Chapter 5: Hungry Great Hawk
A Magic Association is, as the name implies, an organization set up by mages for mutual support. It is not clear whether it is a for-profit or non-profit organization, but it is a "recognized" organization that has been granted legal rights by the Kingdom of Yggdrasil.
“After I left the monastery, I was a member of the magic guild in Baltic, a city in the Frontier Count Netzel's territory. The main executives died mysteriously and were absorbed by the Magic Association. After that, I became a mage belonging to the alchemy department of the guild.”
With her hands behind her back, Laira said while walking lightly down the path in the windbreak forest.
The group was moving along the road out of the port, Laira, Christo, and Melvina, who was right next to Christo.
"If I remember correctly, it's about the mysterious gas explosion that happened a year ago."
"Yes, yes. That's how all the main executives died. It's strange, isn't it? The only thing that I can remember is that I was the only one who was safe. The monastery was dismantled and torn apart, and the director, Priest Yohn, died. It is rumored behind my back that I am a woman who brings bad luck, but it is not because I wanted it to happen. It just happened. It's just a coincidence, but it's terrible. Don't you think so?"
"I think so. Everyone wants a reason for their misfortune. It's a cruel saga of an intelligent being."
"Aha. Melvina, you're a nice one. If it were handsome-kun, he'd say [I don't think so. You're an unhappy woman]."
"Is that so?"
Christo lowered his eyebrows and opened his mouth.
He wouldn't say anything like that in front of Melvina which would have lowered her opinion of him.
"I would never say such a slanderous thing about a person."
"I don't think so. You've been rather merciless with me, haven't you, handsome-kun?"
"How did you two get to know each other?"
Melvina asks with a gentle smile.
Laira was holding a staff in her right hand, but she spread her arms out and shrugged her shoulders.
The staff almost hit Christo.
"Nothing special. It's just an ordinary encounter. The first time was when I met handsome-kun when we were weeding together at the monastery."
"Hey, Laira. Stop saying [First time]."
The word "first time" is used in the sense of the beginning of a relationship.
It's one of the top words he doesn't want her to say in front of Melvina.
Or rather, it is dangerous to talk in this direction.
If it goes too far, it will end up being a conversation about how she and Christo had been sex partners for a long time.
Christo, who had just been sent to the monastery by Ixel, was a pure and innocent boy who got erections at the sight of girls' underwear and ejaculated by masturbating (he did not yet have the idea of handling it).
This was followed by a prostate ejaculation by a middle-aged female priest named Margret Ingession, who was then the vice-director of the monastery, which hurt his male pride and instilled in him a fear of sex.
Margret became infatuated with the beautiful and tormented Christo boy, and from then on Christo was the target of Margret's relentless butt-hole pursuit.
To put it simply, it was hell.
Christo, who could not refuse Margret's love, wrote a letter to Ixel saying, "I'm getting my asshole dug every day. Please send me back to Soderholm Castle, please. If you don't help me soon, your precious Christopher will grow up to be a pervert who can only ejaculate while prostating," was all he could do to beg.
It was Laira who took Christo out of such a hell and healed his heart.
Laira, who was one year younger than Christo, was the prettiest girl in the monastery, and he liked her style. In addition, they talked well together, so he spent all of his fifteen years of age sleeping with Laira.
Laira was as crazy as Gwendolyn, but because of this, Christo couldn't push her away, and she was stuck in the position of being a difficult woman to deal with.
"Ah... By the way, there are a lot of torches lined up over there. Is that... near the pioneer village?"
"That's right. It's the camp of the Band of the Great Hawk of Salvation."
Laira turns her head around and answers.
“Lately, there have been a lot of attacks by magical beasts in the pioneer village. They sent a party of adventurers to the village, but no one returned. So, they sent out a large-scale request to the mercenaries, who had some free time now that the war in the northern [Frozen Plains] has ended."
"You are very knowledgeable."
