Chapter 233: Ruin (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 233: Ruin (3)
The girl stared blankly at the man before her.
A man wreathed in blue lightning.
Before she knew it, the believers of Baarma were swarming toward him.
First, by the dozens.
Then, by the hundreds from afar.
—■■■■■■■■■!!
After a horn blast that sounded like a human scream rang out, an uncountable number of believers began to gather at this 'sacrificial site.'
It was just like when they had raided her village—
"R-run— you have to run—"
Driven by instinctive terror, she forced out a voice that barely wanted to emerge.
Similarly, the eyes of the 'toys' who had been fleeing until moments ago were now dyed with despair.
The fact that they had gathered in such numbers meant that no one would leave this place alive today.
That was why, as she watched the believers reach the man’s immediate front, she let out a pained lament.
Fundamentally, numbers were a crucial factor in war.
No matter how strong an individual was, they could not overcome a multitude.
Just as it had been for her village.
Just as it had been for her parents.
...Just as it had been for her race.
No matter how extraordinary one's power, two hands could not block twenty. Before the violence of overwhelming numbers, the strong eventually became nothing more than a single person.
The girl looked past the man with a face full of terror.
Beyond him, countless believers were already rushing forward to kill him, filling the wide thoroughfare. The thunderous sound of their footsteps, born of overwhelming numbers, sent her into a panic. Their screams repeatedly triggered memories that felt like trauma.
And at the very moment the soldiers reached the man and were about to swing their spears—
She saw it.
The man wreathed in lightning momentarily flashed with a brilliant light.
And then.
Crackle— Zap!
The lightning held in the man's hand...
As if to devour the entire world, the lightning greedily spread its branches in every direction, instantly incinerating the believers who had lunged to deal with him.
Then, the man threw the lightning.
It was a very brief, simple motion.
And yet,
Thud!
It felt like a sentence being passed.
After a white light so blinding it could have turned the girl sightless burst forth, the landscape that remained was...
"...Ah?"
It was a clean landscape.
The believers were no longer visible in her field of vision.
The blood-stained weapons they carried were gone.
The cruel decorations they had fashioned to offer their faith were gone.
There, only the man stood.
With a calm, indifferent expression.
The man who had swept away her horror and fear.
"..."
The white-haired girl stared blankly at the man's back, as if trying to engrave the image into her memory.
Vacantly.
* * *
Crunch!
The Golden Tube, which had not lost its brilliant luster even in this ashen world, twisted this way and that.
Immediately after killing the last of the men who had been swarming in—
"...This is the end of them. I don't think there are any more enemies."
"I see."
This was the report from Penia, who had been sensing the surroundings by flowing her mana.
Alon let out a deep sigh and looked around.
Everywhere his gaze landed, those who had been hunted like toys by the armed entities until moments ago were now looking at him with expressions mixed with a strange hope and fear.
...Was this the right choice?
Looking at the scene, Alon found himself asking that question.
Thinking solely from his own perspective, he knew it was difficult to see the choice he had made as the 'correct' one.
He didn't even know who the people he had just killed were.
Furthermore, he didn't know why they were hunting these demi-humans so cruelly, as if they were playthings.
In other words, Alon had saved them without any specific information.
However, it wasn't as if Alon had saved the hunted demi-humans without any thought at all.
The reason Alon had come down here to save them in the first place was that he had used Line's 'Eye' to confirm beforehand that there were no powerful entities in the area.
Of course, no matter how much he had confirmed, making enemies of an opponent whose total strength was unknown in an unfamiliar location was not a good choice.
Nevertheless, Alon did not regret his actions.
Even if it wasn't a 'good' choice, he believed it was the 'right' one.
"Excuse me—"
Just as he was thinking that, a faint voice came from behind.
When Alon turned around, he saw a wolfman with a long scar over his right eye.
As soon as Alon turned, the wolfman dropped to his knees on the ground.
"Thank you for saving us!"
He slammed his head against the floor.
While Alon was momentarily taken aback, others followed.
"T-thank you, truly."
"Thank you!"
"We are grateful."
"Thank you—"
Following the wolfman's lead, the other demi-humans began to kneel one by one and offer their thanks.
Men and women, young and old—every one of them bowed their heads to the ground.
Seeing this, Alon spoke.
"Line, can you release the shackles?"
"I just finished analyzing them, so I should be able to release them immediately, Godfather."
"Then, please."
"Yes."
Line immediately moved her hands lightly while murmuring something.
Then, the shackles on the demi-humans' hands began to unlock with a series of metallic clacks.
"The—the shackles!"
"They're off!"
The shackles were released in an instant.
Looking down at their free hands, they were overcome with emotion.
Alon decided that leaving this terrible place was the priority.
"Let's leave this place for now."
* * *
"If you are looking for a place nearby where we won't be discovered by those Baarma fanatics, please leave it to me."
The one who stepped forward first was the wolfman who had been the first to bow to Alon.
As soon as his shackles were removed, he took the lead and moved eastward as if he were familiar with the area.
After walking for nearly a full day, they reached a cave.
"We won't be found by the fanatics here. The divine grace remains in this area, so those fanatics cannot enter."
The wolfman, who had led the demi-humans and Alon into the cave, finally introduced himself.
"I am late in introducing myself to our savior. I am Rangban, a warrior of the Azure Martial Corps."
"I am Alon Telia."
Rangban bowed his head deeply.
Soon, he spoke cautiously.
"May I ask you one thing?"
