1270: Laranflura and Balfon

「I am Balfon, the alter ego of the Superhuman General, as well as the East Conquest Duke!」

「How the hell did you class change from an old man to a brat?!」

「Hehehehehe! Isn’t it marvelous? All thanks to the fruits of my research!」

Huh? This is the East Conquest Duke? He’s the same person as the Superhuman General?

So basically, there’s some old dude in that body?

「Everything was for creating the most powerful force in the world! I fused myself with the successful superhuman, putting two souls into one body! When Laranflura is in control, I am a genuine child, and the Superhuman General. When I am in control, I am the East Conquest Duke who can use my relic to its fullest!」

A powerful relic capable of dominating others, combined with the ultimate body completed after years of research. He really wanted it all, huh? But in that case, why bother sharing the body instead of taking it for yourself…?

「…There must be a reason why you don’t take complete control. Oh, I know. The secondary soul must not be fully compatible with the Superhuman General’s body.」

「As if such a thing would stop me. I simply prefer to catch my enemies off guard!」

Whoa, it seems the East Conquest Duke just told a complete lie. In other words, Sibylla’s deduction is correct? It seems he can’t stay in control for long.

「…Either way, I doubt you’ll ever be able to return yourself to normal. Are you sure you’re sane?」

「Hehehehehe! Losing my original body is a small price to pay in my service to Raydoss!」

「…You are free to be as crazy as you want, just don’t involve a poor little girl!」

Amanda shouted angrily, and East Conquest Duke Balfon simply shrieked in return.

「This outcome is exactly what Laranflura wished for! The girl herself desired power! In case you didn’t know, she was originally a resident of Kranzel.」

Laranflura apparently lived in a frontier village in Kranzel until she was six. However, the lord of that land was greedy and tried to sell the low-productivity villagers as slaves. He conspired with bandits to make it look like they were abducted.

Many villagers were captured, though a few managed to escape across the border in secret. There, they were secured by people from Raydoss.

It seems Laranflura doesn’t have detailed memories of the incident, but she does remember seeing her parents being killed before her eyes as well as her strong grudge against the Kranzel Kingdom.

Fran lowered her head. The memories of the past must have come flooding back.

「Even as a child, her hatred and determination were genuine! That’s why she endured the superhuman transformation experiment that drove so many adults mad, and successfully attained the power she wished for! She accepted the fusion experiment with me without hesitation, hoping for revenge against Kranzel! I am Balfon…!」

The atmosphere of the Superhuman General changed dramatically.

「…And I am also Laranflura!」

The girl returned to being Laranflura, then slammed a blast of mana at her feet to jump back and distance herself with the recoil.

「Hehehehe! How wonderfully shaken you are!」

It seems Balfon has returned, judging by that creepy laughter. Amanda shouted with an expression of frustration at the Superhuman General.

「Laranflura! I can understand your grief at losing your family, but doesn’t that mean you can sympathize with those who lose loved ones? Why do you commit such massacres!」

「Only my family matters to me! I couldn’t care less about anyone else! Rather, those who can still sleep peacefully with my family dead are nauseatingly detestable! Do you think my Mom and Dad will smile at me anymore?! No more enjoying tasty food, no more laughing while watching the sunset, no more rejoicing at a good harvest! Why? Why do the others get to live? Unforgivable! The lucky ones and this entire world are unforgivable!」

It was like a child’s tantrum. No, that’s exactly what it was. Her face was so painfully sad that it seemed as if she would die from sorrow alone.

「Raydoss gave me a reason to live and the power to fuel my revenge! I won’t spare my life, body, or heart if it serves Raydoss! I give it all!」

Her hatred and murderous intent were more powerful than ever before.

Sibylla showed a slight expression of sympathy. Fran thought back to her own mom and dad with sadness. Amanda froze after hearing the girl’s wailing.

「Hehehehe! At this rate, Laranflura and I are doomed to be defeated here! But that is our wish if it benefits Raydoss!」

「You don’t get to talk about what benefits Raydoss!」

「No, you are the one who doesn’t deserve to speak on behalf of Raydoss! Foolish ignoramus who knows nothing of the truth!」

Balfon twisted his face in mockery upon hearing Sibylla’s anger.

「What is it that you know and I don’t?! There can’t possibly be any good reason to massacre your people in the first place!」

「Those ignorant to our country’s true mission have no right to speak! I will sacrifice anything and everything to bring our goal to fruition!」

「True mission? Yeah, I don’t know and I don’t fucking care! The Red Sword Knights exist to stop the king and dukes from going mad with power! We serve the people!」

「Going mad with power? Hah, what a joke!」

「You clearly are!」

「Our actions are all for a just cause!」

「Just shut up already! The people are worth more than your shitty cause!」

「Nothing precedes our cause! Not even the people!」

Sibylla clashed with Balfon in a heated argument. Of course, Fran and our other comrades had also launched their attacks at Balfon, but his cloak of divine energy was harder to penetrate than ever before.

No matter how many attacks we landed, none of them dealt much damage.

（Master. Let’s do the ultimate attack from earlier! Curry Slash!）

『F-Fine.』

I’m not against doing that! But I’m definitely changing the name later! You hear me!

However, it seems Balfon was also aiming to deal us a fatal blow. Despite being surrounded by such powerful opponents, he had been secretly infusing mana into his relic.

「Behold the power of my relic!」

A powerful surge of mana emanated from the polearm in Balfon’s hands.

「Maximum output! Drown in the nightmares of your past!」

The eeriness of Balfon’s mana seemed to reflect his distorted personality. A nauseating discomfort befell anyone touched by the surge.

「!」

『Fran?』

「Ugh…」

『Fran! What’s wrong!』

「Ahhhh…!」

Fran held her head and crouched down on the spot.

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