• 230: The shadow moves

And so, about the plan of Yorishiro…

“This girl will do her best.” (Yorishiro)

The one who was pushed by her back and appeared was a small girl.

Her skin is darkish in color, and gives the impression as if she had appeared from inside a shadow.

“Doraha?” (Haine)

“With her ability, she can infiltrate the library without alerting the perpetrators.” (Yorishiro)

Doraha is the resident of an ancient civilization, and because of many circumstances, she has leapt time and is currently at our side. Our era is practically a different world for Doraha, and that ability of hers can be said to be special in this world.

The power of ‘Shadow’ that isn’t any of the other known elements; different from all the five heroes of this world, in other words, a sixth hero —the shadow hero, Doraha.

And that Doraha speaks on the sted of her master that is Yorishiro.

“One of my abilities, ‘Shadow’ lets me burrow into the shadows and, via that shadow, I can move around. I won’t be noticed by the humans around when I do that.” (Doraha)

““!!””

Grades and I looked at each other and send orders to the young light knights.

“Investigate the surroundings of the library. Investigate at what direction the shadow of the building is pointing at!” (Grades)

Lately, there have been convenient things called ethereal wireless transmission devices, so the orders and reports happen in an instant.

{Currently at 5 o’clock, the shadows are all pointing west. Weather is good. The surroundings are bright, so the shadows are distinct too.}, the report soon came.

Yorishiro adds to the explanation.

“Doraha’s ability is ‘Shadow’. It isn’t ‘Darkness’. That’s why shine as much light as possible, and the more clear the distinction between light and shadow is, the more advantageous it is for her.” (Yorishiro)

In the first place, ‘Shadow’ is a variety of the Light element.

Where there’s light, there’s shadow.

By absorbing light, it changes into ‘shadow’ that is a quasi-version of darkness.

That is the shadow technique that was created in the ancient Underground Country. That’s why the biggest weakness of ‘shadow’ is darkness, and a half-baked black has no choice but to be dyed by the thicker black that is darkness.

But it is exactly because it is half-baked that there’s also many things it can do.

“After succeeding in infiltrating the library, I have to move to a room that is as bright as possible and has windows. In a dim room where the light and shadows are not distinct, a proper shadow won’t be made, and I won’t be able to hide my body.” (Doraha)

Hearing this explanation, the other light knights also pitched in.

“Then, the inside of the library would be dangerous. In the first place, books are normally not exposed directly to sunlight.”

“But ethereal lights have been installed inside the library recently, so in terms of lighting, there should be no problem. The perpetrators should also be scared of a surprise attack by us or an uprising from the hostages, so there’s no way they would stay in a place that has bad vision.”

They are freely bringing out their opinions.

It is still a dangerous situation, but the atmosphere that this young light knights give out makes me feel the fruits of the reformation, and that makes me happy.

“Yorishiro-sama! Haine-san!” (Karen)

Karen-san, who had left temporarily, had returned inside the tent.

“I used the flying machine to check out the library from above.” (Karen)

And…

“I managed to confirm the captured hostages through the window.” (Karen)

“Seriously?!”

Karen-san slides her finger through the map of the library that was spread at the table that’s at the center of the tent.

“At the large hall that’s called ‘the Goddess Space’, there’s an area there where outsiders would read the books in. It is plenty spacious. It looks like the hostages have been gathered there.” (Karen)

It is true that this is an adequate room to have a big amount of people to keep in check.   

“Originally, the Light Grand Library is a big construction of three floors, but due to trying to appeal its artistic design and because of trying to secure a light source to read, the middle of the first floor, the ‘Goddess’ Space’, has a big skylight made there. I could clearly see the figure of the hostages from there.” (Karen)

Is what Karen-san says as she gives a thumbs up.

This result is thanks to being able to see from a vantage point that wouldn’t have been possible without the flying machine.

“Karen-sama, that means the hostages aren’t divided in different spaces, right?” (Grades)

General Grades asks with deep caution.

“That’s right. The hundred people that I managed to confirm beforehand were all there when I checked through the skylight, and just in case, I checked the other rooms, but I didn’t find any traces of people being locked up there.” (Karen)

‘It is only limited to the rooms that I can peek through the windows, though’, is what Karen-san added.

