Chapter 76: I’m not getting paid to handle a talking corpse!
The bread factory warehouse sat right in the middle of the forest, though close enough that an ordinary person on foot could reach it in about fifteen minutes.
The city of Clathria was a fairly large fortress city. Ringed by walls encircling its interior, and protected by an artifact capable of generating a barrier to hold off any monsters that might come attacking.
Built under the rule of Duke Everhart Clathria, the city had grown into a genuinely thriving trade and waypoint hub, nestled right between the dense forest and human settlements.
Duke Everhart was still fairly young, but compared to most regional leaders these days, he was one of the rare few who’d earned genuine approval from his people for his leadership.
Then, in the middle of that peaceful afternoon, Duke Everhart, a man still under thirty years old, was startled by a soldier who burst into his office in a rush.
"Lord Duke! This is urgent!"
Duke Everhart looked startled, his brow furrowing as he pressed his fingers to his temples, set his pen down on the desk, and looked at the soldier.
"Speak."
Barging in like that was rude, but seeing the soldier so rushed, it was safe to assume something urgent had happened.
"A demon has appeared in the west!"
"A demon?"
"Yes, Lord Duke, it’s a tree-shaped demon. Its size is enormous, and the stigmata users are saying the demon is at the Luminous tier!"
The appearance of a demon was an incredibly rare occurrence. But as one of the few high-ranking officials granted access to the inner circle, Duke Everhart could grasp the situation clearly enough.
He’d known something would happen the moment Bell Fleis, a stigmata user personally trained under a Tower Keeper, had arrived here.
Especially recalling how Bell Fleis’s name always came up within that inner circle.
’The hunting dog that tracks down Black Genesis.’
His conclusion was clear—this incident had to be connected to Black Genesis. Believe it or not, with his knowledge and instincts sharpened through firsthand experience, Duke Everhart could tell this could end in disaster if not handled properly.
"What’s the current situation?"
Duke Everhart stood up, moving from his desk and immediately heading out of his office. The soldier followed obediently behind him, explaining the current situation along the way:
"The travelers and local residents living in the western district have caused a panic that’s already spreading to the other districts, my lord. They’re also saying that, judging from the wall, the demon tree’s size seems to still be growing, though slowly."
The soldier drew a breath. They finally arrived at the hall of the mansion where Duke Everhart lived, revealing a group of trained soldiers already waiting, as though they’d already guessed what was coming next.
"Several stigmata users have been sent out to scout the situation. We’re still awaiting further reports. As for Bell Fleis, the disciple of the Tower Keeper of Agility, she hasn’t been spotted yet."
Duke Everhart mulled it over, his expression tight and silent as he looked over the gathered soldiers. Even though they weren’t stigmata users themselves, that didn’t mean they were weak, since the weapons they carried had been forged by those with support-type stigmata.
His gaze briefly drifted toward the mansion window. It was worth remembering that the presence of a demon could poison the very air, driving monsters into madness.
Which meant the peace he’d worked so hard to maintain was about to crack apart again, with a battle now waiting for them.
Duke Everhart drew a deep breath, let it out, then spoke:
"All of you, get ready."
All he could do now was hope the situation wouldn’t turn out too badly.
***
Back in the forest on the western side, amid the still, silent hush of the woods, Bell suddenly appeared in midair, along with three bodies, each dangling from the chain extending out of her wooden lantern staff.
Her face looked pale and exhausted, but even so, she just let out a small sigh and looked toward the demon tree. Their position was still fairly far off, but the giant tree was so massive that Bell could still see it clearly.
She then turned her gaze to the three burdens she was carrying. Including the woman, all three of them were completely unconscious.
The woman had been deliberately knocked out by Bell, while the hypnotized man remained trapped under that hypnosis, keeping him unconscious as well. Well, the actual problem right now was the handsome wanderer, his whole body riddled with wounds.
Leaves stuck to his body, blood spilling out nonstop, while he showed no sign of breathing at all.
Bell lowered him for a moment, then approached White Swan, her face scrunched with irritation.
"What the hell? He acts like some hero and just up and dies now?"
That was genuinely annoying. If he wanted to die, he should’ve died alone, without making it someone else’s problem.
Bell scoffed, and now she had extra work to deal with on top of everything else. She crouched down in front of White Swan for a moment, rubbing her face in frustration.
