Book 3: Chapter 24

「Is that……so.」

Kain went silent looking like he was pondering over something. And then, coming to a halt, he showed a hesitant-looking expression.

「Um……I have a request for you but.」

「What?」

While hiding her emotion of “what a pain”, Rokuna looked at Kain.

「Even if you become able to explain Summon Magic……I’d like for you to not make it public.」

「……I’ll ask this for now but, why?」

This was only natural but Rokuna had no intention of making the resulting explanation public in mankind’s territory.

To begin with, Rokuna was taking action for the sake of the Zadark Kingdom, and she had absolutely no intention of contributing to the development of mankind’s technology.

If Kain had said “make your findings public……”, she had thought of coming up with a reason to refuse him.

「It’s because it’s dangerous.」

「Haa?」

Being astounded thinking “what is this guy saying”, Rokuna staringly looked at Kain’s face.

Regardless of it being Summon Magic, it goes without saying that magic is dangerous.

「I’m also not very informed about Summon Magic. But, that is probably something Humans should not be dealing with. I believe that there is also the possibility of the summoned thing running wild.」

Summon Magic was literally magic that called something out, but it wasn’t really known just what was being called out.

The power of something, a hero of the past, something that lives in the country of the Gods, it was said to be various things, but there was no proof for any of the theories.

The most famous one that is called out was the Sword Spirit.

It was said to use fierce sword techniques, but even in the scarce amount of reported cases, it had an extremely varied and wide-range of forms.

At times it was a youthful swordsman, at times it was a little girl swordswoman, at time it was an elderly swordsman.

There were cases where it was a slender beauty, and there were other cases of being a giant muscular man.

Even its weapon varied from being a longsword, a large sword, and a slender sword, and even the color of its spiritual body be different like blue, red, green, or yellow.

However, the point of being extremely power was one that all of the Sword Spirits had in common.

Since it could kill even an Ogre with ease, there was no mistake that it was of the strongest classification as a swordsman.

What would happen if the magic to call out something like that were clarified and popularized.

To begin with, there was the possibility that what was summoned wouldn’t listen to the commands of the summoner.

Having seen Summon Magic several times, Kain knew this, but what was summoned undoubtedly possessed a will of its own.

Just how could it be declared that the thing that was summoned wouldn’t turn into an enemy.

「That’s why……」

「It’s not like I’ll make it public, so you can be at ease.」

Rokuna interrupted Kain who was about to say something.

Rokuna only had one feeling──and it was “this guy sure is bothersome”.

Kain’s concern was most likely correct, but what will come of being afraid of a hypothetical story.

If one called something out and were killed by it, then their destiny only went that far.

At the moment that Vermudol spoke about the Demon God Summoning, Rokuna had long ago made her resolve for that possibility.

What Kain was afraid of the most was probably that it would be used in the war between fellow members of mankind that seemed like it would break out at any time.

If Summon Magic were to become utilized, summoned things would surely be flying wildly about on the battlefield.

And since the loss of soldiers would be reduced if summoning could be used, then any country would make use of it.

However, Rokuna’s objective was purely for an analytical study of the technique for the sake of the Demon God Summoning.

She had no interest in any ways to use it other than that, and she had no intention of assisting in the war.

「I’ve said this several times, but my objective is research. Self-satisfaction. And if you say that you can’t trust me, then it doesn’t really matter.」

Hearing those words, Kain, after being silent for a while, nodded.

「……I understand.」

At this point in time, Rokuna’s stress was getting close to its maximum value.

She was on the verge of saying “don’t go saying such tedious crap, you bastard”.

Rokuna hated idiots that didn’t think anything, but she hated guys that thought too much and made stories longer than needed even more.

Rokuna had decided in her heart that she would hit him if he said even just a little bit more, but without having to resort to that, the group arrived in front of a single building.

Facing the main road that continued on to the royal castle, it was a two-story building.

「Hーn. Is this the place?」

「Yes, this is the 『Tianot Company』.」

Hearing Rokuna’s question, Ein answered.

「Well then, let’s get going right away.」

The very moment that Rokuna took the initiative and was about to step forward, a voice with a cheerful tone called out.

「Huh? Kain, why are……you, ahー!」

「Uwah, Seira!?」

The one that called out to Kain was a woman with bright red hair that was like flames.

Seira Necros.

She was one of Kain’s female friends that was also an Edius Adventurer School student.

「You’re with Ein again……or rather, there’s even a new woman!」

「Y, you’ve got it wrong!」

「And what have I got wrong! Even though you refused my invitation!」

Seira grabbed Kain’s shoulders as he tried to run away, and started kicking him.

However, it looked like Kain purposely let himself get kicked, and it could be seen that this was Kain’s own way of appeasing her anger.

