Chapter 342: Evil God Subjugation — End (1) |
The restoration work on the First Campus of Märchen Academy was in full swing.
Under the bright sun, many workers were assisting with the work, using magic intensively.
The campus quickly began to transform, not just into its former appearance, but into an even cleaner one.
It wasn’t just Märchen Academy.
The apocalypse caused by the Evil God occurred everywhere in the world, so restoration work was also underway in other areas where the void had consumed regions.
Isaac packed the Cloak of the Radiant Wolf and the clothes Monon gave him at the hospital in South Korea, then returned through the gate Alice had made.
The Evil God Slayers all welcomed Isaac, and Kaya, Luce, Dorothy, and White hugged him in relief and sobbed.
Those who had fought as part of the Subjugation Force had their names individually engraved in records that would become part of world history, and they were honored for their contributions.
Isaac’s exploits were announced worldwide. His footsteps would all be left as legends.
And then Emperor Carlos made a decision. He decided to abdicate the throne.
Isaac was the king of a nation and the pinnacle of humanity, having played the most significant role in subjugating the worst enemy no one else could stop.
It was judged that the title of Emperor truly suited Isaac.
The fact that Isaac hadn’t even asked for the position, yet it was offered to him, led some of the officials in the Zelver Family to express dissatisfaction, but it was nothing more than mere complaints.
Even the Elemental Kings, who maintained the balance of power before Isaac appeared, unanimously agreed to this matter. No one could object.
As a result, Düpfendorf, once the Kingdom of Ice, became an Empire and came to rule over vassal states.
The Emperor of the Düpfendorf Empire.
It was Isaac’s new title.
***
“You’re safe.”
[Isaac!]
He arrived at the location where the secret shop… once stood.
Though it had been a dense forest, after the 「Evil God Subjugation」, it had turned into a wasteland, and now a shoddy structure with a gabled roof made of wooden planks was standing there.
It seemed that even the secret shop hadn’t escaped the aftermath of the war.
Still, it was a relief that Monon, the raccoon magic beast, was safe.
His sight, putting out just a few items for sale, was just like always.
[That was an incredible monster! You defeated it, right? Amazing!]
Monon marveled in an exaggerated manner.
I pushed up my glasses and responded with a smile.
“Forget that, why are you running the shop at a time like this?”
[The monster’s gone, so I have to get back to business.]
“Hmm.”
I looked at the magic items displayed on the shelf and asked, “Then, can you close the shop for a moment and give me some time?”
[Huh? Why all of a sudden?]
“There’s somewhere we need to go. It’ll just be a quick trip.”
[…Okay, just a moment.]
“Dress warmly.”
Monon put on a thick wizard’s robe as an overcoat.
After leaving the shabby secret shop together, we walked along the empty forest path for a while.
This distance should be far enough.
“Come out, Hilde.”
Woooosh!!
The contract seal on my wrist began to glow, and a white dragon was summoned, releasing a radiant white mana.
The Frost Dragon Hilde. I now measure her to be level 200, a familiar on the level of an Archwizard.
When this creature was summoned, a chill spread everywhere, so we walked this far to avoid damaging the secret shop.
Monon marveled at the Frost Dragon’s appearance and exclaimed,
[Oh! Awesome!]
[Huh?]
I grabbed Monon by the waist, leapt up, and mounted the Frost Dragon.
Using [Rock Generation] I made a stone ring that connected Monon and the Frost Dragon like a safety harness.
[Kaaah!]
The Frost Dragon roared and spread her radiant white wings wide.
She flapped her wings and took off, heading somewhere.
[Wow…]
Monon looked down at the ground from up high, his eyes sparkling with amazement.
[This is my first time experiencing something like this!]
“Is that so?”
[But where are we going?]
“You’ll know when we get there.”
We arrived at a village in the Zelver Kingdom.
There happened to be no people passing by.
That was a relief. Most people bowed so deeply when they saw me that it felt burdensome.
“Good job, Hilde.”
[Take care, Master.]