“I heard about it at the Adventurers' Guild during the day. I heard it all from the receptionist."
"Is there an Adventurers' Guild anywhere near here?"
Melvina asked, a little bit eagerly.
Laira nodded "Yeah" and pointed in the direction of the port.
"It is located directly opposite the castle, halfway between the pioneer village and the former monastery territory. It's about five kilometers from here."
"So you've traveled a lot today."
"Well, yes. I'm staying at the Adventurers' Guild, so I'm going for a five-kilometer run today."
"If you are at the port, you are not here to kill monsters or gather medicinal herbs, are you? Why on earth did you travel five kilometers?"
"To gather information. Have you ever heard of the Philosopher's Stone?"
Christo and Melvina unanimously answered in the affirmative to Laira's question.
The Philosopher's Stone is a substance that is both an attainment and a passage in alchemy.
Its effect is to rewrite the laws that govern the world today and bring about a limited number of laws from the time when magic was commonplace, when the ancient gods ruled.
No catalyst, no alchemical preparation.
Alchemy can be activated instantly.
Because of its valuable effect, many alchemists have tried to produce it, but there have been no successes.
Although it exists in nature and can be collected, it was monopolized by the vampires of the "Night Empire" in ancient times, and it is extremely difficult to find the Philosopher's Stone in the current Kingdom of Yggdrasil.
"[Immortal Gold], [Invincible Silver], and [Immortal Black Iron] ――the Philosopher's Stone is essential for these three types of alchemy. I am looking for the Philosopher's Stone in order to be able to handle these three arts at will."
"All of them are alchemy for combat."
"Ah, no, they are not. If you use the immortal gold to create gold, you can make money."
Melvina opened her mouth again at Laira's words, but in the end, she closed her mouth without saying anything.
"Immortal Gold" is a technique that turns the surrounding matter into gold, but the gold that is produced becomes an immutable and immortal object.
Gold can be processed to become ornaments, currency, or gold bars, but the gold created by the "immortal gold" is unbreakable, untransformable by heat, and unworkable.
Therefore, it has no value as gold and is used only in battle.
(The "immortal gold" is one of the most powerful means of attack of the vampire races.)
Vampires are a race that specializes in alchemical attacks, in addition to transforming their blood, hair, and nails into weapons.
The "immortal gold" is considered to be a different substance from gold, and anyone who falsely claims to sell it as gold is guilty of fraud.
"There is a forest to the north of the pioneer village, but it seems that there is a swamp beyond the forest where the gods of the old days are said to sleep."
Laira continued while looking at the pioneer village.
"In the swamp, there is the fruit of the "holy tree" that descended hundreds of years ago. A star reader I know told me that the Philosopher's Stone is buried at the base of the tree. I don't know if it's true or not."
"Are you going to monopolize the philosopher's stone? You will be wanted by the Magic Association."
"My current boss is rich and a pervert, but he is kind to his subordinates. Don't worry."
Christo thought that her boss might be the next to go down the drain, but it was none of Christo's business what happened to Laira, so he decided to ignore it.
After that, he and Laira parted ways down the port path.
Christo and Melvina head towards Soderholm Castle.
Laira heads towards the adventurer's guild on the other side.
"Let's meet again, you two."
Laira, smiling in the twilight, seemed like a blood-drunk vampire, perhaps because of her red lipstick.
× × ×
Melvina and Christo go down a country road in the wilderness.
It was a beautiful moonlit night, and they walked leisurely, both of them looking up at the sky.
There was no particular conversation during the walk, but it was not awkward at all, in fact, the silence that flowed was pleasant. For some reason, his heart pounded in his chest as he savored the damp, earthy scent of the country road. As he searched for the cause of the sudden irregular pulse, he realized that it was because Melvina's body heat had been transmitted to his hand, which had been connected to his hand before he knew it.
(Returning with a wife? If he had lived, he would have been deeply moved.)
Soderholm Castle stands on a small hill surrounded by a river and reed fields, and they held hands until they came to a wooden bridge over the river.
