Chapter 10: A Demon and a Gate to the Demon World

Author: 十一屋　翠 (Juuichiya Sui)

 

“Father.”

A girl entered Viscount Grimoa’s office.

She was the only daughter of my Lord Grimoa, Celia-sama.

“Ooh, Celia.
What’s up?”

“I came to talk about my Foresight.”

Viscount Grimoa’s gaze changed at the Young Miss’ words.

“Did you see something?”

“Yes, and clearly too, thanks to the Dragon’s core you acquired for me, father.”

“Hoho, well that’s wonderful.
I’m glad to see it was worth the small fortune I had to pay for it, then.”

“Yes, I cannot express my gratitude enough, father.
Thanks to it, my Foresight’s accuracy has risen to several times that of what it was before.”

“Several times!?”

Viscount Grimoa let out a voice of surprise at Miss Celia’s statement.

And that was not surprising.

The power of Miss Celia’s Foresight was tremendous, and it was thanks to this power that the Grimoa territory had prospered to several times what it had been before she had been born.

And that power had become several times as accurate as before; there was no reaction other than being surprised.

“And, just what did you see?”

Miss Celia frowned for a moment at Viscount Grimoa’s question, but then looked up with determination.

Then, she gave a surprising answer.

“…A mass of monsters both on the ground and in the air I have never seen before.”

“Wh-…-at!?”

Viscount Grimoa became speechless at Miss Celia’s words.

Normally, a parent would say ‘What silly things you say’ and wave it away with a smile.

But the person who had said so was a magician who used Foresight who was sought-after even in all the neighbouring countries, and she wouldn’t even think of making such a joke.

“…”

“…”

The room was enveloped in a heavy silence.

“Since you’re saying it, it’s the truth?”

“…Yes.”

Miss Celia managed to choke out the word in answer to the Viscount.

Since she had the utmost faith in her own fortune-telling, Miss Celia seemed to be being crushed by despair.

“…Then, it’s a good thing I hired that adventurer.”

“Eh?”

Miss Celia looked up at the Viscount’s words.

“When I heard what you had seen, I decided to have a certain adventurer hired.”

“An… adventurer?”

Miss Celia made a doubtful face.

She likely wanted to say that an adventurer would be no use against enough monsters to cover the whole viscounty.

“That’s right, an adventurer.
But one who defeated a Dragon.”

“A Dragon!? …! No way!”

“But he did, and the Dragon’s core I gave you came from the Dragon he defeated.”

“An adventurer who defeated a Dragon…”

Life returned to Miss Celia’s eyes.

“That is not all, either.”

“John?”

“Apparently it was the same adventurer who defeated the two Evil Boars put up for auction in the royal capital the other day, as well as the one you bought, Sir.”

“What, they were one and the same!?”

“It was the same person as the one who defeated the Dragon.”

“And that is still not all, apparently a Dark Blob that had infiltrated the town was also dispatched by a certain adventurer.”

“So, that adventurer was also…?”

“Most likely.”

Despair and unease no longer existed in the room.

The only things that did were our expectations and hopes for this adventurer possessing tremendous strength.

“Father, what is that adventurer’s name!?”

Miss Celia asked after the adventurer’s name with eyes glittering like that of a child aspiring to a Hero from the stories.

“Aug, apparently.”

“Aug-sama…”

On that day, Viscount Grimoa’s territory’s hopes were entrusted to one single adventurer.

◆ ◆

“Aaah, I’m beat.”

Having continued training until they were out of mana, Jairo-kun and the other three were lying on the ground, completely exhausted.

“It’s been ages since I moved this much…”

“That’s cause you’re our rearguard who supports us with magic…”

“Body strengthening magic is amazing, but I’m afraid to rely too much on it…”

They were all completely out of mana, so even talking seemed to be painful.

“Let’s take a break until your mana recovers somewhat.”

“There’s still more to come?”

Mina-san screamed her loathing from the bottom of her heart.

“It’s easier to learn how to use body strengthening efficiently when you have hardly any mana.”

It’s the same with food or money, when you don’t have much, you take way more care of it.

We enjoyed the wind blowing over the field, cooling down our perspiring bodies.

“Alright, I’ve recovered!”

Said Jairo-kun full of energy, even though we hadn’t even rested for ten minutes yet.

“Just how much energy do you have…”

“Weeeell, I just rested for a bit, so my tiredness is gone.”

“This stamina-monster”

Mina-san glared at Jairo-kun resentfully.

“Pffft, hah.
It’s because I’m big bro’s number one disciple!”

“That’s neither here nor there.”

“It might be.”

Meguri-san defended Jairo-kun’s statement as Mina-san refuted it.

“Eh? W-what do you mean?”

“Jairo does have more stamina because he’s a warrior.
But, I should also have a modest amount of stamina.
Yet I still find movement painful.
My stamina hasn’t recovered…”

“So you’re saying Rex-san’s training might have something to do with it?”

