As Alice exited with astonishing speed proving her growth in more than an emotional way..
"Ha ha seeing my cute little sister like that really makes my heart warm." Leila came along and it looked like she had just enjoyed the spectacle.
"Hm.. I should…"
"Yeah you probably should give her what she wants before she gets too unruly…" Leila said Looking with wine in her glass.
"So Lana, you like it here?" asked Leila, changing the subject.
"Y-yes it is a weird place but I-I do Like it very much.." She was emphasizing on the word 'Like'.. he he watching sheltered girls look so shy is very cute.
"That's good. You know Lana, you are a princess, you can have nearly whatever you want… you just have to make the wish…" As Leila said so, she sipped on the drink she was holding…. Their conversation was something I felt I had no idea over.
"Is it really that easy?" Lana asked, looking at the distance.. I don't know what these 2 are talking about. I guess things that don't concern me? They were princesses themselves…. So maybe they have some topics like these which they only get to talk about…
"Lana, that is up to you." It was a short answer but Lana nodded as if she understood something very big…
"When are you sleeping?" finishing the talk with Lana, Leila looked at me. She was a bit drunk, I think… she had that charming look in her eyes….! The last time I didn't know how she looked while drunk but since I wasn't drunk today… man.. I had missed it big time...
"Hmm… don't know I can't sleep really." I really don't feel sleepy… looking at Leila drunk.. No wonder my sleep went away.
"Why? nervous about tomorrow's battle?"
"No… tomorrow won't even be a battle, Systy is going to freeze the army and I will just incapacitate the Duke …" I had an evil look on my face… What could I do? Amanori had rubbed off on me. Whenever I thought of defeating someone, some really terrifying Ideas came to me. but tomorrow, I won't be doing much violence, I will use dominance... the dominance that only I can use.
"Ha ha only you could show a look like that in the face of a war… I heard you know? there will be at least 20 thousand strong…." Leila said as she sipped on her drink… she was a guild master, it was normal for her to obtain such info.
it seemed that the scouts had already gone and gotten the info I had been waiting for… so there were many forces already under his control. I am glad that I didn't kill the guy the first time I saw him. His forces would have spread and harmed the populous. some cursed tools, jump from people to people if it find that it was going to be destroyed it may jump the people it had cursed, that would just increase my work load.
[yeah, lowly tools have such pathetic functions.] of course Amanori who liked things to be killed or be killed viewed them with disdain.
"That's good…. I would have said you looked overconfident… but I... when you look like that… I feel as though it's not over confidence…" As Leila said, Lana came from behind.
"Rekka… what do you do when there is something impossible…..?" She asked me. It was the first direct question she asked after coming here… I guess she is warming up to me..
"Something impossible huh….. I would just find another way I guess… only because it's impossible… doesn't mean we shouldn't try?" As she heard me say so, she only looked at me… as the silence grew, she said.
"What a nice answer. If you talk like that, no wonder people tend to be around you so much." she left after saying that… she looked composed but I felt as if she was sad….
"I feel as if she always wants to say something but never could…" As I mumbled , Leila leaned on me from the side…
"Falling for other girls, that too in front of me~" she said teasingly….
"I wasn't falling for anyone!" I said looking flustered.. Leila had suddenly cornered me. I did feel something from Lana but it wasn't romantic.. I don't think so.. It was more like a protective attitude guys tend to get after they see a sheltered girl like Lana… I have more than many choices. I don't think I will go outta my way to make another girl fall for me more than that, she is a kid.
"Hmm? But isn't she cute?" Leila said.
"Hmm.. of course she is….. But I am content with what I have now… if you try to grab too much…. just like sand, everything will only fall off your hand."
"Heeh…. tonight you come with me! Last night you had fun sleeping with Ridge…" hearing so, she was pouting a bit. I guess We didn't have much time to be together after coming back… but Leila really looked delighted. Had what I said made any sense to her?
"In that case let's go!" I said as I carried Leila princess style. She was surprised but also put her hands around my neck. She had gotten much more composed around me.
"How I remember the time when only getting close to you made you blush like a small girl!" I teased Leila as I carried her to my room.
"Mnnnn! That was… all girls get like that don't they?" Leila protested but she didn't get much time to say anything since we had already got to our room and I had gotten her on the bed before she even knew it.
I was planning to get in a little intimate but fate had something else planned. Before I could get close to Leila, Alice came barging in. As surprised as I was, Leila looked more composed as if she expected it.
"Today it's my and Alice's turn." Leila said, giving a mischievous look… Alice also looked composed before getting on the bed that is….
