Chapter 10. Stubbornness and Arrogance (14)
To those who worship the power of mana, what does it mean to be swept away by mana and die?
If anyone claimed no one had ever properly thought about it, that would be a sick joke.
Of course, the priests had agonized over it for a long time.
And in their own way, they stitched faith onto the phenomenon and concluded that failing to endure it meant one's faith was lacking.
Those higher up could endure because their faith was deep. Those lower down could not endure because theirs was not.
It was a strange story, but on top of it, flesh called philosophy was added, and a skeleton called doctrine was attached. After another long stretch of time passed, no one doubted that fact anymore.
Then— to such people, what does it mean to be consumed by mana and die?
If they had merely not died until now because their faith was so great, how were they supposed to react when they truly encountered mana beyond that faith?
If mana swept through— mana so overwhelming that neither the royal capital, nor the royal family, nor the nobles, nor the priests could endure it, mana whose mere passage would leave not even a trace of all the heritage the dwarves had built up— how were they supposed to accept that?
Should they accept it as judgment upon those lacking faith? It was not as though no such sect had existed. Then should they accept it and quietly die?
Or did they have to accept that all their faith until now had been wrong?
But, in the end, at the final moment, there was not a single person who accepted all of it cleanly.
Everyone was busy running away.
To the most secluded places, fleeing the surging mana, into the corners of the mine shafts they had always avoided.
But even that was eventually blocked off.
It was not as though they had made no preparations. They had listened to the outsiders' advice and the king's command. The nobles, too, knew to some extent what would happen when mana surged in, and the people of their domains were little different from their property.
After it passed, would they not have to rebuild and live on as nobles? Everyone thought so.
Though it meant nothing in the face of death.
The mana swept through everything. Before the immense mana that stung the eyes just to look at, everyone fell into panic.
Ironically, the ones somehow holding back that mana were the outsiders. Those with shining weapons, capable of wielding the power to purify mana.
Though even that was not enough.
They could defeat the monsters. It was possible to defeat all manner of beasts made of mana.
But fully blocking the mana overflowing between them was impossible.
Through the gaps in the barrier, between the people holding shields. The mana flooded in. The fires went out. Even the light kindled by mana was swallowed in an instant.
In excruciating pain— people sank into death.
......That was how it should have gone.
But soon, far away, a light appeared.
Whether it was real, or merely a vision seen while sinking into the depths of consciousness, impossible to tell.
All that could be seen was someone kneeling at the end of that light. At the edge of the darkness, someone sat alone, praying.
No one could know who that prayer was directed toward. Whether it was a prayer to God, or merely a prayer for those about to die.
But if one saw such a light in darkness where nothing ahead was visible, whether dwarf or human, anyone would have only one thought.
That they wanted to go there.
They reached out a hand. Step by step, laboriously, they moved forward.
The biting cold that felt as though it would freeze their bones to the marrow and shatter them gradually faded the closer they drew to the light. The mana caked thickly onto their bodies melted away and subsided, and the strength that had vanished slowly returned. The pain faded, and strength returned to the hands gripping their swords.
After blinking, they were standing exactly where they had stood.
The dwarves could not immediately accept the fact that they had survived and only blinked. The nobles, royalty, and priests, however, merely noticed that the mana on their bodies had vanished and were aghast.
No conceit remained in that place anymore. There was only the relief of having survived.
The humans ran at once.
Gripping shining swords. Holding the shields Anna had consecrated.
Toward where that call had been directed. Toward the light.
*
The light was praying.
Seeing that sight, Ria thought as much.
In the middle of what could be called the plaza before the dwarven royal palace, Anna sat.
Of course, Ria had just come from seeing Anna. The warmth she had felt when holding Anna's hand still lingered in her own, and following that warmth, her sword was shining as well.
This, too, must be a miracle. Anna's miracle, saving people from the midst of the mana.
Prayer.
The clanking of armor echoed from every passageway. Soon, people began bursting out of every corridor the light touched.
