Welcome to Hell!

Chapter 97: The Carnela Port Recapture Operation (4)

Our mission was to secure the riverbank on the occupied territory side until the bridge was built. Still, Karelvo was the one who hysterically yelled at us after we accomplished that. He walked briskly towards us, with his shoulders trembling, and started shouting at Marcellus, who was talking to an important figure from the imperial army at that moment. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Who dares to humiliate my work like this? Stop restraining them immediately!”

Marcellus glanced at me briefly and subtly nodded his chin, suggesting that he wanted me to release the sand bound demons. Reluctantly, I unwrapped the sand shells that contained the demons.

Most of the demons shook off the sand from their bodies and aggressively lunged at us with angry shouts. The imperial soldiers instinctively drew their weapons and prepared to defend against the demons. However, before their claws could reach us, the demons froze as if they were immobilized.

“What the hell, master!? These bastards played some tricks on us again! I’m gonna kill ’em for sure!”

“Shut up! Can’t you use your brain a little, you imbecile?”

“What the hell?! Don’t get cocky, you… huh?!”

Apparently, Karelvo had somehow rendered the crocodile demon immobile. Then, with a bitter expression on his face, he scolded his newly created demons. In response, the enraged crocodile demon attempted to insult Karelvo, but his mouth became motionless before he could form any words. It seems like he had been forbidden from speaking.

Karelvo directed a clear look of hatred towards us, or rather, towards me. However, being glared at by a weakling like Karelvo couldn’t instill fear in me. Keeping my expression unchanged, I watched as Karelvo gritted his back teeth in frustration.

“Greetings, our Spiritualist Guest, how have you been doing?”

.

“…It was nothing significant. I just came to retrieve my demons.”

“I see. I appreciate Sir Spiritualist Guest’s demons cooperation in holding the enemies back. Anyway, Mr. Orox, you and your subordinates did well. Return to the rear for now.”

“Yes, sir!… Let’s go.”

Karelvo, who was Internally seething with anger, concealed his composure in front of the important figure. The latter didn’t mention anything in particular and simply ordered Marcellus to step back.

Marcellus saluted before leading us back towards the rear by traveling across the bridge. I could still feel Karelvo’s gaze from behind. Oh, come to think of it, can he restrict my movements like he did with the crocodile demons earlier? If so, I could easily be assassinated if he does that during combat. I hope he refrains from doing so.

Several of us shared the same concern, and Tigar and Zald had somewhat anxious expressions. Decius, speaking in a barely audible voice that only we could hear, reassured us.

“The Guest Spirit Sorcerer has relinquished his authority over you when handing you over. It’s not just a verbal agreement; it’s a contract through the spiritual arts. Right now, the only one with authority over you is the vice-captain assigned to manage and deploy the demon unit. Regardless of who the creator is, he wouldn’t be able to command you.”

It seems that having multiple chains of command would be troublesome later, but it also means that Karelvo is unable to order us around. But still, it’s quite unfortunate… As always, they don’t seem to treat us as humans within the Imperial Army.

However, Marcellus seems to have no intention of enforcing anything upon us as long as we remain obedient. I’m truly relieved that he’s the one in charge of our deployment.

Feeling a sense of relief for the time being, I glanced back with my compound eyes to check on Mika’s condition. Though it may sound strange, both I and the atonement soldiers were once humans who were turned into demons by Orvo. So for me, it is no exaggeration to say that I have very little history or connection with Karelvo.

On the other hand, Mika had originally served under Orvo and Karelvo. Moreover, his master Orvo was killed, and he had been betrayed and turned into a demon by Karelvo. It’d be only natural for him to harbor resentment. I was concerned that he might do something foolish or rash.

“…?”

However, contrary to my expectations, there was no change in Mika’s expression. His facial expression and body movements remained the same as always. I thought that he might be suppressing his anger, but even when I heightened my hearing senses to listen for any changes in his heartbeat or breathing, everything seemed unchanged from usual.

It appeared that he truly wasn’t shaken at all. While I was surprised by that fact, we returned to Shuu and Apao’s wagon towards the rear of the marching column and resumed our advance.

“If it’s about Karelvo, you don’t have to worry. ‘That person’ is no longer my master or anything like that.”

Hmm, it seemed that he had noticed I was probing. I had been observing with my compound eyes at the back of my head and listening intently without using any fighting spirit or spiritual power. How did he figure it out?

“I’m very good at perceiving gazes. I don’t know how, but I could feel that my Lord was looking at me.”

It seemed that the cause of me being caught was simply the act of directing my gaze. I, too, am sensitive to curious, disdainful, and contemptuous gazes. That’s why I carefully directed my gaze… But it seemed my concealment techniques didn’t work with him.

His sharp senses were surely a result of his experience. While I taught combat techniques to our comrades, perhaps it would be better to learn such skills from Mika?

