The Cursed Forest Where I Was Exiled Had Somehow Been Designated As A Sanctuary. - Awakened to the Purification skill, I, Surrounded By Divine Dragons And Great Spirits, Become The King of A Nation - Episode 39

“――Authority Control!!”

The moment Baumann uttered those words, Zess saw something like sludge overflowing from his head.

It attacks the people gathered here like a torrent.

The moment Zess reflexively raised his hand to perform “Purification,” the sludge burst forth as if repelled by something.

“………..?”

Zess wasn’t the only one surprised by the scene.

None other than Baumann is wide-eyed.

“That’s impossible…! ‘Authority Control’ ‘Authority Control’ ‘Authority Control’ ‘Authority Control’――!”

Time and again, the sludge overflows, bursts, and disappears.

Zess is not erasing it with “Purification.”

However, it had already disappeared by the time it tried to possess a person.

“……Futile. In this place where Zess is present, your skills shouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Yggdrasil”

The gently descending Yggdrasil continues to float softly, resting its hand on Zess’s shoulder.

After smiling at the shining scepter before Zess, he glared at Baumann.

“Your skill, ‘Authority Control,’ amplifies, distorts, and brainwashes the authority the target feels. But right now, in this place, everyone’s fear is directed towards Zess.”

“What the hell are you…!”

Baumann shouted irritably at Yggdrasil’s explanation.

“Me, inferior to the cleaner Zess…!?”

With an expression of anger so intense it seemed he might die from it, Baumann glared at the kingdom soldiers under his command.

They were withering, but still, they were captivated by Zess and the shining scepter before them.

“How could I ever accept something like that!!”

With a scream filled with rage, Baumann draws the sword at his waist and lunges forward.

Perhaps because he had dominated many people with his authority and accumulated influence, his movements were akin to those of a seasoned warrior.

“If I eliminate you, I’ll be on top!”

Baumann approaches, shouting an incomprehensible impulse.

While Sonia and the others were trying to intervene, Zess was staring off into the distance.

“Zess?”

Yggdrasil, who noticed it faster than anyone else, calls out from above.

“Is Baumann’s skill really a skill?”

Muttering to himself as if in self-reflection, Zess was staring at Baumann.

The sludge that overflowed when he exercised his skill was very similar to the power of the evil god that had dominated the elf settlement.

I have seen Flora, Peter, and many others use their skills until now, but it has never looked dirty to me.

However, Bauman’s “Authority Control” was different.

And since it appears dirty, it can be cleaned.

(But that sludge itself isn’t dirt. If you want to clean it, you need to address the more fundamental parts–)

The impulses and instincts that well up from the depths of Zess drive him forward.

The “Spirit’s Eye,” manifested through the contract with Yggdrasil, captured the approaching Bauman.

Name: Bowman Arclight
Race: Human
Occupation: [Conqueror]
Level: 12
Muscle strength: D
Defense: F
Agility: E
Mental strength: E
Endurance: F

Skill
“Authority Control”

“The Spirit Eye” strips Baumann’s status bare.
The text “《Authority Control》” shown in the skill section.
Those letters were smeared and worn out in that sludge.

Sonia, who intervened, catches Baumann’s sword.

Through Sonia like that, Zess used his skill.

“—Purification”

Yugushiru’s eyes widen.

At the same time, Bauman dropped his sword on the spot, held his head, and let out a cry of agony.

“Ah, giiiiiiaaaah!”
“Ruff?”

Sonia tilts her head at the transformation.

Through the Spirit’s Eye, Zess’s Purification is engulfing Baumann’s skill, Authority Control.

That scene is something only Zess and Yggdrasil, who possess the “Spirit’s Eye,” can see.

“Yaaaaahhh!!”
“— Ugh, this stain is tougher than I thought.”

While capturing Baumann, who lets out a scream as if being burned by hellfire, Zess continues to use his skills.

