Chapter 424 – [Part 5 Interlude] Embers

000

Three days have passed since the catastrophe caused by Princess Amelia’s runaway that occurred in the royal capital.

Here and there, broken roads and buildings.

In order to fill the holes dug into the underground ruins, a large amount of soil and rocks were brought from the plains around the capital.

Even at the academy, personnel have been dispatched to help restore the capital, and students in academy uniforms can be seen everywhere on the road.

When the magicians move the rock, students from the swordsmanship department swing their swords and cut the stone into the required shape.

After that, students from the Department of Architecture get busy, reinforcing and repairing damaged areas.

Looking at the distance, the blonde girl in her coat let her out a sigh.

“Those students, it seems like a free service.”

As she stops for a moment and looks at the students with pity as she speaks, the silver-haired girl in the bread hat who was chasing after her said, ‘Eugh’ and stuck out her tongue.

“The kingdom is also a black sword… Shouldn’t it be given a scholarship?”

“Because it seems like it is costing a lot just to make up for the damages suffered in this incident.

The blonde girl begins to move her leg again, where she stopped, and walks down the avenue of the aristocratic house.

The streets of the commoners and the streets of the nobles, which one suffered the most—

Comparing the two, I don’t see much of a difference.

If only I had been less attacked as a noble.

If only I had been attacked more for being a commoner.

The rift between nobles and commoners would have only deepened, but that did not happen this time.

“The punishment is equal regardless of whether the noble or the lowly… Is it?”

The silver-haired girl replies to the blonde girl’s words her.

“Still, it’s fortunate that no one died. Quite a few people were injured, but…”

“Because the Great War was shut down in the middle of it. Something was happening. Some quick-witted people must have noticed.”

In a situation where there were so many wounded, the people of the royal capital should have lined up at the great temple and rushed to receive treatment.

Pope Escatology ordered the closure of the Great Temple and closed it to the public until it was reopened.

Although many people complained, the pope’s will was strong, and they had no choice but to seek out a civilian priest or, at least, a doctor whom they could not normally hear.

“…That crusader… Verastol. When I woke up, he wasn’t there.”

“Even when I woke you up. Probably, you came to your senses first. If so, the place you returned to is Daejeon. All of the eyewitness testimonies. To investigate that side, I don’t have enough strength right now.”

And after that, the two people’s footsteps stop at the same time.

Even within the aristocratic family, the Tromeia family’s mansion stood there almost unscathed.

As if it were the shield of a kingdom that could not be defeated.

The crest of the shield adorning the main gate.

However, as if someone had thrown a stone, there were stones rolling around in front of the main gate, and the guards who should normally be standing were nowhere to be seen.

As the hero Aruru was defeated by Princess Amelia, the damage increased.

The fact that such a story is circulating is a blonde girl-

Aruru’s friend and rival, as well as Merca, the kingdom’s special investigator, knew it well.

And what followed behind him was Gray, the gray detective of the kingdom.

The detective agency was closed, and now he became Merca’s assistant.

Gray was the one who made Merca’s prosthetic arm himself, and was also the one who fixed it whenever she broke hers.

And, behind the front door, someone was waiting for them.

“…Welcome. Merca-sama.”

Covering her whole body in a maid’s uniform, she was a woman with brown hair and emerald eyes.

When she nodded, her head her hung down, her hair flowing down with gravity.

Gray sees her figure, opens her mouth and puts on a look of astonishment.

“Wow. It’s really changed… I didn’t recognize it at the moment.”

“…Don’t make fun of me…”

The way she blushed and covered her mouth, there was no trace of a man anymore.

“Are you used to your new body? Justina.”

“Yes. I’m getting help from my colleagues in many ways. I was told to refrain from intense training for a while, and I took a break from my work as a battle maid.”

At Justina’s words, Merca nodded her head.

As the crystal of perfection within her body her was drained away, Justina’s body her, which has now completely become a woman both physically and mentally, does not have a magical organ that can produce the same powerful magical energy as before.

Also, thanks to her weakening of her stamina and strength of her, which could be said to be the manifestation of her masculinity of her, it seemed that it would take a little more time for her to be able to use the skills she knew originally .

“…By the way, why honorifics?”

Obviously, when we met three days ago, we should have been talking in plain language.

“For now… I’m welcoming guests with my duties as a maid.”

“Aha. That makes sense again. Then, could you guide me to the owner? Tell him that I have come to visit you in the hospital.”

While saying that, Merca showed the small paper bag she was holding in her hand.

Justina bowed her head once more and opened her closed front door.

Then, after confirming that the two had come inside, he locked the lock again.

Gray and Merca looked at it quietly.

“If you don’t keep your seat, there are people who will try to come in beyond throwing stones… “

“…It’s anger. It can’t be helped, but it’s a big deal. Throwing stones at the front gate of the duke’s house. No matter how much the Tromeya family allows it, they actually do it.”

