#203
The 2nd Continental Summit (4)
The Kingdom of Tulk, located in the northwest of the Ion Continent.
Shwaaa—
In the heart of a city, across a fairly vast area, sparkling dust of light flowed majestically.
The faintly glowing sky as if it were another world, the semi-translucent flickering buildings, and the streets devoid of any human presence despite the scale.
All of these combined into a landscape that evoked a dreamlike beauty, as if it were a realm of fantasy.
But this city of light harbored a fatal problem that one could not simply admire forever….
Kwaaaang!
Kuuung—!
Namely, that even now, at this very moment, a huge, snow-white neighbor continued to smash the city apart.
[———!]
A bizarre resonance spread in all directions, centered on the giant.
Though the nose and mouth it needed to make sound were all twisted shut, the destructive energy contained in that suppressed voice alone was enough to cause serious damage to its surroundings.
Of course, within this space—
“Let us finish this now. Lord Halli, if you would!”
“Uwahaha! Lie down quietly already!”
—not a single being weak enough to be affected by it existed.
[———?!]
And the white giant, whose legs had already been battered from considerable fighting, had no way to withstand the full-force leg sweep from a figure that came up to about its knee.
Kuuuuung—!
With an enormous noise, the massive giant fell flat on the ground.
The impact scattered the semi-translucent buildings around it all at once, but none of the party paid any mind to that.
Not long after falling to the ground, the giant ended up beheaded, its head split open.
Crack!
The fist-sized core that emerged from its head became Halli’s sustenance for the day.
“How fascinating. It’s my first time seeing it in person.”
As the massive corpse of the white giant began crumbling away from its extremities now that its core was gone.
Saintess Riesta, approaching Halli with the rest of the party who had begun to regather, looked at him with her golden eyes sparkling.
“…You truly are controlling the Abyssal Madness. It doesn’t seem to be a racial trait… how is this possible?”
“Hm, well? It just happened! Uwahahah!”
She stared intently at him, who only laughed with narrowly opened eyes, but there was no way she could uncover Halli’s secret with just that.
“Well, as long as no problems arise, it should be fine. If the Lord has permitted it, there must be a reason!”
In the end, she showed a disappointed expression but could only shake her head and back down.
“Still, it ended sooner than expected. Thanks to the Saintess’s barrier, civilian casualties were minimized as well. Fighting inside a city was quite troublesome.”
“Ah, Holy Son. Compared to me, all of you who felled such a huge giant are more amazing! I merely provided a little help, that’s all?”
“In the first place, wasn’t it thanks to the Saintess that we could detect its appearance immediately and come here? If we had been even slightly late and the giant started rampaging in a city of this size… the resulting sacrifices would have been unimaginable.”
Just as Heinrich spoke with a gentle smile.
The reason they were here while they had been participating in the summit was because Riesta’s detection ability had activated at the right moment.
And luckily, it was right after the declaration of adjournment had been announced, concluding the second day’s meeting.
Furthermore, the location of the appearance was a city accessible immediately through the temple’s Gate.
‘Thanks to that, the Saintess properly had her debut battle.’
From detecting the giant to forming an isolated space where they could fight without worrying about the surroundings, to all sorts of buffs assisting those in combat.
It was truly a feast of high-ranking sacred magic befitting a Saintess.
‘Not that the city was completely spared, though.’
Even though they had detected the signal beforehand and moved immediately, gathering the party and moving inevitably required some time.
Casualties that couldn’t be prevented during that process were unavoidable.
Of course, even that was merely a drop in the bucket compared to the expected damages.
“…It has already gotten quite late. Shall we head back? We should rest soon for tomorrow’s meeting, shouldn’t we?”
“Ah! You’re right. This being my first time in such a fight, I lost track of time.”
The giants’ invasions occurred regardless of timing, and their frequency was increasing.
Naturally, since they couldn’t step in for every incident, they had no choice but to leave unavoidable cases to the elites of each nation….
‘Still, if conditions allow, it’s more efficient in many ways for us to move directly.’
Both in minimizing damage and in recovering the giants’ cores.
“At least it’s fortunate the Undead King is quiet, but… why do I feel so uneasy? As if this is the last calm before something huge happens….”
“Hmm, doesn’t the Undead King see conquering the continent as a kind of game? This is probably just another form of amusement. Summit conference or whatever, he’s telling us to struggle as much as we can.”
