Chapter 291 : The Snowman's Legacy

The carriage ran leisurely and arrived in Maia.

As expected, the Maia specialty welcoming party greeted us enthusiastically.

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

KWAAAAAAAK!

"Wow! It's a magical beast!"

Siri's eyes sparkled as if she had met a long-lost friend.

And then.

"Hmph!"

BOOM!

With the cute mace she had bought as a souvenir before leaving the empire, she blew away the magical beast's head.

"Hmph! Hmph!"

BOOM! BOOM!

Every time Siri swung her mace, the magical beasts' bodies exploded without fail.

Like a child squashing a tomato with a hammer.

[How refreshing.]

Shushuruta looked at the scene with a dumbfounded expression, and Lyle and I watched with our arms crossed and a pleased look on our faces. How energetic.

After a while.

Siri smiled brightly and looked back at us.

"Big Brother! Let's play together!"

"Shall we?"

I also took up my sword and joined Siri.

"Hahaha!"

"Ahahat!"

And so, the carriage crossed Maia...

And reached Milestone, the home of my heart.

* * *

Rustle, rustle.

Hudmilla was in her office, dealing with a pile of work.

The Sherwood Mercenary Corps, which had achieved great merit in defeating two S-rank magical beasts in Tundra and blocking the monster wave.

Their heroic tale had spread throughout Maia.

Sherwood's name once again resounded throughout Maia, and finally, Sherwood had regained its former glory.

Thanks to that, commissions were now pouring in.

That meant Hudmilla's workload had also piled up.

On top of that, thanks to the captain who had declared war on the Dark Heaven Society, she was already busy, but the details she had to look over had increased.

Hudmilla, who had judged that she couldn't handle the volume alone, divided the work among the spirits who were rolling around and playing next to her.

It had started with a simple coincidence.

She couldn't put all the work on her desk, so she had spread it out on the floor.

And the bored spirits had grumbled that some of the commissions smelled bad.

'Smell? What smell?'

No matter how much she sniffed, she could only smell paper and ink.

When Hudmilla tilted her head and checked the commission, she found that it was written with the deeds of the Dark Heaven Society.

It was a truly strange thing.

It was just a text describing the deeds, but it smelled bad?

Just in case, she had the members investigate, and it turned out to be related to the underlings of the Dark Heaven Society.

Whatever the principle was, Hudmilla was not one to miss an opportunity that had rolled in.

And so, she had the rolling spirits do the work, picking out only the commissions related to the Dark Heaven Society and having the members do the work.

The spirits were happy to be praised by Hudmilla, and Hudmilla was happy that her work had decreased.

It was killing two birds with one stone.

The hard-fought monster wave in the north.

The members, who had heard from Ashuban that the Dark Heaven Society was behind it, willingly solved the commissions with a strong hostility whenever they heard the three letters of the Dark Heaven Society.

They were the ones who usually lazed around in the hideout because they were too lazy to do anything.

But now, they were leaving at dawn with murderous eyes, saying they would catch and kill them somehow.

It was a truly changed behavior.

At the same time, Hudmilla raised the hurdle for receiving commissions.

She revised the guidelines so that commissions below C-rank were not accepted, and the share that went back to the mercenary guild increased.

Despite taking such measures, the work was still a lot, so Hudmilla was practically trapped in her office.

Today was the same, and as she was going through a mountain of documents, the spirits, who were sniffing around and picking out the commissions spread on the floor like sniffer dogs, all raised their heads at once.

Their noses twitched.

Sniff, sniff. Sniff, sniff.

And then, they all rushed to the window in a group and attempted to escape.

She was so focused on her work that she didn't see them leave. After processing some documents for a while, she belatedly noticed the spirits' escape.

"What, where did they all go?"

As she was looking around with a bewildered expression.

A commotion was heard from downstairs.

Hudmilla sighed and opened the door and went out, and she saw Linda jumping around with a laundry basket.

Mary was chasing after her with a duster.

"The devil is coming! The devil is coming!"

"Big Sister! Put down the laundry basket first! You'll spill it!"

"Hehehe! The devil has come!"

"I know, so give me the laundry basket!"

Just then, the sound of a carriage was heard from outside.

Hudmilla went down to the first floor, snatched the laundry basket and gave it to Mary, and then opened the front door.

And then, she could see a carriage rolling in, surrounded by spirits.

