Chapter 28

The scene keeps changing so much, it's hard to follow... And in the end, we can't even set off.

"Really... are you leaving now?"

"I still want you to stay in the village..."

"Sorry, but we have a purpose for our journey."

After a while, Levi and I had made our way to the broken village gate, ready to depart. If asked why we had to leave so suddenly... I guess it's because I wanted to meet the Beastmen on the continent as soon as possible.

When I told the villagers this, they thanked us and gave us several barrels of honey wine. All of them are now stored in the magic bag.

Only Arize and Armer were there to see us off. Ramel hasn't regained consciousness, and the villagers are busy repairing the damaged houses.

"That's right...

I'm glad I met you, Setsu and the others. Other adventurers all left as soon as they heard the story... If you hadn't come to that guild, this village would have been doomed. So, I'm glad I met you."

"---I see."

It's not easy to meet adventurers who can handle hundreds of Lizardmen... Meeting me and Armer was a miracle. It's a bit too perfect, but in this fantasy world, it's not impossible. Well, it's a bit too perfect...

"Master... Thank you so much for what you did for Ramel."

"Ah... don't worry about it. Besides, he's your boyfriend, right? It's only natural to help him."

"L-lover!? No... not yet..."

"Hmm... not yet, huh?"

"Ah..."

Realizing she had dug her own grave, Arize blushed and looked down. Seeing this, we laughed. It might be a reaction to the tension, but especially Armer was laughing out loud.

"True to Setsu's disciple... You're funny... hehe."

"Ha!! ...Hey, what do you mean by that, Levi?"

"Hehe... I just found it hilarious..."

"Armer, you're laughing too much!!"

Arize's face turned even redder from the embarrassment of being laughed at.

By the way, that was a bit of a rude comment, wasn't it?

"Sorry, sorry, I went a bit too far."

"Really... enough already."

"Well, anyway... You should at least tell him how you feel. This time it worked out, but next time... who knows?"

"...Okay."

My question probably reminded Arize of the scene when Ramel was down. When someone important to you falls... it hits you hard. And you're left with a lot of regrets. To avoid that, I want Arize to become stronger, to use this experience as a stepping stone.

"I... I'm going to retake the S-rank exam. I'll train harder... to protect this village next time."

"...I see."

I know about Arize's past. She has a trauma from the S-rank exam.

But her eyes are strong. That gives me some peace of mind.

"Hehe... No! My stomach hurts...!"

"How long are you going to keep laughing!?"

Armer has been laughing non-stop. If you keep laughing like this, you'll have sore abs tomorrow. Are you okay?

"You have a shallow sense of humor... Well, shall we go?"

"Sure."

Ignoring the conversation between Armer and Arize, we started walking out of the village. Feeling responsible for the devastated ground, I used a light earth magic to flatten it as we passed through the broken gate.

"Ah! Master and the others are leaving!!"

"Come back again, both of you!! Ah... I can't stop laughing... hahaha, hehehehe."

"Enough already!! Sorry, Masters!! Please come back anytime!"

"O...okay. See you."

We waved goodbye. Seriously, how long are you going to keep laughing, Armer?

However, I still have a lot of questions... What was that mysterious magic reservoir? And the sudden appearance of the dragon was just too perfect...

"You don't look happy? Even though you got the honey wine you wanted..."

"Hmm... yeah. I have a lot to think about."

"?"

"Nothing, it just feels like the story was a bit too perfect..."

Especially the part with the dragon. Thinking back, it really did appear out of nowhere. It might have had excellent flight speed, but it's strange that it didn't detect me until I entered the nest...

---It was as if the dragon had been summoned.

"Summoned?"

A suspicion arose in my mind.

"Hey, Levi."

"What?"

"When the dragon appeared, Armer's face turned pale, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"When did that start?"

Levi looked at me with a puzzled expression. Like, what are you talking about?

"Whenever you can, when did it start?"

"...I wasn't watching the whole time, but... her face was really pale when the dragon appeared from the other side of the mountain. That's when I noticed the dragon too."

Wait, the other side of the mountain? The mountains around us weren't that big. So it wasn't that far away. And my detection ability only failed when I was inside the magic reservoir. So in that short time, the dragon must have flown over our heads and headed for the village.

...It's impossible. I'm very confident in my detection ability. Even if it was a high-level dragon, I would have noticed it approaching. So, if it was summoned...

(What if the dragon was summoned...)

