Close Encounter (2)
As time flowed on like that, November was already drawing to a close. It was the thirtieth.
“Zeke, doesn’t this feel like it’s taking a suspiciously long time?”
“It hasn’t even been a full week yet, but… yeah.”
The Empire’s elven archmage, Guinevere, was dragging things out far more than her bold promises suggested. Six days wasn’t an eternity, but it also wasn’t short enough for complete radio silence to feel normal. In any other situation it might have been different, but the theater incident gave us a clear starting point. We didn’t even need to search for the cause—we could have begun investigating immediately.
Maybe enough time had passed that the evidence had grown hazy. Still, if that were the case, shouldn’t there at least have been some explanation about why it was taking so long?
“The academy hasn’t been officially closed, but it’s basically under lockdown.”
“Why? Going out again?”
“It’s not that I have anywhere to be. The difference is between choosing not to leave when I could, and not being allowed to leave at all.”
Zeke nodded without needing any further explanation. Honestly, if I really wanted to slip out there were ways, but I kept that to myself. The academy’s barrier had been raised to prepare for powerful monsters—or a Demon King—trying to erase their traces after causing chaos in the city. It would take colossal nerve to pull something like that off, but the fact that anyone had dared to strike at the Blue Sea Theater proved their guts were enormous.
Still.
“At the very least, the blockade probably won’t lift until after the Imperial Church is purged and the carefully selected clergy arrive at the academy.”
“Nothing else?”
“Not yet. I don’t know exactly how far Father wants to push this, but he doesn’t seem interested in neatly tying up the church schism just because the Imperial Church is shaking.”
That made sense. No matter what had happened, integrating the Imperial Church wouldn’t be easy. It was a golden nugget that had rolled right into our laps with just the slightest push. If we used this incident to crush them even more thoroughly, the reward would be far greater. Even if I were the emperor, I wouldn’t let an opportunity like this slip away.
“In the end, we’ll have to pull off something big…”
“Do you have an idea?”
“Not yet.”
I had wondered if we could create a rift through Yulia, but I could hardly say that in front of her. Besides, I wasn’t even confident such a rift would form properly. If anything, if Yulia returned to the Empire now, the Imperial Church might reorganize around her. My apostle would become its center, true, but real control would swing back to the imperial family. Church unification would become impossible.
How was I supposed to break through this?
“…Huh?”
Lost in thought, I suddenly snapped back to reality and realized I had already walked past the academy’s blockade line. I vaguely remembered heading out for a walk while agonizing over leaving Yulia behind, but I had no idea how I’d ended up here.
The area was the slums I had visited once before. This time, though, it felt eerily deserted—almost desolate.
That was to be expected. While the official blockade only covered the academy, the investigation team led by the empire’s archmage and the Imperial Church clergy had caused such a scene that the reinforced orthodox clergy wouldn’t leave the surrounding area unchecked.
They hadn’t simply driven everyone out, though. I had intervened slightly, so simple but neat little houses had been built quickly and the residents relocated. Not everyone had been moved, but the argument that slums would be the perfect hiding spot for monsters had convinced both nobles, clergy, and even the residents themselves.
But why had my distracted pondering brought me all the way here?
“You came?”
It was a girl’s voice—youthful, but not childish. At the same time, it carried an incredibly dark undertone.
“Who are you? What did you just do?”
I instinctively manifested my divine power. The golden light gathering in my right hand had always felt powerful and useful, but right now it felt like a solid lifeline.
“Ah, don’t get too tense. I didn’t come here to fight.”
With those words, a girl peeked out from around the corner. Her pink hair cascaded down, and a black eyepatch covered her left eye. She called herself a girl, but she looked a little older than Guinevere—somewhere between middle school and high school age.
Then, without warning, an overwhelming darkness and damp malice slammed into me. It was so intense that if I hadn’t strengthened my divine power, I might have collapsed on the spot.
“Like this?”
“Uh, no. I was just trying to make you sit down. I wasn’t attacking…”
“A normal person would have fainted at the very least. In the worst case, they might have died.”
“Ha, but… you’re not a normal person…”
I sighed. There were plenty of things I could argue with there, but unfortunately she wasn’t wrong. I really wasn’t normal.
That didn’t mean I would just let this slide. My opponent was clearly using the demonic energy of monsters. At this level, she was almost certainly a high-ranking entity.
