0. The Path of Destiny>“Sister-in-law, by the way, how exactly does this Path of Destiny take effect? Does it appear like, go this way… or it feels like I should go about this far… something like that?”
Sian, who had grown curious while walking toward La
-Shar
-Roa, asked.
A supernatural ability that could find the person one desperately wished for. He thought his sister-in-law had named it very well.
But perhaps embarrassed that Sian kept calling it by the name she had given it, Veronica looked at him and said,
“Young Master, please just call it an ability. Mm… I don’t completely understand my ability either. These supernatural abilities are so uncertain in many ways… and they can change depending on my condition that day.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“But I think I can answer what you asked, Young Master. First, if I picture it strongly in my head… I get a feeling of what action I should take.”
“Aha!”
Sian understood what his sister-in-law meant. In the past, before he had hit a wall, he had continued to have such feelings too.
Back when he could see how he should move to become stronger, and what he had to do to advance one step further.
In his case, it had not been a supernatural ability, but hearing what his sister-in-law said, it seemed there were similarities.
“And one unusual point is… it doesn’t lead me straight to that person.”
“Mm, is that so?”
“In other words… should I say it goes through stages along the way?”
“Mm… could you explain a little more?”
Sian, not understanding, asked once more.
“To give an example, if I had to find a person called A, but I had no information about that person and no point of contact with them, I would end up going to a person called B who might know their whereabouts. If I didn’t know B either, I would head toward a person called C who knows B’s whereabouts… In that way, if there is someone I can find within a day, I first go in that direction. If there is no one I can find within twenty-four hours, then I have to go through a few more people.”
This was the conclusion Veronica had reached after testing her ability several times. However, since there had also been a few exceptions, she could not be certain.
At those words, Sian looked puzzled.
“Mm… then is there not no reason you couldn’t find me or your younger sister? From what I hear, if you cross over in that manner, it seems there would be no one you couldn’t connect to.”
“There are several restrictions. First, when I jump from one person to another to find someone, if my ability feels that it would be impossible, I get blocked immediately. If that happens, I have to take an enormous detour. In the case of you or my younger sister, I suppose I couldn’t find you because you were beyond my connections and ability.”
“Oh dear.”
“And if I have to go through too many stages, there are cases where I can’t find them. This usually happens when someone is in seclusion or maintains closed-off relationships. On top of that, when I use the ability on behalf of someone else, the number of stages is drastically reduced.”
“It’s an incredibly convenient ability… but the restrictions are quite significant.”
“Excluding the minor ones, the three I just mentioned are the biggest restrictions. That’s why, to be honest, I’m a little puzzled. When I said I would use the ability for you, Young Master, I didn’t have high expectations. If it’s someone you or the one called Ragaofe have a hard time finding… then it should either be beyond my ability or require an enormous detour. Besides, when I use it for another person, it’s hard to go beyond three or four stages. In other words, all three restrictions should apply, and yet for the feeling to come this strongly…….”
Hearing that, Sian also looked curious.
There were not many people who knew his whereabouts or Miss Steel’s. To begin with, there was no way many people would know the whereabouts of a superhuman.
But his sister-in-law was moving without hesitation, as if there were no obstacle to finding the way. Sian looked at her in wonder for a moment, then began following behind her.☆ ☆ ☆“…
Sister-in-law, if you wanted to see my brother, you could have just said so before coming…….”
“Don’t misunderstand. I came because I got the feeling that I had to come here.”
“…….”
Sian and Veronica, who had set out energetically, were standing before the inner castle of Ravilan.
Even after arriving, Veronica headed somewhere without hesitation. And then she stood before one person.
“Mm? Have you already returned, Lady Veronica?”
“…
Sir Celine is the first one?”
“Yes.”
Feeling a strange tremor in her heart and realizing she had come to the right place, Veronica answered.
“Sir Celine, could you perhaps tell my husband? That I’m going somewhere for a little while.”
“Of course. Did the matter you went out for get resolved well?”
Since Sian had gone with her, Celine had been worried, and she asked with a concerned expression.
