Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Vampiric Iron and Relial the Unyielding (1)

Gustel, a small village located not far from Innocence Academy.

If one entered deep into the forest, where people were even scarcer than in Gustel, a place as peaceful as could be and with few coming and going, one could find a small house left all alone.

Suspiciously enough, people frequently entered and left in numbers so large that the small house seemed far too cramped to be the place where they all lived together.

From the outside, it was nothing more than a small cabin, but if one opened the door and followed the stairs down underground, a long passage connected somewhere appeared, along with a fishy smell.

A wind carrying an eerie chill always lingered in the dark passage.

Relying on a single torch, if one looked toward the end of the darkness, at some point, bright light appeared.

At the end of the passage was a massive cavern that could be called a hideout for criminals.

This cavern was the hideout of the “Mikels Bandits.”

Among this hideout where criminals—in other words, bandits—had gathered, there was one room that could be described as the most luxurious.

Inside the room, a man sat with his chin resting on his hand in a chair that, for a bandit, was in rather antique taste.

It was Mikels, the leader of the Mikels Bandits.

He had one secret.

His real name was, in truth, not Mikels.

His true identity was Relial, a blood mage who, for certain reasons, was currently acting under the name Mikels.

“The time is ripe. So why?”

Relial felt strange today.

The preparations were perfect, just as he intended.

It was a meticulous plan that had continued for five years.

Five years ago, he cut his long hair and began growing a rough beard.

Even adding burn-like scars in several places and completing his disguise perfectly, he naturally blended in among bandits with vicious appearances.

Then, displaying his ability and earning the bandits’ acknowledgment, it took him less than two years to become their leader.

After that, it took another three years to build firm trust with them.

Drawing limitless trust from bandits who betrayed others every other day was no easy task.

This secret hideout had also been devised by him during that process.

And recently, he had finally obtained, together with his subordinates, the most important material for his plan: a metal with the special property of absorbing blood.

“Vampiric iron.”

Thanks to Relial having at least expanded the scale of the bandit group, several subordinates had been sacrificed during the plundering process, but it was still fine.

That was because vampiric iron was far more valuable to him than the lives of a few of his subordinates.

For Mikels, who had already gained a fair bit of fame among bandits, finding bandits who would follow him easily was as simple as eating porridge.

Now he only had to fill back the numbers that had fallen with vicious bandits and earn their trust.

It would take several more months in the process, but things were still going smoothly.

The final step of the plan was to gather in one place the subordinates who believed in him absolutely and perform the ritual.

All of this was the process for creating “The Grudge of the Wicked.”

The Grudge of the Wicked.

That was the name of the “bloodstone” he wanted to create.

If he slowly fed the blood of twenty brutal and cunning people who trusted him completely into the vampiric iron, only then would the bloodstone be completed.

If the completed bloodstone was ground into powder and only a little was sprinkled into the mouth, it could greatly amplify the power of blood magic.

Moreover, since it was not a bloodstone created together by several blood mages, he could monopolize the entire bloodstone himself.

This bloodstone, made through such varied and inhuman methods, was an indispensable elixir for blood mages who handled blood.

Relial had been born with talent in blood magic, which was said to be cursed even among countless magics, but his sole talent was wretchedly poor compared to others.

After all, he could only use “Blood Strength,” a continuous blood magic with the simple effect of strengthening muscles.

However, the recipe for “The Grudge of the Wicked” that Relial happened to discover one day in an old temple was like a ray of light bestowed upon him.

“It took a full five years.”

Thanks to Blood Strength, he could display overwhelming strength among bandits who had little ability besides wicked minds.

But what he wanted was not to become king of mere stupid bandit rabble like this.

Because Relial had lived his entire life in a low position, his desire for compensation was strong.

He was looking toward a far higher place.

He wanted not the head of a snake, but the head of a dragon.

“If only I have the bloodstone...”

If he only consumed the bloodstone, then reigning from a high place with a single blood magic was not such a dreamlike story for Relial.

Relial, an ordinary blood mage who had lived hearing legends of blood mages who consumed one powerful bloodstone and obtained power great enough to shake heaven and earth, held such a romance.

“But why... do I keep having only a bad feeling...?”

Was it because a single damn rat, the thing he hated most, was crawling around on the floor of his room?

Because the owl he had brought to catch that rat was not doing its job?

Or was it because the subordinates who had gone out on patrol were loafing around somewhere and had not returned even though the time for them to come back had already passed?

“Whew...”

Relial grew irritated for various reasons, and his thoughts became somewhat complicated, but he only hoped that this was his anxiety.

After all, humans became more uneasy the closer a dream that had taken a long time to achieve drew before their eyes.

A dream only needed to be achieved.

Do not grow anxious.

At times like this, do not rush.

Sitting in his chair, Relial repeated such thoughts and watched his owl.

His owl in one corner of the hideout was waiting for an opportunity, watching for a chance to snatch the rat with its sharp talons.

It was then.

The owl, sensing a presence that had approached the door of the room, stopped focusing and flew somewhere inside the room.

