Hell Mode: Volume 7, page 20
Before long, fire had spread all the way through the large pile of wood, and it was burning like a campfire. Allen then pulled hunks of meat still on the bone out of Storage and skewered them on a branch over the fire to roast.
“This is delicious!”
Dogora bit into the cooked meat. It seemed that no matter what he ate, he always found it to be delicious. Even today, he had done nothing but rock back and forth atop the Bird B, yet he still had an insatiable appetite.
Allen closely inspected Dogora’s body, which had been growing both in height and in girth. Rather than becoming an agile fighter who could take advantage of his mobility, it seemed that his physique was more suited to a heavy warrior type.
“I wonder what’s going on with the other teams. Is Keel’s team still fighting?” Cecil asked.
“No, the battle is over. But it seems they took some time to heal the wounded soldiers and plant Gold Beans around the fortress,” Allen replied.
According to information shared earlier by Merus, Keel’s team had yet to reach their destination. The ostensible reason was that they were getting the fortress and soldiers ready to fight, but in truth, it was because the map they were promised had not managed to get prepared overnight. As a result, Krena found herself with some time on her hands, which she spent enjoying some sparring and practicing with the soldiers.
“Looks like Krena is the same as ever,” Dogora said.
“Thanks to that, though, they said they would be able to secure a fighting force that will help them annihilate the daemonic incarnations. Since the country’s main army should be arriving at the fortress where Keel and the others are waiting within the next day, Krena has been sparring with the soldiers to see who’s strong enough to join them on their advance team.”
“Heh, sounds like they’re doing a great job.”
Keel is doing his best in negotiating and making proposals. You need to hang in there and do your best too, Dogora, Allen thought, silently offering words of encouragement to his friend.
“It seems that Sophie and the others who went to the east have also begun to help the nearby towns.”
It was just this morning that Sophie and the others had earned the cooperation of the dark elf village of Fabraaze and opened a refugee center not far outside it. When she had gone to check in on the situation in the early afternoon, she was told by a dark elf elder that he had formed a select party to hunt daemonic incarnations.
Apparently, the dark elves had entrusted Elf Princess Sophie with the task of hunting daemonic incarnations, liberating neighboring cities, and directing refugees to shelters as needed. However, they seemed interested in providing more than just shelter, and the elder had said that he had organized the strongest army in the village and would dispatch it to subdue the daemonic incarnations. Sophie agreed with the proposal and expressed her gratitude. That same afternoon, they had set up a united front for the first time, liberating an oasis city that had managed to withstand the monsters’ attack. Tam-Tam’s Eagle Mode’s mobility and carrying capacity had helped with that.
Allen asked the Spirit A to show him Sophie and the others’ fight, and what he saw was Sophie, Volmaar, and Meruru’s Tam-Tam fighting off monsters clinging to adobe walls. There were several scenes where it was necessary for Sophie to give all of her MP to the spirits, and the fact that they were the first to show off their strong fighting abilities was probably what had won them the cooperation of the dark elves.
“Sophie seems to be the same as usual,” Cecil remarked.
“Hmm. Unlike me, Sophie tends to be quite calculating,” Allen replied.
Cecil noticed that Allen had used the word “calculating” in lieu of “cunning.” She let out a sigh, commenting under her breath that he was no different.
Come to think of it, King Olvahs is quite an extraordinary person.
King Olvahs had allowed them to open a shelter and provided them with a map after a single meeting. However, Allen predicted that this was not because he was interested in showing any kind of charity, but rather because he wanted his village to maintain its status even after things had settled down.
If Sophie and the others were able to rescue other towns in the Muharino Desert on their own, it could lead to the interpretation that the dark elf village had abandoned all responsibility and left the situation to someone else for the sake of their own protection. Were that to happen, it could prove quite embarrassing among city-states, and some of the rescued settlements might close their gates to trade with Fabraaze. Even if they were to continue to be able to trade, they also risked being taken advantage of
Allen figured that if King Olvahs, the leader of the dark elf village, had thought that far ahead, or if he had merely sensed the possibility of what could come and decided to show a willingness to help from the beginning, then he was not to be underestimated.
I’d expect no less from the guy who was involved in fighting against the elves for thousands of years. I wonder what will happen in the future in a battle of wits between Sophie and Olvahs...
“Does this mean we have to go all the way to western limit of the continent?” Dogora asked.
Considering that Sophie and Keel had had to go all the way to the eastern and southern limits, respectively, before finally arriving at the points where the pillars of light originated, Dogora’s prediction was a definite possibility.
“If it’s farther west than here, I’m pretty sure that’ll take us to the Kingdom of Crevelle.”
On the west side of the continent where the Union was located, countless rivers of varying sizes flowed from the central mountain range out into the sea. These rivers formed wetlands and forests as they moved westward, ending on a jagged coastline dotted with coves. A country called Crevelle was located there, and most of its inhabitants were said to be fishkin. Despite hearing rumors about them, Allen and his friends had never seen a fishkin. They even recalled the name having been mentioned back at the Academy, though they had not had the opportunity to learn about them in detail.
