WM – Chapter 167: Shadow of destruction

“O-Olga-sama…will you continue?” 

The announcer nervously asks.

Hero Olga shakes her head to the sides with unfocused eyes.

(Well, the attack of her prided holy sword didn’t work, and she was sent flying after all…) (Makoto)

If she were to challenge her further, she would have quite the stalwart mental strength. 

I feel like Geralt-san would still continue attacking barehanded if need be though.

Also, the important holy sword is bend.

…Can that holy sword be repaired by the time of the battle against the Demon Lords?

“N-Now then! Ladies and gentlemen, this time’s special exhibition match…no, this duel has ended in the victory of Participant Sasaki Aya!” 

The announcer declares the victory of Sa-san.

“““UOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!”””

Thunderous cheers erupted from the crowd. 

I was honestly worried about the possibility of a riot occurring because of the defeat of the Fire Hero, but the people of the Fire Country were celebrating the victory of Sa-san as normal.

It really is fine as long as you are strong, huh.

It is easy to understand in a sense.

“Aya! You did it!” (Lucy)

“I won, Lu-chan!” (Aya)

Sa-san and Lucy high-fived.

Princess Sofia was still dumbfounded.

Furiae-san is playing with Tsui.

She isn’t worried at all.

She must have noticed my gaze, she looked over here and said with eyes half-closed.

“I had already seen this future after all.” (Furiae)

“Ah, is that so.” (Makoto)

Of course she wouldn’t worry then.

I was going to say ‘it is about time we go back then’, but Furiae-san suddenly grabbed my shoulder with incredible strength.

“Wait, My Knight. There’s something strange.” (Furiae)

“? Weird? What is?” (Makoto)

Because of Hero Olga crushing the ring into pieces, the staff is cleaning it up.

An announcement rang, stating that the award ceremony and the Country Designated Hero appointment ceremony was planned to be done at the ring, but since the stage is gone, they will be done in the Great Keith Castle instead at a later date.

The people in the audience were talking as they were about to leave.

There’s even some who are partying right then and there.

So peaceful.

There isn’t anything particularly strange.

“What’s the matter, Fu-chan?” (Aya)

“Princess Sofia, let’s go back.” (Lucy)

Sa-san and Lucy also came over here.

“Hey, Princess, just what…” (Makoto)

“Damn it, I messed up. I missed this! We are running away at once!” (Furiae)

Furaie-san didn’t answer my question, and told us this agitated.

Lucy, Sa-san, and I looked at each other and tilted our heads.

It is currently past noon at around 2:00 p.m. 

The outside is still hot and the sun is dazzling.

There’s a blue sky with no clouds in sight.

At the moment I was about to ask in detail what Furiae-san was so agitated about…

The sky suddenly turned dark.

“Oh, a cloud?” (Lucy)

Lucy looked up at the sky.

I was also pulled in by that and looked up, and a dark shadow entered my sight.

The light of the sun that was shining down had been obstructed by something.

“Oi! What’s that?!” 

“That’s not a cloud, is it?” 

“A rock…?” 

“Nonsense. There’s no way a rock that big would ex…” 

The people in the venue all pointed at the dark shadow in the sky. 

Something suddenly appeared in the sky.

“Makoto! That thing is falling here!” (Lucy)

The voice of Lucy returned me to my senses.

“Lucy, what is that?!” (Makoto)

“I don’t know! It suddenly appeared!” (Lucy)

Right, that thing definitely wasn’t there just a moment ago.

However, there’s definitely a giant rock-like thing floating overhead. 

No, if the words of Lucy are correct, then it is falling here?

(It is still far, but…that’s an object with quite the mass, right…?) (Makoto)

Doesn’t it have several kilometers in diameter? 

Rather than calling it a rock, it is more like an island is falling down on us.

Did the Laputa Castle run out of juice? 

(Makoto! Stop joking around and do as Furiae-chan said! Run!) (Noah)

Noah-sama, what’s going on?

(Mako-kun! Explanations later! Run! This is something the bunch that worship the Evil Snake God did…) (Eir)

Eir-sama was speaking with uncharacteristic panic.

We gotta act for now it seems.

I made eye-contact with the Guardian Knight Old Man, and we were about to begin moving with Princess Sofia at the center. 

But then…

“Heya there. You getting scared there, insects.” 

A voice amplified with magic resonated from the ring.

It is different from the announcer of before, this voice had a sort of viscosity to it. 

“Look, Takatsuki-kun!” (Aya)

At the place Sa-san pointed at, in the place where the announcer was till now, there’s a man in black robe standing there. He was holding a voice amplifier magic tool.

