6. Encounter>
Seutil felt a bright light shining down on her.
‘What... the hell... why is my body like this.......’
No strength entered the fist that could even crush steel.
The legs that could leap over buildings had become frail as a little girl’s.
At the sudden change, Seutil began checking her body’s condition every which way. Fortunately, there was nothing particularly wrong. Only that her metabolism had declined drastically. Something like this could be fixed with recovery. Thankfully, recovery proceeded much faster than before.
While manipulating her body internally to restore her condition, she began to remember why she had ended up in this state.
‘I was definitely sightseeing that, that, perilous zone... and suddenly got dragged in by Sian, right?’
Recalling the final situation, Seutil was curious why Sian had suddenly done this to her, but since recovering her body was the urgent priority, she focused on that.
Before long, once her condition had recovered to some extent, Seutil opened her eyes.
“…
Hm?”
Opening her eyes, Seutil realized this was not the place she had been before, and put on a bewildered expression.
“Are you feeling a bit better now?”
Seutil, who had been blankly staring at the scene, was startled by the voice calling her and turned around. Come to think of it, the fact that she was out here meant Sian had taken her out.
When she turned around, Sian was standing there. But his appearance was slightly different from before she had gone inside.
“Sian......?”
A feeling slightly different from the Sian she had last seen. He seemed more mature... something was different from before, but Seutil could not tell what it was.
“Yes, it’s me. Is your body alright?”
At Sian’s words as he looked at her with worried eyes, Seutil checked her body once more and realized there was nothing wrong.
“Hm... I don't think there's anything wrong. But Sian, where is this? No matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem like where we were before. Could it be the Great Forest?”
Seutil spoke as she looked around. The Heavenly Mountain Range did not grow a single blade of grass. Because it shone only in white. That was why it was evaluated as a noble mountain range.
But now, trees of unknown identity were sprouting up around Seutil and Sian. Even Seutil, who possessed vast experience, had never seen such a forest. That was why Seutil guessed it might be the Great Forest. Since the Great Forest was one of the places she had never been.
Sian shook his head upon hearing those words.
“No. Actually, I don't know where this place is either.”
“Hm?”
“There is one thing I do know. Hoo... it will be quite a hardship returning home from now on.”
“......?”
At Sian’s incomprehensible words, Seutil tilted her head. Seeing that expression, Sian opened his mouth while walking.
“Let’s walk first. We can’t stay here forever... I’ll explain as we go.”
“Ah... hm... alright.”
Seutil put on a bitter smile and hurriedly followed behind the walking Sian.
“So... this means this is like the homeland Ragaope mentioned last time?”
“Yes, probably.”
“How did we end up here? You have to cross the Great Forest to get here, don't you? Don't tell me... you jumped across it?”
At those words, Sian let out a deep sigh.
“As if that could happen? I didn't know I was such an unlucky person.”
‘...
You didn't know?’
From Seutil’s perspective, her younger brother’s life had rarely gone according to his own will.
Contrary to a value system that sought peace and comfort, he caused incidents and accidents everywhere he went.
He wasn't a personality that liked showing off strength, yet how he got so tangled up in things was something even Seutil, watching from the side, found astonishing.
He had been swept up in incidents more intense than even Seutil, who deliberately caused accidents.
Seeing Seutil looking at him with a strange expression, Sian opened his mouth again, and having heard the whole story, Seutil put on a dumbfounded expression.
“So... while you were closing the door to that perilous zone, Krona was standing behind you?”
“Yes.”
“You thought you couldn't escape, so you slapped him across the cheek and jumped into Apental?”
“Hoo... I really agonized over it.”
Sian sighed, recalling that moment.
Having cleanly resolved the problem and turned around, he couldn't describe how shocked he had been to find Krona standing there.
Moreover, when the guy had leaped over and approached right in front of him, the shock had been even greater.
Though he had fallen into a panic in that instant, even in such a desperate situation, Sian moved as his body commanded.
He slapped the guy across the cheek as he was and immediately jumped into the red hole.
His instincts had been screaming nonstop.
That entering this red hole was dangerous.
But there was one thing even clearer than that.
That getting caught by that guy would be utter hell.
Sian, who had seen Nekeura’s memories, had absolutely no confidence that he could live like that.
Besides, looking at the guy’s pupils, he had the look of wanting to devour him.
Neither option was the least bit advantageous to him.
Therefore, he jumped in for now.
As his instinct commanded.
Once he jumped in, he realized two things.
One good news and one bad news.
The good thing was that after he jumped in, the red door closed completely so the guy couldn't follow.
Unlike opening from the inside, it seemed it couldn't be easily opened from the outside.
The bad news was that he couldn't get out either.
The traces that could return him to his original position were rapidly disappearing, but Sian simply couldn't bring himself to try opening that place again.
If he opened it clumsily and that guy followed that path from outside to widen the hole and enter, he would be caught without a doubt.
While wandering in confusion and fighting like mad against the guys rushing in from the surroundings, the traces disappeared completely, and Sian was completely trapped inside the perilous zone.
“Hoo... what came to mind then were Mr. Ragaope’s words.”
“Ragaope’s words?”
Seutil pondered what those words were, then was able to recall them.
“Goodness, you didn't.......”
Looking at Seutil’s surprised expression, Sian made a bitter expression.
“Yes. I broke through and came up. Ugh.......”
Recalling the memories of Apental, Sian trembled all over.
That place which had threatened his very life even during a brief stay in the past.
His thought that it would be a bit easier since he had crossed two walls was a great delusion.
It was much easier.
Because back then, he could withstand the attacks of the guys that had been threatening with each blow.
But he had to wander a hell-like world without rest or known exit, without end in sight.
The fortunate thing was that Kareunain continuously supplied him with vitality, so he worried less about starving to death easily.
He fought and fought again.
The guys near the entrance were rather on the weak side.
The deeper he went, the stronger the guys that appeared.
Continuously beating them to death, beating them to death, he wandered ceaselessly looking for the exit.
He was so lonely he could go mad, but he couldn't take out Lady Seutil in such a place.
Because protecting even his own body was overwhelming.
Fighting and killing like that, he wandered that strangely entangled other world.
Toward the end, not many guys remained, so he chased them around and killed them.
He had to kill the guys and absorb their vitality to avoid starving to death.
