“This dark magic stuff is brutal!”
“Terrifying. The hero made it sound easy, but no ordinary mage could
magnify fear at all, let alone at such an absurd range.”
“Hey, but what about the titan? I can’t imagine that was enough to deal with the badass Wolf King himself.”
“No, it actually was. He just died with the rest of them. The advantage of emotion-magnifying magic is that it works regardless of the target’s resistance to magic. Bet you’d be surprised to learn that the boss of that herd was a bit of a chicken.”
“One spell! One spell was all it took to outdo months of planning and preparing!”
“I had no idea dark magic was so effective on titans!”
“Oh my gosh, that is just too cool! Gosh, not only do you know incredible magic, but you’re also just so knowledgeable!”
Dark magic’s strengths lay in how it targeted thinking beings. Wild animals, as intelligent beings with little in the way of rationality, were in some sense the ideal target for it. Smarter races, like humans, could use reason to suppress their feelings, so my magic was actually less effective against them.
“Anyway, so, you know how when a lot of living things die, they have this nasty tendency for their corpses to reanimate and walk around as undead? Especially when the cause is a spiritual death, which leads to the dead leaving regrets behind, there’s a high chance of the earth being contaminated.”
“What?! Th-Then what did you do about that?!” Prince Charles demanded, jumping up when he heard the word “undead.”
“Well, I took up all of the grudges floating around the area…”
“Do you think he purified them with holy magic?”
“Yes, that would be the natural thing to do, for a hero.”
This was another thing that I couldn’t have done alone before I was made a hero. Without the increased capacity, I’d probably have had to leave half of them there and beg the temple for help.
“…Then I used them all as fuel for a magic that would instill the unconscious fear of death in monsters within the area, clearing them out.
With a hundred thousand grudges, that spell covered a pretty huge area.”
“Quite the inconsiderate man, isn’t he?”
“I really don’t know what I’m going to tell the faithful. I may have to fudge some of the details.”
“Oooh, you used their grudges as fodder for more dark magic?! That’s pretty creepy stuff, man!” Jeanne shivered a little.
“The spell doesn’t affect people, and it will probably last for about a year. Anyway, once that was done, I gathered all the corpses up into my inventory, and now here I am.”
“So, beyond defeating the titan, you also cast a spell that will keep monsters out of the area for a year. That alone is another feat to rival your defeat of the Wolf King Courtaud.”
Prince Charles pointed out, his face red. Why did he look so upset? Was he mad at me? I supposed, from a moral viewpoint, leveraging grudges to cast a spell was a rather cruel act. Man, I messed up this time, huh? Sure hope he’s not too angry with me. At any rate, though I couldn’t be certain he was actually angry, he did at least look perplexed.
“What in heaven’s name am I supposed to give this man?! Now he’s even got connections with Count Meitia! The relationship seems new enough, but nonetheless, the Count was so enthusiastic about this man that he sent his daughter speeding to the frontier to marry him nigh as fast as birds can fly!
Now I have to be careful to avoid insulting this son-in-law, or I risk the anger of a man who’s as powerful as my father, the king! ”
“Uhh… Well, Sir Chris, your achievement in battle is without precedent.
I’ll have to speak with His Majesty first to discuss a suitable reward. For the moment, would you be willing to give me the Wolf King’s core? I’ll need it to prove your deed.”
A monster’s core was a crystal imbued with magic that lay within the body of a monster. Such cores were essential for sustaining daily life throughout the world, since many magical tools used them as their chief material. Of course, items made for everyday use were made using low-rank cores from weaker monsters. Stronger, more valuable cores came from stronger monsters. By selling a titan’s core, you could easily make enough money to build a castle.
I’d clearly messed up all of Prince Charles’s plans, so I figured maybe giving him that valuable core would make it up to him. Gotta kiss up to the bigshots if I want to be one of them, right? Even a bumpkin like me knows that much.
“Oh yeah, the big guy’s up in the storehouse—what was his name, Courtaud? Anyway, he’s all yours. As for the other hundred thousand, I’ll
give them to the dismantling guys a few at a time so I don’t bother them again.”
Charles began muttering to himself again.
“In heaven’s name, now he wants to give me the titan? Goddess, how am I going to reward this man before I get to the capital? I don’t have the funds!
Status, perhaps? But I don’t have the power to grant titles myself, and without a tangible reward, I might anger everyone—including the top figures of the development plan and the family who sent their daughter to marry him!”
Why was Prince Charles acting so strange? I was getting pretty nervous about this whole adventure. Wonder what he’s thinking about over there.
Margraves must have it tough, huh? I’d really thought I was doing good for the people, exterminating all those monsters, but I was starting to think I’d actually just gone and bothered everyone by butting in. Nobody likes it when you get in the way of careful planning, after all.
Prince Charles seemed to be lost in thought for a while, but eventually, he composed himself. He then looked at me with a forced smile and spoke.
“Sir Chris, there should be a craftsman’s street in the industrial district near your mansion. We anticipate a population boom in that area, and as such, we have plans to build a commercial district. In fact, surveying and zoning have already been completed. All that remains now is to construct the buildings and sell the rights to operate shops. So, err… Of the five hundred blocks planned, I offer one hundred to you, Sir Chris! We can iron out taxation details and the exact location later on. And rest assured, I’ll offer you another fine reward on my return from the capital!”
Oh yeah, I think the maids said something about that. Only the grid of roads had been paved, and a lot of merchant-like people had been wandering around inspecting the planned area. They’d told me that each square block was about large enough to hold one large inn.
Since the foundations hadn’t been laid yet, children would play in the vacant lots. They were all obsessed with some ball game that Prince Charles had invented, and it seemed they always returned home from their games covered in mud. When the maids discussed it, they’d shake their heads, half sighing and half laughing.
“A business district? Well, it’s nice that it would be near my home, but I think that’s too much for me.”
“Worry not! You’ve married into the Meitia family, yes? Speak with her, and her family shall be sure to send a specialist over. The two of you can work out a deal that will benefit you mutually, improving relations between you and the Meitia family!”
“Whew. This ought to appease Count Meitia, at least. I’ll foist the titan off on the temple and make them perform some sort of rite. If I whip them all into a full-on death march, they won’t have the time to bother with me! Sorry to work you to death, Trabant, but I need help handling this situation!”
“Sir Trabant, I would like your temple to hold a festival featuring the hero to coincide with the announcement of the titan’s defeat. We will give you the monster’s corpse, save the core, and we’d like you to be prepared to hold the fête before the beginning of the development plan, approximately one month from now.”
“I beg your pardon? Margrave Caroling, surely you would be the logical choice to spearhead such an effort. Though of course, the temple would be glad to offer its assistance.”
Prince Charles and Trabant began a heated discussion. In fact, it almost looked like they were bickering. Being such a big deal must be hard, I guess.
Anyway, they didn’t seem much concerned with me anymore, so I figured I might as well go home.