“Whew… done! Another success today!”
Nia Bella, the witch who successfully conjured a small fla, smiled brightly.
She now had sothing to tell her big sister again.
She felt proud of her steadily improving magical abilities and deeply grateful to the one who had believed in her and brought her into the party.
She felt as though she owed her an eternal debt of gratitude.
“The Fire Giant, right?”
She rembered the enormous Fire Giant that had appeared while she was unconscious, the result of her own magic running wild.
Yet, Nia Bella was currently unable to summon such a creature.
“I’ll surpass that version of myself.”
And one day, she vowed to create magic far more powerful than that Fire Giant.
Sothing that would make her ntor and benefactor—her sister—feel proud of her.
“…Alright!”
With newfound determination, Nia Bella resud her magical training, taking her stance.
At that mont, the ground shook.
“Huh…?”
Nia Bella, who had been crouching in one corner of the mansion’s garden, slowly stood up and looked around.
She noticed sothing rising from the mountains in the north.
“…What is that?”
It was sothing so massive that it could easily eclipse the Fire Giant she had once summoned.
The air was thick with demonic energy emanating from that colossal presence.
“Could it be… a monster?”
Was sothing like that really a monster?
“Nia Bella!”
At that mont, one of the mansion’s servants ca running, out of breath.
The servant, who had always remained composed, now had a face drenched in sweat from the rush.
“The gate! The gate!”
“C-Calm down! What’s going on?”
“A huge number of monsters are gathering at the mansion’s front gate!!”
Hearing this, Nia Bella followed the servant toward the front gate.
“Block them!”
“Hold the formation! If we falter, they’ll break through!”
There, the guards were confronting long, cylindrical monsters.
“Raul!”
With a short chant, Nia Bella sent flas rushing toward the monsters that were threatening the guards, burning them to ashes in an instant.
“Thank you… Thank you so much…”
“It’s fine… Are you okay…?”
That was when Nia Bella noticed sothing strange about the monsters.
They seed oddly familiar, as if they resembled the massive creature she had seen rising from the mountains earlier—only these were about half the size of a human.
‘What in the world is happening…?’
“Nia Bella, where is the Hero?!”
The Hero.
Of all tis, he had gone outside the city to complete a request.
Even if he turned back right away, it would still take him quite so ti to return.
“Nia Bella, if possible, please give us orders…”
“…”
The Marquis of Rakru had descended to the city below.
All eyes—from the servants to the guards—turned to Nia Bella.
She was deeply confused and frightened.
But she was a mber of the Hero’s party.
‘Sister. Leave the mansion to .’
“…Let’s start by sealing the front gate.”
Summoning her courage, Nia Bella began to direct the people around her.
“Hurry and evacuate the citizens into the church!”
At Saint Aria’s command, the priests swiftly moved people to safety.
anwhile, a monster lunged at Aria.
A worm-like creature, the size of a human, aid for her neck, but an arrow struck it down, tearing it apart.
“Aria, what’s the situation?”
“It’s bad! We don’t even know where the monsters are coming from…!”
Lafirie clicked her tongue.
This situation was worse than the one in Alpareth.
On a battlefield where civilians and monsters were mixed, those with more to protect suffered greater losses.
And now, the people with the most to protect were the citizens of this city, led by the Hero’s party.
“…Can you cast a protective barrier?”
“Yes, I can!”
“I’ll gather the rcenaries and rescue the citizens. Once I send them to you, protect them.”
“Got it!”
“Do you know where Serlyn and Louis are?”
“Lady Serlyn is probably at the guards’ headquarters! As for Lady Louis… oh no.”
Aria’s face turned pale.
“She’s… working at the mine.”
“What…?”
Lafirie’s head snapped toward the mine, where the massive monster had appeared.
Then that ant Louis was…
“…Louis is strong. She’ll be fine.”
Lafirie strung her bow with a green-glowing arrow as she spoke.
“Once I find Serlyn, I’ll tell her to look for Louis. For now, let’s focus on evacuating the citizens.”
Fortunately, the giant monster had made no further movents since it appeared.
Taking advantage of that, they had to evacuate as many people as possible out of the monster’s reach.
Lafirie’s green eyes glead, reflecting her firm resolve.
Boom!
“Argh!”
“Guards, scatter! Focus on evacuating the civilians in the area!”
Serlyn shouted orders as she glared at the giant insect monster clacking its mandibles in front of her.
The creature was several tis the size of a human, as tall as a building.
