The First Escape (1)

The Valkyrie pointed toward the place where the mermaid monster had emerged.

"Let's look for a way out."

The mermaid had said as much. This was the only path leading to the exit.

If we could just get past that point, we might make it outside.

"Wait."

There was something I needed to do first.

I approached the mermaid.

"She's completely dead."

The Valkyrie had thoroughly crushed her.

"And the body's gone rigid."

The mermaid monster's corpse was different from other monsters in several ways. Upon death, her entire body had crystallized and shattered into pieces.

I picked up a few fragments and examined them.

"Just as I thought."

Magic stones.

The Valkyrie had poured so much holy power into her that most of the mana had already converted to Ekirel, but that didn't matter. I could always infuse mana back into them.

Either way, these were a first for me, which only deepened my interest. And with this, I could confirm that monsters left behind magic stones when they died.

"Let's go."

I gave the monster corpses one last look and moved on.

Following the narrow, winding path, we came upon a small chamber.

At the center of the room stood a structure resembling an altar, and on either side of it, headless skeletons were lined up like museum exhibits. A rough count put them at around a hundred.

"This can't be real. This is insane. These are all people? What the hell was that monster doing?"

"Tsk."

That mermaid had claimed she was originally human.

Was this truly something a human could do?

No. She'd used illusion magic that was all but forbidden, contracted with a demon, and on top of that, brutally murdered and put on display dozens of people who'd come to this island.

"She really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went all out, didn't she."

In the Magic Kingdom, there was only one sentence for villains like this.

Death.

Whether that fish-person had originally been human was beside the point. I wasn't soft enough to spare pity for a monster that had abandoned its humanity.

When I sighed, the Valkyrie looked my way. Her expression was complicated.

Part of me wanted to raise a memorial for the victims, but we didn't have time. We decided to take only what looked important and leave.

In the end, we came away with exactly two things.

One was an old map.

The other was an ancient document written in Whieon.

The Valkyrie checked the map and spoke in an excited tone.

"This is definitely a map of the surrounding area. With this, we might actually be able to escape!"

Well, I wasn't sure whether to be glad about that.

I knew these waters reasonably well. But I'd never seen a place with islands clustered this densely — especially not near the Tatangcour Sea, where the Valkyrie and I had fought.

I needed more information. Next, I examined the ancient document written in Whieon.

Was this written by that mermaid?

Wondering if there was more, I turned to the next page, and sure enough, something like a diary was written there.

Things were starting to come together.

Two points were clear.

First, there were other islands nearby, but some unknown force made landing on them nearly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠impossible.

Second, the entire archipelago was cut off from the outside world by an unknown barrier metaphorically called the "fog."

"Damn it."

If this was true, the Valkyrie and I were completely isolated.

This wasn't something we could escape with a lifeboat.

I glanced at the Valkyrie. She looked back at me.

It seemed I was going to have to stick with this woman for a good while longer.

Having sorted through what they could take, Rachel and the man pressed on along the path beyond the boss's chamber. They were hungry and thirsty, but that only meant they had to push harder.

One hour. Two hours. Three.

They'd lost track of how long they'd been walking, and just as their stamina was reaching its limit—

Light began to appear.

The man and Rachel picked up their pace. Light. Dawn. If they could just get out there, they could finally leave this godforsaken place behind.

And so, emerging from the long cave, a familiar place spread out before them.

"Huh?"

There were traces of a campfire and a mana lamp. Scraps of leaves they'd laid on the floor were still visible. It was the forest cave where the two of them had been staying all this time.

"So this is how it connects."

A chill ran through them. If the monsters had come out through this path, Rachel and the man would have been dead that very day. The difficulty of the exit route had been a blessing, not a misfortune.

No — that didn't matter now.

They'd gotten out of the cave. That was all that counted.

In a cave with scarce food and almost no means of making fire, the longer you stayed, the more exponentially your survival odds dropped. Breaking through before a full day had passed meant they had survived.

"We're out. We're out!"

"Wow, seriously. I thought we were going to die in there."

Slap!

Rachel was so overjoyed that, without even realizing it, she high-fived the man.

"Ah."

"Ahem."

Belatedly registering what she'd done, she immediately pulled her hand back. The man, equally embarrassed, cleared his throat and averted his gaze.

Judging by the breaking dawn, they'd walked at least ten to fifteen hours. Their legs had no strength left, but they still needed to walk a little farther.

