Chapter 171 – Mt.

000

The origin of the name of Horseshoe Mountain is simpler than you think, because the shape of the mountain really has the shape of a horseshoe when viewed from above, that is, a ‘U’.

In the past, during the war with the Empire, it was used as a base for the frontline base of the Imperial soldiers, and traces of the supply base they used and left behind in the mountains and dangerous magic tools such as magic mines were occasionally found, and the general public was prohibited from entering.

… Even so, since it was inefficient to put up guards on a large mountain, the current attitude of the kingdom was that entering the mountain was at one’s own risk.

There is an opinion that it is irresponsible, but Horseshoe Mountain was considerably devastated due to the influence of the weapons used by the Imperial Army in the previous war, and there were no resources left, so it was a land that was of no help at all.

There is little wildlife, and very little vegetation. Ores were also depleted.

As a kingdom, it was not uncommon to want to talk to the magicians and demolish the mountain itself, but it could also affect the spirit veins flowing to the royal capital, so until something good was found, it would be left unattended.

“…That’s the approximate information of Horseshoe Mountain.”

After hearing a brief explanation from Iona on the way, Cleon nodded.

“You know quite a bit.”

“Yeah, I was originally a member of the Kingdom’s intelligence agency. There are other reasons too…”

While talking like that, Iona sneakily looked behind Cleon.

Then, along with Cleon and Quon, who was standing next to him and listening intently to Iona’s story of her, they turned to look behind her.

“Why, why…?”

There, Eusthes, who seemed to be having a hard time, was wiping his sweat her, and when she saw her eyes returning to her her, she asked Iona in bewilderment.

“Shall we rest for a while? Once we get into the mountains, we’ll have to climb again, so it’s better to replenish our stamina even now.”

“Yeah, that’s right…”

Eustes sighed at Iona’s consideration her, but nodded to her and sat down on the nearby grass.

“Quon. Cast a recovery spell on Eustes.”

“Yea, I got it.”

At Cleon’s request, Quon nodded and used divine magic to get closer to Eustes and restore his physical strength to his.

Eustes’ expression improved as he felt a little more at ease, but his apologetic expression his for the three did not disappear.

“…That’s pitiful. You said you’d follow yourself.”

Eustes looked down at his hands her with a self-deprecating laugh.

Anansi was the first to notice the disappearance of medicines and people from the monastery, but she saw them as a threat to the monastery and allowed them to escape.

After that, she contacted Iona, and when Iona visited the monastery, Eustes was also ready to go out.

“Anyway, it seems that their curse does not end with simply changing a human body into a woman.”

Iona says that while holding Eustes’s feminine arm while talking.

Before being cursed, her arms her, which had grown thick through repeated training, were now thin enough to be similar to Lyla’s.

Due to her lack of strength and stamina of her, she would easily get tired even if she wore her original weapon or armor.

“The part I trained is weakening…”

“That’s right… To put it simply, I think it doubles as a level drain.”

Level drain. As a type of black magic, it is a curse that absorbs physical abilities that the target does not have naturally, but accumulates through training, or the results of magical training.

It is difficult to use with a normal human body, and it is used by demons who are good at ‘absorption-type magic’ like succubuses.

Considering who had cast this curse, it was somewhat of an expected result.

“That’s why the results of training disappeared, and physical strength and strength are weaker than before.”

When Cleon said that, Eustes couldn’t help but salivate.

“Well… If you lift the curse, you’ll be able to return to normal. We’ve seen cases where level drains have been lifted before.”

“That’s fortunate, but… Fundamentally, if I don’t quickly return to a man’s body…”

At Eustes’ words, Cleon was silent for a while, and then he looked at Eustes and talked.

“…I know you’re nervous, but you have to be calm when it’s like that. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely solve it.”

At Cleon’s encouragement, Eustes lightly nodded his head while blushing a little.

Even after getting enough rest, the beating of my pounding heart didn’t slow down at all.

“…That’s right. Come to think of it, what’s the point of saying this after I said I’ll follow you… But why did you allow it? If it was before, you would have said something like ‘Where Are you going with that body?’ “

When Eustes said that, Cleon and Iona closed their mouths for a moment and met their eyes.

To put it simply, the purpose was to take Eustes in order to slow down the progress of the curse.

Rather than living in a monastery surrounded by women, an open environment.