"Guess I need to bury—"
Her words cut off the instant White Swan’s eyes suddenly snapped open. That made Bell jolt in shock, her hand reflexively shooting up, slapping the man across the face, her whole body shaking violently.
Slap—!
"Gah?!"
The wanderer looked obviously stunned, but honestly, Bell, who genuinely believed she was the type never to be caught off guard by anything, had now been shocked to the point of being speechless, unable to even scream.
Her body simply trembled, like she’d been zapped by lightning, staring at White Swan in disbelief.
"....You! Even after dying, you still manage to make things a hassle for someone. Close! Close your eyes!"
White Swan, meaning Eiros, didn’t get the chance to do anything before Bell suddenly grabbed his face, forcing his eyes shut.
"H-hey?! What are you doing?!"
"W-wait...! Since when could corpses talk?! Damn it! What now? I’m not getting paid to handle a talking corpse!"
She looked utterly baffled, stepping back a few paces to put distance between them, having just discovered that Eiros was genuinely acting like he was still alive.
Well, that was exactly the case. The wounds on his body had already healed, letting the leaves stuck to him fall away on their own. Warm, fresh blood was still visible all over his skin, but Eiros didn’t care in the slightest, looking at Bell with a twitching smile.
"...I’m still alive, don’t treat me like I’m already dead."
Bell blinked.
"That’s impossible, you were clearly dead just a second ago."
But, still in his White Swan form, Eiros just shrugged and smiled, friendly and awkward at once.
"That’s part of my stigmata’s ability," Then he looked up at the sky, exhausted, and added:
"That doesn’t mean I’m immortal, okay? I don’t want to end up as bait."
Bell stared at him, mouth slightly agape for a moment, unsure what to even say, then she suddenly remembered what Eiros had done earlier and decided to bring it up.
"Fine, sure, whatever, but damn it, what were you even doing up there? I said we’d fall back, but you went and leapt around all over the place like some monkey! Aren’t you supposed to be a swan?"
A bitter smile crossed Eiros’s face. "Well, my name’s a swan, sure, but that doesn’t mean I actually am one, right?"
Seeing Bell’s sharpening glare directed at him, Eiros let out a small sigh and said:
"There’s a dark crystal up there, packed with Soul Essence. I’m pretty sure that’s the core."
"And you went up there hoping to try and destroy it?"
Eiros hesitated, but in the end, he nodded.
Bell looked at him like she was looking at someone deranged, someone worth pitying. She pinched the bridge of her nose and spoke, sounding utterly drained.
"Whatever! Handle your own business, but don’t drag me into it again."
Hearing that, Eiros just chuckled with amusement, then got to his feet, brushing off his dust-covered clothes. Yeah, that outfit was never going to be clean again unless he actually washed it.
The poison in his leg had also healed thanks to that death. Luckily, he had that strange regenerative trait of his—otherwise, Eiros was genuinely afraid he might’ve ended up crippled.
He watched Bell head toward the Black Genesis woman, then asked:
"So, what are you planning to do next?"
Bell didn’t bother looking back at him, simply lowering herself in front of the woman as she answered:
"Head back, file a report, then request backup. You don’t need to get involved anymore—someone like you clearly has no sense of self-preservation. Go to the city gate and help the soldiers defending the wall."
’Ah, right.’
Eiros realized it. From his academy lessons, he understood well enough what would happen because of that demon tree’s presence.
Honestly, he’d been a little uncertain earlier, but he genuinely hadn’t expected that thing to actually be connected to demons.
He’d never once considered it before, but now everything felt clear as he looked at the demon tree.
If corruption was some kind of uniquely rotten energy, capable of warping a person’s mind, then demonic energy was, essentially, Soul Essence itself—tainted, dark, and dense.
That was something Eiros had learned about, but never actually experienced firsthand. Feeling it today, though, made him realize just how striking that energy really was.
Then, going back to the tree—even though it carried the same corruption energy as Cray’s corruption, at the same time, that thing also seemed to hold an incredibly powerful demonic energy within it.
It felt like corruption born from the corruption seed, fused together with demonic energy.
Was this some kind of other experiment of theirs?
’This is genuinely insane. Do they even understand what they’re doing?’
Eiros drew a breath, and right then, he sensed a swarm of rampaging monsters, their killing intent aimed straight at them.
Of course it’d be like this.
***