215. The Price of Greed
215. The Price of Greed
Eurasia's sword flashed. Blue Sword Aura erupted outward. The densely packed crowd split apart, and crimson blood shot into the air.
Watching that, Stella felt relieved.
And bit her lip.
She hated it.
She hated herself for trembling in fear.
She hated herself for failing to come up with any plan, for feeling relieved at the sight of Eurasia.
She hated herself for thinking that maybe, just maybe, Eliarnes would come to save her.
She hated herself for being unable to do anything on her own.
Even if she couldn't stand shoulder to shoulder with them, she wanted to chase after Eliarnes, after Eurasia, close enough to see their backs.
So right now, somehow.
She had to do it.
There was enough time. She believed Eurasia could hold out.
In the end, it was no different from having accomplished nothing without others' help, but rather than bury herself in that kind of thinking—
'The best I can do.'
She opened her tightly shut eyes.
Stella's pupils blazed with dazzling light. The hands that had cowered in fear spread wide open. Countless spells surfaced in her mind.
Her left index finger drew a single stroke. Her middle finger traced a circle, her ring finger carved ancient characters, and her pinky wrote out a verse of incantation.
Her right index finger drew a stroke as well. Her middle finger traced geometric patterns. Her ring finger wrote the ancient language, her pinky the verses of incantation.
Her arms, spread to both sides, fluttered softly—as if conducting an orchestra, or dancing at a ball.
It was not meaningless movement. That, too, was part of the process of weaving magic.
All the while, she completed countless spells in her mind. Her lips, barely moving, recited the incantations aloud.
The more she did, the more indescribable Mana churned within the slender girl's body. The Mana of the entire area surged.
The Mana gathered to the girl they loved. It filled what she lacked. It shared what overflowed, and straightened the tangled flows of Mana.
At last, the girl declared.
"Walpurgis Night."
―――!
Dozens—no, hundreds—of spells manifested.
Massive fire poured down. Earth shot upward. Fierce torrents of water lashed the area, and blade-like winds tore the enemies apart.
And so, the spells that had fulfilled their roles vanished. But the Mana did not scatter. The Mana drifting through the air drew new spells.
Ordinarily, such a thing would be impossible. But the girl whom Mana loved wished for it. And so Mana granted her wish.
Fire became water. Water became wind. Wind became earth, and the earth became fire once more, surging upward.
There was no need to control the force. The Mana moved as she willed. It would not harm Eurasia. So there was no need to distinguish friend from foe.
From what she had glimpsed, everyone in the area was an enemy. They had drawn blades to kill her and Pina.
So, so.
Those people were enemies. Enemies had to be killed.
Still, the fortunate part was that she didn't have to kill them with her own hands. She didn't have to feel the sensation of cutting flesh and shattering bone.
Stella manifested magic without rest. She wrung every last drop of Mana from her body and drew in the Mana of the atmosphere to its fullest.
"Keh-hek..."
The moment she retched and spat up the blood that rose from her throat—
Thud.
Her feet touched the ground.
She heard nothing.
The only sounds were Pina's breathing and her own.
And the sound of something dragging along the ground.
'Is that dragging sound coming from Eurasia?'
She let out the breath she had been holding and opened her eyes.
"...Urp."
Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses.
It was a field of corpses. Corpses. Definitely corpses.
But they were writhing and moving.
Were they not human? Nausea surged at the gruesome sight. Stomach acid and blood mixed together and crawled up her throat.
She forced it back down and exhaled.
"H-hii... hii..."
Pina, eyes brimming with tears, burrowed into Stella's arms. Stella stroked Pina's head and surveyed the surroundings.
As she thought, they weren't human.
They were moving even in that state. It was absurd.
It was a sight that made her instinctively step backward.
What in the world were those things?
Even with all their limbs severed and their heads gone, the torsos were thrashing and crawling toward them.
On the other hand, she was relieved.
Because she hadn't killed hundreds of humans.
Because Eurasia hadn't killed humans either. Because they had killed monsters.
Even in the midst of all this, she found herself ridiculous for comforting herself with such shameless rationalization, but Stella welcomed it.
Because in a situation as horrible as this, it was absolutely necessary.
"H-hii...!"
Pina, who had been clinging to Stella, stirred.
She hugged Stella, caressed the spot where she had been wounded, rubbed her cheek against Stella's chest, and wept.
Stella shed a few tears as well, but she did not let herself relax.
She had to make a choice.
Tear the scroll and flee, or go save Eliarnes.
A choice? It wasn't even a choice.
Her mind was already made up.
Besides.
"You two! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? S-Stella! Y-you're bleeding...!"
"E-Eurasia!"
Stella wiped away the blood flowing from her seven orifices with a Cleanse and smiled brightly.
Eurasia was here now, so they weren't short on Blink Scrolls. So let's go save Eliarnes.
Of course, she had intended to save her even without the Blink Scrolls.
"Are you okay? Hm? Do you have a Potion? Do you have a Potion? What about Pina? Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay?"
"H-hiik..."
"Uuung... I'm fine, hic... I'm fine... What about you, Eurasia? Are you okay...?"
Stella wiped the tears trickling down with her sleeve, then wiped Pina's tears as well and looked at Eurasia.
