Book 3: Chapter 29

「……Rokuna-sama.」

「Nn?」

Ein whispered to Rokuna, who had started walking once again, from behind.

Maybe because Sharon, who was walking nearby, was nervous, she had no signs of paying attention to them at all.

「The signs of the forest are strange.」

「Signs? Ahh, I see. You were originally from the Lulugal Forest, weren’t you.」

The Lulugal Forest that was in the eastern part of the Dark Continent was the largest forest in the Dark Continent.

It was a place that many bird-type Mazoku, which Ein was before her evolution, lived in, and the monsters that lived there excelled in forest battles, and there were many who were sensitive to the flow of magical power in the forest and the changes in the atmosphere.

「And how is it strange.」

「There are no signs of living creatures.」

Hearing Ein’s words, Rokuna stopped and called out to Seira and the others.

「……Everyone, can we stop for a bit?」

「Eh?」

「Heh?」

Seira and Kain stopped and turned around to face Rokuna, while Sharon, who didn’t hear her, bumped into Kain’s chest.

「Heh? Ah, hya……s-s-s, sorry Kain!」

「Sharon, were you deep in thought again? You can’t do that, it’s dangerous out here.」

Kain caught Sharon in his arms with a look that said “it can’t be helped”.

「U, un……」

「Uー……」

Seira glared at the two of them like that, but it was something that didn’t matter to Rokuna.

Rokuna clapped her hands and drew their attention.

「Oーkay, that’s far enough. You can do that sort of thing slowly laterー.」

「There is no later!」

「Okay, let’s put an end to all of that sort of stuff tooー. This Onee-san already has had a full stomach on that bittersweet youthー.」

After Rokuna warded off Seira’s displeasure, she put up an index finger and gently brought it to her mouth.

Be silent for a bit.

Understanding the meaning of that gesture, Kain and the others stopped talking and listened carefully.

A blowing wind shook the trees of the forest, and only a *zawa zawa* sound resounded.

Kain made a face that said he suddenly realized it and then whispered.

「This forest……was it always this quiet?」

「Eh, huh. Now that you mention it……」

The voices of the living creatures that should be heard in the forest, like the birds and the insects, couldn’t be heard at all.

「Wh, what’s going on?」

Rokuna received Sharon’s gaze, and after slowly putting down the hand she put on her mouth, she expressed a fearless smile.

「It’s simple. Right now, the things that should be in this forest aren’t here. That’s all there is to it, right?」

As for why those creatures weren’t here.

What should be remembered here is the ecology of Elements.

When Elements discover creatures, they would perform the act of absorption in order to take in their magical power.

In other words──

「Could it be……an Element……?」

「Eh, but, but! It’s strange that there aren’t any creatures at all! According to the request document, it was only recently that the Elements were sighted……」

Seira flusteredly took out the request document, and started reading it.

「See, I knew it……!」

「Could you lend that to me for a bit?」

Rokuna received the request document from Seira, and checked the contents.

Request Contents: Subjugation of Earth Elements

Over the past few days, the reports of sightings of Earth Elements in the Aledona Forest have increased.

The results of investigations, a minimum of at least four Earth Elements have been confirmed.

The Guild has determined that this is an urgent situation that concerns the safety of the region, and is making a request for their subjugation.

Furthermore, at present, the request will be recognized as having been completed if the subjugation of at least one of them is performed and reported, but until it has been confirmed that the Earth Elements are completely exterminated, this request will continue its invitations.

「I see. Various parts are written slyly.」

By putting out the request, they could externally demonstrate that they are contributing to the region’s safety as the Adventurer’s Guild.

And towards the Adventurers, while the 「recognized as having been completed if the subjugation of at least one of them is performed and reported」 part is telling them to not push themselves, the 「at least four」 and 「until it has been confirmed that they are completely exterminated, this request will continue its invitations」 parts represent the fact that they don’t know the complete picture of the enemy’s fighting power.

Even in regards to the time they broke out, it only said 「over the past few days」, and there was no telling when specifically they started to come out. In reality, far from 「over the past few days」, it meant that there was the possibility that they were there for much longer before that.

「Th, then, does that mean that the Elements have turned into something even more terrible?」

「There is the possibility of that.」

Rokuna made a nod to Sharon who had signs of being frightened.

Rokuna didn’t know just how many living creatures there were in this Aledona Forest.

However, if a whole forest’s worth of creatures were thoroughly swallowed up, there might be a staggering amount of Elements, or there might be a special Element that possessed mighty magical power.

「……Rokuna-sama!」

At that moment, a gust of wind blew.

No, it wasn’t wind.

It was wind that contained magical power……a Wind Element.

It cut across as if to obstruct Ein’s path as she tried to rush over to Rokuna.

And then, soaring up into the air, it established its aim on Rokuna.

「There’s no need, Ein.」

Expressing a fearless smile, Rokuna stopped Ein.

The Wind Element charged aiming at Rokuna.

──But, right before it could collide into Rokuna, it was repelled by a transparent barrier.

The Wind Element soared up once again, charged at Rokuna and was repelled over and over again.

「Okay, okaーy, what’re you doing. Since I went through the trouble of becoming the bait, get to bringing this guy down with Summon Magic.」

「Eh? Ah, y, yes!」

Having been stunned with a surprised face, Sharon hurriedly readied her staff.