Merca shook her head as if she was fed up, and Justina walked behind her as her guide her.

After through the long garden and passing through the entrance of the mansion, the bright and warm lobby welcomes the two.

“The Tromeya family’s mansion… I don’t know how many years it has been. I don’t think it’s changed a bit since then.”

“…Wow, how much does it cost if you add all the furniture you see here and there…?”

The interiors of the Tromeia family, which are quite frugal among nobles, were only items at prices that Gray couldn’t afford.

“Aurelia is with Percy right now. Since the accident three days ago, Sir Percy hasn’t regained consciousness either… I’ve already told you that you two are coming.”

“…I see. I hope you feel better.”

Hearing Justina’s story, Merca thinks of the two of them with regret.

The fact that Sir Percys had been defending her daughter and was defeated by the black giant’s attack had already spread throughout the capital.

Most of them praised Sir Percys as the father who protected his daughter.

Thanks to that, the evaluation of Aruru, who was not able to stop Amelia despite being protected, got worse.

“Aruru-sama is waiting for you in the drawing room.”

When Justina resumes her guidance, the two begin walking the hallways of the mansion again-

Before long, it arrived in front of the drawing room.

Justina cautiously opened her mouth in front of the door.

“Aruru-nim. Merca-nim has been brought.”

“Yeah, it’s okay to come in.”

If Aruru’s permission is given, excuse me. With her words, she unlocks the door.

Large windows letting in plenty of sunlight.

And, various books placed with the tea table.

Western sweets with a sweet smell.

Inside the drawing room, Aruru was enjoying tea while sitting in a wheelchair.

Next to the window where the sunlight pours in, she is wearing something that looks like pajamas, not the uniform she usually wears.

She usually has her blonde hair undone, and her usual blue earrings are nowhere to be seen.

Just looking at her appearance her, she looked like a noble lady who does n’t normally wield a sword, but she likes to host tea parties and spend tea time with girls her age.

Moreover, she was a little thin, especially if she was sitting in a wheelchair pushed by an attendant.

Ruba, who became Aruru’s direct attendant, stood behind Aruru and quietly bowed her head to her Merca and sent her greetings.

“Aruru… Is her body her okay? She looks at that chair, it looks like she can’t walk yet…”

“Yes. Earlier, the head of the academy’s Divinity Department came to help with the treatment. Dark magic resides in the wound on the leg, so it seems that the recovery of the wound is slow right now. It’ll be fine.”

“…Is that so.”

Merca couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she was trying hard to hide the seriousness of her own wounds from Aruru’s words to her.

Perhaps reading Merca’s expression her, Aruru said while bringing her hands together.

“Don’t worry so much. Legs get hurt many times during swordsmanship training. When I started wielding a sword, I got sprained and cut several times… Whoops. I miss it.”

“Wouldn’t it be frustrating if I couldn’t move?”

At Gray’s question, Aruru said ‘um-‘ and put her index finger on her lips, thinking about it before she answered.

“Not really? If you want to go somewhere, just ask Rubera.”

“It’s a big deal because you’ve become a fool.”

When Rubera spoke in her joking tone of her, Aruru said, haha ​​… While showing her smile of her.

“Well. If I can’t move like this, I might lose some of my leg muscles and get a thin beauty line. My thighs are thick, so it’s a bit snagged.”

“What are you talking about? Your thighs are a national treasure. They shouldn’t disappear so easily. I’ll focus on helping you with the rehabilitation treatment.”

At Merca’s words her, Aruru blinked her eyes, and then burst into laughter.

Aha, aha hah, watching Aruru let out a laugh that breaks out, Gray sweeps her heart as if relieved.

“I’m glad it seems to be better than I thought. I guess I was completely depressed because Cleon and Princess Amelia were gone.”

When Gray says that, Aruru barely stops her laughter and she sighs and wipes away her tears.

“Ah- sure. It’s sad that we broke up. Thinking that we won’t see each other for a while makes me a bit depressed… But it’s not like we won’t be able to see each other forever… “

After Aruru said that, she opened and closed her fingers for a moment, then she quietly opened her mouth.

“Now is not the time to be sad.”

At her words her, the air around her became heavy.

“Merka. Did you bring what we talked about?”

“Of course.”

As she spoke, she took out a large map from the paper bag she was holding and spread it out on the desk in her drawing room.

It looks like a map of the royal capital, but in reality it is a map of the locations of the underground ruins when the royal capital was renovating the underground waterway a long time ago.

At the time, the aristocratic family who directed the construction was accused by the investigator and confiscated their property because of the corruption of their descendants.

At that time, what was confiscated together and kept by the Merca family is the only remaining map in this country that most accurately records the location of the ruins.

