Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 356

Chapter 356

Enlightenment always comes unexpectedly. The moment that struck me now was just like that. A sudden, fleeting premonition made me stop in my tracks. It felt like being electrocuted, my mind going blank in an instant.

“What’s wrong, El?”

Trowel, who had been busy with his work in front of me, turned to look at me. He was holding the man’s collar with one hand, his eyelids turned inside out to show the whites. The other hand was crushing something with a cracking sound. I could see dark magic escaping like smoke from the broken pieces. It was what he had taken from the body of the person who had just fainted.

“…Ah, crap. I forgot to tell Isana about the situation.”

“Oh dear.”

Despite the seemingly regretful voice, Trowel’s face showed no sympathy at all. While he was dusting off the residue from his palm, Ellyuen, who had kicked aside the fallen man at his feet, asked,

“Did you sense something?”

“Isana summoned Sicquels [magical creatures]. It seems like she caught a monster.”

A strange sensation brushed against my fingertips a moment ago. It was the feeling conveyed by the Sicquels Isana had summoned. It seemed they had subdued something, and its essence was filled with murky magic. This feeling, like touching the dregs of sewage, is only felt when dealing with monsters. As a former Spirit King and now a divine being, Ellyuen quickly understood what I was saying.

“The timing was off.”

“Ugh, what should I do? She must have been so surprised.”

The fact that she summoned two Sicquels meant the situation must have been very bad. I was tormented by the self-reproach that I hadn’t warned her in advance before the situation got to that point. If you ask me why I forgot such an important fact, I can only excuse myself by saying I’ve been too busy lately. While Isana was waging her war, we had also been fighting our own war for the past few days. When we first tried to remove the seeds of the Mana Tree, we didn’t think the situation was that difficult. But once we started digging in, the situation turned out to be more serious than we thought. The seeds of the Mana Tree were scattered randomly among the public, not just among one or two people. That crazy Archduke had released them to the general public through the market. It hadn’t been long since they were released, so the range wasn’t large, but the number was high. Some villages had all their residents affected. We’ve removed enough seeds to fill a truck while traveling around. At this point, I suspected that they had brought all the seeds of the Mana Tree from the Demon World.

The treatment targets included the Archduke’s army, so we had already passed by the vicinity of Martin Castle in the early evening. Isana’s army arrived after that, so the timing was off, as Ellyuen said. This also meant that the mana that had started spreading from the vicinity of the Imperial Palace had now expanded its territory to that area. By now, they would be joining up with the rear guard, and there would be new troops participating from other regional armies, so I wondered how many more would appear in the future. It was ironic that the Archduke’s army was living peacefully, all purified.

“Isana’s identity as a spirit mage must have been revealed. Since she summoned two Sicquels, some people will realize that she has a contract with the Spirit King. Will she be okay?”

“What are you going to do about what’s already happened? Just let her handle it on her own.”

Lapis retorted coldly from a short distance away. While I was standing still, the rest of the situation was being neatly organized, so it was just reaching its end. Lapis forcibly dragged the man who had been clinging to the corner and stood him up. The man, who was terrified, trembled and sent pleading glances.

“Hngh, s-save me…”

“We’re saving you. Just stay still.”

To fix the constantly struggling body, Lapis firmly grabbed the man’s collar. Then, she raised a strong energy and began to put pressure on his body. The next moment, a strange sound flowed from the man’s mouth as he gasped. As the pressure increased, his condition worsened. His breathing became faint, his eyelids turned white, and foam flowed from his mouth. Just like the man who had been caught by Trowel a moment ago.

“Ugh!”

The man spat out a handful of clotted red blood just as he was about to faint. It was the moment Lapis had been waiting for. About that time, the pressure was stopped, but the man couldn’t stand it anymore and lost consciousness. What was waiting for him, who had slumped down, was the cold bare floor. There, those who had gone through the same process were already lying unconscious. …… It’s really an easy scene to misunderstand, but even though it looks like that, we’re treating them. Not trying to kill them.

I have a lot to say about how this became a treatment method. The terrifying seed that turns people into monsters was just a plant until it ignited, so it had no effect on the body. Since it was the same as grain, it was naturally not subject to purification or healing. In addition, if it was removed while it was still in the body, there was a risk that even a small fragment would remain. Thanks to this, the best treatment was to take the seed out of the body. It was too much of a hassle to explain the situation one by one and persuade them, so as soon as we found them, we immediately grabbed them and started pulling them out. The process is done in various ways, but the most frequently used method is to apply pressure to stir up the body and force it to vomit. After that, Ellyuen treated the messed-up internal organs and erased their memories so that there were no aftereffects. Even I thought it was a fantastic and ruthless combination.

And a little while ago, the last seed holder in this area was treated. Lapis crushed the red lump he spat out with her foot. As it was crushed, it made a cracking sound and soon released mana as if exhaling its last breath.

“It’s all over now.”

“Everyone, you’ve worked so hard.”

“El, you too.”

Nothing has been resolved yet, but the most urgent fire has been put out. At this moment, everyone’s faces were filled with satisfaction.

We are currently in an area southeast of the Imperial Palace, which is behind the Imperial Army in terms of distance. The dimensional barrier will be closed again beyond this area before the mana spreads, so even if we leave it alone, it won’t be a problem for the time being. Still, Ellyuen decided to set up a countermeasure in case of an emergency. It was an extremely divine method of interfering with people’s dreams and inducing them to go to the Temple of Punishment. He said that those who had seeds in their bodies would naturally be moved. Once they go to the temple, the priests will automatically realize the treatment method and deal with it on their own. It would be slower than if we did it ourselves, but it seemed that it would be resolved smoothly.