"Good night!" she said with a high pitched tone before sleeping beside me. right now I was sandwiched between the sisters…
"Heeeh? I-I guess it's okay?" I said but I was too embarrassed to even touch Leila in front of Alice… I mean It was awkward…. While training, I didn't make any moves on Alice and I had told her after finishing the training I would certainly advance. Looks like she was moving on that basis.
"He he he, look who's getting flustered like a small boy now?" Leila got her revenge alright. I could do nothing but nod.
Even I'm not used to doing that with two girls...
As she looked at this scene, Leila hugged me like a hug pillow and said good night to sleep...I guess there won't be any action tonight…. Leila hadn't gotten to sleep all day and last night… it was bound to happen that she would sleep the moment she got to the bed...
Still sleeping between 2 sisters was stimulating in and of itself. Since both had a distinct scent on them, I could hardly focus on sleeping….
That's how a blissful hellish night went by with my 2 soon to be fiancées. It was blissful because it felt great sleeping with 2 beauties and it was hellish because their charm kept me up the whole night and I felt guilty about touching a sleeping defenseless girl….
...….
It was morning and I had finished my breakfast. I was going to finish that mess I had created by selling those monster parts without thinking… actually I am glad that other countries also didn't come for this place….
"You ready?" I asked Systy who was coming as my partner in this fight.
"Yes master!" She was excited. I guess this was her first battle after training. It was normal to be in high spirits.
"Don't get too excited, they are just normal soldiers….." I know that she could kill normal humans like ants. Systy was a water type mage back in the day but now she had evolved into a full on Ice mage. Her upper limits of Severe Ice magic could not only freeze the atmosphere around her target but also freeze her target down to the bone in an instance. It was a frightening power.
"Yes Master, I will just stop them in their tracks while you kill the boss!" I couldn't even finish my speech as she confirmed the plans. Well I know that Systy is a kind girl so she was more than aware of just how she could use that power she had earned from that training of hell.
"Yeah that's right and whatever you do, don't get near that Hitherto guy. He could probably take you under control… he does have a cursed Item…" I cautioned her which Systy took seriously. She knew what cursed Items can do. Even though Amanori was in her own league, the other Items were also powerful… those things definitely can't be taken half assed…
"I want to go too!" Alice was still grinding on the subject. There was nothing she could really do. Systy herself could easily incapacitate the army with her Ice magic…
"Say Rekka, why don't you let us go too. I want to see how you do in the fight." Gramps who was saying so got some nods from the others too… it looks like Granny, the overlord, king Stein and Lana wanted to go too….
"Yeah I can protect them while you guys fight!" Alice took that chance… well I guess it would be good to have witnesses too…. They could probably gauge our power level and advise us about how much more training we would need…
[Yeah good Idea, show them what monsters you all have become!] Amanori said with an elated voice. Last night she had told me that she would really like to break that cursed Item…. I guess she won't even let her own kin off the hook…
"Okay you guys can come I don't mind then…..King Stein, I want you to do something."
As I re-organized my plan I thought of a way to make Hitherto feel even more broken when he would lose eventually… not to mention, pave the path to future peace.
"Wow, that's quite the number of Soldiers!" I looked at the line of soldiers from where I stood outside of the Capital City of Stein. I could clearly see Miasma oozing off the soldiers. As I had thought, this guy was trying to make a zombie army. The frightening thing was that nobody would even know that they were becoming like that.
"Hmm there are probably more then 20 thousand soldiers there." Gramps said from beside me.
"King Stein, are you Ready? And Granny?" I asked.
"Yes, anytime you want!" Granny said excitedly. As I told them to proceed with the plan. Systy started to gather mana.
I could see the soldiers surrendering one by one, many even started to bow on the spot. Since the Heroes name had been taken by the king himself, People must have thought that it would be futile to stand up to them. of course these soldiers were mostly good natured people with good Miasma resistance, so I was happy that I could save more percentage of people than I initially thought, that too even before I entered combat.
It was good. This way there will be less collateral damage.
"What a magnificent plan!" Gramps said excitedly.
"That's right, life is precious, if you can scare people to save more lives, isn't that the best way?" My grandparents were like the Superman of the earth movies, they had spread out their capabilities throughout the world. And in a world this ruthless, only overwhelming strength can make that happen so why not use it for the best? Even if they heard gramps and granny were retiring, that doesn't mean they were weak now you know?
As I saw the army of 20 thousand armored Knights, it became less than half of what it was after the announcement. The soldiers that were conscious left from the battle field with quick succession.
