Chapter 260: Revenge

Translator: Tseirp

Mr. Bazak spoke the same words as the fake Mr. Bazak in Ebisu as various attribute magic spears multiplied in the air.

“The ones who saved me were my disciples who were novices and had just become my subordinates. My disciples decided that the pursuit from Elimasia Empire won’t chase us until near the demon race territory so they escaped to the south-west lands, arrived at a self-sufficient village and waited for my recovery in that village.”

As they nursed him for a period of half a year, it seemed that Mr. Bazak was well respected.

Even so, the demon race territory huh … it was currently sealed with magic by Sir Rainstar so high-ranking demons can’t come out but there should still be some slightly strong monsters.

And the miasma near the demon race territory should be quite thick too so it shouldn’t be a place suitable for humans to live in?

“Did Bazak-san and group spend all your time in that village?”

“Yes. Until the day I woke up, my disciples used magic to expand the village, planted fields, and occasionally defeated magical beasts so they already formed relations.h.i.+ps of trust. Moreover …”

“Moreover?”

“We no longer had a place to return to and n.o.body to dedicate our loyalty to so we chose to become the strength of the villagers who harbored us.”

His words made me feel that he was a person with strong sense of duty and empathy.

For a talented person like Mr. Bazak, he would be able to quickly lay the foundation for his life if he just registered with the Adventurer’s Guild and contributed.

However, after staying at the self-sufficient village, Mr. Bazak and his disciples chose to repay the favor from the villagers which was easier said than done and would normally be incomprehensible.

” … Did you not consider vengeance against the Empire?”

“I thought about it for days after waking up but the country we wanted to protect was already gone and even if we hated the Empire, we discussed and decided that we could not expose the villagers who saved us to danger.”

If he had always been in the Empire’s territory, I guess he knew all about Lionel’s activities.

Now then, there’s still the issue of Cloud and I had no idea when Mr. Bazak would use his magic so I entered the main topic.

“If you were in that village all along, how did you become a slave?”

“After a couple of years had pa.s.sed, the decision for me to become the village elder was just decided when a small-scale magical beast stampede happened.”

“Magical beast stampede?”

“Yes. It was an average strength demon that made the monsters go on a rampage. But the monsters would become stronger with that demon around so I confronted it and managed to defeat it ahead of time. I ended up reaching magical power depletion but I somehow escaped from the magical beasts.”

The fake Mr. Bazak certainly did mention that he had magical power depletion and was saved by His Highness Albert and Melfinsan.

He was fleeing his enemies when he got attacked by monsters and he encountered His Highness and party by chance?

His bad luck is quite strong so maybe he actually has the 【Bad Luck】 skill after all …

“That’s when the Imperial soldiers appeared and defeated the remaining monsters?”

” … They came when almost everything had ended but I did not meet the Imperial soldiers at that time. I had magical power depletion so I left all the interaction to my disciple.”

That disciple was most probably Rizak who acted as Mr. Bazak.

If he was Mr. Bazak’s disciple, it won’t be strange that he learned transformation magic.

But I felt that he made the wrong choice.

That’s because that person was inferior to Mr. Bazak in terms of magic. That was without a doubt.

Nevertheless, his mind moved quickly, his information a.n.a.lyzing ability was acute and he had a glib tongue so he had the ability to be welcomed as a staff officer.

In that case, he didn’t even need to be the body double for Mr. Bazak.

But what does that have to do with him becoming a slave due to the magical beast stampede? Maybe he guessed my thoughts as Mr. Bazak started talking about the real reason he became a slave.

“A couple of years after the magical beast stampede ended, the Empire started taking note of our village so the Imperial Army sent commands for us to capitulate but we continued to reject them with our village defenses.”

I turned to look at Lionel and Lionel shook his head.

Well, at that time Lionel was always at the front lines so he won’t appear for such back-end work and he would definitely not do it unless he gets an order.

“We rejected the Empire even after they won the war. However, during their war with the Rubruk Empire, General Sen’Oni was injured and perhaps the Empire could not stand their loss in appearances, they decided to enslave us instead of subordinate us.

To enslave instead of subordinate was normally highly unlikely.

Even though the Empire was a military state, that should not have been allowed.

Lionel was already expressionless when I looked at him but his gaze was fixed at Cloud.

Maybe Cloud sensed something from Lionel as he struggled even more desperately to escape from the Sanctuary Barrier.

“Enslavement … for slavery, there are only war slaves, criminal slaves and debt slaves right? I don’t believe a country would stoop to making illegal slaves …”

” … One day, bandits attacked the village. It was a place where bandits would normally never approach but we killed all the bandits as long as they appeared. However, the people who attacked the village was not bandits but actually the Empire’s special forces.”

Ah, I could already tell how it would go. I could hear the sound of clenching teeth from Lionel.