They all looked at me.

Nono, we didn’t do any special traini-…

“Ah, perhaps…”

I had come up with a hypothesis.

“Jairo-kun, could you use body strengthening magic for a sec?”

“Got it, right away!”

“Haaaaaafloatyyyy!!”

Simultaneously with Jairo-kun’s shout, his body strengthening magic activated, and a faint layer of white light appeared around him.

“Yeah, it was because he attached an attribute to it after all.”

““““An attribute!?””””

“Yeah, Mina-san, you magicians probably know this already, but magic is just colourless mana being assigned an attribute so that it becomes fire magic or wind magic.”

Mina-san and Norb-san nodded.

“And since body strengthening magic is magic that strengthens your body by circulating mana through it, it’s magic that uses colourless mana.”

“But Jairo-kun’s body strengthening magic has an attribute?”

“That’s right, that’s actually the next level of body strengthening magic, attributal strengthening.”

““““Attributal strengthening!?””””

They all leaned forwards as if asking ‘What’s that!?’

“Ooh, that sounds awesome! To be able to use something like that all of a sudden, aren’t I amazing!?”

“Don’t get too full of yourself, idiot.”

Mina-san elbowed Jairo-kun in the side.

“Ugh! Y-You little!”

“Jairo-kun had to think clearly about Norb-san’s recovery magic in order to get a grasp on body strengthening magic, yes? He thought so hard about it that he unconsciously turned the colourless mana into healing magic’s holy mana.”

“Wait, that’s possible?”

Norb-san stared at Jairo-kun in surprise.

He believed that only people with strong faith in the gods could use healing magic, so he must have been feeling a little conflicted inside.

“The attributed version of body strengthening magic Jairo-kun used was Heal Boost, where you’re covered in recovery magic.
Apart from that, there’s Flame Boost, where you’re covered in, well, flames, Spark Boost, where you’re covered in lightning, and so on.”

“How many attributes are there?”

“Umm, Magic only has the six of earth, water, fire, wind, light, and darkness, but there’s also derived attributes like lightning or ice, and defensive ones like poison resistance too.”

“So there’s quite a lot.”

“Then I’ll try harder to be able to use even amazinger attributes! Let’s get back to training right away!”

“We haven’t recovered yet!”

The excited Jairo-kun urged us all on, already warming up.

“If you don’t hurry up, I’ll become really strong alone, and I’ll be able to defeat monsters bigger than a house like big bro!”

“Stupid, there’s no way you could…”

It was then.

Thud…

I heard the sound of something heavy moving far away.

“He?”

Feeling a feeling of unease as I heard the sound, I jumped up vertically, pumping mana into my legs.

Then, once I was above the forest’s canopy, as I looked around, I discovered the sound’s cause.

It was a tremendously large black snake that gave off a strongly sinister feeling.

“A Cursed Viper.”

“What the hell’s that!? Isn’t it way too big!?”

“It’s even bigger than the Evil Boars Rex defeated the other day.”

“What a sinister presence.”

Having jumped up onto some high-up tree branches with body strengthening magic, everyone else gulped at the Cursed Viper’s sinister appearance.

“Rex, what kind of monsters are Cursed Vipers?”

Oho, as expected of Meguri-san who specialized in strengthening physical ability.
She heard me muttering to myself.

“It’s a monster from the Demon World.”

“““The Demon World!?”””

“Yeah, they don’t live above ground normally.
But with one of that size, it’s gotta be summoning magic…”

“What does that matter? We just have to defeat it!”

“Stop being an idiot! Can’t you see how huge that thing is!?”

Mina-san rebuked Jairo-kun, who was raring to go fight.

“Hey hey, what’re you being such a scaredy-cat for; we have body strengthening magic!”

Full of motivation, Jairo-kun was raring to go fight.

“You really shouldn’t.
Like its name says, that’s a cursed snake.”

““““Cursed!?””””

You’d take damage from a Cursed Viper’s miasma simply by being close to it, and if you touched it, you’d be cursed by its evil mana.

“That monster is also called the Warrior-slayer, due to it being a frightful monster that curses anyone who touches it, weakening them, and then kills them.
Moreover, it can still move quite swiftly for that huge body it has, so even without the curse, it’s a really strong enemy.”

“There’s no way we can deal with that! Only the three of us can use magic, so let’s go back to the town and report to the guild!!”

“Dealing with a monster from the Demon World calls for at least an A-Rank adventurer.
This is too much for us.”

Said Norb-san, agreeing with Mina-san.

“Shit, I guess we have no choice then!”

With them being cursed if they touched it, there was no way for them to fight it no matter if they had body strengthening magic.

Jairo-kun regretfully accepted withdrawal.

But that’s no good.

“Nope, we’ll ambush it.”

“Eh? What are you talking about!? We’ll be cursed, won’t we!?”