「It takes a while once that starts. Let’s get going.」

「What’s with that? Does it happen every time?」

「Today is on the lighter side.」

While harboring the impression “there sure are all kinds of people in the worldー”, Rokuna entered the company.

The words 『Tianot Company』 were written on the cloth hung at the entrance, and they had to pass through that.

This was culture unique to mankind’s territory, and seemed to be called a 「noren」 and indicated that the store was open.

「Welcome……wait, Ein-san?」

「Yeah.」

The blue haired young girl that came out from the back of the store saw Ein and made a surprised sounding voice.

After seeing that she conformed with the appearance that she had heard about beforehand, Rokuna determined that this young girl was Sharon Tianot.

「Erm, and who might that person be?」

「I’m Rokuna. I’m working as a travelling magic researcher.」

After saying that, Rokuna slightly raised her hand and made her greeting.

「Ah, right! I am Sharon Tianot! Thank you very much for coming to the store!」

Sharon hurriedly lowered her head and returned the greeting.

After Rokuna unseriously waved her hand and replied to that, Sharon expressed a cheerful business smile.

「And so, what might you be searching for today?」

「Summon Magic.」

「Heh?」

While regretting things with the thought of “maybe I should have asked Ein to talk about things beforehand……”, Rokuna repeated herself.

「Summon Magic. Could youー show it to me. That is the order I’d like to make.」

「Eh, erm……」

「Sharon. I ask you of this as well. Kain knows about this as well. Well……the person himself was caught by the wild boar woman earlier though.」

Sharon made a wry smile at Ein’s words, but Rokuna was bothered by something else.

It looks like Ein was fitting in more than expected but……she also thought that she looked like she was fitting in a bit too much.

After thinking “as I thought, I’ll give her a warning later……”, Rokuna noticed that Sharon was peeking at her face at some point.

「U, um……」

「Nn? What?」

「It’s, about the magic but……」

「Yup. What? Do you not want to?」

Hearing Rokuna’s words, Sharon shook her head sideways looking flustered.

「Th, that’s not it! It isn’t like that! Rokuna-san, you’re a magic researcher, right?」

「Ahー, yup. That’s right.」

It wasn’t a lie.

Due to a certain Demon King-sama, she had recently been doing nothing but researching magic.

「In that case, erm……I have a request!」

「Is this a bargaining point? Go on and say it.」

After Rokuna urged her to go on, Sharon nodded.

「The thing is……Please, teach me magic!」

「……Magic?」

Being told that, Rokuna remembered her talks with Ein and Vermudol.

Sharon Tianot could use Summon Magic, but she was bad with general magic……with Elemental Magic.

She had heard about that, but she purposely feigned ignorance.

「Even if you say magic.」

「I, I. I am bad with normal magic! And I want to become able to use it more!」

「Well, I’m fine with that.」

「R, really!?」

Determining “it won’t be a problem if it’s that much”, Rokuna readily consented.

Things such as theories regarding the use of normal magic has already been researched even in mankind’s territory. Rokuna teaching her probably wouldn’t give any sort of effect on mankind’s territory.

More importantly, a new question came to Rokuna’s mind.

Even though she could use Summon Magic, she was bad with normal Elemental Magic.

This was an extremely curious phenomenon.

The fact that she was bad with Elemental Magic even though it should be much easier than Summon Magic made it seem that there was some kind of decisive difference between Elemental Magic and Summon Magic.

If that really were the case, the possibility that she could grab hold of a clue through Sharon was high.

While making a personable-looking expression, Rokuna was making that sort of calculation within her head.

「Well, I can’t guarantee any results though. Is that alright?」

「Y, yes!」

If possible, she wanted to take this young girl called Sharon back to the Zadark Kingdom and thoroughly test out every single possibility, but that would end up going against Vermudol’s policy right from the root.

She would verify as many precedents of Summon Magic as possible during this short stay, and accumulate data.

And for that, she had no choice but to grasp a clue for her research progression.

「……Then, that completes the contract. Best regards.」

「Yes, I will be in your care!」

Sharon gripped the hand that Rokuna held out.

Rokuna then noticed that Ein was looking at them with concerned-looking eyes.

「……What’s wrong, Ein? Is there something that worries you?」

「Eh? No. It’s nothing.」

Being asked that by Rokuna, Ein came to her senses and answered.

The current Ein read through Rokuna’s ulterior motives……and became concerned for Sharon’s welfare.

Those emotions were fine if it were as Sharon’s friend, but as an undercover spy in the St. Altlis Kingdom that worked under Rokuna, they were a huge problem.

Before she knew it, she had relaxed her guard more than she had thought.

Noticing this fact, Ein felt her heart shake.