Chapter 57

※ This episode is an extra.

“Is there nothing?”

“There’s nothing. They erased all traces and fled.”

“Another dead end. Even tracking magic doesn’t work here. What should we do now, Klaus? Since we have a fire, should we do a campfire?”

Leaving behind the ravaged city, Remilia Asephite spoke self-deprecatingly.

“You seem to be able to crack jokes even in the face of erosion?”

Silvia pointed out her annoying behavior.

“How advanced is the erosion?”

Klaus’s question wasn’t to seek an answer.

“It’s obvious even to the naked eye. It’s already in the terminal stage.”

Silvia picked up a handful of sand and scattered it in the wind.

Klaus frowned.

This was not sand; it was evidently human bone powder.

It was already after an irremediable disaster had passed.

And at the center of that disaster was always Princess Estashia Lathias de Kaizen.

“Baron Banaphort? So what should we really do?”

“I told you not to refer to me by my title.”

“Klaus Nestro, Baron of Banaphort.”

“…”

Klaus unfolded the conditional activation scroll for the mission failure he received from the fortress three days ago and checked its content.

He bit his lip and had no choice but to convey the information.

“Now Princess Estashia is a target for immediate execution with no room for negotiation upon discovery.”

“Is that an imperial decree?”

“It is.”

“That should have been declared earlier. The Emperor can be so indecisive in times like this.”

Remilia seemed relieved and inwardly delighted.

“Is there no other assistance?”

“There is. 31 members of the fortress unit.”

“Not bad, I guess.”

“And the Pope’s elite knights and the Emperor’s imperial guard.”

“… What? Is Berstaphen coming too then?”

“Probably.”

“No, why would they care about this princess?”

This ‘princess’.

Klaus recalled the two-year journey to capture this ‘princess.’

She was not as powerful as Berstaphen of the Empire, Azerbaijan of the Holy Kingdom, or Demon Lord Alzahab.

She was undoubtedly weaker than Remilia, who was chattering beside him when it came to brute strength.

Yet he had already heard the order to capture her alive several times, and they had even reached the point where the Emperor had turned his back on them.

‘Just how far can you see ahead?’

“Klaus? There’s a survivor here!”

“Is there someone alive in the terminal stage of erosion? Don’t joke like that, Silvia!”

“There are life signs in the underground center of the city. Approximately 2,000. And there’s one at the city gate too. It’s nearby.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m certain.”

* * *

There was a widespread belief that once erosion reached its terminal stage, it could no longer be reversed.

They had already experienced it through the two erosions of [Jealousy] and [Appetite].

However, while all the plants and animals in the region rotted away due to the erosion of Sloth, only a pitiful boy outside the castle seemed to be fine.

“Don’t let your guard down. It could be a Mazzak.”

Klaus warned his companions.

According to the information from the fortress, it had recently been confirmed that Mazzak were not affected by erosion.

Countries, including the Empire, were already preparing to form a national alliance, believing that the widespread erosion was the work of the Demon Lord.

“For now, it’s a human. There are no reactions in my Rosario.”

“I feel uneasy. Can’t we just burn them? We’ve fallen for traps like this before.”

“Remilia, please cast a full-body protection spell. At least we should hear them out.”

“I don’t want to. I’ll be giving cover from a distance, so you all handle it.”

Klaus confirmed the light barrier wrapping around his entire body and approached the boy.

‘He looks to be around twelve to fifteen and is also on guard against us.’

Encounters with unidentified individuals always revolved around information warfare.

Quickly assessing the opponent’s physique, the presence of weapons, intentions, and gaze, they prepared for all unexpected situations.

The boy was small and skinny, his ribs clearly visible.

He wore a makeshift top fashioned from animal hide, and his inadequate trousers were shorts unsuitable for the weather.

He had no weapons, but… he was gently cradling a living white dove.

“Are you the hero?”

The boy’s sudden question startled Silvia, who made to take action, but Klaus stopped her.

“It’s best you answer only the questions I’m asking right now. Think carefully about your situation. Are you a resident of this castle?”

“Yes.”

“Where exactly do you live?”

“I’m not sure if you’ll understand if I tell you…”

Klaus drew his sword and pointed it at the boy’s neck.

“Answer.”

“…! I live in the house next to the mill by the intersection in Dongmun!”