When they saw a guard with a torch at the closed gate on the other side of the bridge, they let go of each other's hands and moved somewhat away.
"Stop! Who are you!?"
“I am Christopher Soderholm and I have been invited by Blaise Hengen, who works here. Next to me is my fiancée, Melvina Lou."
"Christopher-dono?"
The guard raises a torch to check Christo's face.
By the way, almost all the soldiers who knew of Christo when he is young had been dismissed.
Due to the intention of the Holy Tree Church, all the soldiers who served the demon Ixel were exiled.
So, the guard who was checking his face now was a soldier who was under Frontier Count Netzel.
They had only met once before, when he had come with Gwendolyn, but either because they had good memories or because so few nobles visited the castle, both guards nodded and waved their torches as soon as they saw Christo's face.
The gate creaked and opened inwards, and beyond it, he could see the houses of the castle town that had sunk into darkness.
"I believe Blaise Hengen is in the square in front of the castle building."
"Actually, it seems that the members of the [Band of the Great Hawk of Salvation] arrived in the wilderness this morning, and that they are almost finished setting up their encampment, so the advance party will be there to greet them. Right now, they are having a meeting about what to do about the food issue for the group and what words to say at the greeting."
"I see. Then it seems that we have arrived at a busy time. I should have left earlier. I apologize."
"No, no. Please go on without worrying about it."
He thanked the two guards and entered the castle town.
Even though it's called a castle town, there are only a dozen crude wooden houses.
The houses serve as sleeping quarters for Netzel's administrators and soldiers.
No one is here with their families, so there are no lights in any of the houses and no sign of life.
"Not a single cat."
"There's no meat or fish. Rather than looking for mice and insects here, they'd rather live in the villages outside the castle and have no trouble finding food."
An administrative officer named Blaise Hengen was a person who occasionally came to the Holy Sword Academy and asked Christo to solve various problems. From what he heard in small talk, he was hungry as he all eats potatoes and beer.
He also said that he could not read well because of this, and that it was difficult for him to understand what people were saying, even without using a dialect.
"What kind of person is this Blaise Hengen?"
"He's a serious man. He's like a kind middle-aged man."
He is a hard worker who is so serious that he can't tell a lie.
When entrusted with a job, he works hard no matter how hard it is.
He never complains too much.
However, he was a person who was weak-willed and even when he worked hard, he sometimes came up short due to a lack of ability. Until he got the hang of it, he would make the same mistake seven or eight times, and he would overlook numbers or misread materials because he was not very thorough. He could not distinguish between work that needed to be done immediately and work that did not need to be done immediately, and he sometimes did things that were not to the point.
One of Blaise's subordinates was excellent, and when Christo was not supporting him, he seemed to be able to get the job done.
Christo thought that the environment and food at Söderholm Castle might have caused Blaise and his staff to make mistakes because they were not in perfect physical condition. If they were going to be left behind, their boss Netzel should be a little more supportive. He felt sorry for them.
They passed through the quiet castle town and reached the second gate leading to the castle.
There was a guard standing there as well, and the same exchange of words was repeated.
After passing through the second gate and walking up the path, they finally arrived at the front of the castle building.
A fire was being lit in the square in front of the castle, and several people seemed to be gathered around it, discussing the situation. As the guard said, they were in the middle of a meeting. A meeting under the evening sky is a tasteful thing to do.
When Christo went to the side of the bulletin board in the square, Blaise seemed to have noticed the visitors and came over to him in a hurry.
A middle-aged man with a tired face, whom Christo had not seen in a long time, stood in front of him.
"Hello, Christopher-kun. Welcome. And I'm sorry for calling you."
“Blaise-san, it's been a long time. I'm glad to see you and the others are doing well.”
Christo looked at the faces of the administrative officers standing behind Blaise and the judicial officers with dark circles under their eyes. There was one person among them who was neither an administrator nor a judicial officer.
