A waterside town in a mariti nation called Kalahad, in the Amid Empire’s southern region.
This place in that waterside town, which resembled a bar, was the base of the only S-class adventurer in the western region of the Bahn Gaia continent, the Thunderclap Schneider.
It seed rather unfitting to be used as a base by an S-class adventurer, but he was not using it as a ‘guest’. He had bought the entire building and was using it as the ‘owner’.
Four n faced each other in seats placed far inside the bar.
Two of them were sitting in the seats. One of them was a man in his thirties with nurous scars on his face, and it was easy to tell even through his clothes that his body was well-trained. Standing behind him were two n who appeared to be accustod to fighting.
The man facing them was a tall man with blonde hair who appeared to be in his early-to-mid-twenties.
His face appeared to be well-featured and feminine on close inspection, but his body was packed with enough muscle to dilute that impression and there was a wild air about him.
If the beauty and ferocity of a large, wild carnivore were turned into a person, this man might be the result.
“So, you’re saying that you’re ssengers from Duke Mar?” said the man.
He was the Thunderclap Schneider. He was sitting with his legs outstretched and crossed over each other as he gestured for the ssenger from a duke of the Amid Empire to continue speaking.
“That’s right. We want to request that you investigate the southern region of the Bahn Gaia continent.” The man who gave this response had sweat forming on his forehead. As he was a lesser nobleman himself, he should have been reprimanding Schneider for his arrogant behavior, but this was sothing that he would never do.
Schneider had the privilege of the ‘strong’.
Nurous noblen who had incurred Schneider’s wrath in the past had been buried.
Among them was an earl who had been directly punched to death in a public place without any sches or hidden plans.
However, Schneider received no punishnt whatsoever. No, the earl had forced him to accept an illegal request that would normally have ended in his death, but… he had completed the request easily and returned quickly.
Marshukzarl, the current Emperor, had acknowledged Schneider’s results, acquitted him of his cris and crushed the family of the earl who had been punched to death.
That had been the mont the Emperor declared that Schneider was more important than foolish noblen.
“Investigate, huh? How long do I have to investigate for and what am I supposed to investigate?” Schneider asked. “If you just tell to investigate, all I’d have to do is go there, co back and say, ‘I’ve investigated the continent’s southern region,’ and that’d be it, ssenger.”
In reality, however, anyone with superficial skills would beco monster food on even a short trip to and from the continent’s southern region.
Even if one took the sea route from Kalahad, there would be nurous Devil’s Seas, seas that had beco Devil’s Nests, along the way. They would be crawling with enormous monsters such as Krakens and Sea Dragons that were capable of sinking large ships.
So even if Schneider was able to perform the investigation that he had described, even though it wasn’t really an investigation at all, it would be a great enough achievent to leave his na in history.
“… We want you to dispose of a certain Dhampir, and then co back,” said the ssenger.
This was what Duke Mar, the man who had sent the ssenger, truly wanted to request. Not an investigation, but the murder of a Dhampir.
Duke Mar, Marshukzarl’s cousin, was a devout follower of Alda and held the honorable position of Cardinal himself.
High Priest Bormack Gordan had beco an Undead and attacked a town as a result of the expedition. For Duke Mar, this was a problem that needed to be dealt with imdiately.
“Oh? I’ll have you tell all the details,” said Schneider. “Lissana, it seems that this conversation is going to take a while. Bring so drinks.”
“Okay~♪”
An Elf woman with a sensational, dancer-like appearance brought a pot and cups. The n standing behind managed to resist running their eyes over her mostly-bare legs and bouncing breasts, but the jaw of the ssenger dropped.
“Schneider-dono.”
“Ah, sorry, but you’ll have to make do without alcohol. I’m abstaining for health reasons, you see,” said Schneider.
“No, it’s not that. This is a private conversation. If possible, people should –” The ssenger suddenly beca unable to continue speaking. Being stared down by Schneider’s gleaming eyes, his tongue had beco immobilized.
“Did you not investigate properly at the Guild before coming?” Schneider asked. “Lissana is one of my party mbers. If you can’t trust her, hurry up and get out. Or would you like to help you with that?”
