2. Ragaofe>
Despite its cute appearance, it is a genuine predator, and since it moves quite swiftly underwater, civilians attacked by a pack of Rokum in the water could even lose their lives.
However, the Rokum that appeared in the Rokum Show were a little different.
No one knew how they had been trained, but true to their appearance, they were performing adorable movements in groups.
That was why the regularly held Rokum Show had quickly become one of Margaran’s attractions, and it was always crowded with people.
During the Ragaofe period, the Rokum Show, which was held twice a day, was increased to four times a day, allowing even more people to attend and watch.
“Eek! So cute!”
“Wow! Amazing!”
Admiration continued from all around for the Rokum performing tricks and acting endearingly.
Sian was among them.
“Waa! Wow! You’re doing great!”
“…….”
“Lady Seutil, isn’t this fascinating? Look at what those guys are doing. Ooh!”
Seutil wanted to tell him to shut up and sit still for once, but she endured it with superhuman patience befitting a superhuman, then held out a skewer and fed him a bite as she spoke.
“Whew… hehehe. Little brother, do you know what the skewer you’re eating is made of?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. Oh, it’s good! What is this?”
Watching Sian answer while chewing, Seutil replied with an evil grin.
“Rokum.”
“…
Ptooey! Ptui, ptui, ptui!”
“I’m lying.”
“…….”
After spitting out an entire perfectly good skewer, Sian shot Seutil a sidelong glance before starting to watch the Rokum Show again.
As expected, once he became quiet, Seutil watched the stage where the show was taking place with a satisfied smile.
In truth, from Seutil’s perspective, Rokum and humans were no different, but since it was her first time seeing something like this, it was entertaining enough.
Onstage, a young man was skillfully herding the Rokum this way and that as he led them through their tricks.
“Hmm… I suppose that gentleman is the trainer?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s an Exer.”
“He is.”
They answered simultaneously.
But their answers afterward were somewhat different.
“He seems to have the ability to handle animals. That must be convenient.”
“Exers must have a hard time making a living these days. He’s stuck doing something like this here….”
“…….”
“…….”
“Hmm… ahem… Still, wouldn’t an ability like that be convenient? It seems like it would have many uses in various ways.”
Sian spoke as he imagined himself flying through the sky while handling a magnificent flying predator.
“Hehe. Well… unless he can handle something around the level of a Harijan, if animals are his limit, then this is probably all he can do. Still, he seems to have practiced pretty hard. He can handle more than twenty of them, after all.”
The ability to handle animals was rare even among Exers. But it had no value.
Everything one could gain through animals—reconnaissance, rapid movement, communication, and so on—could also be done with an Exar.
For it to have any value, one would need to be able to control something around the level of a Harijan. However, the established view in academic circles was that Harijans, creatures packed with pure killing intent, could not be controlled by an Exer’s supernatural ability.
Rrrrummble!
At that moment, an extremely faint vibration could be felt through the ground.
It was a vibration that an ordinary person could never have noticed.
That was why the two superhumans detected it.
“Hmm… it was artificial… just now.”
“Ooh! Could they be preparing fireworks? I do have some unpleasant memories involving fireworks… but fireworks at a festival. How exciting.”
Sian slightly furrowed his brow, perhaps remembering the Garan-
Tia days, but since it was his first time seeing fireworks at a festival, his expression soon filled with anticipation.
“Fireworks, huh… I haven’t seen any in a long time either. Hehe. The fireworks I saw back then were quite spectacular.”
“Where did you see them, Lady Seutil?”
“I once went to subdue a pirate den, but they were hiding so thoroughly that I fired an Artagon at them from a distance. As it turned out, they had a powder magazine there. It was quite a spectacle. Hahaha!”
“Uh… that must have been a magnificent sight…….”
Thinking that it was fortunate he was stronger than Lady Seutil, Sian forgot about the minor vibration and headed off to participate in the ceremony commemorating Ragaofe after the show ended.
☆ ☆ ☆
Ragaofe, the pioneer who revived Margaran.
It had happened several hundred years ago, and since he had appeared so suddenly, almost nothing was known about him.
But that was not important. No, it was even better that way.
Idolization was easier when there was less to know.
The lighthouse standing tall in the northern part of the city, shaped like Ragaofe, was part of that idolization.