More importantly, how had I wandered out here alone and walked straight into this mess? Come to think of it, her first words had sounded like she knew I would come. Had she done that too?
“You’re the one who did that at the theater, aren’t you?”
If nothing else, the culprit behind that massacre at the theater was almost certainly her. There was no one else it could be. The question was how to capture her. I could probably defend myself, but actually catching her seemed difficult. If she suddenly vanished, how could I prove anything? I couldn’t even explain how I’d gotten here in the first place.
“That? What ‘that’?”
“What do you mean, what? That thing where black, sticky liquid poured out of the Black Sphere and turned into monsters.”
“Huh? That’s how it looked?”
Since buying time was my best option right now, I decided to play along with her intentions for a while. Even though I had wandered out without realizing it, people would eventually come looking.
“Don’t play dumb. How close that theater came to a complete disaster. How many people actually died?”
I couldn’t let my guard down for even a second. Just from the power she had projected at me earlier, her total strength clearly surpassed mine. Considering I ranked among the top ten—perhaps even top five—in divine power in this world, her power was absurd. Even if we fought directly, the natural advantage of divine power meant I probably wouldn’t lose, but I would still take significant damage.
“No, no. I really don’t know anything. I came here wondering what kind of insane friend would do something like that. And why are you even here? The world is full of people who would charge at a Demon King with knives regardless of whether they lived or died!”
How should I put it… The way this self-proclaimed Demon King spoke and acted somehow reminded me of a girl who had just hit puberty throwing a tantrum over something trivial. Was this some kind of mental interference magic? Something that made her seem far less threatening?
“If it wasn’t a Demon King, who could possibly do something like that?”
“A Demon King couldn’t do it either! How could they open something like that from so far away? If they could, someone would have conquered the world already! They’d just open one right in the kings’ bedrooms!”
That… actually sounded plausible. Of course, the Blue Sea Theater had been a high-value target. The number of important children from various countries gathered there, not to mention the hero, the crown prince, the imperial princess, and me. But if the goal was to strike a high-value target, there were plenty of even more valuable and effective options. There would have been far more opportunities, too. And if the distance had truly been great, it would have been even more impossible. You’d need some way to observe the coordinates first. It wasn’t as if monsters had spy satellites.
“You didn’t do it while hiding nearby?”
“I only arrived today! Argh, why won’t you believe me?”
“Would you believe yourself if you were me?”
The pink-haired Demon King began seriously pondering my words again. Then she nodded several times as if convinced and answered.
“Fine. Then let’s meet. I’ll show you my sincerity.”
What was she talking about now?
“We’re already meeting.”
“No? We’re not meeting right now. I guided your dream to come to me. With how many clergy and holy knights there are—and especially that elven archmage—ugh, I don’t want to die. It was hard enough escaping in the first place.”
Every sentence contained important information, but the biggest problem right now was that this was a dream.
“You can just enter my dreams? When I’m a saint?”
“Hehe, how about that? Amazing, right? Majestic, right? Huh? Isn’t it?”
When I asked in open disbelief, the pink-haired Demon King puffed up with cheeky pride and grinned from ear to ear.
This made the whole idea of buying time lose most of its meaning. I had been hoping nearby support would notice something was wrong and come find me, but if this was a dream, that changed everything. Still, I wasn’t about to clap and tell her how impressive she was.
“What’s so impressive about being too scared to meet me in person, so you snuck into my dream instead?”
“That’s not it! I’m not scared! I can come in whenever I want!”
“Then why?”
“W-well… it’s, it’s bothersome! Yeah! That’s right! It’s too much trouble! Do you know how annoying it would be to shake off all those people? Why should I have to do that? It’s easier to just talk in a dream!”
What was this? Why did I feel this way? I really shouldn’t be feeling this toward my opponent, but something about teasing her was strangely fun. Every time I poked at her, she reacted so perfectly that I felt like I was playing with one of those dolls that squeaks when you press its stomach.
“Then you’ll come in person?”
“Uh, ugh, uuuu… Ah, no! No way! You’re the one who has questions! I’m not going!”
She wasn’t a complete idiot, at least.
“…Fine. Where should I go? I can’t go too far. The academy is under lockdown.”
I played along for now. As if I would actually go. She was a Demon King; I would need to gather proper forces before confronting her. If she told me her location, I could bring an army and overwhelm her.
That was what I was thinking when she answered.
“The Blue Sea Theater? Just come there! I’m there right now?”
…What?