"It's growing up fast."
Bruns, who was watching the cub of the thunder wolf dragon, said with a curious look.
"That's true."
Was it because of the troll blood?
The little guy, who’d been the size of a palm at the start, had grown to the size of a small puppy within a month.
There were limits to what could be fed to a cub who couldn’t even open its eyes, and there was no substitute for mother's milk at hand, so they’d fed it troll blood instead.
How much could something the size of a palm eat, anyway?
Besides, Callius had several barrels full of troll blood, so as he'd kept feeding it without much thought, it quickly grew.
Already its teeth were sharp, and horns had begun to grow on its head.
The draconic characteristics in its claws and scales, that shouldn’t have shown themselves until it matured, were now also visible at first glance.
Since it’d started showing such characteristics, it’d been fed a mixture of troll’s blood and the blood of its mother.
Along with one more thing –
"It’s already using the power of thunder."
While running wildly, it occasionally exhibited the power of lightning.
Still weak, similar to a brush of static.
– Keeeeeeeeing.
Coming to Callius, it whined and tapped the sword at his waist.
When Callius pulled out the Thunderbolt Sword and scattered a little lightning, it began licking the blade as if it was eating the lightning.
"Wow, that's amazing."
Was it looking for the traces of its mother inside the Thunderbolt Sword? Or did it consider the Thunderbolt Sword itself as its mother?
Thinking about it that way, it seemed pitiful, and one couldn’t help but feel sorry for it.
"Poor bastard. Tsk.”
Moved by a little pity, Bruns tried to give it it a pat.
Then the little guy growled and revealed its teeth.
"Too bad. I guess it thinks of you as its father, right, master?"
“You’re half right.”
The cub responded to the lightning of the Thunderbolt Sword.
At first, it’d thought the sword’s power was just like its mother's, but after licking the sword and being struck by its lightning, it’d understood that the sword was an even stronger existence.
The same energy as it’d been familiar with from its mother’s belly, yet the aura was even stronger, so Bruns was probably only half right.
Callius, who held this sword, was being thought of as the mother.
"It's like a puppy now, but…"
“It’ll grow bigger.”
Now, neither troll blood or the blood of the thunder wolf dragon was enough to satiate it.
It already craved meat, as befit a beast of prey.
"Come to think of it, why do you call it Vivi?"
It’s just the name of a dog I had in the past.
It doesn't mean anything.
"It’s just a whim."
Hearing Callius’ response, Helena could only shake her head as if she had nothing else to say.
One month to move from the North to the South.
After recovering the stolen Saddle of Humasys, Callius didn’t try too hard to find another horse.
Instead, he found a merchant wagon bound for the capital and chose to ride in relative comfort.
In the beginning, the road was rough, and occasionally some beasts and bandits had to be swept away, but lately there hadn’t been any such occurrences.
Since they were now passing through cities, there wasn’t anything dangerous on the road.
So, when he was inside the carriage, Callius practiced the Six Peak Flowers technique, and when it stopped, he practiced the Other Shore Flower outside.
"Vivi, come here."
And the rest of his time was devoted to Vivi.
The guy happily ran around inside the carriage, occasionally stopping to poop or pee on Bruns, then coming up to Callius, begging and crooning, and being rewarded with meat.
Callius naturally also fed it lightning from the Thunderbolt Sword and educated it on its use.
Dragons and wolves.
Because it was descended from such beasts, it had a smart brain, and it easily recognized Callius’ intentions, even beyond what it was taught.
For a beast only a month old, it was surprisingly intelligent.
"Vivi, sit. Lie down. Get up. Jump."
And what it was perfect at, was pretending to be dead.
"Vivi, bite."
– Crooon!
It dangled while biting the crotch of Bruns' pants. Only one command left.
"Attack."
A small flash of lightning struck Bruns at an unfortunate place.
"Oh shit! M-, master! Please stop using me as your training dummy!"
Ignoring Bruns' cries, Callius stroked Vivi's fur.
Then he threw out a chunk of meat, so it could jump up and snatch it from the air.
"Well done."
The tail that wagged like a motor was pretty cute.
“People who don’t know better might think it’s a real dog.”
Now its ability wasn’t at the level of a shock of static.
Seeing how much it’d grown in just one month, Callius wondered what would happen when it fully matured.
Its mother, the thunder wolf dragon, could’ve gone toe-to-toe against the orc warlord.
In a one-on-one situation, it would’ve been the victor, and even in a many-to-one fight it wouldn't have fallen too far behind.
The cub, fully grown, would be pretty strong.
The amount of troll blood and blood of the thunder wolf dragon it’d ingested wasn’t small.
Not only that, whenever it got bored, it’d absorb the lightning off of the Thunderbolt Sword.
