Chapter 191
It had now been five years since the battle with the G.o.ddess .
For Ruphas and the rest who had lifespans of a few hundred, or perhaps even a few thousand years, it felt like no time had pa.s.sed . But the same was not true for the rest of the world .
It had merely been five years, yet it was still five years nonetheless .
In just that amount of time, the world had changed . The people were still moving forward .
Protecting those people, who were now walking on their own, from the Moon and guiding them in the right direction was now Dina’s job . She was now known as the G.o.ddess of the Moon .
Nowadays, she was literally the proxy of the G.o.ddess in both name and reality . On the surface, she was the individual who had the highest authority on the Moon .
That being the case, it was not as if Dina had forgotten that she was one of Ruphas’s subordinates . This meant that, technically, Ruphas was above her . Unfortunately, because Ruphas was even more useless than a cat when it came to internal administration, Dina was essentially the one at the very top .
Just as the individual herself had admitted, while Ruphas was proficient in using force to increase the size of her territory and the number of her subordinates, she was not suited to govern a world that was at peace .
Truth be told, the very fact that the absolute power known as Ruphas existed served as a deterrence . As a consequence, even if she just lazed around, as long as she was present, it was still sufficiently meaningful .
Perhaps, thinking along those lines, it could be said that the one in the highest seat of power, Ruphas, would not be changing for a while .
Additionally, the Tyrannical Twelve Heavenly Stars officially admitted Dina and Orm together as the constellation of the [Serpent Bearer] and changed its name from the Tyrannical Twelve Heavenly Stars to the Imperial Thirteen Heavenly Stars .
Yes, not tyrannical, but imperial . The term “tyrannical”, which had used its power to bend and oppress others… was no longer needed .
“Dina-sama, I’ve organised the reports . ”
“Thank you very much, Libra . You can leave it there . ”
The highest floor of the Mafahl Tower, which was now situated on the Moon… the office room on the floor immediately below that was now Dina’s personal workplace .
There, Dina handled everything that was a part of her duties These duties included, but were not limited to, handling various problems that had occurred on Midgard, maintaining ecological balance, controlling the weather, detecting natural disasters such as earthquakes before they occurred and preventing them from happening .
Alternatively, if there seemed to be a kingdom that was attempting to plunge the world into disorder, she might cause an earthquake in order to sanction them . Fortunately, there had been no such movement from any nation thus far .
Nevertheless, humanoids were creatures which tended to take peace for granted . While they might still feel thankful for the peace they were currently experiencing since it had only been five years, individuals with ludicrous ambitions would inevitably start appearing after a few years .
Even now, there were plenty of n.o.bles who had a rotten disposition similar to that of Debris, meaning that Dina’s worries never ended .
“Haa… what a problem this is . ”
“Haven’t I been telling you? Dina, this is why, for stuff like that, you can just use the power of G.o.d to go boom boom boom, brainwash them or something and turn them into new dolls, and it’ll all be problem solved . ”
“Alovenus-sama, you’re being a nuisance, so please don’t come into my office . ”
“You’re so mean!”
The one who Dina was treating as a nuisance was a lady who looked exactly like Dina .
Among other similarities, her facial features were almost exactly the same as Dina’s . The only difference between the two of them was that this lady’s hair from her neck down was blond in colour .
The lady’s clothing was also different from that of Dina’s, as she was wearing a white dress and a blue cape . This lady was the very G.o.ddess, Alovenus, whom Ruphas had fought .
Needless to say, it was not her real body . If Alovenus’s real body had truly descended there, then the universe would have long collapsed .
As such, it was nothing more than one of her avatars . Nevertheless, this avatar was slightly different from Dina, as it was constructed out of divine power . Additionally, this avatar did not possess a shred of its own ego . It was a type of avatar that solely existed so that the G.o.ddess could take possession of it .
In other words, the one present here was the one and only, the very G.o.ddess herself .
Digressing a little, the one who had created this avatar was Ruphas . If the G.o.ddess was to do it herself, she would not be able to limit her power to this extent, and any avatar that she created would turn out to be strangely large in size .
It was no wonder she had only been able to create giant avatars up until now .
