“I wonder, has something happened in there?”
“Who knows? But, I think there’s no doubt it’s nothing good.”
◆◇◆◇◆
The inspection itself was more or less necessary.
Its border was at the moment nothing more but a plain, however for the sake of avoiding disputes of the territorial borders, which might happen in the future, it was indispensable to properly define it.
Inducing Kurt became the most important goal after all.
『There’s no problem. He seems to be lurking around.』 (Burkhart)
Kurt, the blacksmith Eckhart and the few remaining supporters went out armed to the location we intended to inspect as potential territory during darkness.
Even after arriving at the location, we intended to inspect, we were entirely aware of the five people hiding in a thicket slightly further away and looking this way.
Kurt, who suddenly showed his figure in front of us, begins to blow into something similar to an old ocarina.
However, apparently the black smoke has received a note telling it that it only applies to Kurt.
Before long screams considered to belong to Eckhart’s group can be heard.
『Only himself being safe and the others are doomed? How evil.』
『They have splendidly been used and thrown away. As expected, he is a small man.』 (Burkhart)
Burkhart-san’s evaluation of Kurt was harsh.
Besides, it’s not like Kurt will be safe for eternity either.
We should defend ourselves as that body of black smoke began to gush forth in large quantities even from far away. I deployed a magic barrier together with Burkhart-san.
That’s to be expected of her as well. She didn’t have that much knowledge in magic tools.
“Nee, do you know about it, doushi-sama?”
“That’s probably the 『Flute of Grudges』.” (Armstrong)
“Flute of Grudges?”
Unexpectedly doushi seems to have a clue about the magic tool Kurt has been blowing into.
With the hatred of the person himself, the grudges gathered from the surroundings by the flute are used to change oneself into a powerful undead, which kills the target.
However, if it’s the Flute of Grudges, there are also many situations where it ends with killing the individual target, involving several people at worst.
Its dreadfulness is excessive to a degree that we have to retreat in a hurry.
“Uncle-sama. I’m recalling from the books I read in the past that tornadoes are a lot smaller, but…” (Elise)
“I can think of several reasons, however…” (Armstrong)
First was the fact of these Savage Lands being a vastly empty plot of land.
Plants and bugs get crushed under the hooves of running deer.
Bears drown in rivers and their children end up dying as they haven’t been brought up.
In daily life, there were things like not being pleased with friends.
The grudges, which accumulated, bring harm to people utilizing these plots of land.
There’s no more than a small amount of something like grudges gathering from one place, but since the Savage Lands are vast, it’s a matter of dust becoming a mound if you pile it up.
“That means, the situation is hopeless unless Wend’s elder brother stops blowing into the flute?” (Erwin)
“Rather than stopping, there’s no other choice but to destroy either the magic tool or its user!” (Armstrong)
“Eh, what do you mean by that?” (Erwin)
Erw remembers a sense of discomfort due to doushi’s remark of destroying Kurt and not killing him.
“Erw-boy, why you do you think Baron Baumeister and Burkhart-dono immediately deployed a magic barrier? If the the body of a normal human suffers this amount of thick and dense grudges, they won’t escape dying.” (Armstrong)
While doushi was answering Erw’s question, he also explained that Kurt shouldn’t be alive anymore.
To put it simply, it’s very likely that Kurt and his followers have already died.
“It’s not something you have to worry about, Elise. Though it might be bad taste, but they reap what they sowed.” (Wendelin)
I wish for their death from the bottom of my heart.
In the end they even tried to assassinate a person.
Margrave Breithilde and the nobles of the central government shouldn’t have done something like using Kurt in order to suppress my anxiety of the future.
“However, if that’s the case, why is the tune of the flute still continuing to resound, I wonder?” (Ina)
“That’s simple. It’s because it is a magic tool!” (Armstrong)
Doushi quickly replied to Ina’s doubt.
Once you get it working by blowing into it one time, the flute’s tune won’t stop until killing the person, who had been defined as target by the person operating it.
Although Kurt has already passed away, why are the flute and the gathering grudges recognising me as their target?
“The answer is that the person, who is using the flute as existence manipulating the assembly of grudges, has transformed into an undead. It will be a reasonable labour to purify that, boy.” (Burkhart)
A report, that a change occurred in the aforementioned huge tornado of black smoke, is given by Burkhart-san, who was concentrating on deploying the magic barrier.
Holding that flute in his mouth just as before, Kurt is continuing to play the melody from there.
And, although they were his followers, they had changed into zombies after all and were buried into the limbs and torso of the black giant as if being nothing more than decorations.
“What does that mean? It’s the first time I’ve seen an undead like that!”
It seems the zombie Kurt is the core, but the other zombies have been embedded into the whole body as well. The majority of the parts of the mysterious giant were composed by the grudges in a state of black smoke.
