Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Chief mage Screed ordered the group.

“First put out the fire.”

“Understood.”

“Knights, please lead the troops and gather the collapsed mercenaries over there.”

“We will do so.”

As the group began moving busily, Screed looked around again.

Among the mercenaries being moved by the soldiers, a familiar face seemed visible.

“It’s the Surkis Mercenary Group leader. He was raising his stock near the ducal territory recently.”

Since I’ve also done fixer work, I know to some extent.

If an individual mercenary, maybe not, but a mercenary group’s reputation is not necessarily proportional to skill.

Skill is good to have, but once rising to a certain line, thereafter the attitude toward customers was important.

Surkis seemed a mercenary who was really good to the client.

“The leader looked somewhat okay. The rest were just youths with good builds.”

Screed turned his gaze again.

The suspicious mage flowing black blood under the robe bisected in half, and the problematic Damian sleeping soundly over there.

“That guy came together too. Thankfully, the wanted posters can be withdrawn as soon as distributed.”

The expression is not good.

The guy who worked under him turned out to be performing a suspicious request, deceived the Duke on top of that, shot magic in front of the Duke and fled.

Emotions can’t help but be bad.

Still, being human, I left the life attached, but in fact I don’t know if Damian’s neck will stay attached to the end.

I don’t know the laws and atmosphere of the ducal territory well.

Still, since promises must be kept, I was thinking of sending priests to purify his arm where demon-humanization would be progressing.

Screed who seemed to have sufficiently examined the surroundings looked at me and said.

“Alone, you collapsed two mages and half of the mercenary group. You worked hard.”

The one who offered words of praise gave his gaze to my carriage and said.

“Would you return first and rest until the Duke calls? We will finish here and return.”

“Thank you.”

I opened the carriage and looked at the coachman resting inside.

“No injuries?”

“Yes, as you said, I kept it tightly closed.”

“Let’s return to the ducal territory.”

The coachman opened the front door, went out, and sat in place.

“Departing.”

The carriage turned around and began heading toward the ducal territory again.

***

The reception room behind the Duke’s audience chamber.

The Westeros Duke welcomed me gladly.

The knight I saw in the wheat field was standing upright beside the Duke, and in the Duke’s hand was held a button-shaped ornament that records the surroundings.

Seeing the knight’s cloak ornament intact, it seemed that knight brought it, but it wasn’t his.

That style, is it a mage’s?

“I saw all of you fighting.”

All?

Then that recording device must be Damian’s.

“There are many who use the sword well even in our ducal territory. Asking the guard, depending on the strength of the dead mage it would differ, but some knights of the ducal territory can do similarly, they said.”

I examined behind him.

The knights’ training doesn’t look insufficient.

They would be skilled in mana use too, so there is possibility.

But this is not a place trying to strictly pick apart the result of the Duke’s knights versus the black mage’s match.

So to the customer Duke, without adding extra words, I answered like this.

“They will be able to do sufficiently.”

The Duke smiled yet waved his hand.

“I didn’t say they can do ‘similarly’ for nothing. Because the mage was on the battlefield, if our knights faced them, even if they won the battle, most of the mercenaries who joined the enemy would have died, they said.”

That would be correct.

Wouldn’t they have killed in one stroke saying it’s bothersome.

But I also wasn’t shouting non-killing.

Just that still human-like enemies came out, so I was also fighting human-like.

I also was an excellent force for most of the period, but when the Demon King’s descent was right in front, I couldn’t be so.

With Demon Realm nobles, those natural disaster-like things, going around in human form, what could I have done there.

No matter how much I stabbed disarm into guys floating around with arms crossed without even holding weapons, there was no way it would disarm.

So while the big shots of the Holy See and the military were fighting hard, carrying something and running, or fleeing and hiding in a place no one knows, or leaving the place and moving to the destination was my charge...

Naturally I got injured often, and there were many times I almost died.

Thinking I unmistakably died and even leaving a will and closing my eyes, there were three times the Holy See forcibly saved me.

I remember throwing a joke at Holy Knight Commander Theodore met with eyes open, asking if I have to get permission even to die.

Whether because of the memory of that time, and because of those demon guys, I came to distinguish more clearly between people and non-people.

When facing humans, I did leave a little room.

But isn’t it okay even like this?

I intend to keep getting stronger from now on, and this time cut those natural disaster-like guys with my sword.

No need to be harsh to people who were once in the same industry living hand to mouth in the territory like this.

“Seeing our knights fight in real combat, it was closer to the feeling of destroying with strong force, I had never received the feeling of suppressing with such elegant and systematic swordsmanship.”

Even when a short skirmish occurred in the audience chamber, he flowed admiration unfitting the atmosphere.

The Duke seems to like Equira’s swordsmanship.

“So, I’m saying, I want to entrust my youngest son to the Equira Sword Family a bit.”

“If you like the swordsmanship, you thought very well. All the swordsmanship I used this time, even sword institute students are learning.”

“Oh... Is that so? Later when our child enters as a student, please look in once on how he’s doing.”

“Of course. He’ll do well on his own, but I’ll also check the sword use a few times.”

