The stable owned by Aureatia's Fourteenth General, Yuca the Halation Gaol, housed a bizarre and colossal beast. From a distance, it seemed similar to a wolf, but it didn't resemble any other creature the world knew.
That was because he was a chimera. The hero candidate defeated in the third match, Ozonezma the Capricious.
"…I NO LONGER HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR FIGHT."
The person he was conversing with was a goblin. A messenger from Zigita Zogi the Thousandth.
"I ASSISTED HIROTO AS LONG AS I ADVANCED THROUGH THE SIXWAYS EXHIBITION. THEREFORE, HIROTO HELPED TO ENSURE MY VICTORY. THAT WAS THE AGREEMENT. THERE IS NOTHING MORE BEYOND THAT."
"This matter isn't about assisting with Zigita Zogi's operation."
"IT IS NO DIFFERENT, GIVEN THE END RESULT WILL HELP HIM WIN."
Ozonezma's objective was finished. He no longer had any reason to be involved with the Sixways Exhibition, and he didn't desire to continue his contact with Hiroto's camp after losing his match, given it would bring with it danger and risk.
His contractual relationship with Zigita Zogi was finished. Even considering that fact, the situation might have required Ozonezma's help; however—
"Then what about as a doctor?" "…WHAT?"
"There is a possibility that behind the scenes of the Sixways Exhibition, a new species of corpse is running rampant. We believe that with your medical skills, perhaps healing patients who have been turned into corpses could be possible."
"…I WON'T SAY IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. HOWEVER, THE TREATMENT CAN ONLY BE DONE DIRECTLY AFTER INFECTION. A LARGE QUANTITY OF BLOOD FOR TRANSFUSION WILL ALSO BE CRITICAL.
IF THAT DOES NOT DISSUADE YOU, THEN…I WILL SAVE EMERGING PATIENTS AS BEST I CAN."
Ozonezma the Capricious was a medic along with being a chimera.
Killing many champions in the past, he had left this continent behind in despair following the death of the True Demon King.
With the techniques he'd used to continue his murders as well as improve his own body, he tried to dispel the curse over his own body by saving innocent people to make up for all those whose lives he had taken.
All while carrying something like the Demon King's arm inside me. Truly foolish.
Ultimately, though, in reality, the gnawing at his heart wasn't a sense of guilt over his continued killing at all.
It was because the most loathsome origin of said curse had been quite literally inside him all along.
"…I DO NOT MEAN TO DIRECTLY ASSIST WITH ZIGITA ZOGI'S BATTLE. TO AVOID INVITING ANY UNWANTED SUSPICIONS, IDEALLY, I WILL DEPART RIGHT AFTER THE EIGHTH MATCH. I ASK YOU TO TAKE THAT INTO ACCOUNT."
"Understood. In that case, we'll be waiting for you at the castle garden theater."
The messenger slipped through the window he had left open and disappeared.
Not a single trace was left behind.
DURING THE EIGHTH MATCH, THERE WILL BE A LARGE-SCALE OUTBREAK OF CORPSES. THAT WOULD THEN MEAN…SOMEONE IS TARGETING ZIGITA ZOGI'S MATCH TO BRING ABOUT SUCH AN EVENT.
After the messenger departed, Ozonezma went to sleep for a spell.
He woke when this stable's master, Yuca the Halation Gaol, appeared. "How are you feeling?"
"…NOT BAD."
"Ha-ha-hah. That's some impressive resilience, I'll say that. Chimeras are something. You can already fight freely now, right?"
"I HAVE NOT TESTED THAT EXACTLY. IS THE SEARCH GOING WELL?
"You mean Kaete and Kiyazuna? Not at all. The day of the sixth match, we found a large number of bloodstains in a back alley inside the old town. But there's been no bodies yet—there's talk that even that could've been a diversionary tactic, too. It's Kaete and all. He's definitely thinks things through a
lot more than me; it's annoying."
BLOODSTAINS? IF THERE IS A VAMPIRE MIXED IN WITHIN THE HERO CANDIDATES…I SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST TRIED TO GET THAT MUCH INFORMATION OUT OF THAT MESSENGER.
For the Sixways Exhibition, Ozonezma's chosen strategy had been to cut off information about himself and others from Gimeena City, then focus everything he had on his own match. He didn't possess any information on the other hero candidates that didn't directly involve himself.
It was a purposeful strategy. Since Zigita Zogi was such a brilliant tactician, any information shared from him couldn't possibly be gotten for free. He had determined that knowing too much information about the other hero candidates would risk other camps targeting him as well.
