#174
Footsteps of a Hero (1)
“Wow... The internet’s been buzzing about Hahoe Mask lately. Well, I guess it says it all when he even made the news. They did blur him a little, probably because of the impact the video had.”
“Still, it feels like people are reacting more excessively than I expected.”
“I suppose they can’t help but find it fascinating. It’s the first time something like a bone dragon has appeared on Earth, isn’t it? And since people in our country love that sort of thing, they keep fanning the flames.”
“That sort of thing?”
Seeing Heinz tilt his head, Jin Soran grinned and continued playfully.
“You know, putting a K in front of everything. These days, they’re calling him K-Hahoe Mask. I heard he was even put forward as a candidate for the Do You Know Club? Pfft.”
“...Hmm. How pointless. In any case, the important matters are more or less settled, so I’ll be going now. I’ll leave the rest to you, Jin Soran.”
“Ah, yes! Understood, Lord. Take care.”
After wrapping up their casual conversation, he left the Heterosis office and immediately concealed himself with 「Existence Denial」, flying toward his residence.
Of course, the real Heinz II was still in the Kingdom of Talia, and the one here now was using 「Individual Projection」.
‘I should refrain from projecting as Hans until the matter in Japan is over. Anyway, the Beoncheonhoe...’
The clash between Hans and the Beoncheonhoe not long ago had given him plenty to think about.
This time, thanks to Heratos, he had instead smashed their trap and turned the tables on them, but that was no reason to take them lightly.
‘If anything, it’s the opposite. One wrong move and my only answer really might have been canceling the summon. Against enemies of that level, the undead weren’t much use either.’
In truth, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t brought out undead from the beginning.
He had simply realized midway through that half-baked forces would only get in the way in a fight against them, and gave up on using them.
Considering the fierce battle in which he had to sweep across the battlefield and pour down black magic like a bombardment, it was only natural.
Undead mass-produced on Earth using only black magic, without any special materials or procedures, inevitably had their limits.
Of course, if he had brought out the high-ranking undead belonging to the Immortal Army, they would have been more than enough help, but...
‘When I first created the subordinate subspace, I thought I’d be able to summon undead from another world and use them as I pleased... Well, back then, I didn’t understand the laws very well either.’
Unlike Awakened ones, who deviated from the laws of the world, undead from another world operated according to their own systems. The moment he took them out on Earth, they collapsed one after another, making normal operation impossible.
Heratos was the sole exception, due to the peculiarity of being a bone dragon, with Hans acting in place of its heart.
On top of that, it was impossible to send reinforcements through a teleportation circle when needed as he could in Auterica, so for now, if things seemed dangerous, he had no real option but to cancel the summon.
‘Still, I acquired quite a lot of high-quality materials this time, so things should improve from now on, right? The preparations for turning Salma into an undead are almost finished too.’
As such, he had high hopes for the Earthling and Awakened undead he was currently putting great effort into creating.
Its level would be somewhat lower than when it was alive, but an undead that was near transcendence while ignoring the laws of the world would be useful for a long time to come.
‘I’ll have to do the finishing work on Earth, just in case. To be able to carry out the processes that require a lot of time and materials in another world, then enjoy the benefits on Earth... It’s an environment any necromancer would envy.’
That meant the corpses he had additionally secured this time would be reborn as top-grade undead in just a few days by Earth’s time. From the Beoncheonhoe’s perspective, his forces were being strengthened at a speed they could never imagine.
And yet, even that still felt far from enough for now.
‘For a force of that level to have been merely the Japan branch... with only a few reinforcements from China added in?’
He had not had the leisure to capture the ones he dealt with this time alive and search their heads properly, but according to the information he had gathered so far, the Beoncheonhoe was not an organization limited to Asia.
If the strength of their East Asian forces alone was that much, then he could not even begin to imagine how powerful their forces spread across the world might be.
‘I’m not joking when I say that if they truly made up their minds, they could devour several countries right away and still have power to spare.’
However, doing so would also force the Beoncheonhoe to bear unnecessary losses, which was likely why they had chosen their current course.
