13-29. Behind the Orbs (1)

◇Mito's POV◇

"Nothing to do at all~"

Sitting down on top of a water tower in the downtown, I look down below.

Ichirou-nii picked me up this morning, so I've been watching over the orphanage where s.h.i.+n-kun is, but there's really nothing happening.

The green demon that came to the Royal Capital last night didn't get in touch with s.h.i.+n-kun either, so I'm thinking that this child might not be related to the recent series of events.

--Oops, found a contact!

Some evil-looking men approach s.h.i.+n-kun and the children of the orphanages who have come to a well to draw water.

I can't hear them.... I'll try using [Hearing Boost] magic.

"--Transport these."

"And the reward?"

"I'll give you a meal once you've finished transporting it. That's fine with you right?"

"I want something that can be brought back to the orphanage."

Arara, isn't he a good child. No wonder Ichirou-nii would meddle.

It seems they're reached an agreement, s.h.i.+n-kun leaves the children to draw water and then follows the men.

I put on the body-hiding mantle, and chase after them by jumping on the roofs.

"I should just transport this right?"

"Yeah, bring it to the warehouse pa.s.s the cemetery. You've gone there before, so you know right?"

s.h.i.+n-kun and several children of the same age are pulling a cart.

The men who gave them the job are from a gray firm called [Stolen Goods Fox]. As the name suggest, they're probably dealing with stolen goods.

Without being called out by the guards, s.h.i.+n-kun and the others transported the cart to the cemetery just before the destination.

And there, three men in violet priest clothes are blocking their way.

There is no priest clothes in violet color.

But there were people like them when I was working as a king.

--Demon G.o.d believers, [Complete Equality].

I checked them with Appraisal skill, but they're not those guys.

Looks like they're a part of a carefree occult club called [Wind of Liberty] that I've heard from Ichirou-nii before.

But, there's something strange. The priests' states are strange. When I check further, they're in the state of [Suggestion].

"Whaat? Oy, priests? You're in the way, can you get out of the road?"

One of the boys who are transporting the goods threatened the three priests.

"Gang of thieves. Know that there is an item that we need to offer to his majesty inside that cart."

"Leave it here and go away."

"If you do, we will not take your lives."

The three announce that indifferently, the boys are drawing their swords, enraged.

"Don't joke around! We'll be held responsible if we abandon the cart. Come if you don't value your life!"

"Very well."

Sneering at that childish threat, the priests pull out rapiers.

Fu~mu, it'll be problematic if s.h.i.+n-kun is hurt, I'll try asking what those guys want.

I jump out of the grove, and land before the men.

I ward off the swinging rapier with a broom, and block the thrusting rapier with a small s.h.i.+eld of [Auto Defense].

"Who are you!"

"Hi~ I'm a pa.s.sing beau~ty"

The men are grimacing to my smile, and the boys look weary.

These are some very rude guys. I'd like to let them drink some dirt from Ichirou-nii's fingernail.

"That move--woman! You must be Ryouna the 『Mower』 of s.h.i.+ga Eight Swords!"

"To think that they'd smell out our plan this fast!"

"We can't hesitate anymore."

The priests jump back and put down their rapiers.

"Will you surrender?"

They ignored me even though I kindly suggested it.

The three priests took something red from their chests, put it on their foreheads, and then say something simultaneously.

"""O Short Horn, feed upon our desire to grant us violent power"""

Together with the priests' shouts, something break through their priests' clothes, and then they change into gorilllike lesser demons.

"You guys, escape!"

As I order them, the boys try to run away while desperately pulling the cart.

"Just dump the luggage!"

--GRROUWWWN.

As if interrupting my warning, the gorillas wreck the surrounding with storm magic.

The cart is overturned, and the boys fall to the tombstones.

Good, s.h.i.+n boy is alright.

The other children are getting up and running away in groups of two and three.

I pour magic power into the holy sword taken out from Inventory and recite the holy verse.

"

> Claiomh Solais, become 13 blades, dancing in the sky."

The holy swords turns the lower demons into black dust one after another.

I look around to find the wire puller who manipulated them while seeing the reliable holy swords on the corner of my vision.

--There.

A short beastfolk disappears into the thicket that surround the cemetery.

