[…What?]
Eliya's reaction after hearing a rough explanation was just as I expected.
[What did you just say… An Oni attacked the Guardian Train?]
“Yeah. So now we're stopped in the middle of the tracks.”
[No, that's ridiculous…….]
She was at a loss for words, unable to speak for a while.
It was only natural.
It was such an exceptional and absurd incident that she would have been justified in dismissing it as a ridiculous joke.
Still, as if to prove she hadn't earned her priest title for nothing, she soon came to her senses and asked questions to grasp the situation.
[…Any casualties?]
“There are a few dead… but this is still a good outcome. At least we can count them.”
[Oh no… For now… uh, right. The conductor.]
“……”
[Did something happen to the conductor as well?]
“No. The conductor is fine. He's kneeling next to me right now.”
[…Kneeling?]
Shrug—
“…He's being punished. I'm not sure, but it seems he did something wrong.”
[…Well, anyway. That's a relief for now. If the conductor is okay… he should be able to check for simple problems with the magic engine. If it's just an engine cool-down from a physical shock or a misalignment of the tracks, it should be able to restart soon.]
She seemed to be thinking about the situation quite optimistically.
Like it was just a simple component failure that happens from time to time.
Of course, since major problems with the Guardian Train rarely occurred, her optimism wasn't that strange.
…The problem was that the situation was not normal.
“But there's one minor problem.”
[…What is it?]
“Uh…….”
[…?]
“…It's nothing much. Just that some Oni ran off with all the Mana Stones used for fuel?”
Her voice stopped again.
This silence was a little longer.
“Still, it's a relief it's not broken, right?”
[…….]
When I threw out a joke to break the awkward silence that had fallen.
[How is that a relief, you carefree human!!!]
Eliya's roar, as if she had boiled and eaten a train's smokestack(?), erupted.
[I mean… what kind of Oni not only attacks a train but also takes the Mana Stones? Those are low-grade Mana Stones reprocessed for train operation, so their purity is diluted. A Magical Beast shouldn't even be able to handle them.]
“…Well. They must have their reasons, I guess.”
[Haa… Is this the time to be worrying about someone else's reasons?]
“……”
[Hold on a second.]
With those last words, I heard a clattering sound, and then the other side of the medal went quiet.
It seemed she had stepped away to do something.
‘…….’
I had a rough idea of what she went to do.
She was probably calculating our exact location, the latitude and longitude of where we were stranded.
Things like where the nearest town was, whether we could get Mana Stones there, and how long it would take to travel.
Of course, even if she didn't do anything herself, since The Order manages the Guardian Train, the person in charge would handle it the moment The Order confirmed the problem.
But depending on the local situation, it could take more time, and The Order's way of handling unexpected incidents like this was to get bogged down in procedures, slowing things down.
…From Eliya's perspective, who knew their sluggish process better than anyone, it was highly likely she would devise her own response, separate from The Order's.
And soon, a low mutter was heard from beyond the medal's communication magic circle.
[…No way. That can't be right.]
After that short mutter, Eliya went quiet again.
After some more time passed like that, a hollow sigh burst from Eliya's lips.
[…My god. Of all places, in the ‘Kunlun Zone’…….]
* * *
[…I'll give you a brief explanation.]
[The central continent of the Upper Plane can be broadly divided into two territories. The <Alliance Territory>, which belongs to the Church Alliance, and the <Demon King's Territory>, which belongs to the Demon King's Alliance.]
“…Right.”
[However, there are third regions that don't belong to either side. Ambiguous areas where Magical Beasts and humans still coexist. These third regions are called the <Unexplored Lands>.]
“……”
[If you've listened this far, you can probably guess, but Murim's <Kunlun Zone> also belongs to these 'Unexplored Lands'. It's also the 'only' Unexplored Land that exists within Murim's territory.]
Pfft—
It was a place I knew perfectly well, even without needing an explanation.
Kunlun.
To add one thing to her words… the Kunlun Zone wasn't an area that could be explained simply by the classification 'Unexplored Land'.
It was the sanctuary where the Constellation who once belonged to Murim, the ‘Master of the Western Peach Orchard’, had made her abode.
A place where the orchard of Peaches of Immortality, said to bring eternal youth and longevity, existed.
Because in the past, this very place, 'Kunlun', was a space that strictly belonged to the territory of the 'Murim Empire'.
…Though at the present time, she had moved the entire Kunlun mountain range, turning it into a wilderness of Magical Beasts where unsubjugated Magical Beasts from within Murim hid.
Once, this land of Kunlun was a land that shone more brilliantly than any other land in Murim, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Kkadeuk—
[…Such bad luck. To be stranded in an Unexplored Land of all the possible transit points in the vast lands of Murim… This is serious.]
