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Chapter 49 – Part 2

 

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TRANSLATOR: Artemis

EDITOR: Ryunakama

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If we had walked, it would have taken a lot of time, but by sky, it only took a short time to get to the Todorokuni campgrounds.

Relying on the maps made by the simple familiars we’d made contracts with, we arrived in the skies above the campgrounds. Before our eyes we saw leftover remnants of conflict left behind on the land, as we landed in the campgrounds.

Similar to our camp, the Todorokuni camp was constructed on the flattened land of a former hill.

But here, it seems they had a bit more defensive power, such as their thick stone walls surrounding them, or the watchtowers made for observation constructed on the west side.

「If Todorokuni could somehow find a way to take control and operate Solania on their own, they’d have their own unstoppable fortress in the sky. It would be strange if other countries besides Todorokuni were not as eager to try to do the same」

There wasn’t a voice that responded to my whisper, as Vaje and Liu Yu gently landed without making a sound, or any kind of harsh landing impact. We arrived quietly and softly, landing within the inner side of the defensive walls.

I jumped down from Liu Yu’s back, and spun, looking around.

All around us, there were leftover bloodstains splattered here and there, which had turned black as they dried. There were traces of sharp claw marks and the ashes of raging fires, and I took in the sight of the castle gate doors fallen onto the smashed up surface of the earth.

「Alright, for now let’s search this fortress and the inside of the lodgings, and confirm any survivors and look for footprints from the attackers. We have to collect as much information as we can. However, we stop when it’s dark. When the sun sets, we’ll temporarily stop the investigation, set up our defensive barriers, and rest with some of us on rotation for the night watch」

「I already said there isn’t anyone left」

In regards to the discontented Vaje, Professor Edward smiled bitterly. It would be a waste of time if she were to get needlessly angry now, so Professor Edward chose his next words carefully.

「We should still check. We have to look, in case there is information left that can help us find what happened here」

「Hm, well then I guess we should, until you’re satisfied」

The seven of us formed an impromptu party, and we thoroughly searched the inside of the Todorokuni fortress. Even here, the familiars were useful again, and our work was finished extremely quickly.

From the basements to the bedrooms, and the storehouses to the kitchens; all of it had been devastated. There wasn’t a single room left safe and untouched.

When we finished searching most of the fortress, we all met up again in the most spacious room, which probably belonged to the commander or leader of the investigation team, and used it as the room where we would spend the night.

Inside the room, we set up numerous barriers, and atop a thick red carpet we sat in chairs in a big circle with a map of the most important buildings in the center of Solania in front of us.

「The next most suspicious thing left in Solania would be the unexplored regions」

Professor Edward spoke as he pointed at a blank spot on the map.

Hmm, Solania. It turns out this city wasn’t just a place of residence.

The Sky People had conducted various research projects, such as seeking immortality, creating a new mixed species, or building manufacturing factories to make weapons for governing other species. It wouldn’t be strange if there was still some test site remaining somewhere.

「Right, it’s just as Dran says. At any rate, we should do as much as we can until the airship returns, and prioritize the collection of definitive proof, beyond simple possibilities and speculations. Of course, we’ll do so while staying safe too」

Professor Edward’s opinion was probably the best and most reasonable conclusion. But if the 「enemy」has gained understanding and control of all of Solania’s functions and operations, then it probably wouldn’t be safe as it was.

Twilight passed, and the darkness of night arrived. There were a number of rooms that still had beds, but it would be stupid of us to fight over who should get to sleep in one or not, so we laid out blankets that we collected from other rooms over the carpet instead.

Of course, in preparation of a night attack, we each kept our own weapons within arm’s reach.

As for the night watch, we would do them in rotations of the following pairs: me and Lenia, Miss Eliza and Vaje, Selina and Christina, and then Professor Edward and me again.

The pairs were made in such a way so there would be no problems or conflicts within the pairs.

First and foremost, Vaje and Christina would have been impossible, and then Lenia, who is completely indifferent to all other people except myself, should be paired with me.

