The Strongest in the World Doesn’t Want To Do Anything

49 – The Fall of Terosa / In Our Backyard

Tessa, the capital of Terosa, was swept by a colossal disaster that no one had anticipated.

The streets of the city, which were expected to overflow with peace and prosperity after the end of the war with the demons, were filled with dust-covered corpses and crumbling buildings.

Jans, a soldier of the Terosa army, shivered at the thought that the body he was clearing right now could have been his own.

Corpses slain by swords and arrows.

Bodies so mangled by Cyclopes that their forms were unrecognizable.

No matter where he looked, a horrifying sight unfolded before him.

Jans retched as he continued to clear them away.

In the square in front of the palace where the Forest Wardens had battled, non-human and human bodies were piled up so densely that one couldn’t distinguish between races.

As he continued to clear away the seemingly endless bodies for hours, Jans gradually became desensitized to them.

As his emotions dulled, he began to see things that he hadn’t noticed before, while he cleared the corpses engulfed in shock and terror.

Most of the corpses were severely damaged, presumably due to physical causes of death.

However, strangely, some bodies showed no signs of injury, as if they had peacefully passed away at home, free from any harm.

At that moment, while pondering the mystery of these bodies, a soldier who was cleaning corpses on the opposite side rushed towards Jans.

“Hey, isn’t it just here that there are so many casualties?”

“What are you talking about?”

“In the neighboring town of Burke, a lot of people have died too.”

Even though it was a city right next to Tessa, it was unlikely that Cyclops had wreaked havoc or fought with Forest Wardens in Burke.

Unless there was a raging epidemic causing sudden deaths, the situation was logically inexplicable.

“For what reason?”

“No one knows. They just all collapsed suddenly and never got up again… like this person here.”

The soldier pointed to a corpse lying at Jans’ feet.

From Noble mtl dot com

It was a type of corpse that left Jans puzzled. A clean body without a single injury, as if life had peacefully ended due to heart failure during a nap.

With lingering questions, Jans’s day passed by.

Tessa’s body recovery was somewhat completed, and other soldiers took on the task of confirming the identity of the bodies.

Jans, along with other soldiers handling the corpses, rested in a makeshift tent erected for temporary shelter.

Despite taking a break, Jans couldn’t erase the horrifying scenes and questions he had witnessed today.

‘Why are there deaths in other cities?’

As the accumulated fatigue failed to suppress that question in his mind, Jans closed his eyes.

After some time, Jans was startled awake by the booming voice of the sergeant.

“Everyone, wake up! There are casualties reported in another city, and they’ve requested assistance.”

‘Casualties in Burke City, I suppose…’

Having already heard rumors from other soldiers, Jans wasn’t surprised. He felt only a sense of misery at the thought of moving more bodies.

“The area requesting assistance is… Jekyral.”

The sergeant, scanning what seemed to be a request for assistance on a paper, hesitated briefly with a short curse.

A perplexed expression briefly appeared on his face.

“Not Burke… no. We handle the support request from North Tessa first.”

Jans, unexpectedly assigned to a different city, was taken aback.

‘Not just Burke City, but North Tessa too? No, looking at that company commander’s surprised expression, it might be even more than that?’

As this thought crossed his mind, a cold sweat began to trickle down Jans’s spine.

‘How many people in the world have died, exactly?’

“Raeli.”

Wolfgang lay in a spot where the sunlight poured down.

“Raeli!”

“Yes, master.”

Wolfgang, about to add another word to that address, gave up with a slight shake of his head.

“Bring me a glass of honey beer.”

“Yes! Of course!”

Raeli briskly responded to Wolfgang’s order, pouring honey beer into a glass. Then, with both hands, she tightly grasped the glass and used frost magic to cool the lukewarm beer.

“Here you go!”

“Thanks.”

Wolfgang took the beer glass handed by Raeli and casually shook it.

“Raeli, how long has it been since I brought you out from Rome?”

“Yes, master! It’s been about five years, not exactly!”

“Ah, time flies.”

Wolfgang swallowed a sip of beer, recalling the non-humans he had set foot on his estate in the past.