“N-no! Stop! It was a slip of the tongue! Lady Lissana, I humbly offer my apologies! Please forgive !” The ssenger poured everything he had into his apology. If his apology had been a mont too late, Schneider would have grabbed him by the head and thrown him outside. Schneider’s Title of ‘Person Launcher’ was famous in the Empire.
“It’s fine, I’m not bothered by it.” Lissana seed unfazed as she poured tea into the cups, as if this was a regular occurrence.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Schneider asked, his bloodthirst vanishing as if nothing had happened at all.
The n moistened their dry throats with the tea they couldn’t taste or sll to calm their minds, and the conversation sohow continued.
Duke Mar had a pride that couldn’t overlook a being who had damaged the dignity of the Church of Alda, but another very probable reason that he had gone out of his way to ask Schneider to exterminate the Dhampir was that he couldn’t simply leave a dangerous individual who was sohow capable of taming thousands of Undead.
The reason he had asked Schneider to carry this out was because the Dhampir lived in the southern region of the continent that was full of unexplored Devil’s Nests that couldn’t be reached by incapable individuals, and, most importantly, because the Dhampir could apparently ta Undead.
If large numbers of n were dispatched in the hope of overwhelming the Dhampir with numbers, there was the possibility that the dead would switch over to the Dhampir’s side. Considering that the expedition army of thousands had co back as Undead, this was almost certain.
In other words, it would be preferable to send a small number of powerful individuals.
“So, you want to do it, huh?” said Schneider.
“That’s right,” said the ssenger. “And this isn’t certain, but the Divine ssage from Alda could be related as well.”
“Divine ssage? Ah, ‘Be prepared for disease,’ was it?”
The Divine ssage that had been made public several days ago was sent by Alda, who had seen through the Records that Vandalieu had rendered the expedition army helpless with a disease, but… Strangely enough, its true aning hadn’t been understood.
But supplentary budgets had been granted to mages of the Mages’ Guild specializing in the research of disease, and the priest-warriors were trying to acquire the Disease Resistance skill. The Divine ssage hadn’t been entirely aningless.
“No, not that one,” said the ssenger. “The one before it.”
“The one about the Demon King… So, you’re saying he’s the Dhampir?” asked Schneider.
“Duke Mar believes so.”
“I see…”
As Schneider looked to be deep in thought, still holding his cup, the ssenger saw hope and pressed him for an answer.
“Schneider-dono, you are soone so great that Alda worries for your safety. I believe that you are interested. And the fees paid will be substantial. The Duke will pay 100,000,000 Amids, and I have received word that you will be allowed to take up to ten won from the duchy and Amid’s Church. Of course, anything you acquire while completing the request is yours without question.”
The ssenger’s words made it clear just what people all over the Empire thought of Schneider.
A worldly-minded person who loved money and won despite being loved by Alda, the god of law and fate. This was the nobles’ image of Schneider.
“No, I have to decline.” Schneider’s answer was one of refusal.
“W-why?! If the Pope-sama accepts this, you can take as many as you want from the monastery; if you want priestesses, they can be made to live secular lives!” the ssenger exclaid. “Please reconsider!”
“Hey, hey…” Lissana whispered. The ssenger was saying sothing that would beco a terrible scandal if it ever beca public, but she was the only one to take any notice of it.
Alda was prone to being thought of as a god with strict teachings as his teachings included, “Uphold law and order.” But in reality, this teaching could be interpreted as, “As long as law and order are upheld, everything else is fine.”
The reality was that excuses such as, “This is for maintaining order,” and, “This is what the law has decided,” were becoming more commonly used among the Great Church’s high officials lately.
One reason High Priest Gordan had refused the position of Cardinal and continued working on the frontlines was because he hated these high officials.
“No, it’s not that I’m dissatisfied with the rewards being offered,” said Schneider.
“So why?!” the ssenger demanded.
“… I’ve beco rather sensitive to the cold lately.” Schneider opened his hands for so reason as he answered the question.
“It’s sumr now, but it will be autumn and then winter soon. Whether I cross the mountain range or take the sea route, it will be cold, won’t it?”
“… I-it can’t be, you’re refusing for that reason?”
The n’s jaws dropped.
Schneider gave them a frustrated frown. “Look here. Despite my looks, I’m in my fifties and my body is on the decline. Are there really people who make faces like that when a well-aged old man is worrying about his sensitivity to the cold?”
