kscans

Chapter 103 - The King of Castrato and the Little One

"Nnyaa, this is so annoying!"

The Little One swatted away the black mist that clung to her no matter how many times she batted it away. She batted it aside piece by piece as she followed Augfel’s lead toward the Crown Prince’s office. Along the way, people from the royal palace lay sprawled on the floor. It seemed they were merely asleep, their lives not in any danger.

‘It is a characteristic of dark magic. It brings peace and tranquility to the human heart, and as a result, they fall asleep.’

I see. Just because it’s dark doesn’t mean it’s evil magic, then.

But the gloom and coldness emanating from it must instill a sense of anxiety in people’s hearts, making them think it is something abominable. Swatting away the mist with a tei tei, the Frontier party opened the door to the Crown Prince’s office. There, as expected, lay the figure of the Crown Prince.

"Brother!"

Augfel rushed over in a panic. He placed a hand on his brother’s neck and chest to check his breathing, and then collapsed, hena hena, in sheer relief.

"Thank goodness... He’s alive."

With the help of the knights, they moved the Crown Prince to a sofa. Augfel decided to stay behind and said to the Little One, "I don’t know when he’ll wake up. I feel terrible for pushing this problem onto you all."

"It’s fine, it’s fine. This was our problem to begin with. If anything, it gives us a great excuse to head to the basement with our heads held high, nyo."

The Little One’s beaming smile drew a wry one from Augfel, and just as he was about to offer more thanks, a large hand appeared behind the Little One’s party. It was an eerie mass, like a gathering of blackish-purple mist.

"Lady Count! Behind you?!"

Dorfen scooped Chihiro up faster than Augfel could reach out. Having failed to capture the Little One by a split second, the hand turned to Dorfen with a ferocious air. Dorfen directed a cold gaze at the massive hand, which was as big as an adult, and the corners of his mouth curled into an uneven smirk.

"You think I’d let that happen so many times? I’m quite used to these situations."

Dorfen had lost sight of the Little One countless times in the past. The humiliation still pierced his heart deeply.

"What’s this?"

The Little One tilted her head while cradled in Dorfen’s arms. The Frontier knights, without panic or fuss, raised their weapons around Dorfen. Their composure was beyond calm, it was practiced. Augfel, not understanding what was happening, could only stare at the scene before him.

The mysterious hand and the Little One’s party stared each other down in silence for a while.

The hand was the first to move.

Having suddenly emerged from the floor, it vanished back into the floor just as it had come.

"What was that?"

"Who knows?"

‘It had no ill will. Should I have devoured it?’

A topsy-turvy battle of wonders was the Little One’s default setting. No one in her party was fazed by such things anymore.

"It came from the floor, didn’t it? Maybe it has something to do with the basement?"

"Could be. Let’s go have a look."

As if nothing had happened, the Frontier party set off for the basement.

Watching them go, Augfel once again realized that she was the Golden King. The golden magic she had displayed so lavishly on their way here was impossible to miss. No one who saw it could fail to notice.

"...No way."

No one could blame him for collapsing face-first onto the floor.

"Wow, this is something else."

Having been told there was a staircase to the basement in a corner of the palace, the Little One and her group dutifully descended the stairs. If Cesare hadn't been at the front absorbing the mist, it would have been pitch black just a step ahead. The first level had several rooms in a row. They were apparently facilities for the palace’s darker side, like interrogation and torture chambers. Below that was the dungeon, which was no different from Frontier’s royal palace.

The difference lay even further below.

Descending further from the dungeon, the Little One emerged into a small, hall-like area. A large mirror adorned the central wall, and large incense burners were placed on either side of something resembling an altar. The sweet scent wafting from the burners tickled her nose.

"Is this it? The Prophet’s Chamber that Fel was talking about?"

‘...How nostalgic. That old hag I used to communicate with. Is she still alive?’

Cesare narrowed one eye with a displeased fun.

But something was strange. Incense was burning, yet there was no one around. The Little One and her party looked around quizzically and began to explore the hall. Suddenly, the mirror slid aside, revealing something like a ramp. A spiral ramp opened its mouth, leading diagonally downward. The depths beyond were dim, and they couldn't see the end. The knights swallowed hard, goku, at the sight of the passage, which looked just wide enough for one adult to pass at a time. But while the others hesitated, the Little One jumped right in with a pyon.

"Chihiro-sama?!"

"I’m going on aheaaaad!"

Carried by the momentum of her jump, the Little One slid down with a shaaaa. Startled, Dorfen hastily followed her into the ramp.

"Please wait!!"

The rest of the Little One’s party followed suit.

After sliding a considerable distance, the Little One landed with a docha in a thick patch of grass. As the Little One writhed from the light bump to her bottom, Dorfen’s face appeared from the exit.

"Are you all right, Chihiro-sama?"