Having turned Apental completely upside down like that, he was finally able to find the exit.
A very small spring hidden in a corner.
But instinctively, he knew.
That it was the exit he had so desperately wanted.
The spring was truly hidden in the very corner of that world.
Even if he had known and searched for it, it probably wouldn't have been easy.
The spring water was located at the very bottom of a world composed of eight layers.
“And when I immersed my body there, it connected to some lake.”
“Hm? That easily?”
Seutil tilted her head.
If one could come out that easily, wouldn't other guys have already come out?
“Hm... the guys somehow seemed repelled by that spring water.”
Actually, since Sian didn't know what effect the spring water would have, he caught one of the few remaining monster guys and threw it in first.
Surprisingly, the red monster that had feared neither him nor Krona struggled desperately to avoid falling into the spring.
And when he threw the guy into that small spring, it let out a bizarre shriek and melted without a trace.
Having seen that, Sian felt an immense revulsion about entering the spring, but after dipping his hand in slightly and realizing nothing was wrong, he boldly threw his body in.
At this point, there were hardly any guys left to absorb vitality from, so if he stayed there, he was bound to starve to death.
Fortunately, he was able to come outside without any issues.
Having taken out and put on clothes he had stored in Kareunain, Sian determined the surroundings were safe and took Seutil out.
“That is all. So I don't know where this place is either. I merely thought that perhaps this place is somewhere on the homeland continent that Mr. Ragaope spoke of...”
Having heard all of this, Seutil looked at Sian with a pitying expression.
This child had ultimately tried to close the red sphere to save people, gotten swept away by ill fortune, and come out after fighting monsters in a lonely space without anyone for an interminable time.
Seeing that expression, Sian guessed what Seutil was thinking and opened his mouth.
“You don't have to look at me with those eyes. Well... I got used to that too. I'm fine now. Rather, what is more important is what to do from now on.”
“Ah... right. What do you want to do, little brother?”
“For now... I want to go home.”
“To see your family?”
“Yes. Still... I want to be with my family until their lifespans end.”
Looking at Sian speaking indifferently, Seutil spoke with a pitying expression.
“But... will they be alive? If you fought that long inside......”
“Ah, that is fine. When I briefly fought inside the red sphere and got out before... didn't you tell me, Lady Seutil? That not much time had passed outside.”
“Yes, that's right.”
“I was inside for an even longer time than that. I believe the flow of time inside and outside is different. If my guess is right... not much time should have passed in this world.”
“Then that's a relief for now... but how do you plan to cross over?”
Lagaope had wanted to cross from La
-sian to Don
-nasian but had been unable to. Because of the monsters blocking the way. That would be no different when crossing from Don
-nasian to La
-sian.
But Seutil found an unexpected possibility.
“Huh? Don't tell me, little brother?”
Seutil looked at her younger brother with an expectant expression. If he had experienced a life-threatening crisis in there and completely crossed the wall, ascending to the realm beyond La
-bandeo... crossing over would not be impossible.
But Sian betrayed Seutil’s expectations.
“Sigh... unfortunately, no. I did get stronger... but it's still too much.”
“Damn.......”
“But there is a way. I thought about it constantly in there and found a method.”
“Oh, really?”
Looking at the curious Seutil, Sian opened his mouth.
☆ ☆ ☆
Sian and Seutil walked out of the endlessly spreading forest. Then they realized.
“...
Why are there so many bizarre guys here?”
“I know......”
Unlike the quiet area near Apental’s exit, the moment they strayed slightly, they really saw all kinds of guys.
Bizarrely shaped frog guys suddenly opened their mouths wide and shot strange liquid, melting flying insects and licking up the liquid.
For trees surrounded in green and black, strange vines crawled up from the ground the moment one approached.
The common point was that they were desperately trying to devour one another.
The guys were employing all sorts of means to survive ceaselessly in this vast forest, devouring opponents and continuing their lives.
At a glance, scenes incomparably savage.
No matter who looked, it was hardly a good environment for ordinary humans to live in.
But Sian and Seutil, seeing this sight, made strange expressions.
“...
They're too weak.”
“Right. To think I thought it was some monster lair like ours....…”
The truth was, when they had heard from Ragaope that superhumans overflowed on this continent, this was roughly what they had imagined the continent would look like.
Colossal monstrosities. Little gobies living in the back hill of the neighborhood. Mudskipper No. 1 in the neighbor’s pond. A five-horned Harizhan raised as a pet.
And the superhumans clashing in a desperate showdown to protect themselves from those creatures!
But the creatures here were certainly extremely dangerous to ordinary people… to a Grang
-bander, they were beings that could be swept away without difficulty. Beings that posed no real threat at all to superhumans.
In fact, ever since Steel—who had found the swarming bizarre insects annoying—started unleashing his aura, the creatures had panicked and scattered in all directions, fleeing.
“Could it be that if you touch this tree, it releases a poison lethal enough to kill even a superhuman….”
“…
It’s just a vine plant, isn’t it.”
“Then what about that wolf-looking thing over there? Could it actually hunt in packs and bite even a superhuman to death….”
Screeeeech!
“It just got dragged away by that vine plant.”
“…….”
“Hmm… Ragaope didn’t lie to us, did he?”
The discrepancy was so severe that Steel muttered something. But Sian shook his head. There was no reason for Ragaope to bluff them.
“Well… there must be a reason. It’s been thousands of years since Ragaope left his homeland… so an enormous amount could have changed during that time. And well… it’s only been a day since we arrived here. I don’t think we need to judge things too hastily.”
At those words, Steel nodded as well. Nothing was certain yet. They would probably only be able to form a rough judgment after finding the residents who lived here and hearing the full story from them.
And the important thing was this: this place didn’t look like somewhere people lived at all. Regardless of their strength, if people lived here, there should have been some traces, yet they couldn’t find a single one.
“If this keeps up, our plans will go awry from the very start, little brother.”
“I know… gosh… it’s not that we’re in a hurry, but with no leads like this….”
The plan Sian had devised while fighting inside Apental wasn’t anything special. From the beginning, it had seemed like there was no other path.
They would find Ragaope, who had crossed over, and ask him to build a La
-Shar
-Roa connecting to that side.
Whether they had succeeded or failed was unknown, but if they had succeeded, they would have returned here, and if they were beings capable of creating a La
-Shar
-Roa, then building one more shouldn’t be difficult.