In fact, Schneider was well over fifty years old. He looked like a man who was only in his twenties, but remaining records showed that he had been registered at the Adventurers’ Guild over forty years ago.
His Guild Card and Status displayed the sa thing, so it was impossible to doubt this information.
There were all kinds of rumors about how he maintained the strong, well-trained body of a man in his twenties despite his age.
A rumor that he had killed and bathed in the blood of so many Dragons and Elder Dragons that he had beco immortal.
A rumor that one of his mistresses was a master of love-making, and it was thanks to her that he was staying young.
There was even a half-slandering rumor that he had signed a contract with an evil god that he was supposed to defeat, gaining perpetual youth.
But if anyone asked him, he would simply answer, “I just look young,” and he was a troubleso man who used his age as an excuse at every opportunity he got, as he was doing now.
“Can your eyes not see these white hairs? They used to be blonde back in the day…” Schneider pinched his platinum-blonde hair that he was calling white. There was indeed proof that his hair had once been blonde, but because it was so glossy and abundant, nobody other than him thought that it was white hair.
“Schna*, you’ve been complaining about the sa thing for ten years, you know?”
TLN*: In case this isn’t imdiately clear, this is a shortened nickna for Schneider.
“Yeah, my hair had already turned white ten years ago.”
“… This is hopeless.” Even Lissana, who referred to Schneider by a nickna, gave up on convincing him.
“That’s how it is,” Schneider told the ssenger. “Sorry, but you’ll have to leave. Tell Duke Mar that I’ve refused because I’m worried about my old age.”
“A-alright… Well then, excuse us.” The ssenger and his n slowly got up and left the bar. They were thoroughly unconvinced by Schneider’s reason for refusing the request, but there was nothing that they could do.
They didn’t have the strength to do anything against a superhuman capable of defeating Elder Dragons and evil gods, and if they tried to threaten him, it would be them who ended up destroyed. In the worst case, sothing could even happen to Duke Mar himself. There would be no need for the Emperor to make a move to defend his cousin who opposed him.
That was why the ssengers left, with only the news that the offer had been refused to report.
“Now then, what do you think of the conversation just now?” asked Schneider.
People who had stayed inconspicuous in the background until a mont earlier now opened their mouths to speak.
“Let us see… It seems that the Pope is simply being impatient, rather than Alda being involved.”
“But it’s not a problem, is it? It won’t make any difference no matter how much noise that fool makes, and if he makes too much noise, he might be erased by that Emperor.”
“That would actually be problematic. What will we do if the next Pope is actually competent?”
“Indeed.”
They chuckled amongst themselves. Those gathered around Schneider and Lissara looked to be an ordinary bartender and waitress, if disregarding the fact that they were beautiful and sinister-looking, and a drunkard who had been drinking and talking drunkenly to the waitress.
But in reality, all of them shared a certain secret.
“Still, they expected quite a lot, didn’t they… hic. If it were , I definitely wouldn’t want to go to the southern parts of the continent,” said the drunkard with a mohawk. He was actually a Dark Elf. As he was concealing his long ears with a special Magic Item, he simply looked like a muscular, dark-skinned man.
He was Dalton, a warrior from the great tribe of Dark Elves.
“You drank too much, Dalton. Tea, drink so tea.”
“Geh, you can’t expect to drink colored water! And if you’re going to complain, complain to Zod for providing with this delicious drink.”
“My apologies.” The bartender, who had no notable features other than a slim figure and small moustache, smiled. But those who learned of his true identity would likely scream and flee.
His real na was Zorcodrio. He was a Pure-breed Vampire.
“Here you are, a refill,” he said, handing Dalton a drink.
“Ah, thanks,” said Dalton, drinking a mouthful. “Kah, delicious!”
“Hey, aren’t you letting him drink too much?” Lissara complained.
“That is water flavored with mint,” Zod replied to her in a small voice.
Indeed, he had never said, “This is alcohol,” when handing Dalton the drink. Even though the cup contained water, it was a refill nonetheless.
“Health problems aside, the curious thing is that Dhampir, isn’t it?” The Dwarf waitress, rdin, returned the conversation to its original topic. She was an ordinary Dwarf.
Her occupation was that of an A-class adventurer rather than a waitress, however.