"Whoa, whoa."

Soon, the carriage stopped, and the door opened.

The door that had opened wide before the carriage had completely stopped.

There was a welcome face that jumped out from there.

"...Huh?"

Hudmilla's eyes widened.

Siri, who saw her, smiled brightly.

"Big Sister Hud!"

"...Siri!"

The two ran towards each other and hugged each other tightly.

Hudmilla hugged her tightly with teary eyes.

"Where have you been, you little brat."

"Hehe, I'm sorry."

The two hugged each other for a long time, like a separated family that had finally been reunited.

"Hehe, it's the devil!"

A green-haired person flew past them.

Hudmilla, who had been hugging her tightly as if she would lose her again if she let go, slowly let go of Siri.

And she fiddled with her hair.

"What's with your hair? Why is it spotted?"

"Ah, that's..."

"Wait. Your eyes are mismatched like Hartz and Sorrow? You, don't tell me you have a split personality..."

"It's not like that. What happened was..."

While Siri was chattering and explaining.

Ashuban, who had gotten off the driver's seat with Linda on his back, put two fingers to his eyebrows and then flicked them at Hudmilla.

"Mission complete."

Hudmilla looked at Ashuban and chuckled.

"You've worked hard."

Ashuban nodded.

"It was a rough adventure."

Lyle and Shushuruta got off next.

And Ashuban passed Hudmilla and entered the hideout, ruffling the hair of Mary, who was standing at the door with wide eyes.

"Have you been well, the ace of Sherwood, Mary?"

"Yes. But who is that?"

"Her name is Sirila. You've made a friend."

Just then, Miho came down the stairs, yawning.

"Has Sirila come? I can smell her."

Siri, who had been chattering and explaining to Hudmilla, quickly looked in the direction where Miho's voice had come from.

"Miho!"

And then she ran and hugged Miho tightly.

While the returned Shushuruta and Lyle were greeting Hudmilla and Mary.

Ashuban, who had been looking around the inside of the hideout, asked.

"And the rest?"

Hudmilla answered.

"They're all out on commissions."

Ashuban tilted his head.

"That's strange. They're usually lazing around."

"It seems they're also very angry."

"Aha."

Ashuban nodded and then clapped his hands.

"Well then, we'll have a welcome party for the spotted saint, Sirila. Let's go to Uncle Sven's shop."

Linda and Shushuruta, who had been hanging on Ashuban's back, cheered.

"It seems the story will be long. Let's talk while eating some pig's feet."

"Good! Pig's feet are always right."

"You guys go first. I'll go to the guild and get Boris."

Hudmilla said.

"It must be busy there too."

"Ahem. How can you just sit still when Siri has returned? That's unacceptable."

Ashuban immediately charged into the mercenary guild.

Thump!

"Come here!"

Boris, who had come out after receiving a report from an employee, sighed.

"That tax collector-like bastard. I thought he'd been quiet lately."

And then, he grabbed the fiercely resisting Boris and dragged him away.

"Let go of me! Let go! Let go!"

"I can't do that. Just quietly join the welcome party."

The modest welcome party continued late into the night.

* * *

The guys who had gone out on commissions came back one by one.

They were surprised to see the spotted Siri, and then they were relieved to hear that it wasn't a curse, and they welcomed Siri warmly.

Dofang carried Siri on his back and ran on the roofs of Milestone.

Hartz laughed until he was out of breath and then threw Siri up into the air as if she would reach the sky, and then caught her again and again.

Sorrow quietly placed an ice sculpture of Siri in her room in the middle of the night.

Schmidt stared blankly at Siri, who was opening her arms towards him, and then, pretending to hug her, he put her in a headlock and hit her head repeatedly.

Siri was not one to just take it, and after resisting and breaking a door, she was scolded by Hudmilla and they made up.

Siri sniffed Hudmilla and Schmidt, and then, with a serious expression, she immediately started a medical examination.

I thought they were all better.

It seemed a little of the Snowman's poison was still left in their bodies.

Siri, with the power of light and darkness, completely healed Hudmilla and Schmidt, and then let out a sigh of relief.

While the guys were very excited and talking with Siri.

I took Lyle and heard a report from Dofang and Hartz (Sorrow).

"Those Dark Heaven Society guys were hiding in more places than we thought."

