Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance

When the raiding party dispersed, Duke Gaudium and Derek left the dungeon and headed for the place where the horses were tethered.

 “A sword under the command of Lord Aire, I never thought of that.” “It certainly is. We’ll have to think of a gift to send to the temple.” 

They untied their horses from the trees and re-saddled them. The procession back from the dungeon seemed a bit too small for such a special creature.

 “Maybe we should have gotten a traveling scroll from the Yellow House.” “I’m sick and tired of travel scrolls.” 

It was a brisk victory with no deaths and only a few wounds, but there was no reformulation. Rather, the participants went out of their way to hide the slaughter. In fact, theirs was a top-secret operation that was never publicized.

 

Frequent dungeon outbreaks and sporadic appearances of high-risk monsters.

 

Suspecting that these were precursors to a catastrophe, the imperial court and the temple jointly organized a strike force.

 

The role of the strike force, composed of transcendents, priests, and paladins, was to erase the scourge from the world before th

e people could recognize it.

 “How long can we hold out like this? So far, the Exterminators have handled it without difficulty, but the cycle is troubling.” “We can only hope that the next one is far enough away. I do.” 

Everyone on the extermination team knew they couldn’t hide it forever. It was just a stopgap measure to cover up the ugliness. There was the matter of Karand’s Canyon, which had actually been revealed to the world before the Extermination.

 

But even so, their reason for being so quiet and secretive was simple. The fear of the word

“demon”

was overwhelming.

 

Two hundred years ago. Noctra, the Demon King, was slain by the greatest transcendent of them all, Hero Regia, at the cost of his own body.

 

Humans were utterly helpless in the face of such overwhelming power to reshape the landscape and alter the climate and felt an intrinsic

terror like no other disaster.

 

It may have been diluted somewhat by time, but there were still people throughout the Empire who wept tears of despair at the mere mention of the demon.

 

Demons are born when negative energy, magicka, seeps into a place where mana overlaps especially strongly.

 

If a rumor of the Demon King’s return spread, causing a massive outbreak of Magi among those who felt extreme fear, that would be the most devastating catastrophe of all.

 “This is tiring.” 

The horse, which had begun to trot slowly, picked up its pace and galloped out of the forest.

  

* * *

  

“Why did you decide to give Lord Lorea’s sword to such a young elementalist, and he’s not even a duke’s blood?”

 

One of the priests, who had been giving Aire a sour look since he returned to the temple through the scroll, asked pointedly.

 

He was not pleased to see the sword of a distant ancestor of the Hero’s clan pass into the hands of another.

 

A paladin stepped forward.

 “That’s enough, Priest Niador. The Goddess would not want you to speak of something that is already finished.” “Are you saying that my words are against the will of the Goddess?!” 

Niador shouted in anger. Coming from a long line of proud priests, he had a pride that could be considered excessive. His temper flared, and he opened his mouth again.

 “Argh!” 

As he turned around, Niador’s sleeve split in half. His skin was unharmed, but the sensation of the intangible energy sliding across his clothing was so eerie that Niador stumbled backwards.

 “Shh.” 

Raising his index finger in a gesture as stern as a child’s, Aire strode past him into the temple, followed by a long-haired, brown-haired priestess who sighed heavily as she watched. It was the same priest who had picked him up at the Feast of Regia.

 “That’s a bit harsh,”

he said,

”but he’s a man of faith who volunteers to participate in the slaughter every time.” “That’s why I didn’t cut off his arm.” 

The priest, Gavil, was speechless at the bluntness of the answer.

 “…But I must ask, why did you promise to give them that sword?” 

Wherever he had been in the dungeon, the sharpness of a well-honed knife had enveloped him.

 

Aire didn’t answer right away, but stood before the statue and slowly untied the eye patch. Soon, eye patch in hand, he turned slowly and spoke.

 “I’m not giving it away, I’m giving it back.” “It’s…?” 

Aire didn’t explain further. The gold eye patch glinted gracefully behind the eye patch. Looking even more saintly, he sat down in the chair off to one side and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

 “But what do girls my age like? It seems too empty to be just a sword…” 

‘Did you know that the empty sword was one of the treasures of the temple?’

 

Gavil’s jaw dropped, but he kept his mouth shut like a clam.

  

* * *

  “I don’t know what kind of wizard she is, but I know she’s got a nasty personality!” 

A sulking Rosalia grabbed Felix’s hand and spun him, scanning his body.