"What is it?"
"Are you from the Human Race Union, here to help us?"
"The Human Race Union?"
"...I see you are not."
At Alon's reaction, Rangban let out a heavy sigh, as if he had expected as much.
When a faint trace of wariness appeared on his face, Alon asked a question.
"If possible, could you explain the situation?"
"An explanation?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, we do not properly understand the current state of affairs."
"...What do you mean by that?"
Rangban tilted his head as if he couldn't understand at all.
Alon debated for a moment whether it was right to reveal the truth, but eventually decided to speak.
"We came here from the United Kingdoms due to an unexpected accident."
"...The United Kingdoms."
At Rangban's words, spoken as if he were hearing something completely foreign, Alon replied.
"Yes. Are you perhaps unaware of it?"
"The 'United Kingdoms'... I'm sorry, but I've never heard of such a place."
"It's a place that shares a border with the Empire."
"...I'm sorry, but I don't know where you're talking about."
Alon felt a sense of strangeness at Rangban's words.
...Is this not the Empire?
Alon had certainly thought so. He knew that Calypsophobia, which was set in the Empire, contained many gore-filled and cruel stories.
But for Rangban not to know the Empire... something was wrong.
I've heard that in Calypsophobia, there are primitive tribes formed far from the Empire, or even places consisting entirely of islands.
Even considering that, could someone not know the Empire? He pondered this for a moment.
"Anyway, since you don't seem to know the current situation, I will explain."
Rangban began to tell the story bit by bit.
The explanation continued for quite a long time.
"To summarize it in one sentence, humans who believe in a god called Baarma have declared war on the demi-humans and are ruthlessly massacring them to gather faith?"
"Yes, that's correct. That's why we formed an alliance to oppose Baarma—but currently, we are being pushed back helplessly."
Rangban grimaced, as if a very bad memory had surfaced.
A fanatic group called Baarma that gains faith by indiscriminately killing demi-humans...
Alon chewed over the name Baarma, but nothing specific came to mind.
Was there a fanatic group called Baarma in Calypsophobia?
Alon eventually shook his head.
He hadn't played the game himself. However, he had seen many spoilers and various posts about Calypsophobia.
Therefore, if Baarma were famous, at least a single line about them should have remained in Alon's mind. He should have been able to recall at least a similar name, but nothing came to him.
Furthermore, the reason Alon felt even more strange was that the scale of the war between the Baarma fanatics and the alliance was much larger than he expected.
At this point, if the scale is this large, it would be normal for me to remember one or two things related to it...
While he was lost in thought, Rangban moved.
"Could you wait here for a moment? Just in case, I will go and completely conceal the hideout before returning. We entered in a hurry, so I haven't properly set up the external defenses."
"Didn't you say they couldn't enter because of the grace?"
"One can never be too prepared. I'll be back as quickly as possible."
He bowed and then walked off somewhere.
Come to think of it, Line might know.
Alon's thoughts turned to Line's Library.
When he looked toward Line, she had a serious expression as if something had occurred to her.
Just as Alon was about to call her—
"E-excuse me—"
The white-haired girl had approached him before he realized it.
Her purple eyes shone even in the darkness, as if reflecting the moonlight.
The girl hesitated, fidgeting with the hem of her soiled dress.
"Th-thank you for saving me."
She then bowed her head deeply.
The girl's slightly trembling voice echoed in the space.
She kept fiddling with the front of her stained dress as if trying to suppress her anxiety.
Looking down at the top of her white head, Alon...
"..."
...noticed a wound that remained even though it had been treated by Penia's mana.
"Are you alright?"
"A-ah—yes, I'm fine—"
The girl exaggeratedly straightened her shoulders as if to show she was healthy. It was a gesture that felt both pitiful and admirable.
"What is your name?"
"I-I'm called Ryanga."
When asked for her name, the girl's shoulders slumped slightly again.
"Ryanga—Ryanga..."
Alon rolled the name around in his mouth several times. It was a good name.
Then—
"Ryang... a?"
"Yes... Is, is something... strange?"
A strange sense of déjà vu flashed through his mind.
Alon knew that name.
Yes. He definitely knew it.
As Alon searched through his memories, he soon...
"...Ah."
...remembered whose name it was.
His eyes widened involuntarily.
Silence filled the space.
After calming his mind, Alon spoke cautiously.
"Ryanga, may I ask you one thing?"
"Y-yes? It's okay."
"...What is your race, by any chance?"
"My race?"
"Yes."
At Alon's question, Ryanga's eyes drooped slightly as if a bad thought had occurred to her.
"I'm from the Ghost Tribe..."
She murmured quietly.
At that answer, Alon let out a low sound and looked at her forehead.
On her forehead, there was a very small, but unmistakable horn growing.
"I understand that the Ghost Tribe uses 'True Names' that do not overlap with anyone else of their kind. Is that correct?"
When Alon asked just to be sure,
"Uh... that's right... but how does a human know that...?"
Ryanga answered with a slightly surprised expression.
Alon let out a hollow laugh in spite of himself.
Because he realized who the being before him was.
He knew the name 'Ryanga.'
And as far as Alon knew, there was only one white-haired, purple-eyed member of the Ghost Tribe with that name.
"Ha."
One of the Four Major Factions, and the master of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons—
"Godfather, it seems this place is probably—"
"The past?"
"Yes. Roughly 700 years ago..."
—It was the name of the Ghost King.
Only then did Alon realize.
This place was the past, 700 years ago.