Hoot, hoot, the sound of an owl that had four wings which lived here in Solania could be heard, and then we all got ready to sleep.

Liu Yu and Vaje, unlike humans, could go one or two days without sleeping just fine, but they followed suit with the rest of us, and simply closed their eyes and stayed quiet. If they just kept their eyes closed, they could probably enter into a light sleep.

The room was filled with darkness and silence, with only the light of the moon and the stars streaming in through the window hazily lighting up the sleeping figures of everyone else. Just like that, I started my second night watch together with Professor Edward.

I sat down on the floor with my long sword in its sheath and held in my left hand. I kept myself ready to use magic at any moment by kneading the flow of magical energy within me.

On the other hand, Professor Edward held his favorite whip in his right hand, and he seemed to be quite tense and nervous.

So that we wouldn’t wake everyone else who was sleeping, we were supposed to stay silent during the night watch, but that wasn’t too difficult.

Will the rest of the night pass by peacefully like this, I wonder? Just when a small doubt rose to the surface of my heart — boom, a loud noise and a quake shook through the entirety of the fortress, waking everyone on the floor with a start.

There wasn’t a single person who rubbed their eyes, still half asleep. Each of them understood that this was a battlefield. They were all ready for anything.

「Dran-san, what is happening?」

With her snake eyes activated, Selina was able to use her superhuman vision to look around and take hold of her surroundings, as she asked that question. It was only for a brief moment, but we’d been struck by something that created a sense of floating, as if we’d suddenly lost our footing. We were falling.

「I see, this came in a way that was outside of my expectations」

Once I whispered to myself and showed that I had finally grasped the situation on my own, everyone around me flooded me with their stares, seeking an answer from me. As their representative, Professor Edward asked a question for them all.

「Dran, we’d be grateful if you didn’t keep it to yourself, and shared your answer with everyone else too…」

「Please look outside the window」

I silently activated the magic lamp on the ceiling, which brought light to the room that was not much different from daytime. Meanwhile, everyone else slowly turned their gazes to the window.

The tall trees that had grown tall enough to reach for the heavens, and the soft plains disappeared. In its place, the scenery rapidly changed.

「This fortress and the surrounding lodgings and land itself is moving underground. This city was a structure that was made by human hands, after all」

It was like an elevator. Hmm.

「The enemies won’t be coming here to us. They’re inviting us to come to them. If we resist too much, they would fight back with their greater advantages」

At this rate, we’d be able to make it all the way underground Solania, and continue to the center of the city and we’d meet the enemy’s armies. A sense of nervousness spread throughout the room.

「Now then, what will pop up, a demon, or an evil god?」

Then our descent stopped, ending with the same floating feeling that we’d gotten when it started. The surrounding area suddenly filled with bright light, making it as bright as if it were daytime.

By the time our eyes got used to the sudden change in brightness outside, we looked out the window and spotted a single man standing outside.

He was a young man, carrying a walking stick that had a silver hatchet handle, and he wore robes the color of snow.

He had a perfect physique, a model example of an ideal young man, with an air of a great scholar that could explain the truths of the world. But he seemed like a hermit that had cast off earthly desires, with a pessimistic air.

Revealed behind his flowing red hair, his deep eyes and long nose line was a sight that anyone would be envious of.

The arrangement of his eyes, nose, eyebrows, and lips held in by the contours of his face was created so perfectly, it could be thought that he must have been made by the hands of either a nonhuman god, or some kind of demon.

Beauty seekers of the world would choke on their own blood if they ever saw him, and would declare him as perfect.

But there was something cold residing in his eyes. It was a deep, squirming darkness.

「He’s not a demon or an evil god… but he’s not human」

Long ago, the gods had tried to create a perfect and complete existence:「mankind」. But diverging from their original plans, they had failed and created something between man and animals: 「humans」.

And among those humans, there would extremely rarely be an existence born that is close to the perfect mankind in both body and soul.

They were called superhumans. They had intellect, physique, mental strength, and magical power that far transcended the standards of regular humans.

Yes, the young man who stood in front of us was of the same race as Christina; and in other words, he was my natural enemy.

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