## Chapter 1171 – A Tumultuous Foreign Expedition

As expected, there was a headache-inducing issue at the Vaintar County.

“A high-level spirit?”
“Indeed.”

What he abruptly requested was none other than for me to kill a high-level spirit that had appeared in the county.

“In all my life, I’ve never seen someone whose body couldn’t be pierced by a blade. I keenly felt your level of skill there. You’re definitely… stronger than the warriors in the county right now, I’d say.”

The one that appeared was Ignis, a high-level fire spirit.

Apparently, they were conducting a raid against that son of a bitch who suddenly appeared, but they couldn’t kill it, and the damage kept compounding, putting them in a very difficult situation.

They originally thought it was an opportunity, but Ignis was more powerful than expected, and it had gone to shit.

That’s why he asked me for help, he said.

But what’s he thinking, asking a foreigner like me to handle something the county can’t deal with? It probably won’t be good for the county.

Or is he just that desperate?

“So. You’re saying you’ll give me a certificate of identity if I grant this unreasonable request?”
“No. It’s not like that. Of course, I can’t end it with just that much compensation for making such a request. In addition to the just reward for killing a monster like a high-level spirit, I’ll issue a pass that allows you to travel to the kingdom to the west.”

A just reward and a pass.

That’s tempting.

“It goes without saying, since I brought it up first, I’ll give you the pass even if you don’t bother granting the request.”

The conditions are good.

If I were a clueless bastard, I’d just take the pass and run, but I, Kim Katter, am not that kind of man.

Killing a high-level spirit isn’t that difficult, and I can just easily catch one and make some money. A man’s gotta have loyalty, after all. When someone treats you so politely and says they’ll treat you well, only a murderer or a murderer-in-training would stab them in the back.

In the first place, the high-level spirit I caught last time was, in all likelihood, connected to the Spirit King and the gate to the spirit realm that he opened. It was constantly receiving an infinite supply of power from there, so it had extreme defensive power, but if it doesn’t have that, it’s no match for us.

No, even beyond being no match, I’m confident that I can butcher them all even if the same thing happens as last time.

It’s an easy job.

“Well, if you give me compensation, it’s not like I can’t do it. Are there any other conditions?”
“Please keep this matter confidential.”
“A gag order, huh.”

He looks young, but this kind of negotiation isn’t very good.

Only righteous and generous people like me will properly grant this kind of request, but if you carelessly tell these circumstances to someone a little off, you could get into big trouble.

In other words, this is the county’s weakness.
It’s not a problem that should be exposed to the outside world.

Is he being reckless because he’s young?

“Tell me its location.”
“Thank you!”

I immediately confirmed the location and scheduled our departure.

* * *

“A high-level spirit… I don’t think we’ll even have trouble with those anymore, Father.”
“I think so too.”

Everyone nodded at my explanation.

The place where Ignis is located isn’t that far from here. If we leave now, we can be back before dinner.

“It’s a pushover.”
“Well, even back then, there was the Spirit King and the spirit realm. Looking back, it was a fun fight, though.”

Liztina said with a relaxed smile.

That’s right.

“A high-level spirit wouldn’t even be a match for Katter.”
“Yeah. Killing one of those is just like morning exercise.”

It’s fine even if the Spirit King comes.

“But is it because of that spirit realm again?”

Karin got up from her seat and expressed her doubts.

“For that rare high-level spirit to appear again. The world must be unstable as hell. Anyway, let’s go quickly. You said it’s not that far, right?”
“Yep.”

We immediately departed for our destination.

As expected, once you leave the house, there’s just so much moving around to do.

* * *

The scene we arrived at was nothing short of a battlefield.

“Quickly! Move faster!”
“Supplies!”

Soldiers and laborers were moving busily. There were camps here and there, and laborers with their shirts off, despite the winter, were digging waterways.

“Ah! You’ve arrived!”

