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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter 169: Reunion (2)
***
It was when the barrier was half-collapsed.
Someone jumped over the barrier and came inside.
“Damien……!”
It was Athena. She ran towards him, calling Damien’s name urgently.
Despite having faced two high-class opponents, Athena had not a single scratch on her, not even dirt on her clothes.
Damien wasn’t particularly surprised. Those high-class opponents would have been nothing more than a nuisance to Athena.
Athena, who had come close, had an almost tearful expression on her face.
“I’m glad you’re safe…… I’m sorry I couldn’t help you…… I couldn’t get in because of the barrier.”
The black barrier that Garrot had put up, as befitting a Grand Dark Mage, was incredibly powerful.
Even Damien had to focus his aura to the utmost when cutting through the barrier.
So there was no way for Athena to get inside the barrier.
“Don’t worry. It’s all over now.”
Damien said, pointing to Munchi’s corpse.
Munchi had abandoned his original body and created a new one out of darkness.
Thanks to this, Damien was able to use Munchi’s former body as evidence of the subjugation.
Athena’s eyes widened when she saw Munchi’s corpse. Athena exclaimed in admiration.
“You’re really amazing! As I thought you would be able to defeat it without any problems…… Wait, what is that?”
Then, Athena asked, pointing to Garrot’s corpse.
Garrot looked horrific, having fused with Bagder and then been chewed all over by Fenrir.
“A monster? No, something is strange…… There’s even a human face stuck on its forehead?”
“He’s a dark mage who was targeting this undead. He was the one who put up the barrier.”
“……A dark mage? This thing?”
“He fused with the chimera he created. That’s why it looks like that.”
At those words, Athena looked at Damien with a shocked face.
“……Wait, so you’re saying you fought a dark mage who fused with a chimera and an undead at the same time?”
“No, they were fighting each other, so I attacked from behind.”
Damien didn’t tell the whole truth.
Since a dark mage was involved, the Church would send investigators. Then the fact that Garrot was a Grand Dark Mage would be revealed.
It was simply common sense that Damien, known as a high-class knight, could not have defeated a Great Dark Mage on his own.
So he planned to make it look like Damien had finished off what Munchi and Garrot were fighting.
“So you’re saying you killed both a dark mage who created a chimera of that level…… and an undead that was on par with a high-class…… and survived?”
Athena’s face turned red. She avoided Damien’s gaze and said in a small voice.
“Y, you get a perfect score…….”
“You’re talking nonsense again. What kind of score is that?”
“H, how can I say it with my mouth!”
Athena turned around with a short cry.
Damien looked at Athena with a face like he was looking at a strange person.
***
After that, the two of them sent letters to the Kingdom of Grape to inform them of the undead subjugation.
Not long after the letters were sent, the kingdom’s officials arrived.
“It can’t be this big…….”
The officials’ mouths dropped open when they saw Munchi’s corpse.
Even more surprising than Munchi’s corpse was Garrot’s corpse.
Even to the eyes of a normal person who had never learned magic, the presence of Garrot’s corpse was overwhelming.
“To think there was a dark mage who could create such a monstrous chimera…….”
“He said he used a wide range of dark magic. He’s not an ordinary dark mage.”
“There’s a high chance that this dark mage was the one who spread the plague too.”
The officials muttered among themselves as they looked at Garrot’s corpse.
Then the official who seemed to be the leader took Damien’s hand and said.
“Thank you so much! Thanks to the two of you, we were able to eliminate this threat to the kingdom! I don’t know how we can ever repay you for this…….”
As he spoke, the official gestured. Several soldiers brought a small metal box.
“Here is the Flower of Fire as promised!”
Damien received the box that the official handed him. Damien opened the box slightly.
The moment he did, the surrounding temperature soared. It felt like he was standing under the hot summer sun.
The box contained a small amount of red petals. The petals were glowing bright red as if they were about to burst into flames.
As Damien closed the box again, the temperature returned to normal.
“This is indeed the Flower of Fire.”
“Of course. It is a promise with the Fafnir Mercenaries, and who would dare to break it?”
The official said with a cheerful smile. Damien also smiled back at the official.
Damien put the Flower of Fire into the subspace and stepped back. Then Athena stepped forward.
“Hello. My name is Athena Hopper.”
The officials’ eyes widened at Athena’s introduction.
“Hopper? Hopper is the surname of the Mercenary King, isn’t it?”
“Surely…… you are of the pureblood?”
Athena nodded. The officials were greatly surprised and looked at each other.
“I didn’t think the Mercenary King would send a member of the purebloods……,”
“It seems they are taking this commission very seriously.”
“We must express our gratitude separately.”
Athena spoke to the muttering officials.
“Shall we start the additional settlement now?”
“Yes? Additional settlement?”
The officials looked at Athena with faces that said they had never heard of such a thing.
“Didn’t you give us the Flower of Fire as agreed?”
“That was for when we subjugated the wolf undead.”
Athena said, pointing to Garrot’s corpse.
“We didn’t hear anything about there being a dark mage like this. As you can see, he’s no ordinary dark mage. We almost lost our lives because of him.”
