The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 547

The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I’m a “Farmer”, Not a Demon King! ~

Chapter 547   Destroy the church

“What are you saying? That you’ll crush us? Do you really think you can do that?”

With that said, as the first step of that rampage, shall we deal with this guy who’s shouting something?

“Don’t come any closer!”

“Hey hey, is it okay for a knight of the ‘Holy Church’ to be in such a sorry state? Even though you’re the boss of the bad guys, I’m unarmed, you know? What are you so wary of?”

As I approached the man who seemed like the captain, the surrounding knights pointed their swords at me, but even so, I didn’t stop my steps.

“Damn it, do it!”

“—Too slow. Don’t underestimate the Tenth rank, you weaklings.”

The knights swung their swords at me upon the captain’s command, but I dodged their attacks, scattered seeds at their faces, and approached the captain’s side.

Then, I tripped the captain’s legs and made him fall. At the same time, I snatched the vial he was holding and grabbed the captain’s neck from behind.

“If you’re going to say that much, then try drinking it yourself. If you do, I’ll acknowledge that the potion is genuine.”

“Y-You fool! This is real! Stop—”

“Whether it’s real or not is none of my concern. I’ve already decided to end this. It doesn’t matter anymore what others say. And it was you guys who made me decide on this. So, there shouldn’t be any complaints, right?”

I was originally going to rampage as a villain. It doesn’t matter if the citizens now think we had the potion to create mutants. In fact, it’s a gain just to confirm the fact that these guys have the potion to create mutants. After all, until now, it was just speculation that they had such a potion. Actually confirming it is a good thing.

“You’ve become the trigger for a historic event that’s about to unfold. How wonderful. You might leave your name in history.”

With that, I tried to put the potion into the captain’s mouth, but he stubbornly kept his mouth tightly shut, refusing to open it.

So, I reluctantly shoved it up his nostrils and made him drink it.

Though the captain choked as it was poured through his nostrils, it didn’t matter as long as it went into his stomach.

Well, it’s true that it’s easier to pour it through the mouth, so the remaining contents were poured in through the now-open mouth due to coughing.

“Gaaaaaaah!!”

About ten seconds after I poured the potion in, the captain’s body began to swell.

The volume was such that it couldn’t possibly fit within the armor, but astonishingly, it swallowed the armor as it grew.

Due to the flesh swelling from within while wearing the armor, the fasteners broke, and the armor, broken into pieces, was buried within the bulging flesh.

And there are other differences from the mutants I’ve seen before.

For some reason, these ones have a lot of human elements.

You might think that’s natural since they were originally human, but it’s not.

The mutants I’ve encountered before had forms like humans clad in black flesh with tentacles extending from them. While there were differences in details, the general characteristics were more or less like that.

However, this time, although its humanoid figures clad in black flesh, it has multiple limbs, and eyes and mouths are emerging all over its bodies.

Although it still has only one head for now, and roughly speaking, its silhouette might be considered human, in reality, you wouldn’t think of it as human when you actually see it.

Is it because the quality of the potion has improved? Or perhaps these individuals were originally closer to the limit than the citizens?

“What are you doing!”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Didn’t you see? I just made this guys drink the potion you brought. Well, the result turned out to be monstrous, though… oh well. I guess we’ll have to admit we’re at fault for this.”

The knights, who had witnessed the captain mutating after drinking the potion I gave him, criticized me, but it was originally the potion brought by you guys.

Well, it’s all for the best. Now we’ve proven that this potion is genuine and gained persuasive power to insinuate that we made it.

Though, this captain might not be able to spin words anymore to persuade the citizens.

“Well, I was originally a criminal. It’s nothing new to be criticized by someone. Rather, it feels like I’ve been too quiet lately. Don’t you think causing a big commotion here would be entertaining?”

While addressing the knights like that, I glanced around, but the knights were only trembling in fear, pointing their swords at me.

As I took a step forward, the knights in that direction made a clattering noise as they retreated from their armor.

Such a sight was somewhat comical, and I couldn’t help but smile. But suddenly, before attacking them, I thought of something that would be better to do first. Not that it would be better to do, but rather, something that would be better to confirm.

“But before that… take this.”

Pointing my index finger towards the sky, I release “Irrigation” from the tip of my finger.

The water ascends towards the sky and then, pulled by gravity, rains down upon the knights like rain.

As I twirl my fingertip, the area where the water pours shifts, and most of the knights standing there end up getting wet.

“Hey, you guys. Those over there are getting wet. Purify them. —Yes, with all your might.”

Upon my command, the subordinates gathered around immediately began to use “Purification”.

And the result…

“Ugh, g-guhhhh…!”