And, it was because he thought that the situation in which he could throw himself into a fight for the people of the kingdom away from the enemy of the kingdom as a bandit was consistent with the ‘Noblesse Oblige’ that he usually values.

It was to regain the sense of actual combat without forgetting the self before the body change.

He did not think that his body his would be so weak that his physical strength his would drop just by wearing equipment and moving.

“It looks like the armor is the problem. As expected.”

“…Hmm. Even if it looked like this, if it were me before, I could have worn it quite lightly…”

Eustes said that while examining the men’s graves on his body.

Looking at it, Cleon muttered involuntarily, as if he had suddenly remembered him before.

“It seems that he was strong enough to wear that heavy-looking full armor.”

“Ah. Is that armor? It was sold by Elesia. It was mithril, so it was lighter than normal armor, but…”

Let’s talk as if I miss Eustes, and Iona also helped.

“Surely, you did that because my father told you to sell it, right?”

“They said they wouldn’t accept me as a disciple if I didn’t sell them…”

At Eustes’ words, Cleon and Iona burst into small laughter, and Eustes smiled as if drawn by it.

“…If Talchek looked at me now, what would he say and laugh?”

Suddenly, when Eustes said that, Iona and Cleon shut her mouth.

Of course. He would have laughed He would have laughed as well, holding her belly button and rolling on the ground.

I should be kidding, did it happen because I couldn’t catch a single devil?

But, I won’t laugh at you.

He doesn’t do anything to trample on the pride of the weak.

That’s what it means to not treat your hands, and it was equal to the weak, the losers, and the winners.

“If it were unchecked… I think even you who became like that would still consider me a disciple.”

“I’m not good at how to express it, but my father probably won’t care much about the extent to which a person’s appearance has changed.”

“…I see. Even in a country like this…”

At the words of Cleon and Iona, Eustes nodded his head slightly. However, he still could n’t seem to escape from the self-blame that his body he became like this because he was weak and because he was impatient.

“You are a wonderful person, Mr. Eustes.”

At that time, Quon, who had been casting recovery magic on Eusthes, opened his mouth.

“… When powerful power arises, there are definitely people who are swallowed up by that power. Sacred sword. Demonic sword. Magic. Magical tool… However, even if Eustes-san obtained the power of the holy sword, even if it was imperfect, it was for himself. You’re not using it, but you’re trying to use it for people, right? You’re a good enough person, right? Cleon?”

“Yeah. Compared to the past, I think I’ve become much more reliable.”

At the words of Cleon and Quon, Eustes remains blank for a moment, then lowers his head while blushing.

“Thank you, thank you.

Looking at the embarrassed Eustes, Iona and Cleon smile bitterly.

Then, all of a sudden, Eusthes stopped laughing and raised his head as if in doubt.

“… Um? Wait. Back in the day… Come to think of it, Cleon. How did you know I was wearing that whole armor?”

For a moment, I felt the air there freeze.

Cleon talked to him involuntarily, but it was because while Eustes was wearing that stupid armor, he only acted and appeared as `Leona`.

Officially, the first time Cleon and Eustes met was while fighting Talchek with Ruba.

“That…”

“It was as if I had seen it myself… “

Thinking that she is a mess, Cleon sends her saving gaze to Iona, and then Iona clears her throat as if she understood her situation her in an instant.

“Leona must have told the story~ She took you and entered the dungeon with me~ Isn’t that right, Cleon?”

Cleon hurriedly nodded at Iona’s words her.

“Is that so! It was a dark history for me, but… It would be nice if it became a story about drinking.”

And Eustes, who still knows nothing.

Quon can smile because he knows everything.

“T-Rather than that! It would be a bit difficult to go with that armor, so let’s look at her hand her. Even if it’s impossible to transform into a female form, there should be a way.”

Iona raises her voice to quickly change her subject and examines the armor attached to Eustes’s body.

“How do you mean… Take off her auxiliary equipment her?”

“That’s right… Remove the protective gear from the shoulders, arms, and legs… And tear off the parts that are also attached to the body…”

“Ah. And I can use the magic of light weight.”

While Iona and Quon tend to Eustes’ armor, Cleon turns his gaze toward Horseshoe Mountain.

If you light the fire of the hunter’s inscription and magic poem, you can grasp the approximate location or silhouette of the things inside it even from a distance.

There, Anansi attached the thread.

Cleon, who is connected by the imprint of control, can feel the existence of threads and follow them-

“…”

It didn’t feel very pleasant.

