Chapter 98
The location of the chimera laboratory that Daphne had informed them of was situated not very far from the Ansiha Mountain Range.
It made sense.
Given that several chimeras had already appeared before them, they couldn’t possibly teleport all of them, so they would have had no choice but to build a laboratory nearby like this.
“I don’t feel anything inside… right?”
Nike said, looking around the surroundings.
Just as he said, nothing was being felt from the underground space. It felt as if it were completely empty.
Could they have known they were coming and fled?
No, they shouldn’t be able to move that quickly.
Herios focused a bit more, spreading his sensory perception wide. Immediately after, he could sense a certain energy crawling slowly from the stairs leading down to the underground space.
“As I thought.”
“Yes?”
“Step back.”
“Yes!”
Nike, who listened well in front of an overwhelmingly powerful person, hurriedly stepped back. Right then, the energy that had only been crawling low soon grew ferociously in size and began to surround the entire space of the stairs.
“W-W-What is this? What is it?”
“…….”
Herios took a deep breath and put strength into both his legs.
And,
“Ack!”
He struck the back of Nike’s neck, knocking him unconscious.
“It was unavoidable, as it is a sight you must not see.”
Moving Nike a distance away with an excuse that wasn’t quite an excuse, Herios soon rested his sword on his shoulder and glared at the underground stairs.
The energy felt from there was undoubtedly a dragon.
“I searched for it so desperately.”
Herios’s lips curled up obliquely.
“So you were here.”
He stepped into the basement without hesitation.
Huff, huff.
Daphne glared at the children while breathing heavily, and the children, who had just received a barrage of insults, were hanging their heads in a dejected state.
“My heart is truly bursting with frustration, so I cannot stay still!”
However, Daphne’s insults showed no sign of ending.
He had to stop her, but how?
Joshua, who was contemplating for a moment, remembered the mana stone he had received from the elf Teiti earlier.
-If Lady Daphne occasionally goes on a rampage, just hand her this.
-Well, since it’s a mana stone, you’ll get money if you sell it, but it might be better to calm Lady Daphne down, so think about it carefully.
“…….”
After agonizing for a moment, Joshua finally made up his mind and stood up abruptly.
Joshua recalled a growling little puppy he had seen in the past and the owner who had soothed that puppy.
Could he just imitate that? Daphne was like a dog-like child.
“Seeing you lot digging a burrow by yourselves like this, I should have just left you alone…….”
“Daphne. No.”
“What? But those guys!”
“Stop it.”
“No, why!”
“Good girl. Here, it’s a mana stone. Good girl.”
“…….”
He had been half-doubting, but Daphne surprisingly became quiet as soon as she saw the mana stone.
Then, she crunched and chewed the mana stone like candy. All her teeth would probably be ruined…….
“Whew. I got excited, unlike myself.”
“No. It was very like you, Daphne.”
“Be quiet.”
Daphne, who glared once at Cilia for interrupting, crossed her arms and walked into the middle of the room. Then, she examined the faces of the children.
“It seems you have enough energy left to grumble, so I don’t need to worry much. There are no injured ones either.”
“……Are you okay?”
Morris asked.
“As you can see. Besides, thanks to Teiti using some amazing healing magic, I’m able to move well.”
“As expected.”
Morris smiled bitterly at Daphne’s nonchalant answer.
“You are on a different level from us.”
“What did you say?”
“It means you are amazing.”
Daphne tilted her head.
“Well. I am amazing.”
She agreed with Morris’s words as if it were natural, but she read that the atmosphere was somewhat strange. Daphne narrowed her eyes.
“But why is your expression like that? Do you not like the fact that I am amazing?”
“That’s…… not it.”
Morris’s voice trailed off as he looked back at the children. Then, the children began to speak one by one.
“We wondered if we were just hindering you.”
“Because I didn’t do anything and just rolled around.”
“Since you handled everything today by yourself.”
“The gap between you and us is this large, so we wondered if there was even a point in us trying……”
Daphne’s eyebrows shot up.