The people around including the announcer were taking distance from the sudden intruder. 

Security must apprehend him at once!

“You bastard, who are you?!” 

Fire Country Knights were already surrounding him.

Ah, the one who shouted just now was the Enforcement Knight that came together with us before in the Snake Church subjugation.

The black robed man grinned widely. 

“My name is Isaac. The son of the Great Ruler Iblis-sama, and the Archbishop of the Snake Church.” 

Oh, a familiar name.

“Him again? He is a persistent man, isn’t he, Makoto?” (Lucy)

“Is he the guy that was doing kamikaze attacks and controlling monsters in the Sun Country’s capital, Takatsuki-kun?” (Aya)

“Yeah, he is the main perpetrator behind the Wood Country’s incident as well…apparently.” (Makoto)

What a hard worker. 

We don’t need a hardworking terrorist though.

“Seize him!” 

Ah, the moment he introduced himself, the Snake Church man was apprehended. 

“U-Unhand me!” 

The man seems to be resisting, but he is being held down with numbers.

What did he come here to do? 

“Even if you capture me, it is already too late! The meteor overhead has been called by us with our Summoning Magic! By using several hundreds of slaves’ lifespans! By using the comet that was crossing by, we changed its direction to the closest place that is the Fire Country! In just a few moments, the Fire Country’s capital will be erased from the continent!” 

The Snake Church man that was already wrapped in thick ropes shouted this with voice amplification magic.

(This guy said something outrageous just now.) (Makoto)

Dropping a comet into the capital?

Is such magic possible? 

As if proving it wasn’t me just hearing wrong, the audience that was lacking a sense of danger until now began to scream all at once and run away.

I could hear the screams and cries of children from afar.

Mass hysteria.

“Lead the people outside the capital! Call all the mages from the Castle! Including the ones off duty!” (Tariska)

General Tariska shouted his orders to his subordinates.

At his back, I could see what seemed to be the King evacuating.

“Hero-dono, what should we do?” 

The Guardian Knight Old Man asks with an agitated expression.

“I would like you to bring Princess Sofia…and also my comrades outside the capital.” (Makoto)

“Understood! …What will you be doing, Hero-dono?” 

He accepted my request reliably, and then, he directed a worried expression at me.

“There’s something that’s bothering me, so I am going to go talk to the General. I will catch up later.” (Makoto)

“What are you saying, My Knight?! We have to run away together!” (Furiae)

“Hero Makoto?! There’s no time for that…” (Sofia)

Furiae-san and Princess Sofia drew near me. 

“Now now, it is okay, so I will see you later.” (Makoto)

Time was precious to be arguing here, so I pushed the two to the Guardian Knight Old Man and urged them to evacuate from the venue. 

That’s the Rozes royalty group for you, the Fire Country knights are giving them priority.

They should be okay with that. 

(The other thing I am worried about is Fuji-yan…) (Makoto)

The chaos in the venue isn’t showing signs of calming down, and instead, the chaos is spreading to the whole city. 

The giant rock that is overhead seemed to be slowly heading towards us.

They should be okay…I am sure they are. 

Fuji-yan would catch on quick that something is going on and would gather information and act in accordance. 

I will believe in him being able to escape properly. 

I confirm that the Old Man is now gone, and head towards where General Tariska is at.

“Hey hey, Takatsuki-kun, what is it you are bothered about?” (Aya)

“Makoto, is it really okay for you to not be running away?” (Lucy)

Sa-san and Lucy peek at me from both sides. 

Wait…

“Why haven’t you two escaped?!” (Makoto)

I wanted everyone to evacuate with the Old Man, you know?! 

“Eh, cause Takatsuki-kun is staying.” (Aya)

“If you are staying, I will be by your side.” (Lucy)

“Hey there…” (Makoto)

If you say something like that, it is gonna make me happy! 

A fat smile was going to show up in my face, so I used Clear Mind to keep my face normal.

“Also, if the situation requires, I can carry both Takatsuki-kun and Lu-chan, and run! Leave it to me!” (Aya)

“Aah, that might actually be a good idea.” (Makoto)

With the leg power of Sa-san, we could get out of the capital in an instant. 

We tried it once, and it was quite the speed. 

Being carried wasn’t comfortable at all. The worst kind of transportation method.

It is like a roller coaster with no safety measures. 

“Fufufufu, not enough, Aya! You know, I learned Teleport from Mama in my hellish training with her!” (Lucy)

“Eh?! Really?” (Makoto)

“Wow, amazing, Lu-chan!” (Aya)

That’s happy news. 

With Teleport, it will literally take an instant to escape.

