Chapter 65: CH 51

５１． Those Lurking In The Darkness

Good day, this is the demon prince Jilbagias who just got a report that the human race might be hiding in the fortress.

It was a bit of a stretch to say that there was human presence right in the middle of the demon kingdom though…

「Why do you think it’s human race?」

「From their faint trace of magical power, but the decisive factor is their footprints.」

Verossa replied faithfully.

「I found the footprint of a non goblin creature around the fortress. That person seems to be rather careless in regard to hiding their footsteps, and they’re barefooted on top of that. Considering the size of that person’s feet, the shape of the toes, and the width of the feet, it’s most probably a human.」

The elven race had slender-shaped feet. The Dwarven race was the opposite, bulky. Most beastfolk left the least surface with their feet. In general, the footprint of the demon race was about the same as humans.

And the footprint this time was that 『In General』. The other party didn’t wear any shoes, and the presence that could be felt from outside was only faint magical power, the possibility of the footprint being the one left by a demon race could be crossed out.

In that situation, the only possibility left was the human race.

Anyhow, we were moving around the vicinity of the fortress with all members of my party along with the patriarch of the village as our guide.

Upon a closer look, I realized that the stronghold was huge… It should be able to accommodate around 500 people.

Cracks, soil, and gashes on the surface of the stone wall told me the tale of a violent siege battle in the past, where part of the rampart had already collapsed… It might be easier to enter from there than the front entrance.

「From the leaked heat and the smell, there seems to be a great number of goblins. And yet, it’s really quiet as if they tried to not making any sound.」

Verossa muttered from behind me.

「 Goblins are creatures that can’t shut their mouth even during the night raid and yet, they actually stayed still without making any noise, that’s definitely an abnormal situation. We already confirmed that the situation is abnormal by the time we realized that there’s traces of brainwash and charm being used on the captured goblin.」

「Does that mean the user is right inside the fortress?」

「Maybe. The other magical power is weak compared to the average demon race but, this user might be an adept. That’s my opinion in this regard.」

Verossa didn’t fully scatter his magical power, thus his presence was quite clear this time.

「Expert huh…」

The so-called strength of magical power wasn’t something that could be told by the aggregate amount of magical power alone. An experience in this situation alone was enough to shake those beliefs.

Our target’s magical power was stronger than a goblin, yet a bit weaker than your average night elf. That amount of magical power was huge, among humans that’s it.

「… Could it be an escaped slave?」

――That’s the most possible option after all.

Honestly, seeing that there was such a gutsy person who was operating inside the demon kingdom made me want to protect them and let them escape from the predicament.

But, my attendants were far too capable, and I couldn’t afford to reveal my identity at this time.

『Yeah, we got no excuse to let that person escape.』

Yup…

As a demon prince, I couldn’t afford to withdraw here.

「It’s still incomprehensible even if the other party is really a deserting slave. Even if there’s a spellcaster among them, they’re under strict management… I can hardly imagine such a person will be careless enough to leave their footprint after managed to escape.」

Sofia pointed out the weakness of my assumption.

「Moreover, if the other party is really a deserter slave, they should’ve moved faster from place to place while being wary against the pursuer from beastfolk. Stopping in this fortress is definitely not an option.」

「Surely… Do you have any other opinion, Garounya?」

I tried to ask Garounya on a whim.

「… Eh… My apologies. I’m…」

“Why must it be me! There’s a far more reliable person to ask right!” Was the kind of face that Garounya made right now. By the way, she was carrying Liliana on her back. I brought Liliana as insurance to treat the injured person but she was too slow due to her lack of limbs.

Thus, the physically powerful Garounya carried Liliana on her back.

The matter of Garounya’s reply aside, she seems to really care about Liliana.

「What do you think, Liliana?」

「… Wau?」

Maybe she knew that we couldn’t afford to make a loud voice, so she spoke in a whisper. Liliana tilted her head in confusion too. Meanwhile I heard the patriarch of the village mumbling 「What in the world is this guy?」.

What else dammit, I had no other choice dammit.

「The identity of our opponent and from where they came from is still a mystery but, we have no choice but to subjugate that human now.」

Hearing my conclusion, everyone nodded in agreement.

Everyone was really composed, none of them felt nervous at all. It seems they judged that both the goblin flocks and the human spellcaster weren’t a big deal.

The patriarch who insisting that 『That feeling is back』 now felt ashamed. Since the beastfolk had low magic resistance, I didn’t think that his intuition was wrong.

「Are you ready?」

I asked that question while I readied the bones of human soldiers and my obsidian knife, and transformed them into a spear.

Except Garounya who carried Liliana on her back, everyone had also readied their own weapon. Since every member of my entourage had received training, they were stronger than your average human.

「I shall enter first.」

Verossa who had transformed in his human form said so as he unsheathed his sword. He went all out in his sword saint mode. It felt like he would be invincible no matter what happened… The fella inside the fortress was a goner.

「Should I catch that person, Your Highness?」

「Cut off that human arms.」

I replied so while looking at the gate of the fortress.

