Chapter 85
It was around the time when adventurers had gathered at the Imperial Capital Branch and were about to open the teleportation gate.
Suddenly, a messenger from the castle arrived at the branch.
"Well, well. What brings Your Highness, the Second Prince, here?"
"The castle is currently discussing the anomaly in the south. Your teleportation is valuable. I ask that you wait a little before departing."
Unexpectedly, Erich bowed his head.
Unlike me, ordinary members of the imperial family don't bow. That's the sort of position they hold.
"We've had time until now. What guarantee is there that a decision will be reached from this point onward when one hasn't been made yet?"
"I've already proposed calling in the nearby armies to the Imperial Capital, entrusting them with the castle's defense, and dispatching the Imperial Knights. It will probably be approved."
"Oh? And then the struggle for credit will begin?"
Even so, it was a surprisingly practical plan.
The castle's defenses were too uncertain to dispatch the Imperial Knights, so he was suggesting that they call in an army to take their place.
They might not possess as much individual strength as the Imperial Knights, but they should still be more than capable of guarding the castle.
"I've recommended Gordon to lead the Imperial Knights. It shouldn't take that long."
"How strange. When it was another country's problem, you wanted the credit so badly. Yet the moment it became your own country's problem, you're willing to give that credit to your younger brother?"
"I am a member of the imperial family, as well as the Empire's Minister of Foreign Affairs. When it comes to another country's problem, that's one thing, but when it concerns our own country, struggles for influence come second. The Empire is my first concern."
As he said that, Erich looked straight at me.
It wasn't a bad proposal.
Having the Imperial Knights come would certainly be reassuring.
Waiting was an option, too—if I was willing to put the struggle for influence second.
If I forced the issue here, though, I had a feeling it would only worsen the opinion of adventurers among the Empire's upper echelons.
Just as my resolve began to waver, a clear sound reached me from far away.
I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Yet somehow, I knew that Linfia was the source of that sound and that she was in danger.
Linfia was asking for help. I had no basis for it, but I was certain. That clear sound had conveyed it to me.
"However... people will be sacrificed in the meantime. There are people buying time while the country prepares itself. What do you intend to do about them?"
"We'll do everything we can."
"Then I can't accept your proposal. Adventurers are different from knights and soldiers. We're here to save victims the people at the top can't find, and those they have no choice but to abandon. Leave. We're adventurers. We don't take orders from anyone. We'll do as we please."
"The fate of the country is at stake, you know? Shouldn't we ensure victory?"
"We don't care what happens to the country. The lives we protect are always those of the people. Go back and tell the Emperor this: Silver has taken charge of this matter."
"You think such arbitrary action will be permitted?"
"That is precisely what an SS-rank adventurer is allowed to do. And don't underestimate us. The Empire's adventurers are many times stronger than the imperial family thinks."
As I turned on my heel, a huge teleportation gate appeared at the Adventurers Guild.
As I stepped into it, I said,
"Come on, let's go make some money. Follow me."
With those words, I teleported away.
The moment I arrived,
the entire area was filled with monsters.
Yet amid them, I could see a girl getting to her feet.
Though she was clearly in a hopeless situation, she neither panicked nor made a fuss.
She was probably thinking about what to do, just as she always did.
Seeing Linfia like that, I gave a wry smile and blasted away the monsters around her.
That should make things a little easier for the adventurers who had charged in.
"Are you all right? The female adventurer from before."
When I approached Linfia, her eyes widened in surprise.
"...Why are you here...?"
"I heard there was a raid quest. I brought the others, too."
After I said that,
the adventurers from the Imperial Capital Branch burst through the huge teleportation gate behind me, making a tremendous racket.
They certainly seemed lively. From what I could see, the main enemy force consisted of skeletons.
If that was the case, I could safely leave this place to them.
"If you can stand, follow me. It's time to make some money."
"Yes... Silver...!"
With that, Linfia rose to her feet.
After casting healing magic on Linfia and restoring her, I looked ahead with her beside me.
We were headed for Leo and my sister, who were cutting their way through the monsters.
■■■
"Silver! It's a zombie dragon!"
After hearing Linfia's report, I looked up at the sky.
A dragon over ten meters tall, its body rotting, came hurtling toward us at tremendous speed.
Good grief.
