Book 9: Chapter 15

Within the Canal Kingdom, the Alva rampaged as if to intervene in the civil war.

The report that the intelligence operative Ein, who was investigating the Alva’s movements together with the situation within the kingdom, had infiltrated the place called the 「Dimensional Gap」 was immediately brought to the Zadark Kingdom by Zwei.

The 「Dimensional Gap」, which was seen as the Alva’s stronghold.

There was no means of reaching that place, and the Alva problem had turned into a deadlock, but this meant that there was finally a breakthrough with it.

Having received the report from Zwei, Vermudol immediately composed an appropriate force with those that were able to move about, accompanied them, and headed to the site that was connected to the 「Dimensional Gap」.

「……Why do we have this lineup?」

「What, are you dissatisfied with it?」

「No, not really. But, isn’t a time like this where you should use your prided Hero?」

Vermudol nodded at Ykslaas who spoke about the Mazoku Hero Sancreed and shrugged her shoulders in the mountains.

「Pretty much. But, Sancreed is also a cornerstone to protecting the Zadark Kingdom. It would be best to avoid the situation where both Sancreed and I are separated from the country at the same time as much as possible.」

「Hーn. I thought that we were moving with the intent to annihilate the Alva with this chance though?」

Ykslaas asked that while checking the soil of the place where Ein vanished.

Looking down at that, Vermudol shook his head sideways and denied it.

「I do intend on doing that if it’s possible. But, I don’t believe that the opponent is that clumsy. IF we think of the possibility of there being some sort of trap, we should keep the fighting power to move to a minimum.」

「Well, it’s fine for you to do as you like. But, it would be better for you to stop gambling like that.」

「What do you mean by that?」

「I’m sure that you’re the type that can’t wager everything. Although you won’t fall into ruin, you won’t profit either.」

In response to Ykslaas who stood up and turned around to him, Vermudol made a gesture as if pondering.

「Is that why you rushed in along with the Dimensional Castle at that time?」

「Ara, you’re going to turn the talk into about me there? Well, let’s see. It think that it wasn’t a situation where I could win by holding back from playing all of my cards in hand. My subordinates were……」

Speaking that far, Ykslaas’s words came to a stop.

「What’s wrong?」

Seeing Ykslaas cover her mouth with her hand and make a grimace, Vermudol made a puzzled face.

「……It’s nothing. I felt like there were subordinates other than Shironos and the others, but I was mistaken. My subordinates were just Shironos’s group after all.」

「Did you call?」

Reacting to that Ykslaas’s voice, Shironos noisily came out from the grassy place.

「Ara, Shironos. Did you find any traces?」

「……No, unfortunately, we haven’t discovered any disturbances in magical power. How about you all?」

Ykslaas raised up both hands as if to show that she had given up.

「We haven’t found any traces at all. As we thought, the Alva’s Airspace Movement is different from the normal Transfer.」

「Right……No, to begin with, their Airspace Movement technique, it would probably be best to think that it’s grounded on a theory that differs from ordinary magic. By some chance, it might not even be magic.」

「Hey, Vermudol. You made full use of your magical power and broke into the Grand Temple of Wind, right? Can’t you use something similar?」

Asked that, Vermudol frowned.

「Don’t say something so disreputable.」

「But it’s the truth, right? So, how about it?」

「……It’s impossible. That was only possible because normal airspace and the Grand Temple of Wind are always connected. It isn’t all that different from opening a door with a lock. But, this is different. There is nothing here.」

The use of magic would considerably disturb the surrounding magical power. The influence would increase the larger the magic it was, and if it was magic on the level of Airspace Transfer, traces would definitely be left behind.

However, they confirmed that with the Alva’s Airspace Movement, a phenomenon that differed from normal Transfer Magic happens.

In the Airspace Transfer that the Mazoku use, or even the Transmission Magic, there is a need to specify the coordinates of the departure spot and the arrival spot. Conducting the movement between those two points in an instant is what the Mazoku’s Airspace Transfer was.

As for its weaknesses, it was that they were unable to confirm the situation of the place they were Transferring to beforehand, and that since Transfer light would appear in the place that they were Transferring to, it could easily be understood that they would be Transferring in if the light was witnessed.

In contrast, in the case of the Alva’s Airspace Movement, first, cracks would be produced in the airspace that they were moving to as a precursor, and after that, the Alva would directly come out from the connected airspace.

And then, this time, the new pattern of dragging people from the airspace at the spot where they were moving to was observed.

Going by this fact, he conjectured that this was not an 「airspace connecting」 magic that existed even in the Grand Temple of Wind, but……even after coming to the scene like this, traces of magical power couldn’t be found at all.

Like this, it was effectively impossible to enter the 「Dimensional Gap」 from their side.

「What will we do, Vermudol. Shall we try lying in wait for the Alva to come along in this place?」

「……」

Hearing Ykslaas’s query, Vermudol fell silent.

The reason why the Alva abducted the participants of the 「Chivalric Order Member screening」 was unknown, but he thought that taking them away was their aim.

In that case, it probably meant that the possibility that the Alva would connect to the airspace of this place again was low.

Rather than idly wasting time here, waiting for Ein’s return and taking action should be a better choice.

「……We have no choice but to temporarily return. Let’s station several intelligence operatives, including Zwei, here.」

「That sounds good. I don’t think there’s anything more to be obtained here.」

After Ykslaas nodded and lightly beckoned him over, Shironos, who was in waiting in a separated place, came up and approached the two.

「Well then, I shall start up the Transfer Magic.」

At the instant that Shironos was about to deploy the magic formation.

A *pakin* sound resounded――and a person with a blood covered full body armored figure came falling from the cracked sky.

「……! Shironos, catch him!」

「As you wish!」

After Shironos shouted, using the nearby tree branches as footholds, he jumped higher and higher.

