Chapter 119

Startle.

The gentleman wearing a mask—no, Grandpa Harpendel’s body shakes violently.

“Uh, I don’t know what you mean. I am not an elf named Harpendel.”

While avoiding eye contact, Harpendel grandfather denies it.

But with his trembling arms and legs, and the fact that he’d already stated he was an elf, his attempts at convincing were already futile.

“Then I guess we don’t have to call you ‘Grandpa’ anymore, Mr. Harpendel.”

“Eduuu!! That’s too cruel!!”

“So you really are Grandpa Harpendel, aren’t you?”

With a puffed-out cheek, Grandpa Harpendel realizes his mistake and sharply inhales.

“Haa… Great Master. This disguise is rendered meaningless now, isn’t it?”

“That, but! I don’t want to feel distance when Edu addresses me with ‘ssi’!”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Now please take off that mask.”

The maid in a maid outfit takes off her mask.

Grandpa Harpendel follows her lead and removes his mask.

“Let me reintroduce myself. I am Hilda, here to serve the Chronos family.”

“Um, I am Harpendel Chronos.”

A polite greeting.

Caught off guard by the sudden change of situation, my bewildered companions finally pull themselves together.

“Ah, hello there.”

“Hmph.”

Rianne bows her head, as does Kai.

Sita follows suit and bows, and Mili, who was watching their cues, hurriedly bows as well.

“Hmm…”

Unlike the others,Simoniaia stands with her head held high, gazing at Grandpa Harpendel.

A smile tugs at her lips as she speaks.

“Old man, nice to see you again?”

“Yes, Miss Simonia. I didn’t expect to see you again in such a place.”

“I agree. You’re different from before though—kind of weasely.”

The cutting words are met with a chuckle from Grandpa Harpendel.

“Ah, I didn’t expect to hear I resemble a weasel from a snake user.”

The two face each other.

Both have smiles on their lips, but it’s clear they don’t harbor goodwill toward each other.

Hm, perhaps because the original character from the source material was an antagonist, everyone seems to respond with hostility.

But were these two acquaintances in the original as well?

As that thought crosses my mind, an awkward silence lingers between them.

Ah, they’re going to fight at this rate.

“Bungbungi.”

[ Bzzzzt. / (｡˃ ᵕ ˂ ) ]

At my call, Bungbungi steps forward.

He naturally moves toward the two, drawing their gaze toward us.

“Hm?”

“Edu?”

“Both of you, stop. Let’s handle smaller issues later and focus on the current situation.”

After my remark, Simonia and Grandpa Harpendel turn their gazes back to each other.

After staring at each other for a while, they nod slightly, reaching an unspoken agreement.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

Grandpa Harpendel apologizes while ruffling my hair.

Simonia approaches next, and the grandfather wisely steps back.

She glances around and whispers in my ear.

“Sorry, I wasn’t really going to fight.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Okay.”

Simonia ruffles my hair.

With that, we roughly wrap up the situation, when suddenly several footsteps echo.

The group reacts to the noise.

At this moment, Grandpa Harpendel raises his hand.

“Oh, no need to be tense. They’re likely our people arriving.”

“Our people?”

Kai asks with a nod from the grandfather.

“Yes.”

As if proving his statement, elves dressed in dark attire line up behind the grandfather.

They all kneel simultaneously.

“Great Master, we have just arrived.”

“Good, move these wretches to the designated place.”

“Yes, sir.”

They bow and disperse at once, lifting the fanatics in both hands.

After another bow, they quickly disappear.

Watching this, a question arises in my mind.

“Grandpa Harpendel.”

“Yes, yes, what is it, Edu?”

“What are you planning to do with those people?”

“Ah, you’re curious about that, are you?”

Don’t worry too much; all we do is guide those possessed by evil things onto a better path.”

“Uhm, is that so?”

“Yes, yes.”

For some reason, I feel like I’m being swayed, but since Grandpa Harpendel isn’t a villain, it should be fine, right?

“But, Grandpa.”

“Yes, is there something else on your mind?”

“So, what were you doing here?”

At this question, Grandpa Harpendel’s body visibly flinches.

“Ah, well…”

The grandfather gauges my reaction.

But here, I can’t back down either.

“Yes, please tell me.”

“…”

Silence as the grandfather gathers his thoughts.

After a moment, he opens his mouth.

“It’s like this. While searching for the ones who attacked you, I ended up here.”

“Huh? Why were you looking for the ones who attacked me?”

“Didn’t those foul ones hurt you? That’s why this old man came here to teach them a lesson.”

“Uh…”

I understand his words, but logically, it’s hard to grasp. I only had a small wound on my cheek. Was it really necessary to make such a fuss? However, I remind myself that people vary in how they assess situations.

Still, it’s a good thing that Grandpa Harpendel cares about me, but how did he get his information about this place?

That thought reminds me of Simonia secretly taking the fanatic leader away.

I shift my gaze toward her.

“Sister Simonia? Did you and Grandpa get some information from that person?”

A hypothesis connecting two people who know each other at a coincidental point.

However, Simonia shakes her head in denial.

“No. That guy turned out to be even lower-level than expected. There wasn’t much useful information.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

So, Grandpa Harpendel and Simonia must have met long ago then.

Pop.

A hand lands on my head.

“Haha, Edu. The info about those guys—Grandpa gathered it by himself. This old man still has some tricks up his sleeve.”