(…Hmm?) (Makoto)

I suddenly noticed.

I have been together with Lucy for a long time. 

If she really did learn Teleport, she would have bragged about it all proudly from the get-go.

“By the way Lucy, just how long does it take you to finish your chant for Teleport?” (Makoto)

“…Around 10 minutes?” (Lucy)

Knew it. 

“…By the way, success rate?” (Makoto)

“…10%?” (Lucy)

“Lu-chan…” (Aya)

She responded with a voice as low as her percent. 

Lucy made a dejected face.

“Well, figured it was something like that. Ready the chant just in case. Our main plan will be Sa-san carrying us.” (Makoto)

“Leave it to me!”, Sa-san says while pumping her fist.

Lucy began to chant awkwardly. 

By the way, Lucy’s Mother apparently can teleport to a neighboring country chantless.

The Crimson Witch-sama is seriously a monster. 

Will our Lucy be on that level someday?

But Rosalie-san is more than a hundred years old.

I most likely won’t be alive by the time Lucy gets that old.

While I was thinking that…

“Shoot!” 

A shout was raised.

When I looked up, I saw a number of beams heading towards the huge rock. 

It is most likely the Fire Country mages that shot attack magic to the comet. 

Or it might be anti-monster magic weapons. 

“That’s not hitting, right?” (Aya)

“Nope, most are not even reaching.” (Lucy)

“You two have really good eyes.” (Makoto)

Sa-san and Lucy could even clearly see the trajectory of the magic.

Even though I used Farsight…

It was so far I couldn’t see. 

Why are the specs of my party members so high? 

“What have we here? Isn’t that Hero-sama and the Water Country’s Hero Makoto-sama?” 

“This is quite the problem now, isn’t it?” (Makoto)

The one who saw us and came towards us was the Enforcement Knight. 

“Yes, to think things would turn out like this… If it had been monsters, no matter if tens of thousands of monsters were to come, we wouldn’t have flinched, but there has been no past records of a spell like this…” 

“To drop a comet, the enemy has thought it well. Do you have an idea as to how to stop it?” (Makoto)

I tried asking just in case, but the magic that they are shooting without end must be their way of stopping it. 

And it doesn’t look too effective.

“No, sadly to say, we don’t have a good method, and we are currently trying to test out a variety of things…so please run away quickly.” 

“Then, can you please let me meet General Tariska? There’s something I would like to talk to him about.” (Makoto)

“With the General…? But…” 

I may be the Water Country’s Hero, but maybe it is difficult to meet with the highest post in the army of a foreign country?

But I want to at least tell him something.

“Understood, Hero-dono. Please come over here.” 

It seems he hesitated, but it looks like he will at least answer my request.

◇◇

I was brought to a sector of the colosseum.

That place had become some sort of military command room. 

The team that gives out evacuation orders to the people of the capital.

The team that is drafting plans to deal with the approaching comet.

The team that’s informing the people that still haven’t gotten a grasp of the situation.

The team that’s providing medical treatment to the people that have gotten injured from the chaos. 

And the one at its center is General Tariska.

He was making a grim expression as he heard the reports of each team.

At the side there’s Hero Olga groaning. 

Is she okay? 

The Enforcement Knight approached the General and whispered to him.

The General looked over here, and made a dubious expression for a second, but without ignoring me, he came towards us. 

“My apologies. In this historical moment where a new Country Designated Hero is decided, it has turned into a situation like this…” (Tariska)

The first thing General Tariska did was apologize. 

“This is not the time to be talking leisurely though. We will do something about the crisis of the Fire Country, so you people hurry and evacuate. Sasaki Aya-dono is currently in a state where she has obtained the right to become the Hero of the Fire Country, so there’s no need for her to stay here.” (Tariska)

The knight closeby gestured with his hand as if saying they will be guiding us.

Looks like people from other countries should be running away at once.

That in itself is the normal way of dealing with it. 

At that moment words floated in midair. 

[Will you save the Fire Country Great Keith from their crisis and have them owe you?]

Yes

No

RPG Player-san! 

The way you are putting it! 

Hasn’t your personality worsened lately? 

(Well, it must be speaking out my own feelings.) (Makoto)

Does that mean my personality has worsened? 

No no, there’s no way that’s the case (I think).

(Really~~?) (Noah)

Noah-sama, you were listening? 

No good, I am getting distracted.

I face the General again.

“General, is it okay for us to do something about that thing in the sky?” (Makoto)

I pointed at the approaching meteor in the sky and told him this.

“…Do you have some sort of plan?” (Tariska)

The General heard me and his eyes turned sharper. 

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