Hearing that, Veronica smiled faintly and answered,
“Yes. It was resolved better than expected. Please tell my husband that I’ll be going somewhere briefly with the Young Master. It won’t take long.”
“With Sian?”
Seeing Celine look at her suspiciously, Veronica whispered to Sir Celine,
“It’s not like that. Please don’t misunderstand. And… my husband is far more wonderful.”
“That’s true.”‘I can hear everything, you know.’Sian grumbled from behind.
“Then have a safe trip.”
Leaving with Sir Celine seeing them off, Sian wore a bewildered expression.
“Is that it?”
“Yes. We have to move quickly before this feeling disappears.”
“No… that’s not what I mean. Don’t you need to ask the person you found about the next person’s whereabouts… or something like that?”
At those words, Veronica smiled and answered,
“Hehe. It’s not like that. I get a feeling toward the next person. It’s like the information is updated once I meet that person… Sometimes it comes right away, and sometimes I have to satisfy some condition… This time, we were lucky. I think we can just keep following this feeling… and we probably won’t have to go through many stages. Let’s hurry.”
Then, seeing Veronica set off once again toward La
-Shar
-Roa, Sian followed behind her as well.☆ ☆ ☆“This place is…….”
After moving from La
-Shar
-Roa to Roa
-Tian, then traveling by land to their destination, Sian looked puzzled.
“It seems the next person is here.”
“The name of this city was…
Sian looked at the Kuradan Canyon spread out before the city of Cancun with a strange expression.
Kuradan Canyon.
A canyon cutting across the Kon
-Tian Mountains, which divided Kon and Tian.
Ra
-Bander, Kuradan, who had been born in the age of war four hundred years ago, had reached the realm of a superhuman and was wondering what he should do.
At that moment, he recalled how annoying it had been, back when he was human, to cross the mountain range, and suddenly made up his mind.
-Tian Mountains closest to the capital, where he began recklessly smashing the range apart.
And in only half a year, a massive canyon connecting the Kingdom of Kon and the Kingdom of Tian was carved across the Kon
-Tian Mountains. This canyon, created by a superhuman’s pastime, came to be called “Kuradan Canyon” after him, and as the movement of goods between Kon and Tian became active through it, it had a great influence on the changing state of the continent’s kingdoms.
If Ragaopora was the only passage connecting Kiraan and Broshan, then Kuradan Canyon was the only passage connecting Usharan and Tian.
And Cancun was a trade city located at the Tian-side entrance of that Kuradan Canyon.
It went without saying, but all trade with the Kingdom of Kon—now with Usharan—passed through Cancun, and because any invasion also had no choice but to come through here, an enormous fortress had been built in this place, strictly controlling the movement of all merchants and goods.
“I had only heard about superhumans, but they truly are incredible. How could someone make a canyon like this in half a year…….”
Veronica said with an awed expression.
People said superhuman, superhuman, but it had never truly sunk in. Seeing the enormous canyon before her eyes, one that seemed to stretch on without end, she felt the weight of that word anew. Even in the dimension she had lived in, creating such a massive canyon in half a year would have been impossible.
And such a superhuman was now standing right beside her.
Veronica glanced at Sian, who stood at her side, and asked,
“Young Master, can you also dig a canyon like this in half a year?”
“Ah… well… I can.”
In half a year, he could erase the entirety of the Kon
-Tian Mountains, but that sounded too much like bragging, so Sian swallowed those words down.
“Hehe. I’d like to see such a sight with my own eyes one day too. My younger sister said she saw it once… and that it was truly amazing.”
Veronica, who did not really understand what it meant for a superhuman to use their power, said something that would have made King Narasha faint if he had heard it, and walked on without hesitation.
“Halt! What business do you have here?”
“Hmm… now that I think of it…….”
This place was a military stronghold. They could not wander around just anywhere.‘No, I’ll trust Uncle Narasha.’By now, Sian had begun to understand just how meticulous that uncle Narasha was, and without hesitation, he held out his identification tag. Even if it was not the identification tag bearing the red lion, it would have a powerful effect.