“Ah, yes, the fishkin kingdom. Beast Princess Shia apparently headed there.” Or at least, that was what Allen had heard from the cardinal.
“That was just after she caught Pontiff Gushara,” Cecil noted, “so it’s already been about a month. I hope she’s okay.”
If that was where the pillar of light originated from, it was almost guaranteed to be a terrifying place where daemonic incarnations and other monsters ran rampant.
“Though they may not be on the same level as the Ten Heroic Beasts, she’s still in charge of a pretty elite force, so I imagine she should be fine.”
The strength of the daemonic incarnations varied from individual to individual, but they tended to range between Rank B and Rank C. Most of them were accompanied by Rank A monsters, however. But Allen figured that Shia, known as the War Princess, was likely still alive, especially with her elite squad in tow. Of course, he had never actually met her and knew nothing about her stats or skills, so it might have been nothing more than wishful thinking.
“But why did she go to the Kingdom of Crevelle after capturing the founder of the heretical cult? Do you think she’s also after the Holy Orbs of Macris?” Cecil asked.
“I mean, she may be known as the War Princess, but she’s still a princess at the end of the day.” Allen doubted that was the reason, but he tentatively entertained the possibility for the moment.
“I knew it!” Cecil shouted excitedly. “I’d guessed that the Holy Orbs of Macris would be in the Kingdom of Crevelle if they really existed!”
“Hey, could you at least talk in a way that I can understand?”
Dogora seemed to be struggling to keep up with the conversation, so Allen decided to put a stop to it.
“No, not right now. This isn’t the place to discuss such matters.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Now’s not the time is all I’m saying. I’ll tell you the next time we’re alone. Or maybe you can ask Keel. He might know.”
“Huh?”
Dogora was confused as to what was going on. Allen really wanted to explain the details of the Holy Orbs of Macris, but that would mean bringing up the Prostia Empire and the Tears of the Holy Fish Macris in front of Cecil. To avoid doing so, he needed Dogora to be satisfied with his nonanswer for the time being.
Since Allen was once a servant of a noble family, he was aware of the unspoken rule that a man must not talk to a woman about the Prostia Empire and the Tears of the Holy Fish Macris. It was a popular topic among aristocrats and the wealthy, but since men tended to avoid the topic, women either had to ask other women or read about it in books. Therefore, in Ratash’s noble households, there was more than one copy of a picture book with a title like The Story of the Prostia Empire, which would be read to the nobles’ daughters by their mothers, sisters, and wet nurses.
Cecil also loved this picture book. When she had learned that Allen could read, she had ordered him to read it and tell her his thoughts. Hence, Allen could still remember at least a rough summary of the book.
Once upon a time, there was a man named Macris, who was the crown prince of the Prostia Empire. Triggered by a certain event, he met a girl, Deirdre, who lived in a rural village on the outskirts of the empire and fell in love with her. Macris confessed his love to Deirdre, but she turned him away, saying that their respective statuses were just too different. However, deep in her heart, she also was in love with him, and after they met time and again, they pledged their love to each other. There were several twists and turns, such as his father, the emperor, opposing their relationship and them being separated due to various circumstances, but the bond between the two lovers only deepened, refusing to break. Finally, the emperor acknowledged the relationship between the two, and it came to the point that they received blessings from all over the empire.
Alas, that was not their happily ever after. Many years earlier, a vicious monster had been sealed in the territorial waters of the Prostia Empire, but it escaped from the seal just before Macris and Deirdre’s wedding and went on a rampage that threatened to destroy the empire. In order to protect his beloved Deirdre and the future of the empire in which he planned to live with her, Macris went to the temple of Aqua, the God of Water, and asked for the power to fight this monster. His wish was granted and he heard the voice of Water God Aqua, but the water god told him that he would be turned into a fish in exchange for the gift of power. Macris accepted this, and when he was transformed into a huge fish, he went to battle the monster. After a desperate battle, he succeeded in sealing the monster once again.
However, Macris did not tell Deirdre about his contract with Water God Aqua. With his battle finished, he landed at the feet of his beloved, but she ran away in fear at the sight of the giant fish. Knowing that he would never be with Deirdre again, Macris shed large tears before leaving for distant waters. Thus, Holy Fish Macris remained in the sea, where he still swam all by his lonesome, protecting the Prostia Empire and Deirdre. The tears he left behind crystallized and were kept by Deirdre, who regretted hurting the man she loved, as treasures of the Prostia Empire.
That was the story as Allen recalled it. After he had finished reading it to her, Cecil had been adamant that he give her his impressions, so he had done just that.
“This picture book details how the royal family will protect even a girl from the frontier so long as she is a citizen under them, and because it serves as a model for the ideal relationship between the royal family and the people, it is popular among the nobility and the rich. Also, given that the two weren’t together in the end, the story is also careful to not deny the class system.”
When he had said that, the smile had immediately faded from Cecil’s face. Her expression had become one of fury as she proceeded to beat him up. The mere memory of the story made one sad, and talking about it would bring one to tears. It was not unlike how, in his past life as Kenichi, there had been a popular location that every girl wanted to visit at least once in their lives but that he himself had never gone to. It seemed that even in this world, he still could not understand such romanticized dreams.