The price for that was something that could be negotiated. There hadn’t been many occasions where his strength was needed over there, but here, there would surely be situations that required it. They simply had to give each other what they wanted.
Of course, Sian didn’t know whether Ragaope had succeeded in crossing over here or whether they were still alive, nor was he certain they could even build a La
-Shar
-Roa, but he had set his primary goal as returning. If he hit a wall, he would think about it then.
He hadn’t expected to find them quickly on this vast continent to begin with. That was why he hadn’t rushed, but having no leads from the very start was troublesome.
To find a lead, he had to find people first, but he hadn’t expected there to be no traces at all. He hadn’t expected to be blocked at step one, so Sian made an awkward expression. Until now, he had walked slowly while surveying the surroundings and chatting, but from now on, he had to move in earnest. He couldn’t just head in any direction. Ragaope had said the continent was enormous. If he took the wrong direction and went the opposite way, it would take considerably more time.
While wondering what to do, Steel was the first to speak.
“Shall we climb a tree and take a look?”
“There’s no need for that. Just a moment….”
Then Sian closed his eyes. To anyone watching, he looked as if he were lost in deep thought.
Shortly after, Sian opened his eyes with a bright expression.
“We’re in luck. Let’s go this way.”
“Hmm? Did you find something?”
“I’m not sure what it is… but I think I’ve found a direction for now.”
And Sian dashed forward at high speed, and Steel took off after him. After running for a while, before they knew it, the trees were gradually growing shorter, and by the time they neared their destination, a gentle hill came into view.
Beyond that hill lay a wide, open plain, and there, Sian and Steel achieved what they had come for. After all, there were clearly people standing who looked similar to themselves.
But there were things far more eye-catching than that.
“Hmm… is that a carriage?”
“It looks like one, but it’s massive. And the beasts pulling it aren’t horses, either.”
Outside the forest stood several massive beasts.
They resembled rhinoceroses, but if there was a difference, it was that they were several times larger. Each individual was the size of a house. Moreover, the shell-like armor plating on their backs looked incredibly sturdy, giving one the impression of looking at the gauntlets of a heavily armored knight.
What was even more unusual was the heavy carriage hitched behind them. It was made of some unknown material, a carriage the size of a small mansion, connected to the massive beasts by sturdy chains. Only then did Sian understand why such enormous creatures were necessary. To pull a carriage of that size, the draft beasts would clearly have to be just as large to manage it without strain.
Anyone seeing it might have scoffed. A carriage was fundamentally a means of transportation. Rather than making it so massive and sturdy, it would be far more practical to pull several small carriages, and it would be better for loading cargo as well. One could tell just by looking at the massive beasts in front of the carriage. Because they had to pull such a heavy carriage, these enormously oversized beasts had to be hitched up in a line. Anyone with any sense wouldn’t design a carriage like that.
But Sian and Steel, looking at that carriage, did not laugh at its designer. At least, given the situation unfolding before their eyes, that bizarrely constructed carriage was fulfilling its original purpose impeccably.
“Block them quickly!”
“Put the children and women inside Mubakal!”
Around the carriage, human-looking figures had formed a circular defensive line, while green dwarves surrounding them relentlessly poured on attacks. The dwarves were shooting bizarre green flames from their hands, and whatever effect they had, it clearly wasn’t of much help to the defenders. After all, the sword-wielding figures opposite them were desperately trying to avoid those flames.
The carriage was deflecting those flames admirably. Most flew toward the humans defending the perimeter, but a few struck the carriage directly, only scratching its armored surface before dying out. Had it been an ordinary, small carriage, it would have burned to nothing.
Having confirmed the carriage was safe, the defenders were holding off the surrounding dwarves with much more relaxed expressions. The dwarves were clearly weak in close combat, and the humans around the carriage tried to close in on them continuously but were unable to approach easily.
That was because swarms of bizarre-looking insects were blocking the way in front of the dwarves. Sian had never seen insects that looked like that before, but he guessed they were insects based on the strange exoskeletons covering their bodies. The insects, each the size of a grown man, looked like they would be difficult to face even for a Master.
In fact, the human who appeared to be the captain leading the carriage looked to be around Grangbander level, yet he couldn’t easily finish off the dwarves due to the interference of the bizarre insect swarms and the dwarves.
However, the humans’ level was truly no joke either, so the strange insects and dwarves likewise couldn’t approach easily and were continuously applying pressure from the surroundings.
Sian and Steel observed the situation for the time being. There didn’t seem to be any immediate urgency. And as they watched, they realized something.
“So Ragaope wasn’t lying.”
“Right. They’re all quite strong.”
They couldn’t tell what level those people held in this land, but there were two Grangbanders inside that circle right now, whereas there had only been four in the Tian Kingdom where Sian was from. And most of those who looked like young men were Masters. They were constantly cutting down the insects while emitting red and blue light from their swords.
While Sian and Steel were watching the situation with interest, a sudden change occurred. The dwarves muttered something, and suddenly, some of the insects broke away from the encirclement and headed for the front of the carriage.
They crawled across the ground quickly and approached the massive beasts pulling the carriage. They didn’t seem particularly interested in the beasts themselves; it looked like they intended to wound them and rob them of their mobility.
Whether the captain leading the group had realized this or not, he swung his sword roughly and shouted loudly.
“Liron! Damn it! Get the Rabas to lie down, now!”
They didn’t know who Liron was, but thanks to that command, Sian and Steel learned the name of the massive beasts before them.
As soon as the man who appeared to be the captain finished speaking, the beasts in front of the carriage tucked their six heavy legs underneath their bellies and curled their bodies into a ball, lying down flat. The moment the creatures called Rabas lay down, the insects swarmed over them, swinging the sharp blades attached all over their bodies.
Scrape, scrape!
But the back shell of the creatures called Rabas was just as incredibly durable as it looked. The blades of the insects, which had been deflecting a Grangbander’s sword to some degree, couldn’t even sink their teeth into it. Though there were scratches here and there, it seemed they could gnaw on the beast lying like that all day and still not kill it.
The dwarves seemed to realize this as well, leaving behind only a few insects and quickly rebuilding the encirclement. Perhaps their goal hadn’t been to kill the beasts from the start but to prevent escape—a remarkably agile response.
