"Can we confirm that every zombie is dead– well, I mean actually dead this time," Ivan spoke to Yue through the telepathic masks.
"...Yes, Tio and I checked a dozen different bodies and each of them showed no signs of responding. To double-check we burned the bodies of a few unscrupulous knights to see if their subconscious would respond to being disintegrated." Yue responded cooly, Canis and Tio at her side as they watched the pile of corpses from afar.
"Eri… O' Eri, I apologize for the damage I may have caused to your psyche… Though you were one evil bastard…" Ivan mused to himself about the result of this little mission. He apologized slightly to the mind of the girl he broke. He had faith that little tactic of theirs scared her from ever doing anything like this again.
"And if that isn't the case…" He smiled at the button in his hand. With how many times he smashed her face in he had plenty of opportunities to insert something into her body without her notice while she recoiled in pain. And who was he to decline such an opportunity?
"Kaboom~!" Ivan slid his finger over the button, enjoying Claire's stressed-out expression as she hoped in her heart that he just left things as is. As evil as that girl was, the person she was no longer remained, tortured by Ivan and let go as a husk.
"But isn't this the best scenario for a wicked girl like her? I mean now she gets to be taken care of by the knight she's been coveting for dozens of years~ If anything I'd say she got it easy compared to the tens if not hundreds of families she ruined to satisfy her desires. Aiya, Aiko better appreciate the gift I sent her~!"
"Hahh– You say gift as if what you had done was out of generosity but I can't help but have a feeling you just didn't want to have to take care of another prisoner…" Claire sighed remembering the demon they had locked up in their basement. After all this time she had zero ideas what Ivan wanted to do with her.
"As much as having my own undead army fascinates me, the immorality of it all is a bit too sickening. Not that I could say much considering how immoral the acts I just committed were, hehehe~ Besides, Cattleya is not a prisoner, she's a bargaining chip!"
Ivan made confident strides toward the door of their room, now that the crime scene was cleaned up it was time to venture out once more. They had accomplished both the goals they set when they first initially set out to the Kingdom.
Investigate the cause of the abnormal behavior in the Kingdom, and clear the Divine Mountain's dungeon. As a side bonus, they even managed to get rid of the Holy Church and the Kingdom's king who conducted their bidding.
'Spirit Magic huh…' Ivan walked down the steps to the first floor with an amused smile, it was a rather straightforward ancient magic. While being able to transfer a soul between bodies was good and all what enticed Ivan the most was its reviving capabilities.
Granted such a feature only seemed to work on the soul of a being who hadn't left the world for long. Something he tested on using two squirrels, while one squirrel was capable of being revived into its own body after suffocating almost immediately the other squirrel who suffered the same fate was unable to be revived after fifteen minutes.
The vessels the souls took were a separate matter, reviving someone into a destroyed body was of course a foolish move to make. But what interested Ivan was that a soul could be inserted into an inanimate object.
'Maybe I could carry Cattleya around in her own little Pokeball…' It was a demented thought but helpful in proving to the demons that he had her in his custody.
"Hmmm, I'll test it out when I get home~" Other matters filled his mind, if possible he wanted to create a backup body for every member in the group in case something happened to their true bodies.
Such as if there was an incurable poison made by the gods and one of their members got infected by it he wanted to be able to transplant their soul to a safer body. It'd take a lot of effort, and undoubtedly an uncomfortable experience for the girls who needed to expose themselves to him so he could create a perfect recreation but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make!
"... Why do I feel a sudden urge to punch you right now?" When they made it to the front door of the inn Claire spoke. Much to Ivan's worry, as felt his intentions had been seen through.
'The intuition of girls is scary!' Ivan remarked inwardly, wondering if science would ever progress to the point of explaining a female's ability to know when they were being thought of.
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"Is that everything?" What would a vacation be without souvenirs? As such Ivan made sure that everyone gathered the things they bought before he activated the airship. Now that their mission was done there wasn't anything left for them in the Kingdom, most establishments had closed for time being because of the mysterious deaths that occurred in the past 12 hours and that meant no fun for the group.
Not that Ivan even wanted to be hanging around during the clean-up, if so then he might have to face Aiko's wrath. Especially when she realized that he dumped a lot of work just for her.
