Act 1-43 - The End of Battle

Chapter 43 : The End of Battle

I loosened my grip on 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》’s handle .

「Edda, you okay!?」

Edda brushed off my outstretched hand.

「… Don’t touch me, I can stand by myself.」

Edda stood on her own, wiping away the trace of blood that was on her lips.

But, I knew from her rough breathing and the fact that she used the labyrinth wall to prop herself up that Fedor’s last attack was definitely causing a great deal of damage on her body.

She was clearly overexerting herself just to prop herself.

「It’s my loss… kill me.」

Fedor muttered those words toward me.

I looked at Fedor.

「Fedor…」

「What’s the matter? I, your enemy am still alive. I might have one or two aces in the hole to turn the table against you two you know?」

Fedor’s eyes narrowed to slit, as he made an evil smile.

My vision suddenly blurred by tears as I recalled Fedor’s figure when he taught me the ABC’s of adventurer.

The hand holding on to 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》 loosened immediately.

Maybe, I’m already exhausted or else, I… couldn’t think of the other reason.

『Dean, finish him off, this guy is way too dangerous! Your victory in this battle is nothing more than pure luck! Finish him off, now!』

Beelzebub gave extremely serious advice, or rather a warning to me.

「Have you already forgotten about my lesson? showing a sentiment to the one who is trying to kill you will spell your doom.」

Thus, I regained the strength to grip 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》.

「… I don’t know what kind of motive was in your mind when you approached me. But still, it’s thanks to your lesson that I managed to avoid several deathly situations during my career as a porter. That’s the only thing I’m grateful to you for.」

But, it doesn’t mean that I’m gonna spare his life.

Fedor was the worst adventurer’s killer, 《Cerberus Fang》.

That’s why, my gratitude was nothing more than a statement, not forgiveness.

I wouldn’t lie that it was thanks to his teaching that I managed to survive those hellish days as porter.

After wiping off my tears, I pointed my sword at Fedor, ready to finish him off.

「… Yes, that’s fine by me.」

the smile vanished from Fedor’s face.

「You’re a huge fan of the Sword Saint Zelios’ legend, right? The truth is, I really hate that story, so much that I want to puke everytime I hear his name mentioned. You remind me of my hateful past. Someday, you’ll see the truth. There’s no way a hero will be born from this rotten kingdom. A beautiful fairy tale like that is only suited for a nursery tale. At least, you can still smile a carefree smile with that smith girl till the time you realize the harsh truth.」

A blazing fireball suddenly exploded right on my side when I’m about to deliver the coup d’grace with 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》.

「GAH!!!!」

I readied 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》, facing toward the direction where the fireball was coming from.

Edda who leaned on the wall readied her enchanted sword and came to my side immediately.

… We are already running out of stamina, fighting spirit and mana.

So exhausted to the point that I highly doubt we could leave the demon labyrinth in our current condition and yet, I never expected for another assailant to come.

「Ooh, so scawr~y… do you, lowly peasants understand what it’s mean by pointing your sword to the Kingdom’s official?」

There stood six men.

One of them who stood in the center wore a grey colored uniform while the other five wore beige colored uniforms.

On top of the golden embroidery on their shoulder was the Manticore[Black Lion]’s crest.

They were the Army’s magic vessel users.

The color of their uniform was divided by rank.

Beige was normal soldier rank, grey was officer rank.

The closer their uniform’s color to black, the higher their rank.

「I’m Canvia, A Magic Officer. Fedor, you know why we come here today to arrest you, right?」

The man called Canvia gave the impression of an extremely arrogant piece of sh*it with a conspicuous beard.

The army’s soldiers signaled to us with their mocking gaze to move out of their way as they walked to retrieve Fedor.

I lowered 《Demon Eater Sword: Beelzera》 in my hand as I stepped back.

「… This timing is way too good. You’ve already suspicious of me huh.」

「Suspicious? HAHAHAHAHA! The h*ell you are talking about. Malty, Magic Assistant have always been keeping an eye on you since a long time ago. We were waiting as you’re amassing more wealth and odo[level]! There’s always a noisy bunch that intervenes whenever we meddle directly with the adventurer. We were waiting for the right moment to plunder your amassed wealth. How does it feel, Fedor? Can you hear me~?」

Befitting of his appearance, Canvia was laughing at Fedor with sc*um-like appearance.

「Canvia-dono, since there’s civilian…」

「Ignore those mobs, how about you guys kill them? They’re nothing compared to 《Cerberus Fang》 after all.」

I glared at Canvia as I readied my 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》 again.