Back in the Academy, Allen learned that the Prostia Empire still existed. Surprisingly, it was a large empire at the bottom of the sea south of the Central Continent. There were few countries that had any sort of direct diplomatic relations with it, so the details were mostly unknown, but it was apparently comparable in size to the Empire of Giamut.
Additionally, although Allen did not know if they were the same ones that appeared in The Story of the Prostia Empire, there were jewels called the Tears of the Holy Fish Macris, or the Holy Orbs of Macris, which were extremely valuable to the fishkin. There had even been cases of these jewels being sold, however the sale prices had been so high that Allen and his friends would not have been able to afford one even with the money they had earned in the Rank S dungeon. However, some of them had indeed been sold, and with the huge amount of money the fishkin had obtained, they had bought land above the sea and founded the Kingdom of Crevelle.
“Holy Orbs of Macris apparently cost millions of gold coins. There’s no way we could buy one,” Allen stated bluntly.
Cecil turned red and lashed out at that. “Huh?! ‘Buy one’?! What are you talking about?! I’m a sensible person too, you know! But anyway, are there any problems in the Kingdom of Crevelle?”
You liar. I could see your eyes sparkling at the thought.
Allen decided to keep his thoughts to himself now that the conversation was back on track.
“Seems like there are,” he continued. “The Kingdom of Crevelle is a vassal state of the Prostia Empire, and it seems that they were dissatisfied with this arrangement. There was even talk that a civil war could break out.”
Tears of the Holy Fish Macris were apparently traded by the Kingdom of Crevelle via the Prostia Empire, or so Allen had heard from the cardinal. What happened in the Republic of Carlonea might have also been happening there, and in addition, Princess Shia had supposedly headed for the Kingdom of Crevelle after she had heard about the situation.
“Then, Princess Shia went to the Kingdom of Crevelle to try to do something about it?”
“You catch on quick, Dogora. That’s the natural assumption.”
“Right, and if there’s a Demonic Deity there, that means there’s a battle awaiting us.” Cecil stopped eating and spoke in hushed tones, the expression of a girl who longed for her picture book fading away into a more serious one, as if she were deep in thought.
Allen and his friends all shared the same goal of fighting against the Demon Lord Army, though their personal goals and values all differed. Allen saw no problem with this and felt that his peers’ values should be respected.
Sophie believed in the prophecies of the spirit gods and strove to act in a manner befitting a princess by being one who gave hope to people in distress, particularly the elves. Keel had a strong sense of justice and could not abandon those in trouble, but as the head of the Carnel family, he had ultimately decided that he would take care of his sister and his servants who had joined him. He prioritized the happiness of his young servants.
Meruru, too, valued her family. Her father was a low-ranking soldier in the Baukisian military, and her older brothers also served as soldiers, fighting for their family and country. Meruru’s goal was to support her family, and she fought against the Demon Lord Army in the hopes that the day would come when such fighting would no longer be necessary. On the other hand, Krena and Dogora, who wanted to fulfill their childhood dreams of becoming heroes, wished to fight. They looked forward to growing in battle and never missed a single day of training.
In Cecil’s case, she was driven by revenge for the loss of her older brother Mihai, whom she cherished, loved, and idealized.
That was in the letter too.
Viscount Granvelle had shown Allen the last letter his eldest son, Mihai, had sent him. It began with him expressing his gratitude to his parents for raising him, then went on to say that he wanted Thomas to take care of the Granvelle family, that he worried about Cecil, and that he was sorry for not being able to come home soon. It had ended with a request to tell Allen to protect Cecil.
Mihai had been a kindhearted young man who had often sent letters like that, and Cecil, who greatly admired her older brother, possibly was the most resolved when it came to fighting with her life on the line. Even now, her face, illuminated by the glow of the bonfire, reflected that determination.
“Apparently, the Granvelle family will be granted the title of count this year. Perhaps you should go check in on them once this is all over with,” Allen suggested. He spoke as though he was just thinking about what the Gamers should do once the battle ended.
Currently, House Granvelle was growing its presence in the Kingdom of Ratash. Mithril mining was at its peak, and their daughter, Cecil, had been mentioned by name in a letter sent to the royal family by the queen of Rohzenheim, the leader of the Five Continental Alliance. The queen had hailed her as the hero who finished off an enemy general. Moreover, Viscount Granvelle, the head of the family, played an active role as a contact point for diplomatic relations between Ratash and Rohzenheim, and he greatly contributed to the kingdom.
There was talk of raising the Granvelle family from viscount to count status, but apparently this was not just a result of their contributions to the royal family.
“Of all the things...” Cecil, who knew about the situation, scowled slightly.
“Apparently, the king said those exact words too. You guys might get along.” Allen jokingly referred to how Cecil’s remarks were extremely similar to the king of Ratash’s. It was met with a powerful, remarkably painful pinch.
“Hrngh! Ouch! Lady Cecil!”
“Are you serious? I mean, err...never mind.” Cecil shot a glare toward Dogora, immediately shutting him up.
“Argh! You guys don’t know how I feel about this!”
