Is That What They're After? (1)
Ghislain looked at the refugees, their faces worn and haggard, and thought.
'Those bastards must be trying to pull off something important.'
This sudden commotion was completely unlike their usual behavior. Ghislain could understand why they were acting this way.
'Looks like word's finally gotten out that they're on the move.'
The Pope's envoys must have reached the kingdoms and spread the news. The same likely went for what had happened in the Elven Forest.
The kingdoms, upon hearing the news, would have heightened their alertness. They might already be gathering their armies.
Even nobles who had long been at odds would have halted their infighting and begun to unite.
That was the fundamental posture of humanity when facing the Demon Realm.
From the perspective of the Salvation Church, it meant they'd been discovered before they could even properly act. It was no wonder they were feeling desperate.
Even so, to cause such a ruckus all at once was a poor move. A blade not yet revealed is better kept hidden until the end.
'To stir up this kind of chaos, even revealing a hidden card…'
It meant there was something they had to accomplish, even if it meant sacrificing all their advantages.
What exactly that was, he couldn't say for sure. But there were a few likely targets.
'They won't go for major figures in the Empire or powerful nations. A dragon? Not a chance.'
Unless the core forces of the Salvation Church were involved, it would be impossible with just a few superhumans. If they acted recklessly, they'd only lose their forces and be countered.
So the target of the Salvation Church must be...
'A faction that's isolated, yet beneficial to the human alliance—like the Elves.'
Such groups were rare. One of them was the Dwarves.
Ghislain and his party were currently on their way to meet the Dwarves. They too were a race that possessed a Holy Stone.
Finding where the Dwarves lived wasn't hard. They had built underground cities and fortresses all across the continent.
But the one place where the Dwarf who held a Holy Stone lived was singular.
The Eternal Forge.
Like the World Tree for the Elves, it was a sacred relic revered by the Dwarves.
That Eternal Forge was where they needed to go. It was home to the Dwarf King, and the holy land of all Dwarves.
'Is that what they're after?'
Given the recent assault on the Elves, it was entirely possible.
Now that word had spread, the Dwarves and the nearby humans would raise their guard.
The Salvation Church would want to crush the Dwarves before security tightened and reinforcements gathered.
'We need to hurry.'
If the Dwarves were being attacked, then the so-called Prophet must have gotten involved. It would be natural for dark mages to be present, and they might even be using monsters.
Of course, the attack could be somewhere else. But for Ghislain, nowhere else held the same importance.
And he had no other predictions either.
In any case, he had already planned to reduce numbers to increase speed. Ghislain immediately spoke to the mercenaries.
"Head to the nearest city and gather more mercenaries. Gather everyone you can, and notify other kingdoms to do the same. Be careful—monsters seem to be everywhere."
The Yulian Mercenary Corps had gained considerable fame over the years by solving various issues across kingdoms. They even had branches in most of them.
Ghislain planned to gather them in preparation for any possible situation.
Realistically, even if he called them now, they wouldn't arrive in time to help the Dwarves.
If the Salvation Church really was making a move on the Dwarves, the mercenaries wouldn't make it in time.
Still, he had to call them. The political landscape could change at any moment now.
"I, Osval, will immediately gather my comrades and prepare to fight evil! Leave it to me!"
"You're staying."
"Yes, sir..."
"Now move, quickly!"
At Ghislain's command, the mercenaries turned back the way they came with the refugees in tow.
They planned to spread word from the nearest city and start gathering mercenaries.
Only about twenty mercenaries remained. Their numbers had greatly dwindled, but it was a suitable number for speed.
Yulian asked, his face filled with concern.
"Ghislain, what about the ones rampaging nearby?"
"We'll wipe them out along the way."
There was no room to detour and help other areas. The lords were probably mobilizing already.
But they weren't generous enough to leave visible enemies alone.
"They're probably just distractions anyway, not strong forces. Let's sweep them aside quickly."
The group moved swiftly. Watching the situation unfold, Erenes turned to a nearby mercenary and asked,
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Please do, ma'am!"
"Why do Yulian, Deneb, and Kyle all call Astion 'Ghislain'?"
"Oh, that's because… the vice-captain has two names."
"Two names? Why?"
The mercenary glanced around, then whispered softly.
"He's a little touched in the head. There's a rumor he has two personalities."
"Two personalities?"
"Yes. Why else would he use two names? They don't call him crazy for nothing. He really does crazy stuff."
Only the three who had been with him from the start knew that Ghislain was actually a person from the future possessing Astion's body.
It wasn't something others would believe even if told.
But since those three casually used the name Ghislain, the rumor naturally spread among the mercenaries.
Erenes asked again,
"He introduced himself to Iraniel as Astion. Is that his real name?"
"Yes. His official name is Astion. That's what most people call him. Only a few—like the captain, Kyle, and Deneb—use the name Ghislain."