「Those who are good at close combat break from the front with me. Our priority is to capture that adept spellcaster. Those who are good at ranged combat shall wait outside of that crumbled wall along with the hunter. The goblins will definitely rush out from the fortress once the charm got canceled, don’t let even a single one of them escape.」

If I wanted to make sure that this operation was a success―― I would use a fire spell to drag the battle into my favor. The opponent is just some goblins and a spellcaster after all.

Since everyone agreed to my tactic, the hunter moved promptly to carry out our tactic.

「Let’s go.」

The assault team rushed toward the main gate from the front.

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It was a heavy metal gate. It might have been enchanted with powerful protection spell in the past but now it is weathering and filled with rust. Now it was nothing more than a slab of solid metal――

And that slab of metal, was nothing more than a piece of paper for a 『Sword Saint』.

「Verossa.」

「Your will is my command.」

The sword in Verossa’s hand accelerated in a way that betrays the law of nature.

His slash followed with a short and clear metallic sound. If that human was being careful, they should’ve heard this sound, not to mention if that sound was rather long.

The main gate collapsed just like that.

The cross-section was as smooth as the surface of glass. It even reflected my face like a mirror.

Following that, the stink that accumulated inside the fortress came out at once. The smell was so bad, it was akin to the smell of a beast that had been fermenting for a really long time――

It was also the smell that I often found on the battlefield.

When I peered into the darkness, I saw several yellow eyes glowing in the dark.

Their petite figure was lining up inside the spacious hall of the fortress.

Their blood vessels bulging on the surface of their skin, their figure was short and stout, yellow fangs protruded from their lips.

It was the goblins. This was the first time I saw them standing in line so neatly like this. Even when they saw us, none of them raised a scream, they rushed toward us immediately.

「I see, this is strange indeed.」

I murmured while thrusting my spear to kill one of the goblins. Properly speaking, goblin are the kind of creature that are always making noise, and yet, the goblins before us was eerily quiet.

「I guess it was the correct choice to bring my spear here.」

On my side, Sofia was walking carefreely with a portable spear in her hand. Yeah, the strong point of the spear was the fact that you could keep a safe distance from your enemy. It also prevented you from getting showered in your enemy’s blood.

The night elves and beastfolk maid who were using weapons with short range such as knives or knuckles made extremely unpleasant faces. On the other hand, Garounya, who had to take care of Liliana behind, spilled a sigh of relief, and smiled as she realized that she was lucky enough to be able to get away from such an unpleasant job.

And then, even among them, Verossa was obviously a special case.

The night elves’ footwork and human race’s swordsmanship had raised to utmost perfection. He was moving quietly, sewing between the gap of the goblins, and killed his prey in just a moment.

In the time Sofia and I killed a few goblins, Verossa killed dozens of them, sinking them into their own pool of blood.

After almost single-handedly annihilating the goblins in the hall, Verossa looked around vigilantly, not even a speck of blood or gore was on his sword’s blade.

「… Strange.」

Muttered Sofia while looking at the corpse of a goblin.

「They’re clearly starving. They were just barely being kept alive.」

Upon a closer look at the goblin who got sliced up by Verossa, I confirmed that their bodies were dry and really thin.

To begin with, the inside of a goblin’s body was far simpler than a humans―― That’s why I can’t use them as the target for transpose curse, since even with the slightest difference in the position of internal organs would prevent them―― Well, even without those factors, the goblin’s corpses before us were really thin.

As if―― Their nutrition was sucked up dry by something――

「… Here I thought it’s RatHer noisy.」

Suddenly, a voice akin to creaking metal resounded in the hall.

「It turned out, I’Ve Got a Rather ImpOrtant guEst.」

It came from the innermost part of the hall, the spiral staircase.

That voice came along with the sound of footsteps from above the stairs.

In that moment, everyone gathered by my side immediately. Verossa stood in the front most formation followed by Sofia and Vigne, then behind me was Garounya who carried Liliana on her back.

Finally, the owner of the voice appeared before us.

Appearance wise, that person did look like a human. That person’s almost transparent white skin was almost completely exposed to all of us. That person’s golden eyes were glowing with fiery light.

And yet, there was a huge difference between that person and a human.

――Namely, the horn.

Moreover, the horn was clearly different from the horn that grew from the forehead like the devil, ominously twisted horn of demon race.

That pair of horns seemingly grew from behind the temple. I’ve got this feeling that I’ve seen that horn somewhere before but――

「We’re screwed.」

Muttered Verossa.

「You PeoPLe Look DeliCioUs. SuCh DelEctabLe LookiNg MagiCal PoWer.」

That person then licked their lips.

「Become My PrOviSion.」

They then opened their mouth wide.

His figure warped―― And gradually increased in size.

Following that was the torrent of magical power. That person’s human figure transformed and regained their true power.

There, standing before us was a giant creature whose body was covered with silver-white scales―― And it raised its face up.

Dragon.

And not just your average dragon, from the color of his scales, it was light attribute――

「――WHITE DRAGON!?」

You must be kidding me―― Magic of human transformation―― No, that’s not the real damn problem…!

How did he arrive in this demon kingdom!?

「――GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

His brilliant silver scale and his roar blew away every single question in my mind.

The trump card of the dragon race, a breath attack.

The torrent of light swept at us from the front.

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