“Okay. Looks like the other side are amateurs! In this occasions, it is an established tactic to separate the hostages in order to keep an insurance, and yet, it looks like they didn’t even do that!” (Grades)

Just that single point of everyone being gathered at one place had made the situation a lot better.

But there’s still the delicate part about not damaging the important documents in the library though…

“Lives are top priority. Doraha will burrow into the shadows and infiltrate the place. After securing the safety of the hostages, the light knights will rush in from all the entrances of the library and suppress them. As speedy as possible. Whether the perpetrators are left dead or alive is not important.” (Yorishiro)

Yorishiro gives out cold-hearted instructions.

Now that the path to resolving this issue is visible, it all depends now on whether the perpetrators will come with an unexpected move.

After the meeting was over, what’s left is to act.

From the most important to the lowest, everyone knew their own role and mobilized in order to achieve it.

“Wait.” (Haine)

And in all that, I called out to Doraha who is the kernel of this plan.

“What is it, Haine-sama?” (Doraha)

“I want to ask something. Your power of burrowing into the shadows, is that limited to only you?” (Haine)

That question actually made the people around react heavily.

“Haine-san, don’t tell me you are…!” (Karen)

It is exactly that.

“I will also be going along. And I will be crushing those terrorist bastards myself.” (Haine)

• 231: Unbelievable passage

And so, the result was that, it is possible for Doraha to hide other people aside from herself inside the shadow.

In reality, if that weren’t the case, the clothes of Doraha wouldn’t be able to enter and Doraha would have to enter the shadow butt-naked after all.

“Please think of being inside a shadow as being practically inside water.” (Doraha)

“Meaning?” (Haine)

“First of all, you can’t breathe at all. So, the time that one can stay inside a shadow is incredibly limited.” (Doraha)

“Meaning that it is only as long as you can hold your breath huh. In that case, it is fine. I am the type that can hold his breath for quite a while.” (Haine)

To put it more precisely, I can utilize my dark matter to slow down the passage of time to make it so that I can pass a long time without the need of breathing, but explaining that would be a pain, so I just keep it as ‘I can hold my breath for long’.

“Please wait!” (Karen)

Karen-san hurriedly interposes.

“If it is fine to accompany Doraha, then how about increasing the amount of people that infiltrate? The more people send to battle will increase the chances of success!” (Karen)

“I am sorry to say, Karen-sama…” (Doraha)

Doraha composedly says.

“The amount of people that can burrow inside a shadow is proportional to the size of the shadow itself. Considering the nature of this time’s plan, we have to think that the most we can bring is one more person.” (Doraha)

“In that case, the better the reason Haine-san should be the one going.” (Yorishiro)

Yorishiro joins in.

“Haine-san is without doubt the strongest fighting force in this present time. On top of that, it is known that the perpetrators are using weapons that utilize ethereal in some way. The one who can adapt to an unexpected situation the best is Haine-san and his dark matter.” (Yorishiro)

“But…” (Karen)

Even with that, she looked like she was worried as she showed an expression of disapproval.

“Know your place, hero. You have the important duty of sending these two to where the hostages are.” (Yorishiro)

“Yes…” (Karen)

The strictness of Yorishiro forcefully made Karen-san accept it.

“Ates-san.” (Yorishiro)

“Yes?” (Ates)

Ates had gone completely silent since the moment Yorishiro entered the place, but she has been in this meeting room this whole time. Or more like, she was not allowed to leave.

If we were to let her go to a place where we can’t see her, who knows what she would do.

“Stay in the meeting room. I won’t allow you to leave my side until this plan is completed.” (Yorishiro)

“If that’s the will of our Founder, I will of course obey.” (Ates)

Ates was obedient, but who knows how much of that obedience is how she actually feels.

At any rate, I don’t think we will be able to only look forward as we fight.

***

The particulars of Doraha reaching the hostages has already been planned.

The flying machine of Karen-san comes to play again.

This thing really does play a role everytime.

“Uhm, in other words…” (Haine)

“Doraha-san and Haine-san will be entering the shadow of the flying machine.” (Karen)

I see.