“Leaving the Divine ssage of the foolish Pope aside, I can’t stay uninvolved if he has so relation to the Demon King. If by so chance the Demon King were to be revived, I might really be destroyed this ti,” said Lissana as her appearance suddenly changed.
Her white skin turned blue-black and a third eye opened as if opening a fissure in her wide forehead. Her red tongue turned a fluorescent pink and her already-abundant chest expanded further.
“Oi, you’re returning to your normal form,” Dalton warned her.
“Sorry, sorry, I was rembering the past and I couldn’t help it.” Lissana giggled and withdrew her tongue back inside her mouth as she returned to her previous Elven appearance.
As written on her Guild Card, she was an Elf woman.
She often skipped introducing herself as the incarnation of Jurizanapipe, the Evil God of Degeneration and Intoxication, however.
She was the evil god supposedly defeated by the Thunderclap Schneider.
“So what are we going to do, Schna?” she asked. “It seems like you’ve refused to exterminate him, but are we going to go and et him?”
“I do want to go, but… I can’t, can I? There a lot of things to do over here as well,” said Schneider. “And unlike Duke Mar, the current Emperor has beco aware of my true nature.”
Schneider. He was without a doubt a human man. He wasn’t a Vampire, an evil god or a mber of Vida’s races.
However, he was a follower of Vida.
“That Emperor has known for a long ti that I’m not a devout follower of Alda,” he continued. “He knows that the Pope’s Divine ssage of being in danger actually ans that I’m a dangerous person and that he should be wary of .”
In the past, Schneider had been told nurous tis by the Pope that a Divine ssage warned of danger, but nothing had happened. Alda was warning the Pope that Schneider was a dangerous person.
Schneider was aware of how difficult it was to fully understand the aning of a Divine ssage, however, so he wasn’t particularly inclined to call the Pope a fool.
As a mortal, Schneider was unaware of the gods’ circumstances, things like the circle of transmigration systems. But despite being unaware of them, he had always held doubt towards Alda’s teachings since he was a child.
He had never understood why Vida’s races had to be hated so fiercely. After he beca an adventurer and encountered mbers of one of Vida’s races, Lamias, he beca certain.
Alda was wrong.
… It might have simply been that his late first love was a beautiful Lamia.
Leaving that reason aside, he made contact with the Lamias, and during the ti he spent in their village, his belief beca firr.
But thinking that perhaps these Lamia were just special, he made contact with other mbers of Vida’s races.
And then Schneider chose Vida over Alda.
He hid his true beliefs, trained himself and built his achievents as an adventurer. There was the option of crossing over to the Orbau Kingdom, where the religion of Vida and the existence of Vida’s races were acknowledged to so extent, but that would have been a foolish move for him.
If he ran to the Orbau Kingdom, he couldn’t help the mbers of Vida’s races who were currently suffering in the Amid Empire.
There were things he could only do in the Amid Empire. A single adventurer from a commoner background likely couldn’t achieve much, but even so, he would be satisfied with helping as many as possible.
Before he knew it, he had beco an S-class adventurer.
Life is full of surprises.
“Well, he likely hasn’t noticed the truth about you, Lissana,” said Schneider.
“Yes. I wonder why. Nobody ever notices, do they? That there are so among the evil gods who have changed sides to join the champions.”
Legends told of gods, giants and Elder Dragons who had surrendered and joined the Demon King out of fear. But they didn’t tell of the considerable number of evil gods who betrayed the Demon King and fought him alongside the gods and champions of Lambda.
They were indeed called evil gods, and they possessed powers that most in this world would consider abominable and wicked.
But they weren’t the incarnation of pure evil or anything like that.
The champion Zakkart had called the Demon King and his followers, ‘Invaders from another world.’ This was the truth.
For the inhabitants of Lambda, the fight against the Demon King was a holy war to defend this world. However, looking at it objectively, it was a war between invaders and the native people.
Of course, it could not be said that the Demon King and his followers were innocent and had done nothing wrong. After all, they had co to another world and chosen not to ask its people politely to allow them to move in or make any effort to assimilate by adopting their morals, sense of values and manners.
But there were so who had no choice but to obey the Demon King out of fear despite wondering why a war was being started so suddenly.
One of them was Jurizanapipe, the Evil God of Degeneration and Intoxication.
Zakkart had persuaded her to join the champions’ side.
