Chapter 64 : Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Party Player (5)

This cannot be. This cannot be...!

The Soul Collector muttered in a voice filled with fear, unfitting for its appearance.

Most of its robe had burned away, and now all that was left of it was the reaper's scythe, from which molten iron dripped.

“Ugh....”

Pshik!

Collie staggered, perhaps because the Unity Rite had ended.

“I wish it would just fall down like this....”

But contrary to such expectations, the Collector unleashed its remaining power and pushed Collie far away.

“Ugh!”

“Kuk!”

Gerard, who threw himself to catch Collie, tumbled to the ground.

When he barely managed to get up, his entire body was a complete wreck.

“...Should we retreat?”

The number of undead had decreased considerably.

Gerard was once again contemplating how to break through the undead and rejoin the Imperial formation.

“Still, we bought a lot of time... I guess we have no choice but to leave the rest to Artier.”

“Hahaha, why should we?”

Just then, Jeina grinned and lifted her axe.

“Wait, Barbarian, you...?”

Tersion was startled when she saw Jeina.

Her axe was filled to the brim with a red aura.

“You used Taunt in the middle of all that?”

“Kyahaha!”

Jeina ran excitedly and brought her axe down. Then, surprisingly, the scythe that had been difficult to even block was sent flying away.

Impossible!

“This is the end! You bag of bones!”

Before the Collector could swing its scythe again, Jeina's axe pulverized the Collector's neck.

Aah! Aaaaaah!

Even without a head, the Collector screamed with its dying thoughts, but it soon began to melt away slowly.

This can't be... I... am surely the agent of death... but....

The body of the Collector, which had been standing firm until the very end, collapsed to the ground. It was a pathetic end.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

“Is everyone okay?”

Artier, who arrived late to the battlefield, watched as the undead that had been loitering around turned back into corpses and collapsed.

‘They actually killed it?’

I stared blankly as the melted corpse of the Collector was absorbed into the ground.

‘Theoretically, Wraith Chase can't even be parried. It doesn't disappear until it hits the enemy.

So we have to deal with it as quickly as possible.’

In my head, there was a strategy I had devised to defeat the Collector.

From my own strategies built up over countless experiences, to trick-like strategies prepared for game beginners.

But everything I had thought of had become useless. Because Gerard and my other companions had defeated the Collector.

“Yes, thankfully.”

Gerard spoke calmly and closed his Grimoire, but Tersion let out a chuckle and then burst out laughing as she shouted.

“Now that I see, it's a gathering of absolute lunatics, isn't it? Four people taking down this huge Hellmorph?”

I too had once defeated a siege soldier of a similar size alone in Dorman, but a Hellmorph of this level could only be dealt with by a mercenary corps with at least a Supreme-Grade Mercenary.

Thinking that way, it could be said that my other companions, excluding me, had also surpassed the level of ordinary high-grade mercenaries.

“Um, Master.”

Collie approached and handed me something.

It was a dagger that had been broken in half.

“I'm sorry... I swung it too hard and it broke.”

Collie looked crestfallen and lowered his head.

Thanks to that dagger, he, a mage, had been able to have a power struggle with a giant monster, even if for a short while.

Collie, a mage himself, would know best the value of the magic engraved on the dagger.

“...No, you did well.”

However, I let out a chuckle and stroked Collie's forehead.

“It must have been your first time, but you did well. Let's find a dagger for you to use separately.”

What did it matter if it was a rare-grade dagger?

The equipment I was using now would be replaced someday anyway.

Rather, through this, I discovered Collie's hidden talent, so I didn't feel any regret at all.

‘It’s a relief it was a dagger and not a longsword. I dodged a bullet.’

Of course, there was this reason too.

“Wipe out the remaining stragglers!”

As the Imperial soldiers ran in from a distance, the Hellmorphs, having lost their support, began to collapse quickly.

The eventful defensive battle ended in just half a day.

***

“Congratulations on your victory!”

“This event will be widely recorded in the history of the Empire!”

Despite the enthusiastic cheers of the surrounding knights, Taskerben only nodded his head lightly and showed no further reaction.

“You said it was Sir Artier's party that defeated the large-type. Where is he now?”

“After checking his condition for a moment, he went straight to the shelter in the center of the castle.”

“To the shelter? Why?”

“He only said that he was going to finish what he had to do.”

Just as the knights and Taskerben couldn't erase their doubts, hell was unfolding in a small room in the shelter.

Thump!

“Eu, euuaaaaah....”

Boker, the tax collector, froze like a stone as he saw the sword that had grazed his neck and embedded itself in the wall.

In front of him was Artier, with an expression so cold that even a ghost would be afraid.

“The client who entrusted the request to someone from a mountain village, who is it.”

“H-how did you?”

“I didn't ask you to ask a question.”

Artier slowly pushed the sword towards his neck.

As the heat from the ancient longsword grew stronger and the Supreme-Grade Mercenary exuded bloodlust, Boker couldn't bear the fear and wet himself.

