The Revenge of the Soul Eater

The God-Slaying Poison

 

  There is a game called “Lucky Laugh”.

 

  It’s a game where you have scraps of paper cutouts in the shape of the eyes, mouth, and nose scattered on a piece of paper that has an outline of a face drawn on it, then a blindfolded person would try to put them back to their original spots.
Since the player is blindfolded, they would usually make a funny-looking face and there would be laughter all around.

 

  ――If I have to put what I saw in the hut into words, it was the faces of real humans who were used by demons to play that game. 

 

  That’s the living corruption of the poison.

 

  A scene from hell that makes the instant-death poisons that assassins use sound merciful.

 

  The words that the official from Ishka told me before I came here― “They are already at a stage where medicines wouldn’t do anything for them”――were spot on. 

 

  The reason why I didn’t even hear a single groan after I entered the hut was that those people probably did not even have the strength to groan anymore.
Or maybe, the poison has infiltrated even their vocal organs. 

 

  Just to make sure, I tried squeezing a jiraiaooks fruit into a sick person’s mouth, but as I expected, it didn’t do anything.

  I truly believed that I would need a miracle that’s on the same level as a resurrection to save this person.

 

  After that, I exited the hut immediately.
Furthermore, I exited the village too.

 

  I got on Clau Soras’ back and started to head back to Ishka.

 

  That official probably thought that I was running away.
Actually, he was right on. 

 

  The scene from earlier flashed inside my head repeatedly, and cold sweat came out of my entire body every time.

 

  A basilisk’s poison was a pretty big deal too, but from what I had just witnessed, this poison is even viler than that.
The two can’t even be compared.

 

  Ordinary poison would first eat at the person’s body, and it will result in death in the end.

 

  However, that poison would kill the person first, and then it would play around with the person’s body after――That’s what it looked like to me.

 

  In other words, the poison can’t be treated.

 

  Even if I performed the same soul transferring that cured Claudia, it wouldn’t have been possible to cure that sick person.

 

  I can’t even imagine what would happen if a poison like that spreads.

 

  「If I don’t find the source quickly, not just Ishka, the entire Kingdom of Canaria is going to perish」 

 

  I muttered to myself in a serious tone on the saddle that’s put on Clau Soras.

 

  The fortunate part of this unfortunate situation is that the poison doesn’t seem to be contagious, but that is just my assumption.
It’s possible that it just takes some time for the infected to fall ill.

 

  In a sense, this new poison can be considered more threatening than the stampede.
Not only that, both of these incidents might be linked to each other.

 

  Truthfully speaking, I wanted to go straight to the Titis forest, but I shouldn’t just leave Ishka alone right now when it’s being attacked by monsters to spend who knows how many days to look for clues aimlessly. 

 

  Moreover, If I were to go on a search, I would want to bring Lunamaria and Miroslav along instead of going alone.
If I have that sage and magician with me, they would probably notice the things I miss. 

 

  I told Clau Soras to go even faster and we headed straight to Ishka.

 

◆◆◆

 

  「――Symptoms like that…I have never heard of it before」 

 

  Lunamaria spoke with an expression mixed with tension and confusion.

 

  Since the other person, Miroslav, is sleeping like a corpse, Lunamaria kept her voice low.
According to Lunamaria, Miroslav was doing the experiment that I ordered her to do――mixing the antidote with my blood to see what happens――until the sun came up. 

 

  She really ended up overworking herself, huh? While thinking that, I spoke out to Lunamaria,

 

  「It being incurable is completely just a speculation of mine though」

 

  「No, if master really feels like that is the case, there must be a reason for it.
The truth is probably not that far off」

 

  Lunamaria who is dressed in the purple robe that is the proof of her sage qualification made the assertion with a serious look on her face.

  The way this elf looks as she believes my gut feeling more than I do makes me feel a little shy.

  Well, she does know that soul eater is my anima.
If she thinks of my gut feeling as a dragon’s gut feeling instead of a human’s, it would give my baseless speculations more credibility.

  When I thought about something like that, Lunamaria’s expression darkened unexpectedly.

  As I looked into her emerald-colored eyes while she was thinking about something, Lunamaria began to speak, seemingly puzzled about what to say,

 

  「Speaking of speculations…this is just a speculation I have as well, master」

 

  「What is it?」

 

  「Actually, when I heard about how you suspect that the poison is incurable, it reminded me of a passage from a myth I know」

 

  Lunamaria said as she swung her blonde-colored hair.

