Chapter 243 (1/2)

Death Mage 243 – The false parade and the nameless heroes

A celebratory parade was held two days after the victory over the ra monster horde and the mysterious bandits

In ordinary circumstances, such a parade would be held on the day of the victory, but nothing about that battle had been ordinary – that was how significant a battle it was for the city of Morksi

In the end, the only deaths were those of the bandits and a feho had been too late to escape from the forest Many had been injured, but none had suffered any per that there had been Rank 8 Thunder Dragons and Mountain Giants aht have been one of the victories with the least casualties in all of history

But upon hearing of the size and power of theEarl Isaac Morksi, the city's lord – had been certain that the city would be destroyed Thus, a er on a fast horse had been sent to Duke Alcreions before the battle began

Thenews of the powerfulthe city, that the city would likely fall, and that losses needed to be ees to be treated warmly

On top of that, the ers had called out to all of thethem that the city of Morksi was under attack – in order to prevent the attacked by the monster horde

Like the earl, the Coes', Adventurers' and Tamers' Guilds had used various ways to contact other Guild branches

After the long battle, the earl and the Guilds' leaders were swae that the city was safe

At the sas were also examined

The bandits were the two people that had appeared at the front gate, the ten or so that had attacked Vandalieu, and the one that had fought against the 'Starving Wolf' Michael – Miles – in the forest

Ordinarily, an investigation into the identities of bandits would not have so ation would merely check whether they had bounties on their heads, confirm whether or not there were any other bandits with theate theo as far as to conduct an autopsy on their corpses

But to the Earl and the others in the city, these bandits – Hajiroup – were no ordinary bandits

The peculiarity of their actions didn't need to be stated, and the strangest thing about theth

The Taate had been far too powerful to iine that they were mere criminals The same was true for the bandits that had attacked Vandalieu, who had been witnessed from the watchtowers and whose battle had even been heard froate The one that Miles had defeated in the forest, judging from the state of the forest afterwards, had likely been as powerful as a B-class… or possibly even class adventurer

A part of the grassy area had been turned into a patch of burnt land, and as trees had been felled by the shockwaves produced during the battle, the forest now had a s in it

No th that any bandit should possess Their actions had indeed been peculiar, but there was enough infor a move behind the scenes

Vandalieu's group and Miles had repelled such bandits; their poas also far from ordinary, but… the earl had already suspected that they were no ordinary people, and more importantly, they were the ones who had been attacked by the bandits and fought to protect the city

Thus, the earl had decided to leave Vandalieu and his companions alone for now in order to prioritize a detailed investigation into the bandits

He would have liked to interrogate the bandits themselves, but as all of them were dead, only autopsies could be conducted on the corpses

The ones conducting it were the es and alchees' Guild, and so the priests of the Communal Church

This was a different procedure froin's forensic science, but all of them ell versed in the structure of the human body

“This is strange Are these really the corpses of bandits? They're like the corpses of sick people on the verge of death, or elderly people And yet, there is a vast amount of Mana left in their body structures That's true not only for the hters and shi+eld-bearers ould nores murmured

“Their muscles and tendons are in pieces, their bones are brittle, their cartilage is worn down, and several of their organs were on the verge of failure And the insides of their skulls are covered in blood, possibly because of the rupture of small blood vessels,” Priestess Paula observed “These people weren't just half-dead; they were nearly completely dead”

The results of the autopsy: The majority of the bandits had already been in a near-dead state at the time of their deaths

“There are records of autopsies finding people in this state –berserkers who repeatedly used 'Surpass Lihters did this, why are even the e muttered

“… I have heard one story, a long tiive up his life to defeat a powerful Majin He prayed to the God – requesting that he send a being too powerful for himself to handle,” said Priestess Paula “The records didn't say whether the being that descended upon him was a heroic spirit or a spirit clone of the God himself However, these corpses are in the same state as that of the hero”

The autopsy-conductors listened to Priestess Paula intently Many of theate, and they had seen the bodies of the Ta faintly

No pillars of light like the ones produced by familiar spirits and heroic spirits' descents had been witnessed around the city of Morksi since Darcia's use of 'Familiar Spirit Descent' However, the bandits had been so powerful that it wouldn't be strange to think that a God's subordinates had descended upon them

And one of the bandits, the ex-'Strong Arm' Gordon, was a C-class adventurer who had been seen in the city of Morksi not too long ago At that tith than a C-class adventurer should It was difficult to i that of a B-class or class adventurer within such a short period of time, so if this really was Gordon, the only conclusion was that he had borrowed so's power

Murakae other than the wounds that had caused their deaths, but the rest of the bandits showing these signs could not be ignored

Just then, the alche the bandits' equips of Priestess Paula and the others

“Orichalcu used by the bandits! And the– these Mythril and Adamantite weapons that have been plated with Orichalcum!” one of the alchemists said “All of theo!”