She has fun in defeating wild animals and monster if she can eat them, but if it’s this kind of undead, she can’t eat, we should defeat it quickly.
“It’s good, if it finishes with Kurt’s rampaging as it is just the right opportunity.”
Considering the other party, they likely hated me for being born in the first place.
That’s something intolerable from Kurt’s point of view.
And, in case I gave him the money I’m possessing, he would work me like his slave.
People, taking things into consideration to that extent, are able to approve just because he is my elder brother connected by blood.
I wasn’t such a saint.
“So, what will we do?”
“I wonder…”
The black smoke giant, which absorbed all of the grudges within the Flute of Grudges’ range in the Savage Lands, immediately unleashed a barrage of punches with his fist at me, who is its target.
Even so, swinging down its both hands continuously, the impacts cause very loud sounds of *bam bam* on the magic barrier. This has triggered a mental feeling of being slightly scared.
Because the giant has an all-over height of around 50 meters and because I’m facing its large fists even though I’m being protected by the magic barrier.
“If that’s the case, it’s my turn now! If something happens to Baron Baumeister’s body, even his His Majesty would be full of regret. Anyway, it’s fine to leave it to me!” (Armstrong)
Since doushi came for the sake of guarding me, he isn’t wrong theoretically.
“I will get rid of it with magic I usually don’t use!” (Armstrong)
At the same time of saying that, doushi aligns his mana and slips out from the magic barrier deployed by Burkhart-san and me. Simultaneously he applies a spell of body enhancement on himself.
It used a strength that would have definitely squashed the target, if it was an ordinary human, but doushi defended against that with a standalone magic barrier.
“What! Doushi used a magic barrier.” (Erwin)
“No, no, that’s because he’s the Royal Head Magician.”
From Erw’s point of view, it was the first time for doushi to us a magic barrier itself.
He only wasn’t able to use a semicircular magic barrier, covering several people, like Burkhart-san and me.
“In a certain sense he is a perfectly suited to fighting alone.”
“I wonder, if that’s how it is…”
For this reason voices had been raised in the past for master to be the Royal Head Magician rather than doushi.
Rather, you can even say he is qualified since he possesses offensive abilities to a frightening level, which can mercilessly annihilate an enemy army, if there is a war.
“It’s because other magic consumes a large quantity of mana! Really! It completely burns away similar to a crimson pillar of fire!” (Armstrong)
With these words doushi points his finger towards the black smoke giant and a mighty pillar of fire suddenly rises from the feet of the black smoke giant. Its body ends up being fully wrapped up in the fire.
“It was a satisfying execution! Burst Great Rising!” (Armstrong) (T/N: The spells name is written in katakana emulating the english name, don’t blame me for this engrish, ok?)
Burst Great Rising is a spell that creates a huge, high-temperatured pillar of fire from the feet of its target.
If asked whether it’s an original spell, you could say yes and no.
In fact, it’s the same for me as well.
And Ina noticed the same problem as us.
“Nee, Wend.” (Ina)
“Umm, what’s up?” (Wendelin)
“I can’t use such spell, but that black giant is an undead, right? Isn’t it in vain, if you don’t purify it with holy magic in that case?” (Ina)
“I wonder if that’s how it is?” (Wendelin)
It’s different when it has a body rotten like a zombie, but with the majority of that giant being materialized as grudges in the shape of black smoke, magic of the fire attribute shouldn’t work.
“Didn’t uncle-sama target the zombie of those people embedded in that black giant?” (Elise)
It’s not like Elise forgot the fact that the majority of the undead won’t be defeated without using Holy magic.
You can even say that it has a nice efficiency, if that is indeed correct.
In addition, the eyes of Kurt, embedded in the chest part, became bloodshot and he screamed.
In any case, the figures of the other four, who were embedded in the limbs of the giant, vanished from sight already.
Because of this difference, Erw, who was shunned by his elder brothers, doesn’t see this as someone else’s problem, as it could have been his as well, especially given that it occasionally goes even as far as murder and assassinations.
The attacks themselves were completely blocked by Burkhart-san’s magic barrier, but it’s likely not good for the heart to watch a scene of a giant swinging its arms downward.
To narrow down the range of the wide-area purification spell, we used in the Demon Forest, we raised its density.
Since it would be troublesome, if even that failed in the worst case, we have decided to do it without mercy.
“Wendelin! Diee~~~!” (Kurt)
It doesn’t seem that he has even reason left anymore. Given that the giant is continuing to swing its hands towards us, this would become problematic, if it rampaged somewhere else as well.
The reason being, if they were the aim of this giant, they likely wouldn’t be able to survive as they can’t even deploy a magic barrier in the first place.
Surely, I didn’t know whether this magic tool of vengeance had a value to sacrifice one’s own body, but it was an opportunity to deal with the sole magician in the area.
“However, we would have been checkmated, if we didn’t have Holy magic.”
