194 - Mountain of Corpses
The piles of monster carcasses reached halfway up the fortress walls.
When they defeated them, they stepped over them, and more monsters were defeated and piled on top.
However, there were no monsters present that could pose a threat to them.
Relentless attacks from the fortress and strikes from the Kirin in the sky rained down. Trapped with nowhere to run, the monsters could only wait to be slaughtered.
Amidst this, the voice of the Fifth Head echoed from within the Jewel.
『It feels strangely effortless. To think the only boss-class was the Giant Kong... it's unsatisfying.』
In a situation that had become almost like mere manual labor, he seemed to be feeling a lack of fulfillment.
(As for me, I don't want to fight any more than this. If I "grow" here, it'll be a huge problem.)
If combat continued, it would become impossible, and I would be bedridden for several days, or if things went poorly, a whole week.
Unable to be away for such a long period, I had tried to avoid fighting as much as possible since arriving at the fortress.
A vast army of monsters—however, the majority of them were monsters considered weak.
The representative Goblins were like that, but there were also many insect-type monsters.
Once the primary monsters were defeated, all that remained was to trap them and beat them down.
Numbers are a great power.
However, we now had the advantage in numbers as well.
And so, defeating too many of them created a problem.
Eva checked in with me.
『Liel, Blast Arrow is a waste now. Ordinary arrows are better.』
Aria added as well.
『It's a waste of cannon shells on these scattered monsters over here too.』
Clara said the same.
『We can still prepare more, but it might be pointless beyond this.』
We shared visual information, and the scene viewed from atop the fortress was visible to everyone connected via Connection. Seeing that, Clara likely judged that the catapults were no longer meaningful.
The voice of the Seventh Head came from the Jewel.
『...Liel, it's time for the finishing touch. Blow away everything in front of the gate.』
Gripping the Jewel, I gave instructions to Miranda.
"Miranda, clear the front of the gate. We're going to strike out."
『Understood. And what about us?』
Should they go out as well? To Miranda, who asked this, I indicated my refusal by saying "No."
"...It'll be a lot of work even after it's over. Rest for now. Everyone."
I wanted everyone to rest. After all, this was a battlefield of this scale. There was also the issue of cleaning up.
The Fourth Head sounded energetic.
『Now then, it's my turn. To use the collected magic stones and materials as bargaining chips, let's proceed with the work efficiently. Liel, Monica-chan, and Clara-chan, why don't you move to support Adele-chan?』
Paperwork awaited. While the combat itself was coming to an end, we remained busy. We would proceed to collect the magic stones and materials.
There were many other things to do as well. Transporting the wounded was one, but there were also condolence payments for the dead. Yes, there were not a few casualties.
"...I'll leave the command of the charge to Alette-san. I'm sure she'll run wild to vent her frustrations."
Then, Aria and Eva spoke up.
『...Isn't it bad if no one from our side goes out?』
『Exactly! We have to send at least one or two people! Yes! I volunteer!』
『I-I'll go too!』
When Aria and Eva volunteered, I vaguely understood the reason. They likely sensed that while things were about to get busy, it would be the paperwork they hated.
Then, Miranda spoke.
『Fine. But when you come back, I'm absolutely making you help over here too.』
Having said that, they fell silent.
I could vaguely tell that Aria and Eva were feeling depressed. With a slight smile, I looked down at the monsters showing their final resistance in front of the fortress.
"...It's over."
――It was several days later that information regarding Redant Fort reached the Beim Guild headquarters.
At the guild's executive meeting, all eyes were on the information regarding the combined Zain and Rolfis army led by Liel, who had expanded the fort into a fortress and crushed an enemy ten times their number.
Tanya, who participated along with her superior, was also surprised to hear the news.
"What are we going to do! Many adventurers haven't challenged the labyrinth! We're short on magic stones and materials!"
"...We can just buy them from the two victorious nations. No, it's Beim's territory. If we make the acquired magic stones and materials our own――"
"Do you think that will fly? If we do that, we'll lose our credibility."
The content of the meeting focused on the victorious Liel and his group. Meanwhile, the damages concerning the Beim adventurers were left neglected.
