Potential

In the middle of a snow-covered mountain range where nothing existed,

Even creatures resistant to the cold had gone dormant to survive the winter in the dreary weather, leaving the place quiet.

In that space, a large vertical rift opened.

The rift, its chaotic colors like oil leaking onto land, spat out what had been inside it.

What emerged were a burly black-skinned man and a man wearing a gray robe.

He was the man Ferda had identified as Gokma.

They arrived in front of the snow-covered mountains.

“Did we really have to come this way?”

“There was nowhere else.”

“And?”

“I couldn’t think of a suitable place.”

“Hm.”

The burly man looked up at the snow-covered mountains.

That was where a dark elf named Linne had once worked as the head of a laboratory.

But that was merely a thing of the past.

“What did you decide to do with Linne?”

“We decided to let her continue her research.”

“How generous.”

The burly man snorted.

“How could that be generous? I’ll kill her once it’s complete. She was worthless from the start except for that.”

“Boiling a dog, are you? At least that won’t cause trouble afterward.”

The man said that and turned away.

That was when.

Gokma suddenly sensed killing intent directed at him.

He raised a hand and turned around.

Something was stopped by his hand.

Boom!

The burly man’s fist struck his hand.

Though he was vastly overpowered, he held his ground on both feet.

“……What is the meaning of this?”

“I merely did what you were doing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You were avoiding a conversation, so I gave up on talking as well. Do you need me to say more?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t try to deceive me. You only brought up that dark elf woman to avoid the conversation, didn’t you?”

“What conversation did I avoid? You seem to know something.”

“Ferda Waldrova.”

The burly man growled as though angry.

“Why didn’t you kill that man?”

“……”

“Look. You can’t answer, can you?”

At Gokma’s silence, the burly man sneered.

“I never liked you from the beginning. You were stabbed to death by a hero in such an unsightly manner, then secretly clung to life and showed up again.”

“……”

“You should have died right there. Not lived on disgracefully and come back like this.”

“If you think dying that way would have been better…….”

Gokma glared at him with emotion in his eyes.

“Why don’t you go follow Father, then? Why are you still alive?”

“Isn’t it because of you?”

“That’s nothing but an excuse. When I brought you back to life, I told you my clear purpose. And you accepted it. Now that you’re acting like this, how are you any different from someone who changes his mind on a whim?”

The burly man’s eyebrows twitched.

But instead of turning to violence, he withdrew the fist he had pressed against Gokma’s hand.

Gokma opened his mouth as he watched him.

“I had a reason for not killing Ferda. As expected, you can’t know what humans are like until you see them for yourself.”

There had been exactly one person who had made Gokma utter those words in the past.

He recalled the distant past he remembered.

Gokma had looked down on human weakness as something insignificant.

He had shattered and destroyed the things they believed in, mocking their frailty.

That was why he had not known, until the moment of his death,

that someone among those weak humans would emerge with the power to pierce his heart.

Nor that the man would ultimately destroy even the Demon King.

The seed of rebellion that had severed Godwin’s will.

‘The hero.’

Gokma touched his chest.

What had led him to death was not a holy sword bearing the blessings of every god and dragon, but a crude kitchen knife.

Although he had been resurrected, the fact that he had died that way had served to awaken his vigilance.

Yet he smiled.

It was an emotion wrought entirely from joy.

Because his will had endured through that imperfect death, allowing him to grow this strong.

Surely Father, too, was smiling in the void.

Gokma had thought the hero was the only one who could make him reverse his assessment twice.

But there was no such thing as “absolute” in this world.

‘Ferda Waldrova.’

He was feeling that same sense of surprise in the man that he had felt toward the hero.

The direction was different, but the texture of the sensation was similar.

Gokma knew what it was, too.

“Hm?”

The burly man made a sound as he turned his gaze toward a spot in the snow.

“What is it?”

“……Someone’s there.”

All that could be seen was a snowfield completely covered in snow.

No. When Gokma also turned his gaze to where the burly man was looking, he saw something sticking out conspicuously.

It was shaped somewhat like a helmet.

Judging by its crude form, he thought it was probably a statue placed somewhere.

But that thought lasted only a moment; the snow piled atop the statue trembled.