After Monon and I got off the Frost Dragon, I reverse-summoned her.
We made our way to a small house in the village.
When I knocked on the door, a middle-aged woman came out as if she had been expecting us.
“Welcome, Ice Sovereign.”
She wasn’t surprised and greeted us politely, as she had already been told we were coming.
Monon tilted his head, looking puzzled.
“Please, come in.”
We entered the house.
Sniff sniff.
Monon’s nose twitched.
He stopped in his tracks, his eyes growing wider.
It was after his eyes caught sight of the elderly man with graying hair lying in the bed.
A gaunt frame, extremely thin in appearance.
Where the man’s right leg should have been, the blanket was sunken.
“I’ve been looking for your master. Go see him.”
I thought I would at least find his grave if he’d passed away.
Luckily, or perhaps not, he was still alive.
Monon, with a shocked expression, slowly walked over and stood next to the bed.
[Bilbo…?]
The old man, Bilbo, hearing his name, opened his eyes with difficulty and looked at Monon.
His frail arm gently stroked Monon’s head.
Monon’s eyes welled up. He did not take his eyes off Bilbo even for a moment.
[I remember now. I remember… Bilbo, I couldn’t remember your face, so I drew pictures every day, trying so hard to recall… I really tried. Yes, this was the face…]
Monon, overjoyed, caressed Bilbo’s hand with his small raccoon paws as it rested on his head.
He said he would recognize him when I saw him.
The man in front of me was far from the spirited young man Monon had known.
But in Monon’s eyes, he still appeared as the master he had adventured with 60 years ago.
[I worked really hard, you know? I wanted to show off what I made, hoping one day you’d come back… Every time I heard the wind, I’d open the door, thinking maybe you’d returned… But at some point, I started feeling like you weren’t coming back, and I was so scared. I missed you so much…]
Bilbo seemed too weak to speak. He just looked at Monon silently, his eyes filled with guilt.
The middle-aged woman who had greeted us was Bilbo’s daughter. She explained the situation to us.
Bilbo had been an adventurer who worked for the Adventurer’s Guild. He wasn’t very skilled, so his earnings were poor, and he had no companions, but he held onto the romanticism of adventuring, so he couldn’t quit easily.
One day, he eagerly took on a dangerous monster subjugation request. The result was tragic. He was struck by a poisonous monster, and his leg was taken.
The poison was said to claim the stung area as its territory, then spread like a web. The final destination was death.
It could have been fine with quick detoxification, but Bilbo hadn’t prepared an antidote in advance, saying it was too expensive.
It was a careless decision caused by financial issues and a lack of experience.
By the time he returned, it was too late for even standard medical costs to cover the treatment.
In the end, Bilbo decided to give up both his adventuring career and his leg.
He didn’t want Monon, his only friend and familiar, to be sad. He thought keeping Monon by his side would only make him unhappy.
Knowing that Monon had been studying human language and had taken an interest in workshops, Bilbo lied to Monon, saying that after giving up adventuring to run a workshop instead.
Then, he moved to a distant island where Monon wouldn’t find him, secretly set up a shabby shop, and left some books behind.
The new place where Monon could follow his own path was the secret shop.
Now that I think about it, that’s how it was.
I thought it was out of guilt.
I was wrong. How could he have put so much care into a familiar he intended to abandon?
Bilbo reassured Monon, saying he would finish an urgent task and come back.
He said that so Monon wouldn’t follow, hoping that with time, Monon would naturally forget him.
After that, Bilbo cut off his own leg, where the core of the poison had already taken hold. Thanks to that, he was able to survive.
However, due to the aftereffects of the poison, he couldn’t even move properly and had to remain bedridden.
Eventually, his daughter, who had returned to her hometown, was horrified to find him dying and decided to take care of him.
“…”
Bilbo abandoned Monon, but his intention was for Monon to be happy.
There surely must have been a better way, but questioning it now was meaningless.
The one-legged old man and the raccoon magic beast, once bonded by a familiar contract, tightly held each other’s hands.