He was an old man named Ronnie, who had been there when Cristo was a child.
He had a decoration on a towel wrapped around his head that indicated his status as a supply officer.
"Welcome back, Christo-boy", said the old man in a hoarse voice, his eyes widening. This old man Ronnie acts as a bridge between the residents of the neighborhood and the temporary government, but he seems to be unable to do his job well due to his age.
“I’m back, Ronnie. I'm glad to see you are well."
“Nikolai. Let's call Nikolai, your instructor. He will be crying for joy."
“…You rehired Nikolai Hepken?”
When Christo asked Blaise, Blaise tilted his head.
"No, I don't think we hired him. I thought he was working for the adventurer party [Knights of the Pioneer Village]. Something about the last time I read his name somewhere......."
"That old man's misunderstanding."
A bespectacled young man standing next to Blaise said in a mocking tone.
"That old man is stupid."
"Caspar. Stop it."
“No. I'm not going to stop. If you'd like to quickly end the meeting that's been going on for a while, I can think about it."
"It's an important meeting."
"I don't care. I feel like we should finish the food issue sooner. Or rather, you are late, so we quickly prepared the materials. Let's go with that. There's no other way."
"H-hey, Caspar-kun, let's leave it at that."
A judicial officer with dark circles under his eyes spoke into his ear.
"Tch."
"...Hahaha. I'm sorry, he's just not disciplined. We showed you an unsightly side."
"No."
Christo shook his head.
At that moment, he saw a small figure wearing a black hood going out the back door of the castle.
Christo's eyes saw through the darkness.
The hooded figure looked like a woman.
Perhaps noticing Christo's gaze, the woman glanced toward him.
Only half of her face, which was not covered by the hood, was visible.
"...Yattrud Hoffston?"
"What's wrong?"
The bespectacled administrative officer said irritably.
He turned to the woman in the hood.
"What's wrong with Yattrud? She's been working here since the beginning of April."
"I thought I hadn't met her the last time I came."
On the contrary, it didn't catch Christo's perception, who was sensitive to the smell of women.
Yattrud turned an emotionless gaze at Christo.
"――――"
Without taking her eyes off Christo, she kept her gaze and quickly disappeared toward the food storage behind the castle building.
"Do you know her?"
"She's a childhood friend from the pioneer village. She is five years younger than me. I only knew her until she was ten, but she was a friendly girl with a carefree smile."
"Yattrud has come from the pioneer village to help us."
Blaise says in a soft voice.
"As you can see, we are all men here. Ronnie frequently gets the amount of salt wrong, so the meals she cooks for us come in handy."
"I see."
Christo looks into the darkness where Yattrud has disappeared.
A haze of vision through the darkness.
There is no sign of Yattrud in the darkness.
Yet, he still felt a strong gaze directed toward him.
He thought about using his authority to make Yattrud come to them, but Christo is a person who respects the will of others, and he didn't want to use his authority as a demon unnecessarily. In particular, he did not want to use the art of enchantment against his childhood friend.
Despite feeling stuck, Christo turned his attention back to Blaise.
"I hear the Band of the Giant Hawk of Salvation is on its way."
"Ah, yes. They told me they would be coming soon. We are waiting for them."
“Director, it seems that they have come.”
The bespectacled administrative officer pointed toward the second gate.
A guard with a torch was approaching us from the slope.
Looking toward the bridge over the river, a dozen torches were swaying in front of the bridge.
From the group, he could feel the presence of a powerful warrior.
"You've come all this way. Christopher, will you join us?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Is that all right with you guys?"
"Haa, anything is fine. Do whatever you like. ……Tch, I want to go home."
(Since a while ago, this bespectacled man―― Caspar is getting very irritated.)
Or rather, he almost irritates me.
Caspar is excellent at paperwork, but he is a man who is hated by Netzel's confidants for disturbing the circle. Looking at it this way, Netzel was good at allocating his human resources.
