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“Ah...” August von Rotfeld's voice groans inside the large room, as Pontiff Reiner Kassus checks his skin. Most of it has to be replaced by new one, which will take at least two months, even considering his young age.

Even with his expertise, the pontiff won't be able to avoid leaving scars and other remnants. Young Rotfeld will have to live with the signs of his folly.

[Korona], one of the skills of the royal bloodline. Born out of the Flames of Freedom, which were gifted to the first king by the Four of Feuerberg and hence inherited by his descendants. Flames that will burn everything that tries to bind their wielder or those they seek to protect. They burned the old southern empire to the ground, they fought back the invaders lusting for the new-found kingdom of Feuerberg, and they have kept it safe to this day.

As only the royal family is able to wield the flames, the pontiff never dreamed of seeing them in person. As with most royal bloodlines, they are kept a secret as much as possible to prevent enemies from learning too much about them. While other kingdoms may know that some warriors of Feuerberg clad themselves with flames, they can only suspect that it's the royal bloodline and how much it extends. However, their ideas are clouded by deliberately spread rumors and by the theories of wizards and pyromancers of what true fire mastery may be able to accomplish.

As a pontiff, Kassus listened to many stories, but he's sure that nobody within the church aside from the Four actually knows about what this bloodline is really capable of. Maybe even the royal family doesn't know their own potential.

However, seeing their destructive powers is something else. To cut them, Sir Gottfried has suffered several fissure fractures in the bones of his arm, shoulder, and even his leg. Young Rotfeld didn't suffer mere burns on his skin, they went through his body, damaging everything all the way to the milt, just stopping short of it. As the milt is where magic is stored, Sir Gottfried saved the wizard in the nick of time, as he may have been burned from within otherwise.

Even Pontiff Kassus can only guess what long-term consequences there may be.

Sir Gottfried lies in a bed in the other room, after admitting that training right now would be counter-productive. A fire has lit within him to 'get back in shape, but for now he has to rest. Especially since Pontiff Kassus didn’t have the physical energy to cast [Rejuvenate] on the knight yet to mend the fissures, after the initial treatment of Young Rotfeld.

The mansion will serve well though. The lord mayor of Dukknwas is very hospitable, though housing Sir Gottfried and other envoys of Feuerberg will certainly be beneficial for him.

Meldorn has been gone for a while. He asked for some time to deal with a personal issue. Pontiff Kassus has noticed the pain of the man growing with each day of the chase since they crossed the Ohl, yet the Huntsman isn't one to share his feelings and thoughts freely.

For the time being, living in the mansion will suffice, but what will they do after that? The princess is still out there and she may be the one who will bring destruction to the whole world. While the pontiff doesn't agree with killing her in cold blood, he's just worried whether letting her free for a while is right or wrong.

The letters Sir Gottfried sent to Esse may give some insight. If the pontiff could just meditate anywhere to converse with the Four...

There is also the curse to consider. Seeing Momokawa-dono's and Princess Katarine's souls plagued with that abomination hurts the pontiff. He’s never seen anything like it, and while it seems that Pontiff Glanznacht wasn't concerned when he first investigated it, Pontiff Kassus doubts that what the other pontiff saw is the same as what it has become. At least breaking this curse is what the princess' party is after.

To be honest, the pontiff would rather travel back to Esse than to continue to pursue the matter. Because it's clear as day that whatever the future will bring, it will only spell trouble.

On the other hand, Feuerberg is at war once again, and this time, the enemy may not stop it even when they start losing.

―○●○―

"[Boomeraxe]!" Harada Reiji throws his giant axe like it's nothing, cutting monsters apart like they're nothing. These newt-like monsters with fingers and some kind of mossy afro on their head are rare enough in Feuerberg, and their fangs and horns aren't meant to be there. These are so-called demon infested monsters, monsters that are treated by demons to adapt demon-like traits, though the details of the process are largely unknown.

