Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, fake and real -- on Earth, it’s quite easy to tell them apart if you know what you are doing. However, in this fantasy world, since there are Skills and Magic, it’s very difficult.”

“Did he just say Gjallarhorn? Don’t tell me, it’s the real thing?” Arisa sounded astonished.

Is that spiraling Holy Sword famous?

I’ll ask Arisa the mythology around it, later.

The Heads-Up-Display says that the name of the fake hero’s sword is ‘Gjallarhorn’, but it isn’t a Holy Sword--it’s a Magic Sword.

Somehow, the explanation reads the same as the true Gjallarhorn.

However, it’s only as strong as a normal iron sword, and it’s appearance is just also a normal sword--not the drill-like spiral of the true Gjallarhorn.

“Hero, you dare to strike me with the fake sword that I, myself, gave you? Foolish!”

“Shut up, Demon! Where did you put the real Consul?!”

I see, so that’s how they interpret it through the brainwashing.

I’d like to stop this farce, and deal with the true problem as soon as possible, since there’s a high probability that the Split Body could switch out with the real body in an instant. If I were to use overwhelming force, the real body would probably become cautious and hide somewhere--which would be annoying.

I would have to spend even more time and effort killing it. Well it would be simple to locate using the map--but I prefer luring it to me.

Oh?

It looks like Pochi is getting impatient with watching the fake hero’s fighting, she’s pulling at my sleeve.

“Can Pochi fight too?” She stares up at me with puppy eyes, literally.

Well, even though the opponent is a Demon, it’s just level 1--from the look, it has the combat strength of a normal level 5 - 6 Monster, so Pochi should be able to easily neutralize it.

“Alright, be careful since the enemy can use Magic.”

The Demon screams, even though it shouldn’t have heard my words.

However, no Magic seems to cast.

“Tou!” Pochi shouts out a strange sound as she slashes straight through the Split Body with her dagger--she aimed at its shoulder, like she usually does with thieves.

Then, right after that, the Split Body’s HP becomes 0--causing it to become dust, disappearing.

Pochi is strong--and the Split Body’s HP is lower than most thieves we fought.

“Amazing, Pochi!” Soruna shouts excitedly.

“To think she’s this strong, even though she’s so cute! The Beastkin who saved Toruma is Pochi!”

The Baron and his daughter are praising Pochi.

However, Pochi’s ears flatten against her hair. She approaches me with heavy steps and slumped shoulders; then she looks at me with teary, upturned eyes, “I’m sorry. I’ve killed the dark person.”

Wasn’t it similar with the gargoyle we defeated back then?

Maybe she thinks that she isn’t allowed to kill?

I have always asked the girls not to kill humanoid Monsters because I didn’t want them to get hurt, mentally--but it seems that she thinks that killing people or person-like Monsters is bad--

Seeing Pochi looking so upset, I feel that I should have killed it with Remote Arrow--so that she wouldn’t have that look.

“It’s alright, Pochi. I’m sorry if I gave the impression that killing is bad--” I pull her into a hug, stroking her hair and playing with her ears, “Thank you for protecting everyone.”

After this is over, I will ask Lulu to make her an extra-large steak, as a reward.

Ahh, good, her ears have perked up and her tail is buzzing as she nuzzles my chest.

***

“We have to save the real Consul!” The fake hero’s words interrupt us.

“That’s right, I wonder where the Consul is being held.” Soruna agrees with him.

Even though the Demon transformed right in front of their eyes, their interpretation of the situation becomes this.

How should I persuade them?

I whispered to Arisa, and asked her to use her own Mind Magic; soon a lot of records appeared in the log. It’s the same Magic that the Demon used that made them believe it.

They say: “Fight fire with fire”.

“The Demon earlier is the real Consul, you know.” Arisa said.

“What stupid things are you saying?”

“There’s no way that’s true.”

“That’s right.”

It seems that no one believes Arisa’s words.

Did they resist it and the log is wrong?

I should follow up.

“Everyone has been manipulated by the Demon’s Magic. As proof, no one even remembers the Consul’s name, right?”

“That is so, but--”

“But, if Consul isn’t here.”

“To think that the Consul was really a Demon. Even though he was the first person who recognized me as a hero--”

Oh, they’re accepting my opinion now, even though they readily denied Arisa’s words?

