#115 The Road Home (歸路)
Centered around the pitch-black lump floating in midair, bones began to grow in an instant.
Starting with the spine and ribs, the skeleton continued to proliferate, only stopping after it had formed arms, legs, and even a skull.
Soon, red light burst from the deeply hollowed black eye sockets.[Hrrrr—]
Whoosh—!
Dense black mana rose like flames from a body made of nothing but bone.
It was the moment Archlich Dwell McCain was fully resurrected.‘To think he can regenerate this quickly with nothing but black mana, so long as his origin remains. No matter how many times I see it, it’s absurdly overpowered.’As Hans was inwardly clicking his tongue at the sight, Dwell, now able to move his body, immediately prostrated himself before him and let out a cry of emotion.[Ooh
— O Immortal King! I was certain I had been defeated by the Hero…! As expected, Your Majesty is truly magnificent!]
His final memory had been of the Hero’s divine power swallowing him after he had lost his body and only his origin remained.
And yet when he came to his senses, was he not in the Immortal King’s hand?‘I don’t know why the Hero didn’t destroy me immediately, but even so, I should have ended up sealed deep within a temple.’He did not know how much time had passed since then, nor how the King had rescued him, but…[Dwell McCain.]
What mattered far more right now was the simple fact that the Immortal King stood before him.
Woooong—
Along with the calling of his name, the contract was overlaid anew.[Aah
— I, Dwell McCain, swear my loyalty to the Immortal King!]
Following three hundred years ago, a new master-servant relationship was once again forged in this place.
As the archlich burned with motivation, a hazy human figure wavered beside them, then soon took the form of a woman.
It was the Banshee Queen, Olivia, dressed in a hat with a black veil and a dress like mourning clothes.[This humble maiden, Olivia… has come to pay respects to the King…][Yes, Olivia. What brings you here so suddenly?][I have come… to give an interim report… on the command Your Majesty gave me…]
The order he had given Olivia was to dig up every scrap of information she could on the “Oath of Reversal.”
It was an order he had issued not long after Harley entered the Northern Mountains, so not much time had passed yet.[Ho
— Already?]
Olivia’s report followed.
She had first taken the entire western region as her territory and scoured it thoroughly.
Of course, she investigated places she could access immediately, and for those blocked by barriers, she devoted herself to monitoring the people going in and out and tracing their connections.
As a result, she had already discovered several of their hideouts, and the number was expected to increase further as time went by.[Currently, I have expanded the investigation area to parts of the central empire as well… and have discovered a location suspected to be an important base… I am keeping it under close observation…]
She had already advanced into the central region.
As expected, she was terrifyingly competent.[Kuhuhut
— Good, very good. You have done well, Olivia. I will be counting on you going forward.][This maiden… shall grind herself to dust for the King…]
At Hans’s praise, Olivia politely took the hem of her dress in both hands and bowed.[Lady Olivia has neither bones nor body, so how would she grind her bones to powder and shatter her body…][Dwell.][…Yes! Immortal King, command me!]
Dwell, who had been forgotten after her appearance, had been muttering quietly in the corner when Hans called his name, and he bowed his head once more.[A task for you has arisen at once. For the time being, move together with Olivia and assist her.][I shall obey your command!]
As expected, having many subordinates to command made work easier.
Since most things could be handled on their own once he simply gave the order.[Olivia, subjugate them together with Dwell. If necessary, you may take Karam with you as well.][All shall be as the King wills…]
The right person in the right place. If a place had strong defenses, he simply had to send a stronger subordinate.
And if there was somewhere they still could not breach…‘That would mean it’s an important base.’And that place would receive a visit from the resurrected Immortal King.***
“Die!”
Crunch—!
Harley’s massive fist crushed a monster’s head.
It was a familiar sight that had already been repeated countless times.
As time passed, the number of monsters they encountered only increased, but the party suffered no further casualties.
And astonishingly enough, that change was due to a single person.
“Wahahaha—! Come at me, all of you—!”
His ringing shout spread outward, carrying a strange wave…
“Kwaaaar—!”