However, now he would be going on his own to the castle garden theater. Due to a forecasted corpse infection, at that. He would also need information on Zigita Zogi's opponent.
Ozonezma looked at the clock.
THE EIGHTH MATCH SHOULD BE STARTING SOON.
—Uhak the Silent. He only knew the name and had no idea what sort of person they were.
"YUCA. HOW DO YOU SEE THE EIGHTH MATCH PLAYING OUT?"
"Hmm? You mean who'll win? Normally, a fight between an ogre and a goblin, it'd be obvious who'd win there, but…Zigita Zogi's real strong and all."
"…OGRE."
With that single word, he felt as if all the hair on his body had stood up on end.
He tossed his head. Why hadn't the thought come to him?
The entire time, up until his loss in the third match, Ozonezma had been lost in madness.
Even though what he saw, or what he didn't try to see, didn't serve him at all in his judgments.
"DID YOU SAY 'OGRE'?"
"Yeah. A gray-colored ogre, doesn't speak a word. That said, though, I haven't heard anything about him myself. No idea where he came from or— Ozonezma?"
Ozonezma kicked off the ground before Yuca could stop him.
By the time the hay thrown up by the gust had fallen to the ground, he was already gone.
The day of the eighth match. The waiting room at the castle garden theater.
Hiroto the Paradox wasn't present in Zigita Zogi's waiting room.
No matter how close their collaborative relationship may have been, during the Sixways Exhibition, the only ones allowed in the waiting room areas were his sponsor or people directly involved with them.
As the match drew close at hand, the door opened, and someone entered the room.
"Zigita Zogi. Got a minute?"
Twenty-Fourth General, Dant the Heath Furrow. Zigita Zogi's sponsor. "Certainly. There's still some time left."
"…I know this is right before your match, but it seems Nofelt still hasn't returned to Aureatia."
Sixteenth General, Nofelt the Somber Wind. Uhak the Silent's sponsor. "I see. Any investigation on Aureatia's end?"
"It hasn't turned into an incident yet. Nofelt's schedule has him returning to the city today. But…wouldn't he have come back in the morning? As of right now, no one has been able to get a handle on his movements."
"Supposing Nofelt never returns, what would then happen to me?" "...I can assume that you've done something, then, haven't you?" "Well now. For the time being, it would seem our luck isn't all that bad."
Although he was a part of Hiroto's camp as well, Dant, one of the Twenty- Nine Officials, was unaware of the full circumstances regarding Nofelt. The man hadn't responded to Kuze the Passing Disaster's persuasions and was cut down by the blade of death on the spot.
As long as his sponsor's death hadn't been verified, Uhak the Silent, strictly speaking, wasn't disqualified. Much like the hero candidate swap in the fourth match, even if a candidate's sponsor met a sudden untimely end, a hero candidate could continue on in the Sixways Exhibition by naming a replacement sponsor.
However, Nofelt couldn't arrive at the garden theater. Zigita Zogi believed that the chances of Uhak showing up were also extremely low.
…Uhak the Silent has no initiative of his own.
From the start, Uhak wasn't a shura who had become a hero candidate of his own volition. He was brought all the way to Aureatia by Nofelt, registered as a hero candidate, and merely fought to go along with some orders or obligations.
The Alimo Row massacre was the one and only case where it appeared he had taken action of his own will.
What was his objective, and why is he appearing in the Sixways Exhibition…? Ideally, I would've liked to gather information about his motives as well. No matter how deeply we probed into his personal background, that alone seemed practically nonexistent.
"Just what is Uhak the Silent's goal in participating anyway?" Dant vocalized the same question in Zigita Zogi's thoughts.
"…I have investigated Uhak the Silent's past. Nothing at all is known about before he appeared in Alimo Row, but…right now, the only thing Uhak has is his connection to the Order. First, he was saved by Cunodey the Ring Seat, then he followed Nofelt, a child raised by the Order, to become a hero candidate… and I've been told by Master Kuze the Passing Disaster himself that during the raid on the almshouse, the ogre saved him. Although we still don't know the 'why'…at present, it's clear to see who he serves."
"..."
Zigita Zogi had collected information on all the Order children across the entire continent and used that to bring Kuze the Passing Disaster into Hiroto's camp. His reasoning didn't just stop at the man's usefulness as an assassin, but was also used as a part of his long-term plan to use the Order connection to manage Uhak the Silent.
Securing Uhak the Silent was an essential requirement for Zigita Zogi, the individually weakest candidate in the tournament, to advance through the Sixways Exhibition.
"What about you?" asked Dant. "…By me, you mean what, exactly?"