Even though what I said wasn’t much different to what she said.

I wonder if this could be the Effect of the Persuasion Skill that I almost forgot that I keep active.

“Then, do you remember when the Consul was appointed?”

“I don’t remember. Was it 10 years ago? No, there was gramps at that time--when did gramps disappear?” Soruna spoke, a confused look on her face as she tried to remember.

“He was there when Karina came of age.” Toruma said.

“Rondol wasn’t the only butler. I wonder when the people who attend here have started disappearing?” The Baron asked, the butler nodded to his words.

Oh?

It looks like their manipulated memories have started falling apart and their true memories are starting to come back--from Arisa’s words, I thought that it would take a much longer time--maybe they were somehow resistant to the Magic, which is why Arisa struggled to apply her Magic to them.

I quickly find an underling of the Duke in a prison cell, and ask the Baron about them.

“Baron, are you familiar with a Viscount called Nina Rottol?”

“Yes, I do. She’s a Consul Candidate who was sent to our territory along with a letter from the Lord Duke 5 years ago.” He answered smoothly--then his expression hardened, “Why was she a candidate? Our territory already had a Consul. But, Viscount Nina died from an accidental death, and I asked the Consul from the previous generation to take her place--”

“Perhaps the Demon took advantage of when Nina was about to be inaugurated as the new Consul and used Mind Magic to manipulate everyone.”

However, no one questions why I have this information.

It’s possible that they might think that I’m a subordinate of the Duke--or maybe its the Deception Skill.

“I got this information from an Intelligence Broker in the city before arriving here: apparently Nina, and the Priest have been thrown into the castle dungeons by the Demon.”

“How terrible! We have to save them both immediately!” The Baron quickly instructs the butler to save them.

With this, a lot of the domestic problems in this territory should be managed--as long as this Viscount Nina is an able person.

***

Then, next, I have to deal with the flood of people who are rushing towards the Bailey gates right now.

The best way to do it would probably be asking Arisa to use her Mind Magic to calm them, but there are agitators planted by the Demon inside the crowd.

The instigators don’t seem to have any strange teleportation or assassination skills, but I’m afraid that they would induce panic into the crowd, causing them to stampede and kill her.

It wouldn’t be a problem if I go with her, but it’s almost certain that the Demon will quickly try to go back into the forest after the death of its Split Body. I won’t leave this area to chase it, in case Arisa has problems--so it means that the Demon gets a greater chance of getting away.

Of course, I have no plan of sending only Arisa and/or Pochi into the crowd alone--sorry innocent citizens, but Arisa and Pochi’s safety far outweigh yours.

Well, let’s ask the fake hero to take the full brunt of the problem now; it’s what heroes are there for.

“Hauto, if you want to be called a hero from now on, I’ll have you show proof that you deserve it! Give courage to the people who have been chased here, pursued here by the Undead--gathering in front of gate in hope of sanctuary, of salvation.” Towards the end, I found myself exaggerating a little.

“I understand!” The fake hero, Hauto, looked at me with determination, “I have no intention of being used by the Demon any longer! I will become a hero with my own power. I will become a man worthy of wielding this Gjallarhorn!” Hauto replied to my high-handed words with a passionate speech.

“That’s wonderful, my hero!” Soruna bursts out, her eyes sparkling.

“Ah, my love. You’re still calling me your hero.”

“Yes, ever since you saved me from the mob, you’ve always been my hero!”

“Then, let’s go together, to calm the citizens!” Hauto raised his drawn sword into the air, and turned, leading the starstruck Soruna from the room.

I found myself sighing, Arisa facepalmed--and Pochi looked curiously at our reactions.

“Tek, the citizens in front of the castle gate are being taken care of, but what should we do about the Monsters outside the wall?”

Why are you asking me, Baron?

“Cousin, there’s no way that we can win against such an army. Let’s get away from here with the high-speed carriage that the Consul, no, the Demon, suggested earlier.”

“I can’t do that, Toruma, even though some call me useless--I’m still the Lord of this territory. There’s no way I would escape and abandon my citizens.”

Even Hayuna doesn’t know what to do, she’s looking anxious while cuddling Mayuna, silently waiting.

