The four of us ran in parallel along the road next to the river on our horses and headed toward Nibelheim’s Castle of Light.
When we crossed over the drawbridge, the pillars of flames that had been blowing upwards from around the opposite sh.o.r.e of the workshop had come to an end.
As we arrived at Castle of Light, the castle was noisy.
Several employees were panicking.
“What is it! Was there something going on here too?”
“Harold-sama! Suddenly a man dyed in blood appeared in the courtyard.”
“What did you say!?”
“Apparently, he seems to be a student from Lindis, but it’s quite a serious injury, he’s unconscious.”
Blood drained from my face on words such as ‘serious injury’ and ‘unconscious’.
While listening to the young servant, he took us to the courtyard.
Currently, there were neither the Earl Nibelheim nor the Countess, so the one that took charge in the courtyard was the steward who was in his prime.
In the middle of the courtyard, the figure of a student who was receiving first aid was lying there.
Even though it wasn’t raining, there was a damp feeling on the lawn around him.
The dense smell of blood and the smell of burnt meat.
I rushed to the person without thinking and knelt beside him without being concerned about getting the blood on me.
Skin burned extensively from his left cheek to his left shoulder, and some fragments were stuck in his flank.
On the familiar uniform, the mark of crested ibis had melted from the high temperature.
That person’s face who was covered with painful burns belonged to someone I knew well.
“Actorius-sensei……!”
“It’s the student who I met yesterday! How did something like this happen!?”
Actorius-sensei’s eyes opened slightly, he moved his lips, it looked like ‘Erica-sama’.
When I took his hand, he squeezed out his voice faintly.
“……–tion……failure……, has activated. ……city’s, people……in danger……”
After saying some words, Actorius-sensei’s strength faded out.
His hand fell to the ground limply.
Actorius-sensei didn’t move even a quiver just like a dead body.
“Sensei, sensei!!”
“He’s fine, he’s still breathing. It seems he fainted because of blood loss. Leave him to the healers.”
The steward said so after confirming Actorius-sensei’s pulse to calm myself who had lost composure.
While bringing along the servants who carried the stretcher, the healer came over.
We had no choice but to just watch Actorius-sensei being carried away.
“Even if we’re worried, it’s unfortunate, but we’re only able to watch over him quietly.”
Harold pulled my hem and said so apologetically.
Suddenly, I noticed there were gla.s.ses that had fallen on my feet.
Actorius-sensei’s.
It probably fell of when he was being carried away.
The lens of the gla.s.ses cracked and had blood on it.
I thought I had to pick it up, but I couldn’t move my body.
『Erica, the magic of that ruins probably hasn’t stopped yet.
I feel that the signs of the strange magical power in the sky will grow dramatically from the previous one.』
I managed to recover from shock by Tirnanog’s whisper.
This was not the time to be confused or weak.
I had to get a hold of myself.
By the way, what was Actorius-sensei trying to say just now?
Cancellation or demolition1 of something had failed, and some dangerous magic had been activated.
We were to recommend evacuation for the people of Knot Reed.
Considering the situation of the magical power in the sky which Tirnanog had sensed, did I get his intentions right?
I had to tell everyone what Actorius-sensei was going to say on his behalf since he couldn’t move.
“Sensei seemed to have told me that we need to evacuate.
The dangerous magic is still running in that ruins and there can be the second or third outbreak.
Moreover, there will be large-scale damage to the city.”
I looked at Tirnanog, Auguste, and Harold in order.
Harold who understood this disturbing situation widened his eyes, and Auguste furrowed his brows.
『Then we should examine that ruin. If the scale of the act remains ambiguous, we wouldn’t be able to move to evacuate.』
“But, we can’ get any closer to those ruins anymore, right!?
Ah, no, wait a second……if it is from our tower, we may be able to see them too!”
“Yes, please show us the way, Harold.”
We went with Harold and rushed up the staircase.
Breathing was becoming difficult as I kept running, I tasted something like blood in my mouth.
But now I didn’t have time to rest.
And then, we reached the top of the tower and looked around with heavy breathing.
I saw the sun leaning to the west, sinking across the horizon.
The sky gradually drew a gradation from deep indigo to orange, and the clouds were dyed in peach.
I could see the city that was engraved with complicated patterns of the ca.n.a.ls when I lowered my sight to the ground.
“The ruins are there, so I guess the smoke is coming up from there.”
“Wait a minute……yeah, the fire hasn’t spread. It seems that it’s almost extinguished.”
Auguste stared at the direction pointed by Harold.
Perhaps he synchronized his senses with a dragon and observed it from many angles.
Even if the damage on the aboveground part had subsided, the danger wasn’t necessarily limited to the visible parts.
While I was controlling my breath, I also used the Wand of Glam Sight for Harold and Auguste.
“Eh, wha……what is this……!”
Looking at the sight revealed by Glam Sight, Harold screamed unexpectedly.
I heard someone sucked their breath reflexively.
