96 – You and I, Us – 5

Ah.

Gi-jun let out a short exclamation.

He finally understood why Viv had been so happy while talking about mere chocolate.

“Continue.”

“The supplied chocolate is an extremely high-end item, not something that could possibly be provided as support to the alliance members. Investigating based on this point—of course, no chocolate was found in the alliance’s warehouse. However, as Your Majesty is aware, a product with ingredients highly similar to this chocolate was discovered in the ‘factory’ found in the underground hideout.”

“They deceived me!”

Countess Defect shouted angrily and stood up from her seat.

“Those cat bastards who joined hands with the wicked vampires, the Orcs, and the furballs! They must have deceived me into writing the list of sponsored goods! How dare they deplete our county’s vault!”

“Then, if we apprehend the ones who drafted and signed that list of goods, the outline will become clear. From both the alliance and the county, that is.”

“Your Majesty, what is important right now is not some chocolate, but the punishment of the criminals! You must not be fooled by the wicked ones’ wagging tongues; the important thing is—”

“The important thing is.”

The one who stepped forward and cut her off this time was Gi-jun, not the king.

“The important thing is the vampires.”

He had received enough help from the people around him.

Now that the outline of the enemy was clearly revealed, there was no reason to dawdle any longer.

It meant that it was not the time to play along with this ridiculous trial.

“You—”

“Stop.”

The king reached out a hand toward Countess Defect, who was trying to shout something again, and silenced her.

Glancing at the Lord of Turis sitting to the side, the king turned his gaze back to Gi-jun and spoke.

“Flame Human Jun, did you come to Cor to warn us of the vampire threat?”

“Yes. It was because there was an incident I wanted to raise my reputation, gather trustworthy people, and make known.”

“Then it is for the best. The ruler of this nation is right before you. Speak, what is so dangerous regarding the vampires?”

“They are invading Gratia. Kudlak, one of the largest vampire civilizations belonging to the dark faction, will mobilize their full strength.”

Countess Defect snorted, saying it was nonsense, but several nobles who knew that vampires had been extensively rooted out this time hardened their expressions.

Only the king calmly nodded and questioned him.

“We all know now that vampires have infiltrated various parts of the country. If we root them all out, will we be safe?”

“Of course, internal traitors are also dangerous, but their true target is the monsters. What they intend to do using them is the real danger.”

“What is it?”

Gi-jun took a deep breath at that part and looked back at Monoceros, the Lord of Turis.

Though he wore a somewhat surprised expression, he soon gave a firm nod.

Even in his opinion, there was no other opportunity as perfect as this to gather the influential figures of Gratia and reveal the truth.

‘Of course, there must be traitors in this place too. It doesn’t matter, since I can just sweep them all away and go.’

Gi-jun closed and opened his eyes, recalling the shock and anger he had felt when he first discovered the secret documents in the vampires’ hideout.

Then, looking straight at the king, he spoke.

“Overflow.”

Countess Defect gasped, sucking in a deep breath.

It was a reaction as if she had been hit right where it hurt.

“They researched ways to artificially trigger an overflow and obtained data from the overflow in Turis. If we do not handle this properly—an overflow will occur throughout the entirety of Gratia. After that, everything will go according to the vampires’ plans.”

This was the very operation that formed the backbone of the vampires’ Gratia invasion plan.

To trigger an overflow across Gratia to plunge both the Gratians and the summoned into chaos, allowing the vampires to easily take over the country by seizing that opportunity.

It was a claim that sounded absurd at first glance and was unlikely to be easily believed, but.

At this moment, there was no one in this room who could dismiss his words as a joke.

“Is it possible to artificially trigger an overflow?”

“Of course, it would require many sacrifices and prior preparations, but it has already happened once in Turis. The Lord of Turis has the experimental report related to it.”

The old man nodded to confirm Gi-jun’s words, then looked around the dumbfounded crowd and hurriedly added.

“It is black magic. Meaning, simply conducting experiments to trigger an overflow makes one a traitor of the highest order in Gratia.”

“An artificial… overflow.”

“That is absurd, such a thing.”

“But I have heard of it before, the saying that monsters that have reached the domain of legends suddenly unleash waves of monsters out of nowhere. Perhaps it is connected to that principle?”

“Either way, it is a terrible thing. It must never happen. Let alone across the entirety of Gratia!”

