The Revenge of the Soul Eater

royal palace right away, and you have to move out to defend the city.
Then it’s my role to defend this home, right?」

 

  It seems that Claudia had heard the maids of the mansion somewhat talking about the situation and understood what was happening already.

 

  And what she pointed out was correct.

 

  Duke Dragunaut is a senior vassal of the country, and Astrid has her duties of the dragon rider corps.

 

  The father and the older sister instinctively looked at each other, found the same answer on each other’s faces, and then sighed at the same time by chance.

 

  And so, when the house of Duke Dragunaut reached the main gate, the disturbance on the main street reached everybody’s ears.

 

  The screams of people and the roars of the dead drifted along with the wind and echoed.
Fire seems to have broken out and red lights that scorched the night sky could be seen all over the place.

 

  Luckily, the scale of the fires is still not that big, but due to the outbreak of the undead, actions to put the fire out aren’t being carried out yet.
If the sparks of flame spread through the night breeze, it will only turn into a great fire that will reduce the royal capital to ashes.

 

  「Hurry, we have to clean up the undead on the streets and control the fire.
And the national cemetery- If the source of the undead is really from there, there’s a high chance that the culprits are there.
We have to send some soldiers there too」 

 

  When Duke Dragunaut said that, Astrid agreed with him,

 

  「Yes.
However, soldiers from our house will not be enough.
Please head to the palace on your mount and get his majesty’s permission to deploy the imperial guards.
In the meantime, I will go to the national cemetery with my own dragon and look for our enemies」

 

  「Alright.
Be extra careful.
A spell of this scale would mean that there’s no way we only have one or two enemies」

 

  「I know.
Claudia, please guard this place while I’m gone, okay?」

 

  「Yes!」

 

  It was at the moment Claudia gave a big nod to her big sister’s words.

 

  An unexpected mocking laugh echoed, surprising everyone present.

 

  「Hehehehe! This voice, this presence.
Oh what do we have here?…You really recovered」

 

  When Claudia turned around to the voice she remembers hearing from somewhere, there was an old man holding a biwa as he sat and leaned on the mansion’s walls.

  Seeing the old man laugh out happily in this situation, Duke Dragunaut and Astrid knitted their eyebrows dubiously.

  Only one person called out to the old man, and that was Claudia who knew his face.

 

  「Gramps? Why are you here?」

 

  「…Clau.
This person is?」

 

  「Um, he’s the person who plays music for the dead at the national cemetery」

 

  「Music? Ahh, perhaps he’s be the old man who ran away from the cemetery in the report just earlier-」

 

「Hehe, yes, that was me.
Well, to be exact, I wasn’t running away, I came to attack.
It was an oversight to let me in thinking that I was running away, Astrid Dragunaut」

 

  *Bennbenn*, the old man played his biwa after he said that.
At that moment, Astrid frowned as she heard the abnormal screeching noise.

 

  The reason she frowned was because she was a bit offended from being addressed in her full name by an old man she does not even know.

 

  But the ones who were angrier than Astrid at that rudeness were the soldiers around her.
Their faces heated up in anger and surrounded the old man.

 

  However, is it because he’s blind? Or is it because he didn’t see the soldiers as threats at all? The old man’s attitude did not change.

  

While Astrid unconsciously put her hand on the sword by her waist, she asked him again,

 

  「Attack…? Does that mean you came to start a fight with us? Old man」

 

  「Yes, yes.
Soothing the malevolent gods with my music and purifying evil spirits that resent humans is what I do.
However, making calm gods rage and cursing the quietly sleeping dead is my calling as well.
The undead that are overflowing the capital also, they are all my doing」

 

  At that point, Duke Dragunaut spoke to the old man for the first time.

 

  「What nonsense.
No matter what you did, there’s no way you could break the cemetery’s barrier alone.
Old man, I know traveling bards like you would sometimes say unthinkable things to get some fame.
I understand that, but this isn’t the time.
Careless remarks in the current situation will get you the whip of punishment」

 

  「Hehehe! Barrier? Oh the barrier! Ahh, it’s true that some spell was put in place there, but it was something created by magicians of the main continent after all.
It doesn’t matter how many tens or hundreds of level 20 or 30 kids get together, they cannot stop my arts.
My level is 73, you know?」

 

  「…A lunatic, huh?」

 

  「Hehehehehe! Even the famous “Thunder” Pascal Jim Dragonaut is a frog in a well after all, huh? You do not see or acknowledge the stronger being in front of you.
For a man like you to be the strongest here, the Canaria Kingdom is really lacking!」

 

  The one who became furious after hearing that was not Duke Dragunaut, but the soldiers who serve him. 

 

  As expected, they did not want to slash at the old man with limbs like withered tree branches, but they won’t be able to ease their anger if they don’t at least hit him once.
The soldiers unsheathed their swords.

 

  In response, the old man curled his lips and played a high pitch sound with his biwa.  

 

  At that moment. 

 

  「Gaaaaaaaaahhhh ?!」

 

  The soldiers screamed and covered their ears, and then they fell down on the spot.

 

  When the old man played his biwa 2, 3 more times, despite the soldiers covering their ears, their bodies jumped.

 

  By him doing that, Duke Dragunaut and his daughter both saw him as an enemy and moved at the same time. 

 

  Astrid is level 37, and as for Duke Dragunaut, he is a high level who’s about to hit level 50.
The two of them slashed at the old man seriously, but the old man held them off without trouble. 

 

  「『It’s an impenetrable fortress――Gakousai』 (Brick Fortress)」

 

  It was a “true” magic spell of the earth element equivalent to a spell of the 8th realm.

  A black wall that appeared to protect the old man easily deflected the slash of the father and daughter.

  The Dragunaut father and daughter were in awe. 

 

  「What…! A spell of the 8th realm?!」

 

  「And there wasn’t a chant…」

 

  「Hehehe, I told you, didn’t I? Before you is someone who surpasses you two.
Even if you use your prideful dragons, you won’t even put a scratch on me」

 

  After he said that, the old man played his biwa vigorously.

  It was a chaotic tune that sounded like he was trying to rip the strings off his biwa.

  Then, he used a rather gentle voice and spoke to everyone there,

 

  「This is a requiem dedicated to you all.
A souvenir of death from me.
Enjoy it well――shinsou reiki (Energize, soul equipment) 」

 

　――Wail, Lady Shizuka   

 

 

 

 

TLN: Going to write their chant for their spells and stuff in romaji and put my tl in bracket from now on

 

 

And their magic spell tiers I think I called it “ring” before changed to “realm”.
This last came up in ch.21 I think