“We’re going in?”
“Huk…….”
The soldier looked at the identification tag, then stared at Sian’s face in astonishment before letting them pass. Only after this process repeated several more times were Veronica and Sian able to safely arrive at their destination.
“This is the one.”
Veronica was seeing him for the first time, but Sian had seen the person before his eyes in the past.
Kalagul, the descendant of Kal
-Gul, who had revived by borrowing Kuntarian’s body.
He stood before Sian and Veronica.
“Hmm… Sir Kalagul? It’s been a while.”
Sian greeted him lightly, but Kalagul looked enormously startled.
“What is this? Why are you here? Wasn’t the celebration banquet for your return being held at the Roman family?”
Kalagul, being one of Tian’s upper ranks, had received an invitation as well, but he had not gone.
“Well, it was. But something came up. In any case, good to see you. Sister-in-law, where do we go next?”
“Mm… I told you last time that there might be some condition I have to satisfy, didn’t I?”
“Yes?”
“The feeling has been cut off. When this happens… it means I have to do something here… but I don’t get any feeling about what I should do… This is the first time this has happened…….”
“Oh dear…….”
Sian was flustered by the sudden situation. He had been relying entirely on his sister-in-law, so this was a serious problem.
While Sian and Veronica were at a loss, Kalagul spoke up.
“Um… if there’s nothing else, may I leave?”
“Ah, well… you may.”
“Good. I don’t know what you’re doing, but do your best.”
Sian answered without thinking much and tried to plan what to do next, but suddenly he felt something strange.
“Wait… Sir Kalagul, please stand right there. Sister-in-law, please step outside for a moment.”
He might have poor intuition, but there was one kind of sense that was unbelievably sharp.
It had come to him during the old husk incident, and before the brawl in the Lagrang region too.
Who he had to shake down.
Right now, that sense was ringing furiously toward Kalagul in front of him.
“Hmmm…….”
“I really don’t know anything.”
“Then why did you try to run away without saying anything at first?”
“…….”
“Normally, I wouldn’t go this far, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. What can I say? If you speak honestly, there will be no bloodshed.”
Sian had never seen his sense be wrong. If he worked over the person who needed to be worked over, a good result would always come of it. Perhaps even now, if he used the stick Ragaofe had given him, it would be much faster.
But Sian considered himself a civilized man, and it also felt distasteful to do that to Kalagul, whose face he knew. So he was applying just enough pressure to make him spit out the truth. There was definitely something.
Unable to endure that pressure, Kalagul made up his mind. In truth, it was not even something that could be called a secret. He had merely wanted to pretend he did not know and let it pass because he did not want to get involved.
However, for some reason he did not understand, Sian before him was convinced that he knew something. Moreover, he seemed impatient. If that twitching stick over there started to be swung, it did not seem as though it would be very advantageous for his own well-being.
From Kalagul’s perspective, survival came first, and he could no longer hold out. Looking at Sian, he opened his mouth.☆ ☆ ☆Kalagul had been asked by the king, around the time Sian began his journey, to guard the Cancun Fortress in the Kuradan Gorge leading toward Usharan. Because the place was narrow, stationing just one Gran
-Bander there would be enough to buy time and defend it, so the king had asked Kalagul.
Kalagul no longer had any kin to rely on, and since he had to live by blending in with humans, there was nothing to gain from clashing with the king, so he accepted the request. After all, only superhumans had the right to live however they pleased.
But that was not the only reason. For some reason, he had wanted to go as far south as possible.
Not long after Kalagul began staying at Cancun, he heard news that the Sky Mountains beside Gron
-Pillar had collapsed.
And not long after he felt that sensation stimulating his soul, he received a visit from someone unexpected.
No, to be precise, it was not a person. Their race was not human.
-gul, which he had thought extinct because he could no longer feel the connection of their souls.
The mightiest one who had represented their race.