The courtroom was thrown into an uproar once again.

By this point, the rest of the defendants, excluding Gi-jun, had practically become background decoration, and while Gi-jun ignored Honeypup and the human representative staring at him as if they were looking at a ghost, he could not ignore Boots, who seemed to have a lot to say to him.

“Was the reason you came to Cor really to reveal this, by any chance?”

“Yes. To be honest, I was shocked that the alliance was already entangled with the vampires.”

“Am I surprised by that too, nya… Do I not know when on earth it happened, nya.”

“What do you mean ‘when’? Well…”

Gi-jun let out a smirk at the agonized cat’s wrinkled forehead, then looked up at the presiding judge and spoke again.

“Come to think of it, did you say you would root out all the vampires?”

“Yes.”

“That is impossible.”

Gi-jun drew a shield from his inventory.

Startled by the sudden drawing of a weapon, the knights waiting in the conference hall drew their swords and pointed them at him all at once, but no one could block the shield that was thrown like a flash of light.

“Aaaaargh!”

A giant, brightly shining fang pierced Countess Defect’s chest.

A stream of blood infused with dark, evil mana spurted into the air.

Black smoke was rising from the entire body of Countess Defect, who could not even resist as her limbs were wrapped tightly in chains of light—no one knew when she had been bound—with her chest pierced by the shield.

As everyone, even the king, the Lord of Turis, Bella, and Boots, stared back and forth between Gi-jun and the Countess with dumbfounded expressions.

“Y-you… dare…!”

Countess Defect, unable to bear the pain, finally revealed her true colors.

Although it was only to the extent of her eyes turning blood-red and her fangs growing longer, what was more decisive was the energy she exuded.

Evil energy suddenly rose from the entire body of her, who had been perfectly disguised as a human.

Gi-jun looked at that and said mockingly,

“I don’t know how you plan to root them all out when you can’t even recognize a vampire right in front of your eyes.”

“…”

“Y-you… I will definitely k—!”

Countess Defect’s words could not continue any further.

This was because Gi-jun threw his other shield and crushed its head.

As the two shields exploded with bright light and flames, Countess Defect turned into a pile of ashes, spewing a large amount of black smoke without even getting a chance to resist.

It was a phenomenon that could only be seen when a vampire died.

“…”

“This is…”

“She really was… a vampire.”

“Countess Defect? That is impossible, she was someone who had served the country for a good few decades…”

“No, that is not true. There was something suspicious about her from the moment she backed Demander. But to think she was actually a vampire…”

While everyone was in shock, Gi-jun calmly retrieved his shields as they flew back through the air.

The knights belatedly stepped forward to arrest him, but—the king slammed the table in anger, halting their movements.

“A vampire was sitting right under my nose until just moments ago! Yet you left it alone, and now you want to arrest the person who killed it? Are you mocking me?!”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Forgive us, we have committed a mortal sin!”

“It is impossible for anyone who kills a vampire in this land to be punished solely for that reason! Not in the past, and not in the future! Do you understand?!”

“We understand!”

Of course, drawing a weapon and committing an aggressive act in front of the King of Gratia without permission was a crime that could not be easily overlooked, but since the king himself had just forgiven it, there was no issue.

Above all, he had also eliminated a vampire who had been close enough to share the king’s breath.

Barely recovering from the shock of having been face-to-face with a vampire just moments ago, the king caught his breath and asked Gi-jun again.

“I ask you, Jun. Do you possess the ability to recognize vampires?”

“Of course.”

At the long-awaited question, Gi-jun nodded immediately.

It had been revealed that a Countess of the kingdom was a vampire who had hidden her identity and infiltrated.

It meant she had either hidden herself in a manner too cunning to be distinguished by any method known to the Letans, or she was a highly powerful vampire who did not reveal her characteristics by ordinary means, much like Carmilla who had previously infiltrated Gi-jun’s party.

But Gi-jun had the all-purpose detector, Lucy.

Perhaps because she was a Legendary-grade Spirit of Light, her ability to recognize dark-related entities was truly amazing.

“Very well. Then, I would like you to help me with a task starting now. I will pay you handsomely for your services.”

“Those are the words I was waiting for. I am currently a mercenary. As long as the reward is reasonable, I will accept any ‘commission’.”

