Overlimit Skill Holder

Overlimit Skill Holder Epilogue Chapter 5.1

Epilogue 5 (1)

Five Heroes

★ Keith Gran Federation – A certain village at the foot of a mountain ★

Spring arrives late in the mountains.

Even so, you could feel that it was getting warmer day by day. As such, the bar was packed with villagers.

The mountain roads were now passable, and trade with the city had resumed in earnest. So the bar was also releasing foodstuffs that were likely to go bad.

The villagers were also drinking alcohol, relying on the cash income that will become available in the future.

It was like a ritual just before spring began.

「——Hey, did you hear?」

「Ah? Oh, Ted's stupid song, is it? I've heard it many times this winter.」

「Not that.」

「But no matter how many times I hear it, it still makes me laugh.」

「I’m not talking about that.」

「…Then what, Toby?」

After drinking two mugs of wine and getting a bit drunk, the man finally noticed that Toby was acting differently than usual.

Toby kept his voice low.

「…You remember the peddler from the town who arrived yesterday, right?」

「Ah… the person who confirmed that the mountain road was passable again. It was a different person than usual, though.」

「I overheard him talking with the village chief. I wondered if someone else knows what I know and tried to listen in on their conversation… But it seems that the chief has been keeping quiet about it.」

「Wha, what is it? Are you keeping such a secret?」

「…………」

「Spill it out, Toby.」

「If you know, you will get involved in it too, Max.」

「I don't mind that. Is it a profitable secret, though?」

Toby nodded with a solemn expression.

「For the past five years, we couldn't go deep into the mountains, right?」Toby said.

「Y-Yeah, because there was a giant monster-like butterfly. Five of my friends died from breathing in its scale powder…」

「Since then, it's been decided that we can't cross the mountain ridges.」

「That can't be helped. It's true that black mushrooms which can be harvested in the mountains sell at crazy high prices, but even so, our lives are more important.」

「That’s right, the black mushroom…」

「What are you talking about? Tell me already.」

「According to the peddler, the monstrous butterfly… seems to be called “Dazzle Butterfly” or something.」

「Dazz… what?」

「The monster butterfly seems to have disappeared.」

「HAA!?」

Max exclaimed, half-rising to his feet. The villagers looked at him.

「O-Oi, Max, that's not a surprising story. Everyone knows you were peeing in bed until you were 10.」

When Toby hurriedly deceived them, the villagers returned to their own matters, saying things like, "They're still talking about pissing" or "No matter how much time passes, they're still kids."

「Don't raise your voice, idiot.」Toby said.

「S-Sorry… Rather, I didn't piss in bed until I was 10.」

「Who cares about that… The problem is that the village chief kept quiet even after hearing that story.」

「Hmm? Why is the village chief keeping quiet?」

「It's obvious, isn’t it? He’s going to monopolize black mushrooms.」

「!」

Max didn't raise his voice this time.

「In any case, once traffic to and from the city resumes, the rumors will surely spread. He is planning to harvest as much as possible before that.」

「No, no, but that's…」

「It's been five years, ya know? It's been five years since that monster butterfly appeared. During that time, the mountain was untouched… Who knows how many black mushrooms have grown in that period. If I were the village chief, I'd definitely have it all for myself.」

Max swallowed his spit in response.

「What do you say, Max? You want in? I'm going to harvest it first thing tomorrow morning.」

「…Let’s do it.」

「Great. Of course, if the monster butterfly is still there, we'll run away immediately.」

「Obviously.」

The two toasted their mugs into each other and gulped down the wine.

It tasted like victory.

「Buhah……. Speaking of which, Toby. What happened to the monster butterfly? It's not like someone defeated it, right.」

「Well, that seems to be the case. It seems that some brilliant adventurers drove it away.」

「Adventurers? It wasn’t the knight's order?」

「Have you ever seen knights moving to a place deep in the mountains like this?」

「I guess that’s true.」

「According to what I heard from the peddler, those adventurers seem to be quite famous. It seems they're called the “Five Heroes”.」

「…Five Heroes? Doesn’t that sound exaggerated?」

「Hey, don't drink too much. We’re leaving first thing in the morning.」

「I know.」

The two of them smiled and toasted again.

As to whether or not these two will get a huge amount of wealth–the next morning, when Max arrived at the gathering place, it seemed that all the villagers had turned up with mushroom picking gear.

