation……

[————————Ah.]

An unidentified Sorcerer wearing the Fly King mask.

“I couldn’t think of any reason why the Fly King would resent me.”

Yes, at that time, I couldn’t think of the reason why———–

“If I come back alive———– be prepared.”

[————-He did have one————-]

Yes……

The human I had thrown to the ruins.

I obviously thought he had died there like the insect he is.

Not only that, he had completely ceased to exist in my mind.

The Lowest-Rank Hero.

[———————————-Touka Mimori———————————-]

Everything that has happened……

It’s all coming together.

[Excuse my intrusion, Vysis-sama!]

A messenger barged into the room, gasping for breath.

With that look on his face, the report coming in would always be bad.

Ugh, I’m fed up with all these.

[Fufufu, ummm…… I would really like to think about matters alone for the moment…… So can we leave this for later? Come and report about this matter again later, okay?]

[Ah———— H- However……]

Hmmm, his current state looks strange.

[Haahhh…… Good grief, what is it this time? Is this that important of a matter? You’re just going to report bad news anyway, won’t you? Ahh, I don’t want this. I’m fed up with it already……]

[The people of Magnar have come to this encampment and said they have something important to convey to Alion’s Goddess……]

Damned lowly commoners, what in the world do they want from this Goddess?

[I understand already, so just say whatever that important thing they wanted to tell me.]

[T- They claimed to be a messenger of that man…… T- Takuto Kirihara……]

Upon those words, my interest in this matter dramatically increased.

Putting down the report in my hand at the moment……

[Kirihara-san’s messengers?]

[Takuto Kirihara————-]

With what looked like excitement on his face, the messenger continued.

[He had killed the Great Demon Emperor.]

Clatter———-!

I reflexively stood up from my seat.

[And————– T- Takuto Kirihara…… requested a meeting with Vysis-sama at the boundary line between Alion and Magnar!]

The next chapter is scheduled to be updated on October 21st (Friday), around 9:00 pm.