'Maybe I should hold off on seeing her until I find a way to get them back home…' He thought that would surely distract her from the resentment she held for him. And if that didn't work he could always say he hoped she could lead the kingdom as a way to pay him back for saving her.
'But where the hell did the princess go?' Ivan laid that thought to rest when he concluded that she'll show up when she shows up. As investigated by him she was neither held by the Church nor the Kingdom, it was likely she ran away and would return after finding out the situation over here.
'Unless she's not the person I thought she was…' There was always a chance she just ran away to gain independence from her family or something like that, unlikely considering she left behind her precious little brother.
'Good luck heroes! Find her so I don't have to!' Ivan prayed inwardly to not have to do any more work. If they were going to do something right then it should at least benefit him somehow. Especially considering they hadn't done much anyway.
Mm… so are we going to see Shea now?" Yue said aloud with glee in her eyes despite having her usual monotone voice. The first friend she made since being freed by Ivan, her student, she was finally going to see her again.
"Umu, though I wonder how it'll go~ Who's to say she'd be the same rabbit girl we met back then? The Haulia might have infected her with their Chuunibyou syndrome, though I may be at fault for that… I do hope she's made it closer to that goal of hers…"
Shea's goal is to take reign of Verbergen to end all future discrimination against beastmen born with peculiar circumstances like her. Being a part of a race banished from Verbergen didn't help her position much but Ivan had faith that the optimistic and stubborn rabbit would take the reins of any future she desired.
"Oh yeah, she could read the future huh?" Ivan just remembered the circumstances that led to her being ostracized.
"Mm… though back then she couldn't choose when she could read the future…" Yue affirmed Ivan's words.
"But if that changed do you think she knows we're on our way?" It was a harmless thought, one which got Ivan anticipating what kind of welcome they'd receive when making it there. 'If it's the Shea I know then she'll probably try to beat us up for leaving for so long~'
"Well, what are we waiting for! Let's go!" For some reason, Felis was the one most excited to go. Likely she was just interested in going to a forest with trees so large they topple the tallest building in the kingdom. At the same time, she was curious to meet the person who had first met her father when his journey began, excluding Yue of course.
"Do you think Felis and Canis could navigate through the fog?" Ivan asked Yue, he was unaware whether the prerequisite to maneuvering through the fog was to have the characteristics of a beastman, or perhaps only people born in the Sea of Trees can guide themselves through it. If that was the case he was curious what kind of magic determined what made someone capable.
The best way to find out would be through practical effort, so long as Shea and the Haulia were around then they'd be able to test their theory without the worry of the two getting lost.
"Not that we'd have anything to do with that information. It's not like we have a lack of guides to lead us through the forest. Unless… the dungeon itself requires that we need someone capable of navigating through the fog."
That would be a likely scenario.
'But with this, our journey is near an end.' Freid was dead, Eri was incapacitated, the Demons lost their only advantage against the human's large numbers, the Holy Church lost all of its head figures, and the Kingdom would be reformed under Aiko.
'All that remains are the gods themselves, and the last two dungeons…' The gods seemed to be the largest obstacle, especially if there were a ton of powerhouses like Noint on their side. Ivan would need a special weapon if he wanted to take on legions of overpowered valkyrie angel hybrids.
Noint's body would aid him in this. At least that's what he hoped. There was still the matter of implementing her core so he'll be sure to do that test as well after completing the Haltina Labyrinth.
At that point, it'd be all about preparing for the final dungeon, as well as excavating the rest of the dungeon in aid of funding their operations. With a dozen more excavators it should be possible to clear the remainder of it in two months.
If they could clear all the dungeons without having to interact with the gods then that was ideal, though that of course wouldn't be the case. There was still someone in their group attached to the fate of this world, that being Tio. Most of her clan had been wiped out by the gods in the past, not to mention the remainders of the purge are in hiding. She wouldn't leave them for another planet until she was assured of their safety.
'We'll deal with them when we run into it~' Ivan exclaimed inwardly before activating the airship, their destination—
The Sea of Trees!
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I'm quite hungry, I haven't eaten since four o'clock yesterday and it's currently 8:30AM. I also got to start work soon so I ain't gonna be resting anytime soon. Ah, why do humans need to eat? And while on that gripe why must we need to use the bathroom as well! Do you know how much time I could've saved without these two things! Probably not a lot but that ain't what I'm talking about.
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