CH 8

3-8 A Request for Life and Death

At the end of an unknown road in an unknown city, a girl was walking in an inorganic manner far ahead.

Even though she was supposed to be our guide, even when we caught up with her, she took one look at us and immediately averted her gaze.

“… So what should we do?”

“Ah, there’s a coordinator at the back who helped me, and he asked me if there’s a person who seems to be good at magic. I don’t know much about magic other than combat. I’m sorry, but can you ask him?”

The women I know seem to fall into one of two categories: adorable and harsh. I looked at Marie, the representative of both groups and followed the girl as she walked. As we walked further down the main road from where the fork in the road had been, we came to a door that was ingenious even to the untrained eye.

The girl knocked silently and the door opened by itself. As I looked up at the door with a desire to figure out how it worked, Marie poked me on the shoulder as if she was rushing me, so I reluctantly entered. The signs of the magic power I’ve felt on my skin certainly changed and my body became tense unintentionally.

“The throne room…..?”

“It used to be. But it doesn’t belong to anyone anymore, so I can use it as I please.”

The space was in the process of being weathered, but it still retained a choking atmosphere.

The statues lining the walls were probably made of copper, but the armor they wore was made of real metal. On the ceiling, where the sword pointed up, was a silver statue. The ceiling was decorated with ornaments that still emitted a dull glow, giving a sense of oppression despite the spaciousness of the room.

“It’s the complete opposite of Fermina.”

“Yeah. ……”

Fermina was a newly emerging country and at that time, they didn’t have the money to make the royal palace luxurious. His majesty didn’t fix it, but it was necessary and sufficient, but even so, this is overkill. Even the candlesticks on the towering stone pillars were made of gold.

“It’s not a place where ordinary people can enter.”

“I guess they couldn’t resist the temptation to build a gate like that.”

When you turn the inside of a mountain into a fortress, I guess it’s not something that can be compromised by ordinary means. As I chewed over the scenery, the long red carpet finally came to an end. However, there was no one in sight but an empty throne.

“Hey, where are you……?”

The girl tilted her head and the sound of something heavy dragging could be heard as soon as she stopped talking. Her gaze pierced the black mouthed passage behind the throne.

“………!”

Without a sound, we all paused without making a move. I leaned my back against a stone pillar, braced myself, but kept my breath and focused on the coming moment.

The unidentified sound continued, slowly but surely approaching.

There was no hint of magic in the air. This made it all the more eerie. I regretted a little that I had left Dull Firefly in Chris’s hands, since she probably wasn’t used to her new sword yet.

“It’s a human voice.”

Marie, who was hiding on the other side of the room, said. In a situation where I can’t rely on magic I have to rely on her, but that can’t be helped. I followed her example and sharpened my hearing and I finally heard a human voice and a rather sorrowful one at that.

“…… Paula ……… are you there?”

“Nii-Sama?”

“Hey…Can you give me a little …… help ……?”

The girl’s name, I now knew, was apparently Paula. With a suspicious look on her face, she jumped out like a cat.

“…… What are you doing?”

The thorns fell out of Paula’s voice at the start of her speech and a heavy sigh followed at the end. There seemed to be no danger.

My curiosity got the better of me and I peeked up from the stone pillar.

Immediately after, my vision wavered involuntarily. My fingertips, which I lifted to support my body, pulled out the Wakizashi(Short side sword) that had just been released and my raised feet kicked the ground straight, using the stone pillar as a stepping stone.

“—Sage!”

When I heard Marie’s voice, my consciousness that had been obscured became clear.

Marie’s right hand was holding the sword which she stopped in the middle of my swing. In the back of the room, there was a young man with a childish impression who was astonished but prepared himself and a strange monster crawling close to the young man.

“Can you retract your arm?”

Marie’s voice, which has a tasteful tone, finally made me understand the current situation. The squirting sweat moistened my skin with a thick and unpleasant sensation and fell along my cheeks to the floor.

“…… Did I draw my sword?”

“Yes. It also looked like you had a murderous intent.”

Before Marie’s hand left mine, all the strength drained from my body. I took the sword and put it back in its sheath. I sat down, put my fists on my knees and bowed my head. I had no idea what my opponent was thinking, but there was an attitude I needed to show first.

“I apologize for being rude on our first meeting. I don’t know what to say…….”

“No worries, I did it too.”

“…… Huh? Did you do the same thing I did?”

“Yeah. When I met you at the border, I also slashed at you, didn’t I?”

“? Oh, that’s ……?

“I did it because I thought I’d get killed. It’s the same with you now, isn’t it? What’s more…”

The girl’s gentle eyes, which had laughed in dismay, took on a hint of rage in a single breath.

“Don’t be so naive. If she hadn’t stopped Sage, I’d be picking up you corpse right now.”

“Yeah…. Well, when I see a guest, I want to treat them well, isn’t that right Hazel….?”

The monster that was only visible from the neck, opened and closed its mouth lined with fangs which were as big as a human’s fist and began a crisp explanation.

“So what happened as a result of that annoyance?”

“…………”

The young man Paula had called her ‘brother’ was probably about the same age as Chris. They’re brother and sister who are quite old, but they only relaxed together with the monster spewing a blade of words that could not be ignored.

“…… So, is that a monster?”

“Ah, what do you say…….”

Suddenly a feeling of dread ran down my spine and I realized that the monster was looking at me as if to attack me.