“You understand, right? I’m the G.o.ddess, you know? I’m your real body, you know? I’m the most important person in the multiverse, you know? You should revere me more . You should give me more attention . ”
“Libra, please throw this useless person out . ”
“Understood . ”
“Hey, wait!!”
Libra complied with Dina’s orders and grabbed Alovenus by her neck before dragging her out of the office . Libra then shoved Alovenus into a cardboard box labelled “Please don’t pick up” and threw the box out of the Mafahl Tower .
Although she had been thrown out of the tower from an alt.i.tude of a few thousand meters, it would not be a problem at all . After all, that thing was technically still the G.o.ddess . Furthermore, it was just an avatar .
In the end, she would not even take any damage . Even if she ended up dead, her real body would be unharmed .
After expressionlessly throwing out the G.o.ddess, who was her real master, Libra returned to the office as if nothing had happened at all .
“Oh, by the way, Libra, have you seen Ruphas-sama around? I haven’t seen her since this morning . ”
“No . I also don’t know where she went . ”
“I see . I had a few matters that I wanted her opinion on . ”
Dina said so with a troubled face and looked outside the tower .
Today, Midgard was ever so blue and ever so round . In all likelihood, it would continue to remain just as blue and round even tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, a year from now, ten years from now, a hundred years from now and so on .
The warring period had concluded . As a consequence, it was unlikely that a battle which could alter the landscape of the planet would happen again in the future .
Today, just like every other day, both Midgard and the Moon were peaceful .
*
On Midgard, inside the palace of the kingdom of Svalinn .
There, various kings of various nations were gathered together and speaking around a round table .
Laevateinn’s Alioth the Sixth . Gjallarhorn’s Merak . Draupnir’s Emperor k.u.mar . Blutgang’s king and his companion, Mizar the golem . Svalinn’s king and his advisor, Megrez . Since the kingdom of hobbits had amazingly restored itself, the king of Hrotti was also present .
There was also the ruler of Mjolnir, Benetnash . Even the king of Skidbladnir, Pisces, and the queen of Nectar, Aquarius, were present .
They were informing each other about their respective nation’s state of affairs . They were also discussing their nation’s specialties and arguing about the details regarding what to export and import .
It was a surreal scene which would have never come to fruition just a short while ago . In particular, the very fact that Benetnash was present there was nothing short of a miracle .
“In that case, I’ll provide fifty million eru as reconstruction funds . In exchange, give Mjolnir the highest priority in exporting your specialty products . ”
“That’d help out greatly, Vampire Princess-sama . ”
“Wait, wait, wait, Benet, my friend, monopolising exports isn’t good . Blutgang will provide our craftsmen . So export to us too . ”
Although Benetnash seemed like a muscle brain, she was surprisingly good at managing her country .
If that was not the case, then she would not have been able to remain as queen for over two hundred years . She was different from that random muscle-brained Supreme Ruler from someplace, somewhere .
Fundamentally speaking, as long as Ruphas was not involved, Benetnash was actually a very calm and intellectual individual .
Even after this exchange, the conversations continued on . It was only when the day was about to transition into night that they decided to call it a day .
As soon as the meeting concluded, Benetnash stood up from her seat and left the palace behind .
Even though she was a queen, as usual, there was not even a single guard around her . Yet there was not a single person reckless enough to pick a fight with her .
She had no need for guards . Even alone, Benetnash had the strongest military power on Midgard .
In fact, a lack of guards was something not exclusive to just her . Megrez, Merak and Pisces also did not have anyone guarding them .
While Aquarius had brought Ganymedes along with her, he was being used as a mode of transportation rather than a guard .
“Humph… as usual, that Mafahl didn’t show up . ”
“Well, I suppose it’s because she’s on the Moon . I doubt she’d stick her neck into Midgard’s matters this late in time . ”
After Benetnash grumbled unhappily, Megrez bitterly responded to her .
Merak and the Mizar golem stood up nearby and looked up at the Moon .
“Besides, this whole situation is what she wanted to achieve . To conquer the world and create a peaceful world where there’s no demons… It’s slightly different in form from what she had initially planned, but she has indeed achieved that . In a way, she ended up winning it all . ”
“That’s why I don’t like it . ”
Merak supplemented his input but that only riled Benetnash up more .
