230

Chapter 230 — Filled with Suffering (3)

Meister limped along on a leg swollen from bruising and thought.

“Those demon bastards really fucked things up spectacularly.”

When it had only been described to him, he hadn’t been entirely sure what to make of it, but seeing it with his own eyes made the words hit home with absolute clarity.

Half the city and the entire coastal district had been erased.

“No point even going all the way to the Magic Tower.”

No. At this point, even finding the place where the Magic Tower had once stood would be a problem.

There wasn’t a single street or building left that could serve as a landmark for determining its exact location.

If someone who knew nothing about what had happened were shown only that view, they probably wouldn’t even realize a city had once stood there.

It was practically a stone desert.

“Guess I’ll have to give up on finding magical materials…….”

Still, after coming all the way here, he couldn’t exactly return empty-handed.

Meister picked up a stone lying in the street and tossed it lightly into the air, catching it over and over.

Tap.

His feet reached the edge of a road that ended abruptly.

“I don’t think even slicing through a block of cheese with a knife would leave a surface this smooth.”

He carefully examined the boundary between what had been cut away and what remained.

He had no idea what exactly had happened, but one thing was obvious: a cliff several meters high had been created.

The problem was that the cut face was so unnaturally smooth there was nothing he could grab onto to climb down.

“Hmm.”

And jumping down would be an excellent way to break a leg—especially when his current leg was not exactly in perfect condition to begin with.

Even if he somehow landed without injury, getting back up afterward would be another problem.

So instead of descending, Meister crouched at the top.

Thump.

The bag slung over his back dropped onto the ground.

“The coastal side was carved out deeper. Judging by the shape of it, looks like part of the area under the sea got blown away too…….”

There was some distance between him and the coast, but the different levels were still visible.

He made a mental note that the coastal side had been gouged out much more deeply and considered it a fairly favorable development.

After all, the last thing he remembered of the city wall was that it had been crawling with mermen.

And then there was that enormous turtle—or whatever snake pretending to be a turtle that thing had actually been.

By contrast, everything was spotless now.

Which meant there was a very good chance they had been caught in this and killed.

Even if those things—the turtle could be ignored now, since witnesses had clearly said it had been bitten and killed by flames, so only the mermen mattered—had thrown themselves into the sea to escape the fire, it was still the same.

According to the testimony, the attack had happened within only a few seconds, so Meister figured at least half of them must have died.

And if even half had been killed, the mermen would be far too busy dealing with their own aftermath to think about attacking the city again.

So yes.

It was a favorable development.

“The city’s been reduced to this and they still haven’t tried landing again. Maybe it wasn’t just half. Maybe they died in droves……?”

Then something glittering near the coastline caught his eye.

The light was far too intense and unnatural to be sunlight reflecting off sand.

“What’s that?”

Could it be a merman?

He hurriedly raised the magnifying lens he had taken from his grandfather to his eye.

“…Glass?”

Fortunately, the glittering objects did not appear to be merman scales.

Their identity was unexpected all the same.

“Is that really glass?”

He adjusted the lens and examined them carefully.

But no matter how long he looked, the transparent glittering fragments appeared to be nothing other than glass.

The voice of someone who knew exactly how difficult glass was to make became utterly bewildered.

“…That’s insane. The glass practically got mass-produced.”

He had heard that the culprit responsible for blowing away the city used fire, but apparently the temperature had been extraordinary.

Meister scratched the back of his head.

“Would be useful for smelting metal.”

That was the full extent of his reaction to the surprise.

He slowly stood.

“Meister! Are you still not finished?!”

“No, I’m done.”

He had seen everything he needed to see.

Now it was time to work on the real reason he had come here.

“Requisitioning the workshop district is almost finished. If there is anything you need to take, please do so quickly.”

“I will.”

Meister considered it tremendously fortunate that the workshop district, including his own workshop, had narrowly escaped the area that had been erased.

And he didn’t think so merely from the perspective of a workshop owner.

The same conclusion held even when considering the citizens who had become refugees.

After all, a craftsman with equipment could make more things—and make them more efficiently—than one without it.

In a situation where everything was scarce, that difference would save lives.

Clatter.

With that in mind, he prioritized packing saws, hammers, carving knives, rulers, and similar tools into his bag.

It was a choice made in consideration of the fact that woodworking would likely be needed far more than smelting under the circumstances.

“Meister, may we take the metal scraps and kindling?”