This is it. These brightly colored eyes that create pressure to the depths of the heart as if all the magic stones were melted and mixed. A quiet pressure and an almost unreadable strength of magic oozed out of a huge body that could only be described as a monster, but only slightly. I can’t sense anything more than that.

“Nice to meet you, my guest. My name is Lute. …… Well, you could call me a monster. How much do you know about his land?”

The monster who called himself Lute, with most of his huge body hidden in the darkness of the passage, asked the question.

“I don’t know much, but I’ve stayed there for about a year.”

“A year! So, have you ever heard of a life form called a dragon that is neither human, subhuman, nor monster?”

“Dragon ……are you a dragon?”

I have no experience meeting this monster in his land.

Dragon. A messenger of God. Angel. The compiler of history. A creature of the highest dimension. A beacon of history.

The two names used are used in a variety of ways, but for some reason, they’re all depicted in a similar form. It has a huge physique that could swallow a man whole, scales that line its body like a polished shield, eyes as beautiful and clear as jewels and strong wings that make the sky its own. In mythology and folklore, it’s hard to find a book that doesn’t describe them as gods.

“Yes, I am.”

“……Eh No… Eh?”

I’m sorry to say this, but he doesn’t look like a so-called divine messenger. Although folklore has a tail fin, I want to dream a little more.

“I’m sorry, ……. We’re as close to omniscient as we can get, but we’re not omnipotent, so we can be impeded by narrow passages or we can be lectured by young children.”

The words that came out of the super creature’s mouth were mildly pathetic.

“Actually, this guy’s as versatile as the legend says. If I had to choose which one to be afraid of, I’d choose Sage.”

“I agree with you. It would be better to suppress the magic that flows outside a little more.”

“…… Why don’t you stop talking and get to the point so I can get out of here. I’m not here on a pleasure cruise.”

“Yes……but can you change into human form already…..”

“…………”

The self-proclaimed dragon’s voice trailed off weakly as Paula silently shouted at him. The dragon’s body, which seemed to be sandwiched between the sides, began to be wrapped in a phosphorescent- like bubble. The outline of the body was blotted with pale light and in the next moment, the shape was distorted languidly.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hazel Vermilio, Paula’s older brother and I’m sort of the organizer here.”

“Sorry about earlier……”

I bowed again to the young man who had started to introduce himself, filling in the gaps. It was because Paula’s intrusion had left me in a dilemma, but it seemed to have made him feel uncomfortable. As I looked up at him, he held out his hand and asked me to shake it, supporting his body.

“No, we were being too careless. I wasn’t sure if you would trust me if I told you straight out that there’s a dragon.”

“That’s …… true. I am Sage Luxuria. I’m the second Holy Knight from Fermina”

Hazel’s body quivered. It’s not my imagination that the power and heat I feel in my palm has changed.

“I’m not here on official state business. But if you wish, I’ll be happy to send you to the border.”

“…… It is extremely difficult to be self-sufficient here. The castle’s reserves were exhausted just last month.”

A shade of gloom crept over the rather white-faced young man. Paula is standing with her mouth moving in a state of utterance.

“I’ve given up on farming because the dense magic on the ground doesn’t allow seeds to germinate. We have no animals to eat and now our days are only prolonged by the little water and fish we get from the rivers that run through the mountains.”

After a pause, Hazel bowed his head again, his hands slowly falling away from his head, as if to express his inner thoughts.

“I’ve called you here for no other reason than this. Please give us a chance to regain our human lives.”

These two siblings, who were probably less than thirty years old when you add their age together, were acting like leaders, probably because they could use magic. Indeed, I agree that this makes Paula look more mature.

If she couldn’t use magic to protect herself, she wouldn’t even be able to get out of this castle. If she had seen the mountains of people being swallowed up by the muddy waters of magic that overflowed from the border in the past, she’d be even less inclined to go out. There were a few things I didn’t like, but the first priority was to free myself from this pressure.

“In the name of the Holy Knight I will always help humanity. If there’s anything I can do, I promise to help.”

“Thank you very much! Well then–”

“Although I’m not human, may I also share something with you?”

Hazel, who was excited, felt a hand on his shoulder, interrupting his words. The shape of the dragon, which was still covered with a pale light on the outline of the whole body, was behind him. Without waiting for an answer, Lute spoke.

“It’s not a matter of decision, but there’s a possibility that the people will be attacked by my brothers along the way”

“Brothers …?”

“Hey……! What are you…?”

Hazel changed his tone and shook Lute’s hand. He didn’t appear to be aware of the situation and Lute continued to speak lightly.

“It’ll be a pain to get rid of them. I think the right answer for this is to neutralize them in one breath. ……”

Behind Sage who opened and closed his mouth, Paula covered her eyes and looked up at the sky. Only Lute continued to speak.

“I see. It won’t be a problem.”

…… Restoration of a fallen tunnel, High difficulty magic group training, Restoring a poisoned river and Searching for a ring dropped in the desert. He even stopped an active volcano from erupting. In order to survive and improve his own strength, Sage has completed a wide variety of quests in his land and though he struggled with them, he accomplished them all.

He’s never had to kill anyone, or perhaps that was the exception and he was happy about it until now. But such life is easy to fall apart one day.

“My guests …… please, kill the dragon.”

–Dragon.

A messenger of God. Angel. The compiler of history. Creatures of the highest dimension. A beacon of history.

The request was made in a gentle tone of voice and with a smile. It was unmistakably a request for the “God Killer” who defied reason.