Aside from their physical changes, these monsters also become more vile and aggressive. While the poisonous mossy newts are amphibious monsters that lurk in poisonous waters—which makes them reside in the demon realm for the most part—the demon infestation led them over the border to Feuerberg, attacking whatever is in sight.

As the villages here have been evacuated, this only leaves scouts, patrols and forts to attack.

Harada's party are now specifically assigned to find demon-infested monsters and to kill them to raise their levels as much as possible, though Harada knows that this will only be for a short time.

Harada catches his returning axe and calls out to his companion: "Shigeru-kun, cover my right."

"Yes, Kaichou (President)!" Kuga Shigeru, the [Pyromancer] shouts, as he cuts the air with his staff: "[Fireslash]!" A long stream of flames comes from his staff, which "[Firewall]!" then becomes more persistent.

With his right side blocked by the flames, Harada throws himself at the next two newts. He has to become as strong as possible and the more he kills, the better he will become. This is not for some petty lust for power, but for his divine calling.

It was Nobuo, who told him in his dying breath: 'Reiji... please... protect humans... kill demons...' Nobuo was better than any of them. Kinder. Stronger. Smarter. To save them, he sacrificed himself, knowing that even though he may be the best, he's just a single man. Therefore, Harada and the rest have to improve themselves, so that instead of one best man, there will be many strong heroes. Not only his party, but all of them.

"Kaichou!" [Sharpshooter] Toriyama Chidori-fukukaichou (Vice-President) says aloud: "The Heinous are there."

Harada looks at where she's aiming her bow, and in fact, two demons are crawling from behind the boulders dispersed at the foot of the mountains. Blueish chitin, vaguely humanoid anatomy other than two additional insect-like arms and a stinger.

The Heinous are the kind of demons that killed Nobuo. Righteous fury and fervor builds up in Harada's mind, as he remembers this. Since then, he has become stronger. Not only him, Shigeru-kun, Yukino-kun, and Chidori-fukukaichou as well.

With a sudden and far leap, both Heinous jump into the fray, and Harada faces them immediately. "Yukino-kun, Shigeru-kun, the monsters first." Yukino-kun is a [Masterthief], which uses daggers and therefore won't be able to penetrate the Heinous' chitin armor. As long as there are monsters here, finding the weak spots may be difficult. Yet if she works with Shigeru-kun, the monsters will be dealt with quickly.

"How sweet~!" One of the Heinous says, as it thrusts its stinger at Harada, who narrowly escapes being impaled by it. It's quick and fast, one mistake will be fatal. These are demons even the more experienced soldiers find difficult to fight.

"[Swallarrows]!" Shooting two quick arrows that aren't bound by their trajectory, Chidori-fukukaichou hits the second one, who stumbles backwards, holding his cracked chitin breastplate.

"[Headsplitter]!" With an overhead attack, Harada cuts the Heinous before him, not as deep as he wanted, but still showing that now they're strong enough to face these demons.

They will win! Yet suddenly, something unexpected happens: "[Heal]!" The wound of the one Harada just attacked closes. "[Heal]!" The cracks of the other one disappears. "Impressive, though." The malice in the unknown voice makes Harada feel shivers.

The one who spoke up is also a scorpion-demon, yet much different. His chitin is reddish, and most of his head is covered by a chitin plate with many holes that shows a multitude of small eyes. While its main-body is covered by armor, heavy chitin plates are on the two legs, two arms, and its tail, which moves like there are no joints at all. On top of it, are multiple hooked spikes, as if one stinger isn't enough.

"Hi," it laughs with a male voice. "You seem oddly young for soldiers... ah, are you the heroes I've heard about? I'm Airon, a demon priest!" He suddenly leaps forward, and with a single punch, Harada is sent away flying, barely holding onto his consciousness. "Weak. Disappointing. Come on, let's play. Attack me all at once, then I kill you one after another, no?"