“It's the first time I've seen Artier that angry.”

Gerard, standing behind, sighed and stepped back.

Even he, with all his experience, found it difficult to approach Artier right now.

“Isn't it obvious?”

Tersion, with a shrug of her shoulders, folded her arms and said.

“Artier is a fool who wants to save people by throwing his own body on the line. He's the one here who can't forgive that guy the most.”

“D-do you think you can be forgiven even after doing this? No matter how high-ranking a mercenary you are, injuring a civilian is a serious crime! You'll have your mercenary license revoked!”

Boker shouted as if in a desperate struggle.

At that, Artier's body flinched for a moment.

“Really?”

Boker smiled as if he had been saved.

But right after that, seeing someone appear from behind him, his face turned pale again.

“Then it would be fine to return him to a state where he isn't injured.”

It was Ropin, who had failed to enter Kelta Castle in time because the inspection had dragged on for too long.

He glared at Boker with sharp eyes and then spoke to me.

“As long as it's not a fatal wound, I'll restore him to his original state.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“I'm fine.”

As soon as I heard that, I lightly scratched Boker's cheek with my sword.

Thoroughly ignoring the screaming Boker, Ropin returned to Gerard.

“Are you really okay with this?”

“I'm really fine, Gerard. In fact, I think ending it like this is too lenient.”

His hand holding the staff was trembling.

“That man is no different from having killed countless soldiers and people with his tongue. Moreover, it was for his own financial gain. Doesn't he deserve to die?”

Even in the Rata faith, which loved peace, there was an existence that was never tolerated, and that was an existence that took the lives of others with malicious intent.

In fact, in this regard, they were so surprisingly rigid that even their fellow citizens of the Empire would shake their heads.

“But there's nothing we can do. The Empire does not consider inducing death as murder. At this point in time, we cannot punish Boker for murder.”

“That's the problem I see with the Empire's laws... Artier, what he just said is a lie.”

“Thank you.”

“N-no! Uwaaaah!”

A Grand Magus of Ropin's level could easily see through someone's lies like Collie.

Boker's tearing scream echoed, but Ropin nonchalantly adjusted his hat again and continued his conversation with Gerard.

“Anyway, if the truth has been confirmed, it is right to punish him with death, so why leave room for leniency?”

“An innocent victim could be created.”

“Of course, that's true. That's why we must reveal the truth even more thoroughly. The one who receives help by leaving room for leniency may not be the victim.”

“....”

Gerard was at a loss for words and turned his gaze away.

A short while later, I, who had flicked my sword clean, approached them.

“Haaa....”

“It seems you didn't gain much.”

“He said it was a job he received from a guard captain named Roston in the south. He said he doesn't know anything other than that....”

“Is he the culprit?”

“There's no way a mere guard captain could pull off something of this scale. There must be someone else.”

“But you only know his name? The city name?”

“He didn't know that. He only knew that he was from the south.”

Although I had been swayed by emotions, I hadn't been lazy with the interrogation.

I was frustrated too, but there was nothing I could do.

‘The Collector also melted the moment it died, so I couldn't find out anything, and this is as much information as I can get.’

If I had saved the village chief or other villagers, I might have been able to get more specific information.

But they were gone now. In this world where magic was developed, it wasn't impossible to resurrect the dead, but for that, a complete corpse was needed.

“A guard captain named Roston in the south... Still, if we put in a request with the Information Guild, we should be able to find some information.”

“Huh, you only have a name and a profession, and you don't even know the specific location. Can you find him with just that?”

“What do you take the Information Guild for? It's the Information Guild that narrows down the candidates even if you only give them the information that he's a swordsman who mainly wears green clothes.”

Tersion clicked her tongue and stared intently at Jeina.

“Of course, it will take a long time. The southern part of the Empire isn't exactly small. It will probably take at least two months.”

“Well then... there's nothing we can do. We'll just have to do other requests for a while.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

‘Anyway, for a while, I'll be busy chasing after the main quest, so I won't have time to pay attention to other things.’

It might actually be a relief.

I and my companions were all in tatters.

We needed to get enough rest rather than getting caught up in one big incident after another.

When we came out of the shelter, the sunset-tinged sky was turning dark.

“So where are we going now?”

“I don't know. We'll go wherever our feet take us. Isn't that what mercenaries do?”

“It's not wrong, but you're not really going to just wander around anywhere, are you?”

As Tersion stared intently at me, I slightly averted my gaze and said quietly.

“Alright. I'll try to find some hidden treasure of the elves or something.”

“You should have said so from the start.”

Tersion let out a chuckle and put away her bow.

“Anyway, let's rest now! I want to wash up right now! My whole body is covered in blood!”

“Was that whitish stuff blood?”

“It's white, so it's not disgusting to look at, but I agree. Let's hurry up and go wash up and rest.”

I watched the party walking and chatting for a moment, and then followed behind them.

The heroes of this defensive battle were my companions walking ahead of me.

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