He keeps things running, and there is no one here who has the temerity to raise an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, yes, then everyone, it is as planned! The other party is of the [Band of the Great Hawk of Salvation]. Let's not be rude!"
To Blaise's voice, the people there replied in a dead voice.
× × ×
"Tigeeeerrr! Puuuunchhh!"
A large, hairy fist pierces the heavens.
The pressure of the fist caused a tremendous gust of wind, and the wig on Blaise's head was blown off, revealing his bald head.
"Ah……"
"Tigeeeeeerrrr! Knuuuuckleee!"
"Aaahh, m-my glasseeees! G-glasses! Glasseeees!"
The fist roared again.
The screams of Caspar, the bespectacled administrator, overshadowed the roar that pierced the square of Soderholm Castle.
In the square are Christo, the administrators, and the three executives of the Band of the Great Hawk of Salvation who have come to greet them.
One of the men on the "Band of the Great Hawk of Salvation" side, a giant tiger-beast man over two meters in height, threw a fist strike that caused a tremendous wind to blow out the campfire burning in the center of the square in an instant. In fact, one of the burning firewood flew toward the second floor of the castle.
"...Erm, was it Tiger Black-san, the deputy leader of the [Band of Great Hawk of Salvation]?"
While shooting down the flying firewood with the rune magic [Arrow of Light], Christo smiled at the giant tiger-beast man. Next to him, Melvina held her skirt and used rune magic to light the firewood again.
"Yeah, that's right! I'm the deputy leader, Tiger Black-sama! How is it? Now do you see how strong I am?"
"Yes, I understand."
"Fifty days' worth of food for us! Ten women from the village! Can you give them to me right now!?"
"No, that's a bit..."
Christo glanced at Blaise.
"W-wig. My wig..." "Glasseeees! I can't do anything without glasses! Glasses! Where are my glasseeees?! Glasseeees!"
"Still don't get it!? Then I'll have to show you my best, worst, most powerful special move!"
"No, that's enough."
"Holy hammeeeerr!"
The tiger-beastman's huge fist is at the ready.
In the next instant, he launched his fist toward the ground.
“Black Tigeeeeeerrrrr!”
The soil of the square burst into the air with an explosion.
As soon as the fist landed on the ground, a web-like crack propagated through the ground, cruelly blowing away Administrator Caspar, who was crawling on the ground looking for his glasses.
"Gyoeeehhh!?"
"How is that!?"
"Amazing! No, good job!"
"I think they were all the same punch. What's the difference?"
“You idio-, Melvina!”
"Eh? ……Ah..."
"Tigeeeeerrr! Puuuuunchhh!"
A fist being thrust up.
The tiger beastman's fists, strengthened by the holy arts, creak and squeak.
"Tigeeeeerrr! Knuuuuckleee! And!"
"Stop already! My glasses!"
"Holy Hammer! Black Tigeeeeerrr!"
"Gyaaaaahhh!!"
"For some reason, I've been wanting to eat the deep-fried river prawns I ate before... Melvina, can you make it?"
"Ah, yes. Maybe I can make it."
"Tiger, enough is enough."
A cold voice echoes in the chaotic and lawless area.
Behind Black Tiger, a tiger-beastman with veins appearing on his temples, who was performing a special move with all his might, a man of about 170 centimeters in height with a pair of threadbare eyes steps forward.
"Young lady, the Tiger Punch is an uppercut, the Tiger Knuckle is a straight fist thrust. And the Black Tiger is a technique that punches through the ground. The Black Tiger is mainly used to finish off an opponent who has been knocked down."
"T-thank you for the reply."
"No, no"
The man with the threadbare eyes bowed with his hand in front of his chest, which had a broken bone mark on it.
“Everyone, it is a pleasure to meet you all for the first time. My name is Siegfried McCorkindale, leader of the [Band of the Giant Hawk of Salvation]. Before organizing the mercenary group, I was a guardian knight, a watchman of the holy tree and the kingdom."
