As we stepped away from the count, Neril spoke cynically.
“So he treated you like a fly hovering over the dinner table, and now he flips his stance like turning his hand? Crafty guy.”
“That’s how heavy the title of Hero is. No one knows where Kaeld is, and the northern Hero is standing right next to him.”
“That’s what I meant by crafty.”
“Well, it’s still better than stubbornly sticking to your position even now. I prefer cleverness over hard headedness.”
Neril shrugged as if to say it couldn’t be helped.
Just then, Xenia spoke up with a dark expression.
“Mr. Mide. You know something about Ophelia, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Just a guess, though.”
“Please tell us that guess.”I let out a light sigh.
Then I spoke the truth I hoped was false.
“In the past, the Demon Kings didn’t just have regular monsters under them, they each had their own personal retainers. You know that, right?”
Serein answered with arms crossed.
“Like royal guards for the Imperial Palace. Or hero-grade for a Hero’s party. Or, you know, the priests urging people to donate.”
“That last comparison feels off.”
“I thought it was my best one…”
“Anyway, they weren’t quite on the Demon King’s level, but they were monsters of comparable strength. So would the Demon King of Lies be any different?”
Xenia’s face turned pale.
“Don’t tell me Ophelia has become one of those?”
“…That’s what I’m guessing.”
“Ah…”
Xenia staggered.
Neril quickly caught her and spoke.
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That Mide handled things well in the capital too. That everything would work out if Mide was around.”
“Neril…”
“Stand up straight now. You’re heavy.”
“…Thank you.”
“I said you were heavy, not that I appreciated it.”
Xenia straightened her back and said,
“All the Demon Kings’ retainers in the past were monsters. Idria must have turned Ophelia into one too.”
“Yeah.”
“Are there… any other retainers?”
Of course there are.
I paused and recalled memories from before the regression.
Idria’s retainers.
The so-called “Five Fingers of the Lies” were major obstacles for our party before the regression.
Back then, we only saw them as obstacles.
So we killed them without hesitation.
‘One of them handled explosive parasitic insects…’
The one called the Fifth Finger: Teranaim.
As for the name Teranaim, Lisel had once commented on it before the regression.
While we were heading out on a quest to the territory Teranaim had occupied, Lisel said:
“But about our target this time.”
“Teranaim?”
“Yeah. There’s something a bit unsettling.”
Lisel used to speak only about a tenth as much as she does now.
So all our attention turned to her.
She waved her hands, flustered.
“I didn’t mean for everyone to stare like that.”
“It’s just surprising you spoke up first, squirt.”
“Neril, I’m actually older than you.”
“Hah. Even jokes sound better from people who usually don’t talk.”
Now that I think about it, I didn’t know Lisel was the Spirit King or that she was 1,500 years old before the regression.
Funny how much has changed.
Back then, I asked,
“What’s unsettling?”
“The name Teranaim itself.”
“Huh?”
“That name means ‘friend’ in the spirit language. I mean, I’m sure it’s just coincidence…”
I snapped out of the memory.
Right.
Teranaim means “friend” in the spirit tongue.
Idria had given the name “Friend” to the retainer Ophelia had become.
She knew.
She knew there was a friend of Ophelia’s in our party, Xenia.
So she deliberately gave that name to deceive her.
‘Wait. Now that I think about it…’
The one who killed Teranaim—
I glanced sidelong at Xenia.
She tilted her head, puzzled.
‘Damn it.’
[What’s wrong?]
‘Xenia was the one who killed Teranaim. Before the regression.’
[…]
‘Kaeld gave the order. Something like, “Your holy sword can do it.”’
Kaeld was probably following guidance from the “Path to Becoming a Hero.”
Xenia, without any real suspicion, struck down the battered Teranaim, who had already been severely weakened.
Teranaim had looked nothing like Ophelia at the time.
‘Idria must have found it hilarious to watch.’
I ground my teeth.
Xenia, startled, asked,
“W-what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Anyway, you’re right. Demon Kings usually have multiple retainers.”
Everyone went quiet for a moment.
But it wasn’t fear, it felt more like each person was deep in thought.
Our party’s gotten quite bold, huh.
Then Adwin spoke up.
“Hyung. You said Kaeld is still alive, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why hasn’t he shown up here?”
“…?”
“Idria wants to make him a Hero… She would probably want him to stop incidents like this to build his fame.”
