526 Creeping Nightmare, and the Ancient Magical Beast

To the east of the Western Continent lies the Kingdom of Kyuriera, neighboring the Holy Kingdom of Arent.

In the past, it was located at the easternmost end of the continent, and due to the long and high mountain range that spanned between the Holy Kingdom of Arent and the Kingdom of Lange, trade was limited to small-scale airship exchanges or maritime trade with the northern land of Panashes.

However, with the discovery of the New Continent, the Kingdom of Kyuriera suddenly found trading partners in Refreese, Belfast, and Mismede.

Across the sea and not too far away, they suddenly gained trading counterparts. This greatly benefited the Kingdom of Kyuriera.

From Kyuriera, magitech and golem engineering. From the others, magical technology and magical tools.

Additionally, there were a great number of things they wished to trade for: culture, art, and food items not found on the Western Continent.

The Kingdom of Kyuriera had entered a great age of trade.

Goods from the Eastern Continent gathered in Kyuriera, drawing merchants from the west over the rugged mountain foothills to reach it. From west to east, from east to west—the Kingdom of Kyuriera built its wealth merely by transporting goods.

All Kyurieran merchants began constructing large ships one after another, chasing dreams of success across the sea to the Eastern Continent. Though there were regions of the sea infested with massive magical beasts, these dangers meant little in the face of the merchants’ ambitions.

Though several ships vanished into the sea, the voyages continued.

The coastal city of Alpris, located in the east of the Kingdom of Kyuriera, became one of the towns bustling with such merchants.

And now, that very port town had become a crucible of chaos.

It was under attack by a horde of fishmen that had suddenly emerged from the sea.

No—it wasn’t just fishmen. Thin golems with four arms and massive stone giants over four meters tall had also appeared from the sea and launched assaults.

The fishmen attacked the people, the four-armed golems set the town ablaze, and the rock giants destroyed everything in sight.

A nightmarish scene spread across the port town that had once flourished in prosperity.

Security golems and the knight order guarding Alpris fought back against the attackers while guiding the townspeople to safety.

However, fires had already spread throughout, and Alpris had been pushed to the brink of no return.

The people’s cries of despair echoed against the tyranny of unreasonable power.

And overlooking these fleeing people was a lone figure, standing atop the roof of a tall, double-towered bell tower.

"Beautiful, beautiful. Flames rising, town reduced to rubble, screams echoing all around—this is the best."

Standing atop the bell tower was a young boy with gray hair fluttering in the wind.

The lower half of his face was covered by an iron mask, but his eyes were clearly twisted in amusement. The flames engulfing Alpris reflected in the boy’s gleaming, joy-filled eyes.

He wore an adventurer-style outfit and a dark purple cloak, holding in his hand a strangely shaped spear. The butt and collar of the spear bore eyeball-like ornaments, and it was an ominous, metallic purple spear.

"Come now, Wistaria. Feast."

When the boy thrust the spear high into the air, black mist rose from all parts of the town and was sucked into the spear.

The black mist emanated from the fleeing, panicked people. Invisible to the normal eye, those who had the mist drained from them collapsed on the spot.

They were alive, but the light had vanished from their eyes.

The metallic purple spear, the cursed divine weapon known as Wistaria, grew brighter as it absorbed the black mist.

"Sooora, heave-ho!"

With a swift motion, the boy slashed the air with his spear. A storm of lightning burst from the tip and obliterated all ships anchored at the port.

"Kuhahaha! That blew up nicely! Now then, next up—"

"How long do you intend to play around, Orchid? It’s time to withdraw."

Before he noticed, another man had appeared behind him, wearing a diving helmet. A deep blue hatchet hung from his waist.

"C’mon, Indigo. Things were just getting good."

"Our goal isn’t the destruction of the town. It’s the collection of negative emotions from humans, remember?"

"I know. That’s why I’ve been collecting them properly, see?"

The boy called Orchid twirled the purple spear Wistaria toward Indigo’s helmet.

What the cursed divine weapon had been absorbing was human negative emotion, specifically, fear.

Among the negative emotions like anger, hatred, sorrow, and pain, fear was the most easily transmitted by others. As a self-preserving instinct born from survival, it was difficult to resist and easily took hold of the heart.

