Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Episode 104
It was easy enough to cross the border of Chrysos with Lucia.
It seemed Eleanor and Lustitia had used a rather forceful method, but didn't we have a solid backer?
“I guess the debt has grown again with this, Prince Oz. Are you okay with that?”
“I’m starting to get a little anxious myself.”
The Empire was looking out for me.
It was too much to be simply because I held the title of [Successor to the Mage King].
I was using it too, but it was hard to predict how this debt would come crashing down on me.
Surely Lucia Domine wasn't planning on using me as a propaganda tool, calling me the [Apostle of Dawn] or something, was she?
No, that would be better.
Being a one-time propaganda tool would be several times better than being sold off to the Imperial Princess, rather than having a leash put on me like this.
“Prince Oz. I’m just saying this in case you don’t know, but the Imperial Princess is quite a good person.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. There’s no way you don’t know about the Imperial Princess.”
If she thought I would be swayed by some rumors I heard, she was greatly mistaken.
You think I don't know that that person's insides are even blacker than Eleanor's?
At my flat refusal, Lucia shrugged her shoulders.
It seemed it wasn't even surprising to her anymore that I knew things.
“More importantly, how are the two of them looking? Can you see them from here?”
“Mmm……. It’s faint, but I’m starting to see them move. I think we’ve caught up a lot.”
“It’s a relief we’re not too late.”
When I held out my hand to Lucia, she placed a telescope on top of it.
If I had the location, I should be able to see the two of them with just this. Even then, the sharpshooter Lucia had to point out the exact direction, but still, it was something.
“Mmm……. I can never get used to that monster, no matter how many times I see it.”
“Don’t stare at it directly. It’ll be harder for people with good eyes.”
Lucia started to frown as if her eyes hurt. For someone with good eyes like her, an ‘outer being’ must be quite overwhelming.
Its form changed in real-time, and that even affected one's memory.
And the process of that memory changing was accompanied by fear and discomfort.
For her, who received an overwhelmingly larger amount of information through her eyes than an ordinary person, that sensation must be felt much more severely than for others.
“Are you okay, Prince Oz? You also have quite good eyes, just in a different way from me.”
“My software is good too.”
“Soft…… what?”
“It’s something.”
I didn't just have good eyes. Because I could see the essence of that monster.
In the first place, [Contemplation] was less about seeing a lot and more about finding the one thing needed among numerous forms.
“Prince Oz. I've been wondering for a while, but what on earth is that power of Noah's?”
“……”
Should I tell her this?
Lucia was already Eleanor's friend. For her now, it was probably a question asked not for information, but because she wanted to know about Eleanor.
She wanted to know because she was a friend.
“If you're interested in state-level secrets……”
“Then never mind.”
It seemed she didn't want to get involved in something of that scale.
A commoner's mindset. Not bad.
“Then as for Noah……. well. I don't know for sure, but I'll just understand it as her having a special power. It's not like there haven't been people like that in history.”
“Right, Lustitia, who is right next to her, is similar.”
The ability of [Severance].
It could be said to be a specialness befitting a Hero.
I didn't know because we had no business getting involved in the game, but it seemed the power of [Severance] also stopped the regeneration ability of 'outer beings.'
“But it doesn't seem like they can't regenerate even if they're hit by the Hero.”
“In the first place, they regenerate immediately unless it's a fatal-level wound. Just being inhibited like that is monstrous enough.”
If Eleanor's attack completely severed the opponent's regeneration ability, Lustitia's attack felt like it temporarily cut it off.
That alone would make it easier to deal with those monsters.
A wounded beast retreats. They would come back once the effect of [Severance] wore off, but…….
“Even monsters feel fear.”
“Yes……”
'Outer beings' also feel fear. A wound that would normally regenerate in an instant doesn't regenerate.
Of course, it was something to be feared.
“But……”
Lucia tilted her head.
Since it was such a long distance, I didn't know exactly where her gaze was directed, but she was probably looking at Lustitia.
“Something’s strange. Prince Oz, from what I can see, the Hero's movements look quite monotonous. Is that right? I think the curse has gotten stronger.”
“That's right.”
Lustitia's actions now were easy to read. That was why my fight with her had dragged on for so long in the first place.
It was as if there was a fog in her brain, preventing deep thought.
No feints in her attacks, just a straightforward style of crushing with power.
Of course, even with just that, Lustitia was strong enough. But the path ahead would not be so easy.
“Prince Oz. Why didn't you lift her curse?”
“Lift the curse in that situation? What, you want me to get beaten up even more?”
I didn't know exactly what the curse on Lustitia was. It just seemed to be a mental-type curse that impaired judgment, based on the circumstances.
“That’s a lie. You mean to tell me that you, who had planned for your own arms and legs to be broken, would think that?”
“Right, well. No.”
The reason I didn't lift the curse on the spot wasn't for that reason.
I couldn't have lifted it.
If her condition improved beyond what it was now, the two of them would go so deep that we wouldn't be able to interfere.
If her strength increased by a halfway measure, it would become irreversible.
Even if we tried to intervene to stop her, well……. I could only see the result of passing out again.
And the fundamental problem that formed that assumption was…….
“Lucia, this is something you must not tell anyone.”
“You’re a man with many secrets.”
“Charming, isn't it?”
“Annoying.”
When I respond to a joke with a serious answer, it just makes me feel awkward…….
“That area is teeming with monsters that have intelligence.”
“Mmm……”
“If you had to be specific, yes……. You can think of it as the two of them walking into a trap of their own accord.”