“Show me first.”

There was nothing wrong with taking them, but there were also metals that exploded when they came into contact with water, so he needed to inspect them at least once.

Meister gave a quick look over the things the soldiers were dragging over by the crate.

As expected, several dangerous materials had been mixed in.

“Are the books all right too?”

“I don’t care.”

Books—or rather, paper—did make excellent kindling.

Even if they were… extremely expensive.

But books could at least be purchased again.

A human life could not.

Meister pulled out only a few books that could never be replaced and gave permission for the rest to be carried away.

Flutter.

An unfamiliar cover caught his eye when the second crate of books was being taken away.

He picked up the volume titled Broken Horn and checked its contents.

Only then did the memory of it return.

“This thing was still here?”

Several years ago, a daydreamer Meister occasionally ran into at taverns—a man whose family was rich enough that he could live like a layabout—had given him the book, saying it was something he had written based on an experience from not long before.

He had also asked Meister to promote it for him, saying the only people who really read books were nobles and mages, and that he had no connections with mages himself.

Something like that, anyway.

Wonder if that idiot survived.

Meister placed the book among the volumes being handed over as kindling.

“Are we taking this too?”

“Yes.”

But just then, something scraped unpleasantly at the edge of his mind.

There was no particular reason.

Gray hair.

A phrase he had skimmed in the story reminded him of someone.

“A demon… huh.”

He went over everything that had supposedly happened after he lost consciousness—all of it relayed to him by his grandfather.

Adding the ending of the novel he had just remembered only made his mood worse.

“Tch.”

To summarize Broken Horn, it was a story about someone whose actions went unrewarded.

The protagonist longed for human warmth and mingled among people while hiding a curse.

Then, abandoning even the attempt to conceal that curse, the protagonist saved others… only to receive no reward at all, ultimately being driven away by people who mistook them for a demon.

“Now I want a cigarette.”

And from where Meister stood, the current situation did not look all that different from the story.

He knew there was an insurmountable difference between Broken Horn, who had been capable of controlling themself, and that man, who appeared incapable of doing so.

Even knowing that, though—

it still left a filthy taste in his mouth.

“Ah. Don’t even have a light.”

He wanted a cigarette.

* * *

“Uegh.”

“G-Great Sage!!”

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Ignore it.”

Wave-Cresting Blue Coral vomited up roughly a fistful of blood.

It happened immediately after returning to their original position after fulfilling the Lord’s request to examine the Adventurer’s condition.

“It seems the internal injuries have flared up again.”

With one hand, the Great Sage stopped the mages rushing over.

With the other, they wiped their mouth with a sleeve.

Fortunately, the robe had an automatic cleaning spell woven into it.

The blood soaking the sleeve began slowly disappearing.

“Please don’t move around anymore.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

After the healer had ordered absolute rest, Blue Coral had already neatly folded away any intention of running around personally to deal with the situation.

This time had been unavoidable only because the Lord had insisted that the reassurance of a Great Sage was necessary.

“So suspicious about everything…….”

But if those people truly shared the same vision as Blue Coral, even that trip would have been unnecessary.

The Great Sage clicked their tongue while remembering the moment the demon had departed amid sly mockery.

“If you clearly explained why you believe we can relax, Great Sage, I think both the Temple and the mages would stop being so anxious…….”

“You think I’m keeping quiet because I enjoy it? If you were in my position, you’d do exactly the same.”

“That’s the problem. You’re the only one who can see essence, Blue Coral.”

Blue Coral themself could be certain.

If they simply left things as they were, there was nothing to fear.

Unfortunately, that sort of intuition stood rather far from the logic and reason mages preferred.

It was not as though Blue Coral had absolutely no logical argument to offer.

The problem was that there was a certain… complication on that side of things.

A rather serious problem that they could not reveal lightly based on their judgment alone.

“I’ve served you for a long time, so I know you wouldn’t say something like this without reason… but the Temple priests don’t. When I checked earlier, some of them were even wondering whether that wager might actually be a kind of contract.”

“…Is that so?”

“The mages are similar. I heard them saying that if you’re being this reluctant to speak, perhaps it really is a contract.”

“To a serious degree?”

“Hmm… I don’t think they’re at the point of taking a hard line yet. But their patience is definitely running out. Enough that, even if you can’t persuade them outright, it might be time to give them at least one reason to keep waiting.”

That was not something Blue Coral could ignore either.

