Chapter 17

“Lady Bluen!? What brings you here?” A middle-aged woman asked, surprised to see the owner of the mansion entering with a baby girl in her arms.

“I was just showing these girls the kitchen. ‽No problems, right?“ the prophetess asked calmly.

The kitchen in Bluen's mansion was nothing short of extravagant, even compared to a five-star hotel (not that Amael had ever lived in one; he'd just seen it online). There were silverware, plates made of fine ceramics, and many elegant and beautiful shelves and tables, along with a magical oven charged with various enchantments that made cooking as efficient as it was in modern-day Earth.

The chef and her kitchen assistants were dressed in dignified and beautiful attire, with well-bred manners and gestures that would leave no one doubting they should be serving nobles of the highest class. Although confused and nervous by their mistress's presence in the kitchen, and especially intrigued by the girls' presence, they were reassured by Arisella's brief explanation of the matter.

Of course, they wouldn't stop him from entering or anything like that.

“Are all the servants in the mansion women…?”

Natha was a little confused as she looked at them, involuntarily wondering out loud.

“That’s right. Why?”

“Oh… It’s nothing, Lady Bluen. My sister had read to me in several books where the houses of influential nobles or wealthy merchants had both men and women serving their masters. That’s why I was confused to see nothing but women here…”

When you say it like that...I'd like to know too!

“Hmmm… that’s just the way it is, don’t give it too much thought,” Arisella replied with all the nonchalance she could muster in her tone, as she watched the blonde chef in her forties politely showing Emma what she was cooking.

It was a delicious Dorian chicken stew containing Naaki, Manpa, and onions as the main ingredients, along with the chicken itself. It smelled delicious as the smoke rose from the oya, and Natha seemed eager to try it.

“I-I see.”

Natha replied, clasping her hands together, glancing sideways at the stew being finished. It was obvious she was interested in what was there.

“Want to try, little one?” the chef asked affably, her kind gaze accentuated by her slight wrinkles, making her look like a generous middle-aged woman.

“S-s-s-s!”

“Then. I’ll get you a plate.” The chef quickly went to pick up a porcelain plate for the adorable little redhead and brought out some stew with a Dorian chicken leg that looked beautiful and delicious.

The four girls stared hungrily at the stew. The chef smiled kindly and ordered other dishes for her mistress and her guests, including Amelía.

It would be a good dinner.

♦♦♦♦

As Arisella continued her tour in Bluen's mansion with joy, hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the Cesna Mountain Range, outside the Great Wall, the sound of battle echoed throughout various parts of the Great Forest of Darkness.

A group of knights were fighting a host of creatures that were a nightmare for the average human. Leading the charge was a pile of thick bones with deteriorating armor and rusty swords.

¡Guyaaaaarrr!

Behind them, a 7-meter-tall giant with rotten skin and flesh, clad in thick crimson armor and wielding a massive axe, roared strangely with its rotten bull head as it followed them like a general. The creature, a Zombie Minotaur, let out a gibberish-filled scream as it pointed its axe at the knights.

In Gyarguyartán!

In response to your unintelligible nonsense...

“Surround him! Aim for his demonic core!”

“Give potions to the wounded to help them recover! Clerics, use {Exorcism} quickly!!

“Attract the Zombie Minotaur’s attention! Don’t let him cooperate with the Skeleton Orcs!”

As the group of knights in full black armor let out a loud voice, they attacked the Skeleton Orcs with powerful Aura-based skills. The movement of their spears and swords was filled with overwhelming power, ultimately killing a large number of them.

<May the divine light of Apollo flow upon us, his servants, to cleanse this land of evil in your name, causing life on this land to grow in prosperity under the blessing of the sun>

Behind the shield-wielding knights were a group of people dressed in robes and clerical garments bearing the symbol of the sun, chanting in an ancient language, conjuring spheres of dazzling light, filled with the purest sacred power of Apollo, the Sun God, and hurling them at the Orc Skeletons.

This caused the enormous monsters made of pure bone and pieces of skin to visibly weaken as their miasma disappeared the moment they touched the light, and they became mere clumps of bones when they received the final blow from the knights, scattering into what looked like ashes.

