Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers - Chapter 118



117 – The Decisive Battle (1)

The laws of nature are equal to all. No matter how strong a vampire descended from the ancestor’s bloodline might be, they will collapse before the depletion of mana.

“Kuh.”

“Using the Great Sacrifice takes its toll on the body. You won’t be able to use magic for the next few days.”

Even so, we couldn’t let our guard down.

Valkyrie and the Major had their weapons trained.

“Kill him?”

“We have to kill him.”

The vampire chuckled, a wet sound.

“Yeah, kill me. The strong doing as they please with the weak, that’s the way of the world. Yeah, that’s the way it is.”

“No, I won’t kill him.”

“What?”

“I said I won’t kill him.”

The vampire’s brow furrowed. Valkyrie and the Major stared at me, surprised.

“Did you eat something bad?”

“Are you stupid?”

How often would you ever get a Holy Spirit Nation Dragon Knight and a Magic Nation General agreeing?

“We need to get rid of him.”

[“If we don’t kill him now, while he’s powerless, he’ll be trouble later?”]

Riyo and Miyo voiced the same opinion.

And, Salvira…

In Salvira’s case, having once been comrades with the vampire, she just turned her head away, avoiding my gaze. It meant she was okay with him being killed, but she didn’t want to be involved. The vampire’s expression wasn’t good as he looked at Salvira.

Finally, the Saintess spoke.

“No, we can’t.”

She spoke with a voice just like mine.

“Colonel?”

“Major, Sergeant. You can’t kill him. The war needs someone to blame if it’s going to end.”

“What are you talking about?”

The Saintess continued in Askalian.

“The truth is, the Askalia-Hazkael war was sparked centuries ago when remnants of the Demon Lord’s army stirred up strife between the two countries. But do you think people will believe that? You need to directly show the world the existence of the demon race, who were thought to be extinct, to justify this! Do you think the citizens of both nations will accept just some paperwork?”

“Yeah, nobody would believe that.”

“But how do you know when we’ll be able to escape? If the vampire regains his strength, he’ll be a threat again.”

“It’s alright. I have a way.”

Most of the words were difficult, so I didn’t understand them completely. However, the more the Saintess spoke, the more the Valkyrie and fox sisters, who had been opposing her unconditionally, started to look subtly different.

The Saintess stepped forward and placed her index finger on the vampire’s forehead.

“Hey, you, don’t tell me….”

“——.”

A pure white light flickered and then went out.

On the surface, nothing seems to have changed.

“Ah, aaa! You goddamn b*tch—!! What the hell did you do!”

“What does it look like? A seal.”

The flow of mana gathering around the vampire was severed.

God’s curse, magic control.

“It’s a secret technique that can only be used on someone who’s run out of mana. I learned it and thought I’d never have a chance to use it… I’m truly grateful you gave me the opportunity.”

“You, you little shit!”

“How’s it feel? Can’t gather any mana, huh?”

“Let me go! Let me go right now!”

What makes vampires scary is their ability to manipulate blood using mana as a medium. Without blood magic, they’re just regular monsters that happen to be a bit stronger.

As proof, the vampire is clearly in a lot of pain.

The Saintess looked at me and grinned.

“This was your intention, wasn’t it, Erich?”

I nodded.

Of course, there were two other reasons as well.

One, when I heard the vampire say that it’s natural for the strong to trample the weak, I wanted to show her that her values were wrong.

Two, I’d noticed that Salvira, my mentor, was feeling guilty about betraying her comrades.

“So, you’re not going to kill me?”

The vampire hiccuped. It was a voice that I couldn’t tell if it was laughter or crying. She met my gaze, her eyes flashing crimson.

“Erich Ronstein, you’re way too soft. Showing mercy to a monster who threatened you and your comrades! Guys like you are a waste of space! Do you even realize that?”

“Maybe?”

“Yes! You pathetic fool! Living with compassion like that is a one-way ticket to becoming a cripple! Just wait and see! You’ll realize how stupid you are soon enough!”

I smiled.

“You’re right, I’m a cripple.”

“Why would someone who knows that…?”

“Wouldn’t the world be a little better if there were idiots like me around?”

“What?”

“And…”

I waved my hand, and the wall bulged and sprang forth.

I reshaped the corridor’s inner walls to form bodies, and using iron extracted from vampire blood, I forged the core circuits. In an instant, four colossal golems appeared.

Drones, seeing the empty golems, charged at them eagerly.

Soon, with grinding sounds, the behemoths began to rise.

“Mercy is something the strong grant to the weak.”

The vampire, dazed, slowly raised her head. Long, massive shadows fell across her face.

“What is this magic…?”

“I told you. You lost to humanity.”

“Redoff takes months to build just one… Humans have been researching something like this for hundreds of years?”

“Is that all you think there is?”

“Insane, utterly insane.”

The four golems asked if they could beat the vampire, but not to kill her. Given what I went through earlier, I gave them permission. And so, the esteemed bloodline of the progenitor was thoroughly thrashed, like wheat being harvested at Thanksgiving.

“That’s satisfying.”

“It hurts, it hurts! Just a bunch of rocks—!!”