"Yeah. I'm okay, but... what in the world... what is going on... Ah, no. My lady. Stella, where is Lady Eli?"
Even while worrying about her, Eurasia's blue eyes were searching for Eliarnes.
Eurasia's body was covered in wounds as well. Her uniform was torn to shreds, and on her exposed side, there was even a scar that looked like a stab wound from a blade.
She said she had poured Potion on it, and the wound was bubbling and closing up, but it was surely still painful.
"E-Eurasia... are you really okay?!"
"Ah... yeah. I'm fine. I dumped a ton of Potion on it as a stopgap, so it'll heal soon. So, where is the young lady? Where is she? Don't tell me... she's alone?"
Stella felt ashamed of herself for having made such a fuss over an injury from being stabbed by glass, acting like she might die.
Of course... having her lower body completely shattered had really, really hurt... but she was still ashamed all the same.
It was a pointless thought.
First, resolving this incomprehensible situation took priority. Stella turned her gaze and pointed toward the place where Eliarnes was likely to be.
"Yeah. I think I know. Eliarnes is..."
Then, suddenly, she felt a strange displeasure.
'Displeasure?'
Toward whom.
'Toward Eurasia?'
Why.
'I don't know...'
No... was this displeasure because of the scene visible behind her?
Probably. There was no reason at all to feel displeasure toward Eurasia.
She carefully turned her gaze.
She saw Eurasia with a worried expression.
But it wasn't her usual refreshing air.
Eyes that seemed to be forcibly suppressing hatred and rage smothered that refreshing feeling entirely.
Of course, it wasn't the first time she had seen that expression.
It was the same expression she had worn back in Anketin, when she had cut down countless Monsters.
Was it because the shock she had felt back then overlapped with the current situation?
'Right. That's probably it. There's no way I'd feel displeasure toward Eurasia.'
Stella shook her head from side to side, then looked in the direction she had noted earlier and slowly opened her mouth.
"Eliarnes is probably over there. I'm not sure, but... earlier I saw something swarming over there... U-uhh?"
And her eyes went wide.
"Wh-what is that...?"
Floral, who had fainted in Stella's arms, wriggled and poked her head out.
"Good heavens..."
"Hii..."
"M-my lady?"
Where the girls' gazes landed was an indescribable... a horrific hellscape itself.
Had they thought the place where they stood was horrible?
It couldn't compare to that place. Beneath the girls' feet lay the corpses of nearly a hundred monsters.
Stella almost felt pride that the three of them had handled such a large number.
But seeing the scene spread out over there, far from pride, even the fear she had thought extinguished surged back up.
The sky hung low and dark, evoking a silent dread, and beneath it, countless bodies, chunks of meat, limbs, and entrails were piled in layers, forming a cold, ghastly mountain.
From that mountain, a viscous river sloshed and overflowed. The rank smell of blood and iron bored into their nostrils.
Broken weapons jutted up between the corpses piled like a mountain, looking like gruesome wreckage submerged in a sea of blood.
A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, as if the world's most terrible tragedy had been sculpted into form.
And in the very center of that hellscape, a single cherry blossom—as if it had bloomed by drinking blood—swayed.
Eliarnes Eustetia.
Her appearance was so forlorn, so desperate,
that the girls standing there let out moans without even noticing the people approaching around them.
Squelch—
At last, she limped forward.
"Ah, ugh...! Eliarnes! Are you okay?!"
Stella staggered toward Eliarnes on unsteady legs.
"H-hiik... hic... sob..."
Pina, too, ran toward Eliarnes, letting out damp, tearful breaths.
"Y-you... you...!"
Floral covered her mouth at the sight of Eliarnes's wounds.
How could such a small body bear so many wounds? It would be faster to find the places where blood wasn't flowing than the places where it was—that was how wretched her condition was.
Of course, four hundred years ago, when Eliarnes had been Ronan, such things had happened often.
He had insisted on taking the vanguard.
Because of that, he had taken the most attacks. He had shed the most blood and crossed the line between life and death more times than anyone.
But back then, he had at least been big. But now?
She was a frail girl who looked like she might vanish at any moment.
In fact, the threshold she could endure seemed to have dropped considerably.
Her limbs were trembling madly. Her face was contorted with pain. Her breathing was ragged, and her once-sharp eyes were slack and drained of strength.
At the sight of something she had never once seen when he was Ronan, Floral let out a moan and poured out all the power she had.
A pale light spilled out and enveloped Eliarnes's body. The skin that had been split and cracked sealed back together. Twisted bones returned to place, and the fist that had lost its shape regained its original form.
Then Stella's Mana gently swept over Eliarnes's body. In an instant, all the filth caked onto her skin and clothes was washed away.
"...Ptui."
Without even checking her own condition, Eliarnes handed Potions to Stella and Pina.
Those two bottles were the last. Eliarnes had saved them without drinking any herself until she was reduced to that state, and then handed them to the two girls.
Then, without a hint of lingering attachment, she shifted her gaze.
The blonde girl standing at the very back.
Eurasia Espirot.
Seeing her, Eliarnes—
wore an expression that looked as if she might collapse at any moment.