I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

126. Where light does not reach

After hearing Morian’s words, he led the knights down to the basement.

The Kingdom of Hermod has the most stable prices and the least threat from monsters among existing countries.

But for Karkal, who had lived half his life protecting the kingdom of Hermod, that there were not only refugees but also people who had been kicked out from above and living underground, it was unbelievable.

I was worried that it might be spies from another country, or demons disguised as humans.

However, whether to call this fortunate or unfortunate, when Karkal led the knights under his command down to the underground in search of something, something unbelievable came true.

“Chief, the number of residents here right now is approximately 500. Probably, if you include the numbers outside the cave, it will easily be more than twice that number…”

“…When on earth did a place like this come into existence in the Kingdom of Hermod?”

“It must have been quite a while ago. “It looks like he has been living here for at least two years.”

“Damn it! “Why, when I vacated the capital!”

Karkal hit the basement wall and bit his lip.

At that time, he was away to pursue the former warrior Arcel, now called a witch.

Of course, he sometimes entrusted the chase to other knights when necessary, but most of the chases took place under Karkal’s command.

Her swordsmanship teacher was also Karkal, and the reason is that she was able to understand tactics well after being on the battlefield for a long time.

“So why are there so many residents here? It looks like there are a few people running stores on the ground, but why on earth are they here?”

“…I think it’s because of taxes.”

“Tax?”

“Yes, after investigating, it appears that they were robbed of their homes and even their citizenship cards due to high taxes.”

“Does that make sense now! Not only did the Queen spare no effort in providing food to her people, but I also caught those damn pig-like nobles from tax evasion to fill the shortfall in the treasury! The queen released it back to the people! “But it’s because of taxes?!”

Karkal was so angry that she seemed unable to accept the reality of the situation.

That is also natural.

Above all, the reason why Karkal was loyal to Hermod was because the queen did not ignore the nobles who always only looked after their own interests and thoroughly dug into the corruption and sins of her people.

In the past, in the war against demons, nobles only watched each other’s thoughts and did not hesitate to commit all kinds of inhumane acts to save even a penny.

Even though soldiers die fighting against demons to protect those nobles.

Still, the situation seemed to have improved greatly as all those nobles were rounded up and beaten up after the war.

But they were kicked out because they couldn’t pay taxes?

From Karkal’s perspective, this is something that is completely unbelievable.

“…It is said that the tax itself was not difficult to pay. The problem is that we also have to pay taxes for the families of those who died or went missing in the war. “It is said that he even made unborn fetuses and neighbors’ shares for me.”

The article’s report is not over.

It is said that even though they were not old enough to be conscripted, they tried to force them and if they refused, they were fined a huge fine.

“…Who on earth committed such an unreasonable act? “I can kill those guys right now-“

His subordinate shook his head and stopped Karkal, who had drawn his sword.

It seems that Karkal is in a position where he cannot be punished or do anything about it, even with his own power.

It wasn’t difficult for him to guess who it was.

“Oh my God…”

Karkal leaned back against the wall, frowning.

It seems that a lot of really terrible things happened while he was away in Hermod.

In fact, I was only seeing bright lights and not shadows, so I never even thought that there would be a dark part of Hermod like this underground area.

“…Take them out first, I think I’ll go crazy if I stay in a place like this. And so that they can settle down in the outer villages as much as possible-“

Kugugugugu-!

Perhaps it was because the ground sighed and suddenly began to shake as if an earthquake had occurred.

To suddenly experience an earthquake in an underground cave-like environment was truly the worst situation.

“Captain! “The entrance we came in has collapsed!”

“Damn it, first take the residents to a wide area and avoid them! If I remember correctly, there’s probably an exit to the outside! Run there with the residents!”

Anyway, what is this all of a sudden?

There has never been an earthquake in Hermod’s capital, let alone anywhere else.

Even in the distant past, Hermod’s capital did not even allow monsters, let alone demons, to invade, and the only one who openly invaded the capital was recently Satan.

‘This is like adding insult to injury.’