"I’m okaaay. Um, where is this?"

The knights who emerged one after another were speechless as they surveyed the dim surroundings.

Before them was a vast expanse of water and a host of strange plants that seemed to hang from the ceiling. A moss-like substance clinging to the damp rock walls glowed faintly, illuminating the massive cave with a pale, bluish light. The contrast created by the hazy shadows and light was a truly fantastical and beautiful sight.

"I guess this is Castrato’s forest?"

"Probably... It’s a magnificent sight."

The Little One looked up with a fuwaaa and began to walk pote pote, when a sinister shadow stirred nearby. The shadow fixed its gaze on the Little One, who had instinctively backed away, and its lips twisted into a faint smile.

《You have come. The other one has been waiting. Go and comfort them at once.》

It was Cesare who reacted to the shadow’s gleeful kufu kufu.

‘Huh? Who are you?’

《A child of man. Watch your words. I am one who promises human happiness.》

The black shadow’s gaze suddenly softened as it looked upon the twins with affection. At that loving gaze, Cesare’s expression turned thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes shot wide open.

‘It was youuuuu!’

A burst of rage sent blackish-purple magic flaring outwards. Seeing this, the large shadow also revealed its fury, as if it had realized something.

《Blackish-purple magic? Could you be?!》

‘So you remember! You remember the Haze-Leap you corrupted!’

Cesare’s arms shot toward the heavens. The moment they swung down, a tornado-like wind swirled and launched itself at the black shadow. The spinning vortex struck the black shadow head-on, and the shadow flinched as it took the hit.

《Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to have vanished with Haze-Leap?!》

‘I was kicked out of the afterlife. No matter, if you lot are here, this world is no different from hell. Suits me just fine, wouldn’t you agree?’

With a sadistic smile, Cesare unleashed a continuous barrage of magic. The black shadow, which seemed to be struggling just to block the attacks, rapidly transformed into a giant dragon.

《Do not underestimate me, boy!》

The dragon swelled its throat and then unleashed its attack on Cesare with a ka. Several fireballs, like something out of a video game, flew out and blew large holes at Cesare’s feet. But Cesare dodged every fireball and, furthermore, solidified the air around him with blades of wind, launching them at the dragon.

The fierce exchange of magic went back and forth with a don don.

This sudden start to a giant monster battle left even the Little One’s party frozen in place.

How in the world did it come to this?

Smiling wryly, the Little One suddenly noticed something on the wall. It was a black crystal the size of a person.

Why is this here?

Tilting her head in wonder, the Little One touched the black crystal, only to snatch her hand back as if jolted. A faint, eerie pulse emanated from it.

"What’s this?"

As the Little One stepped back, startled, her foot hit something with a kotsun.

"Eh?"

When the Little One looked down, she saw a person, tattered and barely breathing, crumpled face down with hair of a silver so pale it was almost white.

"Dorfen!"

With the battle between one person and one beast raging like a phantom war in the background, the Little One called for Dorfen to heal the fallen person.

"This isn't an illness or an injury."

Healing was for mending, it had no effect on a body that was not damaged.

"Then..."

The Little One used her golden magic on the fallen man. Golden magic, the source of life, was effective on all things. Normally, it was a power not to be used on humans, but now that she had heard the story of the sage from Hyrulia and the others, it was clear that the man before her was that sage. Whether he was an O-saki or a divine messenger, she didn’t know, but he originally possessed golden magic. Using golden magic on him shouldn't cause any problems.

His depleted magic now replenished, the silver-haired man let out a great breath and his eyes fluttered open. Hazy red eyes.

Seeing this, the Little One breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good. Are you okay?"

The girl beamed with a nipa.

The man cautiously sat up and was taken aback to see a child fighting a black dragon.

《What in the world is happening?》

Telepathy. Yep, he’s the lord of this place.

Her face relaxed with a fuyon, and the Little One listened to the man explain the course of events. While keeping a very worried eye on Cesare fighting in the background, the man recounted what had happened.

"So it’s that."

The Little One glared sharply at the wall at the far end of the lake. There was a crack running vertically from the ceiling to the ground.

According to the silver-haired man, a large earthquake had occurred some time ago, causing a fissure in the forest cave. There were no particular abnormalities, and while perplexed, he had left it alone. Then, just yesterday, a large black shadow suddenly appeared. The shadow captured the Lords of the Forest, seized the old woman who came to investigate the disturbance, and drained all of their magic.

《I know what that is. They are the spirits that preyed on the malice of the people of Haze-Leap and triggered the great war.》

Long ago, the O-saki, who were people of Haze-Leap, visited Arcadia and spread their knowledge and skills to each land. With that, religion and concepts of humanity were also transmitted, and Arcadia flourished all at once.

