Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

Chapter 143.1: Feast of Death

◆Vampire Count, Jusio

「I offer blood to the greatest of the great rulers of death

I offer innards to the greatest of the great rulers of death

I beheaded Mina’s children and washed the soil with their blood.

I made a symbol of the children of death with those heads.

Skinned them, and turned their bones into ornaments.

Let the lament of Mina’s children resound in this world.」

I heard the singing of the songstress’s ghost.

While the songstress’s ghost sang her song, the skeletons were drumming their bones.

The vampires danced to match the drumming rhythm.

The vampires were also the kin of death.

We had gathered in Modegal to celebrate the return of the great ruler of death.

I walked into the plaza once the banquet began.

I passed by a zombie clown when I walked forward.

When I looked to the right, a newbie zombie girl, who placed her head on a plate, was pouring blood into the noble’s cup.

On the left was a ghost with a terrifying face that was going on patrol.

When I looked at the table, there was a captured angel that had gotten skewered and its meat cut up.

The feast of death had only just begun.

「Jusio-dono.」

Suddenly, someone called out to me.

When I turned to the direction of the voice, there was a blond-haired handsyouth with blue eyes surrounded by a few women with vivid clothing.

Appearancewise, the youth looked like someone in his early teens with pale white skin.

But, I knew that figure was nothing but a disguise.

「Long tno see, prince Zasha.」

I bowed respectfully at the youth who called out to me.

His nwas the Ruby Prince, Zasha.

He was the younger brother of my lady.

「Yeah, long tno see. I’m really happy to be able to meet you, Angel Slayer-kun.」

Prince Zasha smiled meaningfully as he spoke.

「You jest, Your Highness. I barely managed to defeat the angel.」

I was really troubled when I got called an Angel Slayer.

The reason was simply because I won by spure chance.

「Don’t be so humble, Jusio-dono. You may puff your chest with pride, as expected of my older sister’s favourite.」

When Prince Zasha laughed, the women around him laughed along.

I could see fangs peeking out from the lips of those women.

Maybe those women were his kin, and they might cfrom noble birth.

They might be the mistresses of Prince Zasha.

「My apologies, Prince Zasha. It seems I have to go back to Milady’s place since she called for me.」

「I see, too bad then. See you later, Jusio-dono.」

Said Prince Zasha as he left.

After seeing him off, I returned to Milady’s place.

I had to go back in a hurry, she had suddenly calleda while ago.

My soul was connected to Milady’s after she turnedinto a vampire.

Though she wouldn’t callin a normal situation, she would only call me, no matter how far I am, in case of an emergency.

Milady was supposed to be in the throne room where we had an audience a while ago.

She had already entered the plaza after leaving the throne room.

She was surrounded by many people.

They were her aides, the vampire knights.

Milady’s aides were composed of strong people with neat appearances.

And seeing their appearances, it seems there was a problem.

What was happening?

「There you are, Jusio.」

Milady looked at my direction upon noticing me.

「Have you called for me, Milady? Is there a problem?」

I kneeled before Milady and bowed respectfully to her.

「Indeed, Jusio. It seems a stray bird got in.」

Said Milady with a meaningful smile on her face.

「Stray bird?」

「Yes, Jusio. A stray bird. Well, it should be taken care of in a while. Zalbut, explain to the people in this place.」

A man clad in a priest’s garment stepped forward as Milady spoke.

The face of the person clad in that vestment couldn’t be seen clearly since they wore a veil to cover their face.

But I could see one big eye behind that veil.

This one-eyed personage was Zalbuth-sama, the one hailed as the high priest of flies and maggots.

Among the children of the great ruler of death, he was next after Milady.

The reason why he was called the high priest of flies and maggots was simply because there was a huge number of flies around him that followed the strong, putrid smell of corpses emanating from him.

Milady, who liked beautiful people, couldn’t get along with this personage in normal situations.