Even the birds flying in the sky will make shadows. If we were to enter the shadow of an object in flight, the mobility will increase by a lot.

The place where the hostages are held in supposedly has a skylight, so if the flying machine comes from the top and projects its shadow from the skylight, that will be enough to make the infiltration a success.

“Karen-sama, make sure to have the sun always at your back when flying, and please make sure not to make contact with the shadow of the building. If you mix with other shadows, there’s the chance that we will be left in that other one.” (Doraha)

“Understood.” (Karen)

Looks like the shadow ability has its own rules.

In order to not be noticed by the perpetrators, Karen-san has to fly from a hidden location.

When the flight gets stabilized, Doraha and I are supposed to burrow inside the shadow, but before we even began, something drew our attention.

“General Grades?” (Haine)

We saw Grades-san heading somewhere.

Where is he heading to?

He should be in the meeting room viewing the situation.

“This was supposed to be a secret since Haine-san would definitely try to stop him, but…” (Karen)

Karen-san says this now.

“In order to increase the success rate of the mission, General Grades took on the role of drawing attention. If the attention is drawn to General Grades, it would make things easier for Haine-san and Doraha-san.” (Karen)

“Seriously?!” (Haine)

The place where General Grades is heading to is without doubt the front entrance of the library.

At that place, there’s still Dobbe who is doing his habitual rambling speech.

“That’s bad!! Standing in front of Dobbe who is definitely the one that has the most grudge of being fired from his position as a Knight General, if the current General that is Grades were to do that…!” (Haine)

“Haine-san!” (Karen)

I was about to stop General Grades, but Karen-san stopped me.

“…Grades-san is…the person that truly deserve to be the Aurora Knight corps’ General.” (Karen)

“Karen-san?” (Haine)

“Since the time he was a vice-captain, he has been thinking about the knight corps more than anyone else. He wasn’t born in an influential family, and rose up to vice-captain without a single thing backing him. But…” (Karen)

That was by no means because he was greedy for promotion.

That bald man was always treasuring the organization —the people that conform this organization, and aimed for battle formations that would allow people to fight at their best.

The amount of times that he has argued with his superiors that only saw for themselves were many.

“That person knows pretty well the meaning of fighting to protect. That’s why Yorishiro-sama selected him as the new General when the reformation came.” (Karen)

And now General Grades has decided on the most definite method to increase the chances of success. In order to make the mission a success, in order to protect the citizens.

“You can’t get in the way of the General! We have to do what we must do!” (Karen)

The scold of Karen-san had already stopped my feet, but my gaze couldn’t help but chase the back General Grades.

And then, that person finally arrived at the front entrance of the library.

“Huh? What’s the matter with you?!” (Dobbe)

The bald man introduced himself to Dobbe who had already fallen to being a mere terrorist.

“Aurora Knight corps’ General, Dillon Grades-sama for you!” (Grades)

• 232: Necessary person

“Aurora Knight corps’ General? Hmm, that’s strange.” (Dobbe)

Dobbe was already a terrorist no matter where you look at him, but his attitude was still as if he were at the summit of everything.

“When talking about the General of the Aurora Knights, there’s only one in the world, and that is Zeberphon Dobbe. Taking my title without my permission is quite the rude thing to do, Vice-captain Grades.” (Dobbe)

“You were not only fired from your position as General but from the Aurora Knights itself. You already don’t have the right to be called a knight. Moreover, taking over a public facility at broad daylight and even bringing harm to the citizens; you can’t even be called a human anymore, you are trash.” (Grades)

Grades takes a single breath before continuing.

“I will give you a chance. Surrender yourself now and receive your punishment. If it’s now, it should still be possible to give some pity to your verdict.” (Grades)

“Don’t joke around!!” (Dobbe)

Dobbe shouts and throws the ethereal speaker to the ground. Its fragments fly around with force.

“I -the Aurora Knight’s General- has stood up for the sake of justice! In order to bring justice to that damn Yorishiro that monopolizes the Light Church! In order to bring back true justice to the Church!!” (Dobbe)

“What are you referring to by true justice? Are you talking about the knight corps that you were in before?” (Grades)

The tone of General Grades had become that of a person dealing with an unruly child.

