The Paramere Search Operation (14)
The Paramere Search Operation (14)
I hurled the spear immediately. The spear, which had pierced through the Rotten Ones and embedded itself, drove deep into the security mechanism.
"Beatrice! Burn that thing a bit!"
【Leave it to me!】
Flames ignited on Brionac, which I had thrown packed with Sacred Power. It pierced deep into the magic barrier, damaging part of the circuitry.
"Burn only the first-layer security barrier!"
【What is that?!】
"Just burn everything that's there! But not the one next to it!"
Whoosh.
Literally setting it on fire. The magic barrier was strong. But that didn't mean it was stronger than Brionac.
【Hraaaaah!!!】
Fierce flames erupted. The sound stopped in an instant. The circuitry was burned out and the first-layer barrier destroyed.
As the sound of the city collapsing ceased, the Rotten Ones began to retreat. They fled while still on fire, then vanished back into the darkness of the night.
I cracked my neck.
"What the hell were you thinking when you pulled this shit?"
"W-we were..."
I reached out my hand. Brionac was sucked back into my grasp. As I flicked off the flames with a whoosh, Beatrice's spirit form clung to my shoulder.
【Hah... hah... I want to... burn more...】
"Hold it in."
I had blown away an entire district of the city with fire. The number of buildings I'd burned down just getting here was beyond counting.
If anyone found out I was the culprit, I'd destroyed enough property to be held over my head when Paramer was eventually restored.
Would she only be satisfied after burning down an entire country?
I grabbed the back of the hooded elf's neck with a firm grip. The elves flinched and shouted all at once.
"L-let go of her!"
"How dare you!"
"I don't know who you are, so I'm taking a look at your face."
I forcibly pulled off the hood.
"Who are you..."
Our eyes met.
Beautiful platinum-blonde hair. At a glance, it was a different shade from Dimona's. But it was just as blindingly beautiful.
An elf. Far prettier than an ordinary elf, but there was nothing significantly different from other elves. With a face like that, why bother hiding...
...Huh?
Something was attached above the platinum-blonde hair. A white flower. I casually raised my hand.
I grabbed the white flower and gave it a light tug.
"Ow, ow!"
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
"Let go of her this instant!"
"Don't tell me this is..."
I scrunched up my face. Ah, fuck.
A flower parasitizing the top of her head. There was only one case where an elf walked around with a flower on her head like a lunatic.
"Why did the Fairy Queen's daughter come all the way here?"
"......!"
The captured girl stared at me with startled rabbit eyes.
"Y-you know me?"
"I know the Spirit Flower. What's your name?"
"I-I'm Flora."
Ah, fuck. I thought her face looked familiar.
Why is another main NPC here?!
"Flora... right. Flora. What did you come here for? Huh? Do you realize everyone almost died because of what you did?"
"I-I didn't know..."
"You didn't know, so what?! That makes it all fine?!"
"E-eep."
"Release Flora at once!"
"You bastard!"
The elves raised their crossbows. I frowned.
"Put away the ones without bolts. Huh? Hey. You lot..."
If these bastards came all the way here, there was only one thing they were trying to steal. Always, wherever and whenever, the elf race had wanted that object.
"Looking for the Tear of Yggdrasil, are you?"
"...H-how do you..."
"How do I know, my ass. Hey. You can't break through that. Do you think Paramer is some frontier town? It's a major city, and it's got deep history too. Those things are centuries old, easily. You think an underground vault in a place like that is going to be cracked open overnight?"
At least it was stopped at the first-layer security. If the second layer had been breached, the method to stop the warning alarm itself would have nearly vanished.
Coming as fast as I could had been worth it. I pressed the spear blade against Flora's neck. If it were up to me, I'd kill her, but...
I couldn't kill her when she was linked to the World Tree. It would leave a trace on me, and the World Tree would declare me a public enemy. I'd clearly be hunted by elves for the rest of my life.
But even so, I couldn't just let this slide. Considering all the trouble I'd gone through, I'd at least teach her a lesson!
Fortunately, there were endless ways to punish them besides killing. Methods to scrape away at an elf's pride numbered in the hundreds even with my eyes closed.
Shall I go with that?
"Get on the ground."
The elves foamed at the mouth.
"Stop talking nonsense and release Flora! Right now!"
"Oh? Not listening, are you? Not getting down?!"
"Wh-what are you saying..."