"Are you following the orders of Hiroto the Paradox the individual? Or do you seek to manipulate Hiroto's power, too, if it helps your goal of seeping into Aureatia? In your case, you've never deliberately talked through it all."
"I see. Master Hiroto is more the one who would enjoy these sorts of topics. I myself… Well, it's not in my nature to bring up my own goals, or what have you, on my own."
Zigita Zogi the Thousandth was a Zogi blood descendant, continuing down from Zegegu Zogi the Stone Dam. His forefather, Zegegu Zogi, was the wisest goblin of his age, one of the first companions Hiroto the Paradox gained for himself, and Zigita Zogi was told he had perished soon after fulfilling his grand undertaking of searching for the new continent.
Zigita Zogi was fighting in part to fulfill Zegegu Zogi's ardent wish.
Even when he, a commander, was confronted with the condition to participate in the Sixways Exhibition, as a hostage from capitulated Okafu, the agreement had come without a moment's hesitation.
However, that was purely because he had thought, of his own will, that was best.
"It's not about whether I serve Master Hiroto or if I'm using him. Let's see. While this may not sound like something a tactician such as myself would say
—"
The minia who had, since the age of a faceless ancestor, striven harder toward the goblins' growth than anyone else.
The minia who hadn't hesitated to declare that the single dose of vampire antiserum that they received from Haade the Flashpoint as compensation for their cooperation would be given to Zigita Zogi and not himself.
Who had said that as long as Zigita Zogi remained, there was a future for goblins.
"I like him. Master Hiroto."
"…I can believe it," Dant quietly replied. "The man's a truly terrifying politician, after all. Jovialness, friendliness, a striking gift for attracting others—I can't help but see the man as the complete opposite of what makes a suitable politician. He's argumentative, weird, and even a bit suspicious, yet for some reason, I can't help wishing that I would become a friend of his."
"Master Dant… So you do not seek to become a friend of Master Hiroto's, then, I take it?"
"…That's right."
Dant had said that all the tactical decisions were made by Zigita Zogi, but that wasn't true.
When it came time for them to come to Aureatia as a hero candidate, it was Hiroto the Paradox who'd chosen Dant. At the time, it didn't only have an element of currying favor…but there was something else. Something that Dant the Heath Furrow possessed that Hiroto needed to smoothly move things toward the future.
…Eventually turning him into an ally. Whoever it may be, as long as they could become an ally, there wasn't anything more to ask for.
The door opened.
"Zigita Zogi the Thousandth. The match will begin shortly."
It was a soldier with the castle garden theater, charged with leading the hero
candidates to the arena.
"Get your equipment in order until then and wait until someone comes to summon you."
"…The match?"
"Yes, General Dant. Is something the matter?"
"No, well…nothing that major. This means that Uhak the Silent's arrived, then…? Is Nofelt with him?"
"...? Yes, that's right, they both turned up a short while ago. Now then, if you'll excuse me."
"..."
The soldier left the room. Zigita Zogi and Dant both remained silent for a time.
Uhak the Silent had appeared. The principle governing his conduct still remained a mystery.
"…Well then, with that, I'll have no choice left but to fight. Reluctant though I am."
"Zigita Zogi. You said that this invisible army behind the scenes of the Sixways Exhibition had a vampire, right? That Obsidian Eyes, connected with Zeljirga, was moving as an independent faction of its own."
"…Yes. With all likelihood."
"What if Uhak the Silent is being controlled to appear in this match?"
"That would be impossible. The vampire's virus should fall under the effects of Uhak's Word Arts nullification. Like dragons and oozes, their very activity would be erased."
"In that case, what of the possibility that Uhak's appearance at this match is the outcome Obsidian Eyes planned for?"
"That is very plausible, yes… The point about Nofelt's arrival is worrisome… There's a chance, for example, that the perceptions of everyone in the area are being manipulated and misled."
Zigita Zogi raised one finger.
"I made a single error in this battle—having Okafu's mercenaries withdraw from Aureatia in response to the invisible army's infiltration. In other words, Obsidian realized that at least one person in Hiroto's camp, that person highly likely to be myself, had immediately caught on to their existence. We have been spreading the information that this enemy is a vampire to various other camps, but there are still very few who are earnestly responding to the news. If there was one person to target first, it would be me."
"In that case…Zigita Zogi. This match is dangerous. Assuming Uhak's defeated, there's the chance some other intruder could appear in the arena and try to dispose of you. If the enemy's a vampire, that's a possible option for them."
"Oh my, I am surprised to hear you, Master Dant, showing any concern my way… Please, no need to worry. If they do barge into the arena, then surely there won't be any problem with throwing in an intruder of our own."
