CH 168

Chapter 168

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : To The Swamp, Part 6 — Pursuers

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by Kaies

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At about the same time that Alfiris and her group arrived at Schutim. A group of people approached the place where Alfiris and her group were meeting Kaede.

「Hmm, did Alfiris made this?」

It was Lifeless looking at the carcasses of magical beasts and examine them for traces of sorcery. Just as people have habits in their manners, there are individual differences in the use of magic. If they are magicians, it is possible to determine who did it simply by examining the traces of magic.

Lifeless should’ve been able to tell who did it, since he had been in direct conflict with Alfiris, but strangely enough, Lifeless wasn’t convinced that it was Alfiris who had done the fighting here.

「（Strange… the magic habit is different from when she did it with me. It’s rare that they are so similar and yet so different. What is this all about? Is there something in Alfiris that I don’t know about yet?）」

As Lifeless pondered for a moment, someone called out to him from behind.

「How are you doing, my king?」

The man who called out to me was a large man wearing black armor all over his body, like a knight. Although his helmet obscured his expression, his quiet voice was filled with loyalty to Lifeless.

「What, it’s not a big deal, Doltmund. It’s not like me to do something like that. It was all going to be very clear once I met Alfiris.」

「Hah. I cannot wait to meet the enemy that my king so looks forward to meeting.」

「Were you that much of a battle fanatic, you?」

Lifeless suddenly laughs. The man called Doltmund is probably laughing, too, although he can’t see under his helmet.

「We have always been hungry for enemies, but we have won a little too much. We had few opponents who knew who we were and would make a move on us, and it had been a long time since we were blessed with no opponents who would give it their all.」

「That’s fair enough. But how could you have survived for hundreds of years? I never dreamed you were still alive.」

「Once I take off my armor, I am indistinguishable from a human being. My life span is much longer than that of a human, and I’ve been moving from place to place among the crowds.」

「What were you doing?」

「Observations on the human world. After the report of my king’s removal from authority was delivered, it was obvious that the chief ministers were in trouble, so I resigned my official position early and set out on my journey.

The humans were really interesting. They had cooperated with each other so much before the Archfiends were exterminated, but once they saw their own superiority, they fought among themselves for hundreds of years. I thought they would fight to the point of destroying each other, but I never thought they would be at peace. It just got boring and I was wondering what to do when I was told that the king was still alive.」

「You were told. By whom?」

Lifeless wonders. How could anyone know about himself and Doltmund at the same time?

「He was a boyish mage. He never gave his name.」

「…Not the Master?」

In Lifeless’ mind, he could see the face of the boy who had so easily canceled the magic of Phalanx. It was a guess without any basis in fact, but Lifeless felt a half-convinced feeling. He was the first face that came to mind when I thought of the first person other than Aurangzebr who might be able to do such a thing.

Just as Lifeless was about to ponder on the boy’s identity, Doltmund’s question interrupted his thoughts.

「But where has the king been? I haven’t heard from you since the battle in which your army was defeated by the enemy. Since the main subordinate was left behind, all of us thought it was just a training exercise for new recruits, so those who were left behind were in a state of confusion, including myself.

It was hard to believe that the king had died in that incident, but your whereabouts were unknown. The kingdom was quickly divided from internal strife. By then, those with a good heart had resigned their government positions and disappeared, but I was the only one whose life span was long enough to await the king’s return. I wish you had at least told me the truth.」

Lifeless laughed at Doltmund’s accusatory tone.

As Lifeless also told Alfiris, when Lifeless was called Heroic King Graham, there was a huge explosion of unknown cause at Helholm Hill, which is said in history to be Graham’s last battle, and the entire vicinity that was blown away is said to have been the death of Heroic King Graham and the entire area.

In fact, it was Lifeless himself who caused it, but the sudden disappearance of one of the strongest forces on the human side at the time came as a shock to the humans. If only they had the Heroic King. How many countries and heroes have lamented this?

The suddenness of the event led to rumor after rumor, making the legend of the Heroic King even more divine. The bards have left behind a great variety of folklore, ranging from the ridiculous to the well-reasoned, such as that the Heroic King was actually fighting the legendary Archfiend at that time and defeated him in exchange for his life, or that he was so powerful that he finally incurred the wrath of the spirits. But, as Lifeless puts it, there’s only one word for it.

「It’s just magic and experimentation gone wrong.」

He said. He is very matter-of-fact, and he also explains the reason for his disappearance in a simple manner.

「I never doubted your loyalty. I believed you would wait for me without saying a word.」

「I will not be deceived by such sweet talk.」

「If I told you, you would be too honest to hide it. That’s why I didn’t say anything. There was another reason… but I forgot it.

Also, after that war, I found some strong fiends in the southern continent and challenged them to a fight, or I continued my research on magic and witchcraft in the basement of the reduced holm. Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I really want to research the rest of the story. The quest for magic has always been a proposition for mages.

Besides, my immortal body was nearing completion, so I didn’t have much time to spare, and I honestly didn’t care about the rest. I was getting tired of being a king and of leading my men.

Oh, I’ve gone to explain to my loyal subjects where I’m going to look for them later, right? No?」

「No, it’s very kingly of you.」

Doltmund bowed his head. Lifeless continued talking.