“If necessary, I can certainly teach you techniques to sharpen your senses, my Lord… However, I believe it is not necessary for my Lord to be capable of everything,”

Not necessary? Why was that? It was the first time since arriving here that I turned my gaze towards Mika. And then, Mika confidently expressed his opinion.

“My Lord is currently the strongest demon and is acknowledged by everyone as their leader. Therefore, it would be better for you to adopt the attitude of delegating tasks to your comrades, rather than doing everything yourself. We all want to be relied upon,”

Hmm, is that so? From the time I was born until I became a demon, I trained and fought only to survive, and to avoid death. For that reason, I eagerly absorbed any technique available. It was part of my pursuit to replicate the instinctive techniques of various battle beasts, as well as the martial arts of the old Holy Knight and Alexander.

However, now I had comrades who had braved the brink of death alongside me. While I didn’t consider myself worthy, it seemed they regarded me as their leader. For their sake, I felt the need to grow stronger, but I suppose Mika wanted to emphasize the importance of entrusting others when considering their well-being.

There were still many aspects of human emotions that I didn’t understand. But in this situation, I believed it was best to follow Mika’s advice. I nodded slowly. However, still…

“…”

“Do you find it strange that I can understand what you’re thinking? It’s thanks to the grace of the god I believe in. To support my master, who is my guiding light, I possess the ability to faintly perceive the thoughts of my master, guests, or even enemies. Well, I cannot consciously discern anything that you actively try to conceal,” Mika explained.

The grace of god… It was a term I possessed in my “knowledge”. It referred to the power bestowed by a highly revered deity upon their followers. What Mika possessed was a limited form of mind-reading. By discerning the desires of his master and guests, he could offer careful considerations, and by understanding the thoughts of enemies, he could better protect his master. It seemed like a power that could be useful in various ways.

Perhaps if I were bestowed with some form of grace from a deity, I too could become stronger. However, I knew nothing of any god’s teachings. Therefore, I lacked any sense of faith. I didn’t think it was right to believe in something solely for the sake of receiving grace… I should just quietly focus on training myself.

Despite the brief commotion, our march continued. The wheat fields on the other side of the river had been completely harvested, leaving the surroundings of the road as a barren wasteland. It was already spring, and the southern side of the river was covered in lush green weeds. Even if they had been growing wheat until recently, was it possible for nothing to be growing here?

“This… is terrible,”

“What’s wrong? What is terrible?”

One of Marcellus’ subordinates, who was riding a horse, inadvertently let out a comment. It seemed more like a muttered remark, but Decius, upon hearing it, inquired for an explanation. The imperial soldier scratched his cheek while replying.

“Sir Decius, you’re aware that my family doesn’t come from a particularly high rank, right?”

“Yes, I recall hearing that from your own mouth before. If I’m not mistaken, your grandfather received recognition for defeating a dangerous creature that had multiplied in great numbers, and as a result, permission was granted to elevate your family’s rank.”

“That’s correct. However, my grandfather was a peculiar man. Even after his rank was raised, he insisted on helping out with tending the nearby fields. He would say, ‘No matter how high my rank is, all I know is how to till the soil.’”

The soldier smiled wryly, saying it was a troublesome habit. Although he had a wry smile, his words didn’t carry a bitter undertone. He was indeed facing a dilemma, but the things he talked about didn’t seem to be an unpleasant memory.

“I too was taken to the fields when I was young, so I have some understanding of good and bad soil… But the soil here is truly terrible,”

“Terrible soil…? Meaning it’s unsuitable for agriculture? But it had long been known that this area had been deemed unsuitable for farming since it was under Imperial rule. Isn’t it a bit late to be concerned about it?” Decius asked

I had heard from Marcellus during our infiltration mission that this region was unsuitable for agriculture. I, like Decius, didn’t think it was something to worry about since it had always been unsuitable. However, the soldier slowly shook his head.

“It is terrible, but not in that way, you see. You know that crops grow with the power of the earth, sunlight, air, and water, right? But this soil has no remaining power at all. It’s completely exhausted,”

“I’m not well-versed in agriculture, but if crops grow with the power of the earth, it wouldn’t be strange for the soil to be exhausted, especially after harvest,” Decius said.

“Indeed, after the harvest is when the power of the earth is at its lowest. However, with normal crops, they shouldn’t deplete half of the earth’s power.”

“Less than half, huh.”

“Yes. That’s why you can plant crops again the following year in the same field. We replenish it with fertilizers and other methods and let it rest every few years… But even so, I’ve never seen soil this exhausted.”

In other words, the Republic’s army had managed to deplete the power of the earth that wouldn’t normally be exhausted in a span of several years in just one year. Could it be that the tall wheat that had concealed our presence was an incredibly unique plant? While walking together with Mika, who seemed to have overheard the conversation as well, I gazed at the harvested wheat, lost in thought.