“It would have been better to hear the secret about Noah than this……”
I thought so too.
That I had been living with such burdensome information.
But since I didn't tell her everything, wouldn't it be less burdensome?
They said that a burden shared is a burden halved. Now Lucia would also have to wrack her brains over this ridiculous truth.
“Prince Oz. Just how far are you planning to drag me into this?”
“Let’s stay together until Noah finishes what she wants to do.”
“That’s a statement so romantic I could just die.”
“I’m glad you’re satisfied.”
“……I wish you were dead.”
Lucia hung her head low as if she were tired.
We're on the job right now, so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep a proper watch on the two of them.
Lucia, with her head still bowed, vented her complaints, then suddenly, as if something had flashed, she lifted her head and began to look at me.
“Wait a minute, Prince Oz. If the two of them are being lured in……”
“Yes.”
From the moment they crossed the border of Chrysos, the two of them had been lured in.
No, to be precise, it would be more correct to say from the Papal States.
But to send out a few detached forces like that to draw the opponent in deep requires prior preparation.
“They probably already know we’re here.”
It meant they had to have an accurate grasp of the geography and situation here.
The leader of the 'outer beings' would have already noticed our presence.
In fact, it wouldn't be difficult for it.
In the first place, the 'outer beings' could be said to be a collective of swarms.
The current leader would be the one controlling one of those swarms, and it could share the vision of all the monsters in Chrysos.
“You’d better be careful, Lucia. If you get involved too deeply, you won’t be able to get out.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then I’m already in a quagmire!”
“That’s true.”
The moment Lucia crossed the border with me, she had already entered a place she couldn't pull her feet out of.
“Why on earth did I……!”
“Shh, quiet, Lucia. It seems a messenger from their side has arrived.”
“Ugh?!”
While Lucia was tearing her hair out in distress.
One of the 'outer beings,' possessing the essence of a deer, approached.
It was clearly a sign that it had noticed we were here.
“Should I say this is our second time meeting in person?”
If it was connected to all the monsters, it would have already recognized me in Scientia.
I couldn't get deeply involved because of Prudence, but wouldn't it have remembered someone like me?
I was quite popular in that place, you know.
“Geureuk……”
“Ugh, so creepy.”
While Lucia’s tail and ears stood on end, the monster began to make a bizarre sound toward us.
“Ageuk…… geureureuk, no, it is.”
And as if it had created vocal cords, the monster began to speak to us in an awkward but precise language.
And the meaning contained in those words was.
“The fourth time…… it is.”
“……”
It was one of the secret deeds of Oz that I did not know.
No.
No, wait a minute.
Really……. This is absurd.
Where the hell did this bastard go and what did he do on a regular basis?
“Prince Oz. Did you perhaps know that monster?”
“I don’t know either……”
I just put on a brave face to look relaxed, and it's telling me we've met before.
“A betrayal?”
“Betrayal……?”
Just that one word made my mind go hazy.
What on earth was Oz thinking? Even if he had an arrogant side, he was supposed to be a good person.
But now, it was said that a being that should never be associated with such an Oz was associated with him. These beings could be said to be the root of all evil in a way. They were things that could not be compromised with.
And yet it asked me.
If it was a betrayal.
“Did you just ask me if this is a betrayal?”
They devoured humans. They had to devour them.
Because they couldn't live otherwise.
But did Oz try to cooperate with them even knowing that? Even knowing what these monsters would do?
Why on earth?
“What do you mean, a betrayal?”
“Why are you here? Weren’t we supposed to have a contract not to interfere in my territory?”
A non-aggression pact?
Oz and it had made something like that?
No, that couldn't be all. If you give, you get.
There must have been a mutual benefit.
“Well? Isn’t that condition too vague in the first place? I just came to retrieve my friend who wandered in here on her own.”
I had to find out. I had to find out what kind of contract it and Oz had made. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“Kehehe……. I see, so that’s how you’re going to play it? Well, it’s only natural. After all, you also chose this world.”
“……”
It spoke as if it understood. Of course, that didn't mean it wasn't angry.
It wouldn't do any good to provoke it any further, but I felt like if not now, I wouldn't get another chance.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, it’s been so long, I don’t remember what kind of contract you and I made.”
“How shameless! Do you think I don’t know that you’ve already been to the coordinates you received from us?!”
“Coordinates……?”
“You’d better look forward to it. After we’ve swallowed this world, that world will be next.”
The monster connected to Delayed melted away after saying those words.
“I have no idea what you two were talking about. Are you alright, Prince Oz?”
“Yes……. I’m fine.”
“……Really? Still, let’s rest a bit. I think my phantom pain is getting worse.”
It seemed my poker face had completely crumbled, to the point where Lucia was worried.
Should I say this was the first time since I met Parade?
Well, it was understandable.
Something that hadn't even been a hypothesis until now was becoming a reality.
A line was beginning to connect to something I had only ever felt was a question.
“Alright, let’s wait a bit until Noah comes out of the fiefdom.”
Lucia sat down with her back to me without any particular answer.
Was my complexion so bad that she had to be so considerate?
“Damn it……”
I was scared.
I had thought about the cause and effect, but I never thought it would be in this form.
The coordinates Delayed mentioned were probably referring to the Earth where I used to live.
Because it said it was next after this world. It must be.
And if that were true, then naturally, another question would have to arise.
“Why on earth?”
Oz was said to have made a deal with the 'outer beings.'
He was said to have received the coordinates of Earth in exchange for him not approaching Chrysos, which they had made their forward base for invasion.
If so, then why.
Why did it have to be Earth?