65-Episode 65: The taste of feathers and the guardian deity of the forest

In front of us lay a huge demon that had lost its head.

The corpse of Bahamut, the demon that had controlled the precious hunting grounds of the people living on the empty island for decades, was lying there.

''Oh, to defeat that terrifying Lord of the Forest Island...''

That's my boy, Lord Lex.

The knights shout their praises at me for defeating Bahamut.

''No, no, it's because of the disposable magic item. Besides..........''

And what is it?

No, we were able to defeat it easily, in part because of Bahamut's small stature.

What?

Mr. Calm and the others get a scowl.

'Is this the little one?'

Yes, it's not unusual for an adult Bahamut to exceed 40 meters in length. This Bahamut is about 20 meters long, so it is small. Maybe it didn't have enough food.......maybe it's a child.

This is a child?

A child, this demon that torments us?

The knights roll their eyes and stare at Bahamut's headless corpse.

But we've already defeated it, so it doesn't matter if it's an adult or a child.

I soothe the knights who have an uneasy look on their faces.

The battle is already over.

''Come on, there are probably still many demons in this forest island, so let's be efficient.

'What?　Didn't you take out a large number of demons earlier?

Carm-san says that while pointing at the remnants of the demon that he blew up earlier.

''No, what I defeated were some of the demons on this island. Forest Island is quite large, too. I'm sure there are many more demons left.

Yes, Morishima Island is large.

From the reaction of the exploration magic, I knew that the one I defeated earlier was part of the demons that nest on this island.

Mori Island is simply a large place, and since it is a land of bounty for obtaining valuable food, it is not possible to defeat it too recklessly.

So it will take some time to defeat all the demons hidden in the forest island.

''Then leave the defeat of the remaining demons to us, the Knights!

"For Mr. Calm and his friends?

Yes, we were unable to take back Morishima because of Bahamut. But with Bahamut in this state, there will be no one to stop us.

Calm and the others, who had been suffering from food shortages for years, were motivated by the fact that Bahamut, their biggest obstacle, had been defeated.

''We can't leave it up to our guests to kill the small fry.

Plus, I have some magic items that Lord Lex has repaired for me.

The knights raise their spears to the heavens to show their wariness.

Well, if you say so much, I'll leave it to you.

I'll leave it to you. I'll leave it to you then.

Yeah, I'll take care of it!

Did you forget that I am your king?　I mean, haven't you forgotten about me?

Oh, I completely forgot about the Sky King.

Even the knights have a look of "d*mn it" on their faces.

''Hahaha, that's not true, Your Majesty.

It's great that Carm-san is appeasing the Sky King as if nothing happened.

''Really?　You really didn't forget about me, did you?

Now, then, shall we collect the bodies of Bahamut and the demons and go home?

'Right. Most of the demon corpses have been blown up, but we need to recover the safe materials.

Oh, by the way, the magic items I threw away were useful for defeating monsters, but in terms of collecting materials, they're useless.

After all, I blew up most of the demons.

Even so, most of Bahamut's corpses are still around, so I thought it would be worth the money.

I thought so, but........

Coo!

"Oh.

What a mohumoff was eating Bahamut's feathers.

'Hey mofumof!　You can't just eat them without permission!

Oh, my God, you're eating other demons.

If you look, the wings of the demon corpses scattered around are also gnawed off.

Could it be that they like feathers?

If you think he's pretty quiet, he's a completely helpless fellow.

"Kuhn!

Don't wag your tail happily.

Don't spoil it by biting it and spoiling it!

'Hey, I get angry when I'm angry, too!　Oh, my God!　Did you just pee your pants?　You are a real pain in the ass, you know that?

You're not going to be able to do that.

ohohoh?　

What's this?　It's so delicious?

.........kohon.

I am the king of demons, the ruler of all demons.

I was just tasting the demon that was just defeated by my master.

The opponent was quite formidable, but he was not strong enough to deal with my master.

Of course, as my opponent as well.

But isn't blowing his head off and knocking him down a bit of an exaggeration?

And I've shucked it off as mealtime while the Lord was chatting with a disgusting human with wings.

Because I was hungry.

So I ate the feather first.

You can tell the taste of demon meat by the taste of its feathers.

I can already smell it in the air.

So, let's eat!

Huh?　Huh!　Yuck!

