Chapter 308: 162. Yet Another Beginning (Part Two)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
**
“His Majesty the Holy King, hooray-!”
The raucous cheering of the citizens reverberated throughout the city.
They had endured a hellish week. So perhaps unsurprisingly, the Holy King who had put an end to this hellish war came across as a hero and became the subject of their adulation.
Well, to be honest I’ve already grown used to it by now.
Even though the Paladins were doing their best to hold the citizens back, they were still reaching out to me, hoping to get noticed by me.
I waved my hands at them, but a bitter smile didn’t want to leave my face.
‘The losses have been pretty extensive.’
The citizens were cheering on, but I still could see several among them sobbing away as well. They probably lost their loved ones during the war.
They would no doubt be compensated adequately enough, but their deep scars would still need a long time before they had a chance to heal properly.
“Still, we might get to welcome the beginning of truly peaceful days, thanks to this war,” I muttered to myself.
No other vampires in history had prepared as thoroughly as this horde had in order to establish their own country. Since that was the case, their failure this time should result in them no longer possessing enough wherewithal to establish the Blood Kingdom or whatever it was called for a good while.
Surely they wouldn’t dare to rampage around so carelessly now…
—
“Ohhh! Your Majesty, I’ve been waiting for your arrival!”
When I arrived back in the Imperial Palace, Hans approached me from the entrance. He was hurriedly running up to me with his arms wide open, and I barely managed to push him back. “…What about His Majesty the Holy Emperor?”
Harman bowed his head and replied, “He’s currently pursuing the escaped enemies, sire. Both Lord Oscal and His Eminence Raphael, plus His Highness the Crown Imperial Prince, are accompanying His Majesty.”
“Huh. Even after kicking the Vampire King’s ass, he still has enough energy left to chase after them?”
Hey, Mister Kelt Olfolse, just how much energy do you even have? Are we sure that he was really dying of old age?
I helplessly shook my head.
It was at that moment that Hans whispered something in my ear, “A vampire ranked above Marquis seems to have infiltrated the palace, sire.”
I glanced at him. “Where is he?”
“We think the vampire headed to the underground labyrinth. We discovered traces of the traps being activated as well.”
“That dude must be dead, then.”
Either crushed flat like a pancake, or melted down to death, no less.
I mean, the traps Kelt had cooked up were designed to torture anyone unlucky enough to get caught in them before killing them, after all. What a cruel and bloodthirsty geezer he was.
‘But that might be the reason why he’s the Holy Emperor, though.’
I urged him, “Anyways, let’s go take a look.”
—
Hans guided me to the underground labyrinth. The Bloody Golem standing tall by the entrance greeted us.
It sure looked like a freaky monstrosity from how all those sharp bone shards and fangs jutted out from its body. All the blood of vampires and flesh of the lycans jumbled up together to create its body didn’t improve my impression of it all that much, either.
“…I’m assuming that this is your handiwork?”
“W-well, His Majesty the Holy Emperor commanded me, so…” Hans lowered his head a little.
I might be the one who handed over the information related to the Bloody Golem to Hans, but hell, this dude really went and created a bona fide monstrosity, didn’t he?
I brushed past the Bloody Golem while thinking to myself, ‘Hmm, I wonder. Can I store this thing in my item window?’
I thought that it might be doable, since the thing wasn’t a living creature. If not, then well, it’d be enough to store only its heart, at least.
—
We eventually reached the prison located in the labyrinth. Harman and other Paladins, plus Cardinal Urael, followed us on the way.
While everyone was getting tense, Hans began manipulating the Runes engraved on the walls in order to cancel the traps.
The wall blocking our path rose up rapidly, prompting a flood of holy water to gush out to the floor we were on. We were greeted by a figure barely visible through the open gap.
It was a tall, lanky vampire, still barely managing to stand on its feet despite its whole body having melted down like a slimy mud.
I used my Mind’s Eye, then called out the vampire’s name, “Kirum, is it?”
“Kkiiiiaaaahk-!”
Kirum extended his claws and charged at me, his whole face distorted hideously. I lightly dodged the attack, grabbed the vampire’s head and slammed it straight down on the floor.
“Restrict him-!” Harman shouted out, and the Paladins thrust their spears to impale Kirum’s arms and legs.
“Holy King, you bastaaaard-!”
“Huh, he’s still alive?” I was surprised by this revelation and stared at the vampire while still holding his head down.
To think that he managed to survive drowning in holy water. Now that was some vitality, alright.
How many lives did this guy possess, anyway?
“What should we do with him, sire?” Harman asked me.
“Your Majesty, over here!”
Before I could answer, Hans called out to me. He was pointing at a surface of a wall, where a damaged warp magic circle could be seen.
Hans continued, “I may need around a week to restore the circle and track down the coordinates, sire.”