Karkal hoped that this earthquake would not be a big deal.

†††

Even as Arcel slowly destroyed her magic stones one by one, the Queen’s expression did not change at all.

She can’t move with a sword stuck in her chest, but she only shows her bright appearance by humming a song.

“What’s so fun? The plan you have been preparing is coming to an end. And once this is over, the world will be informed of what the Kingdom of Hermod has done so far. But are you still that relaxed?”

Eventually, Arcel could no longer bear it and glared at her queen again.

Whether it is or not, the queen even sings quietly.

“Tsk!”

I wondered if he was reciting a magic spell, but seeing as there was no flow of magic around him, it wasn’t like that, so it was frustrating.

Is it really like that without any special meaning?

Arcel has no choice but to destroy the magic stone again.

After infusing his magic into the magic stone and making it fluctuate, he uses that power to destroy the magic stone and follows Little Alfred’s words.

When the magic stone is destroyed, some of the magic power flows to the red magic stone, and the remaining magic power returns to Arcel.

Thanks to this, I was able to recover the magic power that I had not recovered until now.

It seems there was a reason why little Alfred wanted to destroy the magic stone.

Even though it is temporary, the more magical power the better.

Anyway, having enough is better than not having enough.

‘Anyway, what difference does destroying these blue magic stones make?’

Rather than that, I was curious as to why Little Alfred told me to destroy the blue magic stones instead of the red magic stones.

‘The magic power from the magic stone is absorbed by me and that red magic stone. I’m just recovering my strength. But I don’t know what effect that red magic stone has.’

A magic stone that is as red as blood.

I even imagined the absurd idea of the Demon King’s corpse being resurrected, but that was just a part of the wreckage.

No matter how much magical energy is poured into it, resurrection is impossible.

‘I don’t have the right information. Therefore, we have no choice but to follow the path shown.’

Arsel took a few deep breaths and then looked away.

Her gaze was not directed at her magic stone, but at the queen humming with a sword stuck in her chest.

“Go to sleep, my baby, don’t sleep at the end of dawn.”

I wondered what song they were singing, and it turned out to be one of the lullabies handed down from ancient times.

A song for children who are scared and can’t sleep when the night is dark.

“If you don’t, a bad monster will come and bite the back of your neck.”

That was definitely the case… But the lyrics sung by the Queen felt completely opposite to that.

It seems like it doesn’t want the child to sleep normally, but rather to sleep forever.

Arcel put aside her instinctive disgust and approached the queen.

“Why aren’t we doing anything?”

“…Doing nothing? “I am singing like this.”

“Are you trying to joke with me now?”

“Unfortunately, children who have not yet been able to breathe are sleeping forever, right? “As a parent, I can express that level of regret.”

The Queen naturally criticized Arcel for her actions.

She says that the children in the magic stone are just children who do not know anything, and Arcel is killing all the children who have never even opened their eyes.

“I have had a lot of blood on these hands, regardless of race or age. “It would be best not to think that you will regret saying that now.”

Arcel opened her eyes and glared at the queen.

Those eyes, with their blue glow, would normally take your breath away just by looking at them.

“You are heartless. “All of those children are like descendants of warriors.”

“If necessary, I can kill myself.”

Nevertheless, the queen was still smiling benevolently, and Arcel wondered if this queen was really the princess she had known in the past.

‘It definitely wasn’t like this in the past.’

At that time, I was just an ordinary girl.

He liked to come out to the city secretly from the knights and take in the sights of Hermod, and even though he was a royal, he enjoyed the food eaten by commoners and even quietly extended a hand to the less fortunate.

Of course, they were due to the young girl’s innocence and untainted sympathy…

When her father, King Hermod, died, she held the coffin in mourning for several days, and eventually was kidnapped when her location was discovered by Alfred.

How did such a princess end up like this?

Could it be that something happened to the princess that she didn’t know about?

Maybe so.

After Arcel rescued her princess, the Demon King’s army began to advance in earnest, so she abandoned her journey and continued to spend the night at the front line.