It had been discovered that there were Orichalcu the bandits' equipo, no less

Orichalcum didn't occur naturally; it was the ical metals, and it was said that it could only be refined by the Gods

That would iven them to the bandits These weapons were proof that the bandits had the support of the Gods

“D-D-Deo, I once conducted research in how to seal away frag that research, I once saw real De equipment! This equipment is different from the equip equipment!” another alchemist announced

The continuing report hts present as well, almost lose their composure

“There were reports that these swords rew their blades back no matter how many ti equipment!” one of the priests murmured

“Priests! Quickly! You must seal them away at once!” the second alchemist cried

De so that they could be used as weapons In nature, the seals upon such equipment eaker in effect than the seals used before they were crafted into weapons

With that said, the seals were still not easily broken, but… the terrifying nature of Dements ell-known, especially in recent ti out of control

“Seal thements used in the equipment are already sealed! It is not a simple matter for us to take any further steps than that,” said Priestess Paula

“Ordinarily, ould be able to do nothing beyond storing them within an Orichalcum or Orichalcum-lined container in a chamber blessed by the Gods,” said another priest “But that is impossible, as the Communal Church does not have facilities of such a scale”

“Then where are such facilities?!” the alchemist demanded

“If I recall, the closest is the Church of Alda, the Church of Fitun and the Church of Ricklent in Alcrem City…” the priest replied

“Out of those, we don't knohat's going on with the Church of Fitun,” said Priestess Paula

The statue of Fitun at the Coainst the monsters And the priest of Fitun, who had joined Priestess Paula and the others in providing support for the soldiers, had suddenly lost consciousness despite not having used up all of his Mana He remained unconscious even now

If it was just the priest fainting, it could be assumed that it was just a personal health problem, but… the statue had cracked at the same time It was only natural for the leaders of the Communal Church, the earl and everyone else to link this incident with the one that had occurred just the previous month – the incident in which the tome held by the statue of Alda crumbled and the priest of Alda lost consciousness

“Very well For now, let us report our findings of the equipment to Duke Alcrem and ask for support so that we hts' order atch over the equipment twenty-four hours a day to ensure that nobody cohts

“In that case, ill investigate the source of the equip's equipments Due to their nature, it is ieons,” said Priestess Paula “They are rarer even than Orichalcues' Guild will likely reveal where this equipment was taken from”

“There is a possibility that they excavated theed to some secret military force or an evil God's cult But even so, we es

“Very well All that is left is the questioning of the people who fought against these bandits, but… the earl will be attending, and it will be conducted with limited people, so that will happen later,” said another

Generally, questioning was carried out by city guards and Adventurers' Guild ehest-ranked authority was attending, and only a limited number of people would be involved

This was proof that the earl and his advisors suspected that Vandalieu and his companions would speak truths that could not be made public

Having entrusted the De's nest to the Church of Ricklent, Randolf 'the True' immediately left the Alcredom – the royal domain

This was the do, as elected fro all of the duchies in an election that took place once every ten years But in reality, it was the real

There were many nobles that one needed to be wary of in the royal domain, such as Prime Minister Tercatanis and Marshal Dolmad, but it was also a place where dukes other than the current king had little influence That hy Randolf had kept his hideout here for the past several years

… It would be easier to escape from interference by nobles in a re information difficult If he lived in such a place, it was entirely possible that the country could be on the verge of annihilation by the ti up to it

Information was necessary in order for Randolf to stand up in times of national crisis and prevent or avoid disaster And receiving news ive him more time to save not only himself, but his friends and acquaintances as well

And right now, Randolf was eating at an ordinary bar

But he was not in the mood to enjoy a peaceful meal

“First, the God of records, and now the God of thunderclouds as well The Vaanization that served the evil God of joyful life seems to have been annihilated as well, so it's not clear what beca could happen to the Gods before the kingdom faces any threat of destruction?” he muttered to himself

It had been a long ti to the Gods But even so, when statues of Fitun cruh priest of the Church of Fitun lost consciousness in the ures collapsed one after another, news of it would find its way to his ears

And even though this information had found its way to his ears, it was difficult to say that he had an accurate understanding of the situation What he did knoas that significant events were taking place one after another in places that were beyond his reach

Even if an event took place that resulted in the destruction of the kingdom, Randolf was confident that he would survive But even he did not have the sa to happen to the Gods… a global crisis whose only precedents were the war against the ar Guduranis, and the battle between Alda and Vida

He could escape from the Bahn Gaia continent, but he could not escape from this world

Randolf felt soine the seriousness of the situation

He had never iined that he would see the day where he would feel envious of the bar patrons ere laughing without a care in the world, saying that the priests were old, or that the Church's kitchen one off, or that Fitun's statue had crus made to him had been rotten as well