Not just a student but the son of a Duke acting friendly like that, looking in is no problem.

If needed, I can also look at the sword so he doesn’t fail.

“Hahaha, that’s really a thankful story. I should prepare a gift personally. If not urgent, can you stay a few more days? Gifts a magic practitioner would need are not common.”

“Of course.”

Matching well like this and continuing the conversation, the Duke had become in a very good mood.

“Hey, is the bounty prepared?”

“Yes, family head.”

“Bring double.”

Before long, a thick envelope was placed in front of me.

“I’ll give the bounty. Since you said you’d receive it, I put in a bit more.”

Double is a bit.

Indeed, is this the Duke’s generosity.

Quietly thinking what kind of money this is, the words chief mage Screed said came to mind.

Clearly, looking at Damian, he talked about ‘wanted posters’.

“It hasn’t even all been distributed in the ducal territory. Only a little was delivered to the guard corps or mercenary groups near the ducal castle, the rest is piled prepared, but well, since it was resolved quickly, it’s good, hahaha.”

“Thank you.”

After securing the envelope, the Duke smiled and said.

“You did work different from the request content, but I’ll report it as completion and pay the fee.”

“Thank you, but I intend to surely resolve the request content too and go.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t we have to destroy that coffin?”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll surely burn even what’s inside. Please call some priests.”

***

The priests of the ducal territory were called.

When I briefly told them, of course they made strange expressions first.

“Demons...”

“That... Are you talking about the monsters of the Demon Realm?”

That... Demon Realm.

The word that would enter between that gap is probably ‘in legends’ or ‘in old history books’ or something.

In short, exactly the reaction right after I first met Theodore as the detective office director and heard the story.

At this time, even priests felt the words Demon Realm and demons only distantly like this.

“If you say to stop that, how...”

“Is it just shooting out holy power?”

Those slightly troubled and lacking confidence.

But confidence doesn’t matter, the important thing is holy power as they said themselves.

“Could you shine the light once?”

Saying while raising one hand, they each raised white holy fire on their hands as if knowing what I wanted.

“Good. First return and wait.”

After confirming their holy power, I mercilessly sent them back.

Except one person, the training is shallow.

Even that degree will greatly boost the effect of healing magic, so there will be no problem in the current work handling.

But from now on, as the worst compatibility against demons and the Holy See’s highest force, the time comes when they must more actively hold holy power not for treatment but for combat.

Holy power refers to pure white mana mixed with the attribute of light, concentrated.

Twice the magic power and ether of existing mana is melted in, giving tremendous burden to the body, but the attribute of light heals and purifies the body that much.

Therefore, the training to hold holy power is painful enough to be called asceticism, but once training gets on track, one can handle a large power hard for the human body to hold with that healthy body.

That holy power is endlessly flowing down from the chalice called the Holy Grail left by the First Emperor who became a god as a human, the Holy Grail placed in the Holy See’s chapel was the genuine, and replicas of the Holy Grail exist in the great cathedrals of various places in the Empire, and white magic power was flowing down the same there too.

Around this point, one will be able to infer the etymology.

That mana is called holy power as the sacred power bestowed by God.

I heard that the First Emperor conveyed that only those who want to clean the world should hold that power.

The predecessor of the Holy See were the ones with the deepest loyalty who cleared from the human world the things the Emperor defined as ‘harmful’, and cleaned up the damage from them.

Since the loyalty was to the Emperor, often before burning something, there were those who sought the Emperor’s direct will rather than their leader the Emperor seated.

To that, the Emperor said I bestow authority equivalent to me to your representative at least when doing that work, and thus the Pope and the Holy See were born.

This organization that has existed for over ten thousand years since then has power, but often when peace lengthens like this, it had a tendency to weaken.

Well, it means the training is that difficult.

A person full of venom stubbornly trying to stack holy power might be a terrible fanatic or a slightly strange person.

Or both.

Theodore was both.

An eccentric who realized the demons’ movements the fastest, and went around gathering talents to stop them together.

“Yes, you sent back the priests of the ducal territory.”

“Please contact the Holy See. Four high priests of parish leader level of the ducal territory are needed.”

I called a bit high worried about making them go in vain.

But as time passes, mid-level priests of reasonably large parishes will hold holy power comparable to the current high priests.

The faces of the priests in the cathedral will mostly become haggard, but it’s not a bad thing.

That resentment will also head toward the demons.

“Understood, leave it to me.”

It was fortunate the Duke was cooperative.

In fact, an unknown magic practitioner has no influence to call out such high-ranking people.

But if the Duke demands like that, the Holy See will also send people wondering if some big problem arose.

Waiting for the gift the Duke said he would prepare and the high priests of the Holy See like that, I continued training.

Bringing butler Morris at this time was a great help.

He politely turned back all sorts of invitations sent by various nobles of the ducal territory, and fulfilled that duty so that sleep, meals, and training could continue comfortably.

“Family head, the guest from the Holy See has come, they say. Waiting in the banquet hall.”

I opened my eyes.

It’s time to proceed with the exorcism rite.

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