If the five people gathered there looked at the map together, they could see underground waterways twisting here and there like a maze, and underground ruins with dots.

“I-I can’t believe there are so many ruins underground in the royal capital.”

“There is a document saying that the time when it was built is also different. As if it was gradually increased because of necessity. Among them, the oldest is… This place.”

Merka raised her finger and pointed to the location of the largest ruin.

There are roads that lead to underground waterways in the east, west, south and north, but no one in the current royal capital knows what is inside.

“Around this ruin, there are many ruins in the capital – especially where the flow of spirits is thick. Like the central ruins, the entrance is not open, so I don’t know what the purpose of the ruins is.”

“…Lubera.”

“Yes.”

Upon receiving Aruru’s order, Ruba took out the map of the current royal road she had prepared in advance.

And if you overlap it on the map that Merca brought.

Merca uses light source magic to illuminate the map from below.

“…This.”

It was visible because the location of the underground and the ground overlapped.

The largest ruins—that is, the center of the ruins was connected to the capital of the earth.

In addition, if you look at the location of the ruins connected to the ground.

The six locations are the Great Temple of the Church of the Protection of the Saint, the Headquarters of the Adventurer’s Guild, a corner of a back alley, a monastery, the Tromeya family’s mansion, and Lord Setos’s mansion.

As if drawing a circle, looking at the places arranged around the capital, Aruru fell silent for a moment.

“As expected, there is an unspoken relationship between the location of these ruins and the buildings on the ground. And… This underground waterway is installed like a crossroads connecting ruins to ruins.”

“Could it be that the aqueduct itself was made for the ruins?”

At Rubera’s words, Merca nodded while looking at the map.

“In addition, it’s not drawn on this map, but… A huge castle centered on the royal capital. Considering the underground drainage canal, the circular waterway that goes around this underground aqueduct was added at the end-“

A trail of light that appears as if covering the map by drawing a circle with your finger.

After it turned around once, the women gathered there could not keep their mouths shut when they finally saw the pattern created by the underground water canal and ruins.

There were no learned people with expertise in magic here, but the shape of it gave a vague idea of ​​what the aqueduct was drawing.

“No way. The underground of the royal capital has become a huge magic circle.”

Merca looks at it as if it is absurd.

“…Then, what kind of magic are you trying to do with the magic circle that wraps around the entire capital?”

Rubera’s obvious questions follow, but no one can answer them.

“Then let me tell you.”

The next moment, roar! After the air burns up, a red-haired girl engulfed in flames appears from nowhere.

The moment he landed on the ground, the flames covering his body disappeared, and he had a small horn sprouting from his head.

And, from the vertically slit pupils of her, I could see that she was not human.

When the three people except Ruba and Aruru are surprised and try to be on guard, Ruba stops the three people.

“It’s okay. She, like you, is a guest in this mansion… The flame of truth, Promise-sama.”

“Promise…!? Is it the Fire Dragon Promise, said to be one of the five dragons!?”

As Ruba covered her mouth in disbelief, Promis crossed her arms and looked down at the map they were examining.

“The ruins located beneath the capital have been continuously expanded since the Age of Succession began. At that time, the humans who lived in this place built the ruins as if possessed by something.”

“…”

“Among them, most of them were built before I was born. However, according to the records of the dragons, I could only tell that they were from the time when the savage culture of ‘human sacrifice’ still remained.”

At Miss Promise’s words, Gray frowned.

“You mean the sacrifice of a person?”

“Yes. Rituals using human souls, magic, and what… Not good alchemy. Of course, most of the things that use human souls as ingredients create tremendous wealth energy. Each of these ruins is like that. Just think of it as being full of energy.”

As Promis said, she rubbed his lips with her finger.

“Hundreds, thousands… Tens of thousands of souls are suffering forever in ‘that ruin’… ‘Crucible’ and accumulating near-infinite negative magical power. Of course, by the will of ‘Adam’.”

“Adam…”

Three days ago, he had liberated the Dark Horse clan.

I had already heard a few stories from Promise.

As Adam’s plan progresses, the dragons need to move at least to keep the world in balance.

However, in order for the five elemental dragons to intervene in the human world, it was necessary to break the constraints of their pact.

The constraints included five dragons and agents chosen by each dragon.

In other words, it is necessary for ten beings to gather and declare the breach of the oath.

Promis, he chose Rubera as his own substitute for her.

She was one of the people he knew best, so she could be trusted.

Each different dragon will choose its own representative.

Unlike the responder, the agent is a weak link, but they are intertwined with a relationship of trust.

It was possible to borrow the dragon’s power if it was enough to withstand the burden on the body, so choosing a substitute was also a matter that had to be carefully decided.