Those whose hearts were devoured by the cursed divine weapon became living corpses. Once one loses their heart and soul, they become empty shells.

"I really don’t approve of this kind of collection method, though."

"You don’t have to go through the trouble of doping them up, this way’s much faster. Your methods are a pain, Indigo."

"But that way we can harvest purer samples. Fear only taints the soul momentarily. By using cursed drugs to slowly build negative emotions toward despair, we can harvest a more refined—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

Orchid ignored Indigo’s preaching. Maybe it was because he used to be a priest, but the guy had a preachy tone.

"If we’ve achieved our objective, we should retreat. Things get messy if the royal knights show up."

"It’d be fun if they did, though."

"No matter how strong you are, you don’t yet have the strength to take on an entire nation. Not yet."

"Tch. Lame."

At their feet, blue bubbles rippled, and with a soft plop, they both vanished as if sinking into water.

As if in response, the fishmen, four-armed golems, and rock giants ceased their attack and returned to the sea.

It would later be discovered that several injured townsfolk began to mutate after the attack and disappeared into the sea, transformed into creatures resembling fishmen.

The town of Alpris was annihilated. Ironically, because the Adventurers' Guild had little presence in the Western Continent, and the Kingdom of Kyuriera was not part of the World Alliance, it took time before news of this incident spread to the world.

◇　◇　◇

“A concert hall, huh…”

“We invite traveling bards and musicians to perform. It will also serve as temporary entertainment for those passing through Brunhilde.”

“Hmm. I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”

It seems like Prime Minister Kousaka-san is quite enthusiastic about Sakura’s proposal. It’s true that currently, there are only places like the tavern and central park where performances happen.

The tavern, with its lively atmosphere like a live music venue, can be quite fun too, though.

Without delay, Kousaka-san went off to talk to the construction chief, old man Naitou, to decide on a location. He’s as quick as ever with work. Honestly, I’m grateful, but… does he even take breaks? I might have to force him to take a vacation sometime.

“But still, what brought this on all of a sudden? A concert hall?”

“I heard it from Yoshino. Apparently, in the future, she and I performed there together many times.”

Ah, so that’s what this is about. I’m guessing Yoshino let that slip out. So, whether sooner or later, the construction of the concert hall was already inevitable.

While I was processing this, the very person in question, Yoshino, suddenly appeared in our office. Seriously, I told her to stop being lazy with Teleport.

“Tousama! Kaasama! Look at this! The Doctor gave it to me!”

What Yoshino held out to us was a guitar. Not a full-sized one, but a slightly smaller, child-sized guitar.

Actually, what surprised me was that it was clearly an electric guitar. A Stratocaster?

Come to think of it, during our honeymoon, Sakura did buy some books on musical instruments. She picked up a few instruments too… Did the Doctor base it on those?

Yoshino strummed the guitar with a pick. Despite the absence of an amp, the sound echoed quite loudly around us. This isn’t just a normal electric guitar. It’s a magical tool. Looks like a Speaker spell is being used.

Yoshino played the guitar with pure joy. No, seriously—our kid’s amazing, isn’t she? I’m not an expert in guitar, but even I can tell this performance is impressive.

Hm? This intro...

This song—isn’t it that song? How does Yoshino even know this track? Did she hear it from me or Sakura in the future?

It’s the signature song of a band led by a musician renowned as the greatest guitarist in rock history. He died at twenty-seven, but his legacy deeply influenced generations of musicians… Yoshino’s not going to play with her teeth, is she?

Just like the title of that song, it looked like purple smoke was curling around Yoshino—but is that magical energy?

Just when I thought she was about to start singing, it wasn’t Yoshino but Sakura who began to sing. Wait, you’re singing, kaasama?

Sakura’s ever-changing voice morphed into a husky, bluesy tone that perfectly matched the song. As always, her performance was powerful.

As Yoshino played the guitar, I found myself tapping along to the rhythm. I used to listen to this song often—jii-chan loved it.

“Using Performance Magic to play guitar is fun too, but the real thing is definitely better!”

After finishing the song, Yoshino beamed with satisfaction.

Performance Magic summons pseudo-instruments and allows the user to cast music-based magic. It has the same effect as Sakura’s Singing Magic. Looks like Yoshino prefers playing instruments over singing.