“……”
[There won't be any private homes nearby, and waiting for a rescue team to be dispatched from The Order is too great a risk…….]
Indeed.
Just as Eliya said, being unexpectedly stranded in the 'Kunlun Zone' was a pretty big deal.
It wasn't on the level of the Demon King's Army's territory, the 'Demon King's Territory', where Magical Beasts live, or the battlefields of the War against Demons where combat is ongoing in real-time, but it was a relatively dangerous place since it was where Magical Beasts yet to be subjugated within The Order's territory gathered.
It was difficult to hope for an immediate rescue team.
And as the name 'Unexplored Land' suggests, it was an area where not even a chapel of The Order existed, so it was difficult to even grasp the location of specific geographical features.
For this many unprepared humans to be sprawled out was no different from advertising 'come and get me' to a pack of Magical Beasts.
It was only because it was night that they were less conspicuous; if it were daytime, who knows how many Magical Beast or human corpses would have been buried by now.
“…How about this, Eliya.”
…Of course, that didn't mean there was no way out.
If there were, I wouldn't have come here.
[…Yes?]
“Anyway, we just need to get fuel and go as far as we can to a place where we can get support, right? It doesn't have to be the Mana Stones the Oni stole.”
[Well, yes. Even if it's not that far, if we can just get to a place with a chapel of The Order, it wouldn't be difficult to receive emergency support…….]
Eliya, who seemed to have realized what I was about to say, stopped mid-sentence and urgently asked in a louder voice.
[…Don't tell me, Hero-nim, are you thinking of mining raw Mana Stones from the Magical Beasts of the Kunlun Zone right now?]
“Oh. As expected, you catch on quick.”
Ssk—
Hearing my words, Loxy glanced at the conductor, who was holding up both his arms.
“…I-it's possible. The Mana Stones used in the Guardian Train go through a special processing procedure, but the process is ultimately for optimization… The efficiency will be a bit lower, but we can still run the engine using the raw stones.”
“…He says it is.”
“Okay. Then the method is fine. Does anyone here have any objecti—”
Before I could even finish my sentence, Eliya's shriek—'bbaeaek'—came from beyond the medal.
[You can't!!!]
“……”
[Do you think Mana Stones just pop out of any Magical Beast you beat up? To extract a Mana Stone from a living Magical Beast, it has to be at least a Named-class Magical Beast, and you two Hero candidates are going to hunt a Named-class Magical Beast?]
Named.
It's true that their class was lower compared to the Knight-class Magical Beasts belonging to the Demon King's direct knight order, or the titled demons who symbolized each Demon King's Territory as a core force of the Demon King's Army.
But compared to ordinary non-named Magical Beasts, a Named Magical Beast was a monster on a whole other level.
And the very thing that proved this difference was the possession of a Mana Stone within their body.
In the first place, the role of a Hero in the War against Demons was to deal with Named-class and higher Magical Beasts that couldn't be fought with soldiers' weapons.
There could be no disagreement about their strength.
[Even 1-star Heroes who have been officially ordained as Heroes don't make reckless attempts to hunt a Named alone. Especially in a place without The Order's infrastructure properly in place… It's ridiculous talk.]
“……”
[It would be a much more realistic alternative to just find the Oni that took the Mana Stones…….]
She was dismissing my opinion of mining a new Mana Stone and suggesting another alternative, but her words were immediately cut off by Jerry.
“…The Oni that took the Mana Stones had a special appearance, with black horns. Its speed and physical abilities were also distinct from a typical Oni.”
[No…….]
“…That Oni is also presumed to be a Magical Beast classified as a Named. Therefore… I don't think there's much of a difference between what you said and that alternative.”
[Then…….]
For Eliya, who was no doubt clutching her head even though I couldn't see her, I came to a conclusion around that point.
“Anyway, the conclusion is set. Whether we find the Oni or find a Named-class Magical Beast, we have to find something before daybreak, right?”
[…….]
Eliya, who clearly must have had complaints, also didn't open her mouth this time.
It was because she too had realized by this point.
That there was no other particularly good solution besides the one I suggested.
[…For now, then, I'll report this on my end and look for other methods. Prioritize safety… and try what Hero-nim suggested.]
“Okay. I'm hanging up then.”
Ttuk—
After ending the communication magic with Eliya like that, the surroundings fell silent for a moment.
Jerry broke the silence with a question.
“…You have something in mind, I assume?”
And my answer to that was short and concise.
“Of course.”
Loxy's half-lidded eyes darted between the two of us as she chimed in.
“…You two get along so well, don't you? Anyone would think I'm the one you just met today.”
“…It's just your imagination.”
“It's just your imagination.”
“……”