I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Chapter 44 : Trap (6)

Trap (6)

The Seifert domain was, to Louis, nothing short of a second home.

It wasn't simply because it was the first place he opened his eyes to in this world, but because it was a place that cared for him with genuine devotion.

The lord and his wife were endlessly compassionate.

Influenced by them, the villagers were mostly good-natured—an almost picturesque, peaceful place.

'Well, it is literally a world inside a fictional work.'

Having enjoyed the main game countless times, Louis knew why that domain was so kind.

After all, as the player characters' hometown, its environment simply couldn't be a mess.

With information already ingrained in his mind, Louis understood it quickly.

So should he treat these people as NPCs, since this was the game world?

'No.'

Louis realized that this place was reality, as his body could be wounded and he could feel pain.

There was no way such a world could be a virtual one made from data.

The emotions of the people here were real. It was a place where everyone lived with all of life's joys and sorrows.

Naturally, the villagers' feelings weren't fake either.

The love of the parents who raised Louis wholeheartedly for twelve years was just as genuine.

Then, what about those who burned the Seifert domain and killed Louis's parents?

If the villagers were real, weren't they, too, real?

'Then they deserve a real punishment to match.'

Louis possessed information about this world's setting.

It was a world where, unless you sacrificed the few for the sake of the many, you couldn't survive. Living kindly was akin to being a pushover.

But Louis wondered,

Did such people truly deserve to be so horribly sacrificed?

A place that was originally just the tutorial hub—a place that gave Louis twelve years of memories—was it truly right for it to fall into ruin like that?

'It's obviously unjust.'

Therefore, Louis had no intention of letting the Bisted family be.

If they were real people, not fakes, then they should be prepared to face the same outcome.

"Don't answer half-heartedly—answer properly. Everything the Bisted family is hiding."

"I could never... Aaargh!!"

Hearing an unsatisfactory answer, Louis bent Alpher's finger.

Alpher's scream filled the training hall as pain surged through him.

"I once went outside and dropped by a place called Dexter domain, you know? There, some demon bastard and demon worshippers were conducting a strange experiment."

That demon was coercing the Dexter lord into making a magitech device.

The device that Bisted was planning to showcase at Zodiac, that demon was manufacturing it using an unsavory method, sacrificing humans in the process.

"When I looked into it, I found out that demon was connected to your Bisted lot."

"...."

The moment that incident occurred, Alber, the family head, banished Rejir to the 7th Legion without a word.

It might have looked as though he was punishing his own son to restore the family's honor, but what if he actually did it to cover up their own filth?

"Besides that demon, I bet there are other dirty secrets, right?"

"...."

"Tell me honestly what you're hiding."

The Bisted family was clearly a rotten household.

They had framed an innocent domain as criminals, set it aflame, and colluded with demons behind the scenes.

If anyone might know the truth, it would be these three from Bisted's intelligence squad.

"We're... bound by loyalty to Bisted..."

"To show disgrace to the previous family head, who raised us... We can't do it..."

"We absolutely can't speak..."

Having received thorough training in their own way, they were extremely tight-lipped.

Hearing this, Louis let out a snort.

"How isn't it disgraceful to frame a decent family for crimes they didn't commit?"

"...."

When the three failed to reply, Louis pointed to the bones behind him.

"Guys, there's not much left now."

Only a third of the Gigant Vulture's bones remained. With just the head left, the three paled.

"When did it get like that...?"

The higher-rank monster's bones had decreased in a blink.

They needed at least half of it to recover the Bisted family's prestige.

But it was anyone's guess if they could salvage even a third of the remains.

At minimum, they had to take that much.

"Because you keep giving half-hearted answers, valuable resources are disappearing."

What Louis demanded was all the information Bisted was hiding.

They had tried to keep their mouths shut and now had to watch the resource dwindle.

Broken hand bones were just a bonus.

"If you won't talk, guess there's no other way."

Louis started gnawing on another bone. The more they watched, the more absurd it seemed.

He was devouring the body of a monster—a thing that would kill ordinary people as easily as candy.

Accordingly, Louis could completely wipe away resources Bisted needed, leaving not a trace.

"Might as well eat it all."

If the Gigant Vulture's bones vanished, Bisted would fall into total decline; but if they confessed their secrets, they'd face crisis.

No matter which option they chose, only the worst outcome awaited—a classic damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.

Within the three of them surged the emotion called "injustice," a feeling they'd forgotten their whole lives.

"We truly are sorry!! We have committed a grave sin!!"

Alpher, the first to recognize that emotion, bowed his head and shouted.

"The ones who made the Seifert domain burn... it was our fault!"

"So... please, just this once...."

Tyr and Haif did the same, prostrating in repentance, but it changed nothing.

"Will your groveling bring back the villagers and my parents who burned to death?"

The three despaired at those words.

Whatever they said didn't get through—and they couldn't overpower him with force, either.

It felt as if they were facing a being that defied the logic of the world.

Tears streamed down their faces.

Faced with an unknown existence, the only thing left was to plead.

"Now you're finally getting it."

Noticing how fear filled them, Louis grinned and pulled out a bottle.

Wrenching open each of their throats, he forced them to swallow the drug inside.

"Gasp...!"

The moment it entered their stomachs, their heads felt wrong.

Everything around them became terrifying, and they trembled uncontrollably.

Especially when they looked at Louis—their faces went ashen.