It was because, divided into two and one, they felt that their vitality was gradually weakening while surrounded by numerous biological reactions around them.

‘This… It’s better not to show it to Quon and Iona.’

Quon, who is relatively weak, of course, but Iona is also a knight, so it wouldn’t be very pleasant to see women and women being insulted.

“Okay! How about this?”

In the meantime, Iona raised her voice as if Eustes’ armor modification had finally finished.

“It’s almost cloth, but… Is it okay?”

When Eustes asked in a worried voice, Quon, who was standing beside him and saving magic, answered with a smile.

“Not only is it lighter, but the entire body is covered with a thin but magical barrier. Rather, it might be better in terms of physical defense than before?”

At Quon’s confident voice, Eustes couldn’t help but nod. She takes a quick look at herself now, then glances at her Cleon and opens her mouth.

“…If that’s the case. Me too, it’s much easier to move this way. How about it? Cleon?”

Cleon was taken aback for a moment by Eustes ‘sudden request her for her own opinion of her, but she slowly looked at her.

With most of the cumbersome or heavy parts removed from her armor her, she was a newbie adventurer who did n’t even have the money to buy a piece of meager armor.

Underneath her armor was the simple cloth she had worn at the monastery, so when she took off her armor, you could see a little bit of the line going down from her shoulder to her chest, from her chest to her waist, and from her waist to her thighs.

The only thing left of the armor was a top made of leather and gloves left behind to wield a sword.

“There’s a feeling that it’s a bit too short… But if it makes it easier to move around, I think it’s fine.”

“That’s not what it looks like…!? Ah, no.”

Even as Eustes said that, she was startled and covered her mouth, but after a while, as if she had calmed down, her expression her returned to normal and cut her off.

Iona and Cleon also broke into a cold sweat for a moment at Eustes ‘attitude of her, but soon she let out a sigh of relief as she restrained herself.

“But, is it defensive magic? If there was such a convenient thing, a party with a priest wouldn’t have to wear expensive armor, right?”

“It’s not like that. Since it’s a magic that uses physical force, there’s quite a lot of mana required. Going on an adventure with one body wrapped around it will cause even a clergy with a lot of mana to run out of mana.”

When Cleon answered Eustes’s words, she looked at her cuon with a little concern.

“Gwa, it’s okay. I’ve been preparing for the magic problem in advance. That’s right, Cleon?”

“… Yes. Like she said, you don’t have to worry too much about her magical powers.”

Even if it’s a fallback, it’s not that strange. Just create a passage of her magical power her between Quon and Layla, and use Cleon as a relay, even if she is far away, so that Layla’s magical power her flows into her as much as she needs.

Since she does n’t use much of her magical power her when she is stuck in her mansion for her research her, Quon suggested that she use her own magical power effectively while she goes out to help her Cleon her.

What. It was just a few days ago yesterday that I joined together with the two to realize that method.

Besides, Quon still had an unresolved issue regarding angelization.

When he was attacked by Rail at the academy, he prevented his awakening as an angel with a magical charge, but compared to before, his magic recovery speed was significantly increased.

Considering that, the current Quon may be able to produce output comparable to that of a high-ranking priest of a tolerable church, or even a cardinal-level priest.

Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is yet to be judged.

Thinking about that, Cleon looked back at the mountain. Time is still in the morning. The effect of the thread has also identified their location, but if their life, which is gradually weakening, is extinguished, the thread will not be able to play its role.

It was necessary to retrace my steps a little.

“If you’ve finished preparing and resting. Let’s go soon. It’d be better to finish before the sun goes down.”

001

The wind of Horseshoe Mountain was the bleak wind of death.

Desert land. Organs rising from the ground. The cause of this was mostly the aftermath of the magic weapons used by the Imperial Army.

A weapon of indiscriminate destruction that disassembles and absorbs the magic and life force that exist around it and uses it as an energy source.

In the latter half of the war, when the tide of war turned, they used such magical weapons without hesitation even within the Imperial Territory, their homeland.

Most of the imperial territories, including the islands, were now barren and had to wait for magic to naturally recover.

It is said that the drafts of magic weapons were created not by the empire’s technicians, but by the demons the empire summoned and worked with.

Irrespective of which side the winner of the war was, was the purpose simply to reduce the elements of the natural world that hindered them in this world and to reduce the land on which people could live?

It could only be said that it was self-inflicted that they fell into the trap of the demons who thought they were controlling them by using the psychology of the imperial people who did not choose any means for victory.