However, no one let their guard down here. Because the most formidable enemy still remained.

"Guu, his attack is too strong."

"Anyone who has the strength, go help! It won't be possible to suppress it if the number of permanent combatants decreases even further!"

"Damn, that shield strengthens the power of a Minotaur's [Toughness]!?"

Half-desperate voices echoed through the forest. Although there were dozens of knights with extensive fighting ability and carefully selected to defend the northern cardinal fortress, they hadn't caused any damage that could be considered a fatal blow.

They were all elite knights of the Aswort Duchy, members of the Black Lion Knightly Order; an order famous for having average knights at rank 3 in their professions. Even a King-Class demonic monster would sooner or later fall to the combined might of the Black Lion Knights, but they couldn't finish off their enemy no matter what they did.

Normally, the battle should have ended long ago, but the King-class Minotaur had armor that repelled the vigorous attacks of the group of knights. Many of the knights were injured from the damage sustained from the counterattacks.

The captain who led the knights into battle, Julius, also couldn't decide whether they should attack the Zombie Minotaur, who had unexpected equipment and abilities.

He possessed abnormal strength even among his kind of Undead, incredible axe-wielding ability, and armor that nullified magic, aura arts, and even holy power—the greatest weakness of any evil spirit. Even when the Zombie Minotaur was surrounded, attacking it unskillfully resulted in injury and increased the risk of becoming impatient.

The way things are going, this isn't going anywhere. If that armor didn't exist, at least something could be done somehow... but this happened, so we might have to use the mana cannons to kill it. However, it's a waste to use something so expensive on just one Minotaur...

Mana cannons were extremely powerful magical artifacts, but considering their power, the expenditure of magical energy to sustain them was significant enough to be called extravagant.

They needed a lot of high-quality spirit cores to power just one of them, and it was extremely expensive to buy those things. Even for the Aswort, who were flush with cash, spending so much money on a single monster could only be called stupid.

No matter how strong the Zombie Minotaur was, it wasn't a dragon, so it would be a waste to spend literally mountains of gold on just one. It was better to defeat it with his own strength, that's what he concluded.

Since the battle began, Julius had contemplated it countless times, searching for the key to victory. The artifact that transformed the Zombie Minotaur into a formidable foe had a high defensive capacity and magic resistance, capable of even protecting him from the power of the gods.

Not only that, the Zombie Minotaur's movement hadn't become slower at all, but was even faster than some knights in both attacking and reacting, so the crimson armor should have enchantments that decreased its weight while strengthening its wearer's body and reaction speed.

He couldn't help but click his tongue; it was as if he were using some kind of epic-class artifact in this battle. However, that didn't mean the enemy hadn't been harmed.

Julius and the rest of the Black Lion Knights had their pride and had gained experience through numerous battles, so they had powerful skills engraved in their souls and techniques that they had perfected over time.

Using all their strength, they slowly managed to cause some damage to the Zombie Minotaur. As they determined the conditions of their comrades and enemies, they would eventually find the path to victory.

However, after observing the situation, Julius was preparing to call for a retreat to the cardinal fortress at any moment when a silver flash suddenly appeared before the knights' sight.

As the flash ran straight towards the Zombie Minotaur without stopping for a moment, it stopped next to him.

Time seemed to stand still.

The battlefield that should have been filled with clamor was filled with silence in an instant.

The true nature of the flash was the silver hair that shone when the moonlight hit it. Because the hair's owner ran too fast, it was seen only as a flash before the black knights' eyes.

Although the knights were slow and full of openings, no one felt any danger from it. It was because they knew that the silver-haired man had never failed to deliver a decisive blow until now.

That was the one they feared and respected more than anyone else… The one who became known as Silberner Schnitter on the battlefield.

Short shoulder-length hair that shone like silver, piercing eyes with beautiful irises that evoked the allure of gold, as well as northern and southern features that blended exquisitely to create a work of art in human form.

The man seemed to be the embodiment of beauty itself, similar to the legendary Adonis, leaving those who looked at him in awe.