Athena continued.
“We would like to receive additional compensation for taking care of an additional dangerous enemy that was not in the contract.”
At Athena’s words, the officials looked at each other. There was a strong sense of determination that they could not back down now.
“We cannot accept that request. Everything is according to the contract…….”
“Oh, and by the way, you know how the kingdom’s high-class interfered with us?”
At those words, the officials’ eyes shook violently. It seemed they had heard reports on their way here.
“T, that’s…… Sir Opheus and Sir Ballet went ahead on their own…….”
“You can’t just brush it off like that. We suffered a great loss because of those two. If you think about it, it’s the kingdom’s fault for not properly mediating between the two.”
The officials were rendered speechless by Athena’s refutation.
“Shall we then have a nice long talk?”
Athena said with a grin. The officials could only nod their heads.
***
After that, Athena spoke with the officials for a long time.
‘She’s quite skilled at manipulating officials.’
Damien thought with admiration as he watched Athena from the side.
As befitting the daughter of the Mercenary King, Athena displayed a very seasoned demeanor in these negotiations.
“We’ll send someone from the Fafnir Mercenaries later to finalize the details of the payment,” Athena said after securing a positive response from the officials.
With that settled, Damien and Athena left the Grape Kingdom immediately. They knew that if the investigation team from the Church caught them, it would only delay their progress.
“Mercenary king should be in the Peach Kingdom by now.”
Damien said.
The Fafnir Mercenaries typically traveled the continent, taking on various commissions.
While they were away, the Mercenary King had already departed for the Peach Kingdom to handle another assignment.
From Damien’s perspective, since he had already secured the reward, returning to the Fafnir Mercenaries wasn’t strictly necessary.
However, he couldn’t simply abandon the connection he’d just established with the Mercenary King.
Furthermore, he still needed to defeat Kardak and collect the additional payment he’d been promised.
Therefore, Damien decided to accompany Athena to the Peach Kingdom.
On the journey, Damien became preoccupied with a few thoughts.
‘Now I have the Flower of Fire in my possession.’
To reach the Master Class, Damien needed two things:
A foundation for cultivating his mana.
Enough mana to fill the void in his reserves
With the Combined Infinity Cycle cultivation technique, the Mithra Holy Water, and the Flower of Fire in hand, he had everything he needed.
‘But I can’t ingest it right away.’
Both the Mithra Holy Water and the Flower of Fire contained immense amounts of mana.
While it was said that taking them together would neutralize their effects, it would still put a significant strain on his body.
Only with thorough preparation could he fully absorb the benefits of both elixirs.
‘The dark mana I sensed at the end is also concerning.’
Just after defeating Garrot, Damien felt a trace of dark mana vanish from the scene.
It was a type of dark magic he’d encountered a few times in his past life. This made it easy for him to identify the source.
‘I never thought Kardak would be there.’
Kardak was once considered a promising candidate to lead the Venom sect, but he squandered his potential by falling deeply for Rubia.
Even in his previous life, Kardak had always been by Rubia’s side.
‘The plague Garrot unleashed must also be his creation.’
Kardak’s abilities were infamous during the War of Destruction.
The highly potent poison he’d developed was so powerful that even Master Class struggled to withstand it.
‘Of course, he’s probably not at that level yet.’
Kardak likely hadn’t reached the peak of his abilities yet. However, that didn’t make him any less of a threat.
‘So there are two Great dark mages…’
Not only Kardak, but Rubia also posed a significant danger.
The fact that Damien recognized their names meant they had survived until the War of Destruction and wreaked havoc.
‘It’s no big deal.’
Despite this, Damien remained confident.
Master class knight was one thing, but a Grand Dark mage was another. Even if they were Grand Dark Mages, the outcome wouldn’t be any different.
In terms of his own dark magic abilities, Damien was overwhelmingly stronger. Additionally, he possessed seven authorities.
Even if he only used his first authority, the Authority of Greed, he could easily dismantle any magic.
However, the Authority of Greed couldn’t neutralize poison. Even so, it wasn’t a major concern.
‘Poison is only truly deadly if you’re unaware of it.’
As long as he was prepared, any poison, including Kardak’s, would be rendered ineffective.
‘I might try using it if no one’s around.’
Damien thought, mentally strategizing for the future.
***
Damien and Athena Return to the Fafnir Mercenaries
After traveling for over a week, Damien and Athena finally reached the Fafnir Mercenaries’ camp.
“We found it!”
Athena exclaimed with joy as she pointed to the camp spread out on the meadow.
“Why did Father come all this way?”
She grumbled, but her face was still bright. It seemed to be because she would be able to see her father.
The two entered the camp.
However, something was strange.
Not only the mercenaries, but even the servants were all in a state of confusion.
Damien and Athena couldn’t help but be bewildered. Then Athena grabbed a passing mercenary and asked him,
“Excuse me.”
“I’m so busy, who… Oh, Miss Athena?”
“Why is everyone acting like this? What’s going on?”
At Athena’s question, the mercenary replied with a grim face.
“The Mercenary King has collapsed.”
***
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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