A demon priest... a priest who uses [Divine Magic]? These aberrations have their gods as well? No, they only fulfill the desires of their fake gods. Yet Harada knows that this will become very dangerous, though retreat doesn't seem like an option. "Shigeru-kun, the signal. Then retreat!"

"Yes!" Shigeru-kun fires rainbow-colored flames into the sky.

Using this small distraction, Harada jumps back on his feet. Even though he feels wonky, his hero-body easily accepts that and moves well regardless of his probable concussion. The others also begin to run, while Shigeru-kun uses wind, water and fire magic to cover their retreat.

It's enough for the monsters and the two Heinous, yet the demon priest seems to be tougher. He walks through walls of flames, he lifts his arms to block blades of wind, and plants his feet to endure the pushing water.

He hits Chidori-fukukaichou's arrows aside with his tail, yet while retreating, Harada and Yukino-kun also shoot their crossbows whenever they can. After only a few minutes, the demon priest clicks his tongue and retreats, as the reinforcements come in the form of cavalry led by Lady Susanne Schön herself.

Harada blames himself for his lack of faith. If he would have known that Lady Schön is close, he would have tried to draw out the battle instead, so that they could hinder the retreat of the demon priest.

No, this is a sign. A first encounter with this special Heinous. Is he stronger than the Heinous that killed Nobuo? Maybe. This is all part of the divine plan. Before, he was just guessing what he has to overcome, but now he has a clear sight of what has to be done. They have also been chosen to be the first to witness how the demons change tactics in this war.

Yes, this is divine providence.

He has to tell this to those who still doubt whether they should start to fight with their own hands or not, those who still consider themselves researchers even though it's not Nobuo's will—not the divine will—for heroes to be passive.

Harada also needs to gather whatever is left of the combat groups. They weren't summoned to fight separately. Though it seems like most of them have gone astray.

―○●○―

Masahiko steps back, the crystal arm-blade from the giant mantis monster misses him by a small margin, then he steps forward, using his blades to basically climb alongside the arm, keeping it in control and building up momentum at the same time.

With enough speed picked up, he uses [Steel Slicer] to chop off the blade right at a more fleshy point than the chitin covered arms. He pushes the power of his attack into his [Drillkick] that buries itself into the body, causing the monster to hunch. “Daichi!”

“Ossu!” With the head now in reach and a clean swing of his axe, Masahiko's tall friend decapitates the monster.

“Great!” Masahiko praises this clean combo, which shows how much they have improved since their latest crushing defeat. It also helps that Masahiko learns more and more to move like his shishou taught him in real battle: In a fight, his whole body needs to be a weapon, one move should be able to connect with a new one, without forcing a sequence.

Teruko breezes through in his line of sight, using her small frame and her long weapon to keep in range while also staying hard to hit. She's regretting how little she could do in the last conflict and it seems that she's trying to find her own fighting style. It has worked well, so far.

Daichi has recovered fully from his lethal wound, a sign of how sturdy he is and how quickly a hero recovers. While he did a lot in the last battle, he still mourns his lack of offense, which is why for a change, Masahiko prepares the enemies. Not only so that Daichi can take the XP for the kills, but to give him more opportunities to try different approaches.

Their backrow, Katsuo and Eri, are mostly refining their aim and timing.

Overall, this dungeon proves to be a good training ground. Not the artificial kind, but the one where the opponents aren't so difficult that they can't try different approaches and strategies, especially the ones they learned before in Feuerberg and Kraggwas. They should have done some practical experience much sooner.

The best part is that they know from Correo-san that deep inside are experience crystals, crystals that let heroes absorb their power and gain XP that way. This means that after refining their techniques and tactics, they will even get a power boost out of it.

However, they don't know too well how deep it goes and how difficult it will become. From Masahiko's experience with dungeons in games, they tend to get more challenging the deeper you go. Yet, unlike games, whenever they clear a room the monster stays dead, so they always have the option to retreat and start where they left off after they have recovered.

