NOVEL NEXT Chapter 529
Chapter 529. After the Total Annihilation
――That day, Odigos finally stopped responding even a little.
『It’s a historic achievement…!』
Inside a certain cave, Bishop Lexar was choked with tears of joy.
『It’s an achievement, but it’s a bit unfortunate that we can’t leave our names behind…』
『It can’t be helped right now. Once everything is over, let’s make sure to pass it down.』
『Forest Elves, please take care of that!』
『But the incredible one is not us, it’s just Odigos!』
Wahaha! The remaining Vampire Hunters were also in high spirits. The Forest Elf group, starting with Liliana, nodded with slightly stiff smiles.
“It’s a refreshing feeling to be celebrated for having lost our guide. I’m glad I came to this world…”
Nodding in satisfaction was Odigos――
So, allow me to introduce myself, I’m Alexander, the demon prince posing as a Vampire Hunter who has completely eradicated the vampires from the Feretoria Kingdom.
…Seriously, we fully exterminated them.
I can’t believe it, that such a thing was possible.
A few days after encountering the eccentric dwarfs, we dashed around the Feretoria Kingdom, hunt, hunt, and hunted vampires――and finally exterminated them all.
Though it was a short yet dizzying campaign, I mostly moved around, while the others handled negotiations with the locals as “Vampire Hunters.”
Physically, I had Lily’s healing, so it wasn’t that tough. The ones actually diving underground and hunting vampires were the holy spirits like Bishop Lexar and Arthur.
I think the one who suffered the most was probably Leila, who was forced to run long distances in a human body. Right now, she looked like she was standing at the edge of the cave, dazed, with a face that seemed to have lost all color and burnt out completely…
『You were much livelier when you first came to my side, filled with fear and flattery.』
Comparing the two is just too harsh…
Well, it’s unfortunate for Leila, but once Odigos’ powers were revealed to Bishop Lexar and the others, it was evident that hunting vampires was a done deal, so it couldn’t be helped.
『To begin with, Zilbagias killed them all, which led to the local vampires running rampant.』
Yes… It was something that absolutely had to be done to clear the grievances of the Vampire Hunters…
That said.
Even though we say we exterminated the vampires in the Feretoria Kingdom, that’s only temporary. As long as the border is shared with the Demon Lord Kingdom, we don’t know when vampires might infiltrate again, nor do we have measures to prevent it. At this moment, it’s not strange for Odigos to react once more.
However, this is something that can be said for all nations and regions facing the Demon Lord Kingdom.
Even if only temporarily, for an entire nation to be completely rid of vampires, and for that fact to be “confirmed”――it was a miraculous state that had never been recorded by the Holy Church’s night hunters, not even once.
『Ah… I can’t believe… that such a thing is real…』
…Aaaah! Oh no! Bishop Lexar is starting to look a bit blurrier!!
“Odigos! Where is the closest vampire in this world?!”
“Hmm, still wanting guidance? Here it is!”
Odigos threw himself onto the ground――and collapsed to the west. No, he didn’t just fall; he started rolling around right there!
“Hm, hm, the ‘closest vampire’ keeps changing, so the guidance isn’t stable. It seems the targets are too many, I’m sorry for my ineptitude!”
『Ughhhhhh――!』
Bishop Lexar’s face twisted with rage, regaining clarity. Thank goodness.
『…Phew, how could I get satisfied just by hunting double the number I usually do… There are still countless enemies remaining!』
Wiping the sweat from his forehead (even though he’s a spirit so it’s just his mental image of sweating), Bishop Lexar declared with firm killing intent. No, it’s impressive that you’ve been hunting that many without Odigos’ guidance…
『That said, once Yeasera, a long-lived race living for centuries, becomes a Vampire Hunter, the number of hunts will be even more astounding.』
Bishop Lexar shrugged.
『As for me, I’m just placed in the lower ranks of the historical hunting numbers.』
『…Um, but what he’s saying is that you need to have over 50 hunts to even be listed on the hunting rankings.』
『Far more people die without ever being listed.』
『Also, Yeasera is usually up in the top ranks.』
『More than that, the only ones above Bishop Lexar are Forest Elves or Dwarfs.』
The surrounding Vampire Hunters added in, as Bishop Lexar remained humble.
『So you were among the strongest hunters of the human race…』
Wow… Arthur found that impressive. But you were among the strongest too…
『Ah, the past is just empty.』
Antendeixis teased with a smirk. Yes…
『Well, it won’t be long until the day the ranks become meaningless.』
Switching to a serious expression, Bishop Lexar gave me a meaningful glance.
『If that becomes widely known… even ordinary people might be able to fight against vampires.』
――That thing. The secret weapon against vampires, 【Fragments of the Sun】.
It’s the crystal invented by the quirky dwarf craftsman, Gadingo, which releases stored sunlight explosively upon shattering.
Man, when Lexar and the others heard about Fragments of the Sun after finishing their job, their reactions were incredible!
『It’s a revolution! This is a revolution!!』
『We must mass-produce it immediately!』
『The nation should distribute it to all its citizens! Right now!!』
Even as a silver spirit, I thought, wow, their eyes were bloodshot…
I believed Gadingo should be treated as a top priority person immediately, and it seemed Bishop Lexar and the others concurred. The Vampire Hunters looked as if they would actually carry Gadingo and take him straight to the Holy Church without hesitation–
『…Umm, as for unlimited research funding, that’s quite an attractive offer. But the Holy Church is mostly humans, right? That’s a bit… Well, I sort of enjoy my quiet life now…』
When I casually suggested that Gadingo might consider moving, he wasn’t very enthusiastic. Kidnapping another race without their consent would definitely be a national issue…
Well, I suppose I’ll have to leave that to the Holy Church’s practical negotiators.