"Hmm... I see."
After listening, Erenes rested her chin on her hand and stared quietly at Ghislain's back.
'He's a little odd and fearless, but he doesn't seem crazy.'
She wasn't particularly interested in the talk of dark mages or monsters coming from the refugees. Whatever they encountered, she believed she could win.
She didn't care much about the human casualties either. To her, humans weren't particularly important beings.
She found the dual-name thing more intriguing.
After staring for a long while, she suddenly smiled.
'So, that's what it is?'
Those close to Astion all called him Ghislain. It felt almost like a nickname or term of endearment.
'I'll call him that too.'
Having made up her mind, Erenes guided her horse and moved up beside Ghislain.
"Ghislain."
"Hmm?"
Ghislain turned his head, a bit surprised. Until now, Erenes had always called him Astion.
Erenes smiled and said,
"I'll call you Ghislain from now on, like your friends. It feels more fitting. We're friends, right?"
"Ah… yeah. Whatever you prefer."
As Ghislain nodded, Erenes smiled again. For some reason, calling him that made her feel closer to him.
Watching her, Ghislain felt a question rise in his mind.
'In the future, we didn't know each other.'
When they had first met, Erenes clearly didn't know the name 'Ghislain.' That hadn't been an act.
She had simply come after seeing the state of the continent, wanting to lend her strength.
But now, because of him, the past was slowly changing. Erenes had learned a name she originally wasn't supposed to know.
Erenes, living a thousand years in the future, would surely remember this moment.
Which made Ghislain wonder—
'When I return to my original time… what kind of reaction will Erenes have?'
It was something that made him extremely curious. Curious enough to want to return immediately and check.
'No. Hold it in.'
If he went back now, there was a high chance he'd never be able to return to the past.
So he had to set aside his curiosity for now. He'd find out eventually.
Right now, his priority was to raise Yulian, Deneb, and Kyle to be strong. That way, he could both bring about the destined future and prevent the sacrifice of his friends.
—Only you… can save us.
Ghislain never forgot what Deneb had said.
There was no way she had brought him here without reason. He would find a way to save his friends.
Setting aside his curiosity, Ghislain focused solely on eliminating the monsters swarming everywhere.
KIEEEEEK!
Just as the refugees had said, the area where the village once stood was crawling with monsters. Their appearances were horrifying.
"Ugh, what are those things?"
"I, Osval! I'm not scared at all—!"
"What the hell have those dark mages been doing?"
The monsters looked like all kinds of things. Some had a wolf's body with a giant viper attached, others had a bull's body with three goat heads.
These grotesque, horrifying chimeras roamed aimlessly.
There wasn't a single intact corpse left, likely all devoured by now.
"Tch."
Ghislain frowned. Such monsters were rare in the future. Generations of monster purges had drastically reduced the number of dark mages.
But in this era, dark mages were still relatively common. As a result, these abominations kept appearing.
"Let's clean them up quickly."
KWAANG!
KIEEEEEK!
As Ghislain waved his hand, a whirlwind of magic erupted, sweeping away the chimeras.
The others hardly needed to lift a finger. Ghislain was at the front, unleashing magic indiscriminately.
KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAANG!
KIAAAAK!
The chimeras were swept away without resistance. They were terrifying monsters to ordinary people, but to the Yulian Mercenary Corps, they were just ugly beasts.
In some areas, undead wandered aimlessly, without any purpose.
KWAANG! KWAANG! KWAANG!
Ghislain advanced quickly, eliminating the monsters. At the very least, he intended to clear out any they encountered along the way.
Then, he noticed something odd.
'Hm?'
The number of monsters was decreasing—noticeably. At first, he thought they'd just dispersed, but that wasn't the case.
'They're converging.'
The remaining traces all pointed in a single direction. That piqued Ghislain's curiosity.
He immediately opened his map. Coincidentally, the direction the monsters were heading matched their destination.
The fact that mindless monsters were gathering in one place made no sense. Which meant someone was controlling them.
"Could it be… here?"
It was a large canyon. A deep river flowed below, and a massive suspension bridge stretched between the cliffs.
Ghislain summoned Dark and sent him toward the bridge.
After some time, Dark relayed his observations through their shared link.
—Master, just as you guessed, they're gathering. But…
Dark described the scene in detail. Ghislain nodded.
"Got it."
He soon gathered everyone and explained the situation Dark had seen and the plan he had come up with.
Once Ghislain finished speaking, everyone nodded with tense expressions.
They were confident they could break through most enemies with sheer force. But the situation Dark described wasn't one that brute force alone could resolve.
Upon arriving at the canyon, they saw exactly what they'd expected—hordes of monsters.
The monsters were gathered on the far side of the bridge. But they weren't the only ones there.