It’s always like this… She always runs away after taking the win . By the time I notice it, she’s already ahead of me . I hate that feeling . That’s why there’s meaning in chasing behind her… but how complicated .
“From now on, it’s our responsibility . In the past, we decided to go along with the G.o.ddess’s plan and ended up causing chaos for the world… We haven’t finished atoning for that yet . ”
“Don’t count me as one of you guys, you fool . ”
Megrez said so with a serious tone, but Benetnash reb.u.t.ted that .
The ones who had rampaged around and gotten manipulated by the G.o.ddess were the other heroes, not including herself . She was different . She was just a.s.serting that .
Having said that, while she had not been manipulated by the G.o.ddess, Benetnash had still been involved in Ruphas’s downfall, so it was also a fact that she was not able to a.s.sert herself that strongly .
“In the past, we had made a mistake . Even then, Ruphas still came back for us and corrected the world like this . So from this point onwards, it’s our job… This time for sure, we have to pick the right path and lead the world to peace… as well as for the sake of the ones who pa.s.sed away first . ”
Hearing Megrez’s words, Merek and the Mizar golem nodded . While Benetnash did not nod, she also did not deny his words .
Alioth, Duhbe, Phecda and Mizar… those four had left first, while the ones here were left behind .
As such, this time for sure, as the ones who had been left behind, or in Mizar’s case, as Mizar’s clone, they had the responsibility of fulfilling and realising their dreams .
In all likelihood, that was the ideal goal that everyone had aimed for in the past .
A slight distance away from where Benetnash and others were leaving… the phantoms of Alioth and the rest, who looked as if they were looking after the remaining members, showed a satisfied expression… then disappeared along with the wind .
*
Some distance away from the Mafahl Tower stood the demon race’s castle .
After being given half of the Moon as their domain, the demon race had founded their country . Nowadays, they were happily living there in peace .
They were no longer subjected to murderous impulses that constantly loomed around them .
Although it was not as if their past sins had been absolved or their fear towards Ruphas had completely disappeared, time was sure to mend it all, little by little .
Today, inside the central castle, an event was being hosted .
Standing next to Terra, who was wearing a black suit, was Luna, who was wearing a pure white dress .
In front of the two of them was Aigokeros, who was dressed like a priest, and was reading predetermined lines from a palm card .
Surely, there would be those who wondered why, on this celebratory occasion, the Devil King was dressed as a priest .
It was because Terra and Luna had wished for it .
There was no need for them to make vows to a deity who had played around with them . Such a deity was not deserving of their beliefs .
As such, the target of their vows could not be such a deity . Instead, as a symbol of their beliefs, they decided to invite the Devil King, who was the polar opposite of such a deity .
“Do you, Terra, take this woman, Luna, as your wife, and promise to be true in good times and bad, in times of prosperity and in poverty, in times of sickness and in health, that you will walk together, without betrayal, until death do you two part, to love each other, to think about your wife, and stay true only to your wife, and vow as such in the name of the G.o.ddess?”
“No, I don’t . I won’t vow to the G.o.ddess . I make my vow to myself and to my wife . ”
“Do you, Luna, take this man, Terra, as your husband, and promise to be true in good times and bad, in times of prosperity and in poverty, in times of sickness and in health, that you will walk together, without betrayal, until death do you two part, to love each other, to think about your husband, and stay true only to your husband, and vow as such in the name of the G.o.ddess?”
“No, I don’t . I won’t vow to the G.o.ddess . I make my vow to myself and to my husband . ”
The demon race’s marriage ceremonies were slightly different from those of the humanoids .
They would never make a vow to the G.o.ddess . They would not pray to her .
The targets of their vows were themselves and their partners . Perhaps, as demons, this was the only appropriate form of marriage for them .
Aigokeros heard the two’s responses and then raised both of his arms up, returning to his original Devil King appearance .
