266-260 Enemy killing

Mr. Bazak increased the number of magic spears of each attribute in the air as he recounted the same things that the fake Mr. Bazak was talking about in Ebiza.

'The people who helped me were my disciples, who were still new and had just become my subordinates. It seems that the disciples decided that their pursuers from the Illumasia Empire would not be able to reach anywhere near the Demon Clan's territory, so they fled to the southwest, where they arrived at a self-sufficient village, where they waited for me to recover.

It seems that Mr. Bazak was well-liked for taking care of me for a period of six months.

Anyway, the demon territory........right now it's sealed off with Lord Leinster's magic, so it's unlikely that any high-ranking demons will come out, but there must be some stronger demons.

The miasma in the vicinity of the demon tribe's territory is probably too dense, and it's probably not the best place for people to live.

Have the Bazak's been living in that village all this time?

''Yes. Because until I woke up, it seems that my disciples were using magic to expand the village, plow the fields, and sometimes defeat demonic beasts, so we had already established a trusting relationship. Besides....

And?

We already had nowhere to turn and no one to give our loyalty to, so we decided to help the villagers who sheltered us.

I'm sure that he is a very loyal and compassionate person.

I'm sure that a person of Mr. Bazak's level of ability would have been able to set up a foundation for his life by registering with the Adventurer's Guild and becoming active.

But Mr. Bazak and his disciples decided to stay in the self-sufficient village and return the favor to the villagers who took care of them, it's not as easy as it sounds, and I don't think it's usually that easy to talk about.

''........Didn't you think of revenge against the Empire?''

'We thought about it for a few days after we woke up, but we all decided after talking it over that we couldn't risk the lives of the villagers who saved us, even though we already had no country to protect and hated the Empire.

If you've been in the Imperial territory for a long time, I'm sure you're aware of Lionel's activities.

Alright, since we have to deal with Cloud, and since we don't know how long Mr. Bazak will be able to exercise his magic, we'll get to the point.

'If you were in that village all along, why were you a slave?

''A few years passed, and just as I was set to become the village chief, a small-scale mass outburst of demonic beasts (Stampede) occurred.

Is this a stampede of hexenbiests?

''Yes. It was a demon tribe that wasn't that strong that caused the demon to run amok. But when that demon race was there, the demon race became more powerful, so I managed to crush it ahead of time. That's where my magic power was depleted, but I managed to fend off the demon beast.

Mr. Fake Bazak also said, as I recall, that his magic power was depleted and he was rescued by His Highness Albert and Melfina-san and the others.

Perhaps he was attacked by a demon when he escaped before the enemy and happened to be rescued by His Highnesses?

Since you have pretty bad luck, you still seem to have [bad luck] as a skill.......

''And that's where the imperial soldiers came to defeat the remnants of the demons, right?

''........It seems that you came after almost everything, but I didn't meet the Imperial soldiers at that time. Because I was depleted of magic power and everything was handled by my apprentice.

It would be confirmed that the apprentice was Lysak, who was playing Mr. Bazak.

If he was Mr. Bazak's apprentice, it's not surprising that he learned to use shape-shifting magic.

But I think he made the wrong choice.

I'm not going to be able to tell you why. There's no doubt about it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to find a way to make it work, but I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to make it work.

If that was the case, there was no need for him to take Mr. Bazak's place.

But what does the mass runaway of demonic beasts (Stampede) have to do with the fact that they've become slaves?　Perhaps sensing that I was thinking that, Mr. Bazak began to tell me why he was really enslaved.

'In the years since the end of the Demonic Beast's Massive Runaway (Stampede), our village has attracted the attention of the Empire, and the Imperial Army has repeatedly pressed us to subjugate it, but we kept refusing, shielding our village's defense.

I turned my head to Lionel and he shook his head.

Well, I heard that Lionel was always on the front lines back then, and he could have done that kind of subterfuge, but he would never do it unless he was ordered to.

''When the Empire was winning the war, I could still refuse. But after the battle against the Rubruk Kingdom, and the War Demon General was injured, the Empire couldn't keep up appearances, or they decided to make us subservient instead of subservient.

Subjugation, not subservience, is not the norm.

No matter how much of a military state the Empire was, it should not be allowed.

If you look at Lionel, his expression was already gone, but his gaze was fixed on Cloud.

That Cloud must have sensed something from Lionel and scrambled out of the sanctuary ward more desperately than before, trying to get out of the sanctuary ward.

''Slavery.......if you want to enslave me, only war slaves, crime slaves, or debt slaves, right?　You don't think the state is involved and you're not going to make them illegal slaves...

