Chapter 110 – Sorry. I Dragged It to Show This (1)
A forest located about a day’s walk northwest from Hermon Kingdom. It used to be called the Witchbeast Forest because it was infested with terrifying monsters, and it was a dangerous place where even stalwart adult men often went missing. Thanks to this complete severance, this place has now become a town where adventurers heading to Hermon Kingdom stop by and take a rest.
And in front of the most corner of the small houses in the village, a rare and beautiful woman was knocking on the door with her annoying face.
“Luke, are you in?”
Her name is Hawkna. She was an elf, a ranger in the warrior’s party. If it is a general perception that elves usually live in villages independently in the forest and do not interact well with humans, Hawkna was an elf that was the exact opposite of that perception.
Her pointy ears and her blonde hair that shines beautifully under the sunlight are definitely like other elves, but compared to the spotless, white jade-like skin that reminds us of fairies that ordinary elves have, her body has tanned brown skin from the sun and small scars all over her body. It was so full that it reminded me of a skilled and seasoned warrior rather than a fairy in a fairy tale. In addition, seeing that she enjoyed eating meat rather than elves whose main diet was vegetarian, unless it was a special occasion, people who did not know her could misunderstand that she was a human possessing the body of an elf.
Hockna, an elf who has lived among humans for a longer time than anyone else and is the most well-known mercenary who has melted into human society the most, is an adventurer who dares not go right through this forest, which, due to the racial characteristics of elves, can be covered in an hour instead of a day. The reason why they appeared at this shelter in the forest where they rested for a while was not for the purpose of rest, but because there was a business for a certain person here. And she didn’t know if her persistence was recognized, or she just wanted to stop hearing the knocking, but at last the door she was knocking on opened and the person who was staying there revealed herself.
“Hawkna? What’s going on? Maybe the higher ups are looking for me, right?”
The identity of the person Hockna found is Luke. He was a commoner from a remote province without a family name, or a man known as a brave man who brought peace to the world by defeating the immortal dragon, a monster in an old story that put the world in danger not long ago. The appearance of Luke who opened the door and took off his top with his whole body covered in sweat, revealing his muscular upper body completely, and holding a broken wooden sword in his right hand.
Seeing that, Hawk I let out a deep sigh and turned her head away from her man, who smelled of sweat as strong as hers.
“Is it a day or two for those nobles to look for you? That’s not what they came for.”
Hawk I, like a long-living elf, melted into human society for a long time, and since she was a mercenary, rather than staying in one place, she wandered around several kingdoms. And perhaps because of that, she has connections with important people in each country. It was usually not revealed because he had no intention of using it, but if she made up her mind and used that connection properly, he could put Rag or Armageddon in quite a difficult situation.
“In three days, it’s the day we fight again against Rag or Baron Armageddon. Are you sure you’re really going there alone?”
“…”
Luke, who has a frustratingly clean personality whose conscience does not allow not only to deceive others but also to drive a situation to his advantage by hiding some of the facts he knows, about the promise and deal of a rematch he heard from Ragna Armageddon that day He notified his colleagues, and despite their disapproval, he revealed his intention to deal with Ragnar Armageddon alone. However, the reason why Hokena came to visit him alone was because of the earnest request of former colleagues who were worried about his safety but could not bear to come directly due to busy circumstances.
The Goddess Crown Elia was exalted as a saint after her heroic performance, and she was harassed by various high-ranking members of the church. Even if the hero here is a little slow to run away, she is not training in an adventurer’s shelter around now, but a grand and stuffy party held by royalty and nobles. There would have been
The warrior Gordon went down to her fiancé’s hometown, saying that she was tired of fighting for her life. Perhaps by this time, preparations for the wedding are in full swing, so he will be very busy and will not be able to come.
And Viola, a wizard, was traveling around the world looking for wizards who would share his will with him, saying he would rebuild the collapsed tower. After the collapse of the Mage Tower, the status of wizards and the regulation of forbidden magic were unstable, so she could not interfere with her work.
In the end, the one who had the most time left among her colleagues was Hokuna, who had nothing to do right away, and she couldn’t stand laughing haha at the people wearing masks over a drink at a noble party, so she volunteered to become a hero. I came here with the task of persuasion. Of course…
“Yes. I will face him alone.”
Even so, the warrior did not bend his will.
“I don’t want to say this to you, but… I don’t have any personal grudge against you, so please don’t be offended.”
“Yes.”
And the words ‘don’t listen unpleasantly’ can be said to be virtually homonymous with ‘I’m going to say something unpleasant to you from now on’.
“Luke, are you crazy?”
“…”
“Ragna and Armageddon, of course, have a lot of influence from their subordinates, but that doesn’t mean that their power itself is so lacking. Of course, his fighting skills are very poor. Unlike you, who has solid combat experience, he has very little direct combat experience, so his combat ability itself is very weak. However, he has strong enough power to make up for the difference in skill, and that power without hesitation. “Wield it. He’s the exact opposite of you, Luke. And… There’s no guarantee he’ll really keep that promise, right? Not everyone in the world is as honest with himself as you are.”
