CH 64

The 『Maze of Trials』 still continued on. Inglis walked in deeper.

In front of her, the sight of a red-haired young man appeared. It was probably her memory when the man was a bit over thirty. However, his fine figure assumed that he was younger than he actually was.

「Your Majesty——I am happy to see you.」

He bowed reverently and knelt before Inglis.

「Randall——」

He was the man who was supposed to inherit the Sylvair Kingdom after King Inglis. A man with natural-born talent that far surpassed that of any ordinary person in both literary and military arts, yet he didn’t get conceited because of it, and put others before himself. He had the strength and will so strong that Inglis believed it wouldn’t be strange for Randall to be chosen as the Divine Knight instead of her.

King Inglis had found him in a poor, cold village when he was just a boy, and he kept him and raised him ever since. For King Inglis, who had been alone throughout his life, he was akin to a little brother or a son to him. King Inglis had no children, but he had the intent to raise a worthy successor. That successor was him, Randall.

「…… Why has the world become like this——Even if I asked you, you don’t have the answer, do you?」

Here was a subspace that resurfaced memory. It couldn’t possibly provide her with information about something she didn’t know.

「Indeed, Your Majesty.」

As he said so, Randall drew his sword.

「Come at me, then.」 「Yessir! Here I come!」

Randall’s speed as he stepped into the fray was exceptionally faster than Inglis’ other retainers. It could be said that he was in a completely different league. However——

Diagonal slash, horizontal sweep, overside slash—— Inglis evaded all of them with dance-like footwork.

「DAAAaaah!!!」

Randall put in more spirit and unleashed a series of slashes, all of them evaded paper-thin, and then——

Clack!

The last thrust was stopped between Inglis’ fingers.

「NNNuuuuhh!?!?」 「…… This place isn’t so good.」

Even if the shadow appeared to be Randoll, he should be at least stronger than this. There must be a limit to the strength this subspace could recreate. Which was why Inglis couldn’t blame it if it couldn’t completely replicate everything. That being said, it’s troubling to think ‌someone of this caliber inheriting her Kingdom.

「I can’t say I like it.」

While muttering so, Inglis gave Randall an uppercut kick, and the latter vanished.

「If I continued on forward, it’ll just repeat the process all over again—— 」

If the Goddess Alistair shows up—— Inglis held an emotion close to love towards the Goddess. She yearned for her so dearly that she took upon herself to stay a bachelor for the rest of her previous life.

I don’t want to hit her and my feelings for her—— Which meant she would surely show up. After all, this place was that kind of space. Misgivings, regrets, negative awareness that one kept subconsciously avoided——all of those would show up and literally hit them in the face. Overcoming them would be the trial for the person’s strength and will power, the very meaning of those words.

「I don’t need to obediently follow all the way through, do I——」

Inglis looked up, then she held her palm open above her head. From there, Ether converged, forming a huge pale bullet of light.

This place is a subspace created by an Artifact, but——What if it gets hit by an overwhelmingly destructive power that surpasses the Artifact that made it?Time to test it!

「Ether Strike!」

CRAAANNNNGGGGG!!!!

With a sound of broken glass, the Ether Strike shot up, obliterating the boundaries of the subspace in its wake. There seemed to be many layers above, as the projectile penetrated the ceilings of several spaces.

「If there’s up, then up I go.」

As Inglis attempted to kick the ground——

「D-, dear me, what WAS that……!?」

From the hole in the ceiling, Liselotte from the Knight division peeked out.

「I see. So it connects to others’ space.」

Inglis muttered to herself as she kicked the ground and jumped up to Liselotte’s side.

「I-, is this your doing……!?」 「Yeah. I didn’t want to continue on walking straight ahead.」 「Destroying an obscure concept such as this space——to think you’re capable of doing that…… J-, just who are you?」 「I’m just an ordinary Squire, though? Rafinha Wilford’s squire.」 「I know at least that much, Miss Inglis. Everything you do, you stand out above the rest.」 「I do?」 「Very much so. However, if you are Miss Rafinha’s squire, may you please tell her not to hate her classmates so much? I have no intention of being Miss Rafinha’s enemy.」 「Aah…. Rani is mad about Leone’s matter, you see.」 「Isn’t that inevitable? If you consider that person’s constitution rather than the person herself, it is just natural not to carelessly trust her and put her in a distance, is it not? I am still the daughter of the Prime Minister, I always exercise caution.」 「Well, tell you what……. Actually, how are you doing? Do you think you can go out safely?」 「I’m not doing very well. This place keeps reminding me of awful things. I’m getting sick of this place, too.」

Said Liselotte, a sigh escaping her.

「Same goes for me. That’s why I’m trying to forcefully make my own exit. Want to come with?」

Inglis’ finger pointed to layers above.

「Interesting. So you can destroy the very meaning of this nasty test.」 「Yeah, I guess so.」 「Well then, I shall accompany. We are going up, aren’t we?」 「Yes, we are. Let’s go then.」

Said Inglis as she lowered her hip, trying to jump further up——

「Hold a minute. There is no need for that.」

Saying so, a pair of pure white wings appeared behind Liselotte’s back. The Artifact she carried was in the shape of a halberd, but its Gift was probably this pair of wings.

「Take my hand. I shall bring you up.」 「Thank you.」

When Inglis grabbed a hold of her hand, their body floated softly. They went up, going through several layers.

Then, as they were approaching another layer, two voices roused their interest.

「Stop! What are you doing to my brother!?」

The voice of a little girl?

「Get out of my way! You are mistaken! You need not cover someone like him!」

And the other voice——belonged to Leone. Just what was happening——