I spat out a groan. “What do you mean, what should we do? It’s obvious, isn’t it?” I narrowed my eyes and looked at Kirum still restrained on the floor. “…We find out what this punk was trying to do down here.”
**
It was late at night.
The news of the vampires trying to assault the empire’s capital had spread throughout all the surrounding villages.
It prompted Laurence and his wife, who had travelled the breadth of the continent as merchants, to cut their travel short and head back home.
“We travelled such a long way, so why do we have to suffer such hardship, I wonder… Oh dear Gaia, please extend your protection to us, as well.”
The wagon belonging to the married couple was currently travelling along the rough roads in an unnamed forest somewhere.
Laurence scanned the forest, now covered in the veil of darkness. He could just about hear the growling and howling of wolves coming from there.
“Dear, will it be alright? What with the vampires invading the capital earlier and all…” His wife asked him worriedly.
He looked back at her. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. They are none other than the Imperial Family. The higher-ups surely will take care of it without a problem. As for us simple folks from the rural outskirts, we only have to hurry up and go back to our hometowns, that’s all.”
“But, what will we do after going back home, dear? We don’t have anything else to…”
“Well, we have saved up enough money to buy some land, haven’t we? Let’s just start a farm and live a peaceful life that way.” While saying that, Laurence shifted his attention back to the forest.
He noticed some shadows flitting about beyond the trees.
Weren’t those… wolves?
A pack of wolves was congregating on a spot, as if they had discovered something interesting.
Laurence narrowed his eyes and used the moonlight to see. That’s when he noticed something wiggling on the open field over there.
…which happened to be a small baby.
“Oh, no!” Laurence hurriedly stopped the wagon and picked up the lit torch hanging from the vehicle.
“D-dear?”
“Look, there’s a child… A child…!”
At Laurence’s prompt, she also shifted her gaze to the forest and noticed a baby with dark crimson skin writhing and flinching away on the ground. Wolves were slowly gathering around the baby.
These creatures bared their fangs and displayed how bad their hunger was right now.
“You beasts-!”
Laurence roared out and waved the torch around to chase the wolves away. Meanwhile, the wife hurriedly walked up and wrapped the baby in a cloth before picking it up. “D-dear!”
“Dammit, what’s wrong with these damn creatures?!” Laurence smacked away one of the wolves trying to pounce on him with the torch.
“Oh my goodness… This baby is badly injured!”
The wife’s cry prompted Laurence to urgently roar out. “Just what kind of heartless bastards would abandon a child here?!”
“L-look, this baby…”
Laurence glanced at the baby.
The child’s outer appearance looked like a bizarre monster. There was no need to speculate anymore; the baby’s parents must’ve been disgusted by his appearance and discarded the child here in the forest.
‘Those scum, how dare they!’
“Dear…”
“Slowly back away into the wagon, dear.”
Laurence continued to wave the torch around as the pack of wolves slowly closed in on him and his wife.
The horse pulling the wagon parked nearby also neighed and tried to back away after being scared by the wolves.
“Hurry, get inside!” The woman quickly scampered up into the wagon. Laurence threw the lit torch at the pack of the wolves before jumping up on the vehicle himself.
“Giddy-up!”
The wagon broke into a fierce sprint. Wolves chased after them.
“This child is hurt really badly!”
The wife cried out in shock, and Laurence quickly replied to her, “We should have some holy water in the load bay. Using that might help.”
She quickly rummaged through the luggage in the load bay and found a bottle of holy water. She pressed the tip to the baby’s lips, but the latter shook its head as if rejecting the holy water.
“It’s for your survival, child. You must drink it to live.”
The baby slowly cracked its eyelids open. The woman gently smiled back.
“There’s a good child. Now drink it. There, there.”
She gently stroked the baby’s head, and with trembling eyes, the latter reached out to grasp the holy water bottle.
As if it was drinking mother’s milk, it cautiously sipped on the holy water.
“Cough, cough!”
But the baby spat out the water almost immediately.
“Oh no, you must’ve drank it too fast. Take it slowly. Slower. There.” The wife carefully tipped the mouth of the bottle and let only a small trickle of holy water enter the baby’s mouth. “Now there’s a good child. Yes, there you go…”
The woman continued to gently stroke the baby’s head, while Laurence, having confirmed that the wolves were no longer chasing after them, breathed a lengthy sigh of relief.
“Let’s hurry and get out of this forest. I’m genuinely sick and tired of all this travelling now.” Laurence looked back at his wife. “Let’s go back to our hometown in Frants kingdom and start a peaceful farming life there, dear.”
Laurence’s wife nodded in agreement. Even then, she continued to gently hold the baby.
She patted the back of the baby and began singing a lullaby as well.
Her soothing voice singing the song, a hymn no less, managed to slowly close Ruppel’s eyes in a peaceful slumber.
…As if he was in the comforting embrace of his mother.
< 162. Yet Another Beginning (Part One and Two) > Fin.