Soon, that Vaintar guy ran over to greet us.

“Huh?”

He tilted his head as he tried to greet us.

“But who are the people behind you…?”
“They’re my companions. They’re all skilled warriors and mages.”
“O-oh, I see. Well, anyway, can you go to the site right away? You need to catch him without causing too much damage to our side.”
“If you give me the proper compensation, you won’t have anything to worry about… Hehehe.”
“Don’t worry about that.”

We immediately followed Vaintar to the battlefield.

—Crackle!
—Kugugugugu!

The situation at the site was even more serious.

—Fwoosh!

Mages gathered in squad-sized formations and launched barrages. There was a large pit in the place where the exploding magic was overflowing, and water was flowing into that pit.

They had created a waterway like that to deal with the high-level fire spirit.

“Now!”
“Waaaaah!!”

As soon as the barrage ended, warriors covered in water charged towards the pit.

Looking at it, they had smeared some kind of powder on swords soaked in oil. Seeing that, it seemed like that medicine that’s fatal to spirits. It seemed like that thing alchemists make.

—Whoosh.

Soon, the smoke inside the pit cleared.

“Krrr!”

Inside, a woman in the form of fire was screaming, caught in a binding spell.

—Splash!
—Thwack!
—Thump!

The warriors’ swords rained down on her. The attacks seemed to be working to some extent, but somehow Ignis just wouldn’t die.

And then.

—BOOM!!!

Ignis counterattacked by exploding a fireball.

“Now’s the time! Run away!”
“Quickly!”
“Retreat!!”

Warriors with fire on their bodies ran out of the pit and threw themselves into the water, and the mages deployed shields to defend against the fireball.

“Hoo. It’s quite an urgent battle.”
“Indeed…! It seems even the county’s forces are having a hard time catching it!”

That bastard seems to have quite a bit of combat power. With that kind of durability, it’s still holding out even while being raided by the county.

“As you can see, it’s like this. It just won’t die. We’ve already poured in a considerable amount of money…”

Vaintar said to me.

I simply drew my sword.

“Withdraw all the troops. I’ll go kill it.”
“Understood!”

Soon, Vaintar began to issue orders.

“Do you need help?”

Karin turned her head and asked.

“No.”
“Yeah. Well. It’s just that level. It’s easy.”
“Good luck, Katter.”

It’s just a post-meal exercise… No.
Let’s put the sword away for a moment.

It’s a good opportunity to use divine power.

“Then I’ll go.”

I put Bihal away and kicked off the ground.

—BOOM!!!

My body shot out with a roar. I was thinking of slamming the Heavenly Demon Advent on top of Ignis’s head as is, but I’ve already done that, so I’ll use it next time.

—Swoosh!!!

I landed in front of Ignis.

“Krrr…! Kaaaaaa!!!”

Ignis, scattering hair like lava and emitting a fierce light, was emitting heat while intensifying the flames attached to its body. However, I didn’t feel any of that heat. It just felt like a heating appliance. Well, it’s already half-destroyed, but I didn’t know it would be this ineffective.

“Hey, hey. Look at this.”
“Krrr…!”

I took a stance in front of the roaring Ignis.

—Fwoosh!

I immediately infused my fist with divine power. The pure white flames of the Heavenly Demon burned the surface of my fist, maintaining its shape.

I felt an immense power.

“I’ll show you the taste of true fire.”
“Kaaaaaa!!!”

In an instant, Ignis transformed its hand into a huge demon’s claw with burning flames and swung it with all its might.

—Fwoosh!

The claw flew, burning the space. A fatal afterimage remained along its trajectory, but it only looked slow to me. I simply dodged it by slightly moving my body to the side.

“Slow.”

While aiming at the empty side of the bastard.

I charged my fist.

“Asura.”

As if firing a huge railgun.

“Bloodshed Fist.”

I shot out my fist.

—Thwaaaaaaaaaang!!!!