「How scary… I’m joking you know? As if trash magic vessels of trash adventurers like yours can be compared to Fedor’s. In the first place, do you think you can win against me with your current half dead state?」

Canvia who already lost his interest in us then looked at his subordinates.

「Solving this case will increase my evaluation. Oi, retrieve this f*ucker and every single one of his magic vessels. You better not make me wait for too long you know. 」

Canvia stepped on Fedor’s head.

「YOU LITTLE!」

Edda’s enchanted sword suddenly blocked my path.

「… Cool your head. benefactor or not, that man is a criminal.」

「What will you do then? I’m in a good mood right now, so I’ll overlook your action just this once. I’ll kill you if you really want to die though. But, you know that everyone who received my curse has never died with a complete corpse right?」

Canvia was sneering gleefully at me.

Just like that, Fedor was surrounded by them, they also retrieved 《Invitation to Nightmare; Harwerth》 which he dropped in the ground.

Canvia and co then left us behind as they headed toward the entrance.

「But still, to think that Fedor got defeated by this weak devil and those trashes. Maybe his odo levels aren’t high enough.」

「… I wouldn’t have lost to those trashes if not for the sudden interruption from that fu*cking Solus. Yes, I wouldn’t lose even if you f*uckers were joining hands with those trashes.」

「DON’T TALK WItHOUT MY PERMISSION, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SH*IT!」

Canvia punched Fedor’s face.

I and Edda were glaring at their back as they left us behind.

After they vanished from our line of sight, we were moving up to UG 2nd floor and taking our time as we walked toward the entrance.

「… Don’t you dare touch me. Except for their marriage partner, Narc’s women won’t allow any man, including their sibling to touch their skin!」

「Gimme a break! Look at you, you can’t even walk properly!」

I’m currently lending my shoulder to Edda since she couldn’t even walk properly in her current condition.

A short silence descended after our silly quarrel.

「… He ended up covering for us huh.」

「… Yeah.」

Edda paused for a while before agreeing with me.

That Canvia would definitely kill us if he knew that both I and Edda wield a special magic vessel.

Even in the slightest chance he failed, the army would definitely have marked us.

But, Fedor butting in to prevent Canvia from reaching that conclusion, resulted in the later misunderstanding.

He protected us.

「Originally, I and my tribe were traveling around the unexplored region where demon beasts were running rampant. But, my tribe met a calamitous end, everyone was slaughtered when we encountered a high ranking devil by accident. I’m supposed to be married off to a man of another Narc tribe during the annual gathering but, I decided to kill that Devil before that.」

「… so that was the reason huh.」

Previously, I didn’t know why Edda was separated from her tribe but, now I knew the reason.

It seems she wanted to avenge her old tribe before she became the member of her new tribe.

When it comes to a Devil that was strong enough to slaughter the entire tribe of that powerful Narc warrior should be a devil above A rank but… there should be no record of a Devil beyond that rank crossed over to 《Ilmis[Material World]》 in the last thousand years.

「But, as you already know, I’m not used to the city’s living environment. That man was supposed to help me in that regard but… I guess I’m on my own again. 」

Edda referred to Fedor with an emotionless voice.

But, I could sense a hint of loneliness in her voice.

「We need to sell the Solus’ demon core and… the wreckage of Fedor’s《Wind Dominator’s Spear; Hail》 for money. Amongst them, Fedor’s spear is the most troublesome item to handle.」

Those guys didn’t even care about the 《Wind Dominator’s Spear; Hail》 that was destroyed by Beelzebub.

Since it was too good to be abandoned just like that, we retrieved it before we went back.

「What are you trying to tell me.」

I looked in another direction to hide my embarrasment.

「Uhm… I don’t mind if you start relying on me in that regard. I mean, you saved me so many times during the fight against Fedor after all.」

I tried to look at Edda at the edge of my field of view.

Edda’s eyes opened wide, clearly surprised by my remark and just looked at me in silence for a while.

「… I’ll reconsider your offer after you gain few more levels.」

She turned away ,making sure she was faceing away from me and then spoke in an almost inaudible voice.

「W-What did you say! That’s not a remark you should say to someone who lends his shoulder to help you walk!」

「It’s because you keep pestering me like a mother! It’s not like I need you to lend me your shoulder!」

Thus, both I and Edda continued our quarrel as we headed toward the entrance of 《Demon’s Den》.

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TN : is the last chapter of Act 1, how’s your impression, everyone? never expected that Fedor would choose to safe Dean and Edda rather than drag them down with him right?