"Even though we've suffered damages on this side too,"
When Tanya said that, her superior looked at the documents.
"They were highly rated adventurers from the East Branch. Bad luck. To think they were in a place where slight damage occurred."
The adventurers from the East Branch had been deployed to defend important facilities. However, they had been attacked by monsters that had bypassed Redant Fortress, and combat had broken out.
It was bad luck.
If they were Griffons, they might have managed. However, a huge black crow-like monster――a Raven――.
Attacked by such a monster, the party had suffered heavy losses. Fortunately, other parties repelled it, but there were still not a few casualties.
The superior looked at the flow of the meeting.
"Good grief, Beim is a bit strict, isn't it. There's a surplus of weapons and armor. Since they haven't challenged the labyrinth for a while, how to make up for the lack of magic stones and materials... overall, it's a negligible number, though."
Numerically, it wasn't painful. But it wasn't a number that could be ignored either.
In fact, plans had collapsed, and there was a massive surplus of equipment.
The superior looked at the numbers in the documents.
"I suppose this is it... the flow will be to send equipment to Zain and Rolfis and collect magic stones and such. I wonder what the merchants will say."
Saying it was a headache, the superior seemed to be thinking about future countermeasures.
Tanya reaffirmed that to the executives, adventurers were nothing more than numbers――.
――Beim East Guild.
At the reception, Rieue didn't know what kind of expression to make.
"...Eh?"
One of the adventurers who returned was severely injured. Bandages were wrapped around their arm. It was obvious that part of it was missing. It would likely be impossible for them to continue as an adventurer.
But more than that...
"...Here are their guild cards. I came to return them. And this belongs to them."
It was a beautiful ornament. One could tell just by looking that it was expensive.
And the adventurer was a companion of an adventurer who had been close to Rieue.
"As for the rewards, except for those who left a will for their bereaved families, I, as their companion, will inherit them. But I thought I'd give this to you."
Receiving it, Rieue felt no sense of reality. Then, she went to search for the guild cards stored at the guild in a daze.
Two guild cards existed, and when an adventurer died, a mark was placed on the name. In this way, the guild also performed death confirmations.
When Rieue went to look for the stored guild cards, there was a card with a mark on it.
The name of the adventurer she had been close with was marked, and death was confirmed.
"...Eh, but... because... they said they had something they wanted to say when they returned..."
Rieue collapsed on the spot, tears falling one after another onto the floor――.
Inside the fortress, bodies in body bags were lined up.
Companions were confirming the identities and recording them. This was because condolence payments would be issued to the dead later.
In such a place, I stood still.
Many of the body bags had the faces visible for identification. Some of the corpses were in terrible condition. Their own subordinates, and their superiors, had died in battle.
Some broke down in tears.
One soldier was pouring the alcohol he held over a corpse.
"Look, this is the expensive alcohol I bought to drink with you guys. It's delicious, right... Tell me it's delicious!"
Crying, a man in his thirties poured alcohol over the corpse of a soldier still in his teens. People around him reached out to stop the man, but stopped their hands halfway.
In another place, people from the same hometown were gathered.
Here, a youth in his teens was being comforted by those around him.
"Your father was magnificent. He was magnificent."
"Y-yeah!"
Zain, and Rolfis... I had dragged in people who had nothing to do with this. There was the reason of debt repayment, but that was a matter for the upper echelons of the state. It might be a story they couldn't truly grasp.
Then, Mireia-san's voice sounded.
『Liel, show your face inside the Jewel for a moment.』
Many sacrifices were made. The dead exceeded a thousand, and the injured exceeded three thousand.
Amidst this, I returned to my room and shifted my consciousness into the Jewel.
At the round table, the successive heads of the family――their number had decreased considerably, and I felt a bit of loneliness.
The Third Head stood up from his chair and looked at me.
『Liel, I think I'll ask you now. Have you decided on what comes next? Defeating Celes is a given. Beyond that... what is it that Liel wants to do? I'll tell you now, if you say you'll take responsibility and commit suicide, I won't forgive you.』
His tone and expression were soft as usual. However, I felt something akin to intimidation in those last words.
"...I have no intention of dying."
