Chapter 65. Reappearance (2)
Enoch's unexpected suggestion.
A moment of silence filled the interior of the vehicle.
The mages of the family clearly understood the meaning inherent in the suggestion he had just uttered.
Enoch, the direct descendant, who had been known as a non-magic user until now.
How he had succeeded in the Exemption Mission was a question every citizen of the Magic Empire would have.
Currently, various speculations were running rampant regarding him.
Above all, whether he, who was cornered and facing disownment, had truly resorted to the forbidden 'Black Magic' was a matter everyone might suspect at least once.
If, perchance, a direct descendant of a Main House had dabbled in forbidden black magic, it would be an incident that could shake not only Elsyde but the entire Magic Empire.
Yet, just moments ago, Enoch had offered to reveal his own doubts about himself to Teano as collateral for implementing his strategy.
Moreover, his negotiating counterpart was the Deputy Commander of Nemesis.
The Nemesis Knight Order was a neutral organization of the Main House dedicated to upholding the precepts of the Elsyde family.
Amidst this, Enoch's suggestion, receiving the focus of both internal and external family doubts, would be quite appealing to Teano, the Deputy Commander.
In such a situation.
"...Certainly."
The knight in the black uniform, alone in the silence everyone maintained, slowly opened her mouth.
"It's a rather intriguing proposition, but."
Teano lowered her eyelashes and shook her head.
"That is not something I can consider in deciding the strategy for this mission, Young Master."
She looked directly at Enoch and spoke.
"Of course, since you brought it up yourself, I know you are confident of success."
"Then?"
"It's too reckless a strategy."
Teano added.
"If, by any chance. Should you become isolated and fall into danger while proceeding with that strategy, Young Master Enoch, we would have no means of rescue whatsoever."
The terrain of the underground tunnels made location tracking difficult.
Even if things went wrong, the possibility of failing to rescue Enoch, a direct descendant, in time was very high.
"It is good to achieve merit in a joint mission as a direct descendant of Elsyde, but your life would be in danger."
"I wasn't unaware of that when I said it."
At my words, Teano's gaze hardened slightly for a moment.
The intention behind my words was clear.
"Surely not."
Her eyes, which had been calm until now, widened slightly. She asked back in a slightly flustered tone.
"Are you saying... you do not intend to consider a rescue?"
"That is correct."
I answered calmly.
For a moment, Teano tilted her head as if slightly puzzled.
Her eyes, which had been observing me until now, met mine, escaping the shadow of her hat for the first time.
"Why would the Young Master go to such lengths?"
Teano asked, sounding puzzled.
"No matter how joint a mission it is, the Young Master wouldn't have a reason to risk this much, would he?"
Indeed, thinking about it, her words were true.
Especially in a family joint mission, a direct descendant was a key figure, comparable to a king in chess.
They were the family's top priority for protection.
Naturally, if the fact that a direct descendant was severely injured or had died became public, it would be a devastating blow to the Main House, a catastrophe of irreversible magnitude.
There was absolutely no reason for a direct descendant, whose life was protected in such a way, to willingly step into the jaws of death.
However, I had declared that I would not expect rescue even if I became endangered.
No matter how confident I was in the strategy. There was no reason for a direct descendant, who didn't even have a single Follower Family, to push himself this hard.
...But why?
Teano's question, containing that obvious doubt.
At her words, I remained silent for a moment. And after a short while, I slightly opened my mouth.
"...It may not be much of a reason, but."
I glanced towards the window and added.
"Going through the Exemption Mission until now, I've seen the atrocities committed by black magic users with my own two eyes."
On the windowpane, where the scenery outside the vehicle flashed by.
The images of the various people I had seen trapped in Vendetta's test tubes, unconscious, briefly flickered before my eyes.
Recalling the pitiable sight of the children from the orphanage who had burst into tears in Lien's arms and mine previously, I added extremely briefly.
"I want to stop the heinous acts of black magic users."
The moment she heard my answer, Teano's eyes widened.
In her gaze, a flicker of emotion crossed for just a fleeting moment.
"Is... that so."
Meanwhile, seeing Teano's momentary agitation, the corners of my mouth lifted slightly, so little that no one noticed.
'This much should be a reasonably convincing reason, I thought.'
Though I spoke with a rather dramatic tone, I naturally hadn't devised this strategy without any thought.
I knew.
That there would be someone who would definitely come to rescue me, no matter what situation I was in.
'Lien.'
Enoch's only maid.
I glanced at her.
Lien was quietly watching me with her usual cold, silver-blue eyes.
"...Understood, then."
Teano nodded slightly and said.
"If that is truly what you wish, Young Master Enoch."
It was done. I smiled faintly. I had obtained permission for solo action from Teano.