"You are the Siegfried of the Giant Hawk?"
Blaise, who had put his wig back on, asked him.
Siegfried's eyes softened.
"Yes. For a long time, I dreamed of flying like a dragon and jumping off cliffs. ......As you can see, my hands and feet are bent. But with the guidance of the beautiful Holy Tree, I got my magnificent blue wings. The Holy Tree is absolute. The Holy Tree is everything in the world."
"I'm Tiger Black!"
A giant with dark skin and thick lips―― the tiger beastman, Tiger Black, pointed at himself with his thumb.
"Nice to meet ya~!"
"Well, a modern greeting."
"Isn't it cool? Wait, hmm? Young lady, I think I've seen you somewhere... I can't remember, but it's okay. Hahahaha!"
"He was the strongest warrior in the Hero's Corps, the Black Hunter Corps."
Siegfried points his bent hand at the tiger beastman.
"I left the [Black Hunter Corps] because of Leroy, the previous leader of the Black Hunter Corps."
“Leroy was a coward. He didn't like to fight. He was boring. I'm glad he's dead. The next one, Setanta, was more interesting."
"I see."
Christo glanced at Melvina, who was still smiling.
He felt like they stepped on a bomb, but was it just his imagination?
"So, how about you?"
He turned to the last person who had not yet introduced himself.
He had hoped to be able to skip this person somehow, preferably without introducing himself, but he couldn't stand the expectant "I'm next!" look he sent him.
"Me, as you can see!"
With a "Boink*", the last one stepped forward.
The last one had a strange appearance.
"I'm [Holy Milk]! I'm one of the kingdom's guardian knights! I'm a backup to the [Band of the Great Hawk of Salvation] for surveillance purposes! But they're all friends and family now!"
The man had what appeared to be a demon's breast surgically sewn all over his body.
It looks horrifying to look at.
Christo let out a murderous intent and reflexively almost killed him.
He hadn't felt this way since the last time he killed the guardian knight [Sei-Shoku].
“By the way, my older brother was also a guardian knight. He died in the last battle in the holy tree."
"Is it [Sei-Shoku] who died in the Battle of the Holy Tree?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry for your loss."
"No, no! I think my brother died satisfied! After all, he was able to fight alongside that Setanta Lou!"
"I see."
"Yeah! By the way, Onii-san, you're handsome!"
"Thank you."
"Your name is?"
"I'm Christopher Soderholm."
"Christopher... ah, the former lord."
Siegfried, who was listening in the back, opened his threadbare eyes wide.
His eyes, as sharp as a hawk's, blazing light blue, pierced Christo.
"Uhoho! You're the [Hero of the North] himself! I'm lucky! I wanted to see you! Handshake!"
"Thanks."
"U-ufufu. Handsome. You're handsome."
[Holy Milk] fidgeted and winked at Christo.
"I-I-I, I am a twenty-five-year-old female at heart with breasts as my hobby, breasts as my favorite thing, and breasts as my special skill! I'll always welcome you and I'll give you a titjob if you like?"
"I will refrain from doing so. I have an important fiancé."
"Gah!"
(Why did you call such a monster...)
Christo looked at Blaise, who was adjusting the position of his wig, inwardly dismayed.
"I understand your request, but unfortunately, the castle's warehouse only has potatoes and beer, so we don't have any supplies to offer."
Blaise continues.
“As I told you before, I have asked the chief of the pioneer village to provide you with food on the condition that you will be compensated with money after the fact. I'll discuss the details with the village chief."
"I understand"
Siegfried nodded.
He looked around at all the people in the area.
"However, we have our own circumstances. Until just a few days ago, we were fighting against the dragon race together with the hero family, but the current head of the family, Finn Lou, has not paid us the wages that we are owed. Thanks to this, not only are we unable to repair our weapons and armor, but even securing food is hard. We will not be able to defeat the monsters requested unless we have at least 40 days' worth of food and supplies. Please understand that."
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