Shinwa Densetsu no Eiyuu no Isekaitan (LN)

Here’s the chapter. Enjoy~

ED: LonelyMatter

Part 4

The sun had set.

The night would soon fall again.

Nocturnal insects began to sing in chorus, and beasts lurking in the darkness began to roam in search of prey.

At the time when darkness was about to cover the world, there was one place that radiated a tremendous amount of light.

The Great Grantz Empire―Fort Taoen.

Bonfires were lit everywhere, so there was no room for the darkness to penetrate.

In the encampments surrounding the fort, bonfires began to burn, and soldiers began to gather for light.

The soldiers were in much better spirits than they were a few days ago.

With the main army led by Liz coming to reinforce them, they had regained their morale and were ready for the next battle. Some were restless and training hard, some were drinking and sleeping even though it was too early to go to bed, and some were enjoying a last chat with their comrades.

Their commander, Liz, was in her office at Fort Taoen, her beauty fading. She was watched over by her chief advisors, who are aware of the situation.

As if to speak for the rest of them, the petite, silver-haired girl steps forward.

“Did you find Hiro?”

Liz shook her head helplessly at Aura’s words.

“Hiro may have been taken by the Faceless King.”

The day Hiro escaped, Liz organized a search party of those close to her. During this time, Liz used her ‘eye’ to track him down alone, but his presence was lost in the Anfang Forest. Just before she did, she heard a violent roar and felt a tremendous high energy that seemed to be ripping her lungs out.

But when Liz rushed to the scene, all that was left was a dried-up spring and two crumpled statues.

In the past, when she was stationed at Fort Taoen, she used to bathe in the springs of the Anfang Forest every day. Swimming in the spring, surrounded by a beautiful flower garden, while feeling the faint presence of spirits, made her feel as if she was free from all ties.

Especially since it was the place where Hiro and Liz had met.

The mental anguish was great, but the search for Hiro came first.

But to this day, he has never been found.

“You are a very indecisive person, aren’t you? Don’t you have ‘eyes’ to see if he’s safe or not?”

Luca, perhaps not satisfied with Liz’s vague answer, tries to press her, not bothering to hide her irritation. It is Hugin who holds her back.

“Please calm down. Nee-san, there’s no point in fighting in a place like this!”

“Hugin-dono is right; you need to calm down a bit. If Liz-dono can’t find the presence of Hiro-dono, can’t you find the presence of the Faceless King?”

Skaaha, leaning against the desk, asked Liz with a wry smile.

“It should be, but I can’t even find the Faceless King.”

The power of the ‘Eye’ was not lost. If she wanted to, she could even see Queen Lucia in the Vanir Three Kingdoms.

However, she was unable to detect the presence of Hiro and the Faceless King alone.

The cause was unknown. However, immediately after Hiro’s escape, she was able to sense the authority of the “Five Great Heavenly Kings.” Of course, she was able to catch the presence of the clash between the Faceless King and the Black Dragon King with her ‘eyes,’ but now those two presences have completely disappeared.

“But there is one strange thing: among the army of monsters, there is a presence that I have never seen before.”

“Could it be Hiro-dono?”

Liz tilts her head and frowns at Skaaha’s question.

“I can’t be sure. I can feel the presence, but I can’t grasp it because there are so many other strange feelings mixed in with it.”

“If it is the One-Eyed Dragon, I wonder if it is possible to save him.”

Ghada, the demon race, said,

“Well… even if it is Hiro, I don’t know what we can do about it.”

Liz shook her head. There was no way to know until they confirmed it on the battlefield. There’s a good chance it’s not Hiro. While no one was quite sure where to start, a person standing by the wall stepped forward.

“I have one thing on my mind.”

It was Selene, the second prince of the Great Grantz Empire.

“What is it, Selene-niisama?”

“No, I was just wondering who is leading the ‘monsters’ now that you can’t even find the Faceless King.”

“Is it the unidentified person I mentioned earlier? …Among the army of monsters, only one is clothed in a powerful spirit.”

“You can’t even feel the presence of the Faceless King, and the presence of Hiro has disappeared. If that’s the case, I think that person is suspicious.”

Selene continued to speak while she checked the faces of those gathered in the room.

“We should at least be prepared.”

Even if the unidentified person was Hiro, they must be prepared to fight, to kill, and not to be lenient.

“If we don’t fight, we will be killed. Unless we just sit back and wait for our country to be destroyed.”

“You may be wrong, Selene-dono. It would be premature to assume anything. But considering the current situation, I think it is better to give up the search for Hiro-dono for now. For now, we must concentrate on the enemy in front of us. Is that okay with you, Liz-dono?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Let’s concentrate on the monster army first. Let’s think about Hiro later.”

