Chapter 251 : The Blue Flame That Burns Ice

We washed off the magical beast's blood and its stench, and then headed to the duke's mansion.

Because we had been invited by the duke.

Sir Monde, who had fallen asleep while bathing, was also woken up and taken along.

Although Sir Monde was not a member of Sherwood, he was a comrade who had shared life and death with us, so we couldn't leave him out.

He grumbled, shaking his half-dry hair.

"I told you to go without me."

"We can't do that."

"I didn't do much."

"What do you mean, you didn't do much? Is it easy to escort a mad black mage?"

"...That's true."

On the way to the duke's mansion together.

Sorrow, who was crazy about alcohol, strode ahead, and behind him, Dofang, who was fiddling with his butterfly knife, and I and Sir Monde walked in order.

Linda and Schmidt had not yet returned.

Since they were guys who weren't interested in alcohol anyway, they would probably take care of themselves.

Sir Monde's grumbling about wanting to sleep instead of drinking melted away the moment he saw Princess Lilia, who was waiting at the duke's mansion.

"Sir Monde! You've worked so hard!"

Seeing that small princess welcoming him with open arms, what subordinate could complain?

"Ah, ahh..."

Thump.

Sir Monde, upon seeing the princess, knelt on the spot and, with a crying voice, hugged the princess to his heart's content.

"Princess... I thought I was going to die..."

"Yes, yes. It was hard, wasn't it? But I knew you could do it, Sir Monde."

"Sob... Princess..."

...Who was the one being escorted here?

Even as I shook my head and clicked my tongue, it was hard to shake off the thought of wanting to be hugged in that small embrace.

What other healing was there?

Princess Lilia's embrace was healing itself.

"How pathetic."

"Sir Monde. Are you going to stay in her arms forever, even though you're a knight?"

"Shouldn't you come out now?"

We criticized Sir Monde's pathetic behavior and lingered for a moment.

Because it seemed like she would hug us too if we waited our turn.

"Alcohol, alcohol."

Whatever.

There was also a weirdo who didn't even glance at the princess and went straight for the alcohol.

The princess had intended to praise us as well, who had worked just as hard as Sir Monde, but because the resentful Sir Monde wouldn't let go, we had no choice but to turn away.

Because the king of the north was waiting.

Unlike Sir Monde, we, who were more mature, left the two to their happy time and headed to the drawing-room where the duke was waiting.

"Tch. Some people are greeted by a cute princess, but we're just a bunch of black-clad men."

Dofang grumbled.

As the captain, I disciplined the member's mouth.

"Hey now. How insolent. Can't you watch that mouth of yours?"

"By the way, where did that Sorrow guy go?"

"He was muttering 'alcohol, alcohol' and went ahead. Maybe he's already inside."

"Well. Little brother, do you have any thoughts of getting married? I'd like to have a cute nephew like the princess."

"Not yet. I have a lot to do. What about you, Brother Dofang?"

"I wonder. Dofang the Phantom Thief is a man like the free wind."

"Well. Who would want to marry a thief?"

"Hey now, little brother. For Dofang the Phantom Thief, stealing a woman's heart is as easy as flipping one's palm."

"So you say."

Soon, following the servant's guidance, we opened the door, and the Gray Lion greeted us with brilliant eyes.

"You're here."

"Yes."

When we went in, Sorrow, who had arrived early, was already seated.

He didn't even glance at us as we came in, his eyes, which were shining blue, were fixed on something...

"Zilentyn 20-Year-Old"

"I prepared it because you guys seem to prefer alcohol over gold. I don't know if you'll like it."

Sorrow answered for us.

"A wise decision. There could be no more satisfying reward than this."

I shrugged.

"So it seems."

The duke nodded and gestured with his eyes.

"Sit."

"Yes."

The moment the alcohol entered, the rather cold and desolate drawing-room transformed into a relatively cozy one.

It was truly a surprising magic.

For the meal, a large whole roast was served, as befitting the north.