Even in such a noisy bar, Toby's words were clearly heard by the other tables.

★ The town of dragonewts and beastmen ★

Naturally, the appearance of monsters was not the only outcome of the two worlds becoming one.

A beastmen town situated in a remote location.

Next to it, what suddenly appeared was — a town of dragonewts.

「Why are you guys cutting in line, nura!」

「Aa? Shut up, you lizards!」

A dragonewt and a beastman were quarreling with each other in the city.

Both of them were tall and muscular.

With different appearances, different values, and two races who lived in different worlds, it's impossible to say "get along" all of a sudden. Quarrels such as this were an everyday occurrence.

「Another fight, huh…」

「Don't worry about it.」

Even so, with the threat of monsters so prevalent, the leaders of the two races chose to cooperate, rather than quarreling.

This was also the reason for the policy of mixing both dragonewt and beastmen into the security forces.

However… It's been five years since this coexistence began.

As the threat of monsters decreased, the fights in the city increased.

「You guys, stop fighting.」

「That's right, nuru. Shouldn't we get along, nuro?」

When the security forces called out to the two,

「I can't back down, nuru! I finally got to come here after finishing my night shift!」

「Not my problem. We just finished 20 rounds.」

Sparks flew as their line of sight met.

「How troublesome. Just go in together.」

「That's a good idea, nuru. After all, it's a public bath, right?」

Indeed, the two were quarreling in front of the public bath.

「If the beastman enters, the hair starts falling out!」

「The lizards get in the way of long, leisurely baths!」

Conflicting values ​​clashed.

「You guys…」

「Are you looking down on us, nura?」

Having to deal with this problem in the midst of 40 consecutive shifts, the security forces squinted their eyes in annoyance.

In terms of degree of overworked, the security forces were by far at number 1.

As expected, the two who were fighting noticed their irritation.

「…L-Let’s just take a bath together, okay? Lizard?」

「…Y-You’re right, dog.」

When the two were about to come to an agreement,

「Hoi hoi, you two are in the way.」

A group of old dragonewts arrived, and they quickly went inside.

「Ah, those shitty old geezers!」

「Elder! Don't cut in line, nura!」

Both the beastmen and the dragonewts went into the bath chasing after the elders of the dragonewts.

「——Phew.」

Kimidorigorn let out a big sigh in the hot boiler room.

Many magic tools were in operation, pumping up water, boiling it, and supplying it to the public bath.

Kimidorigorn's job was to manage these magic tools.

「There are no problems with operation, but there are many pieces of equipment that should be replaced due to deterioration over time…」

The work was still rewarding for him.

The culture of public baths won the hearts of beastmen as well as dragonewts. Though there are some beastmen who dislike them.

The fact that the two races' cooperative route is going well despite the many problems is largely due to the baths–Kimidorigorn was proud of himself.

「Boss~ Let's have dinner soon.」

「That's right〜」

「Alright, nurul」

He also had two beastmen subordinates.

They were not hostile towards Kimidorigorn because of his race, and they earnestly studied magic tools under him.

「…I wonder where Reiji-kun is now, nuru.」

He hasn't met the boy named Reiji who created this bath with dynamic use of magic in a while.

「But if it's him, I'm sure he's doing great somewhere.」

Kimidorigorn had that kind of trust in Reiji.

★ Lake Brunstalk – World Conference ★

Once every two years, world leaders around the world gather in Lake Brunstalk. And this will be the third "World Conference".

The first time was when they performed "World Union".

The second time was when they were overcoming the turmoil after the "World Union" and the countries were working together.

And the third time–everyone knew that this conference would be "turbulent".

「Your Highness the Crown Prince, I am sorry for not writing or contacting you for a while.」

「Oh hello, General-dono.」

Two men met in the grand hallway of the magnificent Cathedral. One was a man who was too old to be called a "Crown Prince". However, he was still the energetic crown prince of Geffert Kingdom working efficiently on the front lines.

The other was General Friedrich Berger of the Saint Knight Kingdom, who was so large that you needed to look up at him. He clearly suited the battlefield better than a conference room.

Friedrich was in charge of the entire military force of the Saint Knight Kingdom.

But he still served under the Knight King.

