Episode 7
It wasn’t just his hand.
Every wound on his body had healed.
“…How in the world!?”
Ordinary potions regenerate ‘flesh’ and ‘bone,’ but they cannot regenerate displaced ‘bones.’
Even trolls, the monsters that served as one of the raw ingredients for potions, were incapable of such a thing.
Moreover, his entire body felt lighter. He felt truly refreshed, as though he had enjoyed a deep sleep.
“Such a miracle…!”
While Hans was frozen in shock, the shaman cried out from beside him.
“Th-that’s it! This is… the Blood of the Constellation!”
The shaman shouted in excitement, and Hans beside him looked at the potion with wide eyes.
“The Blood… of the Constellation?”
“Amazing! It is truly amazing! It is far superior, the polar opposite of potions refined from troll blood by insignificant humans! This is… truly… amazing! To think such absolute effects exist!”
The shaman snatched the potion that Hans was gripping, still excited.
He didn’t even realize that his behavior, which had been cautious in front of Loki, had turned boisterous.
“As expected, the legends were true! The Blood of the Constellation passed down through the Nod tribe is said to possess a mysterious ability to heal any living creature! B-but to think it could completely heal even old wounds without leaving scars! What a magnificent potion this is…!”
At the shaman’s excitement, Loki tilted his head as he looked at the potion he had given to Hans.
‘…No, hang on. That’s just a Recovery Potion. I craft it using a crafting skill, and the main ingredients are monster troll blood and slime mucus… Is it really that effective?’
Loki looked at the Recovery Potion the shaman was holding.
‘The function of that [Recovery Potion] was definitely life force recovery, right?’
In the game, parts that had been severed and destroyed were set to regenerate if you drank or applied a potion. His own potions seemed to exhibit effects exactly according to the game’s settings.
‘Then, as long as they don’t die, can most humans recover from anything with this potion?’
In other words, it could be called a panacea.
‘But it might be ineffective against curses or diseases? Then….’
Loki tilted his head and thrust his hand back into the air, pulling out other potions.
One was a green potion called [Antidote], which possessed the ability to ‘nullify all debuffs,’ and another was a blue potion, [Mana Potion], which had the effect of ‘replenishing MP.’
“…How about these?”
Loki shook the potions he held before putting them back into his inventory.
‘The day will come to experiment with them later.’
He knew the potions’ effects, but he couldn’t know their exact efficacy without testing them directly.
Loki wanted to experiment as soon as possible, but he suppressed that urge as much as he could.
For now, ascertaining the power of the Recovery Potion was the top priority.
To check Hans’s condition accurately, Loki asked.
“How is your body?”
“Huh? Ah, th-that is… I feel quite refreshed. Light… It seems everything has healed without any pain… Even places that had hurt since long ago have all been treated. As if I have a new body….”
Hans examined his own body.
“My body is so light, it’s like I’ve become a different person!”
“…….”
‘That’s how it looks to me too.’
Hans’s previously pale skin was now fair and flushed with red.
His cloudy eyes now held a clear light.
He seemed like a completely different person, to the point where one couldn’t recall his previous appearance.
‘…He looks like he’s become ten years younger. It is a Recovery Potion, but it seems even better for skin care?’
Loki marveled anew at the Recovery Potion’s power.
“Ha, haha! How can I ever repay this grace…!”
Even as he spoke, Hans was startled.
‘Don’t demons usually… take souls…?’
It was written in the scriptures that demons seduced and corrupted humans, taking their souls.
A strong doubt arose about what Loki would demand as payment for this miracle.
“Then….”
When Loki opened his mouth, Hans tensed.
“I wish to look around these parts. You guide me.”
“…Huh?”
Hans looked at Loki with a blank expression.
“You must know well about this tribe, the Nod or whatever they are called?”
“Th-that is true, but….”
“Then guide me and answer what I am curious about to the best of your knowledge.”
Hans couldn’t help but shrink back.
It had only been about three years since he had been a slave of Histon in the frozen land.
While he possessed some knowledge about the Nod tribe, Hans did not know well about the unique cultures held by each individual tribe within the Nod.
“Tell me what I ask to the best of your knowledge, and if you do not know, honestly say that you do not know. But I will not forgive lies.”
“Ah, understood.”
Hans nodded.
“I….”
The shaman stepped forward with a troubled expression.
“If you are merely patrolling the village, would it not be too conspicuous?”
“Conspicuous? Hmm… is that so?”
Loki examined his own body.
Pitch-black armor and a mountain goat bone helmet.
The figure of a demon straight out of mythology.
“…I see. Everyone knows my appearance.”
Loki recalled how the Ragna tribespeople had feared him.
“Then I shall do it this way.”
Loki clapped his hands.
At that, the armor enveloping him melted away and was sucked into the air.
And what stood there was not a ‘demon,’ but a single ‘human.’
He appeared to be in his mid-to-late twenties, with white skin and red eyes the color of wine.
His hair was a mix of black and white.
The shaman and Hans’s eyes widened at the sight before them, but that only lasted a moment.
In an instant, Loki’s body was engulfed in black currents, and feathers fluttered through the air.
The shaman made a blank expression before snatching at the feather flickering before his face.
‘A crow’s feather?’
When the shaman looked at Loki again, Loki was wearing a crow mask that covered his face except for his mouth, and leather clothing surrounded by black feathers.
“Is this strange as well?”
“…….”
By the time the shaman looked at Loki, the black feather he held had vanished into smoke.
‘It was a feather made of mana. Don’t tell me… is every single feather attached to that clothing infused with mana?’
The shaman observed Loki’s clothes and marveled.
Hans was equally spellbound by the mysterious sight.
At Loki’s question, the shaman bowed his head.
“How could it be?”