It was chewy and soft, and went well with the alcohol.

Dofang did most of the talking, and the duke was mostly a silent listener.

Sorrow focused on the alcohol, repeatedly exclaiming, "Kuh, ha, not bad, oho, look at this one."

As for me. I was a novice who didn't know much about the taste of alcohol, and I wasn't very interested in their conversation, so I just sipped the precious 20-year-old Zilentyn and stared blankly at the crackling fireplace on one side.

Watching it, I was reminded of the blue flame that had danced a formless dance on the ice.

Suddenly, the words the Heavenly Demon had said when he first taught me the Snow Branch Blue Flame Art came to mind.

—Have you ever seen ice burn?

'Ice burns...'

I stared at the fireplace and got lost in thought.

.

.

.

By the time Dofang and Sorrow, who were surprisingly not very strong drinkers, had quieted down.

The duke looked at me.

"Will you have more?"

I gladly took the glass.

To be honest, I didn't know if it was that delicious.

It was expensive, so I just put it in my mouth.

The duke consecutively filled his own glass and then immediately drained it.

Then, he filled his glass again and opened his mouth.

"For a second wave, it was a considerable force."

That was true.

It was an unprecedented event.

The second wave had rushed in just three days after the first wave, and its force was truly threatening.

The volume was needless to say, and the number of A-rank magical beasts I had seen was over twenty.

Dozens of those monstrous guys had rushed in!

This was a serious matter.

"I won't deny it. It was all thanks to you guys that we were able to block it without any significant damage. Is there anything else you need?"

Something I need...

Come to think of it, I hadn't taken care of the number one contributor to this battle.

No matter what anyone said, the number one contributor to this event was Linda.

I had come to realize the terror of poison anew.

No matter how strong the opponent was, wasn't it enough to just weaken them?

Those terrifying A-rank magical beasts, after inhaling Linda's poison, acted as if they had a few broken parts, so we were able to deal with them more easily.

No matter how much of a Platinum-rank you were, it was no easy task to face an A-rank magical beast alone.

Meaning, even a Platinum-rank, who was considered a genius among geniuses, a monster who had transcended the human framework, could not guarantee victory against an A-rank magical beast.

The moment you let your guard down, you're just gone.

But in the recent battle, we had been cutting down those terrifying A-rank magical beasts and walking around.

Although the Sherwood members were unusually strong among the Platinum-ranks, it was something that would have been impossible under normal circumstances.

There was only one reason for that.

Because they had been unbelievably weakened by Linda's poison.

And yet, they had shown a prowess incomparable to B-rank magical beasts, but that alone was not enough to face the Sherwood members who were running around as if they had wings.

And that wasn't all.

The B-rank and below magical beasts would often collapse, spewing blood, after inhaling Linda's poison.

It was truly a mass death.

It was to the point where I wondered if Linda had single-handedly killed about a tenth of this wave.

When I brought up the story of Linda, the number one contributor to this battle, the duke answered as if he had been waiting.

"I've already given the order."

"Ah, have you?"

Then that's that.

The duke drained his glass again.

His face, which had seemed rather cheerful, sank into a serious expression.

"And yet, this is only the second wave, and it's already of this magnitude. If it weren't for you guys, we would have suffered great damage. I'm afraid to think what the third wave will bring."

The joy of victory was brief, and the harsh reality reared its head before us.

That was right.

This was only the second wave.

The duke was already facing that fact.

The monster wave usually came in three waves.

Sometimes it ended in two, but that didn't seem to be the case now.

There was no way the worst monster wave would end at this level.

The third wave would definitely come.

And the third wave usually came in a scale two to three times that of the second wave.

Dozens of A-rank magical beasts had already appeared in the second wave.

At this rate, it was almost certain that an S-rank would appear in the third wave.

To say otherwise would be the baseless optimism of an idealist.

To catch an S-rank, you need as many Platinum-rank experts as possible.

The duke opened his mouth in a heavy tone.