It looked like they had a lot to talk about, so I stepped aside.
***
In the end, Monon decided to continue running the workshop.
That was Bilbo’s wish.
He had already grown attached to it and decided to be satisfied by visiting Bilbo from time to time.
As we flew across the evening sky on the Frost Dragon Hilde, Monon thanked me.
Monon confessed that he thought he would never be able to meet his former master again, but I had already figured that out a while ago.
Now, to the main point.
“Hey, Monon.”
[Yes?]
“You don’t need to wait for him anymore, right?” I asked Monon with a smile.
[That’s true, but…]
“Then it doesn’t need to be a ‘secret shop’ anymore, does it?”
[Huh?]
A look of doubt crossed Monon’s face.
The story of him proudly opening a workshop in the Märchen Academy shopping district was for next year.
***
Snow fell every day in the Whiteclark Duchy.
The battle scars left by the Primordial Ice Sovereign, Veronica Aslius, have brought an endless winter to this land.
I ventured deep into the snow-covered mountains settled there and arrived at a cave.
Crossing through the cave, I saw a crackling campfire burning.
In front of it, a strange-looking female demon laid under a blanket, struggling to catch her breath.
[…Is that you, Ice Sovereign?]
“Hello.”
It was Mephisto the Contractor.
The demon looked at me with a pitiful expression.
Currently, my ability to detect demons covered the entire world.
I could see everything about the demons as clearly as the palm of my hand, wherever they might be.
Thanks to that, finding Mephisto was incredibly easy.
“What a ridiculous sight you’ve become,” I spoke nonchalantly and sat across from Mephisto, warming myself by the fire.
I had come late because I wanted Mephisto to suffer just a little longer.
Small minions of creation were slowly gnawing away at various parts of her body. They were creations of Snow White’s night magic.
She must have been feeling an unspeakable, terrible pain. If the blanket were pulled back, her appearance would be grotesque.
Upon closer inspection, I could see ash-gray powder trickling out like grains of sand.
Demons were beings made of dark magic.
Dark magic was what distinguished demons. It was the life force provided by the Evil God.
When a vital component of matter disappeared, it disintegrated. That was why demons left behind ash-gray powder instead of corpses.
Mephisto’s disintegration process was happening slowly. Soon, she would completely lose her life.
[You came after all… How amusing. Did you come to mock me…?]
“Didn’t I tell you?”
I gave her a kind smile.
“I’ll find you and kill you myself.”
I had no intention of just letting Mephisto disintegrate.
I wanted to end it with my own hands before she completely fell apart.
[That’s right… you did…]
Mephisto’s faint laughter dissipated into the cold air.
I quietly stared at the campfire for a moment before speaking.
“…Let me ask you one thing. Nephid seemed to want to create a world of demons and rule over it. What was the reason for that?”
[A question like that, now…?]
Mephisto let out a bitter laugh.
Why did Nephid become the Demon Lord, and then the Evil God? And why did she try to destroy the world?
I had become curious about her motives.
Surely Mephisto, as the Evil God’s agent, would know the answer well.
Mephisto let out a breathy sound and answered in a trembling voice.
[Lady Nephid… rejected the mission given by the Creator and decided to live as she pleased…]
“…”
[That’s all…]
It was just a simple, primal motive. She did it because she wanted to.
That was clear enough.
“I see.”
My curiosity was satisfied.
I stood up and stood in front of Mephisto.
She didn’t seem to have the strength to even move a finger.
This campfire must have been her last effort.
I reached out toward Mephisto with my right hand, condensing ice mana.
Kwoooosh!!
Five-star ice magic, [Frost Explosion].
The shockwave blew apart Mephisto’s torso and snuffed out the campfire.
Mephisto’s head bounced off the wall and rolled on the floor. Only a lingering hollow emotion remained in her eyes.
Soon, Mephisto turned into ash-gray powder and scattered into the swirling cold wind.
Inside the cave, now filled with darkness and the sound of the wind.
I turned my back and left.