‘Even so, I don't know if I'll be able to control it.'
If Callius couldn't control it, he’d have no choice but to take its power for his own, like he'd done to its mother.
Was that not his goal from the start?
‘I won’t give you any affection.'
He couldn’t afford to.
"Callius. What's with that weird look on your face?"
"What do you mean?"
"I guess… like the face of a child who really wants to eat sweets but instead tries to look stubborn about it?"
"Don't be an idiot. Vivi, attack."
– Croooon!!
Spark!
"Hey! Why are you being so childish? Really! It really hurts!"
"Attack, attack."
"Damn it! Wh-, where is it aiming!"
Helena's face was flushed red as she covered her heaving bosom with her arms.
The attacks had landed at a very forbidden area.
“Is it because it’s a beast? Did it instinctively attack your weakness?”
"Hehe, as if. This guy’s a male after all…"
Callius immediately ordered Vivi to go after the smirking Bruns.
"Ugh! Why, why are you doing this, master!"
"You’ve got an unlucky smirk on your face."
"Oh shit! P-, please stop!"
– Crooon! Crooooon! Kieeeeeeeng! Kieeeeeeeng!
"I think you really must be touched in the head."
Angry, Helena seeped into the shadows and disappeared.
The commotion subsided, and the victorious Vivi was called back and rewarded with a few pieces of meat.
Rumble.
Just then, the carriage stopped.
"What's going on?"
“Ah, that’s…”
The driver looked troubled as he explained.
"Rohendel?"
The place before them was called Rohendel, and apparently the lord of the place himself was blocking the road through it.
"Why is he blocking the road?"
“To collect taxes.”
If so, shouldn't they have taken a detour?
This couldn’t be the only path.
"Because the mountains are steep, and all the other roads are said to be infested with bandits. It’d waste more time, and put us in more danger as well."
So, the only safe way was to go through Rohendel, but the lord who knew that was collecting a huge toll.
"How much is it?"
"For merchant transportation, he takes 40% of all goods in kind. But what can we do?"
He’d wondered how much a toll tax could be, but this was nothing short of daylight robbery.
"Orcal, take care of it."
"Me? It's so annoying though…"
"Better annoyed than dead."
"… All right."
Orcal had become Callius' follower.
The bastard’s Worm Soul was quite useful, so Callius had appeased him like an adult and turned him into a subordinate.
It hadn’t been a particularly difficult process.
‘Will you follow me?'
‘Don't bullshit!'
They’d merely gone through a Q&A event, and each wrong answer had gotten the contestant a taste of lightning.
‘Please, I'll follow you! I'll follow!'
‘Let’s check, shall we?'
Orcal, writhing in pain, had often shouted that he’d follow Callius, and every time Callius had drawn his sword.
‘You're not quite there yet.'
‘Oh no! I really, really, really want to follow you! Please let me follow you!'
However, the blade of the Judgment Sword had been muddy every time.
Over the course of several days, Orcal had managed to finally demonstrate his sincerity, but only after being beaten almost to the point of death.
‘Your heart is now as clear and transparent as this sword. Great. I’ll take you with me.'
‘…'
As could be seen, the results were great.
Callius had legitimate concerns.
Somebody in the upper ranks of the Inquisition had ordered the inquisitor-captains to get rid of him.
Becoming a heretic inquisitor in this kind of a situation was no different than sticking your head into the jaws of a tiger.
‘But this is also an opportunity.'
There were many eyes in the capital.
There, it’d actually be more difficult to assassinate him than in the North or some other remote place.
The higher his reputation as a heretic inquisitor, the more difficult would it be for them to kill him.
That was why he’d kept Orcal alive.
With him as an ally, along with Callius’ noble title, he should become a captain immediately after a short probation period.
That’d make things a lot easier.
It’d be a good identity to lance the poisonous pus that had infected Carpe.
"Are you there?"
A worm of Orcal's came in.
It was the size of a beetle, and it sat on Callius’ hand as he knocked on its shell.
Shortly after pouring in a little bit of divine power, he suddenly heard a voice in his ear.
– Can you hear me?
It was one of the abilities of the spirit sword, Worm Soul.
This was better than the worms Callius had seen before.
"Tell me."
– I think you should come.
… Guess I'll have to go deal with it.
Callius grabbed the Judgment Sword from the air and got out of the carriage, Vivi trailing behind.
As he walked step by step, he saw Orcal facing off against the lord’s soldiers, who were blocking the path.
The lord had already come out and did not plan to overturn his stubborn decision.
There were soldiers and knights in the vicinity too, quite a few.
About thirty.
"Orcal, why didn't you clean things up yourself?"
