Return of the Fallen Volume 3 Chapter 25
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch25
Kazuki and the others sat around a large table in the dining hall. Across from him was a large man with bulging muscles and directly to his left was a woman with dark green hair.
Apparently, the woman was called Mela and she was Hina’s mother. The man next to her was called Geil and he was Hina’s uncle and Mela’s older brother by a few years. Behind him and Mela was a room filled with worried adults. There was a clear confusion on both sides so Kazuki had to quickly clear that up. Geil and a few others had sent a few men to the nearest city called Gentis city. The men were to send for help as soon as possible.
Now that Geil and the others thought about it, Kazuki and the others showing up two weeks after they sent people out, was basically impossible unless Kazuki and his friends were 3rd stage Mages or above. Kazuki broke the news to them that they weren’t at that level yet.
Geil, Mela and the others felt downtrodden. They held onto little hope but when they first saw Kazuki and his friends they wished they were the adventurers. It was then that Kazuki informed them that they were in fact adventurers just not the ones that were sent for.
A mix of emotions swept over everyone. After a while, Kazuki mentioned that he and his friends had heard about the creature threatening them and had already decided to fight it. He also mentioned that he and his group had become lost inside the cave and only came out a bit ago which is why the villagers never saw them entering or leaving.
After a long while, Geil, Mela, and the other villagers bowed deeply and pleaded with Kazuki and the rest.
“Please brave adventurers, please save our children!”
Kazuki shook his head.
“I can’t promise you that, I won’t but if we do find them, then I will fight tooth and nail for them.”
Mela started to cry and Geil held her tight. He understood why Kazuki said that. He would fight for them but he didn’t wish to give anyone false hope. After a while, the night deepened and Kazuki and his group separated from the villagers and sat at a far corner of the room before speaking in hushed tones.
The reason Kazuki didn’t mention the fact that he had just seen the children only a few hours ago, the reason he chose not to mention them at all was because of what Asuna said to him before he spoke to the villagers.
Asuna explained Mei and Mela’s conversation, as well as all the weird events that have been piling up. Before Kazuki spoke with the villagers, Asuna interrupted Mei and Mela’s conversation and convinced Mela not to say anything to the other villagers so panic didn’t start. That’s why Kazuki didn’t mention the children either. If he just started blabbering half-cocked with information, which didn’t have all the pieces, it would most likely negatively impact the situation rather then help it.
“Asuna, explain it to me again more carefully.”
Sitting far off in the corner at a long table, Asuna lowered her voice so the villagers didn’t overhear and spoke about a few puzzling things.
“As I said before Ryuta, this whole situation is strange. When we first arrived in Burashi village and met the children. They told us a monster appeared and took many of the adults away.”
Shin didn’t quite get it and asked.
“But why is that strange?”
Asuna felt annoyed being interrupted after only three sentences but answered him anyway.
“Shin, do you not find it strange that a monster would attack adults instead of children. I think Danny would say it’s something like a beast’s instinct to go for the weaker prey that won’t even put up a fight compared to an adult. Especially since Hina showed us that large insect leg. She said it was cut off by an adult. If so, the creature has even less incentive to go after full-grown adults if they can injure it, right?”
Shin got it now and nodded along.
“Makes sense.”
“Anyway, That is the first weird part. The second is the cave itself. It was strange. From the outside looking, the cave connected to the side of the mountain was fairly small, at least for the first 600 or so feet. Before we entered the cave, the side of the mountain only rose up about 2 and a half or 3 stories at most. Only after that first initial 600 feet should the cave’s ceiling been higher. Do you remember how far in we walked?”
Asuna posed this question and Shin’s eyes lit up as he actually knew the answer to this one.
“Oh, we only walked 400 or so feet am I right?”
Asuna shook her head.
“Not even. After getting used to my teleportation power, It’s rather easy for me to tell the distance of something. Using my power to teleport here and there, you get an instinctual feel for it. We entered the cave cautiously and walked slowly. In the end, we made it about 273 feet. After that, the ceiling stretched upward by about 500 feet. At 600 feet in, the cave should have just started to slope upward and that would have been gradual. However, we made not even half the distance in and the cave suddenly stretched up before us. Something was definitely wrong with that cave.”
Kimi and Shin both gasped at the thought of this, while the rest remained calm. Mei simply drew on the table with a piece of charcoal while humming a made-up song, completely uninterested in their current conversation.
“The next thing that has me puzzled is that purplish-grey fog. I kept wondering and wondering why I felt something from it. After we turned and ran how long did it take for s to exit the cave, does anyone know?”
“Nearly 2 minutes by my guess.”
Asuna nodded to Kazuki.
“Right it was almost 2 minutes on the dot but does anyone realize why that in itself is odd.”
Kazuki himself was curious, he was too busy bringing up the rear and pushing Shin out of the way of an attack to think about it but now that he did, even that attack that almost hit them was weird.
Mei who was humming along jumped in on the conversation.
“Mhm, isn’t it because we were all really slow.”
Asuna’s eyes went wide.
“Little Mei you could tell?”
Kazuki and the others were surprised.
“You mean she’s actually right?”
Asuna nodded.
Little Mei kept drawing on the table.
“It was just a feeling. We were all running super fast one second and the next it was like we were bogged down or something like sticky sticky was holding our feet.”
Mei started to hum again playfully.
“Mei is right. From where we stood to the exit of the cave, like I said we were only 273 feet in. That distance is something all of us except for Nunully can cover in seconds, yet it took nearly two minutes for us to finally leave the cave. Once we were out, the two final mysteries appeared before us. The sky had gone from early morning to late at night. Yet from our travel to the cave was about 35 or so minutes and then our slow exploring was only another 10 or so minutes followed by our 2-minute retreat. In total it took us 47 minutes give or take a few seconds to reach the cave in the morning, barely explore it and leave. Yet outside it was clearly late into the night. Finally, the adults that were supposedly taken and the children that were left behind in the village became reversed with the children being taken and the adults remaining.”
Kazuki tapped the end of the table with his finger.
“This means…is it actually time manipulation?”
Asuna nodded again, leaving the others except for Kazuki with a stunned expression.
“I should have recognized that purplish color from the fog beforehand but because of the mix of grey, it dulled my senses. That purple from the fog I have no doubt about it, that’s my element, the element of space. The grey, I’ve barely felt it but I have sensed it before. When Garn teleported us near the Mirian swamps with the kingdom’s Mages and then when Garn teleported us back to Tresta when they arrested him on the training grounds. Both times when he teleported us, there was a small undulation of energy, it was the element of time. That purplish-grey fog had the combined elements of both space and time. After going through that cave, I believe we have in fact traveled through space and time.”
*Phew*
Kimi nearly fell out of her seat and was caught by Sam. The faces of every one were similar and they all looked as if a bomb had gone off in their head. Even Sam’s usually stoic face showed a small crack of emotion.
Only Mei and Kazuki seemed unaffected.
“I wonder how the monster factors into this? The children say the adults were taken and the adults say the children were taken. Neither side seems to be lying yet we ourselves are witnesses. In this village only an hour or so ago, it had 30 or so children with Danny and Tsura watching over them. Now only an hour later, our friends and the children are gone and in their place, the missing adults reside. No matter how you look at it two factors remain the same. One is the monster that took them and the cave where the monster supposedly dragged them into. If we can figure out these two things we may be able to…”
*KYAhhhhhhhhhh!!*
Before he could finish his sentence a shriek echoed throughout the village.
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