It seed to be a child or a smaller version of the giant monster that had erged from the mine.
Screech!
Another one appeared.
Without hesitation, Serlyn leaped onto a nearby rooftop to get a better view of the situation.
She saw citizens screaming as yet another one of the giant monsters slithered in the distance.
‘Aswell.’
Of all tis for him to be away, the entire Hero’s party was scattered.
Still, Serlyn knew that her companions were strong, and they were all fighting sowhere in the city.
They just had to hold out until the Hero returned.
With determination set on her face, Serlyn swung her sword again.
rcadia Karacioni.
In the original story, there was never a point where she directly confronted the Hero’s party.
That’s because her role was to attack this world while the Hero’s party was in the demon realm.
In other words, her being here now was impossible.
So, how could I know about her?
It was thanks to information I received from soone after the story’s ending.
“Hmmm~. Hmm-hmm~.”
She humd a tune from atop the giant worm-like Behirastok.
“Never make eye contact with that demon.”
The demonic energy she emitted was so powerful that an ordinary person’s body would lt just from being near her.
The only saving grace was that she hadn’t noticed our presence yet.
“Is there a shortcut to the city from here?”
“Yes. There’s one, though it hasn’t been used in a long ti.”
“Please, take it to get back to the city.”
As I spoke, I cast enchantnts on their weapons.
This way, even without , they could at least protect themselves.
“Miss Louis, what about you…?”
“I have to stay here.”
“W-What?!”
“Let’s escape together…! If we run away, we can—!”
“That thing won’t just stay still. I need to buy ti by facing it myself.”
Only the Hero could kill a duke-level demon like rcadia.
The other party mbers and I could try, but it would take dozens of tis more effort than if the Hero faced her directly.
So, the goal now was to hold out until the Hero returned.
“…Go now.”
“I’ll bring reinforcents as fast as I can…!”
“Be careful!”
With those words, the miners hurried toward the shortcut.
Now, I was the only one left in the mine.
“Are they gone?”
“…You knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Of course. How could I not notice your presence?”
rcadia slowly turned her head toward the mont the miners left.
She had known about and the miners from the start.
But she had pretended not to notice, due to her personality.
“Aha~! Things are finally getting interesting. What’s your na?”
She was a demon who only respected the strong and avoided unnecessary conflict with the weak.
“Louis.”
“Louis…? Wait, Louis?”
She paused for a mont, then asked again. I gave a small nod in response.
At the sa ti, I took out the master key, preparing for the battle ahead.
“Are you the mage from the Hero’s party?”
How did she know about ?
I stayed silent, and her lips twisted into a wide grin.
“Aha! Aha-ha!! So, you’re the one who wiped out those vampires! Aha-ha-ha-ha!!”
Laughing so hard that tears welled up in her eyes, rcadia finally caught her breath and spoke.
“Haah… Thanks to you, I was able to descend here. I guess I owe you a favor.”
Slash!
“Oh my.”
rcadia vanished for a second, only to reappear behind .
However, her strike was blocked by my shield.
“I expected that.”
I quickly turned around and aid the tip of the master key at her.
Boom!
“Your magic is quite impressive.”
rcadia nonchalantly deflected my attack, complinting my skills with a gesture.
anwhile, the gigantic worm-like creature, Behirastok, began to move.
“Let’s see how long you can last against . The ti limit is until Behirastok destroys the city.”
If the mining city of Rakru were to fall, all our efforts to save it would be for nothing.
That couldn’t happen.
‘Honestly, didn’t you see this coming?’
No.
After possessing this body, I had considered countless possibilities and variables as a mber of the Hero’s party.
One of those possibilities was encountering a demon duke in a form different from the original story.
So, in a way, I had anticipated sothing like this.
Still, if I let my emotions control and failed to handle the situation, the responsibility would fall on .
Which is why I would stop both of them.
‘I’m sorry, ntor.’
It wasn’t for rcadia, but I had prepared sothing to face a demon duke.
Specifically, I had designed a fail-safe for one particular spell.
“Haa…”
Perhaps it was because the chaos had taken form in rcadia, but my mind felt clearer now.
I felt like I could inscribe spells more accurately and cast magic more sharply.
“rcadia.”
“…You know my na?”
“From now on, you and Behirastok won’t move from this spot.”
Because I was going to stop them.
I pulled out the card I had prepared for this mont.
“Master key. Shape-shift. Form two.”
Click.
With that, the two rings on the master key began spinning violently, transforming the entire staff into a new form.
Reviews
All reviews (0)