Traces in the Dagger Mountains
“Where exactly is that?”
There was no choice but to confirm it with my own eyes. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, but some things simply couldn’t be accepted without seeing them firsthand.
“That’s right! Where on earth is it?”
—Geil.
She looked troubled by Geil’s attitude. It seemed she had intended to keep the location from him, and I could roughly guess why. But now that things had come to this, there was no helping it.
“Lady Elena. Please tell us where it is.”
—…It’s near the Mirka Mountains in the Bubons Blixen region. If you come close, we will guide you directly from our side.
So she really had been trying to keep it hidden. The Mirka Mountains weren’t all that far from here, after all.
“Understood. Then we’ll meet you there.”
After cutting off the communication orb, I immediately began drawing the spell formula in the air.
“You’re coming along, I assume?”
It was obvious, but I still needed to confirm.
“Of course.”
At Geil’s answer, Duran nodded with a resigned look. His eyes held the worry of a parent fretting over a child, but they also carried the certainty that he could not stop him, along with quiet resignation.
“You only have a griffon, right?”
If he’d had anything else, he wouldn’t have chased us on a griffon yesterday.
“…That is correct.”
He answered in a slightly lowered voice. He had immediately understood the intent behind my question, and it seemed his pride had taken a small hit. Still, he no longer had the time to find a new summoned beast now.
Following my gesture, the spell formula appeared in the air, and Jequirac revealed himself. At his appearance, Duran instinctively shielded Geil, while Jequirac snorted roughly, openly displaying his hostility toward both of them.
“Calm down. You already lost to him once, didn’t you?”
…….
Through our soul link, Jequirac poured out his anger and humiliation. He wanted a rematch. If he could defeat Duran—even if he couldn’t—he was prepared to stake his life on it.
—If you give me the chance, this time I will absolutely—!
“Now’s not the time.”
I roughly suppressed his will through the soul link. Duran looked at me with an impressed expression.
—You handle a summoned beast of that caliber so effortlessly.
“Thank you for the compliment.”
I informed Jequirac of our destination and that we would also be carrying Geil. Naturally, Jequirac was displeased, but he could not break the contract.
“Then please get on.”
“……”
Geil didn’t look particularly happy either. The way one mounted and rode Jequirac was quite different from a griffon, and he could clearly sense the open hostility Jequirac was radiating. Duran returned via a recall circle to avoid unnecessary mana consumption. He looked somewhat uneasy, but it seemed he trusted me.
“Then let’s depart.”
Jequirac’s mana enveloped us, and we soared into the sky.
* * *
Fortunately, I was already familiar with the Mirka Mountains from the last great war, so Jequirac had no trouble flying at full speed. Thanks to that, we reached the vicinity of the Mirka Mountains within just a few hours.
The Mirka Mountains were relatively small. Their fame came from their peculiar shape—when viewed from above, they resembled a dagger with a handle and blade of equal length. That was why maps always depicted them as a dagger, and several legends claimed that a powerful relic or ancient monster was sealed at the tip of the blade.
Of course, countless romantic adventurers, researchers, and treasure hunters had scoured the Mirka Mountains in search of proof for those legends, yet none had ever succeeded.
“There it is.”
Thanks to the bright daylight and that distinctive shape, identifying the Mirka Mountains wasn’t difficult.
“Then let’s find Lady Elena.”
I had Jequirac slow down and descend slightly. Just as I was about to take out the communication orb, several leaf-shaped lights suddenly appeared high in the sky. Without a doubt, it was a signal.
We turned toward the lights, and whoever was there must have spotted us as well, for they sent up another signal. Soon, a clearing marked with obvious traces of battle came into view, along with the two people who had been sending the lights.
I had Jequirac land in a spot that wouldn’t disturb the traces.
“Thank you for coming so quickly, Lord Anak.”
When Geil and I dismounted, Elena approached first and greeted us. Unlike the last time we met, she wasn’t disguising her ears or voice—she was in her true form. Worry and anxiety still lingered in her eyes, yet she was clearly trying to remain polite and composed.
“It is an honor to meet you, Lord Anak.”
The slightly larger middle-aged man standing behind her bowed respectfully. He was probably the Cliven she had mentioned yesterday. I had never heard his name before, but he was clearly one of the summoners who had been working to improve the public image of summoners using my name.
“You weren’t able to find any more traces of Master?”
After a brief exchange of greetings, I was still wondering how to respond to Cliven when Geil, unable to hold back any longer, raised his voice.