If that’s the case, why don’t we hurry up and gather the five delegates to break the oath? It’s natural to wonder, but…

“The ones I can contact right now are four dragons including Fire Dragon Promise. Wind Dragon Lutios, Thunder Dragon Letios, Bing Dragon Anatis.”

“…One person is empty.”

Promise nodded at Rubera’s words, and what they said.

“…The last Earth Dragon. Gaios had disappeared for several years. It was a few years after the war between the Empire and the Kingdom ended. After the consultation on the Dragon Ring was over.”

According to Promise, Gaios is a dragon who has a rather unruly personality and, unlike other dragons, seems to have a moderate view of good and evil.

Now that she was gone, it was impossible for the five dragons to gather and break the pact.

“So, our first priority is to follow his trail and find Gaios. In the meantime, you guys are preparing to fight Adam.”

Summarizing the story she heard from Promise, Ruba finished reminiscing about what happened three days ago.

Return to the present and make eye contact with Promise.

“The only thing that can escape from the power that ‘Adam’ possesses that controls the human mind. The dark horse clan. And the beings who are bound by strong ties to that dark horse clan. Isn’t that right, Promise-sama ?”

“Yes. Among them, Cleon is even more special… In other words, it can be called a ‘singularity’. Its existence itself is like a ‘counter’ to Adam. So far, Adam’s victories have continued due to the rampage of reincarnation factors…”

“Cleon has overcome his past and escaped from the karma of his previous life factor.”

When Aruru responds to Promise’s words, Promise nods as well.

“The time has come to unite all the bonds and fates that guy has created so far. And only that, we – all living beings on this continent, including humans, can escape from the ruthless new world ‘Adam’ will create. There is a way.”

Promis says so and snaps his fingers.

Then, a single flame danced through the air and landed on her hand.

“… This is an ember. Just like us who were helpless, the ember that almost went out many times while playing in his hands until now. Even if the wind blows, the rain blows, and the sand is scattered, it eventually burns.”

Then, three flames appear and circle around them as if to surround the flames.

As it extends from flame to flame, light and flame connect like a spider’s web and embroider the air.

“And that fire, soon sparked a new flame around it. The flame continued to lead to another flame and spread widely throughout this world. Still, the spread of this flame does not stop. Adam will not notice. No, even if you knew, you wouldn’t understand. In his eyes his, you would still look small and meaningless.”

Eventually, when Promis waved her hand, the spread sparks gathered together and became a huge flame.

“The ‘peace on the outside’, the ‘world of hypocrisy’ and the ‘order built on sacrifice’ created by him. To burn a world like a puppet theater created by folding paper, we must gather these embers into one.”

It’s in Elesia.

It to the academy.

It’s on the royal road.

It’s beyond the gap in the other dimension.

And maybe – to distant lands unseen.

Promise carefully gathers the flame with both hands, and then squeezes his fist so that it slowly fades away.

Lastly, he looked back at the people gathered there and made a quiet declaration.

“Until our flames consume his world his.”

001

The sound of the wagon, which had been rattling for days, finally stopped.

When he starts hearing voices around him, Cleon’s consciousness, which had almost fainted, returns to normal.

It seemed like he heard the voices of Promise and Rubera.

If you slowly open your eyes thinking it was a dream…

“…”

Cleon’s body froze for a moment at the soft sound of breathing and the touch of someone sleeping against him.

The moment I realized that it was Amelia, I let out a sigh of relief.

Apparently, she, like herself, who had been asleep for several days, might not have left her side of her either.

“Ah… Wake up, you’re back.”

At that time, Cleon raised her head slightly to hear her voice her coming from a place where her eyes her could not reach.

There, as if looking this way while sitting across from her, Herti’s head was fixed.

Cleon talks to her about the strange sensation of feeling her gaze of her, which is still blind.

“…Have you arrived?”

“Yes. It is the capital of the Eastern country – ‘Asteris’.”

At her words her, Cleon carefully moves Amelia to her feet and looks out the window.

There – the scenery of a city with buildings of a completely different style from what he had known so far was spread out.

“…This is the Eastern country.”

“Then shall we go?”

Saying that, Herti got up from her seat and got out of the carriage.

“…Going to where-?”

“This is the building of the store that I run.

Cleon nodded as if she understood what she was saying, and then she got out of her carriage with Amelia in her arms.

The scent of her strange incense tickled Cleon’s nose.

“Oh, and then, Mr. Beauty, a message.”

“…”

Hertie breathed for a moment as if she had forgotten—she spoke as though she were addressing Cleon straight into his heart her.

“‘The struggle is not over yet. Keep your hand from your sword.’ …Called.”

“… Ah, I know.”

Cleon looked down at Amelia in her arms her, chewing on the meaning of the words left behind by her beautician.

“…Because I will never lose again.”

Cleon closes his eyes as if to engrave the fighting spirit to overcome his own weakness and insufficiency.

There was still an unquenchable fire within him.