The unrecoverable land swept away by such a war turned into terrain that made it difficult to walk on, so although it was said that it could actually locate the target, it was unknown how to get there.

“…The direction is this way, but the road is blocked.”

As Cleon said and pointed to the cliff, Eustes made a disgusted face.

“Do I have to climb this…?”

Quon’s face turned a bit frightened at those words, but Cleon shook his head.

“You can use flight magic, but you don’t know what will react to it after flying in the sky. I’d better take a detour…”

Needless to say, ‘what’ were the magic tools left behind by the imperial army.

It was a well-known story that automatic firearms were installed to automatically track flying targets to prevent the kingdom’s mages from flying in and attacking the fortress.

Iona looked around at Cleon’s words, then turned her head to look around, and then she chose the path to the left from the cliff.

“This way must be faster. The direction is over the cliff, what distance is it?”

“About 600m… Somehow, it’s a step full of confidence.”

Iona turned around with a bitter smile at Cleon’s words her.

“Well, it’s not the first time I’ve been here. I’ve been with my father several times.”

“What about unchecking?”

Iona, who talked while recalling her past her, nodded her head at Eustes’ question.

“As you can see, it’s a harsh environment. There are no wild plants or animals that can be eaten, and magic tools that react when you make a mistake. They say that there is no such good training ground close to the capital, so I and my disciples climbed the mountain for days. While…”

It must not have been an illusion that Quon’s face turned blue.

“By the way… How old are you?”

“That’s right… It’s been exactly one year since I first held a sword… Maybe from when I was 8 years old?”

“You brought an 8-year-old to a place like this!?”

When Eustes raises her voice in amazement, Iona says ‘Ahaha…’ She still gave her wry smile.

“That gorilla… Was doing something outrageous in a place where I couldn’t see…”

When Cleon says something like she’s tired of it, Iona looks around her once more.

“I think so too. Eventually, some of the people I accepted as disciples gave up and ran away, fed up with the harshness of Horseshoe Mountain and the unusual strength and toughness of the human father.”

“I can’t say anything about that… Ah.”

After Cleon answered, she shut her mouth for a moment, then made a noise as if she had remembered something.

“…Come to think of it. When I was little too, I think Talchek took me to the dangerous area of ​​the Living Forest and dragged me around for days.”

“…”

“It’s a good thing I didn’t take you into the forbidden zone, Cleon.”

“What? A danger zone is a danger zone, as the name suggests, but it’s a dangerous place.”

Cleon nodded her head slowly and began to move her steps in the direction Iona pointed.

“… Am I the one who received the kindest lesson from Talchek…?”

Eustes could not help but think as he listened to the story of the two.

002

Even after that, when Cleon confirmed her direction of her, Iona suggested her route to that place, and as a result, she continued to move forward without stopping.

Cleon and the party were able to confirm that there were men on the lookout near the entrance of a plausible mountain cave.

The four of them hide in the bushes and watch the bandits with their prey killed.

The equipment was not bad for a simple bandit, so it was seen that he was wearing things that could only be obtained from equipment stores in the capital.

“Did you steal it from the adventurers who came to subjugate you?”

“For something like that, it’s strange that there are as many equipment as the number of people. It seems that the scale is quite large… What should we do?”

“…It seems that the core of the spirit vein is also inside this mountain cave. Anyway, we need to go inside.”

Saying so, Cleon pulled out the red sword – Talchek’s sword.

Not bringing Galatea and Caliburn was also a reason similar to not using flight magic.

It was because there was a high probability that magic tools would respond to anything related to magic except auxiliary magic.

“About four of them can be seen here…”

“I’d like to deal with it before it makes any noise. In that case, would it be better for the two of us to go out at the same time?”

“I-“

As Iona and Cleon prepared to leave, Eustes raised his voice.

When the two look at Eustes at the same time, she hesitates, then draws her sword and talks.

“…I will protect Miss Quon just in case.”

At her words her, Cleon smiled.

“Yes. Please take good care of me.”

Obviously, Eustes would have wanted to go out and fight together.

However, even if you think of it strategically or based on your ability, it might be an act that catches the two of you.

That’s why he suppressed his enthusiasm and found ‘what he had to do’to protect Quon while Cleon and Iona were away.

“It’s not bad to see a priest grow up, right? Cleon.”

Cleon nods at Iona’s words and puts her strength into her legs her.

“Let’s go.”