Beaten like rice cakes in a mill, the vampire muttered, limp and drooping.

“Kill me, just kill me…”

We don’t have time to just keep doing this.

The greatest threat is gone, so all that’s left is Admiral Ditz and the Eight Shadows mages. They’re humans, so maybe we can resolve things through conversation, but we still need to prepare for the worst.

Now, this was truly the end.

“Let’s go.”

Salvira trussed the vampire up in webs and dragged him along. Before she took a step, she whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.

Sorry, and thanks.

Like she was the one who should be saying that.

*

We passed through the hallway and down the stairs towards the altar.

Just as I expected, Admiral Dietz and the Eight Shadows mages were coiled there.

oooh!

The mages in their cultish getups prostrated themselves before the tree on the altar. At the same moment, the core embedded in the tree’s center pulsed red.

No doubt about it.

The ritual would be complete soon, and the Demon Lord would awaken. I had to stop it.

“So, you’ve come?”

Admiral Dietz blocked our path.

“To think you’d subdue that vampire, you’ve improved a lot since I last saw you.”

“Don’t you talk like that.”

“Is ‘abandoned’ really such a harsh way to put it?”

“I’m saying it because you *did* abandon us.”

“As your superior officer, I only made the best possible choice, Lieutenant Colonel Rhonstein. If I hadn’t given the order to retreat when I did, all my men would be dead.”

“Wasn’t I one of your men?”

The Admiral’s mouth snapped shut.

“Calling me Lieutenant Colonel indicates you already consider me dead.”

“My apologies. But I honestly believed you were.”

“One question. Where were you that day in the Tatankul Sea?”

Again, the Admiral didn’t answer.

“Then allow me to deduce.”

“Go ahead.”

“You were here that day.”

“…….”

I shifted, gesturing towards the hallway.

“The vampire said so. The mysterious incidents all over the Holy State were all part of a sacrifice to resurrect the Demon Lord. This war, started without cause, was actually in the same vein. You’re using the lives of innocent young men to revive a monster, aren’t you?”

“The Magic Kingdom and the Holy State have always been rife with bad blood. They were enemy nations. And the Holy State started the war.”

“That was all manipulated by the Demon Lord’s army, the Eight Shadows – why are you denying it?”

“Manipulated? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you have proof?”

“Do I need other proof? You’re right here.”

“No. I’m not here at all.”

At the Admiral’s words, the Eight Shadows mages who were praying turned around. They immediately rose to their feet and pulled pistols from their robes, aiming them.

“To dare call our noble sacrifice manipulation, using a word like that…”

“You deserve to die a hundred times over!”

“What does a mere officer know? Don’t belittle our noble struggle to make the Magic Kingdom the strongest in the world with words like that!”

From noble mtl dot com

The admiral spoke, as if in tune with their thoughts.

“Well, yes. Lieutenant Colonel. Frankly, I don’t want to kill you. I’d much rather hail you as a war hero who developed multiple magic stones for airships.”

“Instead of a grateful entity who created hundreds of sacrifices?”

“You could call it that too.”

With that, the admiral pulled something from his breast pocket and tossed it.

An envelope.

“Take a look inside.”

A check for a billion, then another, dozens at least.

Light, but a heavy amount.

“Fifty billion won.”

“Is this hush money?”

“Hush money? Nonsense. This is a congratulatory gift to celebrate your return.”

I scoffed. Regardless, the admiral continued.

“And that’s just the beginning. If you want, I’ll even give you a deserted island survival bonus. And later… I don’t know how many times I’ve said this. Once the war is over, I want you to seriously meet my daughter. If you happen to marry, you can come with empty hands.”

Fifty billion won.

That much money is in my hands.

Clearly, it’s an amount that ordinary people will never, ever, in their entire lives, touch. With this much, I could buy any house and car I wanted, live off the interest, and pursue my research without needing to become a professor or a master of the Magic Tower.

But why?

I feel nothing.

Maybe months of living on a deserted island has dulled my sense of economics.

Even so, one thing was certain: there were values more precious than money.

Trust, specifically.

Knowing that acquiring someone you could rely on, someone you could move forward with even when life and death were on the line, was worth more than ten million gold coins.

“Tch.”

I clicked my tongue and tossed the envelope.

Or rather, tried to.

“Hold on.”

Thunk, a feeling of being caught. Adora Major grabbed my wrist.

She snatched the envelope from me and started verifying the amount and authenticity herself.

“Two, four, six, eight… Exactly fifty bills.”

“Major Gifold, if necessary, I will authorize the same amount for you.”

“Is that really true? Where would that kind of money even come from?”

“Just tell the Führer directly. I’ll make sure it’s enough, even combining my father’s pension, so you won’t be disappointed.”

“Oho.”

The Major grinned. She stuffed the envelope into her bosom and then linked arms with me.

“Thank you, Admiral Dietz. Even taking care of our wedding expenses like this.”

“…What?”

“We’re pretending none of this happened here, right? Which means this money never existed either?”

Schwing.

The Major drew her saber, aiming it at the Admiral. Her actions, more cruel than a vampire’s burning, left me speechless.