The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 107

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Strongest in Our Neighborhood (107)
Emperor Kram Sok Tramus stared at the hushed world before him, his face slack and vacant as though his spirit had momentarily fled his body.
About an hour earlier, the sky that had been choked with dark clouds split open. A luminous dragon descended from above, piercing through the darkness that hung over the Gate. Then that darkness cleaved in two, thunder and lightning tore across the heavens, and whirlwinds spawned countless vortices—so many the mind could scarcely count them—sending seawater spiraling skyward with such force that mountains and islands shattered. The earthquakes and tidal waves that followed engulfed the soldiers indiscriminately.
In that catastrophic chaos, where heaven and earth seemed to invert and the world itself crumbled, the barrier holding back the demons and demonic beasts cracked and shattered. The armies of Kram and Bermuda, swept away by the tremors and surging waters, found themselves unable to hold back the demons and beasts fleeing in all directions.
More than half of the soldiers, demons, and demonic beasts alike were swept away by the earthquake and tidal wave and vanished into the waters.
The demonic beasts that survived, rather than attacking humans, fled desperately from the terrifying catastrophe, and the human army lacked the strength to pursue them.
With the Emperor half-dazed, Ilmaserk Alberto was the first to recover his wits and approached, bowing deeply.
“Your Majesty, are you unharmed?”
“Ah, yes. I am well enough. Are you injured?”
“As you can see, I am fine, but… many soldiers were swept away by the tidal wave into the Sea.”
“Yes, the soldiers. I cannot stand here dazed! We must rescue them at once.”
“The mages and Spirit Masters have already gone into the Sea to recover our comrades.”
“Ah! Right, of course. Now that I think of it, the mages and Spirit Masters also exerted themselves greatly to protect me from the earthquake and tidal wave.”
“Indeed. Ah, and one more thing—please accept this.”
Ilmaserk Alberto offered forward a bone fragment whose original form was impossible to discern, and the Emperor tilted his head in puzzlement.
“What is this?”
“This is the Dragon Bone Knight that fought alongside us on the frontline of the barrier. The one Your Majesty once owned.”
“Ah! The Dragon Bone Knight I purchased from Lord Gain. But has it been destroyed so utterly?”
“Yes.”
“It requires an attack from someone of Swordmaster caliber to break, and I was told it would revive a hundred times over with just a simple infusion of magical power. Yet this…”
“Yes. I did not count the exact number, but it was destroyed and revived perhaps a hundred times as it fought. In the end, even when the mages poured their power into it, it would not revive. I placed it in a Subspace and brought it here.”
“I see, I see. Tell me—did the Dragon Bone Knight prove useful?”
“Immensely so. Truthfully, without the Dragon Bone Knight’s efforts, our soldier losses would have been far greater.”
“Ha! Well then, it earned its price.”
“Perhaps when we meet Lord Gain or the dragon, we might ask if it can be repaired.”
“I doubt something this damaged can be mended, but I shall keep it in my Subspace for now.”
As the Emperor opened a Subspace and began depositing the shattered dragon bones and scales, several dragons suddenly appeared in the sky above where the Gate had been, circling through the air.
“What?! Surely… the battle is not still ongoing?”
“There are four dragons, Your Majesty.”
“Your Majesty, there may yet be fighting with the demons. Shall I recall the Spirit Masters and mages from the Sea?”
“No, there is no need.”
“Your Majesty?”
“Two of those four dragons are green, which suggests they are Lord Gain’s companions. And they merely fly about—they cast no spells or breathe no flames.”
“Ah, you are right! It seems the dragons have won their battle against the demons.”
“If they have won, then the world has returned to its proper order. I have never realized until today how beautiful this blood-red sunset is.”
Shortly after, the Emperor made his way to the Shoreline with his retinue.
There, the surviving knights and soldiers were either rescuing their comrades or hauling the bodies of the fallen from the water, all while battling the surviving demonic beasts.
The Emperor ordered all the guards positioned around him to be dispatched to aid them.
“Aah! So many have perished!”
At the sight of the bodies of soldiers piled like mountains, a sigh escaped him unbidden.
Though the war had begun as an act of vengeance, after experiencing such terror—as if the world itself were ending—he felt only the desperate longing to finish it and return to the Royal Palace to rest deeply.
As he sat resting on a rock for a moment, a party approached.
Turning his head, he saw Druper Ruksina, the king of Alpana and commander-in-chief of the Bermuda Allied Forces, arriving with his retinue.
The one escorting King Druper Ruksina was General Kairoks, and upon seeing him, Ilmaserk Alberto and Bruoli Kante, who had been in the Sea, returned.
Though Emperor Kram and the King of Alpana were enemies, they were also in-laws, and thus knew each other very well.
Emperor Kram’s eyes widened as he gazed upon the face of the King of Alpana.
“King Druper Ruksina, why is half your face like that?”
“It is good to see you again. Brother-in-law.”
“Well, how well have we been in the midst of war? But why is your face so… deformed?”
“I have been struck by a curse that even the High Priest cannot dispel.”
“A curse? Surely there is no curse that even the High Priest cannot lift?”
“The dragon informed me that it was struck with a Mirror Curse, and that only a priest with true Holy Power could undo it. I thought little of it at the time, but who could have guessed that nowhere in my entire kingdom could I find a single priest capable of breaking this curse? They are all charlatans—spouting elegant words while using Heal Magic coupled with Illusion Magic to deceive the people.”
“A Mirror Curse? Such a thing exists?”
“According to the dragon, it is a curse that returns upon me exactly what was inflicted upon it. When I heard that only a priest with true Holy Power could heal it, I paid it no mind. But I never imagined that after searching my entire kingdom, there would be no priest capable of breaking it. They are all worthless frauds.”