"…Ozonezma?"
"I know he won't be one to sit on the side quietly. In addition, I have laid some number of our own army in the audience as well. If there is any suspicious movement in the stands or near the arena entrance, our force of numbers will be able to keep them back."
"…Hmph. You plan on using that proud military force of yours? The Sixways Exhibition is one-on-one, you know."
"Yes. So long as the other side follows the same rules, of course."
Zigita Zogi muffled his voice and smiled, and even serious and stern Dant couldn't help following it with a half-arced smirk of his own.
"…Master Dant. If possible, can I ask you to make contact with Nofelt? Seventh Minister Flinsuda's medical team will arrive in short order. Please meet up with them. I'm certain that there will be someone involved with this invisible army waiting to ambush you. Please make the proper provisions, assuming there will be hostilities."
"…You even arranged for a medical team?"
"Yes. Flinsuda the Portent is someone who will act for the right price, you see. In terms of economic clout, Hiroto does not fall behind the other camps at all, mind you. Besides, that isn't the only strategy being put into action today."
"Geez, you people…"
Spitting statements that sounded irritated yet resembled words of confidence, Dant took his sword.
"Go out there and win, Zigita Zogi the Thousandth."
"The same to you, Dant the Heath Furrow. Give everything you have for the Queen."
Dant disappeared from the waiting room.
What remained was Zigita Zogi's own preparations for his match. He donned a thick iron helm that completely enveloped his face.
Along with protecting his head, it was meant to hide his features from the large unknown masses witnessing the match—additionally, this helmet had a
third function in this fight.
He planned on bringing a crossbow into the arena with him, but to Zigita Zogi, that was little more than a backup weapon. The weapon he utilized was a large and long alloy ax strapped to his back.
In a one-on-one true duel, Zigita Zogi was unable to bring his true weapon, his army of goblin soldiers, into the arena. Even then, the unparalleled tactician was still able to ready surefire tactics for his victory.
"Zigita Zogi the Thousandth. It's match time. I shall reaffirm your will to battle in this match here."
Zigita Zogi replied to the soldier guide who had appeared again. "That won't be necessary. Let's head out now."
"As you wish."
The soldier guide had one arm slung in a bandage. From the conversation he'd heard during the negotiations with Haade, there had been a disturbance behind the scenes of the third match, and one person had been injured.
The invisible army is everywhere.
There was always the possibility of being ambushed, even during the short walk to the arena.
Vampires and corpses infected others either through direct mucous contact or by pouring a large amount of blood through an open wound. Was there any possibility that this soldier had been turned into a corpse when he was cut by the invisible army?
Zigita Zogi's equipment was also a means to immediately suppress such an enemy.
"…I smell blood. I believe you should have a doctor look at that wound of yours."
"It's already undergone Life Arts treatment."
"Quite… However, I merely thought I could introduce you to a more skilled physician, perhaps."
Before long, Zigita Zogi arrived at the arena.
At the same time, a colossal ogre appeared from the opposite corridor—Uhak the Silent.
He did come after all.
In between the pair, the adjudicator, Twenty-Sixth Minister Meeka the Whispered, shouted:
"Combatants, take your appointed positions and face each other!"
As he checked the direction of the wind, Zigita Zogi faced toward Uhak.
Even among other ogres, Uhak was remarkably large. Compared with Zigita Zogi, he was more than three times his size.
Both of his eyes, staring back at Zigita Zogi, were fathomless and white, like a mirror.
"…Well then. I didn't wish to fight at all, if possible." Zigita Zogi entwined the fingers of his hands together.
Confronting an ogre one-on-one was, for a majority of the creatures in the land, synonymous with death.
Goblins were a species that relied on numbers from their fecundity, and their individual strength was inferior to even a minia's. Nor did they excel with Word Arts when compared with other races, either.
However, when it came to Zigita Zogi the Thousandth, even overturning this racial disparity was possible.
The weapons Zigita Zogi was utilizing in the Sixways Exhibition were not superb racial physical strength or supernatural ability. It wasn't any lethal technical prowess he had honed to perfection. It wasn't even some irreproducible magic item, either.
Electrolyzing table salt produces sodium hydroxide. If this was heated and melted down together with naturally occurring quartz, it generated sodium silicate. From that sodium silicate, one could obtain sodium metasilicate.
There was a third mechanism to the iron helmet that completely covered the goblin's head. It consisted of goggles to protect his eyes and a sodium- metasilicate respirator that filtered outside air—in essence, to give it an internal gasproof filter.
Uhak the Silent. Just what sort of moves do you have, then? Strategies?
Tricks? Techniques?