The onlookers could only stare in shock at the bizarre scene—eventually, Baumann rolled his eyes back and collapsed on the spot.

“…I’m surprised. I never thought you could actually ‘purify’ a skill itself.”

Yggdrasil, who was looking at the same scenery, let out an exclamation of awe.

Just before collapsing, Bauman’s “Authority Control” had changed its name to “Authority.”

“Well, it’s the basics of laundry. Cleaning isn’t just about the surface; it’s about getting to the root of the problem.”

“That analogy is kind of anticlimactic.”

“Hey, dear. Is this guy dead?”

“I’m not dead. I just fainted.”

“Then should I kill you?”

While poking Baumann’s head, which had fallen to the ground, Sonia nonchalantly says, “Well, well.”

“If we do something like that, we’ll end up as uncivilized savages.”

“Ruff? I don’t really get it.”

“Anyway, you must not kill. Killing should only be done when there’s absolutely no other choice.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Even while soothing him, the kingdom soldiers are rushing towards Baumann.

I was on guard for a possible brawl, but it seems they have no such intention.

The kingdom soldiers who had been hiding in Yggdrasil Village beforehand have appeared, and they are sharing information with them.

In the midst of that, Yggdrasil suddenly looked into the distance.

“Zess. People are being sent to the Great Forest one after another.”
“Well, it’s not going to end that easily, right?”

Even though Bauman was controlling the kingdom’s soldiers, the real power in the Arclight Kingdom lies with the king, Kelas.

“Lord Zess, let’s fight!”

The villagers who had been listening to the two’s exchange stood up with weapons in hand.
Zess opened his mouth as if to admonish them.

“If you do something like that, people will die, you know? I just want to spend time leisurely with everyone. I don’t want everyone to lose their lives over something so trivial.”

“But!”

“Leave it to me.”

To the villagers who are leaning forward, Zess says in his usual tone.

Just that was enough to calm the villagers who had been on edge.

“Zess. Maybe the soldiers sent from the kingdom are already under control too.”

“Even though we ‘purified’ it?”

Baumann’s skills have already disappeared.

However, I have no intention of doubting what Yggdrasil says.

“For now, let’s break the soldiers’ brainwashing first.”

Saying this, Zess looks at the still-glowing royal scepter.

I always felt like I was being called.

Zess hesitantly reaches for the scepter.

And then, the moment he thrust his hand into the light and grasped the handle――, Zess’s vision changed.

“— Here, is”

I was looking down at the Great Tree Sea.

Below, the vast area that Zess had previously purified was shining brightly, and with just a slight focus of consciousness, every single tree, flower, and even small insects growing on the ground became visible.

Zess immediately realizes.

The ability to grasp information about the places one governs in real-time.

This is the power of the “Scepter of Divine Right.”

“Then”

Zess commands the royal scepter.

Information on the adversaries who have stepped onto our territory.

Many black dots appear in the Great Tree Sea.

A group of kingdom soldiers with their heads covered in sludge, under control.

In numbers, hundreds.

Originally, purification cannot be achieved unless one confronts it directly.

However, Zess was already confronting them from the lofty heights granted by the “Scepter of Divine Authority.”

“Purification”

Pure light overflows in various parts of the Great Tree Sea, and the filth disappears.

Only Yggdrasil was able to recognize that as well.

“Yugushiru, can you restrain them just in case?”

What are you going to do from now on, Zess?

“It’s the same as before. You have to hit the root.”

In response to Zess’s words, a large shadow of wings falls on the ground.

Looking up, I saw Haku returning from afar.

“W-we have trespassed into the sanctuary…?”

The kingdom soldier watched Zess petting Haku’s head as it landed on the ground. One of them murmured that.

“Haku, sorry to bother you after you’ve just come back, but there’s somewhere I want to go. Could you head east for me?”

“Growl!”

With Zess holding the royal scepter and Yggdrasil, who had finished restraining the kingdom’s soldiers, on his back, Haku soared vigorously into the sky.