Once the insects rejoined them, the encirclement, which had loosened somewhat, became a fierce battle once more.
But the battle was gradually flowing in the dwarves’ favor. The dwarves wouldn’t have launched the ambush in the first place if they weren’t confident. Moreover, while the number of insects was rapidly decreasing, more insects were slowly but steadily replenishing from the forest. Because of that, despite the exploits of those who appeared to be the group’s captains, the group clustered around the carriage was tiring quickly.
“Hmm… little brother, which side do you think would know more about Ragaope’s whereabouts?”
Steel asked while looking at the bizarre confrontation on both sides, and at his words, Sian looked back and forth between the two.
The human race gathered around the carriage, visibly similar in appearance to themselves.
And on the other side, the stumpy green dwarves forming the encirclement, wielding bizarre insects as they tried to capture the humans one by one.
“Well… unless those dwarves are somehow Ragaope’s distant cousins, and unless they’ve lived for about three thousand years like him… I think the people in the carriage would know more.”
“Yeah? Then it’s decided. Let’s go, little brother.”
“Let’s.”
Sian and Steel leaped into the air from the hill. Sian toward the dwarves, Steel toward the insects.☆ ☆ ☆
Parhum, the escort captain of the migrants leading the Mubakal, let out a sigh.
“Damn it… to think this would happen before we’d even gone halfway….”
Despite moving with such caution, they had ultimately run into the green dwarves known as
They had carefully advanced along the borders of the creatures’ territory, but either the guide had made a mistake or the creatures had started chasing them from some point, and eventually, battle had erupted. The Rabas were well-suited for pulling the carriage over long distances, but they weren’t exactly known for their speed.
But it seemed this was how it would end. Unable to even make it halfway to the territory of Viscount Roke, their destination. He could only feel sorry for the people who had trusted and followed him.
‘Those damn…’ While he was cursing the damned nobility inwardly and making his final desperate struggle, something passed overhead and cast a shadow over him.
“……?”
Swinging his sword wildly, Parhum—who had hacked the underling of that Gran bastard to pieces—looked urgently toward the sky. If an enemy ambush came from above, the defensive line would collapse in an instant.
But by the time Parhum looked up, the object that had already passed over his head was no longer there.
*Kwa-boom!*
*Crunch!*
*Crack!*
At the rough sounds of destruction coming from behind him, Parhum hurriedly turned his gaze from the sky toward the direction of the noise.
“……!”
“Tsk, these guys aren’t even enough for a warm-up.”
The bizarre woman who was effortlessly tearing through the
Though rescued from crisis, Parhum could not relax. He could tell at a glance exactly what kind of being the woman standing before him was. Though she wasn’t radiating a unique, overbearing aura, you’d have to be blind not to know after seeing the sight before him. *Damn it… a noble.*
Not all nobles were bad. There were many kind ones, and many who looked after commoners.
But that was precisely the problem. He had no way of knowing what personality the noble before him possessed. Meeting a ruthless noble was ten, twenty times more dangerous than meeting the Gran horde from moments ago.
Moreover, the woman smashing the Antain to pieces with a bored expression, flicking them aside like nothing, did not seem to have a pleasant personality. There was nothing more foolish than judging someone by their appearance in this harsh world, but people had instincts nonetheless.
The noblewoman before him was clearly the type who loved destruction, and judging by her demeanor, the Antain she had pulverized in an instant hadn’t been nearly enough to satisfy her.
Parhum had no choice but to pin his hopes on the other noble visible in the distance.
The man who had descended as if flying and immediately knocked all the Gran bastards unconscious. His features were rugged, but seeing how he hadn’t slaughtered the filthy Gran bastards and had merely rendered them unconscious, he seemed to have a gentle disposition. Parhum could only hope that man would keep this woman in check.
Watching the battlefield completely cleared less than ten seconds after the man and woman who had appeared splitting the sky touched down, Parhum tensed up even more than he had during the battle. He would have to handle things well from here on. ☆ ☆ ☆
“Hmm… why is he so tense?”
“Who knows. Aren’t nobles common around here? By the way, little brother, you kept them all alive.”
“Well… I only have business with the people here. I don’t care about the others.”
“Oh my……”
Steel found his little brother’s personality truly fascinating. Perhaps it was a side effect of being so strong, but she often showed considerable generosity toward those who posed no threat to her. Especially when they hadn’t harmed her.
The dwarves had fortunately met both conditions and thus survived.
“What matters is talking with them. Let’s head over first. Hearing them earlier, it seemed we could communicate.”
Surprisingly, they used a language somewhat based on the kingdom’s tongue. Sian and Steel could understand it to some degree. The kingdom language used on the continent was based on the imperial tongue. And that imperial tongue was spread by Ragaope. Since Ragaope hadn’t created a new script, it would naturally have been based on the language used here.
Sian quickly approached the man before him and spoke.
“Greetings.”
“Greetings, noble ones.”
“Ah… well… let me introduce myself first. I am Sian. I have come looking for you because there is something I wish to ask.”
The man’s cringeworthy words were awkward, so Sian quickly introduced himself and decided to get to the point. Fortunately, they could communicate. There were slight differences in accent here and there, but it wasn’t impossible to carry on a conversation.
“I… am Parhum, the one in charge of this Mubakal. Please, speak.”
Parhum felt somewhat relieved seeing Sian’s gentler-than-expected attitude, but he did not let his guard down. There were lunatics everywhere.
“Hmm… where do I even start……”
Now that he had opened his mouth to ask, Sian faltered, unable to organize where to begin. It didn’t seem likely these people would know if he suddenly asked about someone named Ragaope.
Seeing this, Parhum tilted his head, and Steel, seeming frustrated, stepped forward in his place.
“Little brother, we’re going to ask everything anyway, so why worry so much. You there, Parhum, was it?”
“Yes, please speak.”
Parhum felt the tension that had been easing grip his entire body again. The man before him had seemed somewhat simple and not at all like a noble, which had helped him relax, but the woman who stepped past him was the very embodiment of every noble he had ever seen.
An arrogant air and a confidence radiating from her entire being, as if declaring she could do anything. And that forceful manner to boot.
“We’re new here, you see. We know nothing. So we have quite a lot to ask… are you in a hurry?”
“Ah… well……”
“Well, it doesn’t matter even if you are. We can just ride that carriage with you.”
