The elder of the White Tower, Tanya Fedran, felt like covering her eyes when she saw Reshia’s state as she sat in her chair. Yes, she was the saint that saved people, but that was something she did on her own volition.
It was not something that was forced onto her by others. Tanya knew that. But despite knowing that, did she not essentially agree to take away her free will, for the sake of saving humanity, a duty heavier and more respectable than anything else?
The room they were in now was permitted only to the most influential people, it was a room within the depths of the Ivory Tower.
Tanya had known Reshia ever since she was a young girl. She knew her cries when her parents took her to the Ivory Tower. She was also the one who taught her and persuaded her to become a saint. And it was the warm and nostalgic emotions from those memories that brought her so much pain.
“Are you in pain, Tanya-dono?”
Tanya was surprised to hear a voice suddenly come from behind her, but by the time she’d turned around, that surprised was already hidden.
“Floyd-dono…”
He was a sorcerer even older than Tanya, but he appeared like a young man. This smiling handsome sorcerer consoled the old Tanya as though she were a child.
“You seem to be… having fun.”
“Yes. A research I’ve been pursuing for a long time is finally showing fruit. It’s not a bad feeling.”
Floyd shrugged his shoulders, and Tanya criticized him.
“…That girl isn’t an animal for one of your experiments!”
“Please calm down, Tanya Fedran. Aren’t you merely suffering from your own guilt? Venting on me won’t do you any good.”
“…Excuse me, Floyd Berchen, elder of the Blue Tower.”
“It’s fine, I understand. After all, you did raise her up and she is like a granddaughter to you.”
Floyd’s words sounded poisonous, but she didn’t know if that was merely because she was overly sensitive. She analyzed herself and strove to be as calm as possible.
“No.”
“…Spectacular. As expected of you, Tanya-dono.”
Seeing her calm once more, Floyd smiled and approached Reshia to examine her countenance.
“The human world in exchange for the life of a pitiful young girl… It is sad how powerless we are, but call me cruel all you want, there will be no stopping, I will not stop… Alas, there are no other options left to us.”
Whether it was the military nation of the west, Germion Kingdom, the supreme conquerer of the south, the Red King, or the rulers of the plains, the Holy Shushunu Kingdom, every one of them was a great power matchless in the world.
Unparalleled nations built by humans.
And yet in all their glory and splendor, they were beaten by the goblins, trampled underfoot, and conquered. Yes, this was the reality that faced them.
“In order to protect the human world, we have no choice but to stand against these goblins. It is for that reason that the Ivory Tower exists, to gather the remnants of the gods, and to protect the world in their absence. To that end, it will not do to be swayed by emotion and lose our composure.”
“…Yes, I understand.”
After checking Reshia’s condition, he took a look at the gray wolf and the demihuman by her feet.
“Everything appears to be proceeding a lot better than expected…”
He examined the collar of the gray wolf and the bracelets attached to the demihuman’s hands, then he turned his back to Tanya.
“Serion-dono is negotiating to borrow Oron-dono. I would be grateful if you could do your part to bring the people of the coalition together as well.”
“…I know. I just want to look at this girl’s face a little longer.”
“Until you’re satisfied then.”
After Floyd left, Tanya collapsed into her chair.
“…Forgive me, Reshia. Forgive me, Cecil.”
She muttered the name of her late grandchild as though offering a prayer.
After Floyd had left Reshia’s room, he headed to the laboratory of the Ivory Tower, and upon opening its heavy doors, laid his eyes upon the two swords floating in a cistern, faintly glowing.
“…Hmm.”
As he examined the swords and took down notes, a knock eventually resounded, and he had to put his work to a pause.
“Please enter.”
“We’re going in.”
Two people entered.
Serion, the elder of the Red Tower, and the living legend and the greatest power of the northern minor nations, Oron, who controlled the Flame King’s Eyes(Marchosias).
“I’ve been waiting for you, Oron-dono. It is an honor to meet a living legend.”
White hair and a tall stature. Ageless eyes full of greed and a shameless smile that couldn’t be rid of. Those were the features of the man as he bowed his head.