“Everyone, for these two, there’s no need to wish for blessings from the G.o.ddess, is there? Now tied together in a knot known as marriage, the two before me need not seek help from the G.o.ddess . Listen, G.o.ddess, the creator of all things in the universe . You created humanoids in the shape of yourself and blessed couples with love . But there’s no need . These two have no need for your blessings . Even without you, these two shall still continue to love, live and create a wholesome family . Whether it be in times of happiness or sorrow, they will not forget about trust and grat.i.tude . Even without you supporting them, they would struggle and get their work done . In times of hardship, these two shall love and comfort each other . They are blessed with many friends and the blessings of this marriage shall allow them to grow, such that they will be able to live their days merrily . ”
Those words were like a rejection letter which was addressed towards the G.o.ddess .
There was no need for her help . There was no need for her script .
They were telling her to not unnecessarily interfere because they could walk with their own feet .
After hearing their prayer, Alovenus looked lost for words in the Final Point, but they had no way of knowing what was happening over there .
“Now then, everyone, say it with me… G.o.d is dead!!”[1]
Everyone attending the wedding concurred with Aigokeros’s words and repeated those blasphemous words .
Immediately afterwards, a loud round of applause resounded, followed by the husband and wife walking down the flowery aisle .
As he watched the two of them, Mercurius looked as if he would die at any moment .
“Hey, you, pick yourself up . Stop making such a dark face on this occasion . ”
“Yeah, I know… I know that… If she’s happy, then I’m also happy… I’m giving them my blessing…”
“Well, right now, you probably have the most unhappy face in the world . ”
In polar opposition to the two of them, Pollux and Orm were wishing Terra and Luna good fortune from the bottom of their hearts .
No, if one looked at them more carefully, Orm had a complex expression on his face .
“It’s a strange feeling . To think that my son would overtake me first . ”
“It can’t be helped, can it? As a perfect living being, ouroboroses have no need for a companion . I also don’t have a partner yet even at this age . Isn’t it just fine?”
Common sense and norms for ouroboroses and fairies were a little different from ordinary creatures .
At the very least, they had absolutely no need for a spouse or the act of childbearing .
In a way, it was also the same for the demon race . However, it only meant that Terra and Luna felt that deeply for each other even after considering that fact .
“Well, I guess you’re right, but to be honest… I’ve become a little interested in something like this ever since a few thousand years ago . Although… the target of my affections hasn’t taken notice of it at all . ”
“Hmm, so you have someone like that? In any case, how dense, if we can even still call it that, can that person even be…? To not notice it for a few thousand years…”
“Yeah . ”
“But, wait a minute? There aren’t that many people who can live for a few thousand years, are there? As far as I’m aware, I’m the only female person who’s been in contact with you for a few thousand years, am I wrong?”
“Yeah . ”
“What do you mean by ‘yeah’… then who is she? If there’s no one else other than me, then why are we even having this conversation? There’s no one else that I can… think… of…”
Having gotten to this point, Pollux finally managed to figure out the answer .
She momentarily became pale, then gradually turned pink .
“… Figured it out? You’re truly dense indeed . ”
“… Eh? Me? You mean me?”
The Fairy Princess and the Demon King stared at each other .
Watching at the two of them from the side, Mercurius quietly spoke .
“Saturnus… right now, you probably have the most unhappy face in the world . ”
“… The misfortune of another tastes like honey, but the happiness of another tastes like dirt . Hey, Mercurius, I’m going to drown myself in drinks again, so keep me company again tonight . ”
“Yeah, I’ll keep you company until I’m beat . ”
– On this day, in the wedding’s gallery, there might or might not have been two new couples that were born .
*
“Ruphas-sama, where exactly are you~!?”
Inside the Mafahl Tower, a black shadow was scampering around .
That black shadow was Scorpius . She was running around and searching for any location that she thought Ruphas might have been in and dashing from one location to another .
For some reason, Ruphas had been missing in action from the start of the day . While it was not exactly a problem that Ruphas was away for a day or two, nor did there exist anyone who could do anything to Ruphas anyway, the problem was Scorpius herself .
At this rate, she would not have a sufficient dose of Ruphas and would end up dead . Strangely enough, that was what she truly believed .
She looked all around the tower, and ultimately ended up charging into the Moon headquarters of the King Crab restaurant .