Across more than four hundred years since his own death, Kalagul once again came face-to-face with the Great Warrior he had thought vanished along with the destruction of their race:
“It is not a novel.”
“Does it make any sense to live for over four hundred years?”
“It does not. Even if we continuously receive power through our hearts, we do not receive life itself. There is certainly a limit to lifespan.”
“Then what are you……”
Just as Sian was about to ask what kind of nonsense he was spouting, Kalagul spoke first.
“Except for Great Warrior Nekra, that is. Then again… even during the war, it is hard to imagine the Great Warrior dying.”
“……?”
“He is truly special, even among the Kal
-gul. Not only did he reach the realm of a superhuman, he mastered all three branches of great sorcery passed down among our race. Such a being was the first in the history of the Kal
-gul, whose beginning no one knows.”
And Kalagul continued his story.☆ ☆ ☆The mighty race, the Kal
-gul.
Not only did they proudly fight against the Empire that ruled humanity, they drove that Empire to the brink of destruction. If not for the Great Miracle the Empire invoked at the end, the ones ruling the continent now would have been the Kal
-gul, not humans.
But no one knows what abilities they possessed that allowed them to drive the Empire to the brink of destruction. When the Empire was blown away in its entirety, every record of it vanished as well.
Kalagul explained that secret.
If the Kal
-gul had tried to fight while relying only on the strength of their own bodies, they would have been swept away by the Empire’s various weapons and Great Miracles and would not have avoided destruction.
There were two reasons their race, the Kal
-gul, had been able to fight the Empire—and even overwhelm it.
One was the power inherited through hearts and weapons.
The other was the great sorcery each individual learned:
These two elements turned each already mighty Kal
-gul into a monster, and with numbers that were no more than dust compared to the Empire’s population of tens of millions, they pushed the Empire back and drove it to the verge of collapse.
Sorma was divided into branches that handled three things, according to the Kal
-gul belief that the world was composed of three essences: time, space, and life.
-gul race, and only in one’s innate lineage, making it close to a supernatural ability. Yet because it could also be studied and researched, it also possessed the nature of a miracle.
Each member of the race inherited power and memories from their predecessors while devoting themselves to training in martial force and in the Sorma suited to their own body.
That was how it usually was. But Great Warrior Nekra was different.
He could wield all three kinds of Sorma, and beyond that, he reached the realm where he could use all three secret arts that could only be used by honing each Sorma to its ultimate limit. There were countless Kal
-gul who became superhumans, but the Kal
-gul who could use the secret art of even one branch could be counted on one hand.
For Nekra, a superhuman who had achieved all three of those immensely difficult feats, it was only natural that he became the Great Warrior. A superhuman who wielded all three branches, Nekra was truly terrifyingly powerful.
And the secret art obtained by training Somarin, the branch that handled life, to its ultimate limit. Until then, there had been those who had mastered Tamara and Spama, but Nekra alone had mastered Somarin, which was relatively less useful in combat.
The name of the secret art was the same as the name of the branch. Somarin. The ultimate secret art that represented the Somarin branch.
In their language, Somarin meant “ageless immortality.”☆ ☆ ☆“That is why the Great Warrior does not die. When I was born, and when he led our race into the war, he always had the same appearance.”
“Huh… Can humans not learn that?”
“As I said earlier… with a human body, Sorma itself cannot be used at all. Humans lack the necessary organ. In my case as well, I had learned the Somarin branch… but in this body, I cannot use sorcery.”
“…….”
As Sian listened, he began to think that this Nekra’s traits sounded very familiar.
The mad hunter Ragaofe had spoken of.
Miss Steel, who liked traveling alone so much that she had not joined any organization.
The superhuman hunter who had awakened earlier than expected.
On top of that, while he was searching for Miss Steel, the Path of Destiny had guided him to Kalagul, who had met the Great Warrior.
“…….”
Seeing Sian’s expression change, Kalagul quickly made excuses. At this rate, he really looked like he might die. And he did not want to die yet.
“I truly have nothing to do with this! Truly!”
“…….”