He wore an elaborate dark blue cloak, adorned with gold embroidery and the design of a black shield; at its center was a mighty warrior pointing a spear toward the sky.

The decoration around the neck seemed a bit excessive, but oddly enough it was quite appropriate for this man, whose appearance was dazzling.

She had gleaming jet-black armor covering most of her body, with golden engravings and blue jewels accentuating her beauty; resembling some sort of decorative and elegant armor rather than viable protective gear, though that was far from the case.

That man was Duke Astrian, the youngest ruler in the history of the entire North.

With a sword in hand, he slashed at the monster in front of him without a word of expression, easily breaking one of its armored arms, which had caused the knights so much trouble. On the armor, the faint lines of light indicating various enchantments vanished as its delicate structure suffered intolerable damage.

¿Gyuuuurr?

The Zombie Minotaur looked confused at the lack of his arm, his rotten brain seemed unable to process what had happened, not noticing at all that he was now weaker than before.

Without giving him time to react, the Duke put force into his feet, destroying the ground, and at an absurd speed appeared before the eyes of the gigantic and grotesque living corpse, performing a vertical cut full of divine power.

A blue beam of mystical energy extended from the blade of his holy sword toward the undead beast, severing half of its head in a single blow. The monster staggered, its arms flailing uselessly, and it finally fell to the ground, soon scattering into ash.

It was clear that the demonic core had been completely destroyed by that attack, otherwise it would have continued fighting. Julius watched the scene in amazement.

Although he knew that the weakness of such magical defense-focused armor was most likely an attack of pure physical power, none of them possessed the physical strength necessary to perform the feat.

All practitioners rely heavily on energy attacks to destroy enemies from other dimensions, and he didn't know anyone who possessed the strength to perform physical feats on a superhuman level without mana or Qi.

But Duke Astrian hadn't used any of that to cut through the Zombie Minotaur's armor; Julius didn't sense the Qi fluctuation or mana flow in Astrian's body in the slightest, and the sacred power of the gods didn't grant such physical powers even if they came from Ares, the patron god of warriors.

Over the past three months, he had been fortunate enough to see the Duke take to the battlefield whenever the situation became problematic from his perspective; displaying unparalleled strength worthy of the family so favored by the God of War. However, it was the first time an Aswort had been seen capable of demonstrating such a feat of physical power within the body of a human.

How is this possible?

It was nothing short of absurd. Many of the nearby Black Knights would agree.

What he and others in the Empire, including the Imperial family, didn't know was that the Aswort were descendants of Ares, not his protégés. Naturally, their physiques would be different from those of ordinary humans.

Aside from Aswort themselves, only Arisella Bluen knew this due to being the reincarnation of the Author of this world.

Not knowing or caring about the thoughts of his black knights in the face of his powerful divine force, Astrian clicked his tongue as he watched with cold eyes as the ashes of the insignificant undead he had casually killed scattered.

"Damn, filthy undead, causing nothing but trouble."

The Duke was understandably frustrated by the situation.

It was just a few months ago that he was in his palace with his adorable children, looking at a hidden portrait of his beloved wife, when he suddenly received reports that the northern cardinal fortress was now being invaded by undead demons instead of the usual monsters, so he had no choice but to come here to see what was going on.

And during the time he joined his knights to understand the situation, there was nothing but undead attacking left and right, mostly small fries that were “weak” demons turned into zombies and skeletons.

This was an extremely bad situation they had on their hands if the North was invaded by nothing but the undead from now on.

Why?

Because the inhabitants of the cold lands behind the Great Wall who were meant to protect themselves from these creatures, ironically, depend on the same demonic beasts to survive, that's why!

♦♦♦♦

The northern lands of the Terran Empire were widely known by all Terrians as inhospitable to human habitation. There were tundras, deserts, and frozen rivers, mines filled with harmful materials, and a multitude of large mountains of no value beyond aesthetics.

Forests were so scarce that they were considered sacred grounds, and the land was largely arid, with very few places where farming was barely possible, even with the power of professionals. These belonged to the nobility, and were also places where towns often formed.