“…
Light is coming from the eyes of the person called Ragaofe. That’s a good idea.”
The Ragaofe lighthouse, which stood well over ten meters tall, was built so that people could enter through its heels and climb up to the area around its head.
Then, when a person entered its head and activated the lighthouse, the Talic Stones and magic arrays inside would activate as well, allowing light to shine through its eyes into the far distance.
“Hehe. You lack imagination, little brother. If it were me, I’d have light shooting out of his mouth. Like a dragon from legend.”
“Oh! That would work too.”
“Hehe. Right? If I hadn’t had such a talent for combat, I might have become a great artist. It’s just that I’m so good at fighting.”
“We had something in common, Lady Seutil. I didn’t know anything besides swinging a real sword either. Haha! I was so bad that all my teachers ran away from me back then.”
“Ah… sorry, little brother. I was still a genius in other areas. I just wasn’t as talented there as I was in combat.”
“…
Are you really going to be like this, Lady Seutil?”
The two bickered as they walked toward the ceremony, but they began to feel stifled as the crowd grew too large.
“Little brother Sian, can’t we just go watch from the mansion? Honestly, we can see everything from there too.”
“…
If we were going to do that, why travel at all? That’s just a scan. A scan.”
“Still… look, things like this happen too. It’s the fate of an attractive woman, I suppose, but if I were a proper lady, what do you think would be happening right now?”
Click!
Seutil grabbed the wrist of a man passing beside her and immediately snapped it in two.
“Aaargh! You crazy bitch! What the hell are you doing!”
The hairy man with the broken wrist rolled around on the ground, clutching his right wrist.
But Sian showed no sympathy whatsoever.
He had seen exactly where that hand had been heading.
“You know I wasn’t the one who started this, right? I haven’t broken our promise.”
“…
Please try not to kill them, if possible.”
“Ohohoho. I’m not some barbaric woman, you know.”
Wham!
“Gack!”
“…
Liar.”
If Sian had not spoken just now, that kick would have sent the man crashing into the head of the lighthouse version of Ragaofe.
He should be grateful that it had ended with only a very minor internal rupture.
Everyone had to take responsibility for their own actions, so Sian did not feel particularly sorry for him.
Although the poor souls currently picking a fight with Lady Seutil might soon become even more pitiful.
“You bitch! What are you doing to our companion!”
“Are you insane? You broke the wrist of someone who was just passing by!”
“…
I don’t know either.”
If Lady Seutil had been at least a Grand-Vander Master, they would have recognized her and avoided her. Unfortunately, La-Vanders did not give off any aura.
It was like knowing that tigers were dangerous, yet walking fearlessly into the mouth of a colossal beast, Krona, because it looked like a cave.
“I’ll go buy some skewers over there, so try to keep things under control.”
“Hehe. Of course.”
Seutil, who had been suffering in a way entirely unbecoming of her station by following Sian around, slowly walked toward the group with the thought of releasing all the stress she had accumulated here.
“Don’t worry, kids. I’ll be gentle.”
As she spoke, Seutil leaped into the center of the group like an elegant leopard.
Munch, munch.
“Those people from earlier aren’t dead, are they?”
Sian spoke while eating a skewer. They were standing at the very front of the ceremony being held atop a high hill by the beach.
The people who had witnessed Seutil’s graceful destruction had gradually made way for them.
Thanks to that, Sian and Seutil could watch the prayer ceremony from the best possible position.
“Don’t worry. For all their appearance, they were Vanders. A Vander should have experienced an internal rupture at least once, shouldn’t they? I did once when I was about thirty… The feeling was just……!”
“…
I’d rather never experience it in my entire life. But what’s a Vander?”
“Yeah. While I was beating them, they asked whether I knew who they were.”
“…
And then?”
“They told me even though I didn’t care, all while getting beaten. What was it… Marg… Marga…….”
“The Margaran City Guard.”
“Ah, right! Sian, how did you know?”
“I didn’t. That’s probably what those people just said.”
By then, every last person who had been swarming around had fled, leaving only Sian and Seutil, who were amicably sharing skewers.
Behind them stood a line of men armed in armor.
And Seutil beside Sian had an expression that seemed to say she was ecstatic. Apparently, she was very happy that an incident had broken out.
“Hehehehehe…….”
