Chapter 169 - Volume 8, Chapter 27
Volume 8, Chapter 27: It seems Like I’ve Become a Legend Again, Part 3
“Strange……”
Sefira returned alone to the enormous underground cavern that housed the forces of darkness and approached the ancient castle that had been left behind by the first hero.
She couldn’t sense the presence of any of the heroes.
Sefira had spent a long time in vain to gain trust from the paranoid Kyoji, all in order to lead him to this place.
She had wanted to personally lead him there if she could, but Kyoji had never lost sight of his purpose. It might have helped to speed up her plans too.
She had also noticed that the heroes of flame and earth were also headed this way. In fact, it could be said to be the first time in history that the [Heroes] were so hostile towards one another. If they were closer, then Kyoji would have hurried in vain, and they would have gotten to where they wanted before the others got in the way.
But now…… the presence of the heroes had all vanished from Sefira’s senses.
“Did they die……? No, none of this trash are capable of killing the heroes around here……”
If Kyoji, Kanzo and Minkichi, who were regarded by Sefira as spare [Heroes], disappeared, Sefira’s plan would be reset to square one.
And then……
“………!?”
Sefira suddenly felt an immense heaviness weigh upon her.
Her body, which shouldn’t have felt an ounce of fatigue despite having not slept for weeks and days, suddenly became heavier, and her clear thoughts dulled as if trapped within her own head.
“……wh…at?”
Sefira muttered ever softer.
She suddenly felt tired, and felt as if her [Camouflage Skill] had become less precise, which was also strange. She had passive [Skills] for both fatigue and tiredness.
And as Sefira tried her hardest to find the “cause” of all this with a hazy mind, she suddenly sensed the presence of Kyoji, who had disappeared from the basement of the castle.
“……That shithead, what did he mess up!”
As she cursed him foul-mouthedly, Sefira rushed down through the old castle’s hidden door to the altar in the basement.
Journeying towards it at an astonishing speed, her face twisted as she saw its open state, running into the opened hidden passage with the stone slabs.
The stone slabs, that only reacted to heroes…… or those with “strong” light attributes, lit up as Sefira ran through, glowing letters emerging.
Bursting through the barrier that stopped anyone who wasn’t of the hero-class, she reached the back.
“What, this is……!!!”
There was the enormous stele that was a replica of the [Skill Agreement], lit up with finely-written characters in the spirit language, as before.
However, the light had faded from some of the letters, where they had been dug out, and the meaning had turned to utter nonsense.
“……a………a………”
“Kyoji!!!”
There, behind the stone, was the sorry figure of Kyoji.
What happened to him? He had been a self-confident man with the ambition to match his ability. Now, he was thin, as if all of his life force had been used to generate magic power, and couldn’t even move his lips, stretching his feeble, trembling hand out towards Sefira.
“You, what did you do!!”
“*cough*”
Sefira kicked Kyoji’s shoulder with her boot.
From how things looked, Sefira seemed to now be stuck in the [Magic Absorption Trap], but was forcibly resisting it, and the [Skill Use Agreement] seemed to be defective.
Still, considering the circumstances, even though she should have been protected several times over, she wasn’t sure how much she’d lost, and now she was unsure of what the [Skill Use Agreement] had become.
“The reason why skill control has gone wrong is all because of you.”
Sefira, who had been kicking Kyoji over and over, grabbed his hair and spit in his face, thinking about how she would have been able to prevent this, had she been here to lead him……….
“No…… it’s not over yet.”
Sefira wasn’t going to be able to fix the [Skill Use Agreement] now.
She knew what was on the contract, but not all of its details, and it would take an enormous amount of effort to both check and correct the minor details in the spirit-language characters.
A hundred years…… It might be possible in two hundred years, but Sefira, who had come so close to finally having his goal in grasp, was loath to spend more time getting there.
“……Hey, Kyoji-san.”
“………uh……”
As Sefira suddenly put on the mask of a “kind woman”, she laughed softly, not even caring that she couldn’t use her [Charm].
“I’m going to take you to a special place. It’s alright……it won’t hurt.”
“……ah……”
As Kyoji heard Sefira’s words, the light returned to his eyes just slightly, and he shook his head in fear.
“Fufufu…… let’s go. You should feel honored, you know. You’re the second person ever to see it.”
Sefira, with her delicate physique, carried Kyoji in all his armor over her shoulder, and walked out of the secret passage.
He was heavy, and not being able to use her Skills caused Sefira to grimace here and there, but suddenly, the weight became lighter, and she breathed out lightly.
“……Ahh……”
“How annoying. Have I finally gotten used to doing things without skills……?”
Sefira turned her gaze to Kyoji, who muttered as if afraid of something.
She wasn’t going very far in the first place.
It was hard to get there in places with strong magic, like that place with the stone tablets and altars, but otherwise moving there wasn’t difficult.
“By the covenant, lead me to this land.”
As Sefira intoned the [Words] in the courtyard of the old castle, an entrance of light opened in the space before her eyes.
“……ah…… ya”
“You don’t have to be scared. This is just one of the little in-between spaces between the [Material World] and the [Spirit World].”
In the [Spirit World], nothing with substance could exist.