What Toruma said is probably the normal view--but that carriage has been used by Hauto’s companions to escape. Though, it looks like there are a lot of Zombies clustered around the exit of the passage, but I will leave them alone and let them try to sort it out themselves.

“Shouldn’t there be weapons or Magic Tools for defense in a castle this big?”

“They existed during the time of the Marquis, but they were destroyed during the incident 20 years ago. When the territory became mine, there were many plans for revitalizing--but we postponed them because we weren’t fighting another country.” The Baron sighed.

“Then, do you have any Tactical Scrolls?”

“We had been given some by Toruma’s house, but they were sold because of the suggestion of the Consul, to buy food that would be distributed among the citizens.”

Damn--the Demon was incredibly, thoroughly prepared.

Still, there’s a person who who would buy the Tactical Scrolls, which should be used in a war--I wonder if it was another noble.

“Then, please find a way to signal the army that they have to come back, somehow. Let’s keep the citizens inside the Bailey until the army comes back.” The Baron tells a maid to find some way to call the army back.

The army has been annihilated, but the Baron doesn’t know--but, for the time being, the citizens should become much less anxious if they are safe behind the curtain walls of the castle.

“Alright then Cousin, I’ll go with my family and the servants to the fortress, and make preparations there.”

“Thank you, Toruma. Please persuade the people who have been freed from the dungeon to stay in the fortress for now.”

“I understand.” The Baron and the rest leave the room.

I quickly follow along behind him and the maids.

Arisa tugs on my on my robe, leaning in close and whispers, “Then, what are you going to do? It should be impossible, even with your Magic--since the number of opponents are too numerous, right?” Her worried eyes meet mine.

“Heh, have a little faith--well, it will require some acting on your part as well; I will use Remote Arrows visibly in bunches of 14, and then pretend to drink a Mana Potion. What I need you to do is pretend to cast the same spell, and I will make it look like you can launch between 4 - 5. Since you aren’t actually casting, you will have MP for other spells if necessary. But, since I can control the point I launch the Remote Arrows from, I will spam the rest of my maximum from places where the other’s can’t see, and use the map to snipe.”

It was a plan that I came up with on the fly, but it should do--since there wasn’t a real threat--worst comes to worst, I could ‘retreat’ with Arisa, then don a disguise--and slaughter with impunity.

Arisa seemed to realize this as well, her face relaxing, “Uhh, why don’t you just attack from a hidden location?”

“Well, I feel that it is likely that I will be dragged into more and more messes--but if I help save the city, maybe even using the Holy Crossbow I have in storage to visibly kill the Demon’s main body and ‘become’ a ‘hero’--it may be useful in future interactions; especially with the son of a Duke, and a Baron, both on my side.”

Arisa nodded to my words.

“Also, reinforcements are coming.”

Arisa has a curious expression, so I tell her that the Giants from the depths of the forest are on their way here.

“Something like Giants? Where are they coming from?”

“They have a village deep inside the forest.”

“That’s not what I meant. How come they aren’t forces belonging to the Demon?”

“They’re different. It seems that the Baron’s second daughter, the one that the knight called Eral was looking for, has managed to recruit them as reinforcements.”

We had made it to the battlements by now, Arisa, Pochi, and I stood a distance from the Baron and co--having a whispered conversation; well, Pochi just stood by us and listened with an expression of complete trust.

I pointed towards the trees when I explained to Arisa, and the trees are visibly shaking a little bit, huge crowds of birds are flying into the sky.

Oh?

It looks like the Zombies have reached the open Main Gates, and the last of the citizens are still rushing through the castle gates. Fortunately, the Zombies move really slowly, so no citizens have been caught and killed.

Eww, please spare me from a real-life reenactment of Resident Evil?

The Zombies look quite gross with their wounds and almost translucent white skin--

Arranging my Remote Arrows to launch from high in the sky above us, since almost no one ever looks up in these kinds of situations; I snipe with the faster zombies, such as some of the Zombie beasts and the few birds, mixed in with the Human Zombies, with the Arrows.

The trees have started shaking much more than expected, so I check on their conditions, and see that they have the Confusion Abnormal Status.

Please stop fighting against each other--

“Arisa, something unexpected, and possibly bad, has happened.”

“What is it now? Did the Demon Lord attack too?”

That might be better, emotionally, for me.

“Liza and the others are approaching the Zombies that are at the Main Gate.”