“Wait! Lady Seutil, could I speak with you for a moment?”
Sian grabbed Seutil, who was about to leap into the fray at once, and whispered.
“Lady Seutil.”
“Hmm? What is it, little brother?”
“Contact that acquaintance of yours quickly—the one who lent us the villa.”
“…….”
“What’s the point of having power?”
“…….”
Seutil stared at Sian with a look of wonder.
A La-Vander thinking of using something other than force to solve a problem.
It was like saying he would lift a cup with his tongue instead of his hand.
Power.
Compared to their own strength, it was an utterly paltry kind of strength.
‘Is he afraid to use violence?’
But Seutil realized that she had gotten too far ahead of herself.
“Beat them up after it’s over. After it’s over. I want to see this, so what if the ceremony gets canceled because you start fighting?”
“Hehehehehe… Fine, fine. Let’s do that, little brother.”
She could grant him a request like that.
In a good mood, Seutil walked over to the Margaran City Guard standing behind them.
“I’m here to—”
“We sincerely apologize for what happened earlier, Lady. As it turns out, the men we hired as mercenaries caused the trouble. We were short-handed because of the festival, so we hired them and failed to supervise them properly. We have imposed a heavy fine on them and dismissed them. We sincerely apologize.”
“We apologize!”
The man who appeared to be the captain bowed deeply, and all the City Guard members lined up behind him followed suit and shouted in unison.
Seutil paused at the unexpected turn of events, but apparently decided it was not a bad outcome and accepted it.
“Hmph… well, all right… Fine. You may go.”
When she returned after resolving the matter, Sian placed the skewer he had been holding into Seutil’s mouth.
“Haha, well done. Violence is a last resort, you know.”
“Oho~ Did your father tell you that too?”
“No, my mother did.”
Only then did Seutil begin to understand things somewhat.
‘They put a proper leash on the beast…….’
Perhaps because he was still young, early education was proving absolutely effective.
That was why Seutil wanted to teach this child something.
The strong had attitudes and ways of life befitting the strong.
Wasn’t it absurd for a monster to be tangled up in a puppy’s leash?
A strong La-Vander needed to have a way of life entirely different from that of a Grand-Vander.
When Sian had torn off that leash during the fight in Lagrand the other day, he had clearly displayed an attitude befitting the strong.
That arrogance! That confidence! That unhesitating violence!
Seutil wanted to restore that way of life to Sian. At the very least, the person who became her partner had to be that way.
But there was no need to hurry, so she intended to proceed slowly.
Just as this child’s parents had educated him.
Thinking that, Seutil turned her eyes toward the ceremony that had begun before her.
A ceremony honoring Ragaofe.
It was not a simple ceremony.
An enormous quantity of Talic Stones had been piled atop the altar prepared on the high hill by the beach, while merchants, administrators of Margaran, and nobles who wished for Ragaofe to keep them safe for another year had gathered evenly beneath the altar to participate in the ceremony.
They were all people who gained tremendous profits from Ragaofora.
From the very beginning, there had been few among the people of Margaran who were not like that, but those people were especially so.
As people gathered, issued instructions, and manipulated the altar according to the proper sequence, subtle currents of Exar began to be detected around the Talic Stones, as though the ritual were gradually about to begin.
Since Sian and Stille were seated in the very front, they were able to watch the entire spectacle with interest.
“Oh, so it wasn’t a ritual with merely symbolic meaning. Let’s see… The guidebook says, ‘Long ago, Ragaophe built that altar and disappeared after saying that the path would not close as long as a fixed amount of Talic Stones was offered every year.’”
“Could he have been a beopdo mage? It does resemble some sort of sacrificial ritual.”
“I think I’d rather be the sacrifice. Considering the amount of Talic Stones piled up over there…”
“Hehe. Apparently, there were people in the past who had the same thoughts as you, little brother.”
The people of Margaran in the past had entertained that thought as well.
People naturally wanted to earn enormous profits through trade while spending not even a single coin more than necessary.
That was even more true when the person giving the order no longer existed.
And so, one year, they held the festival but did not perform the ritual.
One merchant had argued forcefully that he was reluctant to invest Talic Stones when they did not even know whether the altar actually did anything.
Rationally speaking, it was a dangerous proposal, but the problem was that many people happened to be thinking the same thing.