“Hey hey, what’s going on? We just purified them, right? We didn’t give them any potion or put any curse on them. So why are they suffering so much from purification? It’s like they’re possessed by demons or something.”

Though some of the knights, wet and purified, are unharmed, about seventy percent of them are clutching their chests or heads in agony, kneeling on the ground.

While there are knights without any issues, they look around at their comrades with confusion, seemingly unable to grasp what’s happening.

However, such a state couldn’t last forever…

“Ugh… g-g-ggggrrraaaahhhh!”

Among those suffering, about half of them, approximately thirty percent of the knights purified by my water, have transformed into monsters.

“And finally, they turn into monsters. Well, I expected this, but it seems the curse progresses deeper with the Church’s folks.”

Thus, the mutated ones exhibit a different appearance from the mutants encountered earlier, just like the captain before. From this, one can infer that there are factors such as strength and purity to the curse.

“They’re disposable. —Erase them.”

There’s no information I want from them, and to begin with, they probably don’t have much useful information anyway. So, it doesn’t matter if they die.

With that decision made, I instructed my subordinates to dispose of the former knights who had turned into mutants.

While my subordinates were dealing with the mutants, they also started moving to defeat the knights who were surrounding the square elsewhere. They might hold out surprisingly well against a hit or two, but since they’re still just knights with a bit more strength and haven’t mutated yet, they should be disposed of in a few minutes.

“As for that, it’s fine as it is. But did Lilia disappear here? Well, there are certainly traces of a battle.”

With the obstacles gone, I conducted another investigation of the area where Lilia was said to have disappeared.

Indeed, there were traces suggesting a battle had taken place there.

Fought and taken away. That much was clear, and well, let it be.

But then there’s a question. Or rather, astonishment? I feel like sighing involuntarily.

“But what were Lilia’s escorts doing?”

From the looks of it, some of Lilia’s escorts fought, but not all of them. Only about two or three of them seem to have fought properly. There were about twenty escorts altogether, both those overtly guarding her and those guarding her covertly. Despite that, only a few of them actually fought.

I don’t want to consider it, but could there have been a traitor?

“It seems that they were instructed by Lady Lilia to assist with everyone’s preparations and were driven away. Still, they were performing their guard duties from a distance, but it seems to have been somewhat lax. Additionally, it appears that they couldn’t track the enemy due to some of them turning into mutants.”

I thought so, but it seems I was mistaken. It turns out that Lilia herself dismissed her escorts in the first place.

…Sigh. What’s the point of having escorts then? Even if you’re driven away, don’t just accept it. Well, maybe they were happy to be asked by an idol, or they couldn’t refuse, or they didn’t want to upset her. But if you can’t protect her, it’s pointless.

But well, I’ve made the same mistake, so I’m not going to blame them for it. At least, not now.

Now is not the time to complain about such things, but to deal with the problem at hand.

“So? I’ll ask just in case, but do you know where she went, or who’s responsible for this in the first place?”

I already know the answer to that without asking. After all, the moment I heard about Lilia disappearing, I asked the plants for information.

However, the plants here lack vitality due to the influence of barriers and curses, so there might be mistakes.

I just asked to confirm my suspicions.

“There were no direct witnesses to everything, but based on the gathered information, it seems to be the work of the Church.”

And that information matched what I heard from the plants.

“Well, that makes sense.”

The plants wouldn’t lie, and considering the circumstances, it couldn’t be anyone other than the Church.

So, the enemy is the Church.

As I reaffirm that, I exhale deeply and glance around at the subordinates present once again.

“Oh, Granny. Sorry about this. You’ve been doing all sorts of things for us. Probably… well, definitely going to ruin it all.”

Seeing Granny among the subordinates I glanced at, I apologize to her.

Granny has been helping us not only while we were at the Sacred Tree, but also during this food distribution event, going back and forth between the castle, the church, and the nobles, pulling some strings for us.

And now, all of that is going to waste because of our actions. I don’t intend to stop here, but still, I can’t help but feel sorry about it.

“If that’s what you want to do, then go ahead and do it. We’ll just follow along. After all, all we have here are a bunch of drifters. Don’t you love a good festival?”

But Granny says this with a smile, and as she looks around at the subordinates, voices rise up here and there in agreement, as if responding to her gaze.

In fact, some voices seem to have been hoping for this outcome.

Well, they’ve been too quiet for Karakas residents until now. It must have been stressful for them to know they’re being underestimated, to know they’re being targeted, and yet they had to remain quiet.

Now they can let it all out. If they can rampage as much as they want without worrying about consequences, they must be thrilled.

It might not be acceptable for the country as a whole, but it’s our way.

“Well then, let’s go.”

“Uooooh!”

On this day, it was decided that the church would be crushed.