Perhaps there were already countries that had fallen into their hands, though it simply had not been revealed yet.
‘...No matter how I think about it, Hans alone isn’t enough. I need more. Far more forces.’
No matter how strong Hans was, there were limits to what he could do alone.
To effectively thwart their ambitions, he needed to increase his own numbers as well...
‘The Returnee Association and the Awakened management agencies of each country are too large for me to expect anything from them. There’s no guarantee information won’t leak during the process of many people consulting one another.’
Or there might even be spies in their key positions.
Likewise, he could not simply trust the “people hostile to the Beoncheonhoe,” who surely existed somewhere.
‘It’d be easier on my mind to just do everything myself. Well, if I really do encounter them, I can provide as much indirect support as they need.’
As expected, the best course was to strongly nurture many avatars according to the plan he had first established.
The Beoncheonhoe bastards would probably never understand.
Why Hahoe Mask’s interference continued so persistently.
And that soon, not only Hahoe Mask, but other obstacles would also appear one after another to hinder them.
***
[Kihihihik!]
Clatter! Rattle—!
At the center of the northern mountain range of the Ion Continent, surrounded by towering peaks where sunlight barely reached, there stood a solitary pitch-black castle.
Due to various environmental factors, a chill lingered there all year round. Countless undead densely filled the area around it, causing the energy of death to overflow in that demonic realm.
It was the Eternal Labyrinth summoned by the Immortal King Hans, a demon king’s castle tentatively called the “Immortal Castle.”
[Indeed, excellent. By actively using the Abyss, it seems the maturation period will be shortened even more than I expected. You have done well, Dwell.]
[You flatter me, Immortal King! This much is nothing at all!]
Deep within that castle, two skeletons conversed amicably against a background that made the already gloomy interior even more chilling.
All manner of magic circles were engraved in every direction, and bizarre-looking ritual tools lay scattered here and there.
Biological tissues of something that appeared to be samples squirmed constantly, flaunting their presence, while various neatly arranged experimental instruments reflected a cold light.
On top of that, the operating table, stained with dried blood, was hung all over with brutal restraints designed to completely prevent the bound subject’s resistance, and there was even something like an incubator filled to the brim with bubbling Abyss.
It was truly “the laboratory of a mage steeped in madness” itself.
‘Well, it’s a research lab for liches, so that’s not exactly wrong. Though right now, it’s also serving as a workshop for creating special undead.’
Hans swept his gaze over the liches nearby, then turned his attention back to Dwell, the person in charge of this laboratory.
Thanks to the difference in the flow of time, he could return from Earth without much burden like this, but even so, it was only once every ten days, so he had no choice but to leave most matters to his subordinates.
However, though Dwell’s combat power was on the lower side compared to the other executives, he was also a veteran archlich who had lived for a period of time incomparably longer than Hans.
For such a being, managing the process of undead conversion was not particularly difficult, and naturally, he was able to handle the work perfectly and earn the Immortal King’s trust.
[Good. In that case... these are next.]
Clatter—
And, on the strength of that trust.
Hans dumped the corpses of the Awakened ones he had carefully selected and brought from Earth onto the laboratory floor.
One suited man from the Beoncheonhoe on the same level as Salma, as well as about a dozen corpses that were somewhat inferior but would become useful fighting forces if carefully processed.
[...Ah, um, are all of these to undergo the same process as that one as well...?]
[Keuheuheu— Yes. I have separate uses for all of them, so take special care with the work.]
[U-understood, my King! Please leave it to me!]
He had said it was not that difficult, but that did not mean a process involving the handling of the Abyss could truly be easy.
Naturally, it required great attention and painstaking care, and now so many had suddenly been entrusted to him...
[Then I shall return another time.]
[...Yes.]
But to Hans, who had gathered many competent subordinates under his command and had now grown accustomed to such harsh working conditions, it was merely part of daily life.
In the first place, the Immortal Army had been a black company from birth, so it could not be helped.
After dumping a pile of work onto Dwell like that, he busily moved around to various places, checking the progress of tasks he had ordered his subordinates to handle and issuing new commands.
And at last.
[Good. Then I will assume the future proceedings will be handled that way.]