“I hope so. But somehow I feel like that’s not all? Sigh— I tried to endure it during the conference, but today of all days, I miss Tion and Mu….”
They were familiar names.
Names he had heard once before….
‘Ah! Those worms. Were they still alive?’
Well, having received so much of the Saintess’s blessing, perhaps it was only natural for them to live long.
Heinrich comforted her, who was biting her lips anxiously, and moved back to the temple with the party.
‘…But maybe because I suddenly heard that? Somehow I’m feeling uneasy too. I suppose I need to bolster the party members a bit more.’
Of course, since the Undead King was practically on their side, a serious situation like Riesta feared would not occur.
If a problem arose, it would probably come from another side.
For example—the Pact Against Heaven.
‘Yes, I’ve left their remnants alone too long with the excuse that I had other business and they were troublesome to find. No matter how much time it takes from now on, I need to uproot them first.’
They had been searching steadily until now, but having caught them left and right so far, the remnants seemed to have started hiding themselves, making their tracks difficult to follow.
At this rate, they needed some kind of movement to grab them by the scruff, but currently the only noticeable figure was the ringleader of the southern coup.
‘Once the summit conference ends, I’ll scour the south immediately to get more information. And I’ll resolve Halli’s request while I’m at it.’
If they handled things one by one, they would somehow reach the end eventually.
Setting aside the Saintess’s worries and the Holy Son’s concerns, the Hero Party entrusted the remaining matters to the kingdom’s army and returned to the Grand Temple of Roselia.
After all, the Continental Summit was still in full swing.
***
Like the first time, the meeting spanned several days.
Given the gravity of the matters and the intertwining of various forces, this was only natural.
There was also an agenda item regarding the replenishment of the crusaders’ personnel….
Since Heinrich’s Hero Party was proceeding so smoothly, unlike at first, others were now showing considerable interest.
‘They must have judged it not very dangerous looking at the flow of events. They probably also felt bitter, thinking fame came easily compared to what we do.’
Anyway, this was what they had wanted, so having many candidates was a good thing.
In that process, the first to rise as a candidate was the High Elf who had come as Lapori’s successor, Lydia Granwood.
He already knew her well through Harris, who was also a High Elf.
Unusually combative for an elf, she was a female warrior and the leader of the ‘Sentinels’ responsible for combat in the Elven Kingdom. She had come to the 2nd conference leading numerous Sentinels participating as part of the allied forces.
‘Elf Spirit Archer! That’s a romance too. It’s a shame Harris is still growing, so I can’t use him right away.’
And as another candidate, he had been considering employing a True Blood-class vampire suitable for the assassin position….
“But is it alright to leave the Talia Kingdom as it is?”
Before Heinrich could even finish his thought, Vice President Keila McCleare of the Zepia Republic brought up that topic from the center of the conference hall.
She stood up, placing her hands on the table with a determined expression, and slowly looked around, meeting eyes with the other representatives.
“A country ruled by vampires who steal citizens’ vitality to obtain eternal life—how could that be a proper nation? Be it kingdom or republic, how can we tolerate treating humans as livestock!”
Keila boldly uttered words others had deliberately avoided, her eyes flashing.
No matter how much Hainz II had deliberately suppressed his momentum unlike the first day, her attitude seemed excessively brave.
‘Hmm, I can understand, but…’
According to prior investigation, she had lost her young son long ago to someone strongly suspected to be a vampire.
To be exact, he was still missing, but so much time had passed that he could practically be considered dead.
‘It was probably the work of the Obaipo Clan in the east.’
However, it would be excessive to expect a woman who lost her son to make distinctions between clans.
To her, all vampires would look the same.
‘Rather, it was impressive she held back until now.’
The responsibility of representing a nation and her position as Vice President must have made her more cautious.
But the fact that she stepped up only after several days meant….
“Ahem, certainly. Honestly, as a neighboring nation, we have many concerns.”
“There is so much history, isn’t there? It’s hard to accept immediately. How about imposing some sanctions for a certain period so people can feel at ease….”
“Ahem, I agree.”
Representatives of the three kingdoms neighboring Talia cautiously lent weight to Keila’s argument.
‘As expected, they approached it politically.’
It was certainly the most reasonable method.