As he says this, Grandpa flexes his left arm, bulging muscles popping out.

…Is he speaking metaphorically?

Anyhow, Grandpa said he followed the group that hurt me and came all the way here.

Then, does he know the locations of other bases of this cult?

“Grandpa, you said earlier that you came here to punish the cult?”

“Yes.”

“Then, do you know any other locations of their bases?”

The grandfather nods up and down.

“Of course.”

“Oh, then can you share some information? We actually came here to dismantle this cult.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard.”

Grandpa Harpendel reveals the locations of the bases he knows.

An unused warehouse, a repurposed abandoned storage space into a shrine.

A chapel located in the densely populated area near the garbage dump.

A prayer house built in the slum near the sewage treatment plant.

Even excluding the shantytown we’re currently in, there are quite a number of bases.

But now that the locations are known, we can simply visit and destroy each one.

“Mili, Sita. Do you know the places Grandpa just mentioned?”

“Yes, sister.”

“I know them!”

Sita answers easily, while Mili nods repeatedly with an energetic response.

“Then can you guide us starting with the nearest ones? We’ll eliminate them all one by one.”

“Sure, follow us.”

Sita lightly taps Mili’s shoulder.

“Leave it to us, sister!”

With that, Mili leads the way, climbing the stairs, followed by Sita.

“Then, would you like to come along, Grandpa?”

“Yeah, that would be best. Hilda?”

“Yes, Great Master.”

Hilda nods at the call and follows after Mili and Sita.

Rianne and Kai exchange brief glances and follow behind the grandfather.

“Then shall we go?”

At Simonia’s words, I nod.

“Yes!”

…

The chapel situated in a warehouse.

“Heresy! Brothers, stand against them!! Stand against-”

Before the leader’s shout could end, Kai appears in a flash behind the bald man.

“You’re the leader here, right?”

“Eek!?”

Punch.

“Guh!?”

The man collapses after emitting a pitiful sound.

With the fall of the leader, the enemies’ command structure crumbles.

Taking this as the starting point, my companions, led by Simonia, begin rampaging.

“Rianne, behind!”

“I know!”

Whether due to similar combat styles or something else, Rianne and Kai effortlessly coordinate to suppress the cultists.

“Yaaah!?”

“Ahaa, is that all you’ve got? You need to try harder!”

Simonia kicks the lunging fanatic aside and continues her advance.

“It’s Edu’s turn! This one is also Edu’s turn! This one too is Edu’s turn! Sinful ones! Feel the weight of your sins!!”

“Rawr!”

“W- Who’s Edu… Gaaahhh!”

Like he’s possessed by a master of martial arts, Grandpa Harpendel single-handedly dismantles the fanatics.

Despite feeling a little embarrassed by the excessive use of my name, I decide to let it slide as his own way of showing affection.

‘However… everyone fights so well.’

Even with the numerical disadvantage, my companions demonstrate remarkable skills against the incoming cultists.

But what stands out the most are Mili and Sita.

“Go, Mili!”

“Yes!”

With a high jump, Sita lightly lands on Mili’s heavy assault suit.

The devastation begins.

Bang, bang!

When enemies threaten them from afar, Sita’s precise shooting eliminates them.

[ Yaaaah!! ]

Mili, moving like a raging bull, swiftly takes down the cultists.

Even though the heavy armored assault unit model is notoriously difficult to handle, Mili’s ability to manipulate the cumbersome device as if it were an extension of her body truly impresses me.

I can’t help but admire her skills.

They’ve all grown so much since I last saw them.

And in the blink of an eye, the base is subdued.

I’m slightly surprised that the fight is over before I even got a chance to join.

“It’s already over.”

“Hmph, they’re nothing.”

Simonia brushes her hands off dismissively, acting as if it was nothing.

“I agree. These cowards were only as strong as we expected.”

Grandpa Harpendel concurs with Simonia’s statement.

“Hmm, anyway, it’s good that it ended quickly. Let’s question the leader and move on to the next location.”

We swiftly interrogate and move forward.

“Heresy, heresy!!”

We raid the cult’s chapel located in a densely populated area.

“M-Move! You! Don’t you fear divine punishment!!”

We also destroy the so-called prayer house in the slum.

Through these interrogations with the leaders of each outpost, we finally discover the true headquarters of the cult.

The catacombs.

Upon approaching the cave-like entrance, a middle-aged man wearing ostentatious clothes, clearly marking him as the cult leader, greets us.

“Hoho, rumors spoke of your refusal of salvation, but you are much more impressive than expected.”

Taking a step forward, the heretical leader says,

“Given your efforts to reach here, let me extend a proposal.”

“A proposal?”

“Yes. Why don’t we have a conversation instead of resorting to mindless violence? Violence is no solution, dialogue is the path to resolving all conflicts.”

Of course, the leader of a cult like this must be silver-tongued.

“Ah, you like conversations, don’t you? I also love to have conversations a lot.”

At my words, the cult leader smiles.

In response to that smile, I flash a grin and pull out my Nightmare hand with a flourish.

“…? Um, why are you pulling that out…”

“Huh? Didn’t you suggest we talk?”

“???”

An ultimate conversation that solves everything—physical force.

An overwhelming assault sweeps through the hidden headquarters of the Eternal Life Cult, completely dismantling the organization just as it was beginning to grow.