It rose from where it had been sitting.

It was crude, rough armor, as though a great mountain of stone had been given a human form.

At the sight of the armor, he understood how it had remained still while the snow covered its body.

“Alberto, so it is you.”

A figure as steadfast as his epithet.

His bearing was such that calling him a walking fortress would hardly be an exaggeration.

“It can’t be a coincidence that you’ve come face-to-face with me like this. Have you been waiting?”

He did not answer.

There had been no need for words in the first place.

He picked up the club and shield he had set down.

The heavy club, over two meters long, and the shield of a similar size.

The armor covering his entire body was crude and rough as well.

Judging only by what he wore, he looked slow, and in truth his movements were also on the sluggish side.

Even so, he was the most infamous figure among the demons.

The infamy he had built was by no means undeserved.

The burly man, in particular, trembled violently at the sight of him.

“You goddamn bastard……!”

As though he had finally found the man he wanted, the burly man lost his reason and charged at Alberto.

“Today, I’ll kill you!”

His fist shot forward with enough force to shatter the armor.

Alberto also raised his club to meet it.

It was then, just as they were about to collide.

Gokma drew a finger through the air.

A space opened between the burly man and Alberto and swallowed the former.

Alberto cut through empty air and slammed his club into the ground.

Boom!

The ground shook violently, sending snow surging into the sky before it settled back down.

Alberto looked toward Gokma.

He spoke.

“Understand. He is acting that way because he’s angry that you broke all four of his limbs.”

“……”

“Besides, the one you want isn’t one of those small fry, but him, is it?”

At a glance, he sounded narcissistic, but his words were true.

Alberto had come charging after Gokma alone, which was why he was sitting here.

“Stop. Pursuing me will not change anything, Alberto.”

“……”

“You have no mana and nothing else; you are merely human. If I draw my finger once and escape this space, you will have to trudge across the continent again. Even amid such absurdity, you search for me alone.”

“……”

Alberto gave no answer.

Gokma said that, but he did not mock Alberto.

The number of demons and monsters cut down by his blunt attacks could not be counted, and the ruined settlements alone numbered more than ten.

With no one to recognize him, he moved in silence, killing demons alone.

That was why the man was called Alberto, the walking fortress.

“Since you hate demons enough to kill, I’ll tell you this alone. Do you know what I saw today?”

Ferda’s face came to mind.

“The material of a Demon King.”

“……”

“He was a human with exceptional potential. For now, he has the insolent ambition of conquering the Demon Lands, but that too will last only a moment.”

Gokma smiled unpleasantly.

“At the end of loss, what remains is always emptiness.”

Gokma tore open space once more.

“And anger always takes root in emptiness.”

With that, Gokma left the spot.

There was nothing Alberto could do.

He raised his head and looked at the sky.

Dreary weather.

A blizzard would soon strike.

Strong winds would blow and snow would pile up again, but they would not stop his steps.

Those steps toward wherever monsters were could find no destination.

But today was different.

Unlike usual, his steps were clearly heading somewhere.

* * *

The sudden appearance of monsters.

Contrary to expectations that it would lead to panic, the morning was peaceful.

Although someone had died and others had been seriously injured, it did not lead to the people falling into grief.

They could only feel relieved that their trust in Chief of Security William and the support of the dragonspawn had helped them avoid the worst.

Yet there were bound to be people who disliked even this atmosphere.

Hanson was one such person.

Hanson, who had come here after being the first to dream of gold-rush fortunes, did not like this peace.

‘There ought to be more of an uproar.’

After all, movement between social classes comes from chaos.

Hanson was more obsessed with social standing than other people.

He was an architect who worked in carpentry, a second-rate one in the Empire.

Had he remained in the Empire, becoming a site manager would have remained nothing more than a fantasy.

He was already holding a position beyond his abilities.

But human greed had no end.

‘I want to climb to an even higher position.’

A nobleman’s position.

No, even if not a nobleman’s, at least a position where the commoners here would bow their heads to him.

‘It was something a guy like me could never have.’

Normally, it was nothing more than a mere daydream dreamed by commoners.

Just as storytellers were forever telling tales of beggars who gained miraculous opportunities and became princes or princesses, everyone carried such fantasies in their hearts.