If the dragon was summoned... and if it was done when I couldn't detect it, the summoner must have known about my existence and the timing when my detection would fail. That means... it's connected to the magic reservoir... at least to the point where it was destroyed.

Armer's face turned pale before the dragon appeared, and Levi noticed it later... Armer's rank is far below Levi's. Even if she was good at detection... it's full of inconsistencies. Furthermore... summoning such a powerful dragon would require a lot of magic power. If she lost a lot of magic power at once, it would make sense why her face turned pale.

If she was the root of all this, most of the inconsistencies would make sense.

"...Levi, we're going back to the village."

"Eh?"

I turned around and headed back to the village. I had a bad feeling. Levi, who was taken aback, hurried after me but stopped just before catching up. I also stopped.

"---What is this?"

◇◇◇

"---Ha ha ha, I can't stop laughing..."

"Hey, it's about time you stopped---"

Armer and Arize were heading to help repair the village houses. But Armer's laughter hasn't stopped since a while ago. Her somewhat mocking laughter made Arize angry.

"Sorry, sorry! But I can't help it!---

---I was hoping to become your brother's lover, but it's impossible now."

"...Huh?"

"---<Area Summon>, activate."

Suddenly, Arize's vision turned white.

◇◇◇

"Is this... a summoning spell?"

I muttered as I looked at the dome of light enveloping the village. The geometrically written magic circle surrounding the village looked familiar, and I recalled the name of the spell in my memory.

"<Area Summon>... A spell that moves all living things within the magic circle to another location, right?"

"I've heard of that... But the whole village...?"

Indeed, <Area Summon> can move any number of living things within the magic circle. (Incidentally, the principles of summoning and teleporting are almost the same, so summoning spells include teleportation.)

However, the problem is the range. The wider the range, the more magic power it consumes. A mediocre summoner can only encircle a two-tatami mat area.

But look at this. The caster has enough magic power to envelop the entire village. And their skill is considerable.

"...When the light fades, we'll check the village."

"Right... yeah."

---There's probably no one there...

I almost said that but stopped myself.

◇◇◇

On a steep cliff overlooking the village, Armer, who was supposed to be a village girl, stood. However, she looked human, not a demon.

She looked at the empty village with a smile similar to the one she had given Arize.

Beside her, a somewhat small figure appeared smoothly.

"---Good work, Mer."

"Ah! Touma-sama!! ...Is this a thought form?"

Touma, the hero summoned to another world, was there. However, this was more like a projection, as only his thoughts existed in this place.

"Sorry I couldn't come to praise you in person. But you did a great job."

"Such... It's my pleasure for Touma-sama."

Mer, formerly Armer, spoke to him with a full smile, like a lovesick girl...

"But how did you manage to perform <Area Summon> after summoning the dragon? Your magic power should have been drained, right?"

"Hehe... I got an unexpected gift."

She took out a test tube-like object from her pocket. It was empty.

"I see... The highest-grade potion, which restores a lot of HP and MP. The one Setsu gave you, right?"

"I didn't expect to receive a gift from the enemy. Thanks to it, I could execute the plan earlier. If I had proceeded normally, it would have been tomorrow or later."

"Right. Are the villagers safely sent to the underground of the castle?"

"Yep! My summoning magic is genius!"

Mer boasted about her magic. Setsu's suspicions were correct; she was the one who summoned the dragon, and the magic reservoir was her original spell, <Placement Summon>.

"I know, your magic is amazing!"

"Hehe..."

"So... Did you find any useful people?"

"Well, Arize is useful. She hasn't been active as an adventurer recently, so she's a bit rusty, but with some training, she could be S-rank or higher. Brother... Ramel is pretty strong too. The rest are average. I think they would be good for <Magesoldiers>."

"Right, that's enough. Especially having an S-rank is a big deal. They'll be a good addition to the war force."

Touma, who made a rather ominous statement, looked down at the silent village. Actually, he was intently watching a man exploring the village.

"...I'll bring you back soon, Setsu. I'll kill all the demons and Beastmen who took you from me... and get you back. So, please wait a little longer? I'll definitely come for you...!"

With a determined tone, Touma's thought form disappeared. Mer, who was beside him, was also gone.

No one noticed that someone had been there---

Next time, to the Beastmen Continent.

This marks a turning point. From now on, the enemy's strength will gradually be revealed.

I'll be posting on Friday and Sunday this week. I'll be reporting my activities like this, so please check regularly.

I promise to post at least three times a week.