It's so delicious!

This is why I went back to my opening statement.

These demon wings were extremely delicious.

Already, when I chewed it, the gravy came out in a sizzling stream.

The blood and juices spread in my mouth, and the crunchiness is excellent.

It was a perfect balance of not too hard and not too soft.

And the fatty meat gave it a slight sweetness that gave me an insatiable pleasure.

It was, to say the least, superb.

Ah, come on!

But this monster meat was not only wonderful in terms of taste.

This monster meat is full of good quality, rich magic, and every time I feast on its flesh and blood, it fills my body with magical power.

I can feel the power of the storm brewing in my body!

Ah, here it is.

This is what a ruler's diet is all about.

Certainly the meat mixed with grass and nuts that the Lord prepares is good. Tender and many flavors are delightful.

The fruit for dessert is good too.

But this is what it is.

The instinct of my beast was for the life it had just hunted for.

'********!

Above all, your flesh!

Hahahahahahaha!　Eat the magic and blood-drenched flesh, gain new strength, and fear for me, who has awakened to my terrible wild instincts!

I love the food the Lord made for me.

********************.

Oh, my God, you sound different.

I'm in trouble. I'm in real trouble.

Chomping down, chomping down.

I'm not that bad.

I'm not bad.

Oh my God!

It was while I was recovering Bahamut with a mofo tooth mark and checking for any remaining demon material.

A knight with a blood change came flying in from the sky island.

"What's going on!

Mr. Calm stepped in front of the knight who came.

''The western village has been attacked by a demon!

What?

We have sent out those on standby with enough men left to defend the castle, but since the remainder of the force was used to defeat Morishima, we thought the villagers would be too busy evacuating.

"Did we devote too many men to the defeat of Morishima but we'll reflect on that later. Your Majesty, our knights will go to the rescue of the western village!

Mm-hmm. I'll leave it to you, Calm. And now that Bahamut has been defeated, I'm going back to the castle. The knights of the Kingsguard will return to the castle with me. The castle is too poorly protected at this point. It's a good thing that the demons of Morishima will be defeated at a later date.

""Ha!"

Call in the celestial knights.

'Ooh, ministry!

With Calm-san's command, the knights soar into the sky.

''Then I guess we should follow them too.

Which way?

Liliera-san, that's a given, isn't it?

Of course it's for the Order.

Right now, in a place called the West Village, the people of this empty island are being attacked by a monster.

That's why I want to help them as an adventurer.

It's a good thing that the people of the village and my distrust of nobles and knights have nothing to do with each other.

''Yeah, it's starting to sound like the usual Lex-san.

'What?　Really?

'Yeah, I've been being a bit of a nasty Mr. Lex the last few days.

........I see. I wasn't aware of it, but from the person who was beside me, it looked like that.

'Thank you, Liliera-san.

'What?　Why do they thank you?

Sort of. ....Well, let's get going, shall we?

Yeah!

We soared into the sky after the Knights who preceded us.

'Mr. Carm, is the western village straight ahead?'

I caught up with the front of the pack and asked for the exact direction of the west village, just to be sure.

Yes, that's right. With this feather that I had repaired, I should be able to arrive in about an hour.

An hour, that's a bit late.

This one looks like it's better to go ahead.

''Liliera-san, I'll go ahead, so you can come with the knights later.

Okay.

Coo!

I leave the Fluffy Fluffy to Liliella and increase the speed of my flight magic.

'Carm-san, I'll go first!

What?

By the time Carm-san turned towards us, I was already in front of the Knights.

Then I accelerated further, and after I got away from everyone at a distance that wouldn't bother them, I started flying at a speed that was serious, but just barely enough to not hurt the empty island.

''Let's go!''

The strong wind pressure that blows on your body is reduced by wind magic, and the impact on your body is also reduced by the magic.

The scenery around them passed by at a terrific pace, and in no time at all the landscape was changing. Beyond the river and grasslands, forests and man-made structures came into view.

''So that's the western village!

I look for the shape of the monster that attacked the village.

However, my magically enhanced eyesight shows no signs of an attack on the village.

I'm not going to be able to get out of it.　What do you mean?

I'm not sure, but is it a good thing that the village is safe?

And then a light grew out of the forest and disappeared into the sky.

'Magic?　No, it's not. It's the light of the Order's magic item!