“Then you must remain cursed until you find a priest who wields true Holy Power?”
“Indeed. Fortunately, the High Priest gave me a Divine Artifact to prevent it from worsening.”
“But in such a condition, should you even be on the battlefield?”
“I came to the battlefield because I heard there was someone here who could heal others with true Holy Power. Yet I have been unable to find this person anywhere.”
Splash, splash, splash, splash, splaaash—
At that moment, countless figures suddenly erupted from the waters and landed gently upon the sands of the Shoreline.
The soldiers who had been searching the seabed for comrades swept away by the tidal wave were startled by the sudden miracle, and soon they spotted people descending from the sky and bowed their heads toward them.
“It’s Duke Jang Gain and the dragons!”
The dragons surveyed the soldiers they had deposited on the sand, then began casting Heal Magic indiscriminately on those still clinging to life.
Those who received the Heal Magic spat out the seawater they had swallowed and began breathing again, and more than half of those who had been pulled onto the sand fell into this category.
The Emperor and King rushed forward to express their gratitude once the dragons had finished their casting and descended to the ground.
“Great beings. We thank you for closing the Gate, repelling the demons, and saving and reviving the soldiers swept away by the tidal wave.”
“Because of your human war, a Gate connected to the Demon Realm was opened, and this land nearly suffered an irreversible calamity.”
“We were foolish. We shall never again wage such a war.”
“King of Bermuda, why do you have nothing to say?”
“I too shall never again wage such a war.”
“I hope you keep that promise. This time we were fortunate the Gate closed, but there is no guarantee it will be so next time.”
“Yes. And great dragon, we have received such an enormous debt of gratitude that I confess I do not know how to repay it, and so I must ask—is there anything you desire?”
“Desire? The only thing I want is for you humans to stop waging war. Father, is there anything you desire?”
“There is not.”
“Jang Gain, do you desire anything?”
“Nothing particularly special for me either. But I notice Duke Fura Noid is nowhere to be seen. Do you happen to know where he is?”
“I’m not certain—let me ask my officials.”
The Emperor questioned his officials and soldiers, but none of them knew his whereabouts.
“Wait, surely not…… Noxscasarsis, I’m going to look for Duke Fura Noid.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
The moment Jang Gain vanished, Mayarvanта stepped forward and opened his mouth toward the King of Alpana.
“The Mirror Curse uses the caster’s own soul as an offering to demons, so it’s a curse that can only be cast against someone with such deep-seated hatred that mere enmity is insufficient—King of Bermuda, just who did you incur such hatred from?”
At Mayarvanта’s question, the King of Alpana let out a short sigh.
“Though I serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Bermuda Allied Forces, I am not the King of Bermuda but the King of Alpana. And when one rules a kingdom, one inevitably incurs the hatred of someone.”
“Hmm! Ah yes, and there is one more thing I failed to mention—the Mirror Curse can only be cast by someone with blood ties to you; that is, parents, children, or grandchildren. It was not cast by a stranger against you.”
In that instant, the King of Alpana’s eyes widened, and then he trembled like an aspen leaf caught in the wind.
“B-blood relations?”
“Yes. Someone bound to you by blood developed such bitter hatred that they surrendered their soul to demons to repay it, and it was returned to you in kind.”
“S-such a thing……”
“Your expression suggests you suspect who placed the Mirror Curse upon you?”
The King of Alpana’s eyes trembled, but he clenched his teeth and did not answer.
Seeing this, Mayarvanта continued.
“There is an object upon your body infused with very crude Holy Power. He’s been delaying the curse in hopes of living somewhat longer, but…… tsk, this crude Holy Power has been exposed to demonic energy far too much recently, and its efficacy has utterly failed. You will die soon, so leave your final words.”
“F-final words? Ha! Even for a dragon, that’s rather blunt…… Gack! Ugh! Ugh!”
The King of Alpana’s face contorted in disbelief, then suddenly he clutched at his throat, gasping violently before spewing blood.
Mages and healers nearby rushed to cast curative magic and forced potions into his mouth, but the situation did not improve, and soon his breathing ceased.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Come to your senses! Your Majesty! Great being, please save our sovereign!”
When General Kairoks saw the King’s breathing stop, he pleaded with the dragons, but they all shook their heads.
“The Mirror Curse cannot be dispelled except by a High Priest who uses true Holy Power. Father, you cannot dispel the Mirror Curse either, can you?”
“No, I could have. But I had no reason to, did I? It seems your son cast the Mirror Curse upon you—what in the world did you do to your own child? Tsk, tsk!”
“Ah! Father, you could have dispelled it. Later, please teach me how to dispel the Mirror Curse.”
“When you reach an age that might be called Ancient, you will come to know it of your own accord.”
* * *
‘Where on earth could he be? He’s skilled in martial arts and hides all manner of magical items in his Subspace—he shouldn’t seem likely to die at the hands of demons…….‵
While the dragons and many others had their attention fixed on the death of the King of Alpana, Jang Gain was concentrated on finding Duke Fura Noid.
He extended his Aura Sense as far as possible to locate the man’s presence, searching not only the center of the battle but also the periphery, yet he could not find him.
‘I brought him here against his will when he didn’t want to come…… Could he actually be dead?’
Jang Gain thought that if Duke Fura Noid was dead, he would become an enemy not only to the Queen but possibly to Grand Junor as well. Because of this, with each passing moment, anxiety gnawed at him.
“Ah! There—found him.”
Then he sensed a very faint but refined and familiar presence.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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