The mages, obsessed as they were with proof, would not endure indefinitely without evidence.

And the priests would not tolerate things forever without a suitable justification.

For mages, logic came first.

For the Temple, hostility toward demons did.

“I know.”

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So in the end, all Blue Coral could do was pray.

Pray that before their patience ran out, it would become possible to prove the innocence of that shining soul.

“More importantly, what work do I have?”

In any case, the tasks that required difficult physical movement were finished now.

Blue Coral leaned back in a makeshift chair and looked for something that could be done without moving.

“I don’t think the healer meant ‘as long as your backside stays planted, anything goes’ when they told you not to move…….”

The guard who had been watching muttered the complaint.

The same guard whose stubborn grip on life had somehow allowed them to meet again despite all the chaos, and who now served as both escort and general assistant.

“You think I don’t know that? The situation’s a disaster, so I’m accepting the risk.”

“The healer would probably clutch their neck if they saw this. They must have carved out time they didn’t have just to examine you.”

“If they don’t like it, they can split themself into two bodies. If I had someone I could hand the work to, I would’ve done that and rested ages ago.”

“Fair enough…….”

Despite the guard’s concern, Blue Coral continued working.

The guard also understood the situation well enough not to complain further.

“More importantly, do we have any stimulants?”

To begin with, Blue Coral was hardly the only mage working despite internal injuries.

Under circumstances like these, how could the person in charge alone enjoy the luxury of resting?

The reason they had been given priority protection throughout the previous night was precisely because everyone knew they would be important at moments like this.

Knowing that, Blue Coral could hardly allow themself to be idle.

“Want one?”

“Yes.”

In the same vein, Blue Coral accepted a stimulant and put it into their mouth.

Made from extracts of a small black fruit and a red-and-white horned fruit, the stimulant left a sweet bitterness lingering across the tongue.

“How many stimulants are left?”

“We handed some out to the soldiers earlier… about fifty pieces?”

“So everyone brought stimulants instead of catalysts.”

“That’s unfair. You know everyone normally carries stimulants around anyway.”

That was true.

During research, there were times when a stimulant was suddenly needed, and going out to buy one every single time was irritating.

Worse, the mage who sold them was not the sort to keep regular business hours.

Despite that, the technique was monopolized, so there was nowhere else to obtain them.

For that reason, it was normal for Bemurchen’s mages to carry three or four stimulants on them at all times.

Some carried dozens.

Though at that point, Blue Coral suspected they were being used more as snacks than for their stimulant effect…….

In any case, right now there was no downside to having plenty of them.

Ordinary civilians were one thing, but valuable personnel such as mages, knights, and soldiers were in such desperate demand that even allowing them time to sleep felt wasteful.

“Preparations for communication?”

“The magic array is ready, but we’re short on catalysts. If we try it like this, there’s a high chance of failure.”

“Tch.”

Blue Coral clicked their tongue at the report.

Perhaps sending even the mages skilled in communication magic to the medical wards merely because they could use healing magic had been a mistake after all.

But then again, the conditions in the wards were hardly mild enough to allow otherwise.

“How is the wall formation coming?”

“We’ve almost completely blocked the direction the wind is coming from.”

“Good. Then change the plan. Start putting pillars among the people at intervals instead. Don’t forget to leave the proper spacing so tents can be erected.”

“Understood.”

If possible, Blue Coral wanted to raise earthen walls on all four sides and protect everyone completely.

But the clouds overhead looked ominous.

It might rain.

“I’d prefer it to wait until we’ve at least put up the tents.”

If the rain came after everyone had shelter, they could collect it and use it as drinking water.

But if it arrived before that, the likely result would simply be more deaths.

“Hmm. Come to think of it, they said we also need to recover the people who evacuated west…….”

Since mages were useful for rescue work, the Lord had sent a messenger specifically asking Blue Coral to choose whom to send.

Which meant personnel had to be selected for that side as quickly as possible too.

The problem was that there were hardly any people available to spare.

“One mountain after another.”

Even after working everyone as hard as possible through a rotation system that allowed them to recover Mana, they were still desperately understaffed.

Who in the world could be pulled away from here?

Blue Coral rapidly calculated while recalling the list of available personnel.

“Ah, they’re back!”

Around then, the group that had been sent out to find catalysts returned.

“You’re late.”

“Old man, can’t you see how much shit I’m carrying on my back right now?”

“Hmm.”

One of them—the grandson—snapped irritably, using an expression he had not used in quite some time.