“Kieeeek!”
It provoked the monsters, forcing their attention to focus entirely on Harley.
Needless to say, there was only one end for the monsters that charged at him.
Thwack!
Splaaash—!
Body parts scattered, and blood dyed the surroundings.
They were being ground down in the literal sense.
“…I thought he was impressive before, but.”
“Mm, indeed. I think I know what you’re trying to say.”
Starting with the mage Paviella and the knight Robin, the party members, who were enduring far more comfortably thanks to the presence of a tank drawing aggro over a wide area, each threw in a comment.
On top of that, the monsters they were fighting would also have their attention drawn to Harley whenever he burst into wild laughter, so taking advantage of those openings to kill them was not difficult.
“Once we get back, I’m going to make sure the guys I know understand. If they don’t want to die, they shouldn’t mess with that man.”
“…There were quite a few who subtly looked down on him, even if they didn’t say it openly. I should warn my acquaintances as well. I don’t want to see a chain of funerals.”
Though he was rampaging like a monster, Harley’s appearance had not changed much.
He was still the barbarian warrior with magnificent, violent muscles and a fierce grin.
But the results were on an entirely different level from before.
His punches crushed monsters’ bodies as if it were nothing, and his fingertips dug into tough flesh with ridiculous ease.
His swift, heavy movements were enough to send anything he collided with flying simply by moving, and his sculpted muscles remained firm and unscathed no matter what external impact struck them.
“But it really seems like he has no intention of using an axe.”
“What can we do when he says it doesn’t satisfy him at all? I’ve heard that monks of some minor religious orders fight like that, but that’s, how should I put it… less martial arts and more…”
“Primal.”
Ranger Hans and Charlton whispered quietly to each other.
While everyone was admiring him like that, there was one person who alone looked on with dissatisfied eyes.
“…Nngh.”
It was the dwarf Zaonic Steelstone.
At last, when the bout of fighting came to an end and they moved on again, he could no longer hold himself back and approached Harley, questioning him boldly.
“Hey, Harley! There’s something I’d like to ask you!”
What followed was about the sense of incongruity he had felt while watching Harley recently.
If he was that strong, why had he failed to protect Elinne? It was, at first glance, a reasonable question.
And that suspicion was also something he had already anticipated.‘But I can’t keep hiding my strength forever. If I do, there’s no point in having gained it.’Naturally, he had already prepared an excuse.
“Ahem, aah
— I see. I understand why you would feel that way! But this is a matter connected to my past.”
“…Your past?”
Harley cleared his throat and lightly looked over Zaonic and the rest of the party.
The others did not show much on the surface either, but their gazes subtly revealed their interest.
No matter how one looked at it, was he not too different from the way he had been before leaving alone?
Since they had been hurrying along and had not heard the details, they were naturally curious as well.‘I’m thinking of entrusting Howard to Zaonic, so there’s no need to leave doubts in his mind over a trivial matter like this.’Besides, everyone here was a capable talent.
Nothing bad would come of forming a good relationship with them.
He lightly nodded and slowly opened his mouth.
It was the beginning of Act 7 of the great epic being newly written at this very moment, “Harley’s Great Adventure.”
“At first, everything went smoothly. That thing wasn’t easy either, but escaping on my own was well within my ability. However…”
All manner of monsters, including the Twin-Head Ogre, pursued him terrifyingly from behind.
Even amid the crisis, Harley had been able to escape a dangerous situation with Elinne’s help.
But there was no way everything would proceed smoothly in the middle of the Northern Mountains, which had already become a demonic realm.
And what appeared before him just as he caught his breath was…!
“Oops, more monsters are approaching. I’ll continue the story later.”
“Ah, aah—!”
“…That’s right. This is no time to sit around chatting. Everyone, prepare for battle.”
And so several battles, rests, and movements continued.
Even amid the repeated circumstances, they steadily advanced, and by the time they reached the edge of the mountain range, Harley’s story, which had been progressing little by little, was also slowly nearing its conclusion.