I’d love to hear these two perform at the concert hall once it’s built, but I doubt it’ll be finished while Yoshino is still around.

Well, we could use Babylon’s power to build it, but that’d take away work from the construction workers. That’s why we’re holding back.

Guess I’ll just look forward to hearing them in the future.

‘Master. Do you have a moment?’

“Hm? Kohaku?”

As I was lost in thoughts of the future, a telepathic message arrived from Kohaku.

‘There’s a bit of an issue at the Adventurer’s Guild. Kuon-sama and Alice-dono have gotten into a little trouble.’

“What?”

At the Adventurer’s Guild? What are Kuon and Alice doing there?

I didn’t really get it, but apparently, something troublesome had happened.

Anyway, I had to go. I opened a Gate leading to the Adventurer’s Guild.

◇ ◇ ◇

Passing through the Gate, I arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild—and it was noisy. Even the adventurers who usually grumble away at the tavern next door had gathered behind the counter for some reason. If I recall, that leads to the disassembly room.

I pushed through the crowd of adventurers and made my way to the counter. There, the receptionist—Misha-san, a cat beastfolk, waved me over.

“What happened here?”

“Umm, well… I think it’ll be faster if you just see it for yourself. This way, please.”

Led by Misha-san, I passed through the counter and entered the disassembly room.

The back of the Adventurer’s Guild is used to dismantle slain monsters. Normally, disassembly rooms aren’t very large since it’s hard to bring in huge magical beasts even if you manage to kill one.

Usually, you either dismantle it on site or cut it into parts and bring it in using carts.

But the disassembly room in Brunhilde is fairly large. That’s because many people like me and Ende can use storage magic. Even Yae and the others use smartphones enchanted with storage magic.

On top of that, others like Nia of the Red Cat and Norn, master of the black Crown Noir, also use the same kind of smartphone, so we had plenty of space set up.

And right now, that spacious disassembly room was mostly occupied by one massive magical beast lying across it.

It looked like an enormous wolf. But it had wings. Its tail was that of a snake, and its fur was jet black, like obsidian.

Of course, with its eyes rolled back and tongue lolling out, there wasn’t the slightest sign of life left in it.

Guild Master Relesia-san was there with some of the workers, while Kuon and Alice sat on chairs by the wall, looking troubled. At their feet were Kohaku and Silver.

“Ah, Your Majesty. You’re here.”

“I’m sorry—did my… relatives do something?”

“Well, not exactly… Though, I guess what they did was enough…”

Relesia-san gave a wry smile. She seemed at a loss for how to phrase it.

“Excuse me, Fath... I mean, Your Majesty. Alice and I were planning to hunt some magical beasts to earn a bit of spending money, but we were suddenly attacked by this one in the northern forest. Well, it wasn't that strong, so we managed to take it down, but when we brought it to the Adventurer's Guild, it caused a bit of a commotion.”

His capable son explained the situation clearly. Ah, so it was them who took it down, after all.

“I’ve never seen a magical beast like this before. I mean, did something like this even exist near Brunhilde? Could it have drifted in from the Regulus area...?”

“No, this magical beast is not an ordinary one.”

As I was rechecking the winged wolf, Relisia-san opened an old parchment-bound book and began to explain.

In that book was an illustration that looked exactly like the magical beast lying before us. However, I couldn’t read the text. Ancient language?

“This magical beast is called a Marchosias. It has steel-like fur and breathes fire from its mouth. It’s a ferocious magical beast, with power equivalent to Silver Rank in today’s terms.”

“Hmm... Wait? In today’s terms?”

I felt a twinge of discomfort at Relisia-san’s odd phrasing and looked up from the book.

“This Marchosias is said to have gone extinct around 3,000 years ago... or rather, was thought to have gone extinct. It’s a legendary magical beast. That’s why we were so shocked it was brought here.”

What!? This thing’s an extinct species!?

Could it be that Kuon and the others just killed the very last one?

Well... if this were Earth, we'd probably be criticized for violating species preservation laws or something. But this is another world. There are mountains of magical beasts that are better off extinct. Like goblins and orcs. Considering this one’s a vicious beast, I don’t think it’s a problem...

“So then... is there some kind of issue?”