“Carriage… do you mean the Mubakal?”
Baffled by the unfamiliar word, Parhum realized that the carriage they referred to was the Mubakal.
“Hmm… so you call that thing a Mubakal? Yes, that. It looks like there’s some space left; let’s ride along. Little brother, that’s fine, right? It’s not like we’re in a hurry.”
“Hmm… that should be fine.”
Come to think of it, finding Ragaope while knowing nothing about this world wouldn’t be easy. He needed to get a rough grasp of this world first. And since they were looking for a person, it wouldn’t be bad to follow these people and receive their help.
“Is that alright? In exchange, we’ll clear away anyone who approaches. We can’t freeload.”
“Then we would be most grateful.”
Parhum found the two nobles before him far too suspicious, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse. The noblewoman didn’t seem to have the word “refusal” in her vocabulary, and he feared what kind of aftermath might befall them if he refused in such a situation.
And the offer to protect the Mubakal was equally hard to decline. They hadn’t even made it halfway to their destination when they were ambushed by those Gran bastards. In a situation where he didn’t know what else might happen, having nobles protect him made him feel as though he could prostrate himself in gratitude.
“Then let us ride together. If there isn’t any space……”
“Not at all. It’s spacious enough; how could there be no room for you? Please, this way.”
Though space was tight with the moving cargo, he couldn’t possibly let it show. Besides, several people had died in the earlier battle, so if he cleared their spots and rearranged, he could offer these two the best seats. With that in mind, Parhum led the two inside the Mubakal first.
Once inside, Sian was surprised to find the interior far more spacious and comfortable than expected. Unlike its exterior, which resembled a cargo wagon, the inside was well-equipped for habitation, and the luggage was rather distributed and mounted on the ceiling and walls. Moving fairly deep inside, they arrived at a small room that seemed to serve as a parlor, and there they began to talk. ☆ ☆ ☆
“Hmm… so you were en route to another viscountcy with migrants?”
“That is correct.”
Sian thought, *So this really is a different continent.* A transcendent acting as the lord of a territory was something hard to imagine back on their continent.
“Why do you wander instead of settling down? Aren’t ambushes like earlier frequent? It seems dangerous.”
Having examined the Mubakal’s interior on the way, Sian had his doubts. The facilities inside suggested it wasn’t simply for migration. It was designed so that one could live in it if necessary. This implied an intention to wander rather than settle. Given the earlier ambush and how unsafe the environment seemed for travel, Sian asked with a curious expression.
At that question, Parhum looked at Sian with a strange expression.
“Since we are new here, we know nothing.”
“…
I understand. The outside environment is… not safe. Rather, it’s a wonder you’ve only been ambushed once so far. Outside the territories protected by nobles, it is exceedingly dangerous.”
*So nobles protect them…….*
The very notion of transcendents protecting humans was utterly fresh. He was beginning to realize that this place was not where he had grown up.
“Hmm… do the nobles who protect them not exterminate these creatures?”
Sian asked out of curiosity. If they were at the level of the ones from earlier, they might even pose a threat to a Granbander. The flames those creatures hurled had been quite powerful, and the insect-like Antain they commanded had been formidable as well.
But even if such creatures gathered, they couldn’t be a significant threat to transcendents. If necessary, they could retreat and smash them again later. He couldn’t understand letting such creatures roam outside the territories they protected unless they simply neglected protection entirely, as on his own continent. It was strange that they let such creatures wander freely between territories.
“Of course, they are left there deliberately.”
“Huh?”
“…
You must have come from very far away.”
“Well……”
It wasn’t unheard of for one to become a noble after living in the mountains and training relentlessly, though it wasn’t common. If one possessed high talent, one could grow strong quickly even without Akra’s help. He had wondered why he couldn’t feel the energy of Akra from these two nobles; they must be self-made types as well.
Believing the two nobles before him were of that sort, Parhum opened his mouth with the resolve to explain everything from the very beginning.
“Nobles deliberately neglect those creatures. No, in some cases, they even raise them. This is due to the laws established by the House of Duke Roreubal.”
The laws established by the House of Duke Roreubal.
That was the starting point that had created the bizarre phenomenon in this continent of transcendents. ☆ ☆ ☆
Thousands of years ago, the continent was in utter chaos.
The reason was the bizarre distance that had formed between nobles and commoners, and the surrounding environment.
The continent was quite a comfortable place for nobles to live. There were many races, but most were of the Narija class, so if one reached the realm of nobility, one wouldn’t face life-threatening crises unless caught by a Rotan-class race.
But for commoners, the story was entirely different. While humanity was numerous across the continent, individually they were by no means strong. Races like Gran caught humans, sucked out the Akra inside them, and used the outer shell as hosts to raise their own kind, the Antain. The Bareukans living on the plains simply hunted humans to sate their appetites.
Therefore, commoners needed someone to protect them. That someone was, of course, the nobles.
But the nobles were cold. *Why must I protect you?*
From the perspective of the race as a whole, it was natural that nobles protecting commoners would lead to the prosperity of humanity. After all, nobles were born from commoners. The talent to become a noble was not inherited. Even the children of barons, viscounts, and counts were not guaranteed to become viscounts or counts. Rather, many of them ended up as mere commoners.
But that was the story when looking at the race as a whole. From the perspective of an individual noble, there was no reason whatsoever to protect commoners. It wasn’t a matter of danger or safety. It was because there was nothing to gain from commoners.
Nobles believed in only one thing. Not power, not wealth, not information, but solely their own strength. Everything else was merely a bubble that accompanied strength.
The strong alone possess everything. The Lasian continent—
no matter how strong individuals were, Granbanders were the strongest. There weren’t many who believed they could reach the realm of transcendents through training. Therefore, building influence in the time one should be building strength was something a Granbander, a powerhouse of the same level,
—even better for pressuring Vander. There was a limit to how strong one could become, and the speed at which one’s faction grew was faster than the speed at which one grew stronger. King Narasha was a good example. He had been weaker than Sword Duke Kirain, but in the end, he became someone stronger than Sword Duke Kirain.
But on this continent, the story was entirely different. Above the strong, there were yet stronger beings. Above commoners were barons, above barons were viscounts, and above viscounts were counts. No matter how much a baron-class figure built up his power, those he could contend with were only others of the same baron class. If enough of them gathered, even nobles one rank above could not look down on them lightly, but there was no way fellows who lived drunk on their own greatness could always remain so harmoniously united. In the end, to maintain an organization, one had to place underlings weaker than oneself beneath them—and with such a force, how could one possibly contend with a noble one rank higher?