Soon, Kyou. Please Katsuragi-kun, don't do anything bad until I'm there. Also, don't get yourself killed.

―○●○―

Smoke and fire rise from the farmstead that the Northwind Clan attacked. Some were able to flee, yet it doesn't concern Chieftain Brumm much. For the rest, he has some clear plans, which he explains to the man he's holding up by the scalp, the supposedly patriarch: “We can all be friends. You will host us for a while, then we move on. No need for unnecessary killing. By the way, sorry about your daughter.” He broke her neck when she attacked him from behind with a shovel. It wasn't necessary, but he thought she was a man and now one of the babymakers is gone.

Brumm took over leadership from his father this year. The Northwind Clan is a barbarian clan that uses a particular tactic: They attack a farmstead or village, take only a fifth of their food and wealth, and then move on. Doing this makes it possible for regular raid intervals, as these farmers seriously just rebuild every time, and after some years, they basically forgot about the barbarians. That's why leaving women and children alive is so necessary!

“Yes...” The man in Brumm's hand pleads: “...whatever you want.”

“Great,” the barbarian drops the man, who may have been in charge until now, but now knows better. Brumm then turns to his people, who were ready to rip off some heads: “Lead them to the barn for starters. Gunnar and Morkk, you two guard it until we have a system.”

“What about the survivors?”

“The best they can do is warn their fellow farmsteads. I mean, unless the cities here have suddenly grown a backbone, they won't send their... soldier-playing children to this place, and before Winson can send their troops, we'll already be gone.” His grandpa Brimm told him about the White Mare, a former knight of a kingdom from far away, that now resides in Winson like a big slug. Yet he may actually be dangerous.

So with help far away and their military only capable of repelling monsters, what can the cities do for their farmsteads? Nothing, that's the beauty of it. There is nothing there that can even hope to put up a fight against barbarians.

―○●○―

Meldorn has arrived. This is the place he feared and was looking forward to most at the same time. Since crossing the Ohl, much of the thoughts he has had when not focusing on the mission have been spent here.

It's nothing but a small village in the Wildlands. Protected by a close city state, it's one of the few somewhat fertile places and they make their living selling fruits from the orchards. While there is a military unit stationed here, they're more concerned with protecting the last harvest efforts than to notice a single man slipping through.

People are going around doing their businesses. Meldorn silently slips by them like a ghost using their houses, and the trees that stand in the village and the gardens they put so much pride in, so that nobody can talk about a stranger afterwards.

There it is. While it's a big house, several small families live in it, sharing just the washroom and kitchen. All of them are artisans that share their living space with their workshops. Below lives a tailor and a cobbler. At the exterior is a narrow staircase that leads to a woman that makes trinkets, toys, and tokens out of animal parts.

A small voice comes from the garden, it's a boy playing with a doll. He's twelve years old and should soon pick his apprenticeship and until then help his mother with her store. Yet here he is, playing with a doll.

Meldorn silently climbs up a tree and while he observes the boy, memories flash into his mind.

–“It's about focus. There is a power inside you, and if you can focus it, then you will be able to use it. I was already an adult when I learned it, but you're a much quicker learner than I. Wait, keep your head down, or it will notice us. Now, try to focus on your eyes.”

–“Dad! I got it! I finally got it! I can see every strand of hair!”

–“What's wrong?” - “I don't know, somehow my eyes are fuzzy.”

–“Even magic can't heal it. I'm sorry.” - “There has to be something! Please, I’ll do anything!” - “I'm sorry.”

–“What have you done to our son!” - “I will save him!” - “Haven't you done enough!?” - “I... I didn't know... Maybe in the capital, we can-”

–“There is nothing any of us can do to heal him, but we can prevent him from going completely blind.” - “...tell me what to do.”

–“I'm divorcing you... I'm moving with my sister. Don't you dare to come close to us.”

Meldorn is the perfect hunter. That's why he can break down in tears and sob without making a sound.