The fist that was fired flew at a transcendent speed and collided, annihilating Ignis’s upper body without a trace.

—Tingle.

An extreme sensation felt from the end of my fist. With just one blow. And that too, by striking its side, I instantly turned the upper half of the bastard’s waist into dust.

—Whoooooosh!
—Fwoosh!

A strong wind blew, extinguishing Ignis’s flames.

—Thud.

With that, Ignis completely disappeared, leaving only a red essence… I picked it up, clearly feeling the sensation of the divine power inside me draining away.

This.

Its destructive power is beyond imagination.

It’s a more powerful force than when I punched Andromalius.

“It’s over.”

After confirming the bastard’s complete annihilation, I simply jumped back to my original position.

“…”

Everyone at the scene, including Vaintar, except for my women, stared at me with their mouths wide open.

“Prepare the compensation items and everything else. I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”
“A… Ah. Understood… I, I can’t believe it…”

The compensation is done with this.

Winia said.

“…As expected, the black guy is no match. It just disappeared with one punch.”
“It’s a pushover now.”

How much experience do I have?

Now, the only opponents who can withstand my power are great demons or those stronger than them. It’s not like there are many strong bastards like that in this world. In fact, I was a ridiculously strong powerhouse.

“Anyway, let’s go. Now that we’ve received that, we can go to the Dwarf Kingdom a little more comfortably.”

Almost 90% of the time, we can go with a direct free pass.

* * *

I received a huge reward from Vaintar and even received an identification certificate and a pass.

If he had tried to scam me or cheat on the compensation items, I would have turned him into dust on the spot, but perhaps because he saw my overwhelming power, he even used honorifics and added extra money.

Yeah. This is the world we live in.

With that feeling, we left the Vaintar County using the upstream route and entered the Gabelin Kingdom from the Mercudia Kingdom.

There were no problems here either.

Because the pass that Kadia gave me was valid.

It’s fine up to the next kingdom, the Krabela Kingdom, but the problem was from then on, but by resolving Vaintar’s request, we were able to go without any problems.

Now we just have to go straight from here.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say there was a Holy Kingdom to the south?”
“A Holy Kingdom, huh.”

At Risha’s words, I recalled its existence and rummaged through a few maps. Looking at it, there was a Holy Kingdom down there.

I’ve heard the name of this place a few times.

This country doesn’t really have any real power or strong military force, but it’s said to be a religious country that’s respected in its own way. It was definitely a country founded by clergymen a long time ago.

It’s not a place I’m particularly interested in anyway… Ah.

“No, wait a minute.”
“Maybe there’s something related to the fragments of God there…”
“Yeah. I just thought of that.”

Since it’s a country founded by clergymen, there may be religious items like that. There’s also a possibility that fragments are secretly stored there.

Let’s be sure to check it out next time.

What’s important now is none other than going to the Dwarf Kingdom.

As we moved, we quickly passed through the Gabelin Kingdom as well.

* * *

We arrived at the gateway of the Krabela Kingdom, the last country where Kadia’s pass could be used.

This place was a small country smaller than the Mercudia Kingdom. They say that technology has developed a bit, but there’s nothing to worry about. We just need to quietly enter the country and go beyond.

“Ooh.”

Perhaps because it’s a kingdom between various countries, the gateway was very crowded. Merchants’ carriages and nobles’ carriages were lined up and being inspected by the gateway guards. There were so many of them that it felt really disgusting.

I sat quietly and nagged Ilryong and Iryong to find a suitable place and wait our turn.

—…

But there were so many of them that it took a long time. By that time, everyone was frustrated and came outside. We were chatting with them while waiting.

—Creak.

“Oh! Mr. Katter! That bastard!! No! That! He’s just going through!!!”
“What?”

Looking at the place Hilde pointed to, a carriage that looked somewhat expensive was cutting in line, squeezing through the line.

“Oh, you son of a bitch!!!”