I'm worried about s.h.i.+n boy and the luggage, but I'll chase that guy first.

I should've contracted a new familiar after waking up in the ruin.

◇s.h.i.+n's POV◇

What is this?

What?

What is this!

Just when some priests blocked my work transporting a cart, a strange aunty cut in, and in the end the people turned into monsters.

Isn't that strange?

It's too strange!

"Oy! Let's run! Stop dawdling!"

Jeje the Lizardfolk who's usually taciturn urges everyone.

I hurriedly begin to push back the cart.

"Just throw the luggage!"

The aunty shouted from behind, but we can't do that.

This portage work is a job from a crime guild.

If we break or steal the luggage, we'll be treated harsher than turning into slaves.

--GRROUWWWN.

Storm raged from behind, we're blown away together with the cart.

"D-demons!"

"Run!"

Everyone scrambles away.

I also desperately crawl below the overturned cart.

When I push some obstructing boxes, a statue of G.o.ddess falls out from the inside.

For some reason I can't get my eyes off it even though it's at a time like this.

The second storm rages on when my hand reaches out to that G.o.ddess statue.

I roll on the ground while holding the G.o.ddess statue.

I saw blue light swords pulled by the aunty turning the lesser demons into black dust.

The aunty shouts, "Wait!", and then she jumps out to the other side of the cemetery.

--Am I saved?

I feel something odd in my hand while feeling relieved.

The G.o.ddess statue has crumbled into sand.

A violet orb appeared from the inside.

I scoop the orb that's emitting ominous light from the interior, and hold it over the sunlight.

◇Arisa's POV◇

--This is bad.

"I wonder how will Sir Pendragon interpret this formula."

Like so.

"This cake was made by Sir Pendragon right. He's really versatile isn't he."

Or so, Princess s.h.i.+stina's reaction is bad.

Looking at her reaction and the flow, she's too much like a girl in love.

Thanks to that, the matter of [Nectar] or Hisui weren't talked about much, so we were saved though.

Geez, she's just too easy.

Perhaps our Master has the qualification as a first-rate flag architect?

That Master of ours had just contacted me with [Short Message] magic, telling that he had obtained the [Chant Orb] safely.

He probably mailed cause I wouldn't pick up [Telephone].

The writing style is so merry you wouldn't have thought it was the usual Master.

It's too frustrating that I can't preserve it.

At the end of that message, he wrote that in order to master the chant and to register magic into the magic column, he would go to, "A place where I wouldn't worry about human damage."

He's probably experimenting in the vast desert to the west of Labyrinth City Selbira.

My tension is rising just by imagining the spectacle.

Maybe I should cut the tea party short and go visit it with Mia.

Mia who looks like she'll vomit sugar seeing s.h.i.+stina chattering fondly of Master, mutters, "Mwu?"

I can hear pitter-patter footsteps from the direction where she's looking at.

"Onee-sama!"

Loli princess Doris who jumped into the room hugs s.h.i.+stina.

The attendants of Doris who are running after her from behind apologize for the rudeness in panic.

It seems courtesy is required if you're sister princesses of a large kingdom.

"That Hisui you see, even though she had gone back to her cage and ate her meal before I knew it yesterday, she's gone again just now!"

"How mysterious--"

The bird has drank Nectar after all, I wonder if she's gained some strange ability or something?

I have to report to Master and ask if we need to do something about it.

If possible, in the bed while we're huddling our faces together--guhehehe.

My delightful delusion is interrupted by pirupiru chirps.

"Hisuiiiii!"

Hisui who's appeared in the room before anyone knew pulls Doris's hair and dress, trying to take her somewhere.

"No! Stop it, Hisui!"

However, it seems Princess Doris doesn't understand it.

This time, she's flying around s.h.i.+stina, doing her best to take her outside.

I'm bothered with Hisui's curious desperation.

Did she get an ability to detect disaster after drinking the Nectar?

"Nn, piruru, piru, piru."

When Mia mimicked Hisui's cry, Hisui chirped back, "pipirupirupiru" too.

"As expected of elf-sama, she understands bird's language!"

One of the maids speaks with admiration.

Mia continues to pirupiru with a composed face, but she's just playing around by mimicking the chirping.