The other merchants who were sharing the burden of providing the Talic Stones had been thinking the same way, so his opinion quickly gained support. By unanimous agreement, that year they held only the festival, not the ritual.
And sure enough, despite not performing the ritual, there was no trouble passing through the sea route for nearly a week.
The Harijans did not invade.
The merchants grew triumphant and went around proclaiming that a spirit of challenge was necessary.
And then… all 930 ships that had departed were sunk before anyone learned what had happened, until news reached Margaran and Kiaran that every ship that had set sail had gone down.
Unlike today, when most large ships were equipped with communication artifacts, communication magic had not been widespread in those days, so the damage was even greater.
The losses amounted to thousands of times the price of the Talic Stones.
Furious that this had happened because they had failed to heed Lady Ragaophe’s words, the people beat to death and burned every merchant who had strongly argued against offering the sacrifices at the time. Then they gathered the merchants’ offerings and performed the ritual again.
After that, no one ever claimed that the ritual was unnecessary. Even if someone did, they soon ceased to exist.
“So that thing has some sort of function that opens the sea route… Is that it?”
“Probably. But apparently no one has ever figured out what it does. If they did, it would revolutionize maritime transportation.”
“Oh, I see. I should look through the guidebook to see if it says anything about that, too.”
As he watched Sian once again pick up the guidebook and rapidly flip through its pages, Stille recalled a sentence from the report that Stantal IV had investigated before they came here.
‘Unexpected…’
Since Sian looked nothing like someone who would enjoy books, Stille suddenly became curious.
“Little brother Sian? Do you like books?”
“Oh, me? Haha! I love them. Books are truly a marvelous invention.”
“Hm… So you’re a bookworm.”
“No? If I have this, I don’t need to memorize anything. Hahaha! It’s perfect for me.”
‘…Ah.’
Stille realized that, from now on, he did not need to think of this child as being too complicated.
“Little brother, stop reading your book and look at the ritual over there. It seems to be starting.”
“Oh-ho.”
At those words, Sian closed the book he had been reading and looked ahead.
The Exar that had been slowly leaking from the Talic Stones was now being drawn out at tremendous speed, rushing fiercely into the altar. The altar greedily devoured every bit of the Exar and began emitting a strange light.
Before long, the altar trembled with a deep rumble…
“…
Nothing’s happening, is it?”
“…
They say a feast with a great reputation has nothing to eat… Still, this is fairly impressive.”
Although it appeared that nothing was happening, the strange flow of Exar spreading from the altar was by no means insignificant.
The flow did not move toward the land at all. It continued pouring underground, passed through some unknown place, and then spread endlessly through the sea, using the seawater as its medium.
Whether there was some special structure underground or not, Exar continued flowing without end. From the sea beneath the cliff came a strange reverberation that spread out toward the ocean.
“Hmm… I suppose that’s what drives away the Harijans, or something along those lines. I’m no expert in beopdo, so I can’t say for sure.”
“Hmm… I don’t think that reverberation will reach Kiaran…”
Even though those famously clever beopdo mages had thrown themselves into the matter, they had failed to determine what the altar did.
No—in truth, they had been prevented from investigating it at all.
The altar’s structure required it to be dismantled in order to study it.
Once, several brave beopdo mages secretly tried to pry it apart and conduct research, but they were caught by Margaran’s security forces, merchants, and citizens and severely punished. After that, no proper study of the altar was ever carried out.
In the first place, its structure was so sturdy that they could not take it apart. But if they did manage to dismantle it and the altar stopped functioning…
Margaran would be ruined that very day.
Though its income as a tourist destination was substantial, it was insignificant compared to the profits from trade.
The Grand Beopdo Council had no intention of conducting research at the cost of paying such enormous compensation, so no proper investigation had been carried out to this day.
Thus, the mystery of the altar that sustained Margaran remained a secret.
But no one was dissatisfied. The altar was already doing more than enough to sustain Margaran.
No, it was actually better that the secret had not been revealed. Ragaopora existed only here, in Margaran.
“Aw… How boring. I thought some kind of Ragaophe Beam would shoot all the way to Kiaran and burn every Harijan along its path to death…”
“…
Even Miss Stille couldn’t do that.”
It was merely closer than traveling by land, not close in any absolute sense.