Even after hearing Hochna’s words a hundred times, he was right the hundredth time. But Luke shook his head.
“Even though he’s a man who doesn’t care what he can do, what he said this time won’t be false. He won’t either… He won’t benefit either way from a deal like that.”
If Luke goes to fight alongside his allies, Rag or Armageddon will fight with all his men. In that case, if they lose, there will be no one left to stop him. But if Luke goes to fight him alone, then even if he doesn’t keep his promise and kills him along with his men, there are still allies who will avenge the grudge.
No matter how powerful Rag or Armageddon is, Hermon Kingdom rather avoids fighting, but if they commit an evil act of killing the hero who saved the world, things will change. The other royals would have a very good cause to deal with an obtrusive foreign nobleman who had far too much influence in other countries, and when all else would come forward to deal with the common enemy, Hermon alone would have no reason to avoid a fight with him. So even if they don’t like it, they also have no choice but to draw their swords at the big and ferocious beast that has nested inside them.
I’m afraid to enmity him, but I can’t turn the whole world against him.
In other words, Luke’s death will soon result in a war between the Armageddon territory and the rest.
“Really, if you fight one of the Baron Armageddon one-on-one without any interference from your subordinates, your odds will increase, and even if your opponent doesn’t keep his promise, the result will be a stepping stone to defeating him. I know that’s your idea. But… It has to be. Is it necessary? Of course, that man isn’t a good person, but when you’ve done your duty, you don’t need to go that far to defeat him…”
“Nope.”
At first, it was just a secret relationship between Ragnar Armageddon and her colleague Luke, who came to prevent a collision that would inevitably lead to ruin for either side. I noticed it wobbled. And when he fought with him, he also recalled that the divine power he used emitted a brilliant golden light. The divine power received from the goddess Luminous must have been golden, but then what is that orange divine power?
“Luke, you may not be able to tell us…”
“No, there’s nothing like that. If there’s nothing else to do, then…”
“Hey, wait…!”
With a look on his face as if he was desperately suppressing the terrible pain, Luke immediately slammed the door shut. Hawk, dumbfounded, hesitated for a moment, then realized that there wasn’t much he could do and quietly left the adventurer’s shelter. After her hawk leaves, her rook, who had sent her away by force, seized her left arm, which was overflowing with orange holy power, with her right arm holding her golden holy power. He suppressed and let out a painful moan.
“Keuheugh…!”
Divine power is originally the power of a god. And the divine power that humans use is to borrow part of that power from the god they believe in.
And if you borrowed power, there must be a price for it. Because the power of a god grows in proportion to one’s faith in that god, it is usually required that he serve only himself as a god, not other gods, but Justia, the goddess of justice who gave Luke strength, was different. She asked him not to serve her, but to punish the ‘evil’ of Ragnar, Baron Armageddon. Even if she didn’t properly accept her proposal, the contract was as if it had been concluded when she used the power she gave her.
A normal person would be able to say, ‘I didn’t say I would do it, so there’s no need to do it, right?’ So he had to keep his promise to her. It is necessary to carry out the order to kill Ragnar Armageddon.
And her justice did not stipulate that only good be done in the course of its execution. In other words, if anything gets in the way of dealing with her evil, even if it is good, mercilessly cutting it down is the justice she demands. Hawkna’s words were consequently words that got in the way of killing Ragnar Armageddon, and the power she received from her reacted to this, trying to deal with the obstacles that stood in her way. Luke, with her power received from the goddess Luminous, suppressed the rampage of her divine power received from her.
Like a wild horse running wild, Luke was sweating as he suppressed his divine power as much as he could. If he went on a rampage just because he was told not to fight Armageddon, he was already afraid of how wild this power would run during his final battle with Rag or Armageddon.
“Is that it again?”
“…”
And Luke’s teacher, the first warrior, Selena, who was watching the scene, looked down at his arm with orange divine power with disgusted eyes and asked. Luke made no reply, but Selena reached out first and grabbed his left arm. Eventually, the divine power that emerged from Selena’s body, the same color as Luke originally possessed, but with a different level of brightness, began to suppress the violent orange divine power.
Obviously, the quality of the divine power itself was far superior to that of Justia, the woman who volunteered to be the goddess of justice. However, because the power of Luminus that Selena possessed was far greater than the size of her power that Luke could contain in her body, Selena could easily suppress Justia’s divine power.
“It’s not like I’m teaching you, but are you really okay? If you lose control even once…”
“…I have to, I have to. I can’t help but do it…”
Luke squinted his eyes and grunted, but never gave up his will.
“Everyone calls me a hero, but I can’t admit myself as a hero. I tried so hard to save the world, but it was he who saved the world that everyone pointed his finger at as evil. So at least… At the last moment I intend to act on his request.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“Although that’s just my guess, maybe Baron Ragnar Armageddon, he’s…”
The story that eventually came out of Luke’s mouth was something that Rag or Armageddon himself would have been shocked to hear.
“You want to fight me and lose.”
He Knew!!! Everyone, our Hero, is finally thinking!