Chapter 83: Humanity is on the verge of extinction... Right?

...

'Hmm... what should I do now...?'

Aspen was currently tied up by his hands and his feet inside the back of the carriage he previously encountered. In all ways, he looked exactly like a prisoner that was being dragged away against his own will.

However, he was just curious about what was happening and just decided to let himself get tied up. These guys looked really too wealthy to be only part of a small village at the border of the territory, moreover, one of the knight-like guys had mentioned something about a Lord before... Feudalism was not present anymore in Human societies due to the lack of motives for Nobles to actually exist, instead, it was the militia that took over the control and created the council of 12 Elders (11 now because one of them was a cultist). Thus the existence of a Lord, which should be completely unnecessary in the human territory, was actually present wherever this place actually was?

Not to mention the name of a completely unknown Kingdom by the knight a few hours ago... The whole situation was just too confusing, and thus, Aspen decided to let them take him with them while acting like a bandit, since he doubted these strict guys could actually hear him out. So he ended up acting as a third-class thug, and let himself be defeated in a few seconds.

At first, he thought they could try to kill him, but when the voice of the supposed Lord came from within the carriage and ordered them to capture him alive, he decided to just let things play in whatever way they wanted and let them bring him to wherever they were moving. He could free himself pretty easily whenever he wanted anyway.

'I should probably continue training my Nature magic... I know, Let's try to see through plants like Evvie'

Aspen soon started deploying his mana to the nearby trees and tried observing his surroundings through them, unfortunately, his domain over this technique was still green, and thus all he could see was a thick green fog whenever he tried this technique.

He tried applying some mana to his eyes as well, and although the fog actually cleared up, the image in front of him was still too blurry to understand what was happening outside.

Fortunately for him, since learning the Enhancing technique from Evvie, his control over mana also improved by leap and bounds, and now, learning such techniques was something that could take a lot less time than before.

And like that, the trip of the carriage continued. Many hours passed, and Aspen soon reached the mental limit of practicing one thing without rest. Thus, he decided to take a small nap for the time being, the trip looked like it was gonna take a lot longer either way...

And thus, Aspen fell asleep, much to the incredulity of the Knights who checked on to him to make sure he hadn't tried to escape, and who were dumbfounded beyond measure with the relaxed demeanor of their prisoner.

°

°

°

-Aspen POV:

"Hey you, wake up. We have already arrived"

I opened my eyes instantly and reassessed my current situation.  I was currently lying inside the carriage of some strange guys who proclaimed to be inside an unknown Kingdom from which I have never heard before...

As I finally remembered my current situation, I stood up and followed the orders of the man with still a somnolent look in my eyes. After all, these days I'm lacking a bit of sleep...

However, when I took a step out of the carriage, I became awestruck at the sight...

Thousands of people walking across a giant street with relaxed expressions were entering different kinds of buildings, shops, or structures as if the war against the goblins a few months ago had never existed in the first place...

No, it wasn't just that... the infrastructure was fundamentally very different from the one at Balroc city, and the whole place was seemingly in a better sanitary condition than Balroc city... 

Were the maps of the human territory actually wrong, and there was actually a certain part of it where this city/Kingdom(?) had actually settled in without the knowledge of the elders?

"Come on, move along. Be grateful that our Lord decided that your death was not something profitable, and decided to let you participate in the [Clean Up], the most glorious game of this Kingdom!"

"Glorious games?" I looked at the knight-like guy strangely, were these guys actually so free that they could even afford to held events like this?

"Don't you know about it? What should I have expected from a stupid bandit... [Clean-Up] is an event held up every year where criminals like you are selected to fight among yourselves and win their own freedom by being the last one alive. Even the king himself is present in this famous event"

So there's a king...? This place seems to be getting stranger with each minute that passes...

"So I am participating there? Neat"

"... Hey, this bandit seems a bit too lax... Are you sure you were attacked by this guy?" The knight guy asked the guy next to him with an unsure expression on his face.

"He tried fooling us in order to gain enough time for his teammates to arrive, after that he tried resisting arrest and broke Alex's nose. If he is not a bandit then I am the king of this kingdom..."

I might have exaggerated a bit there now that I think about it...

"Alright, hey you, hurry up the pace" The guy nodded slightly before he poked my back with the tip of his spear and urged me to hurry up.

"Yeah yeah..."

Well, I am becoming a gladiator I guess... Either way, this might be a good opportunity to recover some of the sleeping hours lost during my training time...

Good thing I brought my bed with me.

...

°

°

°

In another part of the city...

...

*Drop*

*Tzzzzzzzzz....*

"Perfect, now let's add a bit of this... aaaand-!"

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

Inside a very dark room illuminated just by a few candles, a red-haired man with a long beard had his face get toasted after something in front of him exploded out of nowhere.

"..."

He took out a small napkin from his pocket and started cleaning his charcoal-colored face. Then, after some seconds he finally finished and then looked at the shattered glass container in front of him.

"HehehehahaHAHAHAHAHAHA, The explosiveness and the heat of the solution has actually increased by a 30%, I'm a fucking genius!!!"

The man soon started gathering a bunch of ingredients and started pouring them inside another glass container with a crazy smile on his face.

*Tzzzzzzzzz*

"What if I add this thing instead? It should increa-"

*BOOOOOM!!!* The glass container exploded once again, and his face was roasted completely once again. This time though, the man took out a bottle filled with red liquid from his pocket and drank all its contents.

The burns on his face soon started healing slowly and he sighed loudly while glancing at the glass container in front of him.

"... Effectivity has dropped by another 10%, this is not a desirable outcome"

*Knock*

*Knock*

*Knock*

Suddenly from the back of the room, a door opened and a black-haired Youngman entered the room while carrying several papers in his hand.

"Teacher, are you really going to attend the [Clean-Up]?!" The young man called out to the bearded man with an astonished expression on his face.

"Yeah, I have been too immersed in my investigation lately. I think the [Clean-Up] might be a good opportunity to take a small rest from explosions, even though I love them very much, nothing it's good in excess. So I guess I will attend personally this time... Besides, I still need to inform his majesty about the results of my investigation, and how we can implement them in our war against those monsters"

"They added one more participant it seems, but the guy will only have three days of training before the [Clean-Up] starts, he won't stand a chance against the other participants..." The young man looked at the list in front of him with a pitying look on his face. But soon he turned to look at the red-haired man.

"Will you make a demonstration at the coliseum of your new explosive?" He looked seriously at the man.

"Yes, this might be a good opportunity to raise up the public's morale. Even though those bugs are stronger than our troops, they won't stand a chance the moment I finish creating the project [Extintion]... I only need a few months until I can finish it..."

 "[Extintion]? You mean that weapon of massive destruction?"

"Yes, we will blow their entire nest in just one go, and then we will reclaim the lands that once belonged to us...!"

...

Jarron7

New character introduction! Can you guess who is it? (It's not that hard)

It's fucking cold here and I can't feel my hands anymore. So if you don't mind, I will leave the author's words here.

Goodbye.