13. Condemned

It’s been more than a month since the Salt Harbor was attacked. The damage is getting worse by the day. Today, a boy was taken by the Knums as he drew water from a well at the edge of town. The goat-headed demon, Knum, was the size of a house.

As it gnawed and chewed at the poor boy’s lower half, about to devour him, a hook dug at the beast’s nape. It groaned in agony as the sharp point dug into its thick neck fur. Fortunately, the boy was saved.

“Don’t break ranks!”

Ragnar raised his greatsword, slicing through the air and landing squarely on the nape of Khnum’s neck. With one down, the others hesitated and began to retreat.

Ragnar’s army seized the momentum and drove into the horde. As elite troops drawn from the twelve families that ruled the North, they moved in unison, following Ragnar’s lead.

“If there is a Knum, there will be Heket around. Stay alert and search the area!”

Heket are frog-like beasts. A single one isn’t much of a threat, but they usually form large groups. For some reason, Knum and Heket always travel in pairs, despite their different habitats.

“T, there!”

Sure enough, in the distance he saw what looked like a large swarm of bees. But they weren’t bees, they were poisonous frogs with an aura of unease about them.

“Split up and go into battle!”

The frog, which was the size of a man’s head, shot poisonous liquid at the knights. The venom corroded the knights’ armor. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Knum rises to the occasion.

“Damn, this never ends. Why do these things show up in the north in the first place!”

Olaf swung his Morningstar in annoyance, knocking Knum’s horns away. Each one was no great threat, but their numbers were. Never before had such a sporadic and large number of demons appeared in this region, and they were struggling to destroy them.

The casualties were endless, and there was little time to recover. Gradually, the soldiers were becoming fatigued. They knew it wasn’t good if this continued. But no one was willing to say it.

It is known that demon beasts show up naturally. However, very little was known about their exact ecology.

Some demons wield magical-like powers, but these are few and far between. Most demons are merely categorized according to the nature of their powers, such as woodland hydromancy. Even this categorization does not account for half of the demons in existence.

Not much is known about their habitats, but in essence, Knums and Hekets are common in the milder climates of the south. While no one can predict the appearance of a demon, there is a certain amount of regularity to their behavior. It was highly unusual for them to appear in the north.

“If we wait any longer, the new species will appear. Hurry up and organize the ranks!”

Moreover, there was an even trickier problem: the appearance of a new type of demon called a ‘new species’.

Never before seen, this new demon beast was more powerful than any that had ever appeared before, and most of all, they had no idea how to deal with it.

In the distance, a black mass with red eyes wriggled.

“So it is.”

Ragnar had expected the new species long ago. He could smell it somehow. The name of the wizard who had taken an unusual interest in the beast popped into his head.

“Aquilio, the enemy wizard.”

Slowly, he gripped the hilt of his greatsword and steadied himself.

The enemy wizard was the exclusive mage of the Dukes of Dias. His magical world had come to an abrupt end with the Great Annihilation of the Aether, but he had still managed to purchase a spirit stone and retain his powers.

The Dias family had long had ties to the imperial family, and the crown prince, Eilio, was known for his full support of his research.

“I guess I’ll have to assume that madman is involved…….”

As he muttered that, he pierced the neck of the last of the new species. When he gets back to Wishus, he’s going to try and uncover the mole from the Dias family.

The seemingly endless hunt was over. Ragnar felt uncomfortable with the slimy substance all over him. Ragnar wiped his face with the cloth the squire had offered, then threw the sticky cloth to the ground in frustration. The thudding noise spoke volumes about his feelings.

“Look at this.”

His servant had pulled out the core of the new species Ragnar had just defeated. Ragnar held it in his hand and examined it, no longer in doubt.

“…… As expected.”

At the Alliance of the Twelve Houses, the Highlander chieftain, Mulmur, had been right. She had warned him that the wedge symbol on the core was a man-made marking. At the time it was considered a ridiculous hypothesis, but now no one considers it wrong.

“1096…….”

Ragnar narrowed his eyes as he looked up and down the core. There was no argument, for the glyphs displayed a series of increasingly consecutive numbers.

“If he really is here…….”

Ragnar had long been familiar with Aquilio’s work; he and the mad wizard had clashed frequently since he first led the Golden Knights.

Ragnar was no stranger to rumors of his unsavory experiments, especially when it came to drugging retired Esper soldiers. This is why the Espers are so reviled. They were vulnerable to temptation and always in need of a guide.

“Huh…….”

He could feel the demon’s ichor on the back of his neck, and it was horrible. He couldn’t wait to get back to the castle and soak in the hot springs. This unexpected situation had lasted too long. He wanted to return as soon as possible.

“Christa is…….”

He slowly closed his eyes and imagined what she might be doing. Maybe she was sitting somewhere in the garden with silver flowers in bloom, dozing off.

She’d been sleeping a lot more lately. He wanted to walk up behind her and slowly cover her eyes, just to see what expression she would make when she turned around. Just imagining what the soft nape of her neck would taste like when she straightened up in surprise filled his mind.

* * *

Varus’ Lockwood Castle was literally built on a mountain of stone, and its basement is now the working laboratory of the enemy wizard Aquilio. It had been a month since he had stealthily traveled north.

He closed his eyes slowly. His heavy eyelids closed to reveal pitch-black darkness. Ever since the dawn of time, humans have instinctively feared this darkness.

When night falls, eyes are paralyzed. Humans, who grasp most of their essence through sight, are terrified of the invisible. To not see is to not know, so ignorance leads to fear.

To dispel that fear, it is necessary to ignite a spark of hope. So the prophet, who first dispelled the darkness, started a fire to dispel the darkness and reveal the unknown. Humanity has always needed a prophet to strike flint and make light.

Aquilio always saw himself as such a visionary. He always found hope in the darkness. Why fear the pitch black just because you can’t see it? It’s not fear, it’s new possibilities.

He was always looking for new subjects to study, often in areas that no one else was interested in, even when magic still existed. Stepping into unexplored territory was akin to the excitement of stepping on untrodden white snow.

He felt that each time he satisfied his intellectual curiosity, he gained a new power, perhaps a fundamental power that he had never achieved in his life. A power that was not physical or brute force, but something more transcendent. That is the power of the prophet.

God created this world. And he, too, exercised his godlike creative power to bring forth ‘new life’.

Creation was the power of God, so he can be said to have godlike power.

He gazed in ecstasy at his creation.

“Finally…….”

He muttered in ecstasy. After a thousand trials and errors, he had perfected his new life.

He stretched out his arms toward the black shadows writhing in front of him. The mass, as if it had become one body, swelled as it recognized its creator.

“……I have created life.”

This clay figure was superior to any mere mortal. It was more powerful and, above all, more beautiful. It never wasted time, always moving toward the ideal.

“My own flower, never to wither. My homunculus.”

He gave it the name Homunculus. An artificial life form with eternal youth, eternal life, and eternal beauty, and he was the creator of it all.

“……, But it’s not enough.”

There is something needed to give them permanence. Just a little bit. Just one piece. With that, these clay figures would be complete.