When I nodded at them, Elena shook her head with a heavy expression.
“…There are no special traces. Only the remnants of a teleportation spell remain.”
“Naturally, the coordinates weren’t left behind, were they?”
“No, they weren’t.”
The fact that no teleportation circle with coordinates or formulas remained on the ground meant the spell had either been cast by an extremely skilled mage or executed through a comparable magical item.
“When was the last time you contacted him yesterday? And why didn’t you inform me? Don’t tell me Master was seriously injured—!”
“Geil.”
Elena called his name in a low, heavy voice, and it proved effective. Geil fell silent and straightened his posture, looking somewhat stiff. It seemed like a reflexive action. I could see a faint trace of fear and reverence toward her in his eyes.
“Would you mind if we examined the traces ourselves?”
Watching Geil show a fear toward her that he hadn’t even shown toward me when I had nearly killed him yesterday made me curious about what she had done to him, but there were more important matters at hand.
“Yes. This way, please.”
Following their guidance, I examined the traces. Even after considerable time had passed, they remained quite distinct.
“You preserved them well with spirits.”
To keep even the smallest traces that could easily be scattered by wind intact alongside the more prominent battle marks, a meticulous preservation process using spirits had been necessary.
“We thought you might find something we missed.”
“Thank you for thinking so.”
I had performed spirit-based trace preservation a few times myself, but even I wouldn’t have been able to preserve them with this level of detail. To maintain such precise traces, one had to consider many factors and issue exact commands to each spirit.
Following Elena and Cliven’s guidance, I studied the traces. Some of them were familiar. There were marks where lower demons had been burned by holy power or sacred flames, and patches of lifeless earth that looked like the work of powerful undead. There were also stones that had been scorched black and partially melted, along with strangely deep footprints that didn’t match their small size.
“A gargoyle?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
There were also an excessive number of unnatural horseshoe prints, but since they only appeared in one spot, they didn’t seem particularly important.
“…Lord Kainaknus descended from the sky. The enemies were waiting here.”
Given that this was a fairly open clearing and that there were no footprints leading toward it from any direction, it was clear the enemies had set a trap and waited. If I had been confident in winning, I would have done the same.
“They attacked Lord Kainaknus while he was traveling through the sky, and he came down to deal with them. Is that right?”
“Yes, that must have been the case. Lord Kainaknus was using Sleipnir and a floating carriage.”
Sleipnir—those footprints made sense now.
“They were targeting Lord Kainaknus. They must have known his exact fighting style as well.”
Most summoners wouldn’t have descended from the sky. Like Elena, they would have controlled their summons from a location beyond the reach of aerial attacks. But because Lord Kainaknus could transform into a dragon, he had the option of coming down to the battlefield himself.
“Well, Lord Kainaknus’s story is famous enough that it’s not particularly surprising……”
I turned my head to look at Cliven. While Lord Kainaknus’s fighting style was common knowledge—exaggerating only slightly, everyone in the world probably knew about it—his exact location and movements were another matter.
Lord Kainaknus had been tracking the Dark Temple alone. Given the tales I had heard, he must have been moving in secret. Yet someone had set a trap and waited for him? It was possible that someone among our allies had leaked information.
I looked into Elena’s eyes first. I was certain there was no need to suspect her. It might have been prejudice or a hasty assumption, but I didn’t think she was that skilled a liar. As for Cliven, I couldn’t say.
The anxiety in his eyes—whether it was fear of being exposed or concern over what had happened to Lord Kainaknus—I couldn’t tell. The strange tension and guilt clinging to his body were the same. I couldn’t be sure if it came from having betrayed someone himself or from self-reproach over being unable to help due to deep emotional turmoil. After all, I had no way of perfectly reading someone I was meeting for the first time.
I turned my eyes back to the traces and began examining them again. There was nothing particularly unusual. Torn scraps of clothing and suddenly appearing claw and tail marks clearly indicated that Lord Kainaknus had transformed into his dragon form. The somewhat deep footprints that looked like he had pushed off for a running start, along with some strangely scattered marks, were simply ordinary battle traces.
“You should look over here.”
The spot Elena pointed to was slightly apart from the main battle traces. There were dragon footprints alongside ordinary human ones, almost overlapping with Lord Kainaknus’s. They were human footprints, and there were no bloodstains.
“It seems he captured one of them alive.”
“I see.”
I nodded in agreement.
“And right after that, he was counterattacked.”