It was a monster spoken of only in old texts.
"I suppose they won't let us through that easily."
I rose into the sky to intercept the zombie dragon.
Meanwhile, Linfia and the adventurers from the Imperial Capital Branch cut down the skeletons and pressed toward Leo and the others.
We were still outnumbered, but the momentum was on our side.
As long as we held back the high-rank monsters that were emerging, we should be able to reach the city.
"The problem is that black sphere."
As I dodged the zombie dragon's snapping jaws, I looked at the black sphere that had appeared above the city.
An absurd amount of magical power was radiating from it. However, there was no sign that it was being used for an attack.
"The question is what it's being used for."
"Gyaaaahhhhhhh!!"
"You're too loud."
I enclosed the zombie dragon, which came charging at me while shrieking, in a barrier and dropped it straight to the ground.
I had dropped it into the middle of a horde of skeletons, so the skeletons were blown away by the impact. But that was none of my concern.
I thrust out my right hand toward the zombie dragon lying on the ground.
≪Pierce—Bloody Lance≫
I shortened the incantation and activated the spell instantly.
A gigantic spear of blood emerged from a magic circle and accelerated toward the zombie dragon trapped inside the barrier.
At the moment it struck, I dispelled the barrier, and the blood spear pierced the zombie dragon.
"Gyaaaahhhhhhh...!!"
The high-temperature blood spear melted the rotting body away.
The surrounding skeletons melted from the backlash as well.
But they were still only a tiny fraction of the total.
To wipe out this many skeletons, I'd have to chant properly and unleash a powerful spell.
Just as I thought that, I sensed an enormous amount of magical power swelling up and looked in that direction.
Beside the black sphere,
a man was floating in the air.
However, that man was cradling his own head under one arm.
"A dullahan...?"
It was an undead monster equivalent to an AAA-rank, but the magical power emanating from that man was on an entirely different level.
He was a headless human, but the resemblance was merely superficial. He was something entirely different from a dullahan.
Certain of that, I tried to attack him before he could move, but he instantly relocated to where Leo and the others were.
"Tch!"
Clicking my tongue, I teleported to Leo and my sister and protected them from the blow of the sword he had raised.
"Guh!!"
The layers of barriers I had put up were badly damaged.
That much power without even charging up. He definitely wasn't a dullahan.
"I don't recall asking for your help, masked adventurer."
"I can't let them take the commander's head just like that. You'll have to bear with me, Marshal."
As my sister stared intently at me, I broke into a cold sweat beneath my mask.
It should be all right.
This mask was one of my grandfather's prized possessions.
It changed not only my voice and scent, but even the impression I gave others. Not even a close family member would realize it was me.
Although my sister voiced her displeasure, she seemed to understand that the man before us was a dangerous opponent. She smoothly moved away from me and began fighting another monster.
Apparently, even my sister hadn't noticed.
Meanwhile, Leo was still standing beside me.
"Silver... It's been a while."
"You look well, Prince Leonart."
"Yeah, I'm glad to see you. If this weren't a battlefield, I'd like to take our time and talk."
"Unfortunately, we'll have to do that another time."
Leo nodded and quietly moved away.
Once I had confirmed that, I fixed my gaze on the man before me.
He was merely standing there, but an inhuman presence emanated from him. It wasn't a matter of whether he had a head or not. At his very core, he wasn't human.
The man turned his pitch-black eyes toward me and gave a faint smile.
"I never expected anyone to withstand my attack. You surprised me."
"I was surprised that anyone could unleash an attack like that, too."
"What an impertinent human. But good. It has been a long time since I was last on the surface. I couldn't ask for a better source of amusement."
"A long time since you were on the surface?"
"Come to think of it, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Furcas. I am borrowing this body for now, but I am a demon."
With that, Furcas laughed.
To human eyes, it was a brutally cruel smile, but he seemed to think he was simply smiling normally.
When I hear the word demon, one thing comes to mind.
A demon was also the one who stole my great-grandfather's body.
Apparently, the Imperial Knights and the House of Heroes had been fully mobilized to subdue it back then.
"So a demon from the Demon Realm has come to the surface. Since you have a vessel, there must be a summoner, correct?"
As a rule, demons cannot exist in this world. The exception is when a vessel is prepared and a demon possesses it.