Still, as an intermediate point between the worlds, it was entirely possible for someone to stay there, provided they had strong magic power.
“You’re really afraid. Are you even a hero? How pitiful.”
“That’s true.”
“………aAh……u……”
After what felt like several minutes.
Even though time and space weren’t quite meaningful in this space, but Sefira inclined her neck as they walked toward their target.
“………where are the spirits?”
There were always [Lesser Spirits] and [Middle Spirits] who were interested in the material world, who she had chatted to the last time she was here, and while they were annoying, they were always here.
“I wonder if a Greater Spirit came……”
Even Sefira had rarely seen a [Greater Spirit].
If it appeared in this world, there would be cataclysmic results. As one of the [Greater Spirits] that controlled the phenomena of the material world, other spirits would naturally hide in fear.
“……there”
As Sefira arrived at the brightest place within this realm, the original [Skill Use Contract], that was carved into an enormous crystal, appeared.
This was the true body of the [Skill Use Agreement] that the great wizards of the past had burned their lives to make with the [Greater Spirits], and was the “system” behind allowing all things in this world to use [Skills].
“fufu…… Now, Sir Kyoji, let’s make your wish a reality. With this, you can become the God the New World that you so dream of…… Sorry to say, though, your soul will be absorbed by this crystal, and you’ll become a puppet to the system with no consciousness.
Ufufu………AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Your dream will finally come true! As long as all of the people in this world are forced to attain the [Controlled Skill], all people will be equal, and a truly peaceful world will be created!!!”
Sefira aimed to eliminate all differences between everyone and create a world where everyone was equal.
If everyone was equal, then there would be no conflict, and a truly peaceful world would be created.
After her previous failures, Sefira no longer believed that it could be done without a sacrifice. As something to completely control the world, the strong soul of the [Hero] would be built into the system, and her goals would be achieved through the trivial sacrifice of the free will of all humanity.
“Hahaha, ……eh?”
And then, Sefira noticed something that looked like a small crystal plate hanging off the corner of the enormous crystal.
That wasn’t there before. She might not have noticed it before, but Sefira noticed it now because it was so incredibly eye-catching.
As she took it in her hands, she noticed something written in the language of the spirits.
To be able to touch this area at all…… was this left behind by the [Great Spirit of Light]? There was only one sentence written there………
[We’ve made a Strategic Withdrawal]
“……………”
Sefira reflexively fell silent. She thought that it was some sort of joke, but would [Spirits] make jokes in the first place?
And speaking of the [Great Spirit of Light], it was revered as a [God], a pillar of existence holding up the world. Was there a threat that would make such a being withdraw? In the first place, a threat like that wouldn’t even been able to come to this place where spirits gathered alone.
“……… Well, that’s that.”
Even as she got an eerie feeling she couldn’t quite pin down, Sefira tried to make the unmoving Kyoji touch the crystal.
“Sir Kyoji, all you need to do is touch this. Pure magic power will be drawn out automatically……”
Sefira noticed that Kyoji had gotten slightly lighter, that despite everything, his frightened gaze looked behind her, and so she turned to follow his gaze.
“…………”
“…………”
And there, smiling pleasantly at her, was the golden-haired girl, kindly lifting up Kyoji’s legs and cooperating with Sefira.
“Yu-Yurushia-sama!?”
“Ah, you noticed!”
That was the girl who had been drawn into this world because of her purity, and should have been turned into the true [Demon Lord], the Saint from another world: Yurushia.
“Why are you here!”
“Eh, I’ve been here this whole time, you know.”
“W-w-When!?”
“Since you were kicking Keiji in the basement of the castle……?”
She hadn’t noticed the girl at all. On the contrary, Sefira couldn’t even imagine that Kyoji had become suddenly afraid, or that he had become suddenly very light, because Yurushia had been carrying him from behind.
She just thought that the sounds she had heard along the way was just spirits whispering.
“Kuh”
Sefira discarded Kyoji, taking her distance.
“You, how did you break free of the curse of the Demon Lord? That evil presence…… there’s no way that you could have faked it.”
“Eh……? Ah, yes.”
Yurushia scratched her cheeks with her fingers lightly as Sefira spoke.
“Ah~ …… Well, the [True Demon Lord] is one of the [Laws of the World], unlike a “self-proclaimed demon lord”. It’s there to “reset” the world that’s gone off in the wrong direction, and when it appears, humanity will have no choice, you know?”
“………”
She didn’t understand what Yurushia was saying, but understood that Yurushia had been interfering with her plans by pretending to be a Demon Lord.
“Is that so……You…… You irregular from another world. My intuition was right to have tried to get rid of you first.”
“Nn?”
As Yurushia tilted her head sideways in feigned ignorance, Sefira bared her teeth.
“As you might have imagined, I am the savior of the world, this world’s [First Hero].”
“…………Eh?”
““…………””
There was an awkward atmosphere.
“……Why did you have to obstruct me?”
“Uh………for development?”
“…………”
“………I- I’m sorry.”
And so, the battle for the fate of the world began between the [First Hero] and the [Demon] of another world in this world.
Author’s Notes:
The Demons are in charge.
Now please re-read it imagining Yuru behind it this whole time.
Next time, will Sefira save the world from the tyrannical Demons?