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Chapter 400

“…I’m near my limit,” Joshua mumbled.

His heart throbbed. A closer look at his state revealed black veins bulging out of his skin.

-You’ve actually been enduring everything quite well. Other people would have become a demon within a hundred days, but you’ve delayed the transformation process for ten years, you stubborn bastard. However, it’ll be meaningless after today because I have already regained most of my power. Thank you for training every day to prevent my demonic power from encroaching on you, since your body will soon become mine. Hehehehe.

Joshua did not respond to the voice prattling inside his head.

-You can’t even afford to speak now, huh? It’s okay. You and I are already one, so you’re able to communicate with me by just thinking.

“…Just like you said, you feed off my power.”

-Oh? Now you feel like talking? Well, your ego will be erased completely anyway, so why don’t we talk a little before it happens? We were actually great partners before, right?

“You mean two people with a very unpleasant history,” Joshua snapped back.

-Don’t be too harsh, hehehe. Humans have a saying: hate is another form of love.

Joshua stopped climbing when he reached the edge of the cliff. He stood upon the coldest place in the world. No one lived around this northernmost region where there was nothing but blizzards.

“This place looks good,” Joshua said.

-Are you going to kill yourself? It’s meaningless, and you know it, don’t you? You can now longer die even if you want to.

That was the scary part of this demonic transformation process. The moment Joshua gave up on his life, the Demon Spirit would instantly take hold of his body.

“I have been thinking about this for quite a long time. You parasite off of my power and you’ve been completely absorbed into my body, so it would be impossible to remove you from me.”

-You know it very well.

“Then will you, a parasite, be able to survive if I starve you by stopping the flow of my power completely?” Joshua asked.

-Hmph, I was wondering where you were getting at… Stopping the flow of your power completely? I told you that your death is the most perfect way for me—

Joshua shook his head. “I’m not talking about dying.”

-…What?

“It would be more accurate to say I’m putting myself in a long-term coma.”

The Demon Spirit was palpably startled.

“I’ll only kill my body. Of course, I haven’t abandoned my will to live—I actually came this far in order to survive.”

-W-wait. What are you talking about—

“I’m going to freeze my body and stop the flow of my vital force until the day you die completely. Even if it takes a year, ten years, or a hundred years, I’m going to survive and get rid of you, Demon Spirit. Then I’m going to return to the people who are waiting for me.”

His will to live was based on his survival instinct and desire to live, and he held to those feelings more desperately than any other human in the world.

“Aqua, the primordial stone,” Joshua called.

The power within him responded, by creating a giant pool of water. The primordial stone was the treasure of the Human Realm; with its remarkable abilities, creating a pool of water was a trivial matter.

Joshua walked toward the pool without hesitation.

-You crazy bastard! I’ve never heard about freezing a living being. You might really die this time!

“It’s better to die than losing my body to you,” Joshua firmly replied.

-Wait. Stop! Stoooop!

Joshua grinned as he was fully submerged in the water.

“Demon Spirit, you’ll never be able to beat me,” he declared.

The pool of water froze solid.

* * *

Winter of Year 750 of the Continental Calendar.

The two men were walking down a road in the northernmost region of the Avalon Empire, where snow fell every day.

“It’s cold enough to freeze my balls off. Shit, maybe I really have to head down south.”

“You’re just saying stuff. You know how serious things are down there.”

“Yeah, I know, and I don’t want to get dragged into the battlefield either. There’s no such thing as a peaceful day in this country.”

“Isn’t it about time that the war came to an end? It has already been two years since the rebels began their uprising across the entire country.”

The other man stopped in his tracks. “What? Have you heard the news about the war?”

“You know about the mercenaries who occasionally visit our village? I heard it from them.”

“Why would mercenaries visit this barren village when even the higher-ups aren’t interested in this place?”

“That is how bad things are in the national army, and mercenaries are mostly with the national army. They lost and lost, and then they ended up here.” The man sighed. The weather was so cold that his breath created a white cloud so thick it completely blocked his vision. “I know it has nothing to do with us… but it might be better for the rebels to win before the war stretches on any longer.”

“Hey! You might get punished if someone hears you! Besides, a new emperor will ascend the throne, right? Then the situation will become better for the national army!”

“It’s meaningless now… Whoever the next emperor is, they won’t be able to reach the level of the missing emperor. He was the famous Martial God—everyone in the continent knew about him! Gosh, that was a good time.”

“Then which prince do you think will become the Martial God’s heir? Selim Sanders or Kireua Sanders?”

“Why are you leaving out one of his children? You never know; Princess Iruca, his only daughter, might become the next emperor.”

“Come on, you’re talking nonsense.”

Joshua Sanders, the Martial God and the current emperor, had three children: two sons and one daughter. They were the aforementioned princes and princess.

“Yeah, it’s nonsense. It’s more nonsense to keep delaying and get nagged by our wives.”

“What? You’re heading home right now? Why don’t we grab a beer? It’s been a really long time.”

“No thanks. While we were out there to get food, I walked around the snowfield with my eyes wide open for too long, and I now feel like they’re spinning.”

“We still have something to show for it, right?” The man held up the dead rabbit in his grip and grinned. The two men were hunters, born and raised in the northernmost region of Avalon.

* * *

A person was watching those two hunters from afar, his face hidden beneath the folds of a hood. He had come to a halt to keep his distance from the hunters, but he abruptly started walking again.

“…Those children becoming the emperor?”

A snowy wind blew his hood off, revealing the face of a beautiful man with deep blue hair falling to his waist. He looked to be in his thirties at the oldest.

“Hah, I’ll be able to leave this burden to somebody else then.”

Considering the man’s identity, it was truly an irresponsible remark. Of course, he had no intention of sitting on his hands. He was going to help the national army from the background.

“…It has been a long time since I left home.”

The man’s destination was finally decided. He was headed south, in the direction of Arcadia, the capital of the Avalon Empire.

“The looks on their faces… are going to be a sight.”

He walked in a slow, unhurried pace, an unusual smile dancing faintly on his lips.

The end of 《The Legendary Spearman’s Return》.