The branches would break from being unable to endure Shironos’s weight as he wore heavy armor, but Shironos moved to the next branch before they fell.

「……And with this!」

Jumping while stepping on and breaking branches, Shironos extended his hands to the falling full body armor, grabbed him, and pulled him towards him.

「Nuu……kuah!」

Shironos forcibly held the person with full body armor in his arms. However, for him, who was a muscular knight, as expected, he was unable to move any more than this.

Falling to the ground just like that, a *……zun* sound was made, and Shironos’s feet shallowly sank into the ground.

「Nu……guguh……fuuh」

Enduring the impact of the landing, Shironos was about to put the full body armored person that he held in his arms down on the ground……however, he stopped his movements when he captured Ykslaas approaching in his vision.

「……He came falling from the cracked sky……Then, does that mean that he is one of the abducted participants?」

「That is most likely the case. On the list of participants that was handed over from Zwei, there was a name of a full body armored participant. If I remember correctly……was it Zegius?」

Shironos was about to lie the full body armored man down on the ground this time for sure, but since Vermudol immediately came over as he tried, he once again had no choice but to stop putting him down.

A Human with full body armor equipment was considerably heavy, but Shironos’s pride wouldn’t allow him to make such a whine in front of Ykslaas.

「……There are a lot of traces that look like something pierced him. Unbelievable. This armor, it’s made of steel, isn’t it?」

「That’s true, and looking at the wounds……either a sword or a spear……was it one of those?」

When Shironos was told that and looked down at the full body armor that was in his arms as well, there certainly were several things that looked like stab wounds found here and there.

「What do you think? Shironos.」

「Let’s see……Judging by the shave of the armor’s damaged parts, I would guess that it was done by thrusts made by a sword.」

「Thrusts, huh. However, this armor looked like it’s heavy equipment. And then, above all, there are no cases of the Alva using weapons.」

Hearing Vermudol’s mutter, Ykslaas nodded and added on to it.

「That’s true. If it was a member of mankind that did this, then that would mean that they possess the skill or a sword capable of piercing heavy equipment armor. If it was an Alva that did it, then it would mean that they used a weapon……」

「……Uugh.」

Maybe having reacted to the three’s conversation, a muffled voice could be heard from within the full body armor.

「Ara, he’s alive. What should we do? Vermudol.」

「Let’s save him. He’s an important source of information.」

Making that quick decision, Vermudol turned to the person in the full body armor and casted Rebirth.

「……Uh, ah……Th, this place is……」

「So he regained consciousness.」

「Y, you are……?」

Shironos gently smiled at the full body armor that looked up at him.

「I am Shironos. I am the one who caught you as you came falling from the sky.」

「I, I see……You have my gratitude. By the way, um. Could you put me down?」

Hearing those words, Vermudol and Ykslaas silently stepped away, and Shironos was finally able to put the full body armored person down in a place that was open.

When he did, the full body armored person checked the cuts on his armor, and then switched his gaze over to Shironos after that.

「There is no pain in my body……Could it be that, you casted Recovery Magic or something on me?」

「It was not me, but that personage over there.」

When Shironos pointed over to Vermudol, the full body armored person acknowledged Vermudol and Ykslaas’s figures and stood up.

「I see. By all means, please accept my tha……」

In the middle of his words, the full body armored person made a *gashari* sound as he was about to fall over, and Shironos went around behind him and supported him up.

「I, I am sorry.」

「Why don’t you sit down for now.Your wounds might have been healed, but it’s not like your physical condition has returned, you know? The stamina that you lost from your injuries won’t be healed with Rebirth.」

「Rebirth you say……To be a user of Life Attribute Magic of that calibre……Could it be that you all are renowned priests!? No, wait……Could you be the St. Altlis Kingdom’s……uugh.」

Shironos once again supported the full body armored person as he staggered and looked like he was about to collapse, and semi forcibly made him sit.

「I, I apologize for the frequent bothers I have caused you……」

Ykslaas breathed a sigh at the full body armored person’s mutter, and waved her hand at Shironos.

「Ahh, jeez. That muffled voice is irritating. Shironos, take it off.」

「Wha, wai…」

「As you wish.」

Moving faster than the full body armored person, who tried to hold down his helmet in a panic, Shironos took off his helmet.

When he did, a beautiful face that possessed very short blond hair and long slit golden eyes appeared.

「Heeh, you’re quite the beauty, aren’t you. Isn’t it better for you to show your face?」

「Ah, no……」

Hearing the full body armored person’s voice make a complete change from the muffled voice in the helmet into a clear one, Ykslaas and Vermudol unconsciously looked at each other.

「Hey, that just now……it sounded like a woman’s voice to me.」

「That is true. But, isn’t not like gender is determined by the voice alone.」

「True. But even for the face, I would agree if I was told that it was that of a woman, you know?」

「Yeah. However, aren’t there a lot of people that you could say that about?」

Seeing the two of them have that sort of conversation right in front of their eyes, the full body armored person lightly cleared their throat.

「Ah, ahー……I am a woman. There are circumstances for which I have taken this appearance though, see.」

When the full body armored person said that, she made a serious expression and looked at the two of them.

「I apologize, but there is something I would like to ask before I introduce myself. You all……who are you and where are you from?」

Asked that, Vermudol and Ykslaas once again looked at each other.

「……I am Shion.」

After thinking for a moment, Vermudol gave the alias he had when he hid his status and was gathering information in mankind’s territory.

「I am Ys. Best regards, okay?」

「Shion!? Come to think of it, that black hair……You’re the SSS Rank Adventurer that was said to have gone missing……!? So you came to this country!」

What the heck did you do――Receiving a gaze from Ykslaas that seemed to be saying that, Vermudol averted his gaze from her.