I saw a few small flames floating above Knot Reed.
Concentrating my eyesight, it looked like magical characters were drawn in the sky with the red flames.
Characters made of the red flames increased one after another like a series of kimono sashes, forming multiple layers of magic circles.
According to Glam Sight, the huge magical structures seemed to be still in the launch preparation stage.
Floating in the sky above Knot Reed, they were not something of this world yet, the flames of fantasy.
The ill.u.s.tration of the collection of stories that I bought came to my mind.
A bright red sword floating in the indigo sky.
However, what floated before me didn’t seem to have the same size as something like a sword.
In the light purple sky, sixteen huge red towers were floating upside-down.
Unscrupulously, I saw those things that floated upside-down in the night sky as Tokyo Towers.
Twilight town.
In the sky that gradually dyed from purple to indigo, the Cursed Sword of Fire that shone crimson was about to manifest.
“This isn’t just some trivial incident. What’s going to happen now?”
“It’s the Cursed Sword of Fire……”
Harold’s dispirited voice answered Auguste’s question.
In spite of myself, I looked back to Harold.
Harold’s dark green eyes told us that he was stained with terror.
“It’s a legend conveyed in this place……about the calamity that fell on the northwestern land, the Cursed Sword of Fire.
Long ago, because the northern prince wanted this land, the western royal brother imposed the Heavens’ h.e.l.l Fire over this land to protect it.
The royal brother didn’t obediently back down, even when he was warned that the h.e.l.l Fire would destroy both enemies and allies.
‘If it couldn’t become mine then it should be destroyed’, and the greedy prince decapitated the royal brother’s neck.
As a result, there is a story that burning lava poured down and burned the Northwest in mere few minutes.”
It was a different legend from the one I read in the book.
It was the legend Harold had heard from his father and mother.
“That calamity had destroyed all of this land.”
Everyone was silenced by Harold’s words.
Even though a disaster was about to take place in the near future, I was stunned without being able to do anything.
What should I do?
What could I do?
If nothing could be done right now, what would happen to the city?
The pillar of flames that were blowing up could be seen from the window.
Burned skin and eyegla.s.ses painted with blood came to my mind.
The more I thought about it, the faster my heart beat.
What about Otou-sama?
What about Palug?
About Earl Nibelheim and Gilbert?
About the people in the city?
Even though all of them were beneath that magic?
As I kept thinking about it, nothing but bad things came to my mind, and I steadily became more and more stressed.
Not only me, but everyone who was there imagined that the world before us would be burned into ashes after this.
It was Auguste who broke the silence.
“But even so……after confirming the evacuation place, we should recommend evacuation. Even if we don’t know whether we will make it in time or not.”
『If we can investigate the location of the magic invocations and secure an evacuation place inside the city, there will be some lives saved, however……』
“But, how can we figure out exactly where the places that this kind of large-scale magic will appear from are……?”
“There is one ancient dragon on the highest alt.i.tude of this land right now. Let’s check the current situation with her vision.”
“You……you can do something like that……?”
Harold had an expression that showed he didn’t understand yet.
Certainly, it wouldn’t be obvious unless one experienced it.
“……Auguste-sama, can I also join you?”
“Aa, that way I am also saved. Regarding magic, it is better to have your viewpoint.”
As he said so, Auguste grasped my hands.
Thereupon, a prompt sensation of sharing was carried out, and visual sharing with the dragon far beyond started.
In the blink of an eye, I was looking at the city of Knot Reed, with a view from the top of the sky.
It was a beautiful twilight of the city of ca.n.a.ls.
“Most people haven’t noticed the magic spreading in the sky, huh.”
“Yes, I don’t think they noticed.”
Through the eyes of the dragon, although it was not to the extent of Glam Sight, magic information did come to mind, so we would confirm the location of the sixteen Cursed Swords of Fire in Knot Reed.
Above two aircraft carriers, a ship building workshop area, a large town warehouse, the garrison of King of Ignitia.
Central part of the ca.n.a.l rings, Town of All Kinds of Goods, Water Palace, cathedral, the guild hall, the King’s vacation home, and then the church that was attached to the treatment center.
The rest was probably the places and buildings which were considered important areas.
They were on such detestable positions, that they were likely to directly hit the plaza altogether which was a possible refuge place.
“The trouble here is that there is no way to run in the main urban areas. If we jump into the ca.n.a.l, will we be able to manage somehow?”
“No, that kind of fire that was made by magic cannot be extinguished with just water.”
A certain person was reflected in my sight.
On the new aircraft carrier, I found the Duke of Aurelia, Ernst—my father.
“Otou-sama……?”
“Duke Aurelia was supposed to be observing the fitting-out of the new aircraft carrier from early afternoon today. Perhaps, that’s why he is there.”
A stern gaze was staring at the sky.
Otou-sama seemed to be aware of this incident quickly.
I became fl.u.s.tered when I realized the possibility that there was Palug who had turned into me around Otou-sama.
