99. Darius’s Wish

Sylphid? Why suddenly mention the legendary spirit king’s name?

Count Spinel, who hadn’t known that Anette was skilled enough to contract with a spirit king, could only wonder.

“Sylphid!”

〈You see, Sylphid is always watching me without saying whether he will or won’t. And he’s such a busybody that whenever something interesting happens, he quietly appears and gives me advice.〉

“Sylphid, you can appear before me if you want to! Just like you did with Anette!”

〈When I first revealed to Sir Lucion that I was a spirit mage, I couldn’t materialize Sylphid due to insufficient spirit power. But it turns out Sylphid can reveal himself to people regardless of spirit power if he wants to. Well, he is the spirit king after all.〉

Her image laughing and complaining like that remained so vivid.

“Sylphid!”

It made no sense that Anette was no longer in this world.

The troops were in disarray. The Grand Duke, who had already lost his wife before his eyes, was being described as a changed man.

“Why is His Highness suddenly acting like this?”

“Your Highness…!”

Anette often told him that Sylphid was with her. If Sylphid didn’t respond to Darius’s call now, it meant he was still with Anette, which would be safer.

And if Sylphid materialized in response to Darius’s call with a heavy heart, then that would mean…

“Wh-what’s happening now…!”

“Did a person just appear out of nowhere?”

“This is strange, another weird thing is happening in the Northern Mountains!”

“It’s an unknown type of monster! Everyone, prepare for battle!”

“Your Highness!”

As if dropping from the sky, a young man with blue hair appeared before Darius.

Dropped from the sky, indeed.

That was the perfect description. The mysterious young man in human form didn’t even touch his feet to the ground, floating in midair as he looked at Darius.

“Sylphid.”

「Descendant of my friend, and companion of my contractor.」

Should he laugh or despair at this? Darius felt the thrill of finally finding a trace of Anette mixed with endless anxiety.

“What about Anette.”

His lips went dry. He felt like he might kill this spirit king immediately if the answer wasn’t what he wanted. Even if he couldn’t physically kill him because he was a spirit king.

“What happened to Anette? Is she safe? Where is she now? Can I talk to her?”

Please tell me she’s safe. That she was just with you, that Anette sent you because she was worried about me.

「Anette is not here.」

His vision blurred. He felt the ground crumbling beneath his feet.

「Though my contract with her hasn’t been dissolved, I’ve lost track of my contractor’s presence and can’t trace where she is.」

“What does that mean?”

「I know where she last remained in this world, but I don’t know which dimensional gap she has fallen into.」

“Guide me.”

He didn’t care about dimensional gaps or whatever. All that mattered to Darius was that Sylphid could track Anette’s last trace.

* * *

The kingdom temple’s army advanced toward the mountain tribe’s temple surrounded by demonic energy.

Hazy smoke spread out from the temple, which didn’t look good at first glance.

“Be careful.”

“What on earth is happening?”

“This smell is……”

The temple was covered in such thick fog that it looked hazy, and the accompanying priest covered his nose when he saw it.

“Everyone be careful! This is neither ordinary fog nor smoke! It’s the smell of herbs burned by demon priests. It confuses people’s minds, so we must extinguish this smoke quickly!”

Inkheart and I exchanged glances and called wind spirits. The wind spirits we summoned dispersed the temple’s poisonous dance.

“Cough, cough!”

“There are people!”

As the fog cleared, victims sprawled on the temple floor became visible. All had vomited at least a bowl of blood and lay collapsed in weakened conditions.

“While rescuing victims is a priority, we must also find the culprit!”

At the priest’s urging, a knight gave holy water to a weakened victim, who mustered all their strength to raise a finger.

“There, that way……”

“Inkheart!”

Following that gaze, I discovered something and called out to Inkheart.

There was a large bowl overflowing with blood, showing how much had been collected.

“Ugh, what a vicious thing!”

“Is that the altar where offerings are made?”

Leaving behind personnel to care for the victims, we entered the temple toward the altar, where the mountain tribe’s chief lay tied up in a corner.

“No, Chief!”

“Ugh……”

While checking the chief’s health condition, I asked Inkheart.

“Didn’t you say he refused your contact? That he couldn’t meet now?”

Well, it’s hard for anyone to meet others when tied up and imprisoned.

