kscans

Chapter 60 - The False Paradise Ruled by Dolls

Arrival on the magic island shrouded in fog. Never Island.

Hero Ares and the chained Dark Elf, Tiris, stepped onto the white sand beach. The sky was blue, the waves were calm, and flowers bloomed in profusion. Yet, there was a tense, artificial scent in the air.

"...It's awfully quiet. C'mon, you can all shout 'The Hero is here!' y'know."

Only when Ares spoke did the island's inhabitants appear. Men and women, old and young, all of them were smiling.

But their eyes were not. Far from not smiling, some even had tears welling up.

"Hero-sama... welcome... to this island..."

"Please... save... this land..."

When Tiris approached an old woman, the woman spoke through her tears.

"Mel Aria-sama... she was just an ordinary girl at first... But one day, she started judging people as if she were a 'god'..."

"My daughter... she stopped moving, still smiling... and became nothing more than a doll...!"

"All the young people in the village were taken away for a 'play'... and when it was over, they came back as mere decorations...!"

As if a dam had broken, laments poured from the people's mouths one after another. Just as Tiris was about to say something, Ares whistled and spoke.

"Heeh... this place is a real hellhole, ain't it."

In the somber atmosphere, Ares alone seemed somehow amused.

"Hey, Tiris. A magic girl who 'turns people into dolls,' she is. She just reeks of a psychopath, doesn't she."

Tiris frowned.

"Are you... enjoying this situation...?"

"Enjoying it, well... I'm curious, ain't I. What her face looks like. What she sounds like, what kind of magic she uses. ...Let's go meet little Mel Aria-chan right away."

Ares smiled before the despairing islanders.

"Save you? I won't. I came here to 'destroy this world.'"

At those words, the villagers froze. Then, one by one, they fell to their knees, looked up at the sky, and began to sob.

"Why... help us... please help us..."

"Why... why won't this Hero... save us!"

"Hero-sama... Hero-sama... please, Hero-sama!"

But that hero was already gone.

A wind blew through as if it had gone mad. Beyond the flower fields, a window in the mansion on the hill opened without a sound.

"Let's go, Tiris. See, I feel like the 'princess' is calling."

The chains rattled, and Ares and Tiris passed through the weeping villagers as if nothing had happened.

And mixed in with the sounds behind them was the faint voice of a young girl.

"Kusuh... More new guests...♪"

The owner of the voice had yet to show herself. But it was as if the entire outcome was already in her hands.