「After creating an immortal body, I spent almost 200 years researching magic. I have perfected magic, but I have created one desert.」

「Don’t tell me that Helholm desert was…」

「Yeah, it’s my fault I did all that magic research. I was deserted after a couple of test strikes, too. I think I created some horrible magic myself.」

「What a waste. It was a beautiful hill with a profusion of flowers.」

「I’m with you on that. Next time I’ll pick the testing spot.」

Lifeless also have the heart to appreciate art. Helholm was then famous for its beautiful hills with seasonal flowers, so even Lifeless could not help but feel a little guilty about turning it into a desert.

But it’s also true that he hated it enough to want to blow it up. It tugs at Lifeless’ heart that he can’t remember why.

「I don’t know… Apparently, I’m not in my right mind?」

「What?」

「No, it’s nothing. Anything else you want to ask?」

「After that?」

「I picked a fight with the army of a guy they called the Great Archfiend or something like that.」

「What’s the name of the guy?」

「I don’t know… I wonder what that was too. Anyway, when I was attacked, I was just incidentally in the middle of a fight.」

「It’s still as sketchy as ever. And?」

「The battle was evenly matched, or maybe even slightly superior. But he used a special kind of magic. He cheekily threw me into a different space.」

「What!」

Doltmund is astonished.

「It would be impossible to know your whereabouts.」

「No, I figured out the escape method itself rather quickly, but I didn’t feel much of a challenge when I tried to fight the Great Archfiend. It would be hard to be tense in an immortal body. It wasn’t a body that I had created with that much thought in mind.

I thought I would only be bored if I went out into the outside world, so I withdrew into a different space. It was only about 10 years ago that I came out, but before that I was studying witchcraft and lost in contemplation. I’d rather fight that guy if he could get me out of this other space.」

「Is that who you call that『Master?』Then did you fight him?」

Doltmund asked out of pure curiosity, but Lifeless’ response was unusually blunt.

「…No, I haven’t fought him.」

「How is that? Frankly speaking, the king was the most battle-crazed of us all, weren’t you? How could the king miss an opportunity to fight?」

「Hmm, that being said. Why am I not fighting the Master?」

「?」

Doltmund was uncomfortable with Lifeless’ response, but the conversation was once again cut short when Erlich appeared on the scene. Elrich, who had nothing to do even though he was told he would be on vacation, decided to work together with Lifeless as if they were one and the same. From the very beginning, he had no choice but to work with Lifeless.

「I would like to state.」

「Hmm.」

「Alfiris and the others appear to have fled to the fairy village beyond.」

「I see. There is a sign of a higher spirit there, is that correct?」

「Yes. I was wondering if there is a Higher Spirit Of Wind.」

「If so, in case we are sure to hit them where they come out?」

「That’s a strategy too, but we don’t have much time.」

「What does that mean?」

Lifeless looked at Elrich with a reproachful look. Elrich answers quickly, a little deflated.

「A whole army of Archfiends we summoned is on its way to us. Apparently, they have smelled blood.」

「This was the fault, huh?」

The smell of blood lingered in the air. The Archfiends with a good sense of smell would’ve noticed it if it was this huge. They were chasing after Alfiris, the source of the blood smell.

「In that case, I’d like to hurry, but I guess it was a bad idea to bring those guys along to be sure.」

When Lifeless looked back, he saw a number of large Archfiends waiting for him. Thirteen in total. All of them were stronger than the Archfiends that Anomaly had released into the world on a trial basis. It’s something that Lifeless had Anomaly built in case he didn’t have enough of his own people.

The first workshop he stopped at was only half the number, so he went around to several more after that to scavenge more.

「We have no choice. We should send out a familiar and find an escape route that Alfiris and the others might use.」

As Lifeless flipped his robes, several raven messengers sprang from his body. Then, one after another, they flew off in the direction of Schutim.

「Now all we can do is hope that Alfiris and others don’t get killed by those stupid Archfiends. Well, we’d better get moving.」

「「Roger.」」

As Lifeless tried to walk away, something tugged at his robe. Lifeless looked at his feet and saw a white feathered magical beast tugging at his robe.

「Hmmm, the offspring of these magical beasts. I guess only one of them survived.」

「Huuuuu—!」

The eyes of the Magical Beast was burning with hatred, and it’s likely that it sees humans, like Alfiris, as the target of its attack. Even at a young age, it seems to have recognized that the target of its vengeance is a human being. But they wouldn’t have been able to distinguish between the two, and moreover, even if it was a Magical Beast, it was so young that it could barely graze a human.

Lifeless picked up the palm-sized beast and brought it close to his face.

「Now then, what should I do with you?」

「Why don’t you give it to Anomaly-dono? It will be good material for an Archfiend.」

「That’s all well and good, but then it’s always the same.」

Lifeless often observes the magical beast, which is flailing about in Lifeless’ hands with all the force it can muster. It was also doing its best to antagonize Lifeless.

Lifeless watched the situation with amusement.

「Elrich.」

「Yes.」

「Nurture her.」

With that, Lifeless threw the magical beast to Elrich with a plop. Elrich hurried to catch it, but the magical beast was so startled by the sudden incident that it stopped its rampage.

「Huh?」

「Don’t “Huh?” me. I told you to nurture her up. Don’t make me say it twice.」

「Well… if you order me to, I will.」

「Alright, I’ve taken up unnecessary time. Let’s move on.」

With Elrich puzzled, Lifeless turned his course toward Schutim in order to take Alfiris’ head.