CH 73

I slid my body in between the skeleton and Sophie and caught the evil staff with my sword.

The momentum almost knocked me down, but I put strength into my legs and fought back with all my might.

「Stay out of my way!」

That’s probably right. Sophie is the only threat to you. You don’t care about me or anyone else. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you go on.

The part of the blade where the wand is hitting is turning black.

As you can see, the wand was imbued with a cursed magic. Even though it was engraved with Holy Inscriptions, it was being eroded.

He was probably planning to put this curse on Sophie, but I won’t let that happen!

「Well, calm down. Let’s play with me first!」

「I have no interest in playing with garbage. Go away.」

The pressure on the sword increased, and at the same time, the erosion increased. I had the blade spoiled in the battle with the goblins, so it’s about to break.

I had no choice but to run away, but there are other friends here.

『Air hammer』

At the sound of Rosa’s voice, a mass of air appeared next to the skeleton and blew it away. It rumbled and rolled on the ground, creating distance.

It would not do any damage, but it was worth the time it bought.

「Now you have no magic power! There’s nothing you can do now!」

「I know! Just sit back and watch me win!」

The blade of the sword I was holding was falling apart. There’s no point in having a weapon you can’t use. I threw away the last remaining hilt.

As I was thinking about how to fight while watching the skeleton slowly get up, Zelma ran as fast as she could and cut in. Regina joined in late.

I don’t know what the girls are thinking, but one thought comes to mind in this situation.

「If the two of them die here, will all the trouble go away at once?」

I muttered unintentionally, but I thought it wasn’t bad.

Even if Zelma died, another Nobleman would be dispatched, so the future of Yang’s growth in dungeon management would not change. Only the troublesome requests to me will disappear. And the gold coins will still be given to me.

Even Rosa will return to being a criminal slave without a master. There are only advantages.

It would be better to prepare for escape.

Just as I was beginning to lose my will to fight, Sophie said something that seemed to negate my idea.

「If anything, we’re in big trouble.」

The strength of her words frightened me, and I turned around to look at Sophie, even though we were in the middle of a battle.

She must have heard something from Zelma that I didn’t know. Once she hears about it, there’s no turning back. I’ve had this feeling for a long time.

But now I can’t say the same about the situation. We have to make a choice that will change the fate of Yang and us.

In order to have a better future, we needed the right information, and for that we were ready to take the first step.

「What does Sophie know?」

「The Erlers are trying to remake Yang into a new city centered around a dungeon. One of the ways they plan to do that, I heard, is to move all the current villagers to a different village.」

Move them all? You think they’re going to bring in new residents after that!

I was astonished at the decision, which ignored human emotions so much.

With the discovery of the dungeon, Yang has great potential to grow from a village to a city in a short time from now, but there is pain behind the growth.

There will be an inn, an adventurer’s guild, a church, a residence, and various other buildings. To do this, land will be needed. The fields and pastures that have been passed down from generation to generation will be destroyed.

Will the current residents allow this to happen easily?

No, they will not. Some will always oppose it. The chief of the village, who will be forced out of his position, will probably take the lead in taking action.

You may think that this is a rational and brilliant idea to get rid of various troubles at once, but it is not. It’s a stupid decision peculiar to noblemen who have been entrusted with a territory but have not seen the scene.

Humans are emotionally driven creatures, so it can’t possibly go well.

「It is only Zelma-sama who is against it. She explained that, if only people who don’t know about the land obtained it, Yang’s development will be delayed and the plan was frozen.」

I agree with her. The residents would probably take their belongings and move to the area, and they might even destroy the buildings to make up for being forced to move.

They might even spread salt on the fields. In addition, they will lose the knowledge they have accumulated about the region.

If you start your life with zero, or maybe even negative knowledge, you will need a lot of time to adjust to the area.

This is probably incomprehensible to a nobleman who can solve minor difficulties with magic. ……

「It’s not a problem if she can deliver, but if she dies here, another Nobleman will be dispatched and we’ll be forced to leave our place.」

Even though I’ve already talked to the church, I now understand why Sophie is cooperating.

I changed my mind at once.

「That’s a no—no.」

Pops, Helmine, Sophie, and …… Gandalf are also included. I like Yang with those guys.

In the end, that’s what I really feel.

I’m going to have to let Zelma live, no matter what happens.

「Can you still use Holy Magic?」

Sophie’s power is essential to fight the skeletons.

「Yes. But it seems that my power is beyond the reach of that skeleton. ……」

If you can’t use it, you have to consider retreating, but you don’t need to worry about that.

If you can use magic, you have a good chance of winning.

「If you can’t do it alone you have to co-operate.」

I mobilized all of my remaining magic power to create the 『Holy Sword』.

The 『Holy Sword』, which only appears on stage when a saint is inaugurated, needs the power of a saint to reach its full potential, and now all the conditions have been met.