268-262 The majesty of the war demon general

Cloud's laboratory that Mr. Bazak had destroyed with magic. At the far end of it, a door that was completely unaffected by magic remained intact.

''Here it is. You're not affected by it at all, are you?

It seems so. It's a very important place. It must have triggered some kind of warding to keep it from being broken.

"Master Luciel, I'll open it........................what?　There's no keyhole, but it won't open.

Esther took the initiative to open the door, but it didn't seem to open.

''Is there some kind of trick?　Then [Dispel] how about this?

I'll try again. Oh, it's open.

Then, this time, it seemed to open easily with a touch of my hand.

There must have been some kind of magic circle or something. Even when I was in Nerdal, I didn't have to study this kind of magic technology, so I'd like to learn this kind of thing eventually.

As I was thinking about that, Estia advanced into the door.

Even though there could be traps and enemies inside, I was impatient with Estia's ability to act without hesitation at all. However, there was no point in thinking about it, so he and Lionel stepped into the room after Estia.

Immediately after entering the room, I ran to the person who Estia had fallen on, hugged her, and immediately looked at me and screamed in an urgent voice.

'Luciel-sama!　Please deactivate the slave crest immediately.

Come to think of it, if he had been with Estia in the past, he wasn't crazy about being a slave.

Was he a slave to Cloud if he was suffering?　Once I moved my gaze to Lionel to check it out, I activated my dispel to the person Estia was holding.

Then there was some kind of crunching sound, a high-pitched sound like metal shattering after a sound like something cracking.

But there didn't seem to be a problem, so I checked with Esther.

'Are you still alive?'

'Yes. When I found him, he was holding his throat and couldn't seem to breathe, but he's breathing now.

A slave who is engraved with a slave crest is made to die in the form of his master's death or liberation or following him.

I knew that, but apparently they can't die immediately.

I'm sorry to Estia, who is happy that her acquaintance is alive, but I activated the purification magic not to clean it up just in case, but to determine if it has become a demon race or not.　

''Ah, thank you, Luciel-sama!''

He missed a bit of guilt at Estia's thanks, but since there was no noticeable reaction to the person Estia was holding, he breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't appear to be a demon race.

'Is that person the reincarnation Estia was talking about that should have been killed?

'Yes. There have been a few changes in the years since then, but I'm pretty sure it's your sister Alice.

''Okay. I'd really like to talk to them right away, but it's not good to go any further without joining up with Kefin and the others, as expected. Let's accommodate them in the hermit's coffin and lightly scavenge this room before we destroy it and join them.

Thank you.

Well, I'll look on this side first.

Yeah, please.

Thus, Estia had the reincarnation who called herself Alice housed in the coffin of a hermit.

Taking another look at the innermost room of the laboratory, I saw that a large amount of chemicals were crammed in there, to the point where I wanted to call it a medicine cabinet.

There were even test tubes and microscopes on the table, just like those used in scientific experiments.

''........Could it be that they were using these things here to conduct experiments to increase the conformity rate of demonization?''

I decided to store all of these things in a magic bag and seal them up for good.

Eventually, when we live a slow life, we won't be able to take it easy if these things are out in the world.

I don't want that to happen.

With that in mind, when I had collected all of them, I asked Lionel to burn this room down.

When Lionel opened fire with his great sword of fire and made sure it was burning up, he called out to the two of them.

'This accomplishes our original objective. Cloud has been defeated by Lionel, and we've also destroyed this place that was researching demonization. The rest is within the Empire, but........

"Master Luciel, if you don't mind, can you leave everything here to me?

Okay.

You're not going to ask me what I'm going to do?

Yeah. I don't know much about the Empire. Then I have a feeling we'd be better off leaving it to Lionel, who knows better.

Thank you. We'll see you and Ketty in a minute.

Yeah. Let's do it.

After setting fire to every inch of the lab, we returned to the place where we fought Cloud.

Then, it seemed that there was a commotion upstairs, so we decided to move to the ground immediately.

'Make a staircase that will take us to the top [Earth Dragon, make my way].

Putting magic power into the illusionary staff and poking the ground with the tip of the staff while speaking to the earth dragon with the image of the phenomenon, the ground rose up and a staircase was formed in no time.

'You're lucky I didn't need too much magic power.

Master Luciel, I'm going to go ahead.

Lionel told him and ran up the stairs in one go.

It was done well, and I would have liked to see a few more reactions, but.......well, it can't be helped.

''Is your magic power okay?''

We'll be fine. Let's go.

I'll step forward and ask you to follow up.

