I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Chapter 45 : Bald Grandpa (1)

Bald Grandpa (1)

"This place really is as dreadful as I thought."

After stepping out of the carriage, Ferus glanced around the interior of the fortress and clicked his tongue.

True to the infamous reputation of the 7th Legion, everything was a complete mess.

The first thing he saw were soldiers sitting on the ground, guzzling alcohol.

They drank in broad daylight, using their own tall tales of how many monsters they offed during the stampede as drinking toasts.

Not a hint of military discipline could be felt from their rowdy and boisterous chatter.

A little further away, he could see a soldier beating another while smoking a cigarette.

The bully dropped an ashtray onto the victim's face and forced a lit cigarette into his mouth.

But the moment a stronger soldier came by, even the bully became a victim and was harassed in the same manner.

Turning his gaze once more, Ferus noticed an officer torturing some soldiers, using a spell inscribed on the back of his hand to inflict pain upon dozens of them.

"Why do you think you can lounge around after doing so little in the stampede?" the officer said, harshly tormenting the soldiers.

Watching them scream, he grinned with delight.

"...."

Ferus let out a silent sigh at the scene, which looked nothing like one would expect of a legion's fortress.

Anyone would think it was a place where only criminals had been gathered—everything was an utter disaster.

"Sorry for being late to greet you."

Klein, who had come to greet Ferus belatedly, bowed his head in apology.

"Pleased to meet you, headmaster. I'm Klein, the chief mage of this fortress."

Klein offered his hand, and Ferus accepted the handshake.

Seeing that Klein's eyes were different from those of the trash soldiers here, Ferus felt slightly reassured.

"It's truly an honor for you to visit such a humble place despite your busy schedule."

Klein deeply respected Ferus as the headmaster of Zodiac.

He was the founding father of Zodiac, the empire's greatest city of magitechnology, and a giant in spreading magitech throughout the empire.

Anyone in that field respected him. For such a renowned figure to visit this filthy fortress was nothing short of astonishing.

"The state of this place is appalling,"

Ferus commented.

"Yes... The soldiers are more worked up than usual after that hellish stampede ended."

Having survived the brutal stampede, the soldiers naturally felt entitled to some kind of compensation.

Having faced death multiple times against monsters, they believed a suitable reward was only fitting.

Indeed, the surviving soldiers had received plenty of rewards.

The beer they were drinking and the cigarettes they smoked had been obtained through those rewards.

"They say life has its ups and downs, and now they have the right to laze around. Funny how these trash who were dragged here for disrespecting common sense suddenly know how to invoke it when it benefits them."

Recalling the soldiers who only talked sense when it suited them, Klein clicked his tongue.

"The officers aren't keeping them in line?"

"The officers suffered most in the stampede, so most of them are exhausted. That's why things are...."

"Hey, old man!"

At that moment, several soldiers approached Ferus with trouble in mind.

"Never seen you before. What are you doing here?"

"From outside, are you?"

"If you're coming from outside, why didn't you bring a woman instead of this shriveled old coot?"

Completely drunk, the soldiers taunted Ferus, not knowing any better.

"Hey, mage! Get this old geezer out of here!"

"All we want is booze and broads!"

"How dare you, you punks!"

Furious at the soldiers' disrespectful behavior, Klein felt his temper flare.

Deeply admiring Ferus, Klein nearly activated a spell immediately.

But even though he hadn't, the drunken soldiers suddenly screamed and collapsed.

"Monsters like these can only be handled this way,"

Ferus said.

The back of Headmaster Ferus's hand was also inscribed with the same spell as the other officers.

"You have one too, sir."

"I made it myself, of course I have it."

****

The purpose of Ferus's visit to the fortress was to repair the ramparts.

Gathering manpower alone would require a large budget and significant time.

But borrowing the strength of Ferus, a figure enshrined in magitech history, would make repairing the ramparts a trivial matter.

"Did a mid-rank monster attack? You got hit pretty hard."

Ferus sneered as he looked at the collapsed wall.

If it had been a stampede, it was only natural for such destruction to occur.

Seeing that Ferus understood this, Klein looked a bit sheepish as he replied.

"Sorry to show you such a sorry state."

"It shouldn't take long. I'll have it rebuilt in a few days."

Just by touching the ruined wall, Ferus perfectly grasped its nature.

The field of magitech included alchemy. As Headmaster of Zodiac, Ferus was at the pinnacle of that field.

The moment he grabbed some dirt from the ground, it instantly transformed into solid metal.

"Actually, we've also obtained bones from a higher-rank monster. How about rebuilding with those materials?"

"So the rumors were true."

Word had spread about the hunt for the higher-rank monster, the Gigant Vulture.

Paruzan Fortress had no intention of selling those remains elsewhere.

"If the rampart is completely fused with the material from those bones, ordinary monsters will think the wall is a higher-rank monster and won't dare approach. It's a good choice for you."

Monsters of the demon realm had keen senses and could detect their kin from far away.

The stronger the magic power their opponents possessed, the more monsters would keep their distance.

The Gigant Vulture's bones carried magic power of that magnitude.

"But there's something I've wanted to ask you..."

"What is it?"

"Did you really come here just to repair the ramparts?"

Ferus was not someone you could just invite easily.