「……I who runs on the earth implores.」

While the sounds of the Wind Element’s charges resounded, Sharon readied her staff and desperately concentrated.

A light was lit in the staff’s blue jewel, and Sharon sensed that a large amount of magical power was being taken out from within her.

「I implore an arrow. I implore an agent. Although my body is bound to the earth, my heart is free and fierce. My heart has become an arrow, and desires a time to be fired. Therefore, o agent, come forth. I implore that you be here to execute my will.」

The light lit in the blue jewel strongly glittered, and just like the Sword Spirit from earlier, the blue radiance that appeared in front of Sharon repeatedly flickered.

「Come forth, Bow Spirit!」

The blue flickering light converged, and took the form of a person.

Wearing cloth clothes that seemed easy to move in and what looked like leather armor, it was a man in the prime of his life.

What he held in his hand was a bow.

The arrows made with Sharon’s magical power was put into a quiver on his waist.

That Bow Spirit had a blue brilliance, and really was someone called out from somewhere that wasn’t here.

「Heeh……Even the nature of the magical power is different from earlier. If said in Human terms, it’s a different person.」

While hearing the repeated sound of the barrier being hit, Rokuna muttered.

The reason why the Wind Element was targeting Rokuna was simple. It was because Rokuna looked like the one with the largest amount of magical power among those here.

Rokuna had suppressed her own magical power to mankind’s level, but even so, she towered above the rest.

So from the Element’s point of view, Rokuna looked like the most delicious one there.

Right now, Rokuna was deploying an original magic, which combined Attack Guard and Magic Guard, called Vale Guard.

Since it was invoked without a chant, it should look like she had used Attack Guard to Kain’s group.

Since she didn’t which one of Attack Guard or Magic Guard would be able to defend against the Wind Element’s attack, she used Vale Guard, but it seemed that Attack Guard would have been enough.

「Bow Spirit, please……beat up that Wind Element!」

Receiving Sharon’s words, the Bow Spirit turned towards the Wind Element and nocked an arrow.

Normally, there should be no way an arrow would be effective on wind, but what the Bow Spirit fired was an arrow of magical power.

The magical power arrow that the Bow Spirit fired didn’t allow time for the act of absorption, and had the amassed magical power shave and pierce through the Wind Element.

As the Wind Spirit flew up to the sky above Rokuna as if running away, the Bow Spirit continued to fire arrows at it in no time at all.

「……I knew it.」

Seeing that, Rokuna breathed a sigh.

The Sword Spirit and Bow Spirit that were called out with Sharon’s summoning were combat experts that possessed weapons loaded with magical power.

The weapons depended on Sharon’s magical power, and Sharon seemed like she was presenting her own magical power to them as if it were an armory.

They would probably be powerless if her magical power were to run out, but in that case, they would most likely not answer the summon itself, and if she ran out in the middle of battle, their figures would probably vanish.

In that sort of meaning, rather than the Bow Spirit that steadily expended magical power in the form of arrows, the Sword Spirit seemed more user-friendly.

Perhaps, the fact that the user offers up their magical power up to them might make Summon Magic viable.

If this was to be applied to the Demon God summoning, what should be done──

Just what should be offered up in order to have the Demon God respond to the summons.

To begin with, just what kind of person was the one who had created Vermudol who was the Demon King.

When Rokuna had started to sink into her sea of thoughts, the Wind Element was already annihilated, and the Bow Spirit had also vanished.

「Fueー……Summon Magic really is amazing.」

「I, want to be able to use Elemental Magic more as well though……」

Sharon made a wry smile in response to Seira’s words of admiration.

For Sharon, since she probably somewhat felt that she didn’t win with her own strength, that could probably be said to be only natural.

「Don’t worry about it. You’ll be able to develop even more from now on. I won’t be taking responsibility for it though.」

「Ehh, isn’t that where you’re supposed to say “I guarantee it”!?」

Sharon made a retort to Ein’s words.

「In that case, Kain, you guarantee it.」

「Me!?」

Rokuna gazed at Kain’s group being boisterous looking like it didn’t matter to her.

She had a general understanding of the theories behind Summon Magic, but even more research was needed to be able to put it into practical use.

Why did the Sword Spirit and the Bow Spirit answer Sharon’s summons?

Why was there no precedent of the manifestation of Summon Magic among the Mazoku?

She couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t simply the presence or absence of an 「enemy」, and was something different.

Something that Sharon had, and the Mazoku didn’t.

As she was thinking that, Rokuna suddenly noticed that everyone else was looking at her.

「Nn? What?」

「See, she really wasn’t listening.」

Seira let out a dissatisfied voice with a look of exasperation.

「Rokuna-sama, it seems that they wish to hear your opinion in regards to withdrawing.」

Hearing the words that Ein whispered, Rokuna thought “I see”.

The expected situation of the forest, and even more unexpected appearance of the Wind Element had occurred at the same time.

It was only natural that Kain’s group would consider withdrawing.

Rokuna was also thinking that it was best to ask Sharon if it was about time for them to head back.

「Let’s see, in that case……」

「I would like you to wait on that withdrawal.」

Interrupting Rokuna’s words, a voice they weren’t familiar with resounded.

Making a *gashari* sound, the figure of a man wearing blue armor appeared from the shade of the trees.

「There is something I would like you all to assist me with. Sorry, but could you at least listen to what I have to say?」