If this were a manga, there would sweat marks on Mia's face, no doubt.

While also helping Mia, I'll go check the royal capital from the top of the big sakura tree.

"I'll be going to the washroom for a bit."

After telling so, I take Mia along into a private luxurious toilet.

"Master hasn't contacted us with anything so I think it's fine, but let's check out outside for a bit."

"Nn."

I can't teleport to a precise location without a carved seal board, so I teleport to the sky above the big sakura tree.

The sunlight is darkened even though it should be clear today.

"Arisa, above."

"Ugeh, the heck is thaaaaaat!"

After teleporting to the top of the big sakura tree and sitting down, I looked above urged by Mia, and screamed to the abnormal scene before my eyes.

"A rock?"

I see a huge rock trying to come out of a crack in the sky on top of the royal castle.

It's as big as the whole royal castle.

If that falls, there will be a lot of victims from the castle.

I immediately invoke [World Phone], but I can't connect to Master.

It's not blocked, the reaction feels like when Telephone magic can't reach a target that's too far away.

"Arisa."

--It can't be helped, let's decide quickly.

"Over Boost"

Violet glow is wrapping me.

I take the coolest looking pose, and then shout out the magic name with fighting spirit.

"『Gate』 open!"

Riding on my spirit, the effect of Unique Skill is raised.

A teleport gate at the size that can swallow a private house is opened in the sky.

But it's too small to redirect that rock.

"Magic potion."

With fighting spirit, I gulp down the magic potion that Mia gives me.

It' super sweet. It's sweet enough my teeth feel like melting, but power is gus.h.i.+ng forth.

Master's love recovers my magic power in a flash.

"Over Boost aaaand, 『Gate』 opeen!"

By overlapping the magic, the teleport gate widens.

Violet light coils the dimension rift, widening the teleport gate.

But, it's still a bit short.

The royal castle should be saved with just this much, but enormous damage will appear on the castle's surrounding.

The parking lot where Zentan and her friends are standing by and the guest house where Karina is should be in danger.

"Blood."

The capillary on my fingers have torn and blood are spurting out of it, maybe because I was repeatedly being forceful.

I'll say thanks later to Mia who wraps them with a handkerchief.

I drink the second magic potion, and use the Unique Skill for the third time today.

Over Boost.

The depth of my soul is screaming like creaking sounds.

A pain that's about three time more painful than wisdom teeth attacks my body.

I think Master warned me about it back then.

If you over-use Unique Skill, the vessel of your soul would break, and you'd fall into a demon lord.

--But, if I run away here, it'll be a disgrace as a woman!

I'll lose if I don't push myself here!

"Gooooooooooo!"

I put all of my magic power, and then the [Gate] widens even though it's destabilizing.

I can't control the teleport gate with my ability.

『Dryad! Lend us your power! The requester is Misa.n.a.lia! A spirit user of Boruenan Forest possessing Spirit Eyes!』

『Okay~, the sakura tree will disappear if I don't help here.』

Mia shouted something in elf language, and then a pink-colored dryad appeared from the big sakura tree.

『Young lady, I'll connect your wand with the sakura tree to be an a.s.sist, do your best after that.』

I don't understand her words, but the control suddenly feels easier.

The [Gate] that was about to dissolve any moment became like a calm water surface.

And then, the huge rock finally falls from the sky.

No! The position is a bit bad.

--Funnu.

I fire myself up and s.h.i.+ft the [Gate] to the site where the huge rock falls.

It seems my forehead's blood vessels have erupted, my view is dyed red.

However, it was worth overdoing!

The huge rock falls out of the [Gate] to the outskirt plain. Whenever the huge rock hits the ground, around magnitude 3 earthquake shakes the royal capital.

The huge rock falls just like that, splitting the mountain nearby, and then stops.

"Huu, this is thanks to Hisui. Putting us aside, if that child didn't inform us, the people of the royal castle wouldn't be saved."

"Arisa."

While drinking the magic potion that Mia gave me, I s.h.i.+ft my gaze to the emergency alarm magic tool that's been ringing since awhile ago.

This is a tool to notify us when something is happening with our group.

The lamp indicating Liza is s.h.i.+ning.