The next moment, when Cleon and Iona jump out of the bush with an explosive charge and run in a straight line, those who were watching cut their bodies before recognizing the two people’s charge, and fall to the ground spilling blood.

The blow of the two, which seemed to blow away even the wind and sound, was nothing short of a lightning strike.

“What-“

The other two, after seeing their comrade fall to the ground, noticed Cleon and Iona’s surprise and tried to wield their weapons.

However, even that was the preemption of Cleon and Iona’s sword, and the two of them pierced the vital points neatly, and only fell to the ground without screaming.

Eustes could not close his mouth wide open at the swordsmanship of the two and tightly gripped the sword in his hand.

“What are you guys!”

At that moment, a shout came from behind Eustes and Quon.

There, a person who appeared to be a bandit’s companion was holding an ax in his hand, glaring at Eustes and Quon and running towards them.

“Kuh…!”

When the unexpected thing really happened, Eustes quickly grabbed the longsword and blocked the ax from swinging.

‘Muh, heavy…!’

Eustes’ arm his, which blocked the ax that had been swung, was almost at its limit.

He was fighting his strength his and blocking his ax with his sword, but he felt the blade slowly getting closer to him.

It might have been that the opponent was bigger than him, but Eustes felt once again that he was weak.

‘…If you collide with strength and strength, you can’t do anything with this body… Then… ! Gut…!`

The next moment, Eustes tilted his sword and sighed. Then, he slipped the ax into the path of the sword and twisted his body to dodge it.

When the ax was swung and fell close to the ground, he quickly swung the iron sword and cut his hand down.

With his own strength his, he could not cut through even the thickest part of him. So at least he won’t wield his weapon his.

Whether Eustes’ judgment was correct, the bandit let out a scream of pain when his hand was cut off and sat down.

The moment he pushed the ax with his foot so he could n’t grab it again and tried to slam his neck his.

The man stretched out his other hand in a last-ditch effort and struck Eustes in the stomach.

“Ugh…!?”

Eustes shrinks in anticipation of the shock, but when he expresses his doubts about not feeling the pain

“Barrier…!”

From the side, Quon stretched out his hand and, in addition to the previously activated defense magic, added additional protection magic to completely remove the shock.

Conversely, to a bandit whose fingers seemed to be broken, when Eustes finished off, he too became an immobile corpse and fell face down on the spot.

“… No, that’s surprising. Are you okay? Even if you see a dead body…”

“… It’s been three years since I started being an adventurer, too.”

Quon smiled bitterly and prayed for a while. Perhaps, it is the church’s prayer that the souls of the dead can be saved.

“Are you okay!? Quon! Eustes!”

Cleon, who has returned after dealing with the watchers, checks the physical condition of Quon and Eustes.

“Yeah. It’s okay. Eustes-san isn’t hurt either.”

“Haa… I’m glad… Thank you, Eustes. For protecting Quon.”

Let Cleon smile kindly as if he was really fortunate and answer Eustes like that-

“Ugh…!”

Eustes sat down again, holding his heart his.

“Yu, Eustes!? Did you get hurt somewhere!?”

“Ah, no… More than that, the medicine in the bag… “

When Eustes said so, Quon took out a vial of white medicine from his bag and handed it to him.

Eustes hurriedly inhaled the medicine, took a few deep breaths, and sighed as if he had calmed down.

“…Somehow, the taste seems to be better than yesterday…”

“…It’s probably because of your mood. Are you really okay? Don’t overdo it…”

When Cleon said that and put his hand on Eustes’ shoulder, Eustes raised a voice that surprised even himself, saying, “Hyaa!?”

Then, he rubs his neck with a dazed expression, as if he were really surprised by the voice.

“What, what…! Is this my voice!?”

“… You, Eustes…”

“… Kuh… No. Still, it’s okay. It’s okay. Cleon. I’m… Eusty… Eustes Woodnocker.”

Unknowingly, Eustes, who almost called herself ‘Justina’, roughly pressed her chest and drank all the remaining medicine from his vial of her.

Then he got up from his seat, took the sword and returned it to his waist.

“… Go, let’s go. Before the sun goes down, we have to get down from the mountain.”

“… Okay.”

Cleon looked down at the emptied vial as Eustes stumbled and tried to walk straight.

‘The taste has improved… ? That’s-`

Soon, she had an ominous thought, but she shook her head and headed for the bandit’s lair with Iona and Quon.