“Hundreds of soldiers surrounded the village for the crime of treason. They declared that they would set fire to the village if we did not accept the enslavement so my disciples and I became slaves under the condition that the villages would be pardoned as long as we return to the battlefield.”

Mr. Bazak trembled.

Mr. Bazak and his disciples most likely had the strength to fight back. However, they did not retaliate in order to protect the villagers who could not fight.

No, he probably prepared his magic like what he was doing now to make the opponent swallow their conditions.

I wanted that to be true if possible but was that my ego speaking?

” … I’m guessing the person commanding those troops was?”

“Unlike the man with a strong spirit who would inspire his allies by fighting at the forefront in battles and left me after cutting me down, it was a shameful man called General Sen’Oni who would hide behind his allies to give orders and abandon his subordinates once he falls into a disadvantageous situation …”

Did he do that just to belittle Lionel …?

… Did the people around him not realize that he was not Lionel?

… Or was it an environment where they could not even speak of it in the shadows …

I could see his greatsword and large s.h.i.+eld trembling when I looked at Lionel.

It was certainly mortifying but it was not because he heard it from Mr. Bazak, or how Cloud was commanding the troops he led, or how he was embroiled in the scheme but because he felt a sense of responsibility for having left the Empire.

And when Mr. Bazak continued, all the mercy I had for Cloud within me disappeared.

“After we were brought to the Imperial Capital, perhaps he was p.i.s.sed from having to swallow my conditions so he crushed my throat. And he laughed loudly about how he was the one that caused the small-scale monster stampede which was when I prayed that I would someday kill him.”

He was seriously beyond help.

Even though he’s a reincarnated individual like me, how did he become so dyed in evil?

Then, something unrelated came to my mind.

” … Even now the war with the Rubruk Empire has not ended and small skirmishes are still ongoing right? With Bazak-san’s ability, won’t he be able to achieve superiority in battle?”

” … That man there fears battles and he placed me by his side as a guard. And after his enemies almost reached him a couple of times, he started to fear the battlefield and fled from the forefront and even the front lines, holing up in the Imperial Capital to research on demonization to strengthen himself.”

If he did not have the bravery to stand on the battlefield, why did he even disguise himself as Lionel? If he became the Emperor, the minister or some powerful n.o.ble, wouldn’t it have gone a lot better?

“Could I ask about demonization?”

“Before that, isn’t it time that thing disappears from this world?”

Mr. Bazak raised his staff at Cloud.

I looked at Lionel and he quietly opened his mouth.

“Luciel-sama, please activate the Sanctuary Barrier one more time. If he still lives after those abyss magic attacks, I will stop him.”

I once again looked at Mr. Bazak and he nodded before channeling even more magical power to his magical spears and shot them all towards Cloud.

The magic spears caused loud explosions when they struck Cloud and the violent winds formed a sandstorm.

Cloud flew backward and screamed when his back struck the Sanctuary Barrier.

However, Mr. Bazak did not stop his attacks as he continued his previous topic.

“The villagers from the village we stayed at have already all died.”

” … What about the promise?”

“That man would not uphold something like that. Or rather, he buried magic stones in the villagers, tested demonization on them, used the slaves gathered according to origin, age and race occasionally as experimental material and occasionally to give rise to chimeras.”

“Trash. And he’s crazy to the point beyond saving …”

“And in the end, my disciples who took care of me were forced into slavery and made into demons, those that failed to become demons had their spirits broken and became cripples that only served to provide magical power.”

” …… ”

I wasn’t able to say any words to Mr. Bazak.

“Thanks to Sage-dono, I was able to destroy the facility that my disciples were bound to. With this, I no longer have any other regrets.”

Then, Mr. Bazak’s magical power surged instantly.

Estia dashed towards Mr. Bazak from behind and sent a strong blow to his neck, reaping his consciousness.

“If you don’t treat him now, this guy is going to die Luciel!”

I understood at that moment.

Even if it’s s.h.i.+sho or Lionel, there was a limit to a person’s magical power.

And Mr. Bazak had acquired the skill 『Limit Break』 that surpa.s.ses that limit.

I quickly activated Extra Heal and made Mr. Bazak drink the little remaining magical power potion in my magic bag.

“I’ll leave this to you.”

Estia … or the Darkness Spirit possessing her left those words and entered the demon research center that Mr. Bazak destroyed.

While thinking that she does whatever she pleases, I looked at Lionel to see him cut off Cloud’s head.

Even though it was unsatisfying, I felt a sense of emptiness seeing another reincarnated person’s life taken.

To be safe, I cast purification magic and I felt the head scream but I decided to put all my focus in treating Mr. Bazak.

Author’s note:

Thank you for reading.

I thought about it a lot but no matter how I looked at it, Cloud didn’t give me the image of a formidable foe so he became a crafty trash.