Those wearing the armor of the Church's Knights Order. Or dwarven heavy infantry.
At the sight of Anna, they stopped in their tracks and gaped. Toward them, Ria raised her sword.
"Form a defensive line!"
Ria had no such authority. She was merely someone who had attached herself to Anna with the rights of a Saint Candidate's escort knight and attendant.
But standing beside Anna's manifestation, one hand radiating God's light, sword raised and shining, Ria spoke, and no one dared object.
"Follow the command!"
"Follow the faith!"
Such shouts rang out among the knights. Many cries. Entirely uncoordinated.
But—
"Follow the Saintess!"
In the end, it came together in those words. They knew, too. Whose light this was. Who had pulled them from the darkness.
Knights with shields in one hand and swords in the other ran forward and formed a defensive line.
Their direction: the entrance to the dwarven kingdom, where mana still surged in. The largest passageway.
"————!"
Monsters beyond description howled. Magical Creatures never seen before. Creatures that had never even been given names, existing only to sweep away every life in this place.
But no one was afraid. If anything, it was the Magical Creatures at the front who looked terrified.
Like frightened, wounded beasts, like beasts before a brandished burning torch, they puffed up their fur and howled long to make themselves look bigger.
Were they afraid of the being behind them?
Ria stood at the very front of the line.
Her shield was too small to cover her body. But she was not afraid at all.
Ria could not be afraid. Because the being she protected was offering herself up without fear.
The one protecting that being had no business being afraid.
First, a wolf with many eyes leaped in. Its mouth was torn open to the ears, and inside, a black tongue showed hideously.
Ria swung her sword.
The blade scattered sparkling white light like a whip, and the monster vanished without leaving even a trace of being split apart.
"......So that's how it is."
Even seeing that, Ria only murmured quietly.
The defensive line advanced. Slowly, but surely.
In that advance, there was only certainty.
*
As soon as the battle ended, the place Ria ran to was the room where she had met the princess.
Anna was still praying. The white thread still touched her hand.
Ria approached, sword drawn.
It was a sacred sight, and one that could even be called beautiful—
"......."
Ria felt a strange foreboding from that sight.
Snap.
A sound rang out, as if confirming Ria's thoughts. Ria reflexively swung her sword.
The white thread-like holiness was cut far too easily and vanished.
"Anna!"
Ria rushed to Anna as she collapsed sideways.
Blood was flowing from both of Anna's hands. There was a small wound on the back of each hand. At a glance, it seemed like the kind of wound that would not even leave a scar— small, as though pricked by a needle.
But the amount of blood flowing from those wounds was not normal.
"......Ria."
As Ria lifted Anna into her arms, a feeble voice escaped Anna's lips.
"......Did the fighting end well?"
"......."
Ria gritted her teeth.
Everyone had seen it. A miracle so great that even this country's princess had been taken aback.
There could be no one who saw that dark cavern lit as casually as broad daylight and felt nothing.
A disaster that might have erased the dwarven race itself— she had made it vanish in an instant.
"......It ended well."
She wanted to say something.
Blood was still dripping from Anna's hands. She wanted to tell her there had been no need to go this far, that there had been no need at all to sacrifice herself.
But the words would not come out. Her throat was choked.
Her vision blurred. Her head spun. It surely was not only from the fierce battle.
Somehow, at the thought that Anna's path forward had been decided by this, at the thought that it had all come to this because of what Ria had first pushed her into back then—
"I'm glad."
Anna answered as if exhaling, then closed her eyes. And fell asleep just like that.
Only after hearing her rasping breath did Ria feel relief.
Because she was holding Anna in both arms, Ria could not even wipe away her tears.
What was going to happen from now on?
That was not what she feared.
What Ria feared so terribly was what would become of Anna in the aftermath of it all.
Anna would, without fail.
No matter how big it was, she would be stubborn.
She would say she would carry it all herself—