Inside the store, the other members of the Thirteen Stars, such as Aries, Taurus, Parthenos, Castor, Sagittarius, Leon and Karkinos, were all present .
“Hey, you guys, have you seen Ruphas-sama around?”
“No . She hasn’t come here . ”
Aries answered Scorpius while chowing down on a salt-boiled crayfish .
While one might wonder why he was eating such a thing despite being a sheep, he was technically a magical beast . One should not mind it too much .
“Aaaaa, where exactly has Ruphas-sama gone to…? This mistress hasn’t seen her for a whole day . Could it be that something has happened to Ruphas-sama…!?”
“Isn’t it fine to just let her be for a day? Or more like, maybe she took off because you’re being annoying?”
In response to Scorpius, who was dramatically worrying for Ruphas, Leon replied with an exasperated tone .
It was basically unnecessary to worry that something might have happened to Ruphas .
There was no one who could do anything to her . Even if the Sun were to smash directly into her, she would still come back home as if nothing had happened whatsoever .
Even if a deadly pathogen found its way inside her body, the pathogens would be eradicated almost instantaneously .
Long story short, it would be fine to a.s.sume that she could not die from anything besides reaching the end of her lifespan .
Even her lifespan itself could be overcome if she so wished to simply by rewinding her time .
In other words, worrying was needless . There was nothing to worry about .
“What did you just say!? Even though you’re just ‘the strongest (LOL)’!”
“N’d you say, huh!?”
“Oh, I’m sorry? I’m sorry for saying the truth?”
“I’ll kill you!”
Watching the two of them yapping about loudly, Aries warmly thought that it was peaceful .
As he continued to chew on the salt-boiled crayfish, he looked outside the restaurant’s windows . Outside the store was Sarjes, who had once journeyed with the Hero, Sei . Beside him, there was also the lamia, druid and a merman-looking thing .
“Karkinos-dono, I’ve brought you the ingredients that you asked for . ”
“Thank you! Now I can expand my menu . ”
The thing that Sarjes gave to Karkinos was a semi-transparent globe that Sarjes had to carry with both hands .
The globe was packed with amber-coloured honey that looked very sweet .
“Karkinos, what is that?”
“It’s honey produced by Syrup Ants, magical beasts which had mutated from ants . It’s a species of magical beasts which largely inhabits deserts, and its honey is very exquisite . I was thinking that I’d/I could create a dessert using this for the ladies and was in the middle of researching the recipe . ”
Karkinos happily answered Parthenos’s question .
Because the world had become peaceful, there were a wider variety of new dishes being produced . Lately, Karkinos was so pa.s.sionate about developing new recipes that he was constantly looking at the recipe books and ingredients that Ruphas had brought over from the “other world” .
In the past five years, he had copi—… chased after various dishes and had been crowned as the Cooking King .
No doubt, his restaurant, King Crab, would continue to sit on the throne in the culinary world for a long time to come .
“Ahh . Shall we also order some things before we leave?”
“Alright, then I want something sweet! Aren’t the desserts here famous?”
“Then I want an egg dish . ”
“I want a prawn dish . ”
The four demi-humans sat at a table and looked through the menu .
As they were doing so, Aigokeros, who for some reason was wearing a priest costume, came in and also sat down .
“Oh, welcome back, Aigokeros . How was the wedding ceremony?”
“I’m not cut out for doing things I’m not used to . Even though I helped them out because Ruphas-sama ordered me to, I don’t ever want to do it again . ”
Aigokeros took off his outer garments and chugged the beverage that Karkinos placed on his table .
To think that the Devil King was acting as a priest… it was so ridiculous that one could not even laugh about it .
Yet, Castor laughed bitterly as he saw such an appearance . Then, Aigokeros dropped a bombsh.e.l.l .
“Oh, now that I think about it, the Demon King and Pollux were acting a little strange… It was almost as if they were a pair of newly coupled youngsters . I really can’t understand this feeling . What has happened to them?”
“Argo, mobilise! Argonauts, follow me! Now is the time for a great battle!”
“Castor!?”