I swallowed hard at the sharp observation.
Yeah. Why hasn’t he come? Kaeld Wake.
What is Idria plotting?
I let out a sigh and answered.
“I don’t really know either. But I’ll tell you soon.”
“Oh, okay. Wait, you’ll tell me soon?”
“Just a feeling. That I’ll find out soon.”
Once I level up one more time, I’ll be able to see A-grade secrets.
Then I should be able to uncover not just where Ophelia’s real body is hidden, but also many of Idria’s disgusting schemes.
I changed the subject.
“More importantly, let’s focus on how we are going to handle this situation.”
Everyone straightened up and listened.
“The ideal solution is to destroy Ophelia’s fake body and return her soul to her real one. But…”
“The problem is we don’t know where the real body is.”
“Exactly. So until we find it, we need to prevent a repeat of today.”
“Should we confine her somewhere? Sorry to Xenia, but…”
Xenia firmly shook her head.
“Ophelia is a dear friend to me, but I won’t turn a blind eye if she’s putting others in danger. As long as we don’t kill her, I’m willing to cooperate in locking her up.”
“Hmmm. Then a sealing spell might work.”
That’s when Offense interrupted.
“Speaking as the one who confronted her directly, I’m not sure a prison spell will be enough. She was stronger than anything I have ever seen.”
“…Then what can we do? Where would be safe enough?”
Srrrng.
I drew my sword.
Everyone turned to me with wide eyes.
Looking over the blade, I said,
“Guess it’s time to rip open space again.”
In the corner of the remotest alley in Dronoar Territory, Ophelia was curled up.
To be precise, it was less of an alley and more of a trash pile.
It was the place where villagers dumped all sorts of household garbage.
Among the mounds of waste, Ophelia sat with her knees pulled tightly to her chest.
‘What… What on earth is happening to me?’
A few days ago, she had experienced a skull-splitting pain.
A voice both sickeningly wicked and sleepy whispered to her.
—Use the authority I gave you.
—Kill all the people of the territory.
—Tear apart Mide’s party.
She endured it again and again.
Because she didn’t want her hometown, David, or Xenia to see her like this.
But her limit had come at the festival.
She had implanted a bug into David.
A beetle-shaped thing so disgusting it made her want to vomit just looking at it, she had shoved it into the ear of the man she loved.
“Sob… What have I done…?”
At some point, she had begun to weep.
Now, she couldn’t even share the truth with anyone.
The voice ringing in her head grew louder and louder, and this strange body had completely escaped Ophelia’s control.
She had become a puppet.
A puppet of the Demon King, Idria.
—Kill all the people of the territory.
‘N-No… not that. Anything but that… Never.’
Her trembling grew worse.
She clenched her teeth so hard her lips threatened to split and her teeth to shatter, but it was no use.
At some point, Ophelia’s trembling stopped.
With empty eyes, she slowly stood up.
Then she vomited into the trash pile.
“Urgh… uueeeeegh.”
The exact same bug she had implanted into David surged back from her stomach and poured out of her mouth like a waterfall.
The bugs, as if each possessed its own will, began scattering in every direction across the territory.
“Uueegh… ugh.”
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of bugs!
She had to endure the repulsive retching for quite some time.
Even with all control stripped away, at least she was still free to cry.
Why hadn’t they taken that too?
Ophelia found the answer herself.
‘Because it’s entertaining?’
It hurt.
So much that she thought she might die from the pain.
‘Someone, please help me. Please!’
As a member of the Holy Knights of Light, whenever she’d faced hardship or sorrow, there had always been one being she instinctively turned to:
The Celestial God.
But now, Ophelia did not call upon the Celestial God.
Because here in this territory, there was a presence far more real, one that symbolized “hope.”
Drip.
Just as the vomiting ended.
She summoned all her strength and briefly regained control of her mouth.
Ophelia shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Please save me! Hero! Sir Mide!”
And then, from within her head, a voice rang out.
—You dare utter the name I hate most.
Ssshhh—Fwoosh!
The next moment.
Ophelia’s body was swallowed in black mist.
And that mist completely changed her.
To find Ophelia, Xenia was the first to summon Agril.
Just like that morning, for shared vision.
She climbed onto Agril’s back and waved to us.
“Hurry up and get on.”