“It was a moment I never expected. I had been thinking that, at this rate, I had no choice but to die…”
Like an object that shattered after blocking a bullet flying toward the protagonist, the pickaxe Elinne took the attack that threatened his life in his stead and was smashed to pieces.
And thanks to that sacrifice, Harley, who had come back from the brink of death, finally realized it.
“In the midst of that crisis, I understood. Something had been lying dormant in my blood. And I also learned that it was the reason I had been experimented on, and at the same time, the driving force that allowed me to overcome it.”
To help them understand, he also recounted the earlier parts of “Harley’s Great Adventure.”
Including the contents of Act 4, Chapter 3, in which he had been subjected to biological experiments by the evil black mage Hans.
Of course, since the situation was not one where they could leisurely sit and talk, he had no choice but to keep the story quite abridged, but it drew an unexpectedly strong response.
Even though it was merely background setting being added, the way everyone looked at him changed.
From a crazy man who was strong and capable but dressed like an eccentric, to a warrior who had overcome many pains and resisted the world in order to protect his identity, so to speak.‘As expected, what completes a character is the story.’It was not simply about having a unique appearance.
The hardships a person experienced within a story became trials, and their struggles became a fight for life.
Within that, individuality came alive and gained greater vitality, which became the driving force that drew empathy from others—.
That was the beginning of a “heroic tale.”
“S-so?”
Zaonic swallowed hard, immersed in the story.
And he was not the only one showing such a reaction.
Amid the party’s response, Harley calmly laid out the conclusion of the setting… no, the story.
“Yes, in my blood… flowed the blood of a dragon. And thanks to the final chance Elinne created for me, I was able to awaken it and escape the crisis.”
The moment he finished speaking, Harley thrust out one arm and exerted his strength.
The dark red scales that instantly covered his forearm lent persuasiveness to his words.
“My goodness, to think you really are dragonkin… And at a time when even dragons have become hard to see.”
“There must have been dragonkin among your ancestors. It’s likely that the aftermath of the Great War three hundred years ago prevented it from being properly passed down. Because of that, the power dormant in your blood didn’t manifest properly.”
The mage Paviella nodded seriously and supplemented his setting on her own.‘Oh? That’s good. Adopted.’As expected of an intelligent friend with a great deal of knowledge, she seemed to have accepted it based on information grounded in her own understanding.
“The blood of a dragon awakened in a crisis. It truly is a scene from a heroic tale.”
“I knew there was something extraordinary about you. So you weren’t an ordinary human after all?”
The party members finally understood Harley’s strength and nodded.
“I see… If something like that happened, then it couldn’t be helped. And if that was her final moment, then Elinne must have been willing as well… khup.”
Zaonic shed tears alone as he imagined the final moments of the pickaxe that had sacrificed itself so heroically.
And while watching them, Harley was able to realize one thing.‘It seems I have a talent for this sort of thing.’Influencing many people with a made-up story.
It was a talent that could make him a novelist or playwright, but if abused, it could also be used to deceive people and move them according to his will.
And usually, people like that—
We call them “swindlers.”‘Of course, that has nothing to do with me. Whew, because of people like that, even kindhearted people like me suffer damage.’Unlike swindlers who deceived others for personal glory, was he not working day and night for the peace of the world?
It was extremely unpleasant to be treated the same as them.
Just as the conversation was drawing to a close.
“…We’re almost there. Once we cross that, we’ll be able to see the Steel Fortress.”
After going through countless incidents, the party finally left the mountain range and entered the domain of humans.
However…
“Ah—.”
“Mm, I expected as much, but.”
The tall, solid fortress that had always stood there firm and had even earned the epithet “Steel” greeted them in a grotesque state, broken in places and covered in blood and corpses.
It seemed to have temporarily entered a lull, as human figures could be seen busily cleaning up the battlefield here and there.
“…Before the monsters come pouring in again, let’s hurry for now.”
At the words of Robin, the one responsible for leading the party, the group moved their heavy feet and hurried toward the Steel Fortress.
Because the war was not yet over.