Chapter 98: Shrine of Martial Arts

I returned to Glendale via teleportation after lifting the beastkin king's curse and healing him with the elixir made from the Leaves of Yggdrasil.

Afterward, I took all my classmates and teleported us back to Vestier once again.

This was to help heal the army soldiers who were injured during the attack by the warlock.

The attack happened one month ago, so we could not revive 32 soldiers who had died.

Despite that, we were able to save the soldiers who managed to hang on to life even on the verge of death.

With Ryuka, Tina, and me at the core, the wounded soldiers steadily recovered.

As expected, Ryuka’s ability far exceeded mine when it came to recovery magic.

She could even restore missing parts instantly.

Halfway through, I realized it would be better if I supported Ryuka instead of stacking healing magic, so I continuously provided her with mana.

As a result, we managed to recover approximately 150 soldiers in half a day.

Ryuka was exhausted, so I handed the elixir to her.

“H, Halt, t, this is…”

“It’s a thinned elixir. It has a fatigue recovery effect, so drink it. Thanks for your hard work today, Ryuka.”

“Even if it’s thinned, this is still an elixir, right? Giving such a precious thing to me…”

“But if Ryuka wasn’t here, there would be a lot of people we couldn’t have saved. One bottle is enough to save a person, but because Ryuka is here, dozens of people were saved. That’s why I’m giving this to Ryuka. You can drink it now, or you can save it for later.”

Elixirs were not only useful for the restoration of missing body parts. They could recover a huge part of body strength and mana, as well as wipe out fatigue.

The base was the highest grade of elixir, so even if it was thinned down by ten times, it was more than enough to completely recover energy and mana.

Ryuka consumes a huge amount of mana to use [Resurrection], so there is no harm in owning the ultimate mana recovery medicine.

I set my expectations on Ryuka, so I completely used up the original elixir on the beastkin king. Thus, I’m apologetic that I could only give her the thinned version.

“Thank you very much. I will recover after sleeping, so I will treasure this for now.”

After saying that, Ryuka placed the small bottle of elixir inside her bag with utmost care.

I think I will ask Sylph for more Leaves of Yggdrasil and make a lot of elixirs.

Three days have passed since then.

There is only one week left until the Martial God’s Warrior Tournament.

Ryuushin will also participate since he wanted to show the result of his no-magic training with the flaming knights.

What a considerable fighting spirit.

Aside from that, we were also treated as heroes in Vestier, especially Ryuka and me.

Ryuka was the person who rescued the majority of the injured soldiers.

She received several ingredients, fur with great texture, as well as sharp fangs from the people when she walked around the city.

When sharp fangs were processed, they could possibly be made into swords that have great sharpness.

Apparently, most of the givers were the families of the national army soldiers that we rescued.

In the midst of them, there were also the families of the soldiers we weren’t able to save.

“Thank you for avenging us.”

They cried as they gave their thanks.

I thought we would be unreasonably scolded with statements like ‘Why didn’t we come earlier?’

However, in Vestier, the strongest are in the right, and all those engaged in battles already prepared themselves to die.

Their families were also like that…

That’s why the families of the soldiers killed by the warlock could only accept the fact that they lost.

The Imperial Beastkin Guard who acted as our guide told us that it did not mean they wouldn’t hate the warlock who killed their beloved family members, but no beastkin would resent me for defeating the warlock and showing my strength, either.

He lost a great portion of his body’s left side due to the warlock’s attack, and he lost his life a day before we came to Vestier.

However, thanks to Ryuka’s revival magic, he was able to preserve his life. He was now our guide and escort, and we walked through the capital together like this.

Tina and the whole class were walking together.

“If there is one place one had to go in this country, it would be the shrine dedicated to the Martial God. Would you like to go there?”

“The Martial God, is it? I never met him before. By all means, we want to go there.”

“Hahaha, your manner of speaking is as if you already met other gods besides the Martial God.”

Short of saying ‘What are you talking about,’ the imperial beast guard laughed at me.

He probably wouldn’t believe me, but I’ve already met two gods in this world.

They were the Sea God and the Evil God.

The Evil God was a given since he was the perpetrator who killed me and made me reincarnate into this world.

However, not once did he interfere with me again after my reincarnation.

As for the Sea God, we became buddies since I was six years old.

When we first met, we had a relatively serious battle, and since that time, we acknowledged each other’s strength, and he arbitrarily thought of me as his so-called worthy rival.

Thanks to that battle with the Sea God, I was able to create the flaming knights, and I also made a contract with Undine.

Legend says that the Martial God was one of the so-called latter gods, and he attained divinity a short while after this world was created.

As for status, my worthy rival, the Sea God, is above him, so I have this sense of competitiveness even though I don’t know why.

After all is said and done, I like the Sea God.

I should visit him to play since it’s been a while.

I should inform him that I got married and that the members of my family have increased!

While thinking of these things, we arrived at the temple where the Martial God was enshrined.

“Wow, this is amazing,” I unconsciously said in wonder.

The ginormous shrine was situated in a carved-out hollow on the cliffside.

“Presently, only beastmen can enter the shrine; however, because every one of you saved the king of this country and us, you have been permitted to enter.”

Heh, that’s lucky then.

Martial God, will you come out?

“Ugh, dunno why but my back has been tingling since we arrived, meow.”

Merdie, who normally had a sloppy posture, straightened her back and briskly strode forward.

When a cat-type beastkin didn’t stoop, they would walk in a slightly amusing manner.

According to the imperial beast guard, the Martial God was a former beastkin who possessed an overwhelming power that the Creator God recognized. After his death, he attained divinity.

In other words, the Martial God was Merdie’s and the beastkin's ancestor.

All the beastkin who came here would tense up since they were being watched by that kind of Martial God, apparently.

We reached the innermost part of the shrine.

A gigantic statue of a lion beastkin stood there facing us.

Apparently, this was the appearance of the Martial God.

I think he looked like the current beastkin king.

“Ahm…what is this?”

I became curious about the flames lit at the foot of the Martial God’s statue and the straight waterway of about 10 meters extending from the flame up to this place.

The waterway was a bit higher than its surroundings, and there was a pedestal on its end. Its width was enough for only one person standing with his feet apart on top.

It’s like there was a tacit invitation to stand on top and put out the flame at the foot of the statue, with the way it was built.

“Legend says that if the flame at the base of the statue is extinguished while on top of the pedestal, the Martial God will appear.”

Yes, just as I thought!

“Can anybody try?”

“Yes. However, using magic is forbidden. It was said that the Martial God formerly extinguished a flame from a distance with only the force of his punch. This shrine was built after that story was handed down from generation to generation.”

Hmm, so that’s how it was.

Anyway, let’s try it.

I donned my magical suit and climbed up the pedestal.