“Well, the price of its materials... we can’t set one. No one has any idea what kind of value materials from an extinct magical beast should have. So, buying it is proving difficult…”

Ah, so that’s the issue. There's no precedent, so they can't put a price on it. But for the Adventurer's Guild, it’s way too valuable to just let it go. No wonder they’re troubled.

“What if we put it up for auction, hosted by the Adventurer Guild?”

“It would probably go for an outrageous price, but that might be the only option. However, in the case of auctions, minors can't list items...”

Relisia-san cast a glance at the two seated children. Ah, right, that issue too.

Kuon offered a solution.

“Then, Your Majesty, could we list it under your name? We’re fine as long as we get a bit of money out of it.”

“Huh? Are you sure?”

“Yes. Alice, you’re okay with that, right?”

“Sure~. Even if we got a lot, we wouldn’t have any way to use it anyway.”

…I mean, I wasn’t planning to pocket your earnings or anything. I’ll just hold onto it for now. Yumina and Ende can handle that.

For now, I hand one gold coin each to Kuon and Alice as an advance. Giving ten thousand yen as pocket money... my sense of money is seriously messed up now.

“So, this thing was definitely in the northern forest?”

“Yes. At first, we were just looking to hunt some magical beasts near the forest entrance, but we couldn’t find any. Then we went a bit deeper and were suddenly attacked. I think the other beasts fled the area because they were afraid of this one.”

If it’s Silver Rank, that’s possibly on par with a high-level dragon. The fact that such a beast was near the town is seriously alarming.

But the area around Brunhilde is constantly monitored by the birds under Kougyoku’s command... Could this have been a reporting failure?

In any case, it’s lucky that Kuon and the others found it. If things had gone differently, civilians could’ve been harmed.

Ever since the worlds merged, pockets of magical essence have formed in various places, and giant beasts—or those close to them—have begun to emerge.

Relisia-san also mentioned that stampedes and rampages might be happening as creatures flee from those giant beasts.

It’s possible that a stampede might’ve occurred near Brunhilde, too. Thinking about that, I guess we were really lucky.

“Kohaku. Can I ask you to check with the animals around town to see if there have been any strange magical beasts or unusual occurrences?”

『Understood. I’ll dispatch scouts immediately.』

Yeah. It’s unlikely, but we can’t completely rule out the possibility that there are other individuals of the same species out there. Like a mating pair or a parent and child, maybe.

If this individual survived until this era, then perhaps there might be others of the same race.

But it’s a majū (magical beast), not just a regular animal. It’s the same with mamono (monsters)—even if they’re not the same species, there’s still a chance they can give birth to similar beings. Like goblins, for example.

Maybe this “Marchosias” also has a reproductive ecology where, say, if it mates with a female wolf, the offspring could also be a Marchosias.

“Hey hey, Your Majesty. Can we go now? I wanna have tea with Kuon.”

While I was lost in thought about the ecology of magical beasts, Alice spoke up like she was already bored of being here.

“Alright. I’ll take over here, so you can go.”

“Yay! Then, Your Majesty, hold onto this for me! Kuon, let’s go!”

“Eh? Wait, Alice...!”

Saying that, Alice tossed Silver—still sheathed—toward me, grabbed the hand of the flustered Kuon, and in the blink of an eye, disappeared from the Adventurers’ Guild.

『Hey! You little shrimp—! How dare you treat me like I’m some nuisance, dammit! Master, let me go! Are you really okay with Young Master falling into the clutches of that femme fatale!?』

“Come on, femme fatale? Don’t say that in front of her father, alright? You’ll get snapped in two.”

As Silver thrashed around in my hands, I let out a sigh and started to ponder what to do. An unwanted tag-along like him would definitely ruin their (maybe?) date. Though… not even sure if it really is a date. Should I talk to Yumina about this?

『Tch!』

“Ah.”

While I was hesitating, Silver slipped smoothly out of his sheath and flew straight toward the exit. The adventurers in the room started to panic as a flying sword suddenly shot past them.

He got away. Alice is totally going to chew me out later...

“Your Majesty, what was that sword just now...?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. Well then, shall we proceed with the auction paperwork?”

It was a hassle, so I just ignored Relisia-san’s question. I don’t really understand Silver that well myself anyway.

Wait, wasn’t Kuon supposed to be researching him? …Well, whatever.