Influence was futile, and wealth was meaningless. Against those weaker than themselves, nobles could obtain everything; conversely, against those stronger than themselves, they had to be stripped of everything. No one protected them. On the continent over there, there was the concept of a nation, but here, there was no such thing. A nation could only exist upon the foundation of laws that everyone had to obey. It was obvious, but the strong did not obey rules set down by others. And laws without coercive power had no meaning at all. Since there was no law, no nation could exist, and there was no mechanism whatsoever to restrain the phenomenon of the weak being exploited and the strong taking everything.
Thousands of years of history had proven it. What remained in the end was an individual’s strength, and everything else was futile. If one used the time spent forming a faction to train and become one level stronger, one could slaughter the person who had built that faction and take everything he possessed. On the
Rasian Continent, strength had its limits, but here, there were none.
That was why nobles were always searching for things that might help their individual strength. And they always focused all their attention there. Rule was good, but it did not stand above strength. Rule was something one could do at any time if one set one’s mind to it—as long as one was strong.
Talent, effort, time, and everything that might help raise one’s realm.
And among these, there was nothing commoners could provide to nobles. Even trade required both sides to be of a certain level. Nobles protected only as far as their hands could reach, but never paid attention beyond that. If they engaged in such charity, they would be pushed aside by other nobles of the same rank.
Naturally, the forces of humanity gradually weakened. Since they strove desperately to become stronger, the nobles naturally did grow stronger, but the commoner class that would nurture new nobles weakened day by day, so this was an inevitable result. When it became severe, the nobles began to worry as well. There were almost no races on the continent that could threaten the nobles, but that did not mean there were none at all. If those creatures built up their forces, the human race would be swept away wholesale.
And so, the nobles who gathered with the dukes at their head reached an agreement.
How far, exactly, was “as far as their hands can reach”? Though they had agreed to share responsibility, there were no rights attached to that responsibility. Even if one cherished and cared for commoners and made them into nobles, all that meant was one more competitor. The continent was far too harsh to look after people who were not even blood relatives for decades on affection alone.
Naturally, the above rule became a dead letter. To begin with, if someone claimed he lacked the ability or simply hid away, even a ducal house had no way to force him. Nobles were busy protecting only those beneath the houses that bore their own names.
House Lorval pondered this phenomenon. It was not as though they particularly wanted to shelter commoners, but if the human race was to be maintained, everyone had to do at least the bare minimum. In the midst of this, Duke Lorval put forth an astonishing idea.
An astonishing ability for commoners, and at the same time, for nobles.
The secret art Acrata, capable of generating Acra.
After this Acrata spread widely among the commoners, a great upheaval came upon the entire human race.
At long last, commoners too had obtained a means of trade that could contribute to the strength of nobles.☆ ☆ ☆“Whether commoner or noble, anyone of the human race learns this Acrata. Acrata has two effects.”
“Oh?”
At the concept they were hearing for the first time, Sian and Steel looked at Parhum with curious expressions.
“The first is that it increases each individual’s strength. If one learns Acrata, one’s innate ability increases compared to when one does not. After this spread among the commoners, the rate at which people became nobles could have risen considerably… but in reality, there was no real difference.”
“Hmm? Why is that?”
Acrata, the ability of House Lorval that made individuals stronger.
Talent and effort were important, but if learning this thing called Acrata made one grow stronger faster, then it seemed only natural that the rate of becoming nobles should increase. Hearing that there was no real difference, Sian asked with a curious expression.
“Because of the second effect. The Acra accumulated by each individual can be transferred to another person who has trained in the same Acrata. Well… to be precise, only those of the noble class can receive it.”
“Hmm? Then?”
“That’s right. Nobles now had a reason to protect commoners as well. In exchange, the commoners provide the Acra they have cultivated. Considering the amount they provide… it is not much different from before they learned it, but in return, they receive protection.”
They received Acra in exchange for protecting the commoners under their command. This Acrata was not a simple training method. It was an unprecedented secret art created by the ability users and martial artists under the ducal house. Those who trained in Acrata could exchange Acra among themselves. And this Acra was also of considerable help to the nobles’ training. If one looked only at each commoner individually, the amount was truly like a chick’s tears, but once they gathered and gathered, the quantity was no longer something that could be ignored.
From the commoners’ perspective as well, there was no reason not to learn it when it made each individual stronger and gave them someone who would protect them. Thus, this Acrata spread rapidly among nobles and commoners, and now it was harder to find someone who had not learned it.
But Steel, who had been listening, opened his mouth with a strange expression.
“That’s odd. If what you say is true, the fact that you can wander around like this makes no sense. The nobles would never let you go.”
If strength was so important, there was no way nobles would allow commoners who could help them to wander around.
Hearing those words, Parhum nodded with a bitter expression.
“You’re right. It was certainly like that in the beginning.”
As Acrata began to spread, a struggle among nobles to seize commoners, almost like a hunt, broke out. Since these were people who could be of help even by a penny’s worth, the more the better. On top of that, there was no way they would be treated well. Until then, commoners had not been needed, so nobles had not cared what they did or where they went. But once those commoners became necessary to them, nobles did not hesitate to coerce them. Needless to say, if nobles tried to force them, commoners had absolutely no way to resist.
But House Lorval had anticipated this as well and put forth a new rule.
House Lorval had no interest in rule, but it was a force of immense power. Forget everything else—if Duke Lorval himself stepped forward, even a marquis house would be cut down. Moreover, House Lorval seemed to consider this matter important, for they devoted themselves fully to upholding the law above. In fact, at that time, a considerable number of nobles were smashed apart for ignoring the above rule. By whatever means Duke Lorval used, he found such nobles with uncanny precision, beat them down, and took away all the Acra they had gathered until then.
Afterward, commoners also gained the right to choose. Would they receive protection in exchange for providing the Acra they had trained, or would they choose to use that Acra to grow stronger on their own? They could even choose the noble under whose protection they would place themselves.
Having heard this much, Steel clicked his tongue.
“So that’s why those creatures were wandering around.”
“That’s right.”