While untying the ropes and briefly checking his condition, the mountain tribe’s chief, whose consciousness had somehow returned, met Inkheart’s eyes.

“You were right, Inkheart……”

“Save your strength. You’re already exhausted.”

“Cough, cough! What’s the point of saving my strength when things have come to this? I should have listened to you from the beginning.”

The chief continued speaking with difficulty, his face looking nearly dead.

“When I refused human sacrifice to the end, the shaman revealed her true face. This isn’t the real altar. There’s a secret space below the temple. The shaman has been doing evil things there all this time. And now…… she should still be there……”

“Find the way down to the underground!”

“There’s a heretical altar in the basement!”

While the army moved in various directions, Inkheart stayed to hear the chief’s final words.

“Take this.”

The chief pulled something from his br*ast pocket.

“It’s the mountain tribe’s sacred object. I…… with this…… to the outside world…… must convey my gratitude and regret……”

For a moment, my face twitched. But Inkheart silently accepted the chief’s last gift and closed his eyes.

Only then did he stand up.

“I will carry on your will.”

The sacred object given by the chief was identical to the one Arshama had. The symbol Arshama had shown when persuading the devout mountain tribe people.

One might find this strange, but Inkheart didn’t ask us anything. He simply moved to join the temple knights who had found the hidden altar.

When the basement door opened, we raided the secret altar with the temple knights.

“The shaman is over there!”

“You evil witch! Your identity deceiving the mountain tribe has been revealed! For the sin of making innocent people shed blood, you will be judged today!”

“How dare heretics enter this place!”

When people suddenly burst in, the attention of the mountain tribe members participating in the ritual turned to us. Among them, the one closest to the shaman who was guarding her shouted. But this didn’t last long.

“996.”

“Arghhhh! Shaman, why……”

The shaman grabbed his neck. Soon, the follower’s blood flowed onto the altar.

“That makes 997. Just three more to go.”

“My God, that woman just slit the throat of one of her own people!”

At my cry, the shaman turned toward us. Her gaze fixed on Inkheart beside me. Her red tongue flickered like a snake’s.

“This is perfect. A precious sacrifice is fitting to complete the final number. The blood of a spirit mage, just perfect.”

“Ugh, such terrible demonic energy…!”

The priest with holy power staggered. It seemed those who believed in God were also greatly affected by demonic energy.

Drop, drop. Seeing the nosebleed seeping onto the floor, Arshama grimaced and scolded the priest.

“Hey, hey, hey, Father! Show some grit, some GRIT! Don’t you know that any blood shed here helps that witch? That witch uses blood magic!”

“I know that! I, I can’t get a grip. That woman is no longer human! The one she offers sacrifices to is, uuurgh! What on earth!”

“Heheh, priest from below the mountain. Do you dare doubt my god? You shouldn’t have set foot here from the beginning. It’s too late to be scared now. Shall we have a battle with the gods we each believe in?”

The shaman muttered.

“Demon King, lend me a little of your power. I will defeat these enemies and complete the blood altar.”

The shaman’s hand pointed at the floor.

Crack!

“Aaaaah! The ground!”

“Be careful!”

Rumble! With a thunderous sound, the ground split open. The shaman laughed ecstatically at the power she wielded.

“Foolish mountain tribe. But they were excellent sacrifices. When I whispered that a prince would come, they fell for it completely. Yes, a prince will come to this land. More precisely, not a prince but the Demon King…… The demons have chosen this land! When a thousand lives are offered, this land will finally belong completely to the demons!”

The priest, unable to withstand the shaman’s power, fainted. Perhaps that was better than being injured and bleeding, which would only help the enemy. I clicked my tongue and shouted to Inkheart, who had already penetrated deep into the secret altar.

“I’ll come to you! I’ll assist in place of the priest!”

“I’ll cut this one’s throat before filling up with the blood of these small fry!”

Monsters crawled out from the split ground. I had boldly shouted that I would go to Inkheart, but it wasn’t easy. While other intruders were left to face the monsters, the shaman’s eyes remained fixed solely on Inkheart.

Clang! Clang clang!

The shaman rushed at Inkheart with an incredible speed that couldn’t be considered human.

Without needing a sword, her ten fingernails transformed like beast claws and tried to slash him.

When the nails met Inkheart’s sword, incredibly, a metallic sound rang out.