CH 108

Early morning of the next day. There was not a single cloud in the sky, so much so that we could be sure that it would be a clear day.

Souya, Louise, Seran, and Phyllis are the four people who will be searching.

Siren was to prepare the rituals for the Sanctification[Sanctuary], while Shamil was to escort and search for the enemy, and take care of the survivor girl, Emily.

“I’ll contact you as soon as I detect anything unusual. I’ll shoot magic missiles every other second up in the sky, okay?”

“Yes. If you are close enough, telepathy is also fine. If I can see anything unusual, I will rush over immediately.”

Shamil was showing an unsure expression. The reason for this was that it was still a little early in the morning and Emily was asleep.

He was once the Familiar, a familiar of a reclusive old magician. Aside from combat, he was probably not used to taking care of children. I may have left him with a heavy role.

On the way, I asked him to cooperate with me by signing a contract with Familiar, but he has been working harder than I expected. I have to thank him in some way.

Siren was already preparing for the ritual. She drew the magic circle of the supreme god Luminous, took the priest’s staff, closed her eyes and began to pray.

The hood of her cloak, which she wore tightly over her eyes, gave her an air of intelligence and holiness.

“…… We should go, too. Let’s hope we can find as many survivors as possible.”

Louise finished hanging her dual swords on her leather belt and gave the order in a dignified voice.

In response, the three ready people nodded almost simultaneously.

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However, Louise’s thoughts were in vain, as the search did not reveal any new survivors, and the horrible scene that the darkness of the night had hidden cast a shadow over them, naturally reducing the number of words they could say.

Most of what they saw was not in a clean state, which showed how miraculous Emily’s survival was.

“…… You were right to leave Emily behind. It wasn’t very nice.”

The muttering Louise was getting stronger.

The wreckage of what used to be buildings. The sludge brought about by heavy rains. And a number of bodies covered in them.

However, the three of them have had similar experiences in a village called Lugina, which was destroyed by the Red Horn. Seran, in particular, has been chasing the Red Horn since before Ilstadt.

He may have been a little upset and angry, but he was never distraught. They may become indispensable in the future as a force to chase the Red Horn.

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We decided to take a short break at about noon.　

No survivors could be found at all, but occasional traces of the summoning ritual of the God of Destruction Ragnus, were found throughout the destroyed city.

It can be said that the eaten Silver Demon was summoned using the sacrificed residents of Lingen, which corroborates the fact that the summoning gate was opened.

Depending on the number and quality of the sacrifices, the strength of the gate connecting to the other world will increase. In the past, in the old fortress, Randy, who has the blood of the Hero Anselm, and the dark priest of the God of Destruction Ragnus, who was thought to be of high rank, was offered to bring forth the Silver Demon.

He could also confirm that he was working to artificially erase the traces of it. Some of them were buried in the sludge and erased, but there were others that seemed to be caused by physical or magical means.

“Seran-kun. Have you seen any traces of this in previous settlements?”

“I don’t think so. Or maybe we just didn’t notice.”

“Maybe …… Before they completely cover their traces, I think we may have interfered because we rushed in. It is possible that the Bronze Demon that was left behind yesterday had that role to play.”

Souya shared his reasoning with Seran, and Seran agreed with him.

It was yesterday afternoon when Souya and Shamil arrived in Lingen, just as the cannibalism was about to take place.

Thanks to the coincidence that they were in the middle of a request to escort Ringen, they were able to get close to the Red Horn at a very early stage.

(I suppose it’s a good thing that we know some of this, but …… I don’t know what to say about it. I can’t say I’m happy with the way things turned out.)

If the Red Horn had attacked a day later, I wonder how it would have ended.

Souya felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about it. What could have been done in the vortex of Lingen. There is a high possibility that they could not protect the residents, let alone their escort targets and friends.

“There is no doubt that Souya-san arrived early. This is the first time that the Red Horn has been spotted by adventurers in Ilstadt …… We’ve only had circumstantial evidence until now.”

“They seem to be a really fast runner. So most of the people who have been killed so far have been civilians.”

“Yes. It seems that few adventurers have been killed or injured in the past. I guess he is avoiding the risk …… At first, he focused on the northern region. Then he skipped over the area around the royal capital where adventurers gather …… and went to the Ilstadt thinking that this area would be safe.”

Louise’s eyes were fixed and her clenched fists were trembling from uncontrollable anger.

In fact, this time three settlements around Ilstadt have been destroyed. It’s not hard to believe that they were priced that way, and that he actually got away with it.

“Louise, you’ve got a crazy expression …… Nevertheless, there’s nothing here. I’m not sure if it was yesterday’s Bronze Demon that put an end to it. Maybe it’s not my turn anymore.”

Phyllis muttered in a somewhat cold voice as she looked at the condition of the bowstring.

She had long hair similar in length to Mia’s, except for the matching bangs, but the color of her hair was moist and wet, and her empty black eyes and flat voice gave the impression of calmness at best, or nihilistic if you will.

“Phyllis-kun, you are quite calm.”

“Souya-san, may I take that as a compliment?”

Phyllis muttered as she looked up at the raven that smelled of death.

For a moment, I thought she was trying to make a target, but when I saw that she didn’t pick up the arrow, it seemed that she wasn’t planning to.

“Of course. You seem to have a high aptitude as a shooter.”

“It’s an honor …… Well, it’s no use getting emotional.”

You can’t let your emotions affect your movement, and you can’t let your opponent know that you’re killing intent.

If you are able to stay calm and not let your emotions get the best of you, then that is probably a talent.

Souya did not seem to be able to see that far. Although he had become calmer than before, he had still spent his youth in a sensitive environment. This time, he realized that his true nature might be closer to his young days.

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After a short break, the search was conducted again, but the only thing that remained was to confirm the traces of a few more rituals by the God of Destruction Ragnus.

There were no survivors of the Lingen inhabitants, no new bronze demon, and the Red Horn that had flown off to the mountains to the south never showed itself in Lingen again.

In the evening, when the sky was tinged with madder red, a dazzling glow could be seen emanating from the center of Lingen. Siren’s sanctification sanctuary must have been successfully activated.

After the glow, I felt a gust of wind with a holy air rush past me.

“– Master. Miss Siren’s Sanctification[Sanctuary] has been activated.”

Shamil’s telepathic communication reached Souya’s head.

In order to conserve magic power, I’ve been trying to keep telepathy and sensory sharing to a minimum, and I’ve been limiting myself to checking responses every few hours, so this is the first time we’ve had a long conversation.

“Yeah, I confirmed it. Our search is over. I guess we’ll be heading back to Ilstadt now.”

“Master …… Did you find any survivors? And what about the Bronze Demons?”

“There were none …… However, It’s important to confirm that there were no survivors, too …… How is Emily-kun doing?”

Shamil didn’t respond to the question very well. Souya wanted to make sure that there was no problem, and his expression became a little tense.

“Shamil. Is there something wrong?”

“Oh …… no …… She seems to have grown quite attached to me …… What should I do?”

“…… Okay.”

Souya cut off his telepathy with Shamil and closed his eyes and nodded his head in silence.

What happened in Lingen is over. I need to think of something positive to do from now on, but I couldn’t think of anything right now. First, I need to rest my body and brain.

With a gloomy feeling, Souya returned to Ilstadt with the group that came to help.

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