“Is Agril okay with it?”
“He will manage.”
Man, Agril really gets treated worse than before.
—Grrrr.
Agril growled in protest.
Xenia quickly tried to soothe him.
“Sorry, Agril. Twice a day is over your limit, right?”
“…”
“Okay, okay. I will feed you Serein later. Let us ride.”
“Wait. Hey!”
“Negotiation successful. Everyone, on board!”
“Hey now…”
Just as we took off on Agril…
Bugs started crawling out from some alley in the territory.
It instantly became a wave, then a tidal wave.
There was no time to react. In a flash, the bugs had filled the entire territory.
When I was little, a landslide once hit our territory.
Since we’re surrounded by mountains, landslides are one of our biggest threats.
While fleeing with my father, I looked back.
—Kwagwagwang! Kwang!
A wall of earth devouring everything in its path.
That scene, shaped by nature’s wrath, shook my soul to its core.
And now, I felt that same shock.
“It’s like a landslide of bugs.”
“Ha. I was wondering how to describe it, but no point now. Nothing could top that.”
Adwin spoke in a trembling voice.
“A-Are we too late?”
The answer came from the ground.
“Gyaaahhh!”
“What is this!? Get them off me!”
“Ugh! It went in my ear! Hihihihihi!”
“My head… It’s so itchy inside. Please, save me!”
“Please, Hero! Save us!”
“Sir Kaeld! Please!”
It was total chaos.
Lisel flailed, unsure what to do, and muttered,
“Ugh, what do we even…”
“Ask Xenia. Xenia, did you find her?”
Xenia was already synced with Agril’s vision.
She opened her eyes, drenched in cold sweat.
“Yes. I found her.”
“That was fast.”
“I traced back where the bugs started pouring from. Figured she would be there.”
“Good call. Let’s go.”
“But Ophelia and the bugs…”
Xenia’s face had gone pale.
In that moment, I understood what she meant.
Even before regression, the bugs had crawled from Teranaim’s stomach.
That must be Idria’s authority.
Neril asked,
“Why did you stop talking?”
“L-Let’s just go. Agril!”
Xenia steered Agril into a descent.
The territory’s people, writhing in agony, looked up at the descending divine chariot cutting through the clouds.
“Ohh… Sir Kaeld, no?”
“It’s Mide! Mide Mohan!”
“The northern Hero!”
“Anyone’s fine! Please save us!”
“Why isn’t Sir Kaeld showing up?”
“Please save me! My head itches so bad!”
“Ugh, I don’t want to end up like David…”
That was the kind of talk we heard.
The people were caught between hope and despair.
And then.
Through the cries of the people, I heard a faint voice reach my ear.
—Please save me. Hero! Sir Mide!
…Huh? That voice?
[What’s wrong? Why are you looking around?]
‘Didn’t you hear it?’
[Huh? Hear what…]
‘It was Ophelia.’
I wanted to say more, but now wasn’t the time.
First, we had to calm the townsfolk.
If they panicked, they would just become easier prey for the bugs.
I gave Neril a look.
She instantly got it and used a voice amplification spell.
I shouted loudly.
“Everyone, calm down! Panicking will only agitate the bugs further!”
“Hero!”
“We will handle the threat to this territory. Please trust us and stand by!”
The people cried out.
“Uooooooh!”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Sir Mide… sob…”
Didn’t I just say not to make a fuss?
Though, with this level of infestation, whether they’re calm or not might not matter much.
It’d be faster if I just ended this myself.
I spoke to the others.
“Let’s go.”
We entered the alley.
At the center of the trash pile stood Ophelia.
No, it was Teranaim.
‘Just like before regression.’
[There’s not a trace of Ophelia left.]
Exactly.
Teranaim was an old woman.
Thick strands of gray hair.
A face lined with the years.
A bent back and hunched shoulders.
A form one might imagine only at the end of Ophelia’s life, decades from now.
I clicked my tongue and muttered,
“I will save you. Just like you asked.”
Read advance chapter on Patreon. Click here.
TL : Ok people, those were some lame ass jokes. Just take a look
From now on, please spare my comment section from your jokes. No offense, but if these 3 were ever to be kidnapped and the kidnappers demanded a joke to save their lives, none of them are making it out alive. Thanks for the effort though and here’s an extra chap for that effort.
And Thanks to Urtaku for the review.