Chapter 85

Chapter 85. What a Load of Dogshit

Everyone was shocked by Balun’s strike, which had smashed the heads of two Trolls, but the one even more shocked than them was actually Balun himself.

He had thought that, at most, he might be able to cut off the neck of one.

But he had killed two of them?

And he had done so by outright bursting their heads apart?

Balun could not understand it at all, even though he was the one who had done it.

Well, fine. He had confirmed that the power was strong, so let us say he could somehow manage one. Then what about the other one? What was the deal with the other Troll whose head had burst along with it, when the axe had not even touched it?

Had some kind of wind blast flown out of the axe? It did feel as if a powerful gust had erupted for an instant.

‘Anyway, this consumes quite a lot of stamina. I really have to save this for important moments.’

While Balun was thinking that, the Knights who had been frozen blankly for a moment came to their senses and charged in.

“To die from an attack that was not even Aura. They were easier than I expected!”

“Did you see that? They are nothing but weak Trolls, so do not be afraid!”

The Knights charged forward while shouting loudly.

They rushed in with their swords coated in Aura held out in front of them.

Graaaah!

WHAM!

“Guh!”

They were struck by a Troll’s kick and sent flying far away. The impact seemed to have been great, because they could not easily stand up and were clutching their chests while coughing up blood.

Balun was so dumbfounded that a hollow laugh escaped him, but the Knights seemed to see it and picked a fight.

“You bastard. Are you laughing at me right now?”

“I am not laughing at you. I am just dumbfounded.”

“What?”

“Are you an idiot? If you charge straight in like that, a Troll will obviously kick you. You will not get hit if you move in a zigzag like me. Tsk tsk.”

“What? An idiot? Stupid?”

One of the Knights trembled.

“What a heinous bastard! Do you dare insult me, Sir Poltren, the sword of Zadir?”

Had Balun struck the sore spot perfectly?

Perhaps forgetting even his pain, the Knight shouted at the top of his lungs with a reddened face.

“What do you know about chivalry that you dare lecture me so arrogantly? A Knight is, by nature, a sword of justice that faces the enemy’s attack fair and square! Even if the opponent is an evil monster, there is no exception!”

“So you are saying you did not dodge the attack because you had to uphold chivalry?”

“Yes!”

“That is truly an impressive mindset.”

“Hmph! If you managed it, there is no reason this body of mine cannot! I will show you clearly that you are a frog in a well!”

Balun chuckled. It was because he understood that Knight’s true feelings.

He was clearly jealous because an ignorant Barbarian had landed a proper blow.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain that behavior.

No matter what, he was still a Knight in name.

“I understand, so please step forward already. Since earlier, I have been doing all the—eek!—hard work, whoo! Can you not see that?”

Balun spoke while repeatedly throwing himself aside. In truth, Balun had been drawing the aggro of the remaining three Trolls by himself this entire time. Thanks to that, he was performing an acrobatic show he had never asked for.

An acrobatic show of dodging the Trolls’ wildly swinging fists and kicks, that was.

The Trolls were thoroughly enraged, perhaps because their own kind had died.

How angry did they have to be to ignore everyone else and aim only for Balun?

“Grr! You bastard!”

“Poltren, enough. Many eyes are watching. Barbarian, I apologize. We will join in at once as well. We cannot simply be a burden.”

Fortunately, another Knight mediated, so the conflict did not spread any further. Thanks to them joining in belatedly, Balun’s situation became considerably easier.

“Everyone, get clear!”

At last, the magic was completed.

At the same time as Oskal’s thunderous shout, Balun and the Knights threw themselves outward all at once, and the magic was fired as if it had been waiting for that moment.

A large, blazing fireball.

The fireball, even larger than the Trolls themselves, scattered sparks in every direction as it flew and engulfed the three Trolls.

BOOM!

Graaaaaah!

Soon, the Trolls began thrashing madly in agony.

Together with a stinging burnt smell, Balun stared blankly at the Trolls slowly dying while sprawled flat on the ground. As he watched them turn black from the heat, only admiration came to him.