Now, only one thing remained.
The most crucial 'key figure' was needed.
And the key figure for this strategy was, naturally, none other than someone here...
"You heard, right? Sirocco."
A pair of twitching wolf ears on the front seat responded to my call, and her tail shot straight up between her ears.
"Yeah."
Sirocco was kneeling on the seat, having turned her body completely to listen intently to the conversation.
"To save all the Beast-kin of your village, there's something you absolutely must do."
Meeting her gaze, I continued speaking.
"I have a plan. Follow it."
At my words, Sirocco quietly bowed her head, lost in thought for a moment.
Everyone in the vehicle was watching them.
After a brief silence flowed between the two. Sirocco slowly opened her mouth.
"...Earlier at the fortress, the reason I followed your plan was because if things got dangerous, only I would be in danger."
She clenched her small fist gripping the back of the seat and said.
"But this time is different. If this goes wrong, all our tribe members will be in danger."
"That's right."
I didn't deny it.
Sirocco slowly raised her head. And then, looking at me with clear eyes, she opened her mouth.
"Then conversely, I want to ask you."
Sirocco asked with a serious gaze.
"If I follow the strategy you've made this time, can you definitely save our village people?"
I looked back at her and gave a brief, definite answer.
"If you can trust me."
"Okay."
Sirocco nodded slightly.
"Then. I'll trust you."
I looked back at her for a moment.
Suddenly, the Sirocco from the original work, whose expression had been shadowed, faintly overlapped with her bright, ruby-like eyes.
Unconsciously, a desperate and pure emotion, which she, still young, wasn't aware of, was visible in Sirocco's eyes.
—Responsibility.
At that moment, I realized anew.
How great a sense of responsibility she unconsciously held for her tribe at such a young age.
And what exactly it meant for such a Sirocco to declare, 'I will trust you'.
...It was a somewhat strange feeling.
To be receiving trust right before my eyes from the character I had played the most in the original work.
Realizing that fact, I quietly opened my mouth.
"There's only one thing you need to do this time."
Sirocco's ears twitched once.
I asked her back.
"Earlier, your resolve hasn't changed, has it?"
Instead of an answer.
Sirocco's tail, wagged slightly.
***
Midnight.
The time when the darkness of night hid all the ugly things in the world.
But the scene of the deep night that should have been like that was being brutally violated by supernatural light.
- Translucent green light streaks seeping from the ground.
I slowly raised my head.
Before my eyes, a translucent cluster of light rising from beneath the Beast-kin's massive village into the night sky was spread out, like the aurora of the polar regions.
Perhaps because it was night, the translucent green light curtains rising into the dark sky looked mysterious and even majestic.
Watching that scene for a moment, Teano's explanation from earlier crossed my mind.
[Perhaps, it's the light from a large-scale magic circle leaking out, which Vendetta intends to use for 'human experimentation'.]
I soon turned my head and looked ahead. There was no time to delay any further.
Avoiding the eyes of the Vendetta forces deployed throughout the village, I quickly moved by entering a dark alleyway.
As I rapidly traversed the narrow path, my eyes caught something.
Beast-kin lying unconscious here and there.
Parents collapsed, embracing their children as if to protect them.
An old man who seemed to have stumbled while carrying groceries from the market.
Young Beast-kin boys and girls who had been playing in the playground with their friends, collapsed as if piling on top of each other.
All of those Beast-kin were lying unconscious on the cold ground in the darkness of midnight.
"......"
Looking at them with eyes deeply沉浸 in the darkness, I tightly clutched the cloth bag.
In the official history of the original work, they met a terrible end, never waking up to tomorrow morning just like that.
And perhaps soon, they would find out.
Whether they would meet their fated end.
Or whether they could greet the dawn of tomorrow.
That future—
I resolved silently.
—I will create.
For my goals, too, the tragic fate of the Beast-kin had to be changed.
It certainly wouldn't be easy.
But I wasn't alone now. The strategy Teano had spoken of flashed through my mind.
[Upon arrival at the village, the entire unit will disperse.]
She explained the strategy with a calm expression.
[We, Nemesis and the other mages of the family, will join the waiting teams holding out in the village, maximally drawing the attention of Vendetta combatants in various locations, and in the meantime, secure as many Beast-kin as possible.]
Just after the contents of the strategy, which I had received from Teano inside the vehicle before coming here, flashed through my mind.
Suddenly, shouts erupted from a building beside me as I was passing, along with signs of people.
"─There they are! The Elsyde forces are gathering!"
"Reinforce quickly! Drive them out!"
I heard the voices of Vendetta mages moving nearby and shouting.
I quickly leaned my back against a wall and hid.
Soon, a group of footsteps bustled out of the building and moved away beyond the alleys.