[This humble girl... shall devote her whole heart...]
After finishing even his business with Olivia, Hans once again quietly vanished from the Immortal Castle.
To wrap up the work he had been doing on Earth.
However, even after such a storm had passed, there were some who maintained the same peace as usual...
Crack—!
“...Wow, isn’t this really going too far?”
“Ooh! This is fun. Is there nothing harder than this, Riley?”
They were Princess Riley and Hesperon, who had been confined in the residential area within the Immortal Castle and had devoted themselves solely to magic training.
Riley stared at the cluster of ice flowers blooming splendidly from the garden floor, then shook her head with a hollow laugh.
It had been close to two months since she had been captured and brought here, and more than a month had passed since Hesperon became a new resident.
And the words she had just unconsciously uttered had become her catchphrase over the past month.
It had stuck so firmly to her tongue that now it simply popped out by habit.
“Heron, do you know what you just did?”
“Huh? Did I do something wrong?”
“...No, it isn’t exactly wrong. It’s just that you’ve just surpassed the level I spent over ten years achieving. And that after only a little over one month.”
“Huh?”
Seeing him blink with a blank face, Riley let out another sigh.
This was different from when she had been overtaken by Isea in less than a month at the age of eleven.
‘It’s been a full eight years since then... And yet, compared to the time with Sea, I only managed to hold out a few days longer?’
Even that was the time it took her to pass on all the knowledge she had delved into only theoretically because she lacked talent for magic.
Even though, unlike back then, they did not have access to magic books or magical tools that could help with training!
‘Ah... I’m glad I didn’t work hard at magic. If I had worked hard and then been overtaken one after another like this, my spirit definitely would have broken.’
While the princess desperately rationalized things to herself and calmed her heart...
Hesperon was reading the words that had appeared before his eyes with a dazed look.
《The individual has gained enlightenment through repeated training. You have acquired the skill 「Introduction to Magical Studies」.》
‘As expected. I thought the level of the theory was higher than I expected. So something like this can appear too.’
Due to the limits of her talent, Princess Riley’s level as a mage was not particularly high, but there was no way the teachings she had received as an imperial princess were low-level.
On top of that, because she was intelligent, her memory was good, and there was no risk of distortions in her knowledge, so it was not particularly strange for such a skill to appear.
“Phew, fine. Whatever. I’m not a real mage anyway... This was just something I learned at the level of basic culture...? No matter what anyone says, I’m the one who will become emperor...”
“Ah— of course, Riley. So calm down now.”
“Use honorifics!”
When he slipped into her grumbling words as she frowned, she reacted to that with uncanny sharpness.
The two began bickering again over that.
But all of this was part of the groundwork to emphasize that the clueless and innocent young man from another world, Hesperon, was still unaccustomed to the class system.
He did not know how much she knew about Earthlings, but if he did not lay the groundwork in advance, later on, when another Earthling... Isea, heard the story, she might feel something was off.
‘Right, it’s about time to move on to the next stage. ...To the princess escape scenario.’
As originally intended, Riley had begun addressing him comfortably after they had grown somewhat close, and as a bonus, he had even taken his first step as a proper mage, so he had gained everything he could for the moment.
It was a pity that she was not interested in summoning magic and he could not learn it in detail this time, but as long as he stayed by Her Highness’s side, there would be plenty of chances later.
In truth, if he used Hans, he could learn it right away, but since Hesperon had come into contact with the princess as an Awakened one from Earth, he needed a proper justification in order to grow stronger.
‘Now then... How should I... Hm?’
While he continued that train of thought...
He paused for a moment at the message that appeared before his eyes again at an unexpected time.
《Achievement unlocked! You have begun walking the “Path of Salvation” to save the world.》
《More than half of the living intelligent beings in the Auterica dimension have recognized you, who are struggling against evil. As a reward, you are granted the special privilege 「Footsteps of a Hero」.》
《By achieving this, you have exerted a great influence on the world. Karma increases additionally.》
Of course, naturally...
That message had appeared not before the novice mage Hesperon, but before the hero “Heinrich Saint Landguard.”