From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 617 Iron Guard's Ambition
"We have arrived at Iron Guard Ambition!"

The little elephant wrote a heavy stroke in its journal.

He tilted his head and thought for a long time, then crossed out the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence and replaced it with a restrained period.

The journey was far from pleasant; it was filled with struggle and despair. Without Professor Doom's adventure backpack, perhaps some would have perished along the way, instead of being declared guilty by the judge and executed...

It's more heartbreaking to see hope only to be met with despair than to fall in the darkness before dawn.

The little elephant wiped away its tears and wrote a few more lines.

The miller in the civilian group, missing half a hand, turned out to be a vicious murderer. He would sneak into people's homes at night, strangle them with a rope in the darkness, and then steal their money, squandering it all on the black market.

The demons that invaded Cannabri put murderers and special inspectors on the same side, and transformed a cowardly violinist into a warrior who could play on the battlefield.

In just a few days, the baby elephant experienced too many separations and deaths, and witnessed too much joy and sorrow.

In this city, he had witnessed too many tragedies and madness, not only the ubiquitous cultists, but even the Holy Order, which swore to protect goodness, was on the verge of confusion and collapse.

The little elephant sniffed and continued writing: "This city's attitude towards magic can't be considered friendly. Due to Chief Hurren's witch hunt, many commoners who only have a superficial understanding of magic believe that they can use magic because they are possessed by demons."

"Just from the descriptions of a few civilians, I can guess how many mage apprentices who showed even a little talent were persecuted. Not to mention that the witch hunters would imprison a pharmacist's daughter and torture her to death because of rumors."

"Compared to these poor people, I, the little elephant from Akevivo and a student of Stryhaven, am undoubtedly lucky."

"After saving Resca with Professor Doom's Transformation Cookie, he didn't distance himself from me because of magic. Instead, he believed that magic was also a powerful tool to fight demons. In Kanaburi, where witch hunting was prevalent, this kind of pragmatic understanding was rather rare."

"Leaving the city's sewers, we did indeed enter the old cemetery outside Kanaburi, just as the sergeant had said. However, this cemetery is far from peaceful. Necromancers are working to resurrect the warriors in the graves, turning them into the vanguard of the demonic invasion. The nearby swamp has also been altered by the chaotic power brought about by the demons' appearance, with large numbers of gelatinous monsters leaving their habitat and entering the cemetery in search of food. Both of these monsters are causing us great trouble as we move forward, not to mention the ubiquitous cultists and their demonic masters."

"However, it's not all bad news ahead of us. There are still survivors resisting in various parts of Kanaburi, and we've also met new companions in the old cemetery."

"His name is Sendrimer Nakos Chibton Tomolin, a cheerful, one-eyed dwarf sorcerer who's always chattering away. We all call him Sendrimer. By the way, I like his ombre hair."

“Sendri’s appearance has undoubtedly added a lot of laughter to the heavy atmosphere in our team, even to Resca, who is always at odds with him. Maybe he didn’t realize it, but I think he and Sendri could even officially debut as a duo in the circus! I’ve even thought of a name for the duo: ‘The Brainless Dwarf and the Grumpy Demon’!”

"However, Sunder's arrival has also brought a new shadow to us, namely disease. One of the commoners who took refuge in it, a gravedigger, contracted the ghoul plague."

"This is a plague that spreads through mucous membranes and flesh. The initial symptom is that the infected become extremely hungry, and can even eat twice the amount of food a normal person can eat each day. However, such frantic eating does not alleviate their symptoms. Instead, it causes these poor people to lose weight rapidly, and even their skin will begin to turn yellow."

"Next, the infected person's body temperature will start to rise, and then they will develop an appetite for raw and rotten meat. The rotten lizard meat we bring out from underground most likely ends up in the stomachs of gravediggers."

"I'm not entirely sure about the subsequent symptoms since there are no samples available, and Resca, who was the first to recognize the symptoms of the ghoul plague infection, couldn't describe them accurately either. However, he was very clear about the final outcome of this plague: turning into a ghoul, an undead monster that feeds on the flesh and blood of the living."

"What saved the gravedigger's life was Professor Doom's disease-removing potion. The moment the potion was ingested, the gravedigger's sallow skin returned to its normal color, and his fever subsided."

"However, in order to combat the potential plague that may spread in the swamp outside the cemetery, we will head to the nearby apothecary's hut in hopes of obtaining some additional supplies."

"There, we found a mentally unstable apothecary. The same one we mentioned before, the one whose daughter was captured and tortured by the witch hunters. Ever since her daughter died before her eyes, she has gone mad, only having a few moments of clear thinking each day. But her madness hasn't taken away her potion-making skills. Neither for the sake of those skills nor for the sake of her daughter who died at the hands of the witch hunters, we can't just leave her in the swamp to die."

"Having defeated the necromancer who awakened the dead in the cemetery, we can finally leave the wandering dead behind. The ravaged city of Kanaburi is getting closer and closer. The fires burning in the city can be clearly seen from afar. Screams and wails echo in our ears all the time."

"During this journey, we even discovered some kind of demon that was stalking us. It looked like it was made of frost and ice, and it would reflect a series of bright lights when the light shone on it. However, when we entered the burning Kanaburi district, the frost demon completely disappeared."

"I always had a feeling that it wouldn't give up so easily."

"Kannabri is a scene of devastation left by demons; the alleyways are filled with mangled corpses, and the blood-stained armor of the Crusaders is scattered everywhere, covered with twisted and cracked wounds."

