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Disaster Strikes Again – Part 01

She was a girl. A beautiful one at that, to be precise.

The girl was the queen of Ponsonia, a kingdom situated inland, one of the most populous and economically powerful nations in the whole continent.

Sigh. Queen Kujastria slumped over the table.

After her father, the former king, passed away, she became queen following a succession dispute with her brother. Three high-ranking dukes were supposed to support her governance, and all she had to do was present her regal self, but that hadn’t been the case. What’s more, she was not expecting her tenure as queen to be long.

In short, Kujastria was meant to be like a relief pitcher in baseball, a mere messenger in a company, or a binder in a hamburger.

And yet…

“Why am I working so late at night?”

She had just endured a long meeting without even having snacks and was eager to read her backlog of papers on sorcery—though it wasn’t very girlish, reading papers excited her more than romance novels—when one of the three dukes, Duke Nightblaze, said apologetically, “Your Majesty, there are still a few matters we need to decide on, so if you could please go through them while having dinner.”

She barely had time to lament that her work had even encroached on mealtime before facing a mountain of important documents that needed to be approved by the end of the day.

The stack of documents, if piled up, would exceed Kujastria’s height. The papers on sorcery were only about three centimeters thick.

Unable to even take the time to read the papers, Kujastoria skimmed through the documents and signed them as the queen.

This wasn’t supposed to happen!

She had voiced her complaint to Duke Nightblaze many times. In fact, she had done so just fifteen minutes ago. But when he sincerely apologized, she couldn’t respond harshly.

The duke, human conscience personified, was genuinely concerned about the kingdom’s future and the lives of the citizens. Kujastria was too softhearted to tell him that she was quitting.

“T-Today, for sure.”

Despite the exhaustion, Kujastria reached out with trembling fingers to grab the papers on sorcery. But just as her fingertips were about to touch them, they were swiftly taken away.

“Huh?”

Did the papers run away? Of course not.

Shocked, Kujastria saw a boy in a silver mask casually flipping through the papers.

“S-Silver Face?!”

“I thought you looked like a traveler in the middle of the desert reaching out desperately, but instead of water, it’s just research papers.”

“G-Give them back! And isn’t it proper etiquette to announce yourself before entering a room?”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t learned such etiquette.”

The boy with the silver mask spread his left arm out to the side, placed his right hand on his stomach, drew back his right foot, and bowed deeply.

Haven’t learned etiquette? Good one, Kujastria thought.

She noticed that the hooded cloak Silver Face wore was different from the previous ones. It was unusually thin but seemed to be of fine fabric. It looked familiar, but Kujastria’s brain, exhausted from a day of hard work, couldn’t function properly to remember where and when she had seen it.

“Do you need something?” Kujastria asked.

Her voice clearly showed her fatigue, and even Silver Face looked a bit concerned.

“Yeah. You look… stressed.”

“I am, but I had somewhat prepared for this. I imagine Pope Luvain of the Theocracy of Bios is having a harder time with the Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas.”

“You’re probably right. After all, the dungeon’s floating now.”

“As hard as it is to believe.”

“Were you surprised too?”

“Of course, I was surprised. What kind of magic lifted it into the air? I’ve never heard of anti-gravity magic. Does it use wind magic? But that would consume too much magical energy.” Excitement seeped into Kujastria’s voice.

“That’s not what I meant.” Silver Face chuckled dryly under his mask.

“Did you come to chat, then? Or perhaps, you know about the spell that makes it float and came to teach me?!”

“Of course not. What am I, your teacher?”

“Something similar, yes. Or rather, a fellow magic researcher?”

“Whoa, that’s too much.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you. You don’t even show reverence when talking to me.”

Silver Face bowed again in the same manner, but this time he twirled his right hand before placing it on his stomach. He was clearly being ironic.

“So, what do you need?”

“I have a favor to ask. I want to use this castle.”

“Use the castle?” Kujastria furrowed her brows and tilted her head in utter confusion.

She had no idea what he meant by that, but she had a bad feeling about it.

---

The Man Gnomes were a much smaller race than humans but lived about three times longer. Only the Man Gnomes themselves and a select few knew that these Man Gnomes wielded a significant influence on the continent through the Emperor of the Quinbrand Empire.

The Man Gnomes had a settlement near the border between the Quinbrand Empire and the United Nations of Forestia, but it was located in a mountain area so remote that no country claimed or governed it.

This village of the Man Gnomes utilized a large underground cavity in the mountains. Even if an explorer got lost and wandered nearby, they would never find the village.

The key to how the Man Gnomes had a grasp of the situation in not just the Quinbrand Empire but also the entire continent was the Black Wedge Gate. The Black Wedge Gate, which connected different locations, was a warp device that used soul energy. Hikaru never imagined such advanced technology existed until he saw and used it himself.

After the Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas floated into the sky, Hikaru used the Black Wedge Gate to move to the Man Gnome Village and then quickly to the Kingdom of Ponsonia. Kujastria assumed that Hikaru learned about the floating labyrinth through some means but never guessed he had actually seen it with his own eyes.

“What do you mean by using the castle?” Kujastria asked.

“This place is spacious, and it’s far from the city.”

“It is, but if you need a spacious place, there’s plenty of land outside the capital.”

“That’s true, but there’s actually another reason. Don’t worry. It won’t take long.”