After all, vampires had been humanity’s enemy for a long time.
Moreover, other representatives including Imperial Princess Raili of the Empire didn’t say anything, but the atmosphere suggested they inwardly sympathized.
They were probably just holding their tongues out of consideration for the church that had accepted the vampires.
“Hmm? Sanctions….”
And Hainz’s reaction to that was.
“Sure, I don’t know what you can do, but give it a try if you can.”
It was a brazen head-on confrontation.
Hainz II finished speaking and interlaced his fingers with a cold smile.
The suppressed, chilly aura emanating from his body slowly crept upward.
“…….”
“…Ahem.”
The representatives, perhaps not having expected that reaction, hurriedly exchanged glances.
They might have expected him to show some fluster if they prodded him like this.
In the first place, the church had accepted Talia Kingdom’s vampires to avoid creating more dangerous enemies in the current situation.
In other words, even if they picked a fight, they had no chance right now.
Their argument was valid, but the timing was wrong, and it lacked realism.
On top of that….
“Now, now, please calm down. Lord Hainz? Could you please dampen your momentum?”
“…Hmm. Very well.”
“We are currently facing a serious crisis. Creating discord when we should be combining our strength does not help the current situation at all.”
Since Heinrich was practically on the same side as the church’s Holy Son, what else could be expected?
The representatives nodded reluctantly one by one at Heinrich’s voice, which spread a faint aura while speaking softly but firmly.
And as the brief commotion subsided, Vice President Keila, the instigator of this matter, naturally sat back down as if she had never shown such a fierce reaction, observing the situation.
As if she hadn’t expected anything to progress in the first place.
Heinz unclasped his interlaced fingers and slowly stroked his chin.
‘...Kayla McClare. Was her goal to sow the seeds?’
Catastrophe was not something that erupted all at once. It came only after discord and discontent, accumulated from long before, piled up and piled up.
For now, it had been patched up simply enough, but the conflict that had occurred this time would continue to hinder harmony for a long time to come.
In a way, it could be called a grand long-term design, but he had no particular feelings about it.
No, if anything, it only made him even more interested in her.
‘Indeed, she seems quite useful.’
Right now, she was taking a stance of hostility toward all vampires, but wasn’t that something that could change enough depending on what this side did?
If only that anger could be directed in the proper direction—toward the Obeipo Clan...
‘It would also help in striking the Obeipo hidden within the Jefia Republic.’
Furthermore, if he could deal with only them, it would effectively mean that he had brought all of Auterica’s vampires under his rule.
A few minor, insignificant clans might remain, but at the very least, over ninety percent would come under his command.
‘And that will be the moment when this Heinz II truly becomes the Vampire King... hm?’
But just as he was immersed in that sweet dream.
An unexpected change was detected on Earth.
***
It was about the time when the surroundings were slowly beginning to grow dark.
[...What is this?]
The global star Hans, who was in the middle of stirring up the Japanese archipelago, came to a stop in midair at the sense of incongruity he felt while entering the city of Osaka.
‘A barrier? The reverse side of the world? No, it’s something different. This is... almost as if I’ve moved to another dimension...’
The spatial coordinates were tangled, making it impossible to grasp the proper phase, and he could not detect even the outer wall of a barrier that he might somehow interfere with.
It was, quite literally, the environment of a perfect otherworld.
Hans’s skull tilted slightly.
Because he had realized that, without even noticing it, he had fallen into a trap set by someone.
If it was a unique skill of an exceptionally high level, it was not particularly strange, but even so, he couldn’t help feeling displeased.
“I see. If it’s to this extent, it’s no wonder the others were helplessly done in.”
At that moment.
The voice of a being he likewise had not perceived rang out quietly from behind him.
“To think there would be someone mad enough to harbor the ‘Death of the World’ within their body.”
Hans slowly turned back and looked at the one who had spoken to him.
That being, whose presence had remained hazy until the very moment he saw them directly, began to emit a suffocating aura once they were recognized.
“Though it seems your body has died, it’s astonishing enough that you maintained your ego. It seems you possess quite the unique skill?”
No, looking again, he seemed to be an ordinary young man after all.
...Or perhaps an extraordinary old man.
Maybe he was a ghost or an illusion.
“I like you very much.”
That unfathomable being smiled as he looked at Hans, as if delighted.