“The Great Warrior looked me over and disappeared immediately! He said a soul inside a human body was not his kin! I have not seen him since!”
“Then why did you pretend not to know earlier and try to send me away quickly?”
“…
Because I didn’t want to get involved with you, honestly.”
Kalagul had received every report about what had happened to the places Sian had passed through. He had come here thinking that if he stayed quietly in Cancun, he would never get entangled—but for Sian to follow him even here… From Kalagul’s perspective, no bolt from the blue could have been worse.
“…….”
With him going this far, there was nothing more to press him on.
“That is all I know.”
“You do not know where the Great Warrior went?”
“Do you think someone of my level could possibly perceive that?”
“Hmm…….”
Sian looked frustrated. He felt impatient, yet there was nothing he could do. Moreover, the unpleasant sensation that had been ringing toward him had now vanished. That meant this was all he would get even if he shook Kalagul down.
Just then, a knock came from outside.
“Um, young master? Are you finished?”
Sian let out a deep sigh and said,
“I am finished, but there is a problem… I have no idea what to do. How am I supposed to find him……”
“Do not worry, young master. The feeling has returned.”
“What? Really?”
“Yes. I do not know what you did, young master… but my ability suddenly started functioning properly again, so I came to find you. We should be able to find him.”
Veronica spoke to reassure Sian, who looked uneasy.
Earlier, it had felt as though something was tightly blocking her, and nothing came to mind about what to do. But now, that sensation had returned. Now she felt as if she knew where they should go.
“That is truly a relief. Let us go at once. Sir Kalagul, thank you as well.”
“Well… I do not know what is going on, but I hope we never see each other again.”
“…….”
Sian wanted to turn away with a smile, but he was not in the mood.
He was too worried about Miss Steel.‘Wait for me…….’In truth, nothing was certain. Everything he sensed might merely be Sian’s conjecture. The one called the hunter might not be this “Nekra.” In fact, Sian hoped his conjecture was wrong.
Everything would become clear only once he met the one called “Nekra,” who stood upon the Path of Destiny.
Sian gathered his impatient heart and moved forward.☆ ☆ ☆Pareon was soothing his weary mind and body after returning from the banquet.
He could not say how startled he had been when he saw the trouble Lord Raka
-Doom had caused this time. Pareon had expected Lord Raka
-Doom to end up like himself, but fortunately, the elder brother of that man named Sian had stopped him.
Otherwise, he would probably have been minced fish meat. That was how angry the man named Sian had looked.‘Haa… This is why one must have a good daughter…….’Muttering something pointless, Pareon looked at the cliff beyond the lord’s castle.
A cliff that looked hideously collapsed no matter when he saw it. Pareon could have repaired that cliff, but he had deliberately left it alone. It was to use it as a reminder that there were many powerful beings in the world, and to whip himself so that he would never grow arrogant.
“Phew… It has already been more than five years.”
The man named Sian whom he had seen in the past had returned as even more of a monster.
It was a tremendous relief that he had only collapsed the cliff. To think he had gouged out the foothills of the Sky Mountains.
It was not a joke; Pareon found himself suspecting that if Sian went all out, he might be able to shatter even the mountain range before his eyes.‘Heh heh… Surely not.’Pareon gave a wry laugh at the absurdity of his own imagination.
The Kon
-Tian Mountains, which protected them and the Rogadis region.
A vast mountain range that not only protected the Rogadis region but completely cut off southern Tian from Usharan.
In the past, it had been an accursed mountain range that hindered development, but now it was a reliable shield protecting them. Thanks to it, the Rogadis region did not share a border with the violent Taran or Usharan and could expand smoothly only into the interior of Tian.
As Pareon watched the Kon
-Tian Mountains with satisfaction, a strange sight caught his eye.‘What is that…….’The cliff seemed to be heaving.
Pareon thought he might have seen wrong and tried to use “Kranga” to magnify his view of that place, but there was no need.
Because the cliff was collapsing once again.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Fortunately, it was not a major collapse, but it was certainly no ordinary matter. To begin with, everything that was going to collapse had already collapsed, so it was strange for such a large cave-in to happen so suddenly.
