Book 9: Chapter 30

Ykslaas’s group, who broke through the wall at the same time as Rishal Realm’s activation and made their escape, was at a place that seemed like a storage room in a corner of the first floor.

「Hey……」

When Olred, who was leaning on a wall, began to talk to her with a dissatisfied sounding voice, Ykslaas, who was pulling a barrel that was filled with old swords, turned towards him.

「What. Make sure that you properly stand watch.」

「Well, the thing is. Wouldn’t it have been no problem if we cleaned up everyone that was over there?」

Having that said to her, Ykslaas stared at Olred with half-open eyes.

「……I’ll ask this for now but, how would we do it?」

「That’s, well, we’d endure it until the effect had ended with Magic Guard……and then go like, kaboom.」

「Rejected. That magic, it had the potential of penetrating your Magic Guard.」

After Ykslaas said that, she pushed the barrel close to the wall.

Approaching with big steps to the barrel that was being moved slowly but surely, Olred easily picked it up, and placed it in front of the wall with a *don*.

「I can’t ignore that. What was there to that magic that was just a bit flashy.」

「It isn’t just a bit. Didn’t you hear that chant? That was probably, Combination Magic, you know?」

「What the heck is that.」

「……It’s something that invokes a single magic with several people by tuning their magical power. It’s possible to bring forth power that is far stronger than the original……that’s what is said.」

The “that’s what is said” part is because a case of a success had not been confirmed.

Therefore, Ykslaas’s remark was also nothing more than a guess.

To begin with, a chant was just an apparatus in order to invoke magic, and as long as the proper chant and necessary magical power were prepared, even a cat could use magic.

However, there were limits to an individual’s magical power, so in other words, there was also a limit to the magic that an individual could handle.

The magic called large magic could be invoked by taking in the natural magical power that existed in the surroundings, but even so, it wasn’t like an inexhaustible supply could be gathered.

That is why, in order to surpass the limits, 「even stronger magic」 was constantly being researched.

One among them was the 「Combination Magic Theory」, and if it were put into simple terms, it would be 「even if a single person’s power is weak, if everyone’s power is gathered, it will be strong」.

There were various arguments behind Combination Magic, but the prevailing view was that 「Combination Magic, at the very least, possesses a force equal to the magic fired in addition to the magical power of all of those that composed the spell」.

In other words, it meant that the case of the magic spell from earlier had the power of several Staves of Light knights but……by some chance, it might have been able to break through Olred’s Magic Guard.

Of course, it was quite possible that it wouldn’t have been able to, but Ykslaas had no intention of purposely testing that out in that scene.

「Combination Magic huh……」

「Well, at the very least, it’s impossible for Mazoku. We are the ultimate gathering of individualists after all.」

「So it’s a finishing move only for mankind?」

「It might not be impossible for mankind……I suppose you could put it like that. It might be due to the organization called a chivalric order which has the intent of having discipline and coordination. Come on, move that box over there as well.」

The tuning of magical power was easier said than done. It’s said that the difficulty is fixed even if twins were the ones doing it.

Even if they were a chivalric order that specializes in magic, they shouldn’t be able to use it so easily.

「……In that case, there’s also the possibility that they simply used the same magic with the same timing, isn’t there. Even so, there was no mistaking that the force was certainly raised higher than different magic spell being fired at the same time……uーn, I don’t get it. I wonder if I should have paid closer attention to the movement of their magical power.」

Ykslaas started to worry over it, but it was there that she temporarily stopped those thoughts.

「Well, it’s fine. More importantly, next is that rack over there.」

「Are we alright on keeping watch like this……」

「I mean, it’s much more efficient like this after all.」

After breathing a sigh at Ykslaas who shrugged her shoulders, Olred lifted up the rack and moved it.

「To begin with, why are we rearranging a storage room like this one anyway?」

「It’s because it’s suspicious.」

「Suspicious?」

「That’s right.」

Ykslaas nodded, and she suddenly traced the floor with her finger.

After showing her finger that had almost no dust on it, she blew it off.

「What’re you doing?」

「Isn’t it strange. That in this storage room with an atmosphere that says that definitely isn’t used, there’s hardly any dust that’s piled up.」

「Really? It’s a castle, right? You sure they aren’t just cleaning it?」

「……I’ll just say this now but, in the Demon King Castle’s case, that’s due to Ichika, you know? You can’t use that as the standard. Normally, you should think of something on the level of Raktor’s room.」

After Olred placed the rack in a corner of the room and placed a hand on his chin, he nodded with a *fumu*.

「……I see. After thinking of it like that, it certainly is too clean.」

While looking at that Olred with complicated eyes, Ykslaas put up one finger.

「That’s right, it’s too clean. It means that this room is used with considerable frequency.」

「Even if that’s the case, what meaning is there in moving stuff around like this?」

「Ara, you haven’t read any heroic tales? It’s an indispensable part for places like this, isn’t it.」

After Ykslaas said that, she started walking and pushed Olred aside.

「O, oi.」

「Look……it’s here.」

What Ykslaas pointed out was an unnatural gap in the floor.

It was disguised so that it wouldn’t be any different from the rest of the stone floor at a glance but……probably from being open and shut many times over, only that part was unnaturally worn down.

「When it becomes like this, the whole hidden passage thing gets ruined. Fufu, they’re so dumb.」

「Isn’t a hidden passage supposed to be something like a way of escape?」

「Ara, it’s not just limited to that. It could also be a hiding spot for evil, you know?」

After Ykslaas pulled out one sword from within the barrel she moved earlier, she inserted it into the gap that was unnaturally made.

「Yo……isho……tto. Nnー……mumu……Ha! Mumumu」

When Ykslaas put some strength into it, the heavy hidden door made a dull sound and started to open.

「Hoitto.」

When a gap had been made to a certain extent, Olred grabbed the door, and opened it all the way.

「It certainly is heavy. When it’s this heavy, isn’t it just a pain to use?」

Saying that and lightly hitting the door, Olred noticed that Ykslaas was staring at him.

「……What.」

After Ykslaas glared at Olred with a dissatisfied-looking face, she quietly opened her mouth.

「Now that I think about it, it wouldn’t have been a problem if I had Olred open it from the beginning, would it.」

「……You didn’t tell me to open it after all.」

「If it was Shironos, he would have guessed it and opened it.」

「Yeah, yeah, I’ll do that next time.」

While having that sort of conversation, Ykslaas and Olred descended the stairs that were beyond the hidden door.

「……Whoops, I guess we should close it for now.」

Saying that, Olred closed the door once more.

「Still, to have a latch on this side of it really makes it like a hidden door. Should I put the latch on?」

「It doesn’t matter. If someone were to chase us this far……at that time, well, it would just turn into a case of them turning into a missing person.」