“Who said that last part. Come here and get hit once.”
“Aack! Why! Why only me!”
Teppy, who had been struck once, grumbled and shouted, but Daphne did not give him another look.
Then, she tightly gripped her crossed hands and spoke toward the children.
“Do you remember the instructions I gave you?”
Thinking it was a sudden remark, the children could not answer immediately, and Daphne spoke again instead.
“I assigned Teppy, Cilia, and Bunny to distraction; Rache and Morris to the vanguard; and Joshua to the rear.”
“Uh, well. You did do that.”
“Did you fail at that?”
No.
The children had performed Daphne’s instructions very well. To the point where one could say no one was lacking.
“You all performed the orders I gave exactly. Very excellently. So what is the problem?”
“…….”
The children’s expressions were a bit better than before, but they still looked gloomy. Among them, Cilia spoke first.
“I mean, if it weren’t for you, we would have all died; our individual strengths aren’t strong at all; we’re saying things like that. Why are you telling us off when you know all that?!”
Oh, my head.
Daphne held her forehead and tilted her head up.
She had already expected that the children might be thinking this way. That was why she had come to see the children. But hearing it said so openly like this still made her a bit annoyed. You weaklings.
“Is that wrong?”
“……What?”
“Let me tell you one story.”
After letting out a long sigh, Daphne looked back at the children with strength in her eyes once more.
“Creatures called chimeras do not live long.”
“……?”
“Because a chimera is made by combining animals or magical beasts of different species, most of them only last two or three days at most. However, even so, very rarely, ones that continue their lives for several years appear. Do you know why?”
“…….”
“It is because each of the pieced-together organs performed its role excellently.”
Daphne continued her words while looking intently at the children standing blankly.
“The lungs that were attached to an animal, the stomach that was attached to a magical beast, and the newly created heart—because all of them performed their respective roles well, the chimera was able to live long. If those organs had tried to perform different roles, it would have died.”
“…….”
“It is the same for you. You are no different from organs belonging to the entire living organism called the Black Magic User Subjugation Squad.”
Lungs are organs for breathing, and the heart is an organ that transports blood.
However, if the heart says it will play the role of the lungs, or the lungs say they will play the role of the heart, that body becomes no different from being dead.
“It means you only need to perform the role of the organ you were assigned well.”
“…….”
“I don’t know why a kidney guy is trying to become a heart. Pull yourselves together.”
Although it ended with a rebuking remark at the end, the intention of what Daphne said was clear.
Since they had faithfully performed their respective roles, she was comforting them that it was okay.
The children felt an emotion surging up slightly and glanced at each other.
“Then you.”
Cilia spoke cautiously.
“Is it okay for you to go to the battlefield with us? Can you trust us? Sincerely?”
Daphne answered with an expression as if she were hearing nonsense.
“In order for a person to live, they must trust other people. If you do not trust, you are no different from being dead from that moment on.”
“…….”
“Trust me, and trust yourselves. You must do so.”
There was no reply. Some of the children had their heads deeply bowed.
“……What, Morris. Are you crying?”
Rache asked, somewhat surprised, and Morris, who sniffled his nose, hastily denied it.
“No? Absolutely not? Who’s crying? I’m not.”
“Your eyes are moist, though.”
“A yawn. I just yawned.”
Morris was merely slightly overwhelmed, but Bunny, who was beside him, was dripping tears.
“Sob! I will truly be loyal to Lady Daphne.”
Feeling the atmosphere become stranger than she thought, Daphne scratched her cheek. Then she glanced at Joshua.
Joshua was staring at Daphne with a somewhat blank expression, because he hadn’t imagined that Daphne would say such ‘kind’ words that ‘comforted everyone’.
So Joshua handed one more mana stone to Daphne.
“Mmh. This is good.”
Daphne crunched and chewed the mana stone and looked back at the children again.
“Anyway, everyone worked hard.”
“…….”
“You were very excellent.”
The children were moved once again, and Joshua placed another mana stone in Daphne’s other hand.
There. Good girl.
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