“Y-Your Majesty! Then what about the trial…”

The human who attended as the human representative of Demander and the representative of the Union Guild cut in and spoke at a rather poor timing.

He likely spoke up because he felt the atmosphere turning increasingly unfavorable for them and wanted to do something before it was too late, but it was the worst choice.

Was it not obvious just by looking at Honeypup beside him, who wore an expression indicating that everything was already over?

‘He disguised himself so flawlessly, yet it seems the training of his successor was a total mess.’

If there was someone who had blindsided Gi-jun the most since his arrival in Cor, it was Christian, who had disguised himself as a normal human while colluding with the vampires behind the scenes.

As he nodded, thinking it had indeed been the right decision to kill the bastard immediately without listening to any excuses back then, the king chuckled and spoke to the human representative.

“Did you still think this trial was held to uncover the truth?”

“P-Pardon?”

“This trial was held to keep the criminals from fleeing and to punish them. To punish the criminals, including the vampire who just died before my eyes.”

Everyone realized that the king’s mind had been made up from the beginning.

However, Honeypup had thought that she could change it.

She had believed so.

“Your Majesty, please listen to my words.”

If there was a major mistake that the goblin Honeypup had made, it was not that the Countess’s identity was a vampire, nor that the king had personally attended this place.

It was likely that she had failed to accurately measure Gi-jun’s value and the value of the information he possessed until now.

If her own value had surpassed Gi-jun’s, the king’s attitude would not have been like this no matter how right he was…!

Since the victory and defeat were clearly decided, it was now time to prostrate herself and grovel.

“I will obey everything Your Majesty commands. Please, recall even just once the dedication our goblins have shown to Gratia until now—”

“On my way to the courtroom, I already ordered the soldiers to apprehend you all. At the very least, ‘Union’ and ‘Evolution’ will no longer be able to operate in Gratia. Most of you will die depending on the crimes you have committed.”

“Your Majesty!”

“And among them, you, who colluded with the ogres of the dark faction and brought them inside Gratia.”

The king declared with an expressionless face,

“Is death.”

Before anyone knew it, a knight who had slipped behind Honeypup drew his sword.

She had not expected them to take action already before the trial was even over; Honeypup, growing desperate, instinctively searched for a way to resist—but of course, she was decapitated on the spot without being able to do anything.

Gi-jun saw the person standing behind the king do something the moment Honeypup tried to cast a spell, but he decided not to act like he noticed.

“As you all have seen and experienced, quite a few unpleasant incidents have occurred in Gratia recently.”

Signaling the knights to arrest the human representative who had collapsed onto the floor, the king spoke in a leisurely voice.

“In the name of the master of this blood that I have inherited—”

The king’s hand caressed the horn growing on his left forehead.

Could it really be that?

Chuckling as he looked back at Gi-jun as if reading his thoughts, the king continued.

“I will root out darkness from this country and bring back the bright light. Do you all understand?”

“We will keep it in mind, Your Majesty!”

The entire courtroom shook as if it would collapse at the sound of everyone bowing and shouting in unison.

The king nodded in satisfaction and spoke to Gi-jun once more.

“In that sense, here is the first commission, Jun.”

“I’m listening.”

“Are there any more vampires in this room?”

The room instantly froze.

Only Gi-jun, who had anticipated the question, smirked and replied,

“There are two. Should I handle them?”

“That wasn’t in the commission, so I’ll have to pay you extra.”

The king chuckled softly as he spoke.

Gi-jun’s shield sliced through the air once again, and

two more piles of ash were created.

* * *

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): A full-scale war might be moved up?!]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): This is driving me crazy, seriously.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): No way! Try to hold out longer. I can’t go there yet right now!]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Ah, but that guy won’t come out easily anyway, so it should be fine, but…]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Right, so you’re helping the king to find and kill all the vampires among the country’s nobility…]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Whew, that might actually be better. If we suppress them so they can’t even come out, they will be more cautious in their actions.]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Yes, I never thought you would give up in the first place. You mean to invade their country directly no matter what, right?]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Anyway, not right now. I’d like you to reach at least Unique-grade. And secure more effective means of attack against vampires…]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): Hm? Did you ask if I knew that mixing fire and light makes holy fire?]

[Biche♥(Dimensional Waiting Room): There’s no way that would work, are you stupid?]