“Then shouldn’t there be more temples? There are too few of Ellyuen’s temples right now, and they’re all in high places. There may be people who are far away.”

“If that’s the problem, I’ll create a Boundary Path to the temple.”

“Boundary Path? What’s that?”

“A shadow passage that a god can open. Among humans, it’s also called a Mirage Road.”

Trowel, who was next to him, continued the explanation. The fact that we moved to this area and decided to leave the aftermath to Ellyuen was all the result of his precognition.

“Mirage Road?”

“Yeah, when that passage opens, a road connects to that place from anywhere, regardless of distance or location. Not just anyone can see it, but only if the conditions and qualifications are met. Have you ever heard a story about a building you didn’t know suddenly appearing and you went to see it, but when you went back the next day, it disappeared? That’s what it is.”

“Ah, I think I know what that is. Come to think of it, I’ve heard that the Dark Elf village disappears and reappears in that way.”

“Yeah, it’s similar. Crea, the Elven god, has created a Boundary Path to their kingdom in the desert. Their real world is underground. They hate seeing sunlight.”

“Wow, I see.”

As expected, there is still a lot to learn in this world. There are still a thousand pounds of things to solve, but I couldn’t help but want to go see the Dark Elf village. I was also curious about the Blue Elf village, which is said to have a base on the sea. Sibelius is a unicorn, so the actual Blue Elves will look different from him. When the situation is somewhat settled later, I thought it would be nice to go on a tour with everyone around that time. After the Empire is stabilized, it will be difficult for Isana to move easily. I thought I could somehow use tricks.

Come to think of it, it won’t be easy to travel with Isana anymore. As it has always been since the war began, the role of Isana as the Emperor will become greater than that of Isana as an individual. Deron and As will have to return to the Demon World. I was already sad that I wouldn’t be able to spend more time with everyone. But it’s literally a matter of later, so it was too early to worry about it now. Before the end comes, we have to find the Archduke and Karyuan first, but we haven’t even found a trace of where they’re hiding. We’ve solved the urgent Mana Tree seed problem, but the dimensional barrier hasn’t closed, so there will be other problems.

Thanks to this, it’s been several days since I saw As and Deron. The two demons had not returned since the time they were entrusted with guiding people. I sent a spirit to find out, and they said they had gone to deal with the demons coming through the dimensional rift. It seemed that they had accidentally encountered a demon crossing over as soon as they went out. I didn’t hear the details, but it seemed that Karyuan had induced the demons to cause a riot in Arkadon, and As wanted to solve it on his own. Perhaps because he was going to be the Demon King, he wanted to take charge of matters related to demons himself. I haven’t heard of any demons appearing since then, so it seems that he is solving it well on his own. There is someone else involved in that matter, though.

Whirr—

A strong wind shook my hair. When I looked up at the sky, I saw Jins [a type of spirit] wielding spears and flying in formation. The sight of Shuriel and Sylphs [another type of spirit] following behind them was like watching a well-maintained army. It is a sight allowed only to some, visible only to spirits or those who were once spirits.

“Mine is busy today too.”

Trowel, who saw the same sight, smiled and muttered. These days, there were thick wind paths everywhere. It was not originally planned, but Mine deliberately created the flow. It seems to be related to the wind’s unique ability, the Veil of Concealment, but I don’t know exactly what it does. However, since it was created around the dimensional barrier, it was clear that some measures had been taken to defend against demons. In fact, Mine’s intervention was unexpected, so I was a little embarrassed at first. I thought she would be resting since she was in the process of Blaster’s purification.

“Did she wake up feeling that the dimensional barrier was broken?”

“Or someone might have woken her up.”

Ellyuen muttered in a dry tone. I was a little nervous because he had an expression that he didn’t like something. When he makes that expression, there is usually a high probability that someone is involved.

“Can I ask why you think so?”

“If it was the wind’s own will, she wouldn’t just defend quietly. It means that someone requested it in advance. There’s only one guy who’s quick to step up when it comes to the Demon World.”

“That, don’t tell me you’re talking about Kanos?”

He crooked the corners of his lips at my cautious question. It was an expression that said, ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ As he said, if Mine had intended to fix it herself, the wind would have been more murderous. The demons crossing over now were nothing more than uninvited impurities, and we, the owners of this world, had the duty and authority to punish them. But now the wind was just defending. It read the intention of luring them to a suitable place as if guiding them somewhere so that they couldn’t cause an accident.

There was no reason for Mine to be considerate, so it was highly likely that Kanos was involved. I didn’t expect him to be interested in this issue. Judging from the fact that he neglects Baiton, it doesn’t seem like he cares much about the demons causing accidents in other worlds. Is it because this time the scale is large? I heard that there were many complaints about the demons during the Cheonma War [likely a past conflict]. If they cause trouble in Arkadon, the high-ranking gods who were once Spirit Kings will not stand still. It’s not just my feeling that he stepped in not for the safety of this place, but because the Demon World was in danger.

“When you look at it, Kanos seems to cherish the demons more than you think.”

“More than I think? That guy is just openly like that. Don’t trust him when it comes to demons. He might suddenly switch gears to help a criminal at any time. He might already be in that state.”

“…No way.”

“Originally, everything happens the moment you let your guard down.”

It was extremely true, so I quietly shut my mouth. As always, Ellyuen, who is merciless to the Demon God, has nothing but harsh comments about Kanos today. But somehow it didn’t seem like they were on bad terms. Originally, being able to comment without hesitation means that you know the other person well. Considering that Ellyuen is not the type to put lies on his lips, it is even more so. In addition, knowing well means having interest. Even if it’s because of bad feelings. Rather, they are comfortable enough to exchange harsh words. At that point, I thought I should just see them as friends. Of course, I can’t say it because I’m afraid of the aftermath.