The Fourth Head nodded upon hearing that.
The Fifth Head spoke to me.
『Then what will you do? Will you set someone else up and support them? Or will you stand yourself?』
It was a choice between two. In the current situation, I could only choose the latter.
"Isn't that unfair? Practically speaking, there's no person who can be the banner to defeat Celes, right? Even Zain's Saintess is weak. Rolfis's princess is out of the question. Beim doesn't have such a person, does it?"
The Seventh Head nodded. He nodded, but spoke to me in a somewhat cold tone.
『I've been saying that for a while. And now, you need to act while looking firmly ahead. Liel, what did you think when you saw so many corpses? How did you feel when you saw the injured? Do you want to run away? The moment you couldn't find someone more suitable than yourself, it became your fault.』
It's true I had time. But I couldn't find a person to be the banner to fight Celes――and Vanseim.
The Fourth Head spoke gently.
『If there were someone more suitable than Liel, we would tell you to cooperate with them. But the fact that you couldn't find anyone means exactly that, doesn't it?』
I looked down once and clenched my fist. What I remembered was the sight of the injured that Novem had seen, and the sight of the lined-up body bags.
It is all my responsibility.
If I had stayed silent, I surely would have fought in Beim and wouldn't have felt this way. I could have blamed someone else.
Raising my head, I scanned the five of them. Then I spoke.
"...I will aim for the top. Being a king might be difficult, but even so, the place I aim for is the top."
When I said that I would stand, that I would stand at the front, the Third Head smiled. He didn't make a joke, as usual.
『...I see. You decided that of your own will?』
"Yes. I decided it."
Finally, Mireia-san stood up, faced me with a serious expression, and opened her mouth. Placing her right hand on her chest, she spoke to me――.
『Liel, surely Celes and you will both kill many. Even if you can minimize the damage, you will build a mountain of corpses. Many enemies will die. And many of those who followed you will also die. Therefore, stand atop the corpses of both enemy and ally. Do not forget that the peak you aim for is made of accumulated dead.』
As I nodded, Mireia-san smiled.
『Liel, the place you aim for is a place that the successive heads of the family could not reach.』
I smiled and spoke to everyone.
"I'm doing it because I have to. I don't want to fight for the sake of it. If I don't, the continent will be devastated. ...If we just beat Vanseim and end it, the surrounding countries will surely carve away at a weakened Vanseim. That will bring about a Warring States period."
It wasn't simply a matter of defeating them and finishing. Considering what comes after, someone needed to bring things together. If I asked for cooperation from surrounding countries without giving anything in return, no one would be satisfied.
However, I couldn't overlook Vanseim being carved up at will.
And once a carved-up Vanseim disappeared, new countries bordering each other would emerge. At worst, they would clash over territorial issues, and wars would continue from there.
It would take decades to settle. No, they might fight for hundreds of years.
"That's right. While I'm at it, why don't I just establish an empire?"
When I said that, the Third Head laughed.
『Oh, I like that.』
The Fourth Head pushed up his glasses with his fingertip.
『It's not a bad option. Although we've brought Zain and Rolfis together, resistance would emerge if we were to crush them. But we can't leave them alone either.』
The Fifth Head seemed uninterested. However, he slightly denied my judgment.
『Why do something so troublesome? Liel, you really have a selfless personality.』
The Seventh Head looked happy.
『I see, my grandson is an emperor... not bad. To think the time would come for the Walt family to move toward continental conquest.』
I looked up at the ceiling. Then, Mireia-san spoke to me.
『Liel, that decision isn't a joke, is it?』
I turned my face toward Mireia-san and nodded. Then, I told her that this feeling was real.
"I can't let someone else do this kind of work. I can't leave it to someone who says they want to do it for fun, either. Continental conquest is an exaggeration, but I'll show them that I can bring Vanseim and its surrounding countries together. After all, I am a member of the Walt family too. I'd like a feat that doesn't lose to the successive heads of the family, even if just a little."
When I joked, Mireia-san chuckled. However, she also looked a little sad.
『That path is steep. You can't go back anymore, is that alright?』
"I don't mind."
『I see. Then, we must support you with all our might.』