Castor jumped out of his chair, surprising Aries . He took hold of his favourite weapon with one hand and ran out of the restaurant .
The army of heroic spirits all followed him as they jumped onto the Argo .
Seeing as how even the powerhouses like Phoenix, Hydrus and the Three Winged Knights were part of the heroic spirits following him, one could see how serious Castor was .
Although it was still obvious that they were going to lose .
“I’m going to bet 1000 eru that Castor is going to have the tables turned on him . ”
“Likewise . ”
“It’s not even worth betting . ”
Scorpius and Taurus bet on Orm’s victory, but since no one was betting on Castor, there was no point in continuing with the bets .
A short distance away from the Moon, rapid exchanges began to happen . The exchange was between Orm, who had already turned back into his Moon Ouroboros form, and the Argo, which was firing barrages of arcane magic towards him .
By the time people noticed the battle, the Argo had already been shot down . A battle between powerhouses was typically done within a few seconds .
“Men are idiots . ”
“I agree . ”
Scorpius and Parthenos sighed as they both took a sip of their beverages .
*
It had been five years since that dreamlike, but a definitely real, incident .
After turning twenty-three years old, Minami-Jyuji Sei took an employment examination to become qualified as an official civil servant, which he then successfully pa.s.sed . Nowadays, he spent his days as a policeman .
Despite being young, he had already achieved a few meritorious feats . As a result, he was currently the most promising individual among the younger generations in the organisation . At the same time, he was also the subject of envy by many .
Sei himself also thought that he was somewhat cheating everyone .
His situation was completely different from everyone else .
He had no need to fear the weapons that were swung around by criminals . After all, they looked stationary to him .
For him, even firearms looked like nothing more than toys .
Of course, it would still hurt if he was. .h.i.t by one . But it could also be said that a little pain was all that he had to worry about . To begin with, it was so simple for him to dodge bullets that it wouldn’t even hit him in the first place .
As a human, everyone had self-preserving instincts . Yet Sei alone was able to move around while disregarding that .
When he jumped into a burning house to save a child, everyone said, “What a brave policeman . ”
But that was wrong . Compared to flames which could scorch an entire planet, which he had seen far too many times in the other world, he did not feel threatened in the slightest by a burning house .
When he negotiated alone with an offender who was holed up in a building pointing a firearm at him, everyone said, “What a sense of strong justice despite being so young . ”
But that was wrong . To begin with, he simply could not even see the firearm as anything more than a toy . He was by no means negotiating with his life on the line .
“… Something is… wrong . ”
Walking down the road in ordinary clothing, Sei muttered while carrying his shopping bag .
Today was his day off, and he was in the middle of going home after finishing his shopping .
Living together with his mother, he would go grocery shopping in his mother’s place on his days off .
He was worried about the powers which he had acquired .
He by no means regretted it .
The fact that he had managed to help others… made him feel that it was a good thing .
But something was wrong . Was his goal to become a policeman so that it could be like this?
With how things were, he was always in a position where he was safe regardless of the situation . The feats that he had achieved up until this point were only possible because he had the power that he had acquired in the other world .
But what if he did not have those powers? Would he have been able to achieve the same things if he did not have the powers which he currently had?
Would he have been able to charge into a rampaging fire for the sake of saving a child? Would he have been able to stand in front of an armed criminal with a firearm and successfully negotiate with them?
He felt as if he had been cheating using a power that he had gained through a windfall… Could it be that all he amounted to was just being such a shameful man?
“… I wonder what they would say to me . ”
With great power comes great responsibility . Power without responsibility was no different from a dangerous weapon .
When he had unwittingly used his power in the other world, he had not thought much about it .
That was because the power which he had was no different from not having any .
From Ruphas Mafahl and Alovenus’s point of view, there would not be any difference between a random villager and Sei .
If they so wished, both the villager and Sei could be squished without any effort .
That was why it had not felt all too real to him back then . He hadn’t realised that he would be bringing back such a preposterous power to his world .
But after getting back home, he finally understood .
He understood… and realised how absurd of an unfair person he had turned into .
“If it’s her…”
The person he was recalling was a young girl with pink hair .