Hunters and mercenaries among the Nod tribe often used beast masks.
Crow masks were very rare, but they were not strange.
The problem was that there was no crow that large, but….
Whether satisfied with the shaman’s answer, Loki smiled and nodded.
“Good. Then, Hans.”
“…Huh? Ah! Yes!”
Hans bowed his head to Loki.
“I shall ask you to guide me.”
“Ah, understood.”
***
When Loki had arrived at the Ragna tribe, what he saw was a village that had been devastatingly destroyed.
“It’s a mess.”
The number of people had increased, but because they were so unprepared, restoring the village looked considerably difficult.
In particular, friction was bound to naturally occur from the sudden integration of tribes with different cultures.
“You bastards! What are you doing? Move quickly!”
A Ragna tribesman pointed his finger at the Partas tribespeople.
But the Partas tribespeople couldn’t even argue back.
Rather, they grumbled in secret, expressing their complaints, and each time the Ragna tribe looked their way, they would turn their heads to avoid eye contact.
“…Why are they like that?”
“Well… because they are slaves.”
“Slaves?”
“It is natural for conquered tribes to become subordinate.”
“It’s natural?”
As Loki tilted his head, Hans gave a bitter smile.
“…Of course, that is specific to the Nod tribe, but on the southern continent of Britten, those defeated on the battlefield are treated more as prisoners of war than slaves, to some extent.”
“Even if they’re slaves… their numbers are overwhelming. So why do they obey like that? Can’t they gather and protest? Don’t they think of rebelling?”
“…….”
Hans looked at Loki with a gaze that asked, ‘Are you asking because you don’t know that?’ but Loki, not understanding the meaning of that gaze, asked again.
“I asked what the reason is.”
Hans stammered in confusion.
“Ah! That… um… Ah, Demon-nim… I mean… Lord Constellation!”
“Call me Loki.”
“D-didn’t you, Lord Loki, conquer them?”
“…Rather than conquering them, they came attacking on their own and got beaten.”
Because it was true, Hans was speechless for a moment before opening his mouth again to explain.
“Anyway, since you are protecting the Ragna tribe, the Partas tribe has no choice but to submit completely….”
“Who is?”
“Huh?”
“Who is protecting whom?”
“…You, Lord Loki, are protecting the Ragna tribe.”
Loki opened his mouth slightly as if he hadn’t known, then closed it again.
“So they interpreted it on their own and established a hierarchy? That I protect the Ragna tribe, so they are superior?”
“…Is that not so?”
Hans had also been thinking that inwardly.
The Ragna tribe, protected by Loki, would be the higher class, and below them would be the Partas tribe.
Even if the Partas tribe rebelled, they would obviously be suppressed by Loki, so they had no choice but to be submissive.
“How absurd. They interpreted it however they pleased.”
Then, there was a man shouting at him.
“Hey! What are you lot doing?”
Loki turned his gaze.
Some Ragna tribesman was swaggering as he approached.
He glared, looking back and forth between Loki and Hans.
“I haven’t seen you before… what strange attire! Anyway, since I’ve never seen you, you must be from the Partas tribe? Ha! While others are working themselves to death, are you lot resting? You too, get to work repairing my house quickly!”
“…….”
Loki maintained his silence, and Hans beside him broke into a cold sweat.
The man, thinking he was being ignored by Loki who was standing there blankly, bulged veins on his forehead.
He poked the mask on Loki’s head, the beak part of the crow mask, with his finger.
“Hey! Can’t you hear me? You bastard wearing this stupid mask! You lot attacked our village! Thanks to that, my house was smashed! So… ack!”
In that instant, the man’s mouth twisted before he could finish speaking.
Loki had grabbed his mouth.
Loki slightly tilted his head, scratched his ear with his other hand, and spoke.
“Huh? What did you just say? My apologies. Lately, most of what humans say sounds like mosquitoes buzzing. Say it again, you stupid insect bastard!”
“Mmph!”
The man struggled. He tried kicking Loki or throwing punches to somehow escape, but the hand covering his mouth didn’t budge an inch.
Loki slowly lifted him by applying strength to his hand, and the man’s body was lifted as well, his legs flailing in the air.
Loki nodded as if he understood the man’s muffled sounds.
“Aah! I understand. Your house was smashed? What did you say after that? Sorry. My hearing isn’t good, you see. Say it again.”
“Mmph…!”
At the man’s groaning sounds, Loki smiled in satisfaction.
“Ah! Yes, did you ask me to smash your mouth? Then… I shall smash it.”
Crack-!
As Loki gradually applied force with his hand, the man’s jaw slowly constricted.
The man startled and thrashed about to escape Loki’s tightening grip.
But the more he did so, the more Loki’s grip strength increased.
The man’s face turned pale, and soon his movements gradually weakened.
Just before the man met his death, Loki released his hand.
Thud!
The man collapsed to the floor, having wet himself, and squirmed.
Loki sneered at the sight.
“…Dear me, that was too much.”
Just as Loki was shaking out his hand.
“What is it! What’s going on!”
“Th-this outsider! An outsider is causing trouble!”
“Could he be a spy sent by Kudan?!”
Then Ragna tribespeople gathered one by one.
Following them, the Partas tribe also came armed from behind.
They too had been continuously attacked by something all day, so their wariness had naturally heightened.
“…Wh-what will you do?”
Hans, frightened at being surrounded, asked as if distressed.
Unlike Hans, who was nervous and anxious, Loki shrugged his shoulders leisurely.
“What can I do? Everyone….”
“Th-those guys, catch them!”
“They might be Kudan’s spies! Capture them and interrogate!”
The Ragna and Partas tribes rushed in, and Loki spoke, smiling so that his teeth were visible from beneath the crow mask.
“…I ought to teach them properly who is above whom.”