"We need to find the boat first."

Rachel and the man headed straight for the shore.

Fortunately, the lifeboat was still right where they'd left it. The two of them dragged it up to the hill where they'd first met.

The sun rose.

Not a single monster was in sight.

"Let's rest a bit."

Rachel sat on a rock and savored the cool breeze.

"Haaah."

They'd cleared one major hurdle.

Even so, it wasn't completely over yet.

Far from feeling relieved, her mind had only grown more complicated. There was a subtle discomfort. Probably because of the mage resting beside her.

A mage of the Hazkail Magic Kingdom, Erihi Ronshstein.

He had killed Daisy and Olivia. Right before her eyes. Using a magic stone that spewed flame. That much, she still couldn't forgive.

But.

At the same time, he was also the one who'd saved Rachel from death more than once.

On the first day when she'd lost consciousness, and when she'd fallen ill with fever, he'd protected her from monsters and freed her from the illusion magic as well.

Enemy and savior.

A mage of the enemy nation, and her only ally on this island.

Someone she wanted to kill, and someone she had to move forward with if she wanted to live.

Was there any relationship more complicated than this?

But this much was certain.

"I don't want to stay on this island any longer. Let's prepare properly and get out of here."

That she needed to learn at least a little of the Magic Kingdom's language.

Until now, Rachel hadn't paid much attention to whatever the man said. She'd figured that truly necessary communication could be handled well enough through gestures and tone alone.

But in the moment when she'd first been able to communicate with him inside the illusion, a thought had crossed her mind.

It would be nice if she could have more detailed, higher-level conversations with this man.

This was, well — purely for survival. The better they could communicate, the better their coordination, and the higher their odds of making it home alive.

It was absolutely not because she wanted to talk with this man that she wanted to learn the language.

"Let's head back."

They'd taken down the monster boss, but you never knew. Another monster might appear. And now that they had a map of the surrounding waters, it was time to start preparing in earnest to escape the island.

"We've got a lot to do. We need to move quick— Kyaah!"

Rachel slipped as she tried to get down from the rock. She'd accidentally stepped on a mossy slope. In the end, she fell ungracefully right in front of the man.

"Ugh..."

What kind of disgraceful display was this? In front of the enemy, no less.

"Tsk tsk."

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠man clicked his tongue. He held out his hand.

"Here. Take my hand."

Come to think of it, this mage offered his hand every time she fell. Even knowing she'd refuse. It was surely calculated kindness.

But there was no reason not to take it now. Calculated kindness was still kindness.

Rachel took the man's hand and slowly got to her feet. The man tilted his head as if surprised.

After dragging the lifeboat back to the cave, the two of them went out looking for food until the afternoon and returned. Game was particularly scarce that day, so they picked only a few leaves of known species like peredina and spearmint and chewed on them.

"Starving for a day won't kill us... Ugh, bitter."

After that meal that barely qualified as one, the man began making traps out of stone and wood. Even as his stomach kept growling, his hands never faltered.

By the time they finished setting the traps and returned, the sun was already setting. The hour when monsters might appear again.

Shaaah.

A light rain began to fall.

Even in the tropics, rain always left the body shivering.

Rachel went and sat beside the man. He was turning over the magic stones from the siren this way and that, and he flinched in surprise as he looked at her.

"...I'm just sitting close because I'm cold."

Absolutely no other meaning.

"Ahem. By the way..."

"...By the way, Saintess — or rather, Colonel — you can speak the Magic Kingdom's language to some degree, correct?"

"Yes, just a little. Why do you ask all of a sudden?"

"It's regarding the search for the missing. Additional analysis has come down from the upper echelons of the Church."

The materials handed over read as follows: Survivors from the Magic Kingdom may be encountered during the search.

"The 'fog' discovered this time is no ordinary phenomenon. It's possible that Magic Kingdom soldiers who survived that day's naval battle are trapped inside it. A manual has been prepared for if you run into them. Here."

She continued reading.

"Take this."

The silver-haired woman accepted a small pistol. As a Saintess, she had no holy arts for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠attacking others, so this would be her only weapon.

"Orders from above. Mages — especially any mage who goes around dressed neatly — are to be disposed of without exception."

"Well, I was planning to do that anyway."

The woman grinned. Her eyes gleamed yellow.