Hikaru tried to gloss over it, and Kujastria narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Her skepticism towards him was far from being unwarranted, considering his past behavior.

Hikaru placed his hand on the glass door leading to the balcony. It was transparent, well-polished, with intricate engravings. When he opened it, winter’s chill blew in with the wind.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s cold, so I’ll keep this closed. If you’re coming along, you should wear a coat.”

Hikaru stepped out onto the balcony alone. A nearly full moon hung in the sky. The balcony was bright. Looking down, he saw magic lamps lit around the castle and patrolling guards here and there.

Beyond the castle walls stretched the streets of Ponsonia’s capital, but from this height, only a bit over five floors up, he couldn’t see too far. In the distance, the dark mountain ridges met the starry sky.

“Now, then.”

Hikaru took out a short wand about sixty centimeters long from his pocket, the same one that Lavia used. It had spiral grooves, with red glowing lines running along them.

This wand was wrapped with the hair of a Fire Drakon. Hikaru had encountered this legendary creature near Cotton-elka, Paula’s home village, where it had been imprisoned in a dungeon called the Forest of Deception. The drakon claimed to have been deceived by an evil dragon that had turned its back to the gods.

“Silver Face, you’ll draw attention out there,” said Kujastria, now wearing a thick robe.

Kujastria had been here back then. At that time, Hikaru was in the opposite position. He was in the sky.

“I don’t mind drawing attention. Because something more conspicuous is about to go down.” Hikaru raised the short wand toward the sky.

“Hm? What is that wand?”

Hikaru couldn’t use magic, so he didn’t know how to infuse it with mana, but just before coming here, he had asked Paula to fill it with her full power.

The clear red glow along the grooves was thanks to her magical power. In short, the short wand was already ignited.

“I’m calling it.”

“Calling what? I keep asking questions, and you don’t answer.”

Kujastria’s eyes started to look a bit terrifying, but if what Hikaru hoped to happen actually happened, they would be in for a lot more.

“Come, come, come. I need you to come.”

“Silver Face, what are you trying to do?”

Even Kujastria couldn’t help but worry seeing Hikaru’s strange behavior.

“I told you about the floating dungeon, didn’t I? I saw it with my own eyes.”

“You saw it? But the dungeon is in the Theocracy of Bios. That’s quite far from here.”

“I need to enter the dungeon again. In other words, I need to get up to that floating island.”

He needed to meet the master of the Great Labyrinth, Soaarunay Saak, who had returned to this world after taking over the body of a Japanese woman named Ayano Sasakura.

When the Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas activated, the magic of the Saak family was revived. This magic apparently covered the entire planet, interfering with magic connecting to other worlds. The failure to cast the spell for crossing worlds was all due to the Great Labyrinth.

So, Hikaru couldn’t use the spell to go to Japan. Likewise, people from Japan couldn’t come here. Lavia seemed to have attempted the spell in Japan by some means, but it had also failed.

“To get on the Great Labyrinth, I need to fly.”

To see Lavia again, Hikaru had to make the impossible possible.

“Fly? That’s just the stuff of fairy tales,” Kujastria said. “It might be possible if we could understand the magic that powers the dungeon, but it’s in the sky.”

She shivered. It was very cold and windy at such a high place.

“Silver Face, shall we go back inside?”

“I’m staying here. I need it to come. This is the only way I can think of to fly.”

“Are you actually serious about flying? What are you planning to do in the middle of the night in a place like this? Are you going to jump off with that cloak? No, you wouldn’t need a short wand for that. What are you calling?” Kujastria suddenly remembered something. “Silver Face. Don’t tell me… you were involved in that incident?!”

It had only been about half a year ago for Kujastria, and it was one of the reasons she had been pushed to the throne, so she hadn’t forgotten.

“…”

“Silver Face! Answer me!”

“It’s here.”

“What?”

“It’s here.”

Hikaru’s gaze turned far to the right. In the distant east, there was a small red dot in the starry sky. It grew larger and larger.

“What the…”

Kujastria saw it too. She could clearly see it approaching. Even from a distance, it had an overwhelming presence. Its shining, massive body was unmistakable.

It was the Fire Drakon she had faced on this very balcony.

“Whaaat?!”

By the time Kujastria screamed, the Fire Drakon had slithered its giant body into the airspace above the royal capital. It had a massive jaw, branched horns, long whiskers with flames, golden mane, and an incredibly long body. Unlike wyverns and earth dragons, which looked like lizards with wings, the Fire Drakon had a serpentine body.

Since it was this close, chaos understandably descended on the castle. The guards on watch rang the emergency alarm, lights came on everywhere, and soldiers armed with weapons came rushing out.

But many of them froze at the sight of the Fire Drakon and sank down on the spot. Some screamed.

The Fire Drakon came over the royal castle and roared in greeting.

The intense roar almost burst Hikaru’s eardrums, and Kujastria crouched down with her hands over her ears. The glass door shook and cracked. The roar must have echoed throughout the capital.

Hikaru, who had his ears covered, glared at the Fire Drakon. The drakon slowly descended, bringing its ferocious face close to Hikaru on the balcony.

The light was dazzling, but Kujastria watched in disbelief.

“What the hell was that?”

Was that Silver Face just now? Kujastria wondered.