All I can do is deliver the samples of 【Fragments of the Sun】 I purchased from Gadingo to the nearby Holy Church via the Forest Elves…
“And then there’s the problem with 【Gunpowder】…”
Currently, I’m worrying about the inventor of 【Gunpowder】, Berthold.
He’s a half-human, half-dwarf outcast living quietly with Gadingo and the others, and he created something truly amazing.
At first, when he demonstrated, I thought it was just a spoonful of 【Gunpowder】 lit up――and it went BOOM! Just a brief flare of fire.
What is this? Is that all… That was my honest thought. It was pitched as a powder that makes it possible to use fire magic without magic power.
However, that pitch may not have been entirely accurate in several ways.
I was a fire element user in my previous life, so I understand. The essence of that thing, its true strength, is not the fire or heat.
It’s an explosion.
『Please wait. The power of 【Gunpowder】 is not just this.』
Seeing my disappointment, Berthold got flustered. Even though vampires were rampant (well, thanks to Odigos, we knew there were none around), he went outside at night for another demonstration.
He ignited a whole barrel of 【Gunpowder】 the size of my fist.
Honestly, I have to say this—no, all of us underestimated it.
As soon as a flash of light streaked by, there was a deafening roar, and shards of the barrel flew about at invisible speed.
As a result, pieces got embedded in both me and Leila. Luckily, Helena healed us right away.
『That skinny dwarf was pale-faced and bowing his head in sorry repeatedly.』
Stop calling him a skinny dwarf!
…Nonetheless, it was unbelievably powerful. I think I could’ve stopped it with protective spells. But that was insane, how could such a “phenomenon” occur without any magic power?
Berthold was fixated on recreating fire magic, but I think that’s quite tricky. It’s too light in powdered form to accurately hurl at an enemy, and once lit, it seems like it would fall on you too… If you’re using magic to control it, then you’re defeating the purpose. It’s just stronger to throw an attack spell with the magic power.
So, the usage of 【Gunpowder】 would be to prepare a large amount and ignite it at the enemy’s feet, or something like that.
If it produced such additional force with barrel shards, it might do even better if mixed with arrows or broken blades, right?
“I believe that if we deploy it on the battlefield, it could yield amazing results. It might backfire on our allies though, so finding the right moment to use it will be complicated.”
『It seems effective as a trap. We could bury it shallowly underground beforehand and hit it with fire magic or lightning magic as enemies pass.』
『It might be useful for vampire hunting as it’s fire-based, after all.』
『I wonder if it works on undead too?』
With my comment, the Vampire Hunters began exchanging ideas, but the Forest Elf group was looking at them with somewhat conflicting expressions, discussing countermeasures against the undead, even though they are holy spirits.
…Well, that’s true.
【Gunpowder】 seems fascinating, but I can’t help but think Enma would master it if it became widely used. He could use it like crazy.
『We could just load it on low-level undead and make them blow up…』
Imagine a skeleton horse charging in with a barrel full of 【Gunpowder】, and the moment someone reflexively blasted fire magic, it’d be a disaster.
Thus, for better or for worse, I had to say that 【Gunpowder】 requires careful handling.
So, about the essential recipe for 【Gunpowder】.
『—T-this is something I completed with all my heart, so I can’t just give it away for free.』
For Berthold, he was unusually adamant on just this one point.
I’m thinking of asking Orderju to introduce Berthold when sending someone to Gadingo.
If we demonstrate the explosion of 【Gunpowder】, the Holy Church’s people will definitely be interested. The question then becomes how much budget we can allocate and how to keep Berthold safe…
Well, I believe everything hinges on how strong of an impact the demonstration makes, so I advised Berthold to create as much 【Gunpowder】 as possible while waiting for a messenger.
…If only I were a proper hero.
I would spare no effort and secure both Gadingo and Berthold as priority figures…
『After all, I’m just a demon prince, a false hero.』
…I’m not a fake!! No matter what anyone says, in my heart I’m a hero!
It’s just… at this point, I’m not a legitimate hero…
Well, but… my body is of the demon race… If anything, so is my demeanor… so much so that there’s no denying it…
Sigh…
“I really need to try doing more hero-like things…”
My ancestor, Arthur, told me to protect one or two countries as a hero…
So with that in mind.
“Odigos.”
“Do you desire guidance?”
“Yeah. I’ve asked a few times, but I need the location of the author of this.”
“Consider it done.”
Clink, clack… the dapper devil in a tailcoat rolled west gentlemanly.
I did promise them, after all, to the Bishop Lexar and the others.
Once we settled the vampire hunting in the Feretoria Kingdom, I would make sure to have Odigos guide me for personal reasons…
To locate that dwarf blacksmith who forged the holy sword—the one whose face and name I can’t recall now…
I already checked a few times during the vampire hunts, so it seems he’s likely within the Feretoria Kingdom.
If we go from our current location, a remote rural village, westward, it could lead to a town near the border.
When push comes to shove――I’m considering revealing my true identity, since I want to somehow restore Adamas.
But until I find the person in question, no discussions can begin…
“All right, let’s move.”
With my words, the holy spirits returned to their vessel, and Liliana and the others started hastily shouldering their bags.
“…So we’re running again, huh…”
Behind them, Leila had a face that looked like she was going to turn into sand, bathed in sunlight like a vampire. I’m sorry…
†††
Thus, we headed to the western part of the Feretoria Kingdom.
――To the lands of the human race, the Opsgaldia Territory.
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