The forr evil gods who had changed sides allied themselves with Vida and the resurrected Zakkart when her conflict with Alda began.
They were thoroughly defeated by Alda and Bellwood. They were either sealed away after having their powers reduced, or forced to discard their bodies and physically incarnate themselves.
And Bellwood, who had opposed the evil gods joining them but had no choice but to reluctantly give in due to their strategic value, buried them in the darkness of history.
“If I headed for the continent’s southern region, the Emperor would probably make a move, thinking that I’m planning to finally make contact with the Pure-breed Vampires who worship Vida,” said Schneider. “He’s letting swim around because I’m useful to the Empire, but it’d be troubleso if he were to think there was a chance that I’d cause the Empire harm.”
Though Schneider was an S-class adventurer and an evil-god-killer (though in reality, this was equivalent to being a lady-killer), the Empire wasn’t small enough for him to defeat on his own. There were imperial guards as strong as A-class adventurers, and it was certain that there were ten or twenty more individuals being kept hidden as extra fighting strength who even Schneider wouldn’t be able to defeat easily.
“And I’ve received a Divine ssage as well,” Schneider continued. “I’m going to obey it.”
“Divine ssage, you an that one?” asked Dalton. “The one that told you to save the mothers and children…”
It had been ten years since Schneider had received this Divine ssage. He had been surprised upon receiving a Divine ssage for the first ti. He deciphered the cryptogram-like combination of vast information and intent that had entered his mind, and sohow managed to understand its aning, the words spoken by Dalton.
To be more precise, it was a Divine ssage saying, “Beco a shield, help the mothers and rescue the children from the blood, but without crossing the peak or the sea.”
“Haven’t you already fulfilled that?” asked rdin. “You saved plenty of mothers and children, and because of that, you found Zod who had been sealed up.”
“Yes, you really saved back then,” Zod added.
Schneider, having thought that the Divine ssage ant, “Stay on the western side of the Bahn Gaia continent and risk your life to protect mothers and children,” saved nurous mothers and children as rdin said. There were incidents where he simply saved them from bandits, and in one case, things developed into a great adventure, as a result of which he ended up undoing the seal on the Pure-breed Vampire Zod.
Of course, wondering if there were other ways to interpret the Divine ssage, Schneider had visited the grave of his mother who rested in his birthplace and searched for signs of danger approaching the won around him, thinking that one of them might be pregnant.
As a result, it beca clear that Schneider had unknowingly fathered children among the Lamia, Scylla, Arachne, Centaurs and rfolk. Dalton had said, “How’s that for a man?” and Schneider had only been able to retort with, “I was young back then!”
There were funny stories like this, but Schneider finally cald down, having interpreted the Divine ssage as being intended to have him undo Zod’s seal.
However, from the request brought to him by the ssengers from Duke Mar, Schneider realized that he had failed.
Schneider shook his head. “No, the aning of that Divine ssage was, ‘Save the mother in the Mirg shield-nation and rescue the half-blood child.’”
“That’s…” Dalton looked doubtful. “But then, what about the second part about the peak and the sea?”
“That ant, ‘If you fail to save the mother, don’t go near for a while.’ Actually, if I’d participated in the expedition, things might not have gone well for , either,” said Schneider.
“Are you trying to say that the Dhampir is able to kill you?” asked Zod.
“He sohow killed six thousand n; he’s not a normal kid. Well, speaking as an S-class adventurer, Vida probably wanted to stop from becoming an enemy for that Dhampir, didn’t she?”
“If that’s true, then at least he has no relation to the Demon King,” said rdin. “There’s no way that Vida would help the Demon King, after all.”
“That’s how it is… I feel bad that I couldn’t save his mother, but I’m not all-powerful, either. I’ll apologize when I et him one day, but until then, I’ll just have to do everything I can.”
There was no ti to be worried over it.
Having finished speaking, Schneider set about making preparations for tomorrow’s work – exterminating a group of Krakens to help a clan of rfolk.
“Hey, do you think it’s true that seaweed is good for your hair –”
“Zakkart said so, but I’m telling you, it’s a superstition.”
“But you know, lately, my hairline has –”
“It’s just your imagination; it hasn’t receded at all.”
“Is that so? But I get the feeling that my hair has beco thinner recently –”
“YOU’RE HALLUCINATING!”
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