“I didn’t think I would be meeting the Ageless Wizard either. Is that the Soul-Flaying Sword?”
“It is a weapon that carries the sentiments of those who’ve sacrificed their lives to protect their master. The embodiment of the divine protections themselves.”
“Please, enough with the jokes, I don’t believe in the gods, and neither do you, Ageless Wizard.”
“On the contrary, I am a devout believer,” Floyd smiled.
Oron fearlessly laughed, “moving on to business, you just need me to defeat the goblins, right?”
“Yes. I’m sure that’s an easy job for a living legend such as yourself?”
“These are the goblins that conquered half the world. It won’t be easy, but… It’s not as if there’s any reason I can’t kill them.”
“In that case, we are in agreement.”
“That we are. Keep your eyes peeled, Boss, and take a good look at my power.”
After seeing Serion and Oron off, Floyd’s smiling face twisted.
“You might not believe in the gods, but the gods do in fact exist.”
A thin smile appeared on Floyd’s face, but he rid himself of that immediately and went back to his research.
◆◆◇
The screams from the adventurers guild was met by the goblins with complete silence. Yoshu’s way of dealing with the guild was to bring the people to his side by having his guild focus on large-scale public work projects. Because of that the people couldn’t justify throwing their lives away just to rebel against the goblins.
Not even Pena or Germion State, which were especially opposed to the goblins, responded to the adventurers guild’s call to action. In fact, not even the people voiced their dissatisfaction. Though this result might’ve also been brought about by the War Princess’ schemes that had the anti-goblin leaders executed prior.
It was so quiet, it was eerie, and the first to break from this silence was the minor nation by the borders of Alrodena Kingdom. This minor nation was previously subordinated to the Holy Shushunu Kingdom. It sent people in to investigate the domestic situation of the countries ruled by the goblins, as well as to possibly try an assassination, but their efforts ended in failure.
While the goblins were becoming the rulers, Vine made great waves in the Holy Shushunu Kingdom’s criminal world, and she brought all manners of crooks and criminals under her control.
Although Kushunora was a result of Vine venting her frustrations, the sight of her laughing amidst the heaps and piles of corpses has made her name the very definition of fear, bringing her much infamy in the criminal world.
In a sense of irony, the people who were most loyal to her were the demihumans and elves that she saved from slavery. They numbered over 300 and possessed physical abilities above that of humans, and they even excelled in magic.
In the world of crooks and thugs, where surprise attacks were as common as the homeless on the streets, nothing could be more reliable than these loyal soldiers.
The Red Moon Clan was known to be a powerful clan despite their few numbers, but with their recent activities here, their reputation rose once more, and the name of the blood-stained Red Moon Clan was once again engraved into the hearts of the people.
“Here’s the list of names.”
“Hmm?”
Sophia of the Soar to FreedomElks Clan has almost exclusively been affiliated with Vine. She passed the list of names to Vine, but Vine wasn’t thrilled.
“You don’t look enthused.”
“Of course not… The people have stopped resisting the Red Moon Clan (us) recently. They don’t bite back anymore.”
“…Last month, there were four incidents. This month, there has already been 3 incidents, and one of those incidents involved 50 deaths. Don’t you think it’s only normal they’d stop resisting?”
“You’re starting to sound more and more like that girl, Pale, aren’t you?”
Vine grinned and Sophia frowned.
“I-I’m not doing it on purpose!”
“Heh, well, I don’t mind it. Alright, enough of that, it’s time for work!”
Vine took the slender curved sword rested on her shoulders and sheathed it by her waist. As she walked away, demihumans and elves stood up and followed her one after another.
One month later, according to the information network of the Elks Clan, Vine had successfully slain the bosses of the criminal world and placed everything under her control.
The nights of Revea Su were haunted by ghosts. Demihumans and elves and humans and those that did not look human… And the one who managed all of these was the Red Moon Clan. Vine the Mad Blade, it was she who led the crimson-black shadow of Revea Su.
Or at the very least, such rumors were often shared among the pious men and women of Shushunu.