 “Young mages have to start by making a circle around their heart to circulate their magic. Usually, with some talent, the first circle comes naturally.” 

Her hand brushed against Felix’s chest.

 “But here, where the circle should be, someone else put another circle, and there is no room for it to form.” 

The duke returned, and the wizard of the tower who had been examining the necklace for him vouched for her identity and behavior, making her officially employed.

 “She’s a little short, but she’s a good girl, and she’s quite skilled.” 

Rosalia was unaware of the harsh assessment, but now that she was a teacher, she was determined to do her best, and the first step was to break the seal that bound Felix’s heart.

 “If it’s someone else’s magic, can you tell who they are?” “No. It’s impossible unless you’ve felt it yourself. We could try a tracing spell, and if we’re lucky, we might get it, but in Felix’s case, it’s going to be difficult.” 

Eileen, who was at Felix’s side, asked,

“Why?” “Well, that’s one of the reasons why the mage who put this seal on him has such a nasty personality. His heart is filled with the magic of dead people. Creepy!” 

Rosalia exclaimed exasperatedly, as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have. Felix stood stiffly, unable to comprehend the situation. Lucian beside him exclaimed in horror.

 “Is it okay for such a thing to be inside him?!” “Of course it’s not! It’s death in the most vital part of your body, and it won’t allow him to use magic or grow properly.” 

With that, the question of Felix’s unusually small size was answered. Eileen spoke up, her voice trembling.

 “So, you can untie it?” “Yes! Luckily, it wasn’t meant to be broken. If I push pure magic into it to heal it and slowly replace it with Felix’s unique magic, it shouldn’t take long to reach the first circle.” “Good, then do it quickly, the healing!” “Speaking of which.” 

Rosalia chuckled and scratched her cheek.

 “My magic won’t work. I have gypsy blood mixed in. Rinse, rinse.” “Then…” “But don’t worry, the cleanest magic power is that of a pristine elemental, and there are two of them here~” 

Even Eileen’s magic power came from a young spirit with the most vitality. It was in the best condition to be used for healing.

 “Good.” 

Eileen was genuinely relieved that she could heal the child. Inwardly, she felt impatient that the future had changed, and Felix was no longer able to use magic.

 

Feeling like a tooth had fallen out, Eileen turned to Rosalia.

 “What can we do to push back the magic?” 

Rosalia nodded, pleased with Eileen’s willingness to come forward, and grabbed both of them by the shoulders.

 “So~.” 

Following her lead, the two children turned to face each other.

 “Now, I want you two to give each other a big hug~” “What?” “No!!!” 

Lucian jumped up, listening intently.

 “No, not that… hug. Is there any other way?” “Huh? No, no, no. It’s the mildest process.” 

Eileen looked at Lucian in a rather cute way.

 “Sucks. I thought you were all grown up, but you’re still a baby.” 

Lucian didn’t say anything more, knowing full well that he’d be pushing his luck if he did, but he chewed his cheeks tightly, feeling his heart flutter for some reason.

 “Ha…” 

He glanced over to see Cordelia watching them with a subtle expression on her face, as if she had just chewed her tongue while eating. Feeling some kind of kinship, they stomped off together at Rosalia’s urging to go outside for a moment.

 “Hugging right away?” “Hold on, I’m going to draw a magic circle.” 

Eileen turned her head to Felix as Rosalia unfurled the circle on the greenhouse floor, trying to comfort him. How traumatizing to hear that a dead man’s magic was in his chest, she thought, and a kind word was in order.

 “…Felix?” 

Felix’s face was as white as usual, but somehow his ears were red. Eileen gave him a sympathetic glance as he clamped his mouth shut, unable to say anything, his pupils fluttering wildly.

 

‘Oh, my God, Look at how shocked he is.’

 “You can cry if you want to.” 

Encouragingly, Eileen reached out to touch his shoulder. A small hand was about to touch his shoulder.

 “…?! Rosalia!! My heart is beating so fast! Could it be that there is something wrong with the seal?” 

Rosalia, who had been furiously drawing a magic circle, turned her head to look at Felix. Felix, his ears flaming red, was behind Eileen, shaking his head furiously.

 

Rosalia smirked at the sight, thinking it was cute.

 “It’s okay, it has nothing to do with the seal.” “Then why…” “Actually there is. The magic of youth.” “What? I couldn’t hear it because it was so small.” 

Rosalia didn’t say anything more, just smiled quietly as she drew her magic circle.

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