There was a reason why the North was like this; a supernatural one.

Ether.

A mineraloid that emerged after 'Ragnarok', born from the chaotic energies of the clash of dimensions.

Aetherium grows and metastasizes naturally in nature, absorbing energy from the environment and can even assimilate with organic matter if given the opportunity, with one notable exception being plant matter.

Everywhere in this world, there will be some level of Aetherium contamination. Whether it's in the Great Forest of Darkness, the non-human Empires and Kingdoms outside the Great Wall, or within the Great Wall itself, Aetherium is always present somewhere, even if you can't see it.

However, not all Aetherium is created equal; they come in different forms with different properties. Some of these affect the environment in different ways and are more deadly.

Throughout much of the north, hundreds of locations, both above and below ground, can be found filled with a blood-red Aetherium called the Cocytus Pearl. This form of Aetherium is capable of absorbing fire elemental energy from the environment, contributing to the cold present throughout this land.

It was also quite explosive and could explode with the slightest carelessness, scattering 'red dust' over its victims and turning them into ice statues; with more red Aetherium growing inside them.

It was a great danger to human life, but even those extremely dangerous things have their value if you know how to use them.

Although it was dangerous and required many days of effort, the powerful mages of the Mages' Association were able to convert Aetherium into a useful source of magical energy to power the Empire's technology for months, unlike Spirit Cores. This, coupled with the fact that the Cocytus Pearl must be prevented from spreading uncontrollably, has made Aetherium mining quite common in the north.

Still, the nobles didn't get everything they wanted from it, as careless Aetherium extraction could cause a "red dust" pandemic throughout the north, requiring enormous precautions. Naturally, it was difficult to meet the demand given the myriad of protocols required for Cocytus Pearl extraction.

And of course, without huge profits through Aetherium, it would be difficult for the North to survive.

This is because to survive the winter, all northern cities, towns, and villages needed magical artifacts that could keep their entire population warm, as well as keep each settlement's food supplies well-preserved.

And creating or purchasing the necessary magical energy sources, as well as maintaining the technology itself, requires an inexhaustible amount of money.

As simple as that.

Without money, they would sooner or later freeze to death; they can't even migrate to survive because the forces of other Duchies wouldn't allow it. And if they try to mine Cocytus Pearls indiscriminately and carelessly while trying to earn more money, countless people could freeze to death anyway.

And in a more 'spectacular' way too...

If the North couldn't rely entirely on Aetherium mining and refining to survive the harsh winters, how have they survived until now?

They went for the demonic beasts… Specifically, the raw material extracted from their bodies that prevented the northerners from dying.

Unlike magical beasts, demonic beasts from hell don't have just a core as the only thing that makes them supernatural. Their entire bodies are excellent magical materials that can be sold for a large sum of money.

 

Whether it was blood, skin, bones, or even brain matter, depending on their quality, they were materials that could be used in the making of magical artifacts along with certain metals like silver.

 

For generations, the Duchy of Aswort has been able to sustain the north by selling not only Cocytus Pearls, but also the body parts of every demonic beast its knights slew. All of its wealth came primarily from the latter, and many northern nobles could only live in luxury by acting as suppliers of these raw materials on behalf of Aswort.

 

So... What happens when you replace those profitable demonic beasts that the northern nobles treat like walking bags of gold with disgusting walking corpses that scatter completely into ash after their death?

 

Well, needless to say, it would be chaos if this continued much longer. At least, Astrian was certain that annihilation would befall them in the future.

 

Without demonic beasts, they only had Aetherium left to sell, and they can't sell too much Aetherium without causing a "plague" that would freeze everyone in the process. And in the end, without money to maintain the magical artifacts that kept each settlement's population warm and fed... they were screwed.

 

There was no doubt about that.

 

And he knew that the other duchies and the imperial family would not help them with that without anything in return.

 

It was a situation where everyone would watch them die coldly since it didn't affect them at all. After all, without demonic beasts, what value would there be in keeping the Northern Duchy alive? They might as well take advantage of the situation to seize the sites filled with Cocytus Pearls.