Without tools, he couldn’t use magic, so assigning him outside did not waste magical manpower.

But he was still a mage, meaning he could identify catalysts.

He also had good stamina—his leg was injured, yes, but if he could walk, wasn’t that enough? The healer had said it was only a bruise—so Blue Coral had decided he was perfect for searching the city.

Apparently that had irritated him somewhat.

Still, it made Blue Coral briefly remember the past.

*He was just as rude when we first met.*

Even if it was a somewhat peculiar sort of nostalgia.

“What are you so irritated about?”

“…Everything just feels kind of shitty.”

“Are you that upset about losing all the equipment you collected?”

“……? What are you talking about? I used it to survive. Why would I regret that?”

“Then what is it?”

Blue Coral pushed aside the faint ache in their chest and accepted the answer.

Of course.

There was no way that boy would regret something like that.

He understood better than anyone that no matter what you sacrificed, as long as you survived, there might eventually be a chance to regain it.

“Then why are you so angry?”

“…Because the bastard who saved the city looks like he might die himself?”

“That’s—what— Pfft, kh, cough!”

Wait.

What did he just say?

The answer was so utterly unexpected that Wave-Cresting Blue Coral immediately choked.

The surrounding mages reacted the same way.

They were so startled that several dropped whatever they were holding or made similar mistakes.

“…You? Worried about someone else?”

“Want me to smash your nose? What part of that answer invited a follow-up question?”

“The part where I know your personality.”

“You really know how to piss someone off.”

The grandson’s expression became that of someone genuinely furious.

So Blue Coral decided to stop there.

If they fought with their grandson, Blue Coral would lose.

In every possible sense.

“Well, fine. But you know there’s nothing we can do.”

“I know. That’s why I’m not doing anything.”

Meanwhile, the grandson lowered the bags and bundles he had been carrying onto the ground.

Catalysts apparently scraped together from every possible corner of the workshop district could be glimpsed between the bags.

There were tools such as saws and carving knives mixed in as well.

“Ooh, catalysts!”

“They’re all low-grade… Is this really everything?”

“Don’t know. But this was everything in the buildings around the workshop district.”

“The Magic Tower……?”

Then, in the middle of all that, someone asked about the Magic Tower.

It was a mage who had lost consciousness while defending the southern gate and therefore had not seen the Tower disappear.

“There wasn’t even any trace that a building had ever existed there. Why ask when you already know?”

“…What?”

But the grandson hadn’t known that.

Even if he had, he probably wouldn’t have cared.

At the merciless answer, several mages opened their mouths wide before sinking to their knees.

Every one of them had been nearing the final stage of their research, with results perhaps only a little more effort away.

“…Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

But now that their laboratories and every record created during the research process had vanished, could they truly complete those projects?

Blue Coral doubted it.

Thump.

Several grabbed the backs of their necks and fainted.

The exhaustion the stimulants had been unable to fully conceal combined with the sudden mental shock and simply cut off their consciousness.

“We have even fewer people to send now.”

But their emotional devastation was not Blue Coral’s concern.

The Great Sage coldly expressed regret only at the reduction in available manpower.

Did Blue Coral feel no regret over the vanished Magic Tower?

Of course there was some.

If every material and piece of equipment stored inside were added together, the total value would have been astronomical.

And every bit of it had evaporated.

But regretting what had already disappeared would not bring it back.

Instead, Blue Coral decided to be grateful that the Magic Tower had vanished only after the Demonic Energy purification formula had been completed.

“More importantly, what are you doing next?”

“Building filters.”

There were countless things the people who had become refugees needed.

But very few ranked above clean water.

At the grandson’s observation, Blue Coral found the answer reasonable enough.

“Why?”

“We received a request for rescue personnel near the western gate, but there’s nobody to send.”

“I wouldn’t be much use there anyway, so I’ll stay.”

“Do that.”

Then who should be sent?

Blue Coral’s face creased further.

“Great Sage! We’ve established contact with Kirhen!”

“What do they say?”

“They’ll send reinforcements, and they say they’ll also contact Doerfmain, Dubanzig, and Bergart!”

The news of reinforcements improved Blue Coral’s mood at least slightly.

It would probably take around a week for them to arrive, but that was infinitely better than having none at all.

“Looks like God hasn’t completely abandoned Bemurchen after all.”

Sunlight suddenly broke through the clouds and poured down brightly over the people.