“Right. Even if you defend against its attacks, there would be no way to defeat the black giant if you don’t use Holy magic. The deployment of the magic barrier as well, the result would be the same once the mana ran out.”
As for the point of the majority of people definitely ending up dead, the Flute of Grudges was also an appropriate magic tool to be controlled by the government.
“So, doushi is stalling for time?”
“Probably… However, the impression, he gives off, is him really trying to defeat it by himself…” (Wendelin)
“No, that’s impossible without Holy magic!”
For the sake of Elise and me performing Holy magic, Burkhart-san extends his magic barrier so that it protects all of us.
As it was possible for him to deploy a magic barrier, as long as it covered only himself, and to enhance his physical ability with magic, he continued to fire highly-focussed fire balls while flying around the black smoke giant with high-speed flight.
After all, there wouldn’t be any results without Holy magic.
“He’s a doushi, Holy magic is…” (T/N: It’s an assumption based on the title which means something like officiating monk)
“Though it never has happened for me to have seen it.” (Luise)
Even at the time of practising in the capital, Luise and I didn’t remember having seen him using it.
First Elise cast a purification spell, which was limited in its effect directly at the place where the black smoke giant is standing.
Moreover, the wraith of Kurt, which was embedded in its chest, continued to scream as if being damaged by sulphuric acid.
“Go ahead! Boy!” (Burkhart)
“Yes!” (Wendelin)
Next I’m stacking the same spell onto the same area as well.
The wraith of Kurt, which was only raising screams, starts its last resistance.
“Wendeli~~~n!” (Kurt)
Once again the sound of the Flute of Grudges becomes powerful. And once again black smoke came gradually gathering from the surroundings.
“Again!?”
“That’s because something like grudges is anywhere.”
Though it’s only a very small quantity, with its nature of gathering over a vast range as something that also exists in any kind of soil, the rate of the giant’s body becoming smaller has completely stopped.
Or will the wraith of Kurt vanish after ceasing to gather grudges?
Even if she has gained around 10 minutes due to the aforementioned ring in addition to the reserve magic gems, I had her carry out of reconsideration for the future.
Given that he can’t use Holy magic, he will only be able to defend afterwards.
“This is bad… Doushi!” (Burkhart)
“What is it, Burkhart-dono?” (Armstrong)
Burkhart-san explains the circumstance to doushi, who continues his diversion while flying around the giant.
“I see, these empty Savage Lands have backfired in reverse!” (Armstrong)
“Even if it’s an empty area, do grudges come flying this quickly?”
“Usually that’s not the case. The dreadfulness of the grudges is in proportion to resentment’s depth of the person gathering it!” (Armstrong)
Small amounts of grudges can’t usually be seen neither by animals nor people as they are transparent.
Probably a large amount of grudges had accumulated at those places.
“Grudges are calling grudges with interest attached to them!” (Armstrong)
“That’s an exquisite allegory.”
Even if it’s a completely false accusation, Kurt seems to have a considerable resentment towards me.
“So, what shall we do?” (Wendelin)
“I’m bad at supplementing mana to others!” (Armstrong)
It’s necessary to have a special talent for supplying mana after all.
Doushi, who can’t use almost anything but a couple of standalone spells, though powerful, as the ultimate combat machine, says that he will use Holy magic, which he previously declared to be weak in.
“No, in my short life of 40 years, I have no more experience than having tried Holy magic for a small period of time!” (Armstrong)
During that time he gave up training it any further since he couldn’t realize anything but far too shabby Holy magic.
“Something like that… Doushi.”
Including myself, everyone is exhausted. Burkhart-san states his word of objection as representative.
“Above being uncertain whether you can use it normally now, it has been completely no good before. It takes time to get used to using Holy magic as well.” (Burkhart)
Although the learning time is originally short, even if he suddenly uses it, he shouldn’t cast something like Holy magic popular in use at the black giant.
Certainly, this might be the most realistic plan.
Doushi, who caught it, began to read the entries about Holy magic while floating in the sky.
“I see, as expected of Alfred. It’s really easy to understand!” (Armstrong)
“For real…?” (Erwin)
While pretending that he didn’t hear Erw’s tsukkomi, I once again turn my look towards doushi.
Suddenly bluish-white light was emitted from both hands, which doushi had held out in front, and next arrows made out of Holy light appeared in his palms.
“More or less it is Holy magic.” (Burkhart)
Burkhart-san admitted that there was a chance of doushi releasing Holy light for the time being, but he showed something close to astonishment in his expression.
The arrows of Holy light, which were released from both palms of doushi’s hands, hit the black giant at their slow pace as is, dispersing a small amount of black smoke by purifying it.
Given that he has been able to cast it more or less, it’s not like there is absolutely no effect at all.
“Doushi…”
“I tried it for the first time in 20 years, but its power has risen higher than before! It’s a chance!” (Armstrong)
“Oy…”