As compensation for releasing them, he had frozen and preserved the heart of the dwarf tree spirit lover, which looked like a war axe.

“Oh, right. Do you remember those swindlers from the old days?”

“Um… How long ago it was, and which swindlers, I’m not sure.”

“You know, those non-humans carrying a cart full of medicine. They casually passed by here, got caught, and ended up beaten to death. The dwarf, the tree spirit, and also… I think there were two goblins, or something!”

Detailed explanations followed, but Raeli only now seemed to recall as she lightly slapped her forehead with her palm.

“Oh! Those guys! Forbidden love!”

“Well… It wasn’t socially considered forbidden for a dwarf and a tree spirit to be in a relationship, as far as I remember.”

“Anyway, I remembered those guys.”

“Yeah. About the core of that tree spirit back then. Where did I put it?”

…”

“Raeli?”

Raeli’s mind went blank.

“I… I can’t remember.”

“… Come find it right away.”

“Wolfgang spoke quietly. Quickly sensing a sense of fear, Raeli diligently searched every nook and cranny of the house and the backyard.

– Heheheheeng

Resting in the backyard, Ghost let out a sigh as if finding Raeli annoying.

“Sorry. Sorry.”

Raeli apologized to Ghost in a dry tone and resumed searching for the core of the tree spirit.

– Heheheheheeng!

When Ghost, in a nerve-wracking manner, began making noise again, this time Raeli expressed her annoyance.

“No! You don’t have to find it right away when the owner tells you to! Can’t you cooperate a bit? Don’t just annoy me!”

– Hehehe

Ghost stared at Raeli and kicked into the air.

“What? Are you challenging me to a fight or something? With this bone.”

Accepting her own actions as a challenge, Raeli turned her head towards Ghost, who shook his head as if to say it wasn’t, and kicked even harder.

“What’s going on?”

Raeli turned her head in the direction where Ghost was continuously kicking.

“No way… Ghost! You know where it is!”

– Hmph!

As Ghost nodded, Raeli immediately walked towards the secluded corner of the backyard that Ghost pointed to.

It had been neglected for a long time, and weeds grew abundantly.

Raeli glanced at Ghost for confirmation. Ghost nodded again.

“No. Why would it be in a place like this?”

Raeli bent down and searched through the bushes. However, there was no sign of the core of the tree spirit. There were only small seedlings planted at an unknown time.

“Ghost! Is it really here? Nothing here…”

Realizing something, Raeli slowly turned her head towards the seedling. Raeli carefully grabbed the seedling and tried to pull it out.

“Oops!”

As the roots of the seedling pierced through the soil, the core of the tree spirit came out as well.

The roots of the seedling were wrapped around the spherical core of the tree spirit.

“This… If I freeze it again, it should work.”

Raeli grabbed the seedling and tried to implement the freezing spell. Despite casting the spell for 5 minutes, 10 minutes passed, but the roots of the seedling didn’t freeze.

“Oops… What on earth is this…”

“Raeli!”

From behind, Raelle unconsciously shielded the sapling with her body at the sound of Wolfgang’s voice.

“What?”

“Haven’t found it? What on earth are you doing?”

“Oh… um, where is it, well, it’s not very visible.”

Sensing something odd in Raelle’s awkward behavior, Wolfgang stared straight into her eyes and slowly approached her.

“What are you hiding behind?”

“Oh, nothing at all! It’s my… um, underwear!”

“Why do you have underwear here right now?”

“T-to change into?”

“Raelle, give it to me.”

Wolfgang, as if already knowing, extended his palm towards Raelle. With a deep sigh, she slowly, very slowly, took out the sapling hidden behind her and placed it on his hand.

“This, what is it?”

Wolfgang looked at the peculiar sapling on his hand and let out a bemused laugh.

“Wow… it turns into this? You couldn’t see it when you were searching, but you find it like this? Haha.”

As Wolfgang continued with his incomprehensible words, Raelle couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked a question.

“Master? What is that exactly?”

Wolfgang answered without stopping his laughter.

“This? World tree.”