The Vendetta forces' attention was being drawn.
It was according to Teano's plan I had heard earlier.
[While the enemy's attention is focused on our personnel, you, Young Master Enoch, should enter the underground area.]
Quietly thanking the Elsyde mages who were likely continuing their battles in various locations, I hid in the darkness for a while and ran.
Finally reaching an alley in the central part of the village.
The back of the village's wide square came into view.
I saw the entrance to a massive passage solidly built with old concrete and steel reinforcements.
—Underground Residential Area.
From beneath that giant underground area I had seen during the day, the light of green mana was dazzlingly spilling out.
'As expected, it's Tantalus's mana.'
I knew because I had seen his mana before in Leopold's basement.
Now, all that remained was to reach the interior of the Beast-kin village's underground residential area where he was.
[However, please be cautious during the operation, Young Master Enoch.]
Suddenly, Teano's warning crossed my mind.
[Vendetta won't just stand by either.]
Thud.
At that moment, I suddenly stopped my steps in the alleyway not far from the entrance to the underground area.
In the darkness just ahead of the alley.
Against the backdrop of the green light cluster spewing from the ground, the silhouette of a large Beast-kin slowly emerged.
"...It seems you managed to stay alive, direct descendant of Elsyde."
Shaggy hair resembling a gray lion's mane.
A Beast-kin warrior with bulging, hideously glowing green veins on his thick, muscular forearms, perhaps a side effect of the Magical Beastification reagent injected at the fortress.
Leontos stood tall, barring the way.
"I had hoped to avoid unnecessary casualties, but."
He pointed his characteristic Unique Magic Gear, resembling a stone axe, towards me with a rough hand and spoke.
"We can no longer let you interfere with Vendetta's plan. That is the condition of our contract."
Between the coarse hair resembling a lion's mane. Leontos's two yellow eyes glowed hideously.
"This time, I will definitely kill you."
He spoke as if spitting, and slowly lowered his stance.
But on the contrary, I stood calmly facing him with a placid expression, let alone drawing my sword.
Seeing that, Leontos's brow twitched.
"Draw your Unique Magic Gear! Direct descendant of Elsyde!"
To me, who was still not responding, Leontos roared fiercely.
"No longer will you...!"
Whooosh!
But before he could even finish his sentence.
From Leontos's side, someone's two feet, flying at incredible speed, slammed into his flank as if piercing it.
Thwack!
A perfectly executed dropkick, impressive enough to elicit admiration, landed.
For a moment, with a dull impact sound that seemed to burst the eardrums, his massive body was sent flying sideways in its entirety.
"Khhuk!"
Leontos, who had been jabbering away spiritedly, was thrown back violently, rolling several times on the ground, before crashing spectacularly, smashing a market's wooden stall.
A tremendous cloud of dust and wood fragments burst forth.
And beyond that, someone shouted defiantly.
"Hmph! Who said anything about the future of the tribe?!"
The girl who had kicked him away with a dropkick stood tall amidst the rising dust, shouting energetically.
Seeing the twitching red wolf ears revealed in the settling dust, I smiled faintly.
Sirocco.
She had run at full speed towards Leontos and kicked him with both feet.
"I'm the Chieftain's successor!"
Sirocco lifted her chin slightly and said.
"If you're going to babble about the tribe's future or whatever, get permission from me first!"
The girl who had been shocked at the fortress was nowhere to be seen.
Sirocco glanced at me.
"Is this good enough?"
"Yes."
The strategy I had told her inside the strategy vehicle earlier. The conversation from that time flashed through my mind.
[Sirocco. You, face Leontos alone.]
What Tantalus wanted was the success of the experiment.
[Most of Vendetta will try to stop the Elsyde members who are trying to rescue the Beast-kin, who are the experimental materials.]
[Uh-huh, is that so? It's difficult.]
Sirocco tilted her head.
[The possibility is high. But if we approach the underground tunnels, they won't just watch.]
Vendetta would engage in a war of attrition, stalling for time by preventing the rescue of the Beast-kin rather than intercepting Elsyde.
Naturally, from their perspective, their goal would be to protect the caster, Tantalus, and buy time until he activated the magic circle to transform the Beast-kin into Magical Beasts.
Therefore, Vendetta would try to intercept those 'targeting Tantalus' and block their approach.
And who was suitable for that role?
[They will probably use Leontos.]
Leontos was a powerful force among them.
As he was also an excellent Beast-kin warrior, he possessed outstanding mobility based on body enhancement magic.
In other words, he was one of the few magic users capable of handling sudden situations in a chaotic battlefield.
Therefore, from Vendetta's perspective, he would be the best card to tie up enemies approaching Tantalus.
[Well, I get it roughly.]
Sirocco slowly raised her face.