If there was no threat, there was no need for protection. In that case, commoners had no reason to go out of their way to provide nobles with the Acra they had learned. They could increase their own strength instead. Even if they did receive protection, there was no reason to stay under a noble with a foul personality. Among nobles, there were quite a few who had good temperaments and looked after commoners.
That was why nobles neglected the hostile races around the territories under their protection. If there were no hostile races, it was also common for them to bring some in. Since such monsters roamed around the borders of the protected areas, commoners had no choice but to provide Acra to the nobles and request protection, much as they hated it. To nobles, those hostile races were simple to deal with, but to commoners, they could be a threat to their lives.
Thanks to that, commoners could not move anywhere and had no choice but to remain within the nobles’ range of protection, providing Acra.
Of course, the ones left alone were only Narija-class races that threatened only commoners. Rotan-class hostile races, which could pose a threat even to nobles, were exterminated by combined forces. And even Narija-class races, if their strength grew to the point that they became a threat, were cleaned up by the nobles joining forces.
Thus, between each territory and the next, only an appropriate number of Narija-class hostile races remained—enough to threaten commoners, but not enough to threaten nobles. House Lorval believed that if they bound things too tightly, it would burst, so they did not suppress even this much. The survival rate of commoners rose dramatically, and nobles grew stronger at an even faster pace, so in the end, it was a win-win. After that, the human race rapidly expanded its power and succeeded in maintaining a balance with the hostile races.
After the one ability and one law put forth by House Lorval, a strange system in which commoners and nobles coexisted was completed, and it continued to this day.
And after hearing the whole story, Sian understood why they were traveling like this.
“The noble of the place you originally lived must have had quite the rotten personality.”
“…….”
Parhum answered with silent affirmation through a bitter smile.☆ ☆ ☆The fatal flaw in the strange equilibrium described above:
Places where many commoners gathered and lived had no major problems. In such places, nobles who were searching for commoners to supply them with Acra would eventually settle there. If several nobles gathered in one city, the nobles could not treat the commoners recklessly. The commoners would give all their Acra to other nobles instead. There was no way one would be happy to see someone in the same city grow stronger than oneself. That was why House Lorval did not go so far as to stop nobles from exercising authority over commoners.
But in the case of small protected territories in the provinces, the situation was different. There were places with so few people that other nobles would not covet them much. Such places faced one of two paths.
They could continue enduring without a noble’s protection until they could no longer hold out, then risk their lives to leave in search of the nearest noble territory.
Or they could wait for a noble who would take interest even in such a small protected territory.
The territory of Baron Raul, where Parhum had lived, was the second case. But the people who came to the small protected territory where Parhum lived were usually of two types.
One was benevolent nobles who did not mind the small amount of Acra and wanted to protect the commoners of a small territory.
The other was nobles who wanted to avoid the dog-eat-dog struggle with other nobles entirely and play king in some tiny rural area.
Naturally, the second type was overwhelmingly more common, and Parhum’s protected territory could not escape the pressure of probability either.
Baron Raul, who protected the protectorate where Parhum had stayed, did provide protection, but he extracted Akra to the point of exploitation within the bounds set by the House of Duke Lohrbal. That much was fine. After all, Akra was provided as payment for said protection.
The problem was that Baron Raul had an incredibly foul personality. In his case, he had been unable to stand having anyone above him, so he had deliberately come down to a backwater region that other nobles would not pay attention to. The place where Parhum lived was not very important, and with the perilous zone, Apental, nearby, the other nobles did not pay it much mind.
It would have been nice if he had stopped there, but as soon as Baron Raul arrived, he showed more interest in dominating commoners than in protecting them. He did provide protection, but he dragged any good-looking commoners into his bedchamber and had them do this and that, devoting himself to fulfilling his own desires rather than training.
It was not as if this were an unusual case. Among barons, it was quite common to find nobles who had barely become nobles through repeated training and then treated commoners carelessly with the mindset of being rewarded for their efforts. The problem was that such a person was protecting Parhum's territory.
In the end, Parhum, who had faced a crisis where even his daughter would be dragged away, chose the last resort available to commoners.
But Parhum could no longer endure it. He gathered people who shared his will and chose to migrate. Baron Raul sneered at those who were leaving, as if to say, "Go ahead and try."
"Even if it were not for my daughter... I would have decided to migrate. Lately, the amount of Akra he has been taking has been gradually increasing, to the point where people have collapsed. That is why we modified the Mobacals used by merchant caravans and set out. They say Viscount Locke's territory nearby is somewhat better. After that, we were attacked, and that is when I met Sir Sian and Lady Steel."
"Hah... Truly... It seems no matter where you go, it is the same."
Sian clicked his tongue. Where he had lived, Rabander and those beneath were completely segregated. Unlike that, he had thought this place would be more livable because commoners and nobles were the same race and regarded each other as humans.
But because they regarded each other as humans, the situation was even worse. They had become objects of desire. In the first place, the problem was not that they were of a different species; the problem was that the gap in strength was too vast.
If not for whatever move the House of Duke Lohrbal had made, the situation would likely be even worse by now.
"Then... are there not villages that do not receive the protection of nobles? Where commoners band together and live...?"
Sian asked what he had been curious about.
Commoners were merely weaker than superhumans; they were still quite strong. If people like Parhum before them were to band together more, build walls, and fortify their defenses, it seemed more than possible to get by.
At those words, Parhum shook his head and answered.
"There are two reasons. First, without a noble's protection, commoners cannot last long even if they band together. It is because hostile species targeting humans gather their strength and attack. And... villages are impossible. You must move constantly. As Sir Sian said, there are regions where commoners band together and live... but they cannot build villages and settle down either."
"Hmm? Why is that?"
"Because of the Subterranean Dragons."
The giant stone dragons roaming beneath the continent were a calamity not just to humans, but to all. These creatures grew larger as they aged, burrowing holes beneath villages and collapsing them entirely. It would have been fortunate if it ended at that, but it was quite common for them to come up into villages and swallow houses whole. Yet for all that, they were so wary of the strong that they would not even come near the protectorate where nobles resided.
From the nobles' perspective, these creatures were utterly commendable. After all, they fundamentally prevented commoners from forming villages and causing a loss of Akra.
Thanks to that, even regions where commoners gathered to live were inhabited by moving about on Mobacals, like nomads.