Additionally, on Zigita Zogi's back, he bore an alloy metal ax.
Even in a world without large-scale processing plants or stringent laboratory environments, it wasn't impossible to create such a substance. By combusting coke under a constant temperature, it was possible to produce carbon monoxide. Through the process of electrolyzing table salt, one was able to obtain chlorine.
There was a substance that could be produced by reacting carbon monoxide and chlorine under sunlight.
If it came into contact with the membrane of the ocular mucosa, it would immediately produce hydrochloric acid and induce intense inflammation, rendering one unable to fight.
From there, it would invade the respiratory organs, inducing aftereffects
leading to pulmonary edema.
In the Beyond, it was a key substance in chemical manufacturing as well as a deadly poison that terrorized soldiers in a great war… Its name meant "synthesized from the sun" in the Greek language.
Carbonyl dichloride—phosgene.
This will be my first move.
Even Uhak, negating any and all Word Arts, was unable to deny its power. The power Zigita Zogi wielded was the power of civilization itself.
The spectator seats.
As Hiroto the Paradox watched intently, the eighth match was about to get underway.
…Kuze didn't kill Nofelt?
Uhak the Silent had appeared. It was clear he had a sponsor. Hiroto, not witnessing the moment in person, hadn't confirmed Nofelt's death with his own eyes, but it was impossible to think Zigita Zogi, the one who'd commanded the operation, hadn't verified the body for himself.
Supposing that there was possibility that this "angel" who haunted Kuze could induce not instant death but a temporary state of suspended animation.
Or instead, the possibility that there was some deal between Kuze and Zigita Zogi, and they had left Nofelt alive for a future stratagem. When considering Kuze's personality, this seemed like the far more likely possibility.
…Even then, there isn't much I can do. When it comes to matters martial and tactical, I can't lend any help to Zigita Zogi from here.
"..."
He realized that the audience around him was withdrawing like a receding tide. Hiroto muttered, still facing toward the arena. "…I would avoid interacting with me."
A massive beast, his single body seemingly filling up all the space the retreating audience left behind, was present at his side.
Everyone besides Hiroto feared the grotesque creature and looked at it from afar.
A streamlined beast, resembling a massive and bizarre wolf, with bluish- silver fur. Ozonezma the Capricious.
"HAAAH, HAAAH…"
His breathing was terribly ragged. It was hard to believe a creature like Ozonezma would get like this just from running at full speed. This breathing was psychogenic. He was scared.
"Or maybe…Ozonezma. Do you have some personal business with me?" "DID—DID YOU KNOW?"
The fiendish and wicked tone in his voice was unlike anything Hiroto had ever heard from the chimera before.
"DID YOU REALLY KNOW WHO EXACTLY ZIGITA ZOGI'S OPPONENT WAS?"
"Of course I knew. We've done plenty of preliminary research into Uhak the Silent's origins and his abilities. However—"
Hiroto sensed it with his mercurial wit. That wasn't it.
This was decidedly not the answer to Ozonezma's question.
He wasn't even looking at Hiroto. With bloodshot eyes, he was staring at Uhak in the arena.
"Ozonezma. You…know something. Something about Uhak the Silent." "HIROTO! QUICK… YOU HAVE TO CALL OFF ZIGITA ZOGI'S
MATCH IMMEDIATELY! IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO PASS! THAT IS ONE THING…HE CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO LOSE!"
"What…? Just what exactly do you know…?"
A cold sweat flowed down the back of Hiroto's neck. Was it fear of the truth? Zigita Zogi hadn't passed any information regarding Uhak the Silent over to Ozonezma the Capricious whatsoever. Ozonezma was supposed to be the trump card of Hiroto's camp's, and it had been to prevent Uhak's abilities from being
handed over to another camp.
In which case, what could he, without having a single change to interact with Uhak at all, possibly know about him?
"I KNOW!"
Uhak possessed the power of true and pure dispelling. Before him, any and all Word Arts were meaningless.
Why was he battling in the Sixways Exhibition? Why had he come here? No one knew the answers.
Perhaps, that wasn't because one had never been able to find them…
"I KNOW EVERYTHING FROM THE BEGINNING. UHAK THE SILENT… THAT NAME IS WRONG, TOO!"
The starting gun ringing out from the band felt horribly far away. The match began.
At any moment, Zigita Zogi would deal with the ogre. Hiroto couldn't stop him.
The only thing that resounded was the cry:
"SETERA! HIS NAME IS SETERA! THE ONE WHO KILLED THE DEMON KING… HE'S THE TRUE HERO!"
Match eight. Zigita Zogi the Thousandth versus Uhak the Silent.