"...One day, an incident occurred when bandits attacked the village. Normally, this is a place where no bandits would dwell, but since they showed up, they killed all the bandits. However, it wasn't bandits that actually attacked the village, but the Imperial special forces.

Oh, I've read the developments. I can hear the sound of gnashing of teeth from Lionel.

'Hundreds of soldiers besieged the village in the form of national treason. They then declared that they would unleash fire if they were not enslaved, and in return for me and my disciples going to the battlefield, the villagers were given the condition that they would be offered an amnesty, which was passed, so they became slaves.

Mr. Bazak was pulling and shaking.

Surely if it was just Mr. Bazak and his disciples, they might have had the strength to fight. But they probably wouldn't have resisted to protect the villagers who couldn't fight.

No, surely they might be prepared to unleash their magic, as they are now, and make them comply with their terms.

Is it my ego that I want that to be the case if possible?

"...who was in charge of that army, by any chance?

'Unlike the gutsy man who led the way on the battlefield and cut me down while inspiring his allies, he was a shallow warlord, a man who would hide behind his allies and give orders while abandoning his men to flee when he was outnumbered...'

I didn't realize you were even doing that just to humiliate Lionel........

.........or maybe it wasn't an environment where he could say that even behind his back......

When I looked at Lionel, I saw that both the great sword and the great shield were pulling and shaking.

Maybe it was frustrating, but it wasn't just because he heard Mr. Bazak's words, and it wasn't just because Cloud commanded the army he was leading, but probably because he felt a sense of responsibility to himself for leaving the Empire, even though he had fallen for the ruse.

And when Mr. Bazak said more words, the compassion for Cloud that I had inside me vanished in a flash.

'After I was brought to the imperial capital, I guess I was mad that I was forced to swallow the terms, and that's when they crushed my throat. And I've been hoping to kill him someday ever since he laughed high and low that he was the one who caused a small-scale demon mass outburst (Stampede).

It was truly irredeemable.

How could he be so evil, despite being the same incarnation?　　

Then a thought came to my mind that had nothing to do with the flow of the conversation.　　

Wouldn't Mr. Bazak's strength have given us the upper hand in the war?

And several times he allowed the enemy to get close to him, and this time, perhaps fearing the battlefield, he fled from the front lines, not the front lines, and holed up in this imperial capital to study demonization.

If they didn't have the courage to stand on the battlefield, why did they choose to turn into Lionel?　Wouldn't things have gone much better if he'd replaced the emperor, the vizier, and the powerful nobility?

May I ask about this demonization?　

But first, is it okay to let it perish from the world?

Mr. Bazak held his wand up to Cloud.

He looked at Lionel and Lionel quietly opened his mouth.

'Master Luciel, please activate the Sanctuary Wards again. And if the Abyss attacks with magic and you're still alive, I'll put a stop to it.

When he looked at Mr. Bazak again, he nodded, and a magic spear, filled with more magic than before, was fired at Cloud in unison.

When the magic spear hit Cloud, a blast sounded, and a blast of dust was blown up, sending dust flying.

Cloud's screams echoed as Cloud was sent backwards and attached his back to the sanctuary wards.

However, Mr. Bazak didn't stop the attack and spoke out to continue what he had just said.

''All of the people from the village we were in are already dead.

Do you have an appointment?

That man did not try to protect such things. On the contrary, he implanted magical stones in the villagers, attempted to turn them into demons, and used the slaves gathered from all over the world according to age and race as materials for his experiments, sometimes creating demons, sometimes creating a synthetic beast (chimera).

'It's a prick. And irredeemably insane....

"And the disciples who cared for me to the end were enslaved and turned into demons, and those who couldn't make it to the demon tribe had their minds destroyed and became cripples who supplied the magic power.

..........

I couldn't find the words to call Mr. Bazak.

'Thanks to the Sage Lord, I was able to destroy the facility that was binding such disciples. Now I have no regrets.

And it was at that moment that Mr. Bazak's magic grew all at once.

Esther jumped behind Mr. Bazak and delivered a powerful blow to his neck, reaping his consciousness.

''He must recover immediately or this one will die, Luciel!

At that moment, I understood.

No matter how much a master or Lionel class, there is a limit to a person's magic power.

And that Mr. Bazak had acquired the skill to surpass that limit.

While hastily activating the Extra Heal and invoking it, he made Mr. Bazak drink the few remaining magic potions from the magic bag.

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

Thinking I was free, I looked at Lionel and saw that he had just cut off Cloud's head.

It was somehow very uneventful, and I felt a sense of emptiness that I had reaped the life of a reincarnated person again.

I felt the raw head scream as I cast a purification spell just in case, but I decided to focus all my efforts on recovering Mr. Bazak first.