"The heat of the fire caused black ash to fly to several other neighborhoods that had not yet been ignited. Fortunately, the city has a tradition of using brick and stone as building materials, which prevented the fire from becoming a disaster for the entire city."

"But the madness and despair that this city has endured cannot be described with just one or two adjectives."

"Before a destroyed shrine of Shanri (the sun goddess of Grallion, also known as Morningflower, and one of the gods worshipped by the Crusaders), we encountered six human knights in tattered armor." "They looked exhausted; the repeated battles with demons had completely shattered their sanity, and only fanaticism remained to keep them going."

"Surrounded by six knights was a weeping woman who knelt before the shrine of Shane, begging for the salvation of the sun goddess."

"Your sacrifice is worthwhile! It benefits good!" I heard the leading knight, a strong woman with a wounded face, say. "The blood of a virgin can temporarily transform our swords into demon-slaying weapons, which we will use to rip open the bellies of demons and crush their bones! You will help us accomplish this great task!"

"Obviously, the blood of an ordinary mortal cannot possess any divine power, and no rational person should allow a particular individual to stand up and sacrifice for the greater good."

"We've exhausted all our words and efforts to stop these mad knights, yet we've had to resort to swords and magic to achieve our goal. I've even started to waver; these warriors could be fighting demons one moment and then succumbing to despair and madness the next."

"'By their very existence, the demons can bring chaos and unrest to the world.' Resca patted my shoulder, offering a soft word of comfort. 'Think about it, Kun. If we can't drive them back to the depths of despair, how many more innocent people will fall into despair and madness? Until then, every bit of strength that can be used for a future counterattack is invaluable. We must get the intelligence to Ironclad Ambition and save the warriors still fighting there.'"

“Resca is right. It is because countless people foresaw this worst outcome that the Crusade was able to receive donations and contributions from all over the world. If we cannot cleanse ourselves of the corruption from the demons, Grallion will become a lifeless and hopeless place.”

"After composing ourselves, we tried to invite the poor woman out, but she shook her head and refused. She had risked coming out into the streets to gather food for her paralyzed parents, but she never expected that she would have to be wary not only of demons, but also of knights driven mad by demons."

“We couldn’t take the immobile people with us, as that would severely slow us down. So after leaving some clean food behind, we continued on toward Iron Guard’s Ambition.”

"As I said before, there are still countless warriors fighting in the city. They organize their defenses by relying on narrow streets and watchtowers made of huge stones, and build shelters near temples and churches to provide refuge for other surviving citizens."

"It was in such a sanctuary that the murderer, disguised as a miller, was recognized. Neither the judge nor the nun wanted this criminal with a serious criminal record to mingle with the citizens, and even though I told them to cherish every bit of strength, nothing could be changed."

"The murderer who lost half a hand was executed, but I couldn't sleep peacefully. Thinking about the dangerous missions he volunteered for on his journey, I couldn't help but fantasize: what if he could eventually repent and atone for what he did in the past?"

"'Then he'll have to atone for his sins for a lifetime, no, for many lifetimes,' that's what Resca said. 'He didn't just strangle one or two people. If criminals can't be punished, how can the innocent and good find peace?'"

"I think he's right."

"After leaving the church and the city guards' outposts, our group passed through several more lines of defense formed by cultists. Arrows and flames flew overhead, and for the first time I realized that being too big could also be a disadvantage. I was hit by an arrow, and the wound was on my shoulder. It wasn't the first time I had been injured on the journey, but it was the first time I had been a burden to my teammates."

“They didn’t abandon me because of my massive size. Sundere used magic to destroy half the house, while Resca circled around to the cultists and finished them off. After the battle, almost everyone was injured, but not a single person fell behind.”

"The cultists' defenses are getting tighter and tighter. Just as Resca received the information, they are surrounding Iron Guard Ambition, trying to completely extinguish the flames of resistance in Kanaburi."

"But we can't let them have their way."

"Once we cross the massive rift in the city square, we'll reach Iron Guard's Ambition. It's said that the rift was created by a demon lord, and I simply can't imagine what kind of power could have done that. In the fight against the demon lord, the city's guardian, the silver dragon Terendilifer, was even beheaded, and his body has vanished without a trace."

“We used the ruins and materials readily available in the city to build a road through the cracks, preparing to embark on our final journey. But before the road was clear, a terrifying demon appeared in a corner of the city.”

"It's a massive demon covered in spikes. It can easily topple houses, and arrows and magic seem to have no effect on its skin. We can't think of any other way but to stall for time."

"Fortunately, as a student of Hengjian, my specialty is creating statues using dust and the essence of departed souls."

"But I have never used this magic outside of Strehaven before, and I don't know if it will work in abnormal spacetime."

"Fortunately, the warriors who perished in Kanaburi answered my call, and together with the bricks and dust in the ruins, they formed one statue after another, charging towards the demons."

"Dust and fire still danced in the shattered city square, and death relentlessly pursued our footsteps. We leaped and ran on the rooftops, moving closer and closer to our Iron Guard ambitions and the safe harbor."

"Even as warriors in gleaming armor and wielding sharp weapons burst forth from the brightly lit tavern, we still doubted ourselves—had we really succeeded?"

"The golden light flashing on Commander Tirabard's sword answered us. 'In the name of Iomede, slay these demons!' The orc paladin led a squad of soldiers to meet the demons behind us, and another great battle began."

"Although demons dominate throughout Kanaburi, in this little tavern, the good people have the upper hand."

"Flames and golden light ignited the demon's remains, and we arrived safely at Iron Guard Ambition, leaving the burning city far behind."

(End of this chapter)