Apparently, there had once been mages who controlled demons that way, but no one summons demons anymore.
Binding a demon is extremely troublesome, and maintaining it requires an enormous amount of magical power.
One mistake could get you killed, and you couldn't control one as you pleased. In the modern age, demon summoning could be called one of the magic arts that had fallen into disuse.
I never expected anyone to do something like that.
"I have no summoner."
"Don't lie."
I glanced at the black sphere.
The summoner was probably inside it.
"You are quite perceptive. However, she is in no state to give me orders. In other words, she may as well not exist."
"But you would be in trouble without her, wouldn't you? The one stabilizing your existence is undoubtedly the summoner."
"And if that is the case?"
"Then all we have to do is rescue the summoner from that black sphere. This ridiculous number of monsters is a byproduct of summoning you, isn't it?"
"Excellent. That is almost a perfect answer. Indeed, a hole connecting the Demon Realm to this world has opened in the center of the city, and I was summoned through it. The hole is growing larger by the moment, and monsters are pouring out of the Demon Realm. Everything you said is correct—except for one thing."
"What?"
"It was 〝us〟 who were summoned."
At that moment, a powerful magical presence suddenly appeared on the scene.
When I turned around, a man dressed in black was standing beside Leo.
That one was a demon, too!
What a bastard!
He had slipped through the detection barrier I had put up!
I hastily tried to form a defensive barrier, but before I could, the sword the man swung down was caught by Linfia, who had arrived in time.
"Linfia!?"
"Are you unharmed, Prince Leonart?"
"Tch!"
Frustrated that his decisive blow had been stopped, the man vanished.
His attack speed wasn't all that extraordinary. He was probably a pure stealth type. Even so, in a battlefield where enemies and allies were mixed together, he was far too troublesome.
I tried to go to Linfia's aid, but Furcas blocked my path.
"Get out of my way!"
"That's what demons do: interfere with humans."
While we were saying that, the black-clad man appeared behind Linfia and swung his sword down at her.
This was bad.
Just as I thought that, a voice echoed inside my head.
'No!'
The voice, imbued with powerful magical energy, stopped Furcas and the black-clad man's movements instantly.
What was that...?
"Tch... I'm retreating, Balam."
"Understood. It seems this woman is no good, then."
With that, Furcas withdrew to the city for the time being, and the black-clad man called Balam vanished as well.
Could that have been the summoner's voice?
It had sounded like a child's voice.
"Shinfa...?"
"What?"
"That voice just now... Shinfa!?"
Linfia looked toward the city, unusually flustered.
Furcas had returned to the black sphere's side.
If the owner of that voice was the summoner, then...
"You recognize that voice?"
"That was Shinfa... the voice of my kidnapped little sister!"
"...I see. Things are starting to make sense."
Her power must have run wild because of some sort of accident.
The fact that she was kidnapped means she must have heterochromia. It wouldn't be strange for her to have innate magic as well.
If she possessed an innate summoning ability and it had gone berserk, everything made sense.
Though the scale of it was absurd.
"Your sister is probably inside that black sphere. Judging from what happened just now, she wouldn't allow them to attack you. If she still has enough judgment to distinguish friend from foe, we might be able to do something."
"Can you save her...?"
"That depends on you. In any case, we need to get her to the city. Teleportation would be too dangerous, I think. We could be ambushed. We'll have to escort her there the hard way."
"In that case, we'll open a path for you. Our original objective was to deal with that black sphere anyway."
With that, Leo signaled to his aide.
One of the knights dismounted and offered his horse to Linfia.
Linfia accepted it and mounted the horse.
Then she said,
"If Shinfa is there... I have to go. I'm her older sister."
"That's a reason I can respect. I'll lead the way for a while. Follow me."
Perhaps reacting to the word sister, my sister Liese smiled and charged ahead.
Leo followed her, along with a large number of knights and soldiers.
Our vague objective of simply reaching the city changed into a clear mission for everyone present: getting Linfia there safely.
"Silver... My name is Linfia. I'm just an adventurer from a humble village on the frontier. Shinfa is my younger sister, a girl from a village of refugees. Even so... will you help her with everything you've got?"
"Of course. Don't ask such a tactless question."
At that, Linfia gave a small smile and urged her horse onward.
Now then, I suppose I'll go clear out the small fry around here.