‘Wow, so this is real magic.’

Balun realized something. The magic he had seen until now had not been magic at all.

That brutal range and killing power, enough to burn several of those vicious monsters to death whole. Was that not what true magic was?

“Whew. Everyone, you worked hard.”

Only then did the Mages approach. Balun pointed at the Trolls with his finger and asked,

“But these keep regenerating. Is this really all right?”

“It is all right. Even if they look intact, they are dead. Their brains should have all burned away.”

“Do their brains not regenerate?”

“Generally, no.”

Balun poked a Troll with the tip of his axe. Aside from being burned black, it looked quite intact. However, the Troll did not even twitch.

“What was the name of the magic you just used?”

“It is a spell called Incineration. It is a unique spell of our Red Tower.”

“Is it strong magic?”

“Of course it is. It is a Sixth-Tier flame spell, after all. Since our skills are lacking, that was not even its full power, though. You must have been truly impressed, seeing as you asked about it.”

“Of course. It was incredibly strong. A Troll died in one hit.”

“That is only natural when we poured powerful attack magic into it. But you are the truly impressive one, Balun-nim. You killed Trolls in one blow as well.”

“That was luck.”

“How modest. There is no need to be.”

Balun asked with a serious expression, “If I were hit by that magic just now, I would die too, would I not?”

“Of course. Incineration’s flames do not go out until the target’s life force is severed. Though the story would be different if you had magic resistance on the level of a Dragon.”

“I see.”

Balun nodded. A strand of caution awakened Balun’s loosened mind.

‘If I imagine myself being hit by an attack like that... how terrifying.’

Soon, Balun shook his head. He thought that he had to grow stronger, if only to avoid the misfortune of being killed by such powerful magic.

But his thoughts ended there.

Balun gripped his axe again.

When he stood up and moved, Oskal asked, “Where are you going?”

“To fight.”

“Pardon?”

“I cannot just stay here. There are still many enemies left.”

Balun bravely charged toward the Lizardmen.

It was not because he was truly brave, but because all the Trolls had died, so a speck of his confidence that had been hiding had come back to life.

***

After that, Balun continued fighting without pause.

He cut down Lizardmen, then cut down more. He cut them down alone, cut them down with the Knights, and fought in cooperation with the Mages.

There was no major problem in particular. The major monsters had already been dealt with, so there was nothing especially difficult. It was merely tedious and tiring.

Well, it was neither surprising nor new. War was originally tedious and tiring.

Around the time the sunset dyed the city wall red, the last Lizardman collapsed at the mouth of an alley, and at last, cheers of victory spread through Mirehal.

With shouts ringing out here and there as his background noise, Balun crossed an alley filled with monster corpses and the stench of blood.

He was tired and uncomfortable from fighting continuously. He also had quite a few things to think about. He wanted to hurry back, wash up, rest, and organize his thoughts.

He entered through the wide-open city gate and trudged toward the inn when he felt piercing gazes. They belonged to soldiers.

They approached Balun and spoke with excited expressions.

“Hey, Barbarian! You were truly incredible!”

“You fought really well!”

“Thank you. We survived thanks to you!”

The soldiers chattered away without giving Balun any chance to say anything, then soon gave him a thumbs-up and left. Balun tilted his head with a bewildered expression.

‘What was that?’

However, that was not the end of it. People continued to attach themselves to him, and most of them were soldiers.

They came up, said a word of thanks, and quickly left. Balun found their goodwill extremely unfamiliar.

The same people who had pinched their noses, saying he smelled whenever they met him, had changed their attitude completely in just one day.

Was this right?

In any case, Balun set aside his doubts, returned, washed, and slept. There seemed to be quite a few people calling him, but what did it matter? He was dead tired.

When he opened his eyes, the sun was high in the sky. He had slept for nearly more than twelve hours straight.

‘No, just how many hours did I sleep?’

Balun sprang up, reflexively felt his body, and tilted his head. It was because his body felt indescribably refreshed.