"The Church’s reputation has been in the mud for ages, you know? Without a good cause, even my hands are tied."
This is why Callius had wanted the count title. The reputation of the Church had been dragged into the mud long ago. Despite facing the pressure from the empire, the pilgrims were not interested in war, and only continued their fanatical search for more and better carcasses.
Clicking his tongue, Callius placed the sword on his shoulder and observed the lord.
If one wanted to describe the man in a few words, he looked just like a toad. Seeing that face shining with greed, there didn’t seem to be any point in bothering with trivialities.
Callius immediately approached and thrust the sword at the lord, who glared back at him.
"Wh-, what are you doing?!"
Clang!
The soldiers also pulled out their swords as if a hornet’s nest had been kicked. But Callius didn’t worry about the details.
"Did you bribe the bandits around here to force everybody to use this road?"
"What, what nonsense!"
Contrary to his excuses, the colour of the blade turned black.
As if the filth of the lord’s greed was being projected from the blade.
It was obvious.
Even with bandits roaming nearby, he didn't stop them, but rather made everybody pay a toll?
If this wasn't a self-made play, what else could it be?
"You piece of trash."
So there was no mercy in Callius’ hands.
Slash!
"Ugh!"
"L-, Lord!!"
The lord's head was cut off.
It flew through the air for a short moment, and then fell to the ground with a dull sound.
Thump.
"Wh-, what is this! No! Why can I still talk!?"
The head was cut off, but the lord was not yet dead. His head was still alive[1].
This was one of the abilities of the Judgment Sword, a sword that was simultaneously called the most beautiful, as well as the cruellest.
"You won't die unless I allow it."
When the Judgment Sword was used to discern lies and the liar was beheaded –
The sword could defer the death.
This trait was a bizarre ability of the Judgment Sword.
"Look carefully at how everything you held so dear falls apart."
Orcal, seeing Callius gesture with a movement of his chin, sighed as if it was a bother and headed towards the castle.
Orcal’s job was to drag everything unclean in this city into the light.
There was no way a guy like this hadn't committed any corruption.
"What, what are you doing! No, who the hell are you to do this! What are you all doing! Kill this guy right now!!"
"Try, if you think you can."
It wouldn't be easy.
"Ugh!"
"Ouch!"
"M-, my body is… ugh!"
Of course, for the knights and soldiers of such a small town, one Tyrant Sword was enough.
Maybe they were finding it hard to lift even a single hand, so the soldiers and the knights couldn't budge at all and had no choice but to crouch down under the pressure.
"What, what are you all doing!! Ugh! You motherfucker! Let me go! Let me go!!"
The rolling head probably seemed interesting, so Vivi bit it by the hair and started playing with it as if it was a ball.
It probably thought this was a new toy. In fact, it wasn’t strange to think that it was a toy, since some of the estates they’d passed through also had things like this.
"Vivi."
– Kieeeeeeeeng!
Vivi trotted in with the lord's head in its mouth.
Callius grabbed the head with one hand and slowly started walking through the city.
Some people were terrified at the sight, but others only thanked him.
Some prayed, some called to God, some knelt and wept.
All the houses in the city were shabby, on the verge of collapse, and there were hungry children on the streets, begging and stealing.
Callius even saw children stealing bread while the crowd’s eyes were focused on him.
This was common, here.
In this world that he himself had created, there were plenty of people who starved others to fill their own bellies.
This was the world he had made.
So it had to be changed.
In Carpe, where he would live –
In this world he would live in –
He didn't need such garbage.
"You don't deserve to be a lord."
Crackle.
The feudal lord burned.
"No! No! No!"
Throwing away the screaming head, covered in flames, Callius turned back.
『Kingdom Quest』
【Imperial Spies】
◆ Save the kingdom from ruin by killing the spies of the empire.
◆ Number of spies killed: 2/?
<Reward>「Monarch's Flag」
"Did you find it?"
"Yes, here it is."
A ledger and some envelopes.
A ledger, in which all the corruption was written and accounted for.
And the envelopes…
"So he was a spy."
Corruption can only spread so fast when the rot comes from the very top.
The local lord had just been a tool, who did what the one above him told him to do.
"Who’s his superior, do you think?"
"I know who it is."
The pinnacle of corruption, and the man who’d probably instigated Callius' assassination.
The man who’d been secretly leading Carpe to the cliff of utter ruin.
"Archbishop of the Order, Alhamtra."
Alhamtra du Rohan Vallus.
The serpent devouring the kingdom.
Editor's Notes:
[1] A talking head is a common fantasy trope, but people never consider how one could talk without access to the lungs. But that's no different than the brain surviving without access to oxygen, either, so it seems the sword keeps the head connected to the body somehow? What witchery!
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