At that, Pareon activated Kranga as he had originally intended. Soon, Kranga magnified the area near the cliff and brought the image before Pareon’s eyes so that he could see it directly.
The very next instant, Pareon’s expression turned uneasy.
“…
Is that not Sir Sian? Why on earth is he here……”
Sir Sian was standing below the cliff, scooping out the base of the cliff with his hands.
Each time Sir Sian gestured, parts of the cliff crumbled here and there, and Sir Sian was slowly making a passage that way as he went inside.
Pareon stared at the sight with an extremely anxious expression. The cliff was more than twenty kilometers from here, but even so, he was uneasy.
At last, with a resolute expression, he made a decision.
As the great lord, through investigation, he knew every city Sir Sian had visited.
Kerval, Margaran, Lagrang, Renorba, and Kongtiang.
Among them, the only city still intact was Renorba.
Pareon could not stake the fate of his people on a twenty percent chance.
“Rianna! Rianna!”
At Pareon’s shout, Rianna hurriedly ran in.
“Lord Pareon! What is the matter?”
Rianna cried out, her face flustered. And Pareon, looking at her, shouted with a resolute expression.
“Evacuate all the people of the territory at once! As far from that cliff as possible! There is no time.”
“…
Understood!”
Rianna wondered what on earth he was talking about all of a sudden, but she immediately ran outside. Pareon was her lord and her beloved, and he had almost never made a foolish judgment before.
Rianna rushed out and began carrying out orders in every direction, and Pareon, watching her go, began preparing to evacuate as well.
“Hoo… Please, let this evacuation order turn out to have been my own madness, Sir Sian.”
Pareon muttered with a despairing sigh.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Hmm… You are saying we need to go farther in this direction, correct?”
“…….”
“Sister-in-law?”
“Ah! Yes, that’s right.”
“You do not need to stand so far away. As if I would make that kind of mistake.”
“Haha…….”
Watching Sian expressionlessly hack away at the cliff, Veronica gave an awkward laugh. Sian had told her not to worry, but Veronica had lived far too ordinary a life to stand close to someone who was digging into a cliff with a foul look on his face.
Seeing that, a sword shining and cutting people down seemed downright civilized.
“If it had not been for you, Sister-in-law, I do not think I would ever have found it. How can you tell from such a distance…….”
Sian was genuinely amazed. He did not know why his sister-in-law’s ability was pointing to this place, but with his abilities alone, he never would have found it. How could he have known that he needed to go inside the arsenal he himself had buried?
Sian was impatient, but he could not frighten his sister-in-law, so he did his utmost to calm his urgency as he dug into the cliff.
Continuing to dig according to his sister-in-law’s directions, Sian soon arrived at a familiar place.
The place where he had once fought those mechanical toys and been thrown into the other world.
But since this was a place buried inside the cliff, there was no one there. To begin with, if anyone had been in such a place, he would have noticed even from outside the cliff.
“Sister-in-law? Is this the place?”
“Just a moment… It’s around here. How strange.”
Veronica walked quickly, then began wandering in circles around one spot.
‘That place is…….’
He remembered. It was where those fellows called Arrancar had once opened a hole in midair.
Sian strode over to where Veronica was wandering. And when he reached the vicinity of the empty air he had once smashed through to escape, Sian’s expression, already stiff with impatience, hardened even further.
Sian looked at his sister-in-law and said,
“Sister-in-law, that will be enough.”
“Yes?”
At Sian’s incomprehensible words, Veronica looked as if she had no idea what he meant.
“First… I shall take you somewhere safe. Please close your eyes for a moment.”
“Uh… huh?”
Sian picked up his sister-in-law and swiftly launched himself out of the cliff. He could not move beyond a certain speed for fear of injuring her, but they soon arrived near the city.
“Uh… That’s strange. Why is the city so quiet?”
“Indeed…….”
The city was empty, like a ghost town. When Sian looked closely, everyone was moving northward, away from the mountain range.