It wasn't them that held grudges, it was the higher ups. Just goes to show that the king also had his authority quite a bit. Had king Claude been conscious and not ill, this situation might actually not have happened at all..
As the scene unfolded, Hitherto looked like he had fallen from the sky. His grin had disappeared long ago and now he had a vein popped on his forehead. I think I have broken his undying resolve quite a bit. Had he already taken over the kingdom then he wouldn't have looked this pale now, but the king was alive and well… heh heh heh.
With the kings word, the surrendering soldiers moved away from the main army and before The Duke could make his own move,
Systy who had managed to already gather a huge amount of mana let it go from her grasp. It went straight for the enemy soldiers.
Before anyone could gasp for breath, The less than 10 thousand Army stood half frozen where they were. Not only the enemy side but also from our side gasps could be heard.
After the smoky Ice from Systy's attack cleared, a view very elegant and horrifying could be seen,
A trail of Ice covered the soldiers. It was transparent and sparkled from the sunlight reflecting on it.
Everyone looked at Systy who had done this in a mere 10 seconds. It was a area of effect magic attack. It should have taken a huge load of mana but Systy was standing like it was nothing!
I moved forward. I went straight to Hitherto. He was not included in the attack since I was going to take care of him. I moved at a normal walking pace.
Hitherto had already lost his confidence when the soldiers abandoned him, but now he only looked like a failed criminal. sure taking care of freezing 10 thousand soldiers bordered legend tier magic, even if the soldiers were weak, this large of a spell was already at the pinnacle of humanity.
But his will still stood strong. It was because of the cursed Item, he had infinite life. Who knew if even crushing his head into a paste would kill him or not. Cursed Items were just like that, which was why he had been able to do so much.
"You! You can't kill me, I will curse you!" he said and moved at a fast pace. He came straight towards me. His Bracelet which looked normal, was covered in thick Miasma. I guess he was planning to use Miasma to control me...
I let him touch me. But nothing happened. Instead his bracelet started to spark and then it broke into pieces.
[ha! Not even a second! I can't believe something like that was called a cursed Item! this fool tried to even run just seeing me!] Amanori was spouting displeased tones. It looked like as planned, she destroyed the cursed bracelet. but to think even they feel fear... sigh...
"What! What did you do! You!! …."
"Will you surrender and stop this military coup?" I said in a blank tone. I wanted to see what he would do. In our first fight, He had already tasted my battle strength and now he lost his trump card.
I could see some soldiers turn to dust. I guess the cursed Item had corrupted them. but turning into dust huh...
[This item seems to take life of the servants and sent it to the master, when the item got destroyed everything connected to it also started to get destroyed this same network was the thing that made it want to run, but I took care of it, I cursed this things whole network.]
so in the end the people who interacted with this thing would just die...
I know everyone can't be saved but the capital was in one piece, Apart from the damage before the battle until now that was not my fault of course.
No matter if he surrendered or not, he was going to be killed for doing this. Since his underlings were becoming dust, it was easy to presume that the nobles that were under him were also gonna die like that. I even think that their Affiliated families were also gonna be killed. I say this because I felt many grudging souls' presence when destroying the cursed bracelet. It not only took the life of its owner but everyone it had been in contact with, what a ruthless item...
Amanori also told me to wait a day so that Hitherto could kill his accomplices himself by hurriedly trying to curse them under him and increase his strength. That way I was able to just come and kill him. As he believed that after harvesting more Souls, he would be able to grow stronger, as per Amanori's predictions, he had done just that. But no matter how strong he got… Amanori who stood here killing many civilizations, a small bracelet was nothing at all, it was foolish even to compare the both.
"I! I was going to… rule all of humanity! But one brat… one brat! Stopped all of it! How can this be?" He was shaking…. I thought that I would have to use my torture techniques to defeat him but I guess he had made this plan for a long time and seeing it break without him even doing anything…. It gave him a bigger heartburn than I thought…
Hitherto slumped to the ground clutching his head with his hands. I saw his body shrivel up and soon he died….. There was no fighting… I didn't even give him any threats. His own ticket to power killed him in cold blood.
That's right, just like any other cursed Item, this bracelet also killed its owner after his will was broken. It looked like even though the Item had already been destroyed, there was still no running from this. Me being a cursed sword wielder had practically been his doom in this case. Or else he might have been able to overcome a war with Treastein.
Brain corruption and unkillable… the dude was loaded alright.
This was what in the future would be known as The war with no scrimmages, the Heroes grandson's debut in human Lands… was in a fight where only his presence was enough to close the war. As a single human did this not even lifting a finger, unknowingly no terror was spread looking at this display.