“Damn it. I thought it was finally about to catch it...”

Relial felt that nothing was going right today.

He took his irritation out on Mont, who must have returned from patrol.

“Hey! Mont! Why did you come back so late? Did you go down to the village and meet a woman... No, that can’t be. With that face of yours, unless you kidnapped her, there’s no way a woman would come to you on her own.”

Even as he grew irritated, Relial threw a trivial joke at Mont.

After all, in this line of work, a leader who poured nothing but irritation and anger onto his subordinates every day was liable to be stabbed in his sleep.

Before the current bandit group became known as the Mikels Bandits, Huigos of the Huigos Bandits had been exactly that sort of man.

“...”

But even at Relial’s joke, Mont gave no answer.

“Hey. Mont.”

Only then did Relial sense something strange and rise from his seat.

His subordinates were not so loyal that they would not speak back to him at all.

Even if their hearts were evil, they were men who, through years of effort, showed trust toward Relial alone.

—Creak.

Before long, the door opened.

Until the door fully opened, Relial, in one corner of his heart, sincerely hoped for the absurd thought that perhaps Mont had, for the first time, played a joke unsuited to him.

Unfortunately, Relial’s ominous feeling was the one that proved correct.

“Who are you...”

The one who entered after the door opened was not Mont, let alone one of his subordinates.

He could tell at once the moment the man stepped in that he was not his subordinate.

Because among his dozens of subordinates, at the very least, none were blind.

Around the eyes of the man who opened the door and entered, there was a pure white bandage wrapped.

“...”

The moment the stranger’s full appearance was revealed, Relial raised his muscular arms, veins bulging from being strengthened by Blood Strength, and immediately assumed a combat stance.

He could not fail to know.

Especially if he was a blood mage.

Because the large black robe the man wore, large enough to hide even his figure, was thickly soaked with the acrid smell of blood.

“Who am I... Well, for now, I’m not the Mont you were looking for.”

That was the first thing the man said as he slowly walked into the room.

Relial did not bother questioning how a blind man could walk around here and there so naturally.

There were many rooms from the entrance of the hideout to Relial’s room.

And Relial’s loyal subordinates should have been stationed there.

A blind man who had entered his room while giving off the smell of blood.

This could only mean that the blind man had destroyed all of his subordinates, the precious “sacrifices” he had spent more than five years preparing.

“Stop right there! If you come even a little closer, I’ll smash your face in at a speed you can’t dodge.”

Had Relial’s shallow threat worked?

The blind man hurriedly stopped walking.

The one surprised by his action was, rather, Relial.

In truth, Relial was currently terrified.

Until he consumed the bloodstone—no, only until he consumed the bloodstone—he had decided to avoid the strong, just as he had done until now.

Even if he was servile for the moment, Relial had lived hiding in the shadows, thinking only of the sweet fruit he would gain at the end of his hardship.

However, for Relial, who was merely the leader of a bandit group and a blood mage of lowly talent, killing over a dozen bandits “without causing any commotion” was impossible.

Until that guy arrived here.

Relial had no memory whatsoever of hearing any disturbance or loud sound.

That uncomfortable truth meant the blind man was a strong person who could easily accomplish what he himself could not.

“...What do you want? You must have a reason for coming all the way here.”

“If I say what I want... will you give it to me? My thoughts are a little different.”

“Since your effort in coming all the way here is commendable, I will listen if I can...! In any case, the foolish bastards dying outside have no value to me!”

Relial put on all the bravado he had learned from living as a leader for several years.

However, the name of the object that came from the mouth of the unknown blind man was something that, to Relial, could not be exchanged for anything and could never be yielded.

“Since you say that much, it would be rude of me to refuse. Very well.”

The blind man nodded at Relial’s offer, then answered.

“...Then I’ll take the ‘vampiric iron.’”

“V-vampiric iron? Wh-what’s that?”

Because the blind man brought up the words vampiric iron as easily as ordering food at a restaurant, Relial panicked and his tongue twisted.

“Why is that coming out of that bastard’s mouth?”

Relial hurriedly tried to play dumb, but the small smile resting on the blind man’s lips did not waver at all before his desperate lie.

Relial could not let go of his tension in the face of this incomprehensible situation that had occurred out of nowhere.

Soon, beads of sweat began forming on his forehead.

“My dead subordinates? Fine, I can just spend five more years. No? Since it is a road I already walked, it might be faster. But not the vampiric iron. Absolutely not. To me, that is something I will never be able to obtain again.”

Relial’s eyes darted quickly.

“I have no idea what this ‘vampiric iron’ even is, so why are you looking for it from me... Did you take a wrong turn because you’re blind?”

The vampiric iron that Relial had barely managed to steal after tremendous luck followed at the end of his patient efforts.

And within only a few days, a blind man had come to rob him of it.

The countless unrealistic events occurring in an instant made Relial’s mind utterly chaotic.

Soon, the mouth of the blind man standing silently before Relial opened.

“As expected... You truly are ‘Relial the Unyielding.’”