The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 561

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

Chapter 561   To Lilia

“Now that’s over. Shall we head to where Lilia is?”

With this resolved and Darado gone, things should be easier. He was such a pain. It’s fortunate we managed to deal with him, in a way.

But why did this sudden change occur? Did our actions here lead to some failed countermeasure?

Could that failure be related to Lilia?

If we consider that her being taken by the curse disrupted the balance, then this situation might make sense.

She is the child of the Sacred Tree, housing the power of the divine tree that opposes the cursed deity.

By absorbing power from Lilia, the curse got mixed with the divine tree’s power and went berserk.

Or perhaps, by absorbing the power of the divine tree, the barrier activated, causing adverse effects on the curse, leading to its rampage.

That could be the case, I suppose.

“Why did you do such a thing!”

As I tried to head towards Lilia, this time it wasn’t Darado but the Hero who blocked my path.

“Such as what? Are you referring to the support earlier? That’s harsh. I helped because it seemed like you were struggling.”

“I could have won without your help!”

“But you weren’t winning at that moment. There’s no time now to deal with just one guy like that. Can’t you see what’s happening around us? The church is filled with monsters. We can’t afford to worry about one person. Are you going to choose to save one comrade, or are you going to sacrifice innocent people? Which one will you choose, Hero?”

With that said, the Hero seemed to either understand, feel defeated, or simply have nothing more to say, lowering the sword they had been holding.

Whether he accepted it, were demoralized, or something else entirely, it doesn’t matter as long as he doesn’t interfere anymore.

With that settled, I resumed walking.

“…Wait, that’s right. I can’t leave the Pope behind, can I?”

But after walking a few steps, I remembered the Pope’s presence. I couldn’t just leave him behind.

However, when I turned back to look, the Pope wasn’t there, only the figures of my comrades.

I thought maybe there were too many comrades blocking the view, but even the plants I implanted around the Pope showed no reaction. The possible reasons could be that those plants died for some reason, or perhaps he went beyond the range of my skills.

“Does anyone know who secured the Pope? And where did the guards go?”

I asked my comrades who were present, but none of them gave a clear answer, only shaking their heads or discussing among themselves. Perhaps they hadn’t even seen the Pope or the guards in the first place.

“Oh, could it be that they mutated again from earlier? Even if they were being manipulated by the parasitic tree, they’re still mutants, right?”

Kyle responded to my inquiry, and indeed, now that it’s mentioned, that possibility seems quite plausible. If Darado, who was perfectly fine earlier, could mutate, then it’s entirely possible for those who still had remnants of their mutation to undergo another transformation, breaking through any minor alterations.

Well, the result is that they’ve joined the ranks of those lying around, but it’s become a bit troublesome. With them gone, I’ve lost track of where the Pope disappeared to.

But I never expected the Pope to flee in that condition. If someone says I let my guard down, well, I suppose I did.

“Huh… He managed to move like that?”

No, rather, he gained the ability to move, didn’t he?

Everyone else became so strange. It’s not odd for the Pope to gain power and become mobile. Even the lack of reaction from the plants makes sense if he didn’t flee beyond my skill range but instead absorbed them through mutation.

This is getting troublesome again…

I thought I couldn’t do anything more, but now that he’s fled, I have a bad feeling about it.

Nevertheless, we don’t have the time to search for the Pope right now. Recovering Lilia should be our priority.

“For now, half of you here search for the Pope who fled. If necessary, use additional personnel. The rest of you, come with me to retrieve Lilia. Oh, and make sure to incinerate them. We don’t want the curse spreading. Alright, let’s go—”

“W-Wait!”

“What is it, Hero? I appreciate your help earlier, but we’re in a hurry now. You understand, right? If you get in the way, I’ll kill you.”

“Uh… I…”

I thought I wouldn’t be interfered with again, but being interrupted once more, I responded to the Hero’s words with a mixture of irritation and murderous intent.

“What… What on earth is happening?! What have you all done!?”

“I don’t know. We’re just as confused as you are. We came here this time because our comrade was abducted by the Pope, and we didn’t intend to do anything else. If we did something, it would be dealing with those lying around over there.”

Well, it’s more like those who are related to them, or more precisely, the people from the church.

“If you want to know, investigate it yourself.”

This time, I started walking again, leaving the Hero behind and heading towards Lilia.

However, even though I said I was heading to Lilia, the anomaly hadn’t been resolved, and we were still being attacked by mutants along the way. My newly joined subordinates were eliminating the enemies, so I didn’t have to do anything myself, but it was still somehow bothersome and mentally exhausting.

In the midst of that, I suddenly thought of trying “Irrigation” on the mutants.

“It’s remarkably effective…”

The mutants hit by “Irrigation” withered as if their moisture was being drained, eventually turning into mummified-like figures.

Since this water could remove curses, it was understandable that it would be effective against mutants, which could be considered as clusters of curses.

But I didn’t expect it to be this effective. I mean, even if they’re called clusters of curses, they’re ultimately just humans transformed, right?

“How about trying to sprinkle this water on everyone we meet?”

As I gazed at the withered mutants, Sofia came up with such a suggestion.

“What? This?”

“Yes. Based on the purification of the path we’ve taken so far and the Sacred Tree, we hoped to achieve the effect of removing curses by using the water provided by Lord Vesnar during the campfire. And it seems that it actually had an effect. Therefore, although the effect may be weaker when ingested, it may be possible to suppress mutations by sprinkling water.”

“I see. Well, it’s worth a try.”

I can defeat them, but it’s not really a hassle. So, if we can prevent mutations in advance, that’s worth considering.

There’s a possibility that they might mutate like they did during the campfire, but that’s okay.

If we worry about them mutating later, it’s not advisable to protect them now, and it could make the situation more complicated. So it’s easier to just let them mutate from the beginning and deal with the aftermath.

“We’re here. Hey, clear the way!”

I never imagined it would be right under the cathedral. And to make matters worse, the way to get here was through a secret passage from the chapel—aren’t we mocking the gods a bit? A secret passage from a place where prayers are offered to places related to the evil god… I’m not a religious person, so I don’t care what kind of structure it is.

As we descend underground, the unpleasant feeling grows stronger. It’s the same feeling I sensed near the Sacred Tree—meaning it’s the aura of the curse. Most likely, this area ahead has a denser curse compared to other places.

But that’s to be expected. After all, there must be the source of the curse ahead.

Descending the stairs, we reached a surprisingly spacious underground area.

However, despite the spacious area beyond the passage, our subordinates, who found this place, did not advance further into the room but stayed clustered around the entrance.

After pushing aside those subordinates, I could finally see the full extent of the room.

The ceiling was open, and in the center, there was some sort of large mass surrounded by cluttered machinery. Pipes extended from there, crisscrossing throughout the room and connecting to the walls beyond.

And within the central machinery, our objective, Lilia, was placed, with cords connected all over her body.

We should go to her aid immediately, and it doesn’t have to be me who fulfills that role. Yet, the ones who made the discovery were not moving towards Lilia but simply watching.

The reason became apparent as three mutated beings stood in front of us, blocking our view of the room as if protecting it. Moreover, these beings emitted an overwhelming pressure unlike anything we had encountered before.

And beyond them, standing next to the central machinery, there was a man.