"Well, I'll be..."
"Well... this is a story from our vicinity. I do not know about other regions... but perhaps there are slight differences depending on the environment."
After that, they exchanged this and that story. Just in case, they asked about Lagaope's group, but there was little to gain. Perhaps because they were commoners, but in order to obtain a bit more information, they decided to head toward the viscountcy that these people were heading to.
After Parhum returned, Sian and Steel discussed their future schedule.
"I suppose... it seems we must meet with nobles to gain information. We are severely lacking in information... though I do not know if it is because this place is a backwater..."
According to Parhum, he did not know much because he was in a baron's protectorate, but if it were a count's or earl's protectorate, the scale would be enormous, and the volume of logistics and number of people moving would be considerable.
"First, let us go to where these people are heading... to where they say Baron Locke is. By the way, I am curious. To what extent would someone like me measure up?"
As she listened to Parhum, one thought circled in Steel's mind.
But from what she heard, this was a land overflowing with superhumans. She was curious as to what extent that would be, given that they even divided them into classes.
"We will know when we meet them."
"Hmm... Sian, you look quite at ease. Aren't you curious? About how you measure up?"
From what she heard, this continent seemed to have many strong individuals and dangerous races. But Sian, who prioritized safety above all, had oddly appeared at ease since arriving here. 'Surely he didn't change his personality fighting in there...?' But Sian ruthlessly betrayed Steel's expectations.
"Haha. Didn't Mr. Lagaope say before that Apental was designated a perilous zone because it was dangerous even to them?"
"Ah... he did."
"But I survived even in such a perilous zone, so yeah, I guess I am on the stronger side here too."
"...And I am planning to just find Mr. Lagaope and quietly leave this place. What trouble could possibly happen? Hahaha!"
'Eh...' Steel, now knowing where Sian's confidence stemmed from, let out a sigh.
☆ ☆ ☆
The journey traveling on Mobacals was far more peaceful than expected. Steel was so bored that she concealed her presence entirely and tried to lure creatures called Gran or Varkan, and actually succeeded in baiting the Varkans two or three times. But after a few of them were cut down, rumors seemed to spread among them, and they no longer attacked. She had heard that the Gran were crazy for human flesh and expected them to rush in, but they were more clever than she thought and no longer charged at them.
What caught the bored Steel's attention was the Akrata, which everyone on this continent knew well. Steel was a superhuman too; there was no way she would not be interested in growing stronger.
At Steel's request to teach her Akrata, Parhum readily agreed. It was not exactly a secret anyway. Every human living on the continent knew of Akrata.
"Learning Akrata is not difficult. To begin with, this is closer to a supernatural ability than a training method. If you do not mind, could you offer your hand for a moment?"
"Little brother, is this alright?"
"...Why are you asking me?"
"Hoho. I only said that because I was worried you might get jealous if I did this with a strange man."
"Do not worry and proceed."
"Really? Then... here, take it."
Steel had already stored her gloves in her Nitsmatan, so she unhesitatingly extended her fine hand. Though large and long, it was incomparably white and slender. Parhum trembled once more at the fact that such immense destructive power came from such a hand.
Parhum placed his hand over hers and spoke.
"Something will pass over. That is Akra. It is the fundamental element of Akrata. Simply accept it without resisting."
With that, Parhum began focusing his mind on his fingertips. Before long, a strange flow occurred within Parhum's body, and something formless passed over to Steel. It held not the slightest hostility; rather, Steel felt a refreshing sensation from that energy and accepted it without any resistance.
"So this is Akra?"
"Yes. It is the element forming the foundation of Akrata. It is finished now."
"Already?"
"Yes. What is important is receiving the Akra. In fact, the meaning of Akrata is the method of managing and growing that Akra... but since Akra grows on its own, you need not worry about it. Those that have just crossed over will act as seeds and multiply within your body."
"Hmm... How peculiar."
As expected, the so-called seeds that had entered Steel's body instantly circulated within her, amplified their energy, split apart, and spread throughout her entire body.
Steel observed the effects they produced within her body.
The Akra fed on the powerful energy circulating within Steel's body and slowly increased its numbers. Had it ended there, these things would have been treated as mere parasites and nothing more.
Akra's true efficacy began from there. These formless seeds, having fed on the target's energy and grown, possessed two effects.
One was to draw in ambient energy and supply the user with even more energy than it had consumed.
The other was to strengthen the user's body based on the supernatural ability inherent in the Akra itself.
After observing the Akra for a moment, Steel realized this and admired it.
"Remarkable. At first I couldn't understand how energy was being transferred... but now I see. So these Akra seeds can be passed on?"
"Precisely. Akra itself contains a considerable amount of energy. Since there is a limit to how much Akra can cross over from each individual's body over a set period, vast quantities cannot be transferred... but if you gather it from numerous commoners, it becomes an amount that cannot be ignored."
"Hmm... Then can this Akra be accumulated within the body indefinitely?"
If so, it would truly unleash tremendous power. But Parhum shook his head.
"It has limits proportional to an individual's realm. And Akra that is not your own—another person's Akra—will die shortly after crossing over. However, the energy contained within remains in the recipient's body. How well one digests it depends on the talent of the noble, or so I hear."
"Hmm... So if you train, does the energy you absorb increase?"
Steel asked out of curiosity. If even a first-time learner like herself saw such effects, it would be worth taking the time to train. But Parhum laughed and answered.
"Haha. It is not like that. As I said before, this is closer to a supernatural ability. Becoming proficient in Akrata does not increase Akra's efficiency. Its efficiency rises strictly in proportion to one's own strength. One does not train in Akrata. It generates itself based on the user's ability, using the body as its foundation."
At those words, Steel nodded. This was playing the same role as the buffs she had received from priests in the past—increasing the energy within her body and making her body stronger. Parhum did not know this because he had not yet reached that realm, but these things were also constantly circulating through the body, helping to change the body's internal coefficients, if only slightly.
"This is amazing. How did they create something like this... It seems a lot changed while Lagaope was gone... Sian, you hold out your hand too."
"Um... Do you know how to do it?"
"It's basic."
Steel spoke with confidence and urged Sian. At her words, Sian also held out his hand, intrigued.
Steel took Sian's hand and sent the Akra she had nurtured within her body.
And as he observed the Akra entering his body, Sian's expression turned expectant.