Nodding at Estia's words, I walked up the stairs and what I saw in my eyes was a wounded kefin and a half-destroyed giant golem that was barely standing to protect it.

Although I did not underestimate the power of the Imperial soldiers, I was surprised that the three of them were injured, but when I turned my attention to the Imperial soldiers while immediately activating the area high heel on the three of them, they were frozen with a stunned face.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on," said Lionel's voice as he approached Kefin and the others to check the situation.

'I ask you again. Who are you pointing your blade at?　Oh, you mean me?　If so, I will deal with you whenever I can. Now, first of all, those of you who are in command of this place, step forward.

Then, as if pushed out of the way, two Imperial soldiers stepped forward. The faces of the two men have already turned blue.　

I'm sure you can understand why Lionel was an awe-inspiring figure when he was a warlord in the Empire.

It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to get a good idea of what's going on.

It's not because they are surrendered to Lionel, or....

''All of you are so motivated to hold your swords on me in the morning, aren't you? I haven't done it in a long time, but shall we try to do some exercises now?

When he called out to the soldiers with a laughing voice, the life drained from their eyes.

''Yes, no, no, no. Lionel-sama has just declared that he is retreating from the line, and if you focus on defense in the future, our empire will continue to be solid in the future.

Yes. And you've been sick for a few years now, so you shouldn't be too hard on yourself.

I've heard that the imperial soldiers are a group of devilish people with strong bodies and mental strength who move forward without fear of anything... but it seems that the soldiers here don't fall into that category.

Are they originally from the aristocracy because of their eloquence?　Or is he the cutie of a former merchant who was knighted with gold?

Oh, man. You're so thoughtful about it.

'Yes, of course. The general is the strongest pike and shield of the empire.

''I'm afraid that I'm going to have to train with Lionel-sama, the pinnacle of martial arts, and...''

The gathered soldiers nodded in unison in agreement.

Lionel laughed and nodded, and a look of relief spread through the soldiers as well.

''I see. Then, no matter how suspicious it may be, since you have hurt my friend and squire, let's ask them to help us out and have a drill with all the people here.

At that moment, a hush took over the place, as if the air in the place was frozen.

A few seconds later, this air was unexpectedly broken by the two captain-ranked people who broke the air.

''Oh, please wait. We are not the ones who attacked those suspicious........people over there. They were fighting against some other form lying around, and we only rushed in just a few moments ago.

I see. Then it makes sense that the three of them were injured.

But still, I suppose demons have entered the place as well....

If that's the case, we can't deny the possibility that the demon tribe is still hiding out.

''I see. If that's the case, why aren't you guys fighting?　No matter how early in the morning, if there's something wrong in the castle, we'll be on our way to the scene immediately.

Yes, but that's because I'm putting the safety of the Emperor first.

That's why I have to report to you. I'm sorry to say, gentlemen, but we'll have to leave the exercise for another time. Is His Majesty in his bedchamber?

After Lionel told them that, the soldiers responded with a really snappy response, even though their glee was uncontrollable.

''Yes, sir. It seemed you were still resting.''

I'm sure your Majesty will be relieved when the general sees you.

Very well, I shall do it then. You will return to your duties and conduct yourselves with the shame of an Imperial soldier.

"[Aha]

Then I'd better be off.

After the two captain-ranked men finished their greetings, the soldiers all bailed in unison and left the place to flee.

''We can now walk through the castle in peace.

Lionel turned around and smiled.

I wonder how I look from Lionel now, seeing that he's even more comfortable than usual?　That's what came to mind.

I'd be happy if it looked like there was this much room to spare if possible....

With that in mind, I nodded to Lionel and decided to check on Kefin and the others.

'Kefin, Ketty, Paula. Is everyone okay?

''Yes. Immediately after we came up here, we were ambushed by the demons, and since the demons were so strong, we had a hard time, but after a little while, all the demons began to suffer, so we defeated all of them while we were there.

'He was pretty strong Nya. He wore gleaming armor, so I think he was probably originally a Kingsguard.

"Magic limit. I'm hungry...　

........You were ambushed....... You couldn't hear it because Mr. Bazak was releasing his magic.

But still, the fact that Kefin and Keti feel so tough, I'm not going to be distracted from the future.

''Paula, where's the magic stone?''

It's gone.

They must have used up everything in this barricade-like golem.

'I'm sorry to put you all through the wringer. But now we've reached our original goal. All we have to do now is to break off, but I'll transfer command to Lionel from here.

As I declared that, the three of them focused their gazes from me to Lionel.

And.........

''From here, we will go to the Emperor's bedchamber at once and capture the Emperor.

Lionel declared emphatically.