"Whether they caught the magical beasts, or they made them somehow. They were drawing their blood and making potions."

"Did the magical beasts just stand there?"

"They did. They were very obedient."

"What?"

"I was surprised when I first saw it too. Tamed magical beasts."

Lyle frowned.

"Are you saying that now? That magical beasts listen to people?"

"Ah, that's right. They were just standing there stupidly, and when they were ordered to attack me, they all rushed at me."

"That's ridiculous."

Hartz glared at Lyle, who had snorted.

"This bastard doesn't believe me?"

"Would you believe it?"

While the two were growling at each other, Dofang said to me.

"We found a few of their bases and destroyed them."

"And their main base?"

Dofang scratched his head.

"That's still... we tried to dig a little, but they all died, vomiting black blood. While muttering that slogan about the dark heaven coming."

"Mmm."

"They're thorough, as befits fanatics. It won't be easy."

I looked at Hartz.

"Sorrow. Can't you do something?"

Hartz's eyes blinked once and then turned blue.

Sorrow's cold voice came out.

"I'm researching it. First, I need a lot of samples to understand the mechanism."

"So you're saying you just have to beat up a lot of them."

"Yes. I'm starting to get a feel for it."

"That's hopeful."

I'll test it on the low-ranking guys, and then, when I catch a guy who seems important later, I'll interrogate him properly.

If we just find their main base, the story will be quick.

Since we can just charge in and break it.

"It's not all that hopeful."

It was also the not-so-hopeful news that the black potions were gradually spreading among the people.

"When I was on escort duty last time, I caught one of them and beat him up, and he said their goal was to bring about the descent of the demon god."

At my words, the guys tilted their heads.

"Demon god? Why a demon god all of a sudden?"

"What. You didn't know?"

"Uh. This is the first I've heard of it."

"They say the dark heaven is coming. That dark heaven is a metaphor for the descent of the demon god."

"...Is that so?"

I let out a sigh.

"How on earth did you investigate?"

Hartz said, as if he were wronged.

"No, I was just thinking of beating those guys up and finding their base."

Dofang also nodded in agreement.

"I wasn't interested in the doctrine of the fanatics."

I sighed and shared what I knew.

The potion that transforms into a magical beast, and the ability to strengthen and control magical beasts.

That it was a very small part of the demon god's power, and that it was the result of their research into the demon god's doctrine.

Probably, the monster wave that had come this time was also presumed to have used that ability.

Hartz, who had been listening quietly, asked.

"What is that demon god?"

"I don't know. Seeing as there's no other name, isn't it a god that was forgotten a long time ago?"

Dofang touched his lips.

"Hmm... the power of a forgotten god..."

Suddenly, Lyle muttered to himself.

"Is it related to the demon race?"

All eyes gathered.

"Demon race?"

"Ah, I just said it because the names are similar."

"Continue."

"They must have a god they believe in too. Since it's the god of the demon race, I thought it might be a demon god."

We exchanged glances.

Surprisingly, it made sense.

Dofang nodded and said.

"You mean the tribe that lives in the west of the empire? The one that's at war with the empire."

"Is there any other?"

I asked what I was curious about.

"But why the demon race?"

"They live near the demon realm. I hear they're all very strong because of the energy that flows from the demon realm."

"Really?"

"Seeing as they're on equal footing with Hilka even though their numbers are much smaller, it's credible."

"Oh."

Dofang raised his index finger to his head and said playfully.

"I hear they all have horns on their heads."

"Horns?"

"That's the rumor."

"Hmm."

I shared the current situation with Lyle, and after telling him to continue to work hard, I stood up from my seat.

Dofang looked at me.

"Aren't you joining us right away, little brother?"

Hartz also looked at me.

"That's surprising. I thought you'd charge in right away as soon as you came back."

I tilted my head.

"Me? Why."

"Hud said you seemed very angry."

"When am I not angry?"

"That's true."

I brushed it off and looked for Siri.

"Siri."

"Yes?"

"Come here for a moment."

Siri, who had been munching on the dried fruit that Shushuruta had given her, stood up from her seat.

"Why?"

I called Siri to my room, and then took out the box I had put on one side.

There, there was a gem that was sparkling dazzlingly in blue.

Siri's eyes shone as she saw it.

"Wow...! What is this?"

I looked at it blankly and said.

"The Snowman's legacy."

(End of Chapter)