Hanson’s delusions were particularly severe.

And with good reason—didn’t he possess an incredible opportunity himself?

‘The Armor Knight.’

It would be no exaggeration to say that everything had been accomplished through him.

Wasn’t he easy to deal with and outstanding in ability, always bolstering Hanson’s prestige?

He had raised Hanson from a nobody of a foreman to the position of site manager.

When Hanson saw him in the beginning, he thought,

‘That man is certain to become a knight soon.’

That was why he had flattered him and done everything he could to look after him, even speaking on his behalf as his voice.

He had thought he would become a knight within a month at most.

But the Armor Knight did not become a knight.

He was still working at the construction site.

‘I can only gain power once the Armor Knight becomes a knight…….’

He wanted to move beyond site manager into a field management position,

and command more people under him.

To do that, the Armor Knight had to rise higher.

‘When he was summoned to the castle, I thought my chance had finally come…….’

Who would have thought he’d be the sort of fool to kick away his own good fortune?

Outwardly, Hanson said it was fine, but behind the scenes he could only sip alcohol to soothe his bitter frustration.

What could he do?

He had no choice but to live within his station.

“What a truly ominous atmosphere!”

The person who casually tossed out that remark was a woman.

She was still too young to be of marriageable age.

The haughty look on her face made her seem no different from a sheltered maiden.

But there could be no such haughty girl in this village.

This woman had to be a newly arrived mage.

‘Getting involved with her sounds exhausting…….’

Hanson pretended not to hear and looked away.

The woman then moved more overtly to his side and said,

“Ahem, I heard wolf monsters came storming in.”

“……And?”

“That’s informal speech. I heard many casualties occurred because I couldn’t arrive in time.”

“Only four people died.”

“Do you know what a casualty is? It includes the injured, not just the dead.”

“Even so, coming out with only this many casualties means we did pretty well. If the esteemed adventurers had gotten involved, there wouldn’t have been even those deaths.”

“In the end, doesn’t that mean it’s the fault of the incompetent people above who couldn’t respond to an incident like this?”

“……What are you talking about?”

Hanson frowned and looked down at the woman.

The woman smiled audaciously and said,

“Think about it. Why did you come to this city? To make money, didn’t you?”

“That’s right, but…….”

“The employers who lured you here surely said this, too. That it may be close to the Demon Lands, but that made it safer, or something along those lines.”

It was true.

He had not believed those words, but he had accepted them as part of the deal.

After all, the people who came here had done so because they had no jobs anyway.

“And then you were attacked. People died. Are you really planning to sit still?”

“……So what do you want me to do, miss?”

“Ha-ha! That’s why I’m offering you a solution, isn’t it?”

She moved closer as though they could finally have a productive conversation.

A strong floral scent wafted over.

“So, are you the site manager?”

“I am.”

“How many laborers do you have under you?”

“About fifty, I suppose…….”

“If you persuade the other site managers, that would make a hundred.”

“That’s right.”

“Think about it. This city’s population is close to six hundred now, isn’t it? You alone would account for a hundred people—one-sixth of the population.”

“Is that……right?”

“Do you know how much damage it would cause this town if you all suddenly withdrew?”

“……”

Come to think of it…….

She was right.

Wasn’t this construction site running because we were here?

If work stopped in a place where labor had to continue day after day, it would deal a heavy blow.

“You are precious, irreplaceable labor. Shouldn’t you be furious that such workers are being driven this hard? That young regent needs to understand clearly that human lives are worth more than money can buy.”

“Hmm…….”

“You have the right to more money and a higher position. That young regent needs to understand clearly that human lives are something money cannot buy.”

Hanson thought she had a point.

More than anything, he was hearing it while his greed was at a boiling point.

It was no different from a devil’s whisper.

“But how am I supposed to do something like that?”

The woman smiled like a mischievous child.

“There’s always a way. I’ll help you.”

* * *

Despite the sudden appearance of monsters, the village had successfully defended itself.

There were thirty casualties—five soldiers, fifteen civilians, and ten adventurers who had joined the fight; four of them died, all civilians.

That was why Hestia Village’s morning could not be the same as usual.

Isabella said,

“A strike has begun.”