“This works out well. I was a little uneasy with just this much distance…….”
“Eek!”
Sian launched himself once more, and before long he caught up to Pareon, who was heading north.
Tap!
Lightly dropping down from the air, Sian greeted Pareon.
“It has been a while.”
“Gasp… Sir Sian, what brings you here? Have you finished your business?”
When Sian descended in front of him carrying Sir Rian’s wife, two thoughts occurred to Pareon.
One was that perhaps he had fallen into forbidden love.
The other was that if this was something that would end so easily, perhaps he had evacuated everyone for nothing.
But Pareon’s thoughts were shattered in less than five seconds.
“My business begins now. And so… may I ask one favor of you?”
Remembering the scene from before, when red light had scattered from Sian’s eyes, Pareon could not even dare to refuse, and unconsciously nodded.
“Please take care of my sister-in-law. Take her with you.”
“Do you know where we are going……?”
“Well, that is not important. But among north, south, east, and west, you are going in the most correct direction.”
“What does that mean……?”
“Nothing may happen… but just in case. In any case, your judgment is excellent.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Sian bounded away with light steps, putting distance between himself and the people. Once he had gotten some distance away, he bent down and leaped up with terrifying force.
Kwaang!
With a roar, Sian began flying toward the cliff at a speed incomparable to when he had arrived, like a meteor. Pareon, who had been staring blankly at the sight, snapped back to his senses while thinking about what Sian had meant and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“This is insane! Throw away all the baggage! We leave this place as quickly as possible! Knights, support those falling behind and pick up the pace! Throw the cargo off the wagons too and put people on them!”
Murmur, murmur!
There was a brief commotion, but everyone abandoned their baggage, lightened themselves, and began moving quickly. To them, Lord Pareon was no different from a god.
Seeing the people, now lighter, moving north at a faster pace, Pareon looked back at the place where he had been born and raised with an exhausted expression.
“Seventeen percent, is it…….”
After uttering those despair-laced, incomprehensible words, Pareon turned away. There was no time. They had to move quickly.
☆ ☆ ☆
After making sure his sister-in-law had been evacuated to a reasonably safe distance, Sian returned to the original location.
At the spot where his sister-in-law had circled around earlier, and which he himself had passed by, his intuition was intensely telling him something.
‘At this point, isn’t this practically a superpower…….’
Good heavens! A special ability that could identify someone who needed to be beaten up! Since it used Exar, it was not actually a special ability, but Sian could not believe that he possessed such a violent power. On top of that, somehow this intuition seemed to be getting better and better.
It felt as though it were urging him to hurry up and use force. But since the results were actually good, he could not exactly complain.
‘And why are there so many occasions to use it…….’
Having a lot of people who needed to be beaten up was not a good thing. It meant that they had done something to deserve being beaten by him in the first place. If his gentlemanly self had decided violence was necessary, then it meant they had done something terribly wrong; there was no way it could be good for such things to happen often.
“Sigh…….”
Sian sighed and drew up the power in his body. Soon, armor tinged red and white climbed over him with a strange sound. In the past, he had raised it slowly for show, but if he truly intended it, the transformation took only an instant.
In the blink of an eye, Sian disappeared, and only a heavily armored figure remained in the tunnel inside the cliff.
Then Sian grasped the empty air and began to exert force.
Grrrraaaaaak!
The empty air was forcibly pried open and crushed apart, and a familiar scent began to flow out. The scent from back then, when he had fallen into that completely unrelated world.
Of course, he had returned in an instant, but it had been a very novel experience. A world where neither Vander nor Exar could be felt.
“Now then, I have a few things to ask……!”
Kuaaaaaang!
Sian, who had been speaking into the gap he had forced open with both hands in order to ask about Miss Steel’s whereabouts, was struck by something that shot out from inside. Just like back when he had driven Miss Steel into the mountain range, he was sent flying back at a furious speed.
The place where Sian was hurled into collapsed, and from the rift he had opened, something shot out violently and began pouring toward the spot where he had crashed.