Amidst all this, the O-saki created and subjugated divine messengers in Arcadia as well, and heard many stories. He had become a divine messenger in Donautil and accompanied the oni Legion on his pilgrimage. At the end of the tales he was told, he heard about the spirits. The evil beings that drove the people of Haze-Leap to paranoia and led them to ruin.

And something just like that story had suddenly appeared. Just as golden magic could cancel out darkness, dark magic could also cancel out golden magic. The man, flustered and caught off guard, was captured by the dark magic and had his way with him, it seemed.

《The golden magic is nothing but bait for it, you must flee!》

"Hmph. Well then, I guess it’s fine."

The Little One grinned with a ni.

The man tilted his head at this mysterious reaction, then his eyes widened as he noticed that the magic of the fighting Cesare was dark magic.

"Dark versus dark should be fine, right? Now then, I wonder what will happen?"

If it consumed golden magic, the Little One was powerless. Even though she possessed the four major attributes, the root of her magic was golden magic. She had no choice but to spectate.

Cesare, who was putting on a flashy spectacle, let out lightning-like magic that sparked around him. It raced through the air in every direction, clinging to the black dragon.

《Guaaaah! How annoying!》

‘You’re the one who’s annoying! Hurry up and die!’

The two hurled insults at each other in a deafening uproar.

Then, someone else appeared on the battlefield. From the depths of the forest emerged a young man with splendid silver hair. It was Charles.

"What’s wrong? Is my bride not here yet?"

The moment he murmured this, the dragon’s entire body surged with fighting spirit. The pitch-black dragon’s scales stood on end with a meki meki sound.

《Fuhahaha! The tables have turned!》

The dragon, which had been on the defensive, fixed its bloodshot eyes on Cesare with a gyo. Cesare lightly clicked his tongue at the dragon, whose magic was clearly stronger than before.

‘So that’s your believer. What an eyesore.’

It was the logic of the gods, where faith becomes power. The more a believer with great magic believed and prayed, the stronger the god became. Cesare, who had no believers, had to fight with his own strength alone.

Seeing her brother at a disadvantage, the Little One started to run.

"I won’t accept it!"

The girl’s high-pitched voice echoed through the cavern, and everyone turned to look.

"I won’t accept it! Arcadia doesn’t need someone like you!"

With every word the Little One spoke, the dragon’s body trembled with a zowari.

"I know spirits! Spirits are everywhere! But I don’t believe in you! Someone like you could never make humans happy!"

There was no way something that caused such a terrible commotion could be an ally of humanity.

"Everyone! Seal that crack!"

The Little One shouted at the top of her lungs to her monstrous retinue.

If it came from that crack, then sealing it might make it disappear. As proof, the black dragon’s magic was connected to the space beyond the crack.

《Stop it! You would... dare say you do not believe in us... in the Spirit King?! In the one who loves humanity from the bottom of their heart!》

Spirit King?

Though puzzled, the Little One roared from the depths of her belly.

"I believe in spirits! And I’m sure there’s a Spirit King, too. But I don’t believe in you! A real Spirit King wouldn’t try to do things to people!"

The spiders of her monstrous retinue began to rapidly seal the crack with their silk.

《Guaaah! Stop! Stop it!》

"Spirits are kind, funny, and cute creatures! Not like you!"

With only a faint outline remaining, the black dragon’s death cry echoed through the forest.

"I know it for a fact!"

The moment the Little One shouted louder than ever, the black dragon dissipated, and the cavern ceiling split wide open. No, it didn't physically break. Space itself tore open, and a shower of flowers rained down from it.

《Well spoken!》

《Well connected!》

"Huh?"

Visible through the torn space was a beautiful land overflowing with magnificent nature. Flowers of every color bloomed in profusion, and standing amidst the petals dancing in the wind were four people. Each possessing a unique beauty, the four gazed at the Little One with graceful poise.

She didn't understand what had happened.

《You believe in spirits.》

《You believe in people.》

《You believe in the world.》

《You believe in us.》

With broad smiles, the four mysterious figures sent something toward the Little One.

《《《《We, too, shall believe in you.》》》》

It was a dreamlike, fantastical moment.

As she watched the falling flower petals, she realized the torn space had closed.

"What in the world was that...?"

Dorfen’s eyes darted around in astonishment. The other knights were also speechless, not moving a muscle.

...A dream? No, it wasn't a dream.

As proof, countless flower petals were still dancing in the air.

As the Little One stared, lost in a daze, someone approached from behind and hugged her with a gaba.

"Nyo?!"

A small murmur reached Chihiro’s ear as she struggled with a jita bata.

"I’ve missed you, my dear bride♪"

Huuuh?!

The Little One shrieked inside her head, bewildered by Charles nuzzling his head against hers with a suri suri.

Someone, please explain!

Flustered by the never-ending series of strange phenomena, the Little One is doing just fine today.

...Probably♪