‘Why do I feel this fine? I fought so hard yesterday.’

Was it because he had slept deeply?

Leaving his doubts behind, he went outside.

The atmosphere of the street was quite strange. They had clearly won, yet somehow the mood felt gloomy. People’s faces showed more anxiety and worry than joy. It was quite different from yesterday, when they had shouted cheers of victory.

Balun could not suppress his curiosity and asked a passing merchant.

“Why is the city atmosphere like this? Everyone looks as if they chewed on shit.”

“It cannot be helped. It is a Monster Wave.”

“What about it?”

“You do not know? Monster Waves often do not end in a single attack. In many cases, they lead to follow-up attacks. That is why everyone is sighing.”

“Because monsters might attack again?”

“That is right. If you have nothing else to ask, let me go. I am going to run away quickly too.”

After saying that, the merchant pulled his luggage cart and hurried toward the city gate.

Balun stared at his back for a while before soon moving toward the inner city. He was going to meet the mayor.

He had succeeded in the request, so he had to receive his money.

His precious 500 gold.

And the incentive on top of that.

When he went to the reception room, Mayor Emil was there with the Knights and council members, talking to Oskal. When Balun entered, Emil sprang to his feet and grabbed Balun’s hand. His plump chin fat trembled.

“Oh my, Balun. Why have you only come now? I have been waiting!”

“Sorry. I slept.”

“You slept for two days? You certainly sleep a lot.”

“What?”

“Of course, that cannot be true. What on earth were you doing shut up in the inn for two days?”

Balun tilted his head in confusion.

“What does that mean? I was shut up there for two days?”

“Yes, man. Well, perhaps you were training. That can happen.”

Balun could not hide his bewilderment.

‘So, not one day, but two days straight?’

No wonder his body felt strangely refreshed.

“In any case, thank you. Truly, thank you! Thanks to you, we were able to protect Mirehal. I mean it!”

“The money is ready, right?”

“Huh? O-Of course! Ha ha! Sit down first! We have much to discuss! Someone! Bring refreshments here!”

Balun sat in a chair. A servant quickly brought refreshments. As Balun chewed on a biscuit that looked tasteless and observed the people, their expressions looked quite grave. The council members and the Knights alike.

“Why do you all look like that? Is it because of the Monster Wave too?”

“That is true as well, but there is another reason.”

A council member answered. Balun tilted his head.

“Another reason?”

“It seems you have not heard. Valtr—”

“Councilor. I will explain that.”

Oskal cut off the council member’s words. Oskal cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

“The Kingdom of Valtrien has publicly denounced our Kingdom of Corint.”

“Publicly denounced?”

“They took issue with Monster Waves breaking out in various parts of Corint. They said this Monster Wave is entirely because Corint’s rulers lack virtue. They also said that only the Kingdom of Valtrien can drive out these unvirtuous rulers and save the innocent people.”

Balun blinked at those words. It was because he did not understand.

So.

Monsters attacking was because the rulers lacked virtue?

In other words.

If the rulers lacked virtue, monsters attacked, and if the rulers did not lack virtue, monsters did not attack?

‘No, what kind of dogshit nonsense is this?’

What was funny was that the people did not deny those words and merely nodded.

No matter how he heard it, it sounded like something only an idiot would say, but apparently, these people did not hear it that way.

“So, what does that have to do with anything?”

“About ten days ago, we obtained information that the lords of Valtrien were hiring mercenaries and sending them to the border. It is said that Knights are gathering one by one as well.”

“Wait, then that means...”

“Is it not obvious? War.”

Oskal continued.

“They are targeting our Kingdom of Corint. They will invade before long. It will not take longer than ten days at most. After all, their words are practically no different from a declaration of war.”

Balun went blank.

‘One disaster after another. I killed the monsters, and now it is humans?’

“So, about that. Balun-nim, could you help us—”

“No.”

“No, please listen to what I have to say. How do you know what I am going to—”

“No, either way.”