There was no time to lose. The battle with the army of “monsters” is just around the corner.

It is also true that the situation is not one to deal with Hiro alone.

“Then… let’s take a rest today. I’m sure each of you has something to think about.”

Selene clapped her hands a few times and began to dismiss those who had gathered in the room.

Then she let out a small sigh that no one could hear and finally left the room.

Liz gritted her teeth and held back the tears that threatened to overflow when she saw that no one was in the room.

A creaking sound echoed hollowly as she leaned back against the wooden chair.

Liz covered her face with her hands,

“It overflowed again.”

Her shoulders shook, and the white wolf at her feet stared at her in silence.

＊＊＊＊＊

Creepy shadows danced in the torchlight.

Drums made from the skin and bones of humans beat, and howls emanated from the area in time with the sound.

It was the poetry of battle, a dramatic drug to stir the heart, and the monsters, excited by it, began to fight each other. The sound of shattering bones echoed through the air, and sprays of blood danced and dissolved in the darkness. But they did not stop. They continue to beat each other until one of them dies.

The instinct of the monsters made them fight to the death.

They wanted to know the taste of victory, and they did not allow themselves to run away.

However, the heat generated by their instincts quickly cooled as the monsters realized that they had lost control of their instincts. A murderous intent that crushed their instincts and an unusual murderous intent hidden in the black eyes that floated in the darkness.

Like frogs being stared at by snakes, the monsters who had been beating each other stopped moving.

Their bodies trembling with fear, two of their heads suddenly exploded.

The sound of the frenzy that had just begun faded away. The heat that had been so great had cooled to the point of extreme cold.

The eyes of the monsters were absorbed in the darkness, and their terrified gaze fell on a boy.

A circular pool of blood, like an arena, was surrounded by bodies, all of them missing.

In the center of the pool stood a dark-haired, dark-eyed boy.

A shadow approached the boy, whose body radiated a strange fighting spirit.

“O King. Have you become accustomed to your body?”

The boy clenched his hands several times and crushed the head of a nearby Marked Tribe. Brain fluid splattered loudly, and the monsters, mistaking it for food, began to swarm.

“The adjustment is over. Tomorrow, we will launch an all-out attack.”

“The time has finally come for us to show the world the power of our king.”

Keryneia’s lips trembled under her hood as if deeply moved, but the boy did not respond and began to walk away. Keryneia hurried after him.

“The king’s army is ready. Their morale is perfect. They have not been fed. They are hungry for human flesh.”

Perhaps because of her excitement, Keryneia’s words did not stop. Even being ignored did not seem to dampen her passion.

“The reinforcements from the north are no longer coming, but the king and his army of 100,000 are enough, and finally, we can once again uphold the supremacy of the demon race…”

Keryneia’s words were interrupted by a loud noise.

In front of her, a chair made from the skin and bones of a human shattered and danced in the darkness.

“You’re hurting my ears. Shut up!”

Keryneia shuddered and fell to the ground in the face of the unspoken spirit of the man.

The boy glanced at his subordinate, whose shoulders trembled,

“I will finish the descendant of Altius.”

“U-understood.”

Keryneia was too taken aback to answer, her heavy sweat telling the tale.

Still, Keryneia’s face was tinged with disbelief.

After eating the Five Great Heavenly Kings and acquiring the vessel, he had already made adjustments against the Marked Tribe.

There was little joy. There was no change in his emotions.

The Faceless King never showed his emotions, but he had achieved his long-cherished dream of a thousand years.

――He was too unenthusiastic.

Therefore, fear and disgust creaked in her heart, and darkness invaded her head.

“O King. Who are you?”

Prepared to die, she asked her beloved king for an answer.

A terrible gaze pierced Keryneia. A shiver runs down her spine. The blood in her body froze, and she clenched her teeth, unable to stop the chill.

“This is boring.”

With that one word, Keryneia’s shoulders bounced. The tension left her body, and relief prevailed over fear. Even as he spat out those words, Keryneia shivered with pleasure.

The King’s habit―the intonation, the quality of his voice, not an ounce of difference.

“I’m sorry… I was mistaken.”

The boy looked down at his hands, losing interest in Keryneia, who hung her head.

“I finally got this far. But there is no sense of accomplishment. Something is missing.”

The boy muttered to himself. Perhaps not having an answer to his problem, he gritted his teeth at his own inadequacy and opened his mouth.

“If I can get rid of the Sixth Princess―If I can destroy the Grantz―then there will be something to be gained.”

“I hope so.”

The boy muttered, staring at the stars in the night sky, his eyes narrowing and a dark smile appearing on his face.