Back then, he had still been young . No, even now, at twenty-three years old, he was still young .
Having gotten to this point, he was wondering if it would have been better for him to have said something back then .
Although it seemed as if he had gotten past his lingering attachments when he ran through the gate, perhaps there were things he could and should have said .
And he always wondered… What would she say if she saw him the way he currently was?
“Worrying about things as usual… Is what she’d say . ”
At first, he thought that he was having an auditory hallucination .
After all, there was no way he would have been able to hear her voice on Earth .
Which was why he thought that it was him hearing things . Things that he conveniently wanted to hear .
Even while thinking that, he naturally turned his head around .
When he did, just as he had expected… there was the young girl, who he had most wanted to meet at that moment, there in front of him, looking exactly the same as she had five years ago .
In front of Sei, who was standing there dumbfounded, she became bashful and then spoke as if she was a young child who had been busted after having committed some mischief .
“– I wanted to see you, so I came over . ”
*
This happened in a small town outside the outskirts of the kingdom of Laevateinn .
Usually, it was a peaceful location . But in any age existed sc.u.m who were unable to get used to peace and wanted to prey upon the weak .
The three dirty and despicable adventurers who had just set foot in this quiet town were such people .
The three of them were by no means strong adventurers, but they liked to parade themselves as strong by picking on people who were weaker than themselves .
Unfortunately, this small town did not have the means to oppose the three of them .
“Hyaha—! Hurry up and bring out all the food that you have!”
“And women too! Bring out the young women!”
“Hyahahaha! I’ve taken a liking to this town! We’re going to live here for a while just for you, so be grateful!”
Although these Mohican villains looked like they had come straight out of a template somewhere, these kinds of people were surprisingly abundant in the world .
Regardless of the age, there were idiots who liked to go against order, act pretentious and be under the misunderstanding that it was the cool thing to do .
These three men were the type who had fallen so far along that line of thought that they had degenerated to the lowest possible point .
As such, the current scene was by no means a rare sight .
If anything could be said to be rare… it was that, today, these three’s luck was so horribly bad that they could end up dead .
“Oi, you lot . You look like you’re enjoying yourselves quite a lot . Would you mind if I joined in?”
“Huh!?”
A woman’s voice spoke towards these men . When the three of them turned around, they all simultaneously collapsed on the spot .
They were under so much pressure that it felt as if the sky had dropped down on them . They were unable to do anything at all .
While grovelling on the ground, those men saw…
A crimson red overcoat fluttering in the wind .
“Honestly… to think that you’d show me some unpleasant things on my way back from visiting my mother’s grave . So, you lot…”
Her shining gold-coloured hair was dyed crimson red from the middle and her face was as symmetrical as could be .
The colour of her eyes was also crimson, like that of a flame .
Above all else, what drew the three men’s line of sight was her pair of large jet black wings, the very representation of ominousness .
Those wings were the symbol of the monster who had once destroyed the world, the dictionary definition of fear on Midgard .
The name of that monster was Ruphas Mafahl .
“Do you want to die here?”
Those men could no longer even raise their voices .
As a result of their fear, all they could do was involuntarily gush out tears, snot and drool .
Eventually, they fainted from the lack of oxygen, causing Ruphas to turn off her Coercion .
To think that they would end up like this even though I only planned to scare them a little bit… I suppose the more one preys on the weak, the more fragile they are when they’re cornered .
“U, umm… you are…”
“Ohh, sorry for the intrusion, elder . ”
Ruphas casually apologised to the village elder who was shaking in fear, grabbed the three men and walked away from that place .
All of her actions were truly befitting of a king . It was as if she was the personification of power .
Worse yet, this terrifying walking aberration could appear at any time, anywhere, and it would not be strange .
Just like now, there were times when she would whimsically walk into a small town that no one was paying attention to .
At such times, if one were to encounter such bad luck unawares, they would end up cursing their own misfortune .
The world was still at peace today .
But… the representation of despair and irrationality could still show up anywhere at any time .
One should not forget about that .
If one does forget, then perhaps that would be when despair (the last boss) would appear .
After the whole incident, it was said that the village chief said the following to the knight’s order, who arrived later .