CH 14

The First Trial of Hero Party

At an inn….

Around a somewhat old table, three very proper-looking people were talking face to face.

After a small conflict, and then a heart-to-heart talk, it had now turned into a joint discussion of a battle plan.

“Can you? You guys are really strong, but ……”

“Dontcha have no experience?”

After receiving Oswald’s words, which had been haltingly spoken, Erika said with a grin:

“We are conscious of our situation. That’s why we will follow your instructions, Oswald. Of course, we have to find out the truth first.”

“Eh, then that’s fine.”

The two sides have become able to talk with a smile on their faces.

“By the way, that Count Shook ……”

“He had never done anything as bad as this before, and he was very careful about what he did after having his hands covered with crimes. So, it’s hard for you guys in the capital to know.”

In the beginning, he questioned what Oswald revealed due to their chance encounter, escalating into a fight.

“All right, it’s time to go– ”

Suddenly, their hearts seemed to freeze with fear.

With the pressure to the point that they wanted to vomit, causing their consciousness to waver.

“Ugh…!”

“Oh my God….. what… just now that..”

Just at that instant, from somewhere in the town of Stout, a great magic power was generated that seemed to freeze the human body with it.

“Ha, ha… this, is this level of magic really possible…?”

“…”

They were merely sensing tho ominous mana, but despite this, all of them stick cold sweat and breathe in with blue faces, as if the soul was grabbed.

No commotion was heard from outside, it seemed that not many people had reached the level of being able to sense magic.

“Maybe it’s a weapon of some kind …… or a device that accumulates magic power indefinitely.”

“…… Although I don’t want to speculate, but maybe the hostages ……?”

Oswald suspected that there was a possibility of using hostages as sacrifices to accumulate magical power.

Erika and Hakuto could not deny this suspicion, and their expressions were both bitter and grim.

“I think the place where that magic power was generated just now was the Shook mansion.”

“…… We have to go there quickly. If we don’t go, the town might be in danger.”

In Hakuto’s words, Erika … and Oswald, who shrugged, immediately agreed.

♢♢ ♢

After that, they felt the aftermath of the magic power that had reappeared several times on the same scale and even a step beyond, and Hakuto and the others hurried even more desperately to get there.

However, at that moment, ……

“……”

“…… What, what, what is this?”

A scene that made it impossible to imagine what had been done to bring it to such a state unfolded in front of them.

The overwhelmingly luxurious mansion and beautiful gardens that had existed up until evening had completely disappeared, except for a small part of them.

“…… I can’t help my trembling legs, but if we continue like this, we won’t be able to do anything at all.”

“… I can’t go without going in there.”

Even though their hearts were pulsating with anxiety and fear, and they couldn’t stop the nasty chill. The Hero and his party, motivated by a sense of justice, entered the mansion.

They each took out their weapons and marched along the half-circle border of the vanishing land while keeping a vigilant lookout.

Then.

“… Ah…. ah….”

” ….Just now.”

“It sounded like a woman’s scream.”

The three turned their attention to the part of the house that still remained in the depths.

“Hurry up! This is probably the only clue!!”

Oswald quickly ran out.

“Hey, hey…”

“He becomes very naive when it comes to women, this guy.”

In a hurry, Hakuto and Erika, who sighed, followed after him.

When they arrived at the place where the mansion was, they clearly heard abnormality in the voice that continued screaming.

“It’s just a matter of time.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Climbing up the ropes with hooks installed by Oswald, the persistent sound was very strange to all of them.

Then, they finally arrived at the room on the second floor where the sound was coming from.

“… Let’s go.”

They nodded to each other and made up their minds, – they flew in together.

“What?”

In the room, there was a strange light that was far beyond their imagination.

“…… What’s ……that, the man in armor ……”

The eyes of three people were firmly drawn to him.

Beneath the huge full moon, the black armor seemed to swallow up all the moonlight.

Then they understood instinctively.

“–Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The man in full body armor who injected a dark, evil aura into the girl’s head.

It was an absolute presence.

Just being in this situation, the evil aura was so heavy that it made one’s teeth chatter.

Even to the extent that one could feel the condensed and abundant negative energy sealed within that armor.

There was no doubt about it.

There was no doubt that the extraordinary magical power and the tragic situation in front of them were all caused by this person.

The evil ritual in front of him had ended while he and others were trembling with fear and cowardice.

“Ahh ……….”

The being in dark armor removed his hand from the maiden’s head, and the maiden, who had light pink hair, slowly fell down.

She had the same level of beauty as the beastman maiden who had fallen nearby.

Although both Erika and Oswald cowered due to the overwhelming fear. Hakuto was driven by the righteous blood boiling in his chest. ……

“…… Hey! What have you done to them!!!”