I made a quick confirmation around the deck, but I couldn’t find her.
Perhaps, she was already evacuated by Otou-sama?
I returned my eyes to Otou-sama.
He had just used a wand, green light was gathering in his eyes and I inhaled.
It was Glam Sight.
It was followed up by another wand.
I didn’t know the details of the wand.
He raised his wand solemnly and released magic towards the Cursed Sword of Fire that was deployed above the old aircraft carrier.
It expanded and formed several times so that the white light restrained the red Cursed Sword of Fire.
It was Dispel Magic.
The huge giant magical structure glowed more intensely.
The thing that looked like an upside-down crimson tower instantly collapsed and materialized, and at the same time, it melted down.
So it was useless even when one dismantled the magic?
Huge ma.s.s of red lava drops rained down on the old aircraft carrier.
The old aircraft carrier which was directly hit by the lava gradually sunk as its hatch became full of holes.
But unexpectedly the sea surface around the old aircraft carrier was frozen.
Perhaps Otou-sama used a wand to freeze it.
The damage to the old aircraft carrier seemed to have come to an end.
Otou-sama gave directions to the people around him and was in charge of the evacuation and rescue.
After seeing up to this point, I was struck by a sensation resembling severe eye strain.
I felt the limits of the visual sharing and let go of Auguste’s hands.
“What’s going on since a while ago……?”
Harold asked with anxious expression.
“Otou-sama interfered with the Cursed Sword of Fire by using a dismantling magic, but it was useless.”
“That—”
“……means we’re out of options, I fear.”
“Why!? Magic that cannot be demolished is weird, right!?”
『If one interferes with that magic to dismantle it, then whatever magic it may be it will probably materialize on the spot and collapse upon itself.
All of cause and effect, as well as s.p.a.ce have been twisted towards that end.
It would be almost impossible to stop its manifestation in this world.』
Hearing Tirnanog’s explanation, Harold was at a loss for words.
Auguste had a bitter expression and looked down.
If those weapons couldn’t be stopped from appearing in this world, what would happen to the people under those swords?
What would happen to those in Knot Reed city?
Even with only some imaginative power, it was easy to tell; lots of deaths.
With empty eyes, Harold said:
“Everything was supposed to go well from now on, everything should have started from today.”
His father was now trying to keep hope in that city.
It should be the day of complete reversal, from the ruin predicament into a revival from hopeless situation, with a single move.
Gilbert who remained a coward despite being well experienced in the ways of the world, finally got to go see his father.
It was the day when the two who cares about each other but had a discord for a long time, finally reconciled and had a long talk.
Was it alright to let it be as it was?
No, it was not.
I felt myself boiling up with rage from the bottom’s of my heart at this irrational situation.
It was the first time in my life that I became this mad, including my previous one.
I absolutely detested the fact that the people who were going to be finally happy, were getting trampled over this easily.
And then, my head was getting cold enough to freeze.
Inside my freezing cranial room, my thoughts were strangely clear.
It was very similar to a revolving lantern2.
I closed my eyes and traced back the river of my memories to its depths.
Sixteen upside-down towers of flames covering Knot Reed.
The city of ca.n.a.l rings that was overlooked from the sky.
Magical light built by Harold’s hands.
A golem that was crushed into pieces with countless bullets shot out from a wand.
Seven rainbows standing up from Rainbow Strap.
The gray ocean of Aurelia.
The clear waters of Ignitia and the clear sky.
Petals that were scattering down.
The sky where hundreds of dragons were fluttering about and dancing.
The beast of the Sun showing a glowing claw.
The falling prince and Feather Falling afterglow which looked like white feathers fluttering and falling.
The grotesque Sun depicted in the ancient mural painting.
Running through the star crystal ruins using Levitation and Pa.s.s Wall.
Silver magic that stopped time.
Arms of countless deaths extending from the black beast.
Mechanical labyrinth and moonlight signs.
The sweet taste of Onii-sama’s chocolate.
Dizziness and mirror.
Myriad phantom beasts drawn in plenty of books.
The stars that disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The singing voice of my mother heard while napping.
My memory shattered like shards and fell down from overhead.
I picked up what I needed now from among them.
I created a solution by combining those elements with clattering sounds.
I opened my eyes slowly.
Along with the determination to not let this world be destroyed.
“Say, everyone, I wonder if you will listen to me. I would like to ask for your cooperation now.”
Harold who was dispirited, Auguste who had a mystified expression, and Tirnanog turned their line of sights towards me.
And I was smiling at them with the brightest smile possible.
1 So Actorius-sensei only said ‘解’ for his first word. This could be either ‘解除’ (cancellation) or ‘解体’ (demolition) which both contained the kanji 解.
2 A similar expression to the one in ch 16, ‘like a lantern light’. It is referring to the various vision appearing in mind when someone is about to die.
From the hints given in this chapter, what do you think will Erica do to solve this predicament? I will give another hint: Gilbert’s lecture.