"Get down! You bastards! Turn your asses this way! Her neck's about to fly off!"
"Wh-what are you talking about?! D-don't tell me you intend to violate us...!"
"Fuck's sake. Maybe I really will. Get down and stick your asses out this way so I can see them properly! Right now! Or else the Fairy Queen's precious bloodline that you cherish so much..."
I giggled. I pressed Brionac deeper against Flora's neck, making a show of it.
"What do you think will happen? Huh?"
"...You... demon...!"
"You've got no shortage of things to say to a priest. Shut up and all of you get down! You bastards!"
The elves let out a grunt and got down. They turned their asses toward me.
I approached slowly. Flora thrashed in my arms.
"Wh-what are you going to do?! Don't do this!"
"You did wrong, so you pay the price."
I took Flora's hand.
Elves have strong pride. Their loyalty is also strong; they have integrity and constancy.
So when that breaks, the shock is equally great.
It's no different from experiencing death!
"Now, Flora. Spread your hand out like this."
"Eh? Eh? Eh?"
"Bad children have to be punished, right?"
I held her hand and brought it down on the elf's ass.
Smack!
The elf's back arched like a bow.
"Ah, ahh?! F-Flora?!"
"N-no?! I didn't do that...?!"
I grinned broadly.
"Let's take a hundred each from the hand of the mistress you love so dearly. Got it?"
"N-nooooo!!"
"Ahh! Ahh!"
"Hnnngh!"
A perfect method where both the one hitting and the one being hit were punished.
The best elf discipline technique there is!
. . .
The underground of the Clock Tower. The place where the refugees had been trapped.
Rosemary stepped inside. It was too quiet. The noise from outside hadn't reached down into the underground.
"Th-this way."
The unfamiliar man who'd been given the packed meal guided the way. As they moved along the sewers spread beneath Paramer, an open door caked with dust came into view.
A place that had once been firmly shut, a place no one had been able to open.
"M-my name is Idil Door."
As if trying to break the silence, the unfamiliar man introduced himself.
"I was a high-ranking official of Paramer, in charge of administration."
"Where is this?"
"The underground of the Clock Tower was originally a kind of bunker built in preparation for war. A place known only to the lord and a small number of officials... When the plague began spreading through Paramer, we fled here immediately."
"...A plague?"
"I still don't know whether to call it a disease or a curse. One day, the entire city darkened along with a bizarre wailing sound. Black fog that rose from the Clock Tower swept through all of Paramer."
Idil trembled.
"I-it was hell. A hell where people attacked one another, and monsters giving off a strange rotten stench rose up. We fled. We went underground and waited for the situation to end. But..."
"You're saying you were trapped for ten years?"
"...Yes. Once the door locked, it strangely never opened again. The emergency rations we had stockpiled ran out in three years. We were starving. So..."
The air grew heavy. Rosemary let out a sigh.
An isolated environment with nothing to eat. And there was only one thing that could explain still being alive.
"...You resorted to cannibalism."
"...I-I don't know. My memories are hazy. We just want to live. Priest. Mercy... please have mercy... food, please..."
Idil sobbed. Rosemary walked on in silence.
Their circumstances were pitiful, but her mind was elsewhere. She didn't have the leisure to think about other things.
The paladin who had turned his back and evacuated the others first. Her junior and her sworn enemy, still remaining on the surface.
Rosemary let out a sigh.
He was the person she had sworn to kill with her own hands. Yet now that he had gone into a death trap, why did her mood keep worsening? She couldn't understand why she kept worrying.
...No. It was needless worry. It was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Rosemary forcibly suppressed the feelings leaking out. In her head, Zahard whispered.
-You missed me, didn't you?
No, I didn't?! Shut your mouth!
The foot she lashed out in a fit of anger caught on something.
Clack.
Rosemary righted her body before she could fall. The path had ended.
A dark plaza. People with black spots were pressed against the walls as if terrified.
And at the far end, there was someone.
"...Oh?"
Another group holding torches. Not humans with black spots. Rather, people trampling over them.
Armor glinting in the firelight, and an attitude of complete composure.
The imperial knights and wizards who seemed to have arrived first turned to look at her.
"Impressive. So you survived. Church folk."
"...Ian Pamel."
The imperial knight was smiling. As the torchlight wavered, the shadow of his smile stretched long.