Ragaopora was not a straight-line route, and thus the distance easily exceeded 1,000 kilometers. No miracle possessed a range that long.
No—there was one.
The miracle that had once destroyed the old Empire.
That miracle, said to have been performed by the fifteen great beopdo mages who sustained the Empire, gathering all of the Empire’s power, had shattered the vast territory of the Empire with a single strike.
And, according to its original purpose, it had melted every Harijan and Kal
-Gul tribe member that had invaded the territory.
It was the ultimate miracle of absolute annihilation.
But since it had been passed down only as a legend, no one had been able to verify it.
Every citizen of the Empire who could have proven it, as well as every great beopdo mage who had performed the miracle, had died.
Even these days, the prevailing theory in academic circles was that it could not possibly have happened.
The level of technology required, the amount of Talic Stones needed, and the level of beopdo mages who would have had to participate were all beyond imagination.
Although the current level of beopdo lagged behind that of the Imperial era, even taking that into consideration, it was deemed impossible by the current Exile
-Great Beopdo Council.
“Hm? You can’t do it either, little brother, can you? In the first place, who could…”
“I can do it.”
“What! Really?”
When Sian spoke with a serious expression, Stille was startled.
Even for this fellow, there had to be limits. Was he saying he could split the sea in two with his sword all the way from here to Kiaran, of all things?
That was no longer merely superhuman. Superhuman meant surpassing humanity; it did not mean being a god.
There was an undeniable wall between the two.
‘Crazy… Is the “Path” specialized for things like that…?’
Stille was stunned by Sian’s claim that he could perform such an absurd miracle.
“I was lying.”
“……”
“Haha. You’re so innocent, Miss Stille. That was revenge for the lie earlier.”
Stille wanted to say that she was not innocent; rather, he was abnormal for being strong enough to make something like that seem possible. But she decided to let it go.
After watching the rest of the ritual, the sun had already begun to set.
Today’s ritual was merely the beginning of the festival. Starting tomorrow, the Ragaophe Festival would be held on a much grander scale.
They said that the waves spreading from the altar would continue for another ten days. The festival was to be enjoyed until every last one of those waves had ceased.
“Let’s head back, little brother. Hehe. There’s nothing else to see, right? Let’s go quickly.”
“Certainly. It was a very enjoyable day.”
With those final words, Sian and Stille disappeared from the spot.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Today’s lunch is at… Fragrance of Razanne, right?”
Sian checked the map as he headed toward Fragrance of Razanne, one of the
The restaurant was famous for seasoning specialty seafood found only in Margaran with Kiaran’s spice, Razanne. Despite its rather steep prices, it was so popular among the nobility for its flavor that it was nearly impossible to eat there without a reservation.
However, since the managers of the villa had already made all the necessary reservations, Sian and Stille walked there at their leisure.
“I think I should make at least one acquaintance who knows a place or two. It really is convenient.”
“Hehe. Having one is certainly useful.”
‘Hmm… I do know an uncle…’
He thought of Uncle Narasha, but felt embarrassed about making such an obvious, trivial request, so he quickly erased the thought from his mind.
Fragrance of Razanne was located in northern Margaran, in an area from which the beach could be seen clearly from the city center, which made it even more popular.
The beautiful view of Margaran that could be enjoyed while dining was already famous among nobles and merchants alike.
Since they had to pass through the market built along the hill to reach Fragrance of Razanne, Sian and Stille had set out a little early and made their way uphill while snacking on things from the stalls.
As they passed through the market, Sian’s attention, which had been focused on his snacks, was drawn to what appeared to be a crowd surrounding something.
More precisely, the people seemed to be standing around while avoiding whatever was there.
Sian wanted to ignore it, but they had to pass that way to reach the restaurant, so he pushed through the crowd. Then he spotted some familiar faces.
“You bastards… Haa, haa… There’s nowhere left for you to run now, is there? How dare you lay a hand on our companion?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Weren’t you the ones who tried to molest my companion first?”
“You bastard… Even so, did you have to beat people that badly? Hehe… You may have enjoyed it when you were doing the beating, but now you get to experience how it feels from the other side.”
Curious, Sian looked into what had happened.
Strangely enough, both the group doing the surrounding and the group being surrounded were made up of faces familiar to Sian.