And since this personage made their way to cto this place, something must’ve happened.

「Well then, allow this humble priest to replace my big sister to explain the situation. Let’s get to the point, we have an uninvited guest in Modegal. That intruder seems to be hiding their appearance with ssort of means, but they won’t be able to deceive Father’s eyes. And we’ve been ordered to catch that person. That’s why I want you to catch that intruder.」

The people in the venue raised a cheer upon hearing Priest-sama’s explanation.

「Well then, it’s just as you’ve heard. Let’s make that ignorant fool regret ever coming uninvited into our capital. Capture them alive since the other party doesn’t seem to know that we’re already aware of their presence. Well, it’s no big deal even if you kill them.」

Milady ordered us with a sadistic smile on her face.

It seems she was thinking about how to torture the intruder in case we caught them alive.

「Well then, this humble priest’s adorable flies have been searching for the intruder. You guys start moving too.」

◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

The capital of death, Modegal had always been enveloped by a thick fog made from countless ghosts.

The capital was around the size of the Holy Republic of Lenaria, which I had visited before.

I was walking warily inside that fog.

I was currently in my dark knight form in order to be able to enter combat at a moment’s notice.

This place was the enemy’s hground after all.

I could hear the singing voice of the ghosts from the other side of the fog.

It was even accompanied by the skeletons and zombies that were dancing around before me.

Even the wraith with a stern face seems to enjoy it very much.

It was as if Modegal was in the middle of a carnival.

「Kuroki-sama… It’s scary… We have to get out of here immediately…」

Tibel, the dark fairy who hid in my pocket, trembled in fear.

That was only natural, the miasma in this place was so thick.

Even Tibel might’ve already died had it not been for the protection of my magical power.

It wasn’t just the paved road, I could literally see the bones of various creatures strewn everywhere as far as I could see.

That’s why I heard the creaking sound around me.

Even the buildings in this city were made of bones.

I noticed that the skulls of various creatures that had becits pillars were looking at me.

Glowing blue stones protruded from the places devoid of bones.

I noticed that something like a soul cout and in of those stones.

This was truly the country of death.

「Sorry, Tibel. I don’t mind letting you wait outside if you’re really scared,」

「Auu. But I can’t. I won’t be able to hold on in this place without Kuroki-sama’s protection.」

Said Tibel with a voice that was on the verge of crying.

Was she okay?

aside, what about you, Kuroki-sama? Do you feel anything.」

Asked Tibel as she looked at my hand.

I held an incense burner for ghost avoidance in my hand.

A nice fragrance cout from this incense burner that contained kiffi.

The magical fragrance of kiffi protected my body from evil spirits.

If you burn kiffi when you’re going to be captured by the undead, the fragrance of the kiffi will drive away the undead.

None of the undead in this place would noticeas long as I had this incense burner.

「I’m okay, maybe. This item is specially made by the archwitch for this mission after all.」

This kiffi was something that Hecate prepared specially for this mission.

Hecate wasn’t just a master of herbs, she could compound aromatics with magical effects too.

There were various kinds of aromatics with magical effects, such as the one that heals wounds, or the one that induces sleep.

That’s why people who could compound such aromas were highly valued.

They were either called apothecaries or perfumers.

Tibel and I walked inside Modegal.

Zombies were holding candles lit with will-o’-wisp and were roaming around, yet none of them noticed my presence.

「This one passed too… But we don’t know for how long.」

I then recalled Clown’s remark.

He said that he had to take another route since he was Kuna’s subordinate.

I had no idea what he was trying to do but I knew that it was something important.

Not to mention that no one discovered us so far.

A fly passed by above me.

They didn’t get close either since the incense burner was also an insecticide.

If my guess was right, these flies were probably used by the high priest of flies and maggots.

I tried to recall the information about Zarxis’ children which I had read before this mission.

The high priest of flies and maggots was the god who ruled over the plague and decay like Zaffrada, the princess of fresh blood.