“What is the identity of that red magic stone? Is it really just a function of supplying magic power to Morian? If that’s the case, why are you just watching?”

If something unfortunate had happened to the queen that had to change like that, she would be sorry, but in any case, in the end, nothing changes and it is all a result of her own choices.

Right now, getting information right away was the priority.

It’s not that I don’t believe what little Alfred says, but if I wanted to go down that path, I had to at least know what was waiting in front of me.

“It’s just a simple magic stone as it looks. And as you can see, I’m not in a situation where I can really resist. “You can’t use even the most trivial magic because of the holy sword stuck in your chest?”

It’s not a lie.

In the first place, the holy sword was inserted into the chest so that no manipulation could be done.

However, even considering that, the queen was so quiet that it only made her more nervous.

And she didn’t just lie, she didn’t tell the whole truth like the queen did.

“…Tell me what you made with that.”

“I already told you everything I planned. “If you want me to make it up, I’ll tell you more.”

Arcel drew her holy sword and cut her queen’s tendons at her wrists and ankles.

If she were to regenerate like Alfred, it would be a meaningless act, but even though she was not a queen, she seemed unable to regenerate.

With just electrons, we can no longer be considered human, but finding out that now is of low priority.

“You damn bastard-“

Jeok-!

‘This sound.’

At that time, I heard something that I shouldn’t have heard.

Arsel urgently looked back.

That was definitely the sound of a crack in a magic stone.

I wondered if the red magic stone in the center might explode, but fortunately, the cracked side was not the red magic stone, but the blue magic stone containing the children.

The problem is that not just one cracked, but all the remaining magic stones.

‘What happened? ‘Why are those magic stones doing that?’

It was just embarrassing for Arcel to suddenly do that even though he didn’t particularly use magical powers.

“…If even one magic stone is destroyed, it is already beyond my control.”

The Queen smiled and shook her head.

“What do you mean, what do you know!”

The moment Arcel got angry because he thought he was plotting something else.

Boom!

“Ugh…!”

The magic stones were destroyed at the same time, causing a big explosion.

Fortunately, the red magic stone was fine and everything on the ground was not blown away, but even the relatively weak blue magic stone was destroyed in one go, so its power was considerable.

“This bastard, of course, has modified something…”

Arcel, who thought that the queen was the cause of the unexpected explosion, immediately tried to interrogate her.

“…”

But she soon quit.

Arcel closed her eyes for a moment because of the explosion, and by the time she opened them, her queen’s head was no longer on her neck.

It seemed like the magic stone exploded and debris flew out, blowing the queen’s head off with it.

Although the queen did not die even when her heart was pierced, her head was destroyed, leaving her body hanging limp and helpless.

‘Damn, is there really no choice but to overload that magic stone somehow?’

In the end, Arcel headed to the red magic stone again.

I cannot guarantee that she has succeeded in overloading yet.

Honestly, it is close to impossible to perfectly learn how to use magic stones in just a few hours.

If you make even the slightest mistake, the red magic stone will not only overload but will explode like a blue magic stone.

The power at that time does not end with simply blowing away Hermod and evaporating the nearby land.

If that magic stone exploded, it would be the end of the world.

‘I have no other options now. I have no choice but to do something.’

Arcel took a deep breath and reached for her red magic stone.

Quaaang-!!!

“What?!”

However, before she could reach her hand, a loud roar was heard, and for a moment, Arcel wondered if her magic stone had exploded as soon as she reached out her hand, and it almost took her breath away.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

If you don’t stop breathing and almost stop, it probably means that the magic stone didn’t explode.

‘What on earth is that sound just now?’

Furthermore, a loud noise was heard from behind.

Arsel looked back, wondering what else this time.

What was there?

“Uh, were you here? “Seeing that you’re safe, I guess you haven’t blown away the magic stone yet?”

“…Alfred?”

It was Alfred, waving his hand with his head stuck vertically against the wall.

I’m not sure what happened, but I’m sure it was stuck underground for some reason.