“Silvia, check it.”

Silvia closed her eyes and expanded her sense of presence.

Her magic analyzed the terrain of the entire castle in detail.

“There’s a mill in your Dongmun.”

“Why are you the only one wandering outside when the castle gate is closed?”

“Uh, there’s a small hole in Dongmun, and I snuck out through there to be the first to get bread from the angel…”

“Angel?”

“Yes, that person told me the hero would be coming here!”

When Klaus glanced at Silvia, she nodded lightly.

“That person comes every morning—”

Silvia’s eyes resonated with mana.

“Cough…!”

An invisible hand seized the boy’s neck.

He slowly lifted off the ground, thrashing in pain.

“It must have been a blonde curly-haired woman, right?”

“Ugh…!”

“That person is not human; she is a Mazzak. The one who turned your village into this.”

When Silvia retracted her mana, the boy’s form fell helplessly to the ground.

“Hurgh… cough cough…”

“Silvia?”

“This child has not been tainted by Mazzak at all. How is this possible…?”

The boy clutched his throat and shouted to the heroes with a voice dedicated to evil.

“So what if she’s a Mazzak! You… you weren’t there when it really mattered! When all the villagers turned to stone, you didn’t come to save us! The angel healed everyone in the village!”

“What?”

“Is that all? Because nothing grows in this land, she brings us bread every single morning from the neighboring village!”

The boy recalled.

When the seed of erosion was discovered within the castle, the first action taken by the lord was to seal off the castle.

By the time the people noticed, they had become trapped in the stone walls they should have been protected from outside threats.

The lord had already fled, and the people had no means of escape from the erosion.

Only a small number of strong individuals managed to climb over the 30-meter-high outer wall with their scythes, while the ordinary people waited wide-eyed for their impending death.

Pollen was not the problem; it was the rotten plant powder that filled the air.

The carcasses of livestock lay neglected.

People, knowing that if they ate that they’d be tainted by erosion, had no choice but to eat it, tears in their eyes.

At first, the grandmother clutched her chest and collapsed. When she opened her eyes again, she could no longer move her lower body.

Then it was the jovial butcher who fell. The man with a soft belly had turned solid like a stone.

One by one, people stopped moving.

They fell asleep.

And without anyone noticing,

their breaths had ceased at some point.

Was there any death quieter than this? The village was engulfed in silence.

The boy struck the innocent castle wall in desperation.

Please, let me out of here.

But then, a miracle occurred one day.

A hole appeared in the magically reinforced castle wall that seemed like it would never fall.

Seeing the oddly dressed woman, the boy initially thought she was a witch.

Yet, having tasted the bread and milk she offered, he couldn’t resist even if she were a witch.

“Take me to where the patients are.”

She said she had a way to cure the villagers.

It must have been nonsense, but the boy accompanied her, grasping at straws.

Then, a miracle happened.

The magic circle she created was much larger than the height of the castle wall.

The woman carved over 85,000 runes into the magic circle day and night.

The golden mana she infused heralded a new morning for the castle.

“It will become a treasure more precious than a piece of bread. In our world, we call this compassion and hope.”

She handed the boy a white dove.

If the dove was released at noon from the center of the castle every day, the contaminated land would be purified and return to fertile soil.

It was hope.

Hope that the villagers could live again.

The pain of parting with those who had died was still great, but a spark of hope ignited in the boy’s heart.

“How can people like you be heroes!”

Perhaps because of this, the boy instinctively knew he shouldn’t stand against them, yet he could not betray the kindness shown to save the villagers.

“What’s taking so long? Why is it taking so long? At this rate, the princess will run even further away.”

Remilia, whose patience was running thin, flew over from a distance.

“For now, we check the villagers’ conditions first. Chasing the princess can be done afterward.”

“What? Wasn’t it an imperial decree? Can the hero do as they please?”

“…”

Klaus looked at the frustrated boy, who was visibly upset.

That sight resembled his own childhood self so closely.

“When there are people who always look forward to tomorrow, that’s when the nation exists.”

There was much to do, and his head was in chaos.

The people were suffering from the Demon Lord and erosion, yet the hero had to kill Princess Estashia.

What is truly right and what is wrong? What is true and what is false?

The resolute world did not reveal the truth.