「There is still time before the meeting starts. What do you say, we have a short conversation?」

「Thank you for the good suggestion. Let's sit down first.」

They entered the nearby reception room. An old man and a big man, a strange duo, sat down in their chairs.

Each of them had about 30 attendants with them, so the population density in the spacious reception area quickly increased.

「…I guess you could say that the threat of monsters has disappeared almost entirely. It has been relatively calm in the Federation. How is the situation in the Knight Kingdom?」

「Yes. You can say that we've returned to a similar state before the “World Union”. However, we still can't relax our efforts to exterminate the monsters.」

「Agreed…because generations after this will not have skill orbs.」

Friedrich nodded with a serious look at the Crown Prince's words.

Knights and adventurers who are currently fighting are fine. Because they got their power from the skill orbs.

But the generation of children who will be born from now on will not have that.

In that case, it's natural to want to reduce the number of monsters as much as possible.

「I heard another thing, Your Highness. That the federation has accepted the Lev Magic Empire’s technology deal.」

「As expected of the neighboring country to the Empire. News travels fast.」

One of the ways of survival the Geffert Kingdom chose for the "next generation" was "arming with magic tools".

The Lev Magic Empire has always been the leader in magic tool research.

The other day, they made a deal with them directly and had them provide with their technology.

「I hear that Your Highness has done a great job on that matter.」

「Hahaha, have you started with that kind of flattery too, Friedrich-dono? That was all my father’s command.」

「How is His Majesty King Geffert doing?」

「He’s fine, fine. I'll probably reach the end of my lifespan first.」

Friedrich didn't know how to react to the bright smile of the crown prince.

Was he kidding or was he serious?

Looking at the troubled Friedrich, the crown prince laughed even more.

「…Oh, everyone is here, I see.」

A dignified voice echoed.

The attendants who filled the room suddenly made way for that person.

「Oh…」

「It has been a while, Your Holiness.」

Even the crown prince and general couldn’t ignore her.

The girl who stood at the top of the church―When the pope entered the room, the two of them stood up to greet her.

「I heard someone laughing happily.」

「Oh, it was nothing. I just made a joke about my father. Isn’t that right, General?」

「It was just a joke…」

Friedrich, who was not good at such exchanges, smiled wryly.

The Pope also sat down on a chair, and the three resumed talking.

「Incidentally, did you hear about the “Five Heroes”, Your Holiness?」

「Yes. Not a day goes by without hearing their stories. Just how much achievements will finally be enough for them, I wonder? Liberation of a city occupied by undead monsters, swift resolution of an epidemic, mediation of regional disputes… Their achievements go beyond mere adventurers.」

「No, but thanks to them, our federation has been spared the damage. Especially regarding the giant species, they were a source of trouble, but the “Five Heroes” drove them away to the undeveloped land, Canion.」

「I heard that they are currently hoping to investigate Canion.」

「As you say. However, I suspect that they will remain in the Holy Kingdom for some time before that…」the crown prince said.

Friedrich and the Pope immediately shook their heads in denial.

「They won't get involved in politics.」

「Yes, I agree with Friedrich-sama. I can not imagine them doing so.」

「Hmm. Do you think that because you two often acted together with the Five Heroes?」

The crown prince said with a little envy.

The Five Heroes–they were involved in the "World Union" and played a central role in resolving the chaos caused by the goddess.

Frederick had a connection with the Five Heroes even before that, and since the pope was the vessel of the goddess, she was saved by the Five Heroes.

The Geffert Kingdom is one of the largest countries on the continent, but it was unable to play a particularly prominent role in the midst of this turmoil.

They thought it would be good to at least have some form of connection with the Five Heroes… but they never imagined that mere adventurers would be able to make such big differences.

「However, the central figure of the Five Heroes, the “Mithril Hero", will marry the daughter of a noble from the Holy Kingdom, right? So I can’t help but wonder if they would be more involved with the Holy Kingdom moving forward.」

「If you wish to look at it that way, then I could say the “Mithril Saint” is a member of the church.」

「I really wanted to welcome the “Mithril Great Shield” as a knight of our country, but…」

「In any case, Your Highness. They should continue to act as a balancer that will not be influenced by the motives of any country. They are an impartial balance…」

「If that's the case, then it's fine… If I’m not mistaken, I think the name of the party also sounds similar. “Mithril Balance” or something.」

It was wrong, but both the Pope and Friedrich laughed a little and corrected him.