“… If I had stayed in that city, I ,” Randolf murmured to himself

He had not stopped in the city of Morksi; he had simply left Natania and Juliana in the care of the one-armed man who had taone berserk

He did not know the fine details of the events that had occurred afterwards, but… what did reach his ears was all stories that sounded like nothing ossip

According to these stories, a Dark Elf priestess had summoned a familiar spirit of Vida in a city called Morksi in the Alcrem Duchy

A Deputy Guild Master of the Commerce Guild had tried to set up an auards, and he had been punished by knights serving the earl

A Dha Goblin and Kobold meat from food carts across the city of Morksi, and to everyone's astonish incredibly well

There was a Dha, and he had tae and previously undiscovered races of monsters one after another

Randolf thought that at least half of these rumors were false But he believed that the other half was true – especially the last rumor

“It seems to be a fact that there is a Dhampir in Morksi And the hellhound that I saw… The ht have been too hasty to ju to talk to himself

Perhaps the one-armed man was just an acquaintance of the Tamer, and the real Tamer was a Dhampir who had not been there at the time

But even so, there was no proof that this Dhampir was involved in the events that had occurred recently Even if he was a member of a scarce race and was blessed with talent, he wasn't the center of the world

But there was one thing that Randolf was sure of

“Now that I think about it, the Deht have reacted back then because that Dhampir was about to return to his familiar,” he murmured to himself

Back then, the Deained distance fro the time it had taken himent itself had made no further noise

Randolf suspected that the frag out of control was not because the seal had weakened Perhaps there was soed for so much that it had affected the seal

Perhaps it was the Dha frages had previously only occurred perhaps once every few centuries, De frequently in recent days with a goal that they were trying to achieve

That goal could only be the De's resurrection

“The only thing I can think of is that this Dha's core,' or he has been infested by the 'h this theory only holds up assument, which has never been heard of, even exists,” Randolf muttered

Frag This information had been known and passed down for tens of thousands of years before Randolf was born A fragments, they would try to fuse

Whether it was the heart or the pinky finger, frag to gather at the location of a specific fragment

Thus, it was highly likely that a 'core' fragment didn't exist Even if it did, it would have been sealed away by the Gods themselves, rather than sealed away inside a Church – just like the De's soul

“If that's the case, there's no reason for me to be in a rush to act, but…”

The Dhaht, finishi+ng his own sentence silently in his head

Whether this conclusion was correct or not, even though he was using spiritualunder his breath to himself could not be heard by those around hihtly

“Fortunately, I no longer have the frag myself,” Randolf decided

Even he could not abandon the world if it was in danger

Leaving the payment for his o and make preparations for his journey

The parade was a nificent one As a band playedat the front of it was… not Vandalieu, but Darcia

She was followed by Zadiris and Basdia, and Vandalieu and Miles were behind the, Fang and the rats

“Ah, it's the 'Holy Mother of Victory!'”

“Holy-Mother-sama! Thanks to you, my husband came home safe! Thank you very much!”

“So, that is the 'Holy Mother of Victory' that people are talking about So her the 'Steel Mother' or the 'Ferocious Mother,' so I ondering what kind of brave warrior she would be, but…”

“What, did you just coht district, Holy-Mother-saive you a smile”

“Huh… That sounds nice So, what's the store's naht?”

“Food carts don't have store names, do they? And there's always different kinds of meat skewers every day, so you'll have to ask for the prices yourself”

“Huh? Food cart? Meat skewers?”

Though there was a strangefor some, most of the attention from the city's people was on Darcia She was the one who had perforate to protect the city, in front of all the soldiers, adventurers, es

She had not only fought against the thened her allies with enchantic to treat the wounded

“The 'Giant Slayer' is there, too!”

“And the 'Magic Staff Master!' How considerate of the earl to not only let them be a part of the parade, but have theroup!”

Immediately behind Darcia was Basdia and Zadiris, who had also stirred the hearts of the knights and adventurers with their contributions to the battle at the front gate

Zadiris, who had defeated es of the Mages' Guild, and Zadiris, who had cut down the Giant that had been created by one of the bandits

Their actions in the battle were known not only by those who had been a part of the battle, but al in the city of Morksi

Bards had already written songs about their feats

Naturally, there had been some who disapproved of Darcia, a Dark Elf, and Zadiris and Basdia, ere Ghouls, leading the parade

To beDarcia at the front was unavoidable, the Ghouls should be in a less conspicuous part of the parade At the very least, they should not be walking in front of the knights' order These were the claims made by several of the earl's vassals

Earl Morksi had political ene that he valued Ghouls – creatures that were considered hly than the very knights that served his house Would this not be a weakness that those political enemies could exploit?

That hat the vassals had been apprehensive about