"The rest of Sherwood, when are they coming?"

"...So it seems."

The month I had mentioned was almost up.

Even if the wave had started earlier than planned, they should have been here by now.

Even if I had given them a month, wasn't it right for them to show the courtesy of coming a week early?

"...Tch."

What were they doing, dawdling like this?

Were they bringing the captain?

'That can't be.'

I shook my head and then looked at the duke with conviction.

"They will come. Soon."

"I hope so."

We drained our glasses at the same time.

* * *

The next day. The fourth day of reconnaissance.

I wanted to take a day off, but I couldn't.

Because even if I said, 'Hey, we're taking a day off, so you magical beasts take a day off too,' it wouldn't work.

From early in the morning, the area outside the barrier was full of people cleaning up the debris.

They seemed to be in a hurry because they had to clean this up to prepare for the subsequent battle.

Since the second wave had come on the third day, just two days after the first wave, it was probably natural for them to be in a hurry.

It was an environment where you couldn't let your guard down.

In many ways, it was the worst ever.

In terms of speed, in terms of scale.

It was worthy of being called the worst wave, even in that it didn't give us a break even the day after a full-blown battle.

How dreadful.

In the meantime, our black mage, Sir Adrian, was surrounded by the corpses of the magical beasts, which were too hideous to even mention, and was smiling broadly.

...It seemed he had gotten materials that he was very pleased with.

He looked busy, so I decided not to disturb him.

We went out for reconnaissance, leaving behind the soldiers who were cleaning up the debris from the previous day outside the barrier.

On the way, the soldiers who recognized us started to applaud, so we quickly ran away.

The fourth day was relatively peaceful.

Perhaps because they had poured out all their strength the day before, it was generally quiet.

There were no A-rank magical beasts either.

Thanks to that, we were able to explore a little further.

But this mountain range seemed to have no end, no matter how far we went.

Only faint mountain peaks continued.

The fourth day of reconnaissance.

We finished exploring up to the fourth mountain range.

There was no particular harvest.

* * *

The fifth day of reconnaissance.

We found an A-rank magical beast.

It hadn't shown its face at all yesterday, so it must have crawled out from somewhere.

This time, it was a disgusting one with tentacles, so Sir Monde drew its attention, and I created a Blue Flame and burned it to death.

Now, Sir Monde didn't care whether I spewed Night Sky from my half-sword, flashed starlight or moonlight, cast a white, frozen ice sword, or created a blue fire.

He would just look at me for a moment with a 'so be it' expression and then say nothing.

Ah, he had given up on trying to name them a long time ago.

There were so many A-ranks popping up. Why would I bother to name each and every one of them?

Even if they were special individuals, at this point, they weren't that special.

If you were to take a statistic of all the special individuals that had appeared in the entire Maia Kingdom this year, the ones from the white hell would probably account for 99 percent.

Damn them.

"Hooo..."

In any case, after facing a normal-state A-rank magical beast, I realized anew how powerful Linda's poison was.

It felt like if you ingested Linda's poison, your power would be reduced by almost half.

How unfair it must be. To die without being able to show even half of your skills.

I looked at the tentacle magical beast that was engulfed in the Blue Flame and crackling as it burned.

"In that sense, you're lucky, Mrs. Burns. You won't have any regrets even in death, since you got to show off your skills to your heart's content."

[I thought you said you weren't going to name them.]

"It's just a feeling."

[...]

And yet, Linda was still grinding her teeth, saying it wouldn't die.

I was scared to think what more hideous thing she was trying to create.

If I were a magical beast, I would have tucked my tail and run away long ago.

I prayed for Mrs. Burns's soul and then, after roughly looking around up to the sixth mountain range with Sir Monde, we found a suitable cave and took a rest.

"Ugh, it's freezing."

Sir Monde grumbled, warming his hands over the blue fire that was lit on the ice.

I chewed on my beef jerky and stared at the blue flame that was burning the ice for a long time.

(End of Chapter)