“That thing’s way faster than it looks.
So if we don’t attack it here, it’ll reach the town.”

“Sure, but what about the curse!? I’m still just a novice, so I can’t dispel curses.
And even if we were to ask a high-priest-sama, a curse from a monster from the Demon World would cost quite a pretty penny!”

Norb-san and the others frantically tried to stop me, but it would be okay.

“You needn’t worry.
I will show you attributed body strengthening magic put into practise.”

Saying so, I circulated holy mana through my whole body.

“This is Holy Boost; attributed body strengthening with holy mana.
And you’d never guess what one of the advantages of this attribute is.”

As I jumped straight at the Cursed Viper I shouted.

“Not only does holy mana raise your attack power against evil beings, it also makes curses simply bounce off you!!”

The Curses Viper stiffened in surprise as it noticed me flying towards it out of nowhere.

But, as expected of a monster of the Demon World, it instantly raised its head, baring its poisonous fangs to intercept me.

In response to which, I raised my fist.

The Cursed Viper’s fang approached me from above as well as below.

I snapped off its upper fangs with my hands, and, turning as it recoiled, I kicked both of its lower fangs off with my feet.

A deadly poison poured out and down from its fangs, but the holy mana neutralised it.

“This is your end!”

I continued into the Cursed Viper’s mouth, then, raising my fist, I jumped up from its tongue as hard as I could.

With a boom, its head was blown to smithereens.

◆ ◆

“So, once you master this kind of body strengthening magic, you’ll be able to easily defeat your opponents with many such attribute effects.”

“…Huh”

I had tried to show them all how to fight using attributed body strengthening magic, but for some reason, their reaction was really muted.

“Jairo-kun, you activated the healing attribute, so you’ll be able to do something like this eventually too.”

“Seriously!?”

Whoa, that was a quick change.

“Rex-san has the danger from monsters from the Demon World passed?”

I shook my head in response to Norb-san’s question.

“Hmm, Cursed Vipers are large and violent, so they’re not really suited to summoning circles.
There’s probably a gate to the Demon World somewhere nearby.”

“A gate to the Demon World?”

“Yep, there it is.”

With strengthened sight from body strengthening magic, I found a jet-black gate hidden deep in the forest.

“That’s a gate!? Just who put it there!?”

“A demon, probably.
They’re the only ones who can use the gates, after all.”

“By ‘demon’, do you mean the residents of that evil other world who once fought with us humans long ago!?”

Mina-san’s voice shook from surprise.

Yeeeaaah, but it wasn’t that long ago.

“Also, there’s a demon there.
Probably the gate’s guard.”

“A demon!? Shouldn’t we run then!?”

“Hey now, if it’s alone, it’ll be an easy victory, right? Aren’t there five of us?”

Jairo-kun clenched his fists, saying we could do it.

“Idiot! A demon can annihilate a whole country’s army! There’s no way we can defeat it!”

“Eh? Really? …Umm, but with big bro, we’ll still be able to do it?”

“Stop being ridiculous!”

“Yeah, I think I can do it.”

“See, no matter how- … eh?”

“If we don’t destroy it, a new monster from the Demon World will come.
So, we have to destroy it now.”

“We’ll help…”

Meguri-san was getting her weapons ready, saying she wanted to help, but that would be a bad idea.

“Please move away, ‘cause imma use a big one!”

They all fell back at my words.

And that wasn’t only because they were doing as I had told them.

It was also because the demon had noticed that the Cursed Viper had been defeated, and, by extension, it had noticed us.

It let out an amazing killing intent for being so far away.

It seemed to have come to the conclusion that it had to repel me.

But I hadn’t fought with demons in this life yet.

It would be dangerous to fight while holding back as I had done until now while protecting Jairo-kun and co.

“Hm, I’ll have to be a little serious about this.”

I recalled my memories of having fought as the Hero in my previous life.

“Take this, demon!”

My targets were the gate and the demon heading straight at me.

“Magic Sword Expansion: Dimension Break”

I used the magic I had often used when fighting against demons as the Hero.

And, the moment I activated the magic, the scenery in front of me began shifting and slipping.

Dimensional Magic Dimension Break.

It was magic that, with one cut of the air, cut everything in my field of vision regardless of distance, what it was, or my perspective.

It was a dimension-cutting attack that neutralized any defence, be it physical or magical.

The demon and gate that had been in my field of view were split into a top and bottom half, then the demon’s two halves were sucked into the diagonal cut.

And then, they disappeared.

“Phew.”

It had been ages since I’d used Great Magic like this, so I was glad I was able to cut only what I wanted to.

“Heeeey, I defeated iiit”

I shouted to them that I had defeated the demon.

But they all just stood there stupefied, not reacting at all.

What happened, I wonder?

“I keep saying I’m awesome, but big brother really is the more amazing one by far.”

“He destroyed the demon and the gate in one hit… No one’d ever believe this if we told them.”

“““Yeah, I agree.”””