Considering his fame, it was strange for him to willingly set foot in such a filthy fortress.

Noticing Kelian's sharp intuition, Ferus smiled.

"There's a soldier I want to work with. Can you fetch him for me?"

That's right.

Repairing the ramparts was only the pretext. Ferus had come all the way here for the express purpose of meeting a single soldier.

When Klein asked who it was, Ferus replied,

"Louis Seifert."

The moment he heard that name, Klein's eyes widened in shock.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

"Awoo!~"

"Meow!~"

Suddenly, the cries of beasts rang out. No, they were people imitating animals.

Simultaneously, the sound of wheels turning came from beyond the ruined rampart.

Emerging from the shadow of a giant tree was an enormous cart.

Three knights in armor were dragging the cart, which was piled high with monster corpses.

At first mistaking them for monsters, Ferus relaxed when he saw they were people.

But there was something off about those pulling the cart.

Instead of walking on two legs, they were crawling and dragging the cart like dogs or cats.

"There, good job~ Just a little further and I'll pet you."

And the cart didn't just contain monster corpses.

Atop the cart sat several boys and girls, with one boy—apparently the leader—praising the three knights.

"Huff... huff... this is tough...."

At that moment, one of the people dragging the cart collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion.

The boy, frowning, climbed down from the cart and stomped on the man.

"Get up, you bastard! We're almost there—why are you already taking a break?"

"Gehh!"

Seeing the man being trampled, Ferus furrowed his brow.

The spell was inscribed on that man's hand, and judging by his attire, he was obviously a knight.

"What's going on here?"

"...."

An officer who could use spells, yet being trampled by a common soldier—an absurd scene.

As Klein racked his brain to explain, Ferus's eyes grew wide as he watched the boy.

"Pull that cart, you mongrel cats! Or you'll go hungry!"

The boy, having reversed the hierarchy of soldiers and officers, was none other than the soldier Ferus had been seeking.

****

"So... you're saying the old man is the headmaster of Zodiac?"

While Louis was returning from the monster hunt, a visitor had arrived at the fortress.

The fact that the visitor specifically wanted to see him made Louis feel as if he were being seen through.

"Did you come here to lecture me because of what happened at Zodiac?"

"No, that wasn't really your fault."

The incident at the tournament back then was clearly the responsibility of Bisted.

Neither Louis nor Silia should have been held accountable.

"So why did you come here then? No matter how I look at it, it seems because of me."

"If you want to know, I'll tell you. But before that...."

Before explaining, Ferus offered his hand.

"How about a handshake, just for a moment?"

"...?"

Louis felt no hostility from Ferus. Trusting his own superhuman instincts, Louis took the old man's wrinkled hand.

The moment their hands clasped, Ferus's eyes flashed and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Just as I thought... you're not human."

Hearing those words, Louis immediately became wary of Ferus.

.

.

.

One side knew the other's true nature, and the other had been discovered.

Though the situation seemed potentially hostile, neither initiated a conflict.

The old man, having discerned his identity, showed surprise and little else, and the boy, realizing he'd been found out, refrained from acting rashly.

Instead, their conversation progressed smoothly. Ferus explained how he had come to suspect Louis to his face.

"You're saying my power was measured by that combat testing device?"

"Yes. It was extraordinarily abnormal. For a kid your age to demonstrate such strength—it just didn't make sense."

"You came all the way here, into the demon realm, just to confirm that?"

Ferus's status was extremely distinguished.

Coming all the way out here just to confirm a child's unusual power was almost unthinkable.

"Go, Alpher! Headbutt!"

Suddenly, Rio, Louis's teammate, shouted while pushing Alpher, who had been pulling the cart earlier.

"Don't lose, Tyr! I'm betting everything on you!"

Victor, another teammate, similarly gave a command to Tyr.

Thus, Alpher and Tyr, responding like beasts to their respective commands, began to headbutt each other.

Seeing two officers butting heads like pachycephalosaurs at mere soldiers' orders, Ferus's eyes widened in disbelief.

"There's something I want to ask, before anything else."

"What is it?"

"Which ones are the officers and which ones are the soldiers?"

"The kids are the soldiers, obviously."

"Then why are they acting like that?"

"Because I trained those three to obey the kids' commands."

The fact that Louis had trained the officers shocked Ferus into speechlessness.

Just as he suspected, this boy was no ordinary person.

"Aren't you scared of the torture spell?"

"It doesn't work on me."

Even if Ferus tried activating it himself to check, he would see that Louis was telling the truth.

Yet, surprisingly, Ferus didn't react with great shock.

"As expected... I wasn't mistaken."

Instead, he gave a look as if he had anticipated it all along.

"There's someone else the spell didn't work on besides you, isn't there?"

Louis's eyes went wide at this unanticipated reply.

Who else could have withstood this spell—something humans could never endure?

"Earlier, you asked why I came all the way out here into the demon realm. It was to confirm whether you were the same kind of being as that person."

Ferus stared intently at Louis. While there was still no hostility, Louis couldn't help but feel something peculiar and asked,

"Who are you talking about?"

"He fought beside me in the demonkin war and achieved great feats."

From the old man's lips came the name of his old comrade.

"Laika Bisted. The former head of the Bisted family, and the man who slew the demonkin chieftain."