 

  「A myth?」

 

  「Yes.
It’s about an overwhelmingly strong, absolutely incurable poison that had slain a god」

 

  The sage then went on.

  Originally, gods are immortal beings, and it’s not possible for such beings to be killed by poisons.
However, the god that was inflicted by this poison could not endure the eternal suffering and chose to abandon his immortality and die.  

  Even the hero who found immortality through 12 impossible labors ended up lighting his own body on fire because he was not able to withstand this poison. 

  And the ingredient that was used for this terrifying poison was―― 

 

  「A hydra, a deadly poisonous multiheaded dragon」

 

  「…A dragon.
A mythical creature, huh?」

 

  I remember that name being mentioned not too long ago.

 

  When the basilisk appeared and corrupted a part of the Titis forest, the vice-captain of the clan 『Scythe of the Grim Reaper』spoke of that name.

 

  The Holy kingdom that’s located south of the Kingdom of Canaria- He said that the Great Blighted Sea that’s farther south of that holy kingdom was created due to the death of a hydra.

  It’s possible that a hydra has appeared in the forest of Titis.
Lunamaria’s words hinted at that.

  

  However, Lunamaria went on further,

 

  「If a hydra has really appeared, The entirety of the Titis forest should have turned into a sea of blight.
Therefore, I don’t think that is the case」

 

  Unlike a wyvern that is a demi-dragon, a true dragon is not something that’s born from a parent.

  Like thunder, tornados, earthquakes, or an erupting volcano.

  They are a phenomenon that happens when the conditions of the world are met.
A mythical disaster born in flesh.

  That is what a dragon is.

 

  On the other hand, they will not appear if even one of those conditions isn’t met.
That is also true.

  If a hydra was about to manifest, that means that until today, the final wedge that prevented one from being born was about to be pulled out.

 

  ――Perhaps, that wedge might have started to come loose on its own since a long time ago, and little by little, a hydra had started to manifest in this world.

  If the stampede and the outbreak of this poison is the result of the set level of a hydra’s materialization being exceeded…

 

  「Things are going to get out of hand」

 

  「Yes.
Of course, it’s only if all this speculation just now is correct…」

 

  「In the current situation, it would be better to be wrong.
But let’s move as if you are right for now」

 

  For the time being, let’s hurry and alert Ishka’s government, the adventurer’s guild, and even the slave merchant union of this.
They will definitely not believe us at first, and they will probably even laugh at us, but I don’t want them to ask me “why didn’t you tell us at that time?!” later.   

  Then, I will evacuate Ciel and Suzume――Hmm…I wonder if I should send them to the capital for now.
I want to inform Duke Dragunaut of what I think and I can’t leave Miroslav’s family out either.

  After that, I can just get Ciel and the others to escape to the Empire or the Holy kingdom depending on the situation.

 

  ――When I thought about it up to there, what surfaced in my head was the scenery of the village of Melte that I stayed at before.

  That village being a part of the Kale river’s basin means that it is also under threat.

  Even if I set the hydra stuff aside, I’m pretty sure the deadly poison is flowing along the river’s water.

  I have to quickly let priest Sarah and those kids know.
If possible, I want those four to escape to the capital with Ciel and the others.

  On top of that, Larz and Iria should also be in the village right now.
A lot has happened between us, but I still wouldn’t wish that deadly poison on them.
I’m also curious about what Iria thinks after she found out that Miroslav joined my clan.  

 

  The problem is the stampede, but from what I can see on my way back from the village, the roads’ defense line is still healthy, so the monsters probably won’t break through Ishka’s gates in the next day or two.

  If the stampede is going to get bigger as more time passes by, now is the time I should fly to the village of Melte.

  That is what I thought.

 

  …At that time, the two things that I saw as threats were only the “stampede” and the “poison”.

  The reason why “Demon Island” was not included is that it should have taken at least 2 months or so for news of Jijinbou’s death to get to the island and the Mitsurugi household to send out other people to investigate. 

  Considering the personality of the current head of the Mitsurugi family, I can’t imagine that he would get that serious about the empire’s request that has nothing to do with the island’s defense.

 

  But contrary to my expectations, I had never thought that they had already sent out new members on the day that Jijinbou died. 

  On top of that, I could never imagine that those people have already arrived at the capital and they had already jumped right in the middle of the battle against the stampede, demonstrating their unnecessary spirit of chivalry…