"How did you survive? Do those Rotten Ones have a weakness? Truly astonishing. It seems the Church sent someone unexpectedly capable."
"...You son of a bitch!"
"You survived too. Mercenary. I definitely felt the sensation in my hand. You managed to live through that? You must be quite skilled. Priest. But now that you're here, none of that matters anymore."
"You killed...!"
Rosemary grabbed Daniel by the scruff of his neck. For some reason, the atmosphere was strange.
The wizard Hudson was silent. The others were the same. The imperial knights quietly kept their hands on their swords and said nothing.
"...What do you mean it doesn't matter?"
"Exactly what I said. It no longer matters."
Ian waved his hand. What he held was a book that looked like a diary.
"The search of Paramer is over."
"...What did you say?"
"We have achieved our objective. We uncovered Paramer's secret, and that secret has returned to our hands. Congratulations. Church folk. You survived. You may celebrate."
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Explain yourself! What the hell is going on here?!"
"It's simple."
The knights drew their swords. Magic rose in the wizards' hands.
Ian whispered.
"It means Paramer's secret is now in my hands. With this, we can advance further. It means I am no longer the commander of a fallen knight order."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Did you know? At the very top of the Clock Tower lives a monster. And directly beneath it, there is a girl. She was the only one among the Rotten who had not rotted. She possesses reason, and she could converse. Most importantly, she could control the monster living atop the Clock Tower. That is a weapon. A weapon, and the only way to move the monster sleeping in the Clock Tower."
"...What?"
"The cause of all this black fog lies with the Clock Tower monster. If we kill it, the black fog will vanish as well. We have decided not to kill it."
"To use it as a weapon? That's— Hudson. You agreed to this too? That thing brought disaster upon Paramer! It's a monster that killed countless people! And you... you decided to tame it?! This is insane!!!"
Hudson averted his gaze. He nodded.
"The Blue Magic Tower came here for one reason. To obtain a kind of research sample we have never possessed before."
"So you joined this insane plan? For nothing more than a research sample?"
"...It is not 'nothing more.' It is our lifeline."
Hudson gritted his teeth. As if casting off the mask he had worn until now, he revealed his malice.
"We have no other options either. Inquisitor Rosemary. The Blue Magic Tower has effectively abandoned us. I came here to seize an opportunity. I must produce results somehow. From the beginning, I had no intention of being satisfied with simply reclaiming Paramer. If we can use the ancient monster, the school I belong to can rise to the top of the Blue Magic Tower once more. I... I don't care what happens to me, but I must secure a place for my disciples. I will not tolerate the children I raised being cast aside."
Daniel exploded in anger.
"Didn't you say it yourself, Wizard! That the Magic Towers don't involve themselves in making weapons of war!"
"...Sir Ian explained it. Even if it is made into a weapon, if it is never used, then it is not a weapon. Could it not simply be seen as a 'power' that prevents war in advance? It's a difference of perspective."
"You fell for that absurd persuasion?!"
"W-we don't want to do this either!"
The female wizard let out a scream-like sound.
"B-but we have no choice! The research funding for magic has all been cut off, and the Tower sent us here before officially expelling us for having no results!"
"...Weren't you trying to save me?"
"Everyone... everyone has their circumstances. I-I don't want to do this either. But we have no choice. I-if we cooperate, we can gain a future... We don't have to settle for empty rewards. M-maybe we could even build our own magic tower here..."
"That's exactly right. We had much to gain from each other. Having seen the possibility of controlling the monster, we decided to see this through together."
Rosemary gripped her axe.
"...Do you think our churches will stand by and watch while you try to tame a filthy monster that killed countless people?"
"The age of gods is over. Now is the age of humanity. This is merely placing one more ancient monster atop that. What could the churches do even if they found out? Aren't they nothing more than the Empire's lackeys?"
Ian shrugged his shoulders.
"Rosemary, was it? Priest of the Church of Ra. The churches won't even be able to learn of this matter, let alone fear it. You will be buried here, and with that, everything ends. If you lie down quietly, I'll grant you a painless death."
"...Ha."
Rosemary growled. Flames ignited on the axe she had raised.
"What happens from here on is the consequence of your own actions."
The overflowing Sacred Power surged in with a sudden rush.
"You'll have no complaints if I kill you all."
"Talk all you want."
Ian's sword was dyed red.
"Because moving that mouth of yours ends now."