"As expected, it works well."

What Louis had fed them was the same fear drug he'd once used on Kelton, an officer.

It instantly amplified their fear of the target, turning them into lifelong slaves.

'Glad the rewards paid off this time.'

Louis was now indispensable to the stampede response.

If Louis requested something, even a commander had no choice but to comply.

Obtaining a drug like this was now a piece of cake for Louis.

"So, guys. Are you ready to answer me now?"

The whole reason Louis had tormented the three was to heighten their fear.

Only then would the drug work on him as the target.

"Y-yes! So... please, let us live...!"

Seeing this, Louis smiled in satisfaction, knowing he'd now get all the answers.

****

Having finished the interrogation at the training hall, Louis entered the commander's tent.

Kelian, now accustomed to the sight of a mere soldier entering, asked,

"How did the interrogation go?"

"They were so tight-lipped that if not for this, I wouldn't have gotten anything out of them."

Louis showed the fear drug he'd given to the three.

"Thank you for going through the trouble to get this in such busy times."

"If it were other supplies, we could've requested a resupply, but things like this are hard to import officially."

It was just the importation process that was hard; in the 7th Legion, nothing was truly impossible.

"Did you eat all the Gigant Vulture's corpse?"

Silia, sitting next to Kelian, asked out of concern, and Louis shook his head.

"There's about a third left."

"That's a relief."

Louis understood why Silia was so relieved.

Even if only bones remained, the higher-rank monster's corpse had limitless uses.

"Because of the stampede, several parts of the fortress's outer wall have collapsed. To rebuild properly, we really need what's left."

It meant they wanted to use the higher-rank monster bones for building. The sturdier the wall, the better.

"But do we have any technicians inside who can rebuild?"

"With Klein's help, it might be possible."

Kelian thought of Klein, who was absent.

If his magic skills were as great as rumored, even rebuilding structures should be easy.

"Building structures with magic is possible, but making walls out of bone-like materials is impossible. We'll need scholars' help for that."

However, at Silia's answer, with her knowledge of magitechnology, Kelian pulled a sullen face.

This was the 7th Legion, where anyone reading just one book could earn praise as wise.

How many magitechnology experts could there be among these soldiers, who usually disregarded common sense and committed crimes?

"Then, as soon as the stampede ends, we'll just have to request assistance from Zodiac."

"Do you think Zodiac's scholars will actually come here?"

"We'll just have to offer high compensation."

There were no civilians eager to enter such a deadly danger zone.

But leaving the collapsed wall as it was wasn't an option—so to bring them here, they had to pay a fortune.

"And in terms of payment, we've got it covered already."

"Well, no scholar could possibly resist after seeing that enormous pile of monster corpses."

Silia gave Louis a sidelong look—as it was Louis who'd piled up those corpses.

"By the way, I'm curious about what you heard during the interrogation."

As Kelian asked belatedly, Louis recalled what the three had said, exhaling sharply.

Just to confirm, he asked the two of them:

"Can you hear this and be sure you won't betray me?"

It was brazen, coming from an ordinary soldier, but Kelian simply nodded.

"If I was going to betray you, I'd have done it already."

"...."

Silia nodded as well, indicating her trust.

By checking their heartbeats, Louis confirmed they weren't lying and continued.

"As you might expect, it's not just Bisted with dirty secrets."

****

Ten days after Louis finished interrogating the intelligence squad, the stampede ended.

The soldiers cheered, grateful to be alive, now that the hellish battle against monsters swarming like insects was over.

It was news welcomed outside as well. Especially, Bisted's family head had waited impatiently for word.

"Is it finally over?"

"Yes! According to legion intelligence, it's certain."

Alber Bisted had been waiting eagerly for news from the intelligence squad he dispatched to the stampede.

Fortunately, they survived the ordeal, sending a letter to report their survival.

"We'll hear from them soon."

"That means the higher-rank monster corpse is ours."

By sending that deployment, they could now claim the higher-rank monster.

With the Holy Nation's unending pressure and losing the support of magitech organizations, the family was close to withering away.

Now, they shouldn't have to struggle anymore.

Tap, tap, tap—

At that moment, a black bird tapped on the window.

Recognizing it as a spirit messenger, Alber happily opened the window.

He promptly unfolded the letter the spirit produced.

- As of today, we are resigning from Bisted. Take care.

[Alpher]

- We'll now be joining Paruzan Fortress. This place suits us better.

[Tyr]

- And there is no higher-rank monster corpse. Goodbye.

[Haif]

"...??"

What is this supposed to mean?

****

As soon as the stampede ended, non-legion personnel began showing interest in Paruzan Fortress.

In particular, Zodiac's scholars were being dispatched to repair the fortress's damaged walls.

Of course, few could come and go freely in the demon realm.

Even with ironclad security escorts, there was no guarantee of survival against monsters.

To make matters worse, confronting monsters was only part of it—the rest included criminals who rightfully deserved execution.

To enter such a place required tremendous strength.

"Louis Seifert..."

An old man in a carriage muttered, gazing at the photo of a boy.

Ferus Maclean, known as Zodiac's headmaster. He recalled the absurd strength the boy in the photo had displayed as he looked out the window.

"To think I've come back to this wretched place."

Outside stretched the demon realm.

Its scenery was so spine-chilling, it brought back memories of the demonkin war he'd once fought in.