When I turn my attention to the forest, I can see the demons in one corner of it.

It seems that the demons are attacking something in the forest.

Perhaps, though, the evacuees have fled into the forest and the demons have attacked that way.

There are only a few knights who came from the castle to help, and it's going to be hard to protect the people in the village.

We have to cover them quickly.

''Yes!

I kept up my speed and charged into the crowd of demons.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most of your time in the city.

It's not just a matter of time before you get to the point where you'll be able to get your hands on a new one.

''But there are so many of them and the trees in the forest are in the way.

The demons are flying quite low in order to attack those who have escaped into the forest.

If you use a magic that attacks a wide area in this situation, you might mess up the forest as well as the demons.

''In that case, let's take advantage of our surroundings here!

I rose once and took stock of the demons around me and activated a spell that wouldn't ravage the forest.

'Forest Fang!'

With the activation of the magic, the branches of the trees start to move and extend their branches towards the monsters.

The branches are growing fast, and they pierce the demons with sharp branches that look like fangs.

An ordinary tree branch would only be able to pierce the weakest of demons, but the branch strengthened by this magic is different.

The magician pursues the opponent he perceives as an enemy to no end, and the branch, harder than iron, pierces the opponent.

This magic won't destroy the forest.

After all, the forest itself becomes a hound and even turns into a powerful weapon.

The trees in the forest will be hunting demons in no time.

The trees catch up with those that escape to the sky with their branches, and those that escape into the forest are hunted down with a net of twisted branches and finished off with their fangs.

In this way, the demons were wiped out without much time.

This was a magic that couldn't be used in the forest of demonic beasts, where the trees of the forest themselves were demons, right?

''Well, now let's just help treat the injured before the knights come.

You're not going to be able to do that.

Lex-dono joins us from the rear of our sortie to the western village.

It seems from the way he speaks, he is planning to help rescue the west village.

Even though we met in that way, I'm really grateful for that.

It's a good thing that you're a member of the knightly order, but we've been living isolated from the ground for so long that we've become quite closed off.

I'll have to thank this boy again later.

When I was thinking about this, Lex-dono called out to me.

''Mr. Calm, I'm going ahead!

What?

As we turned to look at him, Lex was already moving far ahead.

And then suddenly, a tremendous storm hit us like a storm.

"Whoa!

What the hell is going on?　Is this a new demon that has appeared?

But I looked around, but there was nothing to see.

The wind will die down soon enough.

What in the world was that wind, what was that wind?

"Lex-dono, what was that wind...?

When I noticed, Lord Lex was nowhere to be found.

It was as if he had disappeared with the current wind.

I turn to the girl who was left behind.

'Lex-san would have gone first. Probably the wind you just had was caused by Lex-san, too.

The girl told me as if it was a matter of course.

I look in the direction of the west village that Lexu-dono was headed for, but Lexu-dono was nowhere to be seen.

I'm not sure how fast you need to fly to move so far away that you can't see anywhere in your field of vision!

The boy's power that we saw was only a fraction of what we saw.

I couldn't help but think so.

And by the time we finally arrived at the western village after an hour of delay, everything was already over.

All the demons were defeated, and the villagers, who were apparently saved by him, were thanking Lex-dono.

''Should we be happy that the damage was minimal?''

Seeing the village safe and sound, his men muttered with a wry smile.

Yeah, maybe so.

But..........　

We're not going to be able to do that.

Yeah, it's not there...

The spear I got fixed, I haven't used it in a real battle yet.

By the way, captain........

A subordinate comes over to talk to me in a reserved manner.

'What the hell is that about?'

Stop, you idiot, you were doing your best to pretend not to notice.

'There are trees in the forest that are growing all over the place, all messed up, and there's a demon stuck in the end of one of them.

Oh, I said it.

I knew it was coming!　But I pretended not to notice it because I thought it was a new kind of hell!

'They said that even in the forest, the branches were intertwined like a web, piercing the demons.

He adds more reports that I don't want to hear further.

'Huh...'

I wonder if this is another thing that Lord Lex has done.

'My kids will cry when they see it, I swear.

But surprisingly, it was well received by the villagers.

The tree belongs to the man who protected our lives. From now on, we will worship him as a guardian deity of our village.

I started saying.

Are you guys insane?