[So, you're telling me to stop Leontos, right?]
[That's right.]
[Okay, I wanted to anyway!]
As if recalling the resolve she had made at the fortress, she smiled and slowly opened her mouth.
[Leontos is─]
And now, Sirocco, blocking Leontos, raised her head and declared softly.
"─I'll stop him."
I nodded. Everything was proceeding according to my plan so far.
'Currently, Nemesis and the other mages are scattered, focusing on distracting Vendetta.'
In this situation, there would be no one more suitable than Sirocco to stop Leontos, who had come to tie us down.
There was a reason for having such confidence.
'Above all, I understand all of Sirocco's movements!'
Sirocco was the main character I had played for most of the long time walking the path of an old-timer in the original work.
I could confidently assert that no one in this world knew her better than I did.
That's why I knew.
'Even the current Sirocco. If she puts in her full effort, she won't lose to someone like Leontos.'
Of course, the Sirocco I knew was the Sirocco of 5 years later. Naturally, the current her was younger and less experienced than in the original work.
'However, Sirocco is currently a genius who has reached Rank 10.'
Even with the buff from the Magical Beastification reagent, I didn't think she would lose to Leontos.
Between a magic user who had crossed the wall of Rank 10 and those who had not, there was a gap that could not be filled to that extent.
Standing behind Sirocco, who was directly confronting Leontos, I spoke briefly.
"I'm counting on you."
"Okay!"
I immediately turned my body. My figure rapidly disappeared into the darkness of the alleys between the nearby buildings.
"Direct descendant, where are you going!"
Seeing that, Leontos also tried to chase after me in a hurry.
But the next moment, he stopped his legs with a jolt.
—Shh.
Because Sirocco had stepped forward, blocking him.
Her long hair fluttered in the night wind, obscuring the sight of my figure moving away beyond Leontos's vision.
"...Move aside, young Chieftain successor."
Leontos spoke roughly to the small girl.
But Sirocco placed both hands on her waist and responded as if lightly teasing.
"Heh, I won't move aside for a pushover."
"I don't want to kill a child."
Sirocco replied with a bored expression.
"If you stop acting like an adult, I might consider it?"
"What?"
"Didn't you hear? Stop pretending to be an adult."
Sirocco replied, her eyes glowing bright red.
"Attacking innocent people however you want, and insisting it's for the future. Isn't that behavior worse than a child's?"
Leontos growled.
"You still know nothing, young Chieftain successor."
Grind.
He said, the veins bulging in the hand gripping his Unique Magic Gear.
"You are too young to understand everything."
"Hmph, I don't need to understand it anyway?"
Sirocco shot back, looking directly at him.
"Anyone can see you're just throwing a tantrum."
"What did you say?"
Leontos's expression hardened menacingly.
Meanwhile, Sirocco tilted her head and said.
"Aren't you just tormenting innocent people however you want and insisting it's for the future?"
"There's no time for explanations, young Chieftain successor."
Leontos spoke to her with a significant expression, his eyes glowing, clenching his teeth.
"This is the only path for our Beast-kin...!"
"If that were truly for the tribe."
Sirocco cut him off and said softly.
"You would have explained it first."
Leontos intimidatingly bared his fangs.
But Sirocco, as if openly provoking him, lightly covered her mouth and scoffed.
"Pfft! But now you're saying there's no time to persuade? Seriously, it's not even a child throwing a tantrum. What is that?"
Leontos shouted, pointing his Unique Magic Gear.
"Shut up! You brat who knows nothing!"
Sirocco replied with a vexing laugh.
"Heh-heh~ You get really worked up just by a brat's words, huh?"
Sirocco slightly bent one leg at the knee and lifted it sideways.
Below her short lower garments fluttering in the night wind. Her white, smooth leg and flexible thigh were revealed.
Tap.
Lightly tapping the tip of her lifted foot on the ground, she softly murmured.
"...You really aren't an adult."
Whirring-
Responding to Sirocco's leg movement, a crimson ring of mana rotated and formed around her ankle.
The mana on her ankle, shining brightly like a dancer's anklet, greatly enhanced her physical abilities.
"So bring it on! You big brat!"
Sirocco's wolf tail and ears, ready for battle, stood stiffly erect with intense fighting spirit.
Leontos, too, seemed to have reached the limit of his patience, aiming his Unique Magic Gear and roaring back.
"You brat who knows nothing of the world!"
CRASH!
The next moment, the ground where the two Beast-kin were standing simultaneously collapsed. A dust cloud exploded violently.
Soon, with incredible speed, leaving behind afterimages, the figures of the two Beast-kin rushed at each other.
The night in the village where the last Beast-kin of the Empire gathered.
Two incompatible futures began to clash.