"P-Please save us!"
"At least let the children go!"
"Please... please…!"
Dozens of people knelt in the center of the bridge, bound hand and foot.
They trembled and sobbed. The bridge swayed dangerously with the wind.
Although the bridge was strong enough to support large cargo wagons, the sheer number of people made it unstable.
At the bridge's entrance stood dozens of rough-looking bandits, weapons drawn. More captives knelt before them.
"Hmm…"
Ghislain looked at the bandits with a calm expression. It was obvious they were coerced into this by a priest of the Salvation Church or a dark mage.
He looked at the bandits and asked,
"Anyone care to answer my question?"
One bandit stepped forward, a sword at a child's throat, his voice trembling.
"B-Back off."
They were clearly terrified of something.
Ghislain gave a small smirk and looked at him.
"Why are you holding these people hostage?"
"You're… you're from the Yulian Mercenary Corps, right? A mage with a staff… you're the 'crazy' Astion, aren't you?"
"Yeah. Though I'm not crazy."
"We… we're here to stop you."
"Why?"
"W-We don't know. We were just told to stop you."
"By who?"
"T-The dark mage behind us."
"Hm."
Ghislain stroked his chin. It was hard to see clearly with the monsters crowded around, but it was unlikely there was only one dark mage.
He could feel several strong presences.
He questioned the bandit again.
"How did they know we'd come this way? We could've taken another route. This isn't the only path."
"We don't know that either. We were just told to wait here."
"Right, like trash like you would understand. You're just pawns for a bigger piece of garbage."
"Ugh…"
The bandit trembled but didn't argue. He had lived a life of crime and now found himself under the heel of someone worse.
Ghislain smirked and raised his staff.
"So? Do you think you can stop me here? Even knowing who I am?"
"D-Don't move. We know how strong you are. We know you're a superhuman. If you move, we'll kill the kid first and destroy the bridge!"
The bandit pressed the sword closer to the child's neck. The child didn't even cry—just sobbed silently.
Ghislain, curious, asked,
"What do you want?"
"J-Just… just stay here for a few days. Then no one will get hurt. I promise."
Ghislain's eyes narrowed. It was a blatant ploy to stall him.
Since they couldn't stop him with force, they'd resorted to hostages.
The bandit continued, still trembling.
"Please, just stay put. Then this can end well for everyone."
"So, the one behind you is scary, but I'm not?"
"You… you have another nickname, right? Not just 'crazy'—you're also called the 'Bandit Crusher.' There's no way you'd let us live."
"…That's a name I haven't heard in a while. So you've decided to side with the dark mages and go all-in on evil?"
"We… we've already been poisoned and cursed by them. If we disobey, we die. We have no choice."
"Hmm…"
"Just one month. If you stay here for just a month, everyone can live. They promised."
"You actually believe them?"
"W-What else can I do?! I'm going to die either way! Damn it! I won't die alone!"
"You'd rather drag innocent people down with you?"
"Yes! So just stay put! After a month, we'll let the hostages go and run away. We'll even bring you food! No one has to get hurt—it's better for everyone!"
"They're not even my people."
"You call yourselves the Mercenaries of Justice! You've helped kingdoms with their problems! You're the only crazy one!"
"…"
The bandit wasn't wrong. The Yulian Mercenary Corps had earned their fame by championing righteous causes.
Whenever they got involved in a kingdom's troubles, they always took the morally justified side. Ghislain had made sure of that to build Yulian's reputation as a faultless hero.
Because of Ghislain's efforts, the Corps had grown in renown. Unfortunately, Astion's infamy had also grown alongside it.
"Just one month! Otherwise, I'll kill everyone here! You think I won't?!"
Screaming in desperation, the bandit pressed the sword closer. Blood trickled from the child's neck.
Ghislain raised a hand slowly.
"Alright, alright. If the child dies, so do you. Maybe be a little more careful? A mistake could be bad."
"Y-Yeah. Step back. If you move again, I really will kill them."
Ghislain took a step back and examined the bandits once more. They had no mana, not even at the level of a novice knight.
As he stepped back, the bandit slightly lifted the blade from the child's neck.
And at that moment—
PAANG!
Ghislain was suddenly in front of the bandit, staff already in motion.
Even seeing him up close, the bandit couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
Ghislain's speed had outpaced his ability to think.
KWAANG!
The bandit's head exploded, scattered in fragments. At the same moment, dozens of threads of mana shot from Ghislain's body.
PUPUPUPUPUPUK!
Each one pierced the heads of the other bandits holding hostages with perfect accuracy.
None of them even reacted, let alone realized what had happened. Without mana, they couldn't perceive a superhuman's movements.
"I don't negotiate with garbage."
Ghislain muttered quietly.
KRRRRUMBLE!
With a massive roar, the bridge began to collapse.
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