“In your time as a General, you were doing whatever you pleased, and I who was being swung around also couldn’t take it. Even when monsters appeared, you didn’t want to leave the headquarters, and when there was no choice but to depart after delegating the leadership, you then began to wail about taking command yourself while you were still in headquarters.” (Grades)

How unreasonable.

“How much distance do you think the headquarters are from the actual spot? ‘Don’t take one step unless I order it’, you said. If you had at least used an ethereal car to reduce the time to arrive at the place, it would have been better. What you were saying to the light knights was basically this: ‘Die’.” (Grades)

And in reality.

“If the hero Karen-sama hadn’t been with us, who knows how many light knights would have died because of you. Even if the ones that dealt the actual fatal damage were the fangs and claws of monsters, the one who did the killing were incompetent superiors like you. It is already a legit sin to have incompetent people -with only their big pride to talk about- standing at the top. And there’s many more where that came from…” (Grades)

You could feel the thick resentment of Grades in the times when he was a vice-captain.

“Just because the garden of someone’s house was beautiful, you would drive away the residents and put them in direct control of the knight corps; you would take the horses that the newcomer knights were riding just because they are good. There wasn’t a single order of yours that could be considered that of a General. The moment Karen-sama had become a hero and began to distinguish herself, you demanded everyone from the knight corps to sign a declaration that we won’t acknowledge Karen-sama as the hero. At that time, I felt like killing you. Being unable to actually do it has made me regret it all this time.” (Grades)

“What?! You mere Vice-captain dares to!!” (Dobbe)

The direct provocation of General Grades had immediately made the incompetent Dobbe rage.

“Don’t joke around, fake! A commoner like you with your dirty blood standing as General is an unforgivable sin in itself! A high-class position is fitting only for humans of high-class lineage! And that person is I -the head of the Zeberphon family!” (Dobbe)

“A high-class lineage rises by accomplishing the duties that they have to do. If trash like you were to leave descendants, the Zeberphon ancestors would be crying from six feet under! Listen well!” (Grades)

General Grades throws away the sword that was wrapped around his waist, the sword that could be said to be the proof of his status as a light knight, and raises his unarmed hands.

“I won’t put a single finger on you. If I were to scratch you, the hostages won’t be safe, right? That’s why I will only look down on you. I will look down on you thoroughly. If you have at least a little bit of conscience as the Aurora Knight’s General, be ashamed to the extreme!!” (Grades)

“D-Don’t get closer! If you get any closer, I will…!” (Dobbe)

Dobbe points the muzzle of the ethereal gun that was hanging at his side towards Grades.

It is similar to the wind guns that the wind hero Hyue and the others use, but this one most likely shoots bullets purely out of ethereal power.

It is a dangerous weapon that has plenty enough power to kill people.

Even so, General Grades didn’t falter.

“Listen well! In the first place, your post isn’t something that you grasp just because you wish for it! It is entrusted to you by a person that is far higher than you! Once you are acknowledged, you can’t refuse no matter how much you want to! That’s how duties and titles work!!” (Grades)

Overwhelmed by the aura of General Grades, Dobbe takes one step back with his gun still in position.

“Even I don’t have the confidence to do it! In this time when it is the most busiest of all, I was made the helmsman of the Aurora Knights. The hundreds of knights, and the several hundred thousands of people that those knights must protect. That’s the amount of people that are on our shoulders! That’s the amount of responsibility! If possible, I would want to run away. But now that I have been chosen to do it, I can’t run away from it!!” (Grades)

Once ordered by someone high, you are also pushed to move higher.

“You damn brat Dobbe! Did you have that much of a resolve? At the times when you were the Aurora Knight’s General, did you ever feel the responsibility that comes with it?! You haven’t, have you?! I can say this with confidence! You only saw your duty as General as some sort of game! And in that game, we were the ones being played! That’s why you are incompetent!!” (Grades)

“Ugh!!”

“Right now you are the same as a child wailing after having your game taken! But of course, the position of General is not a game! There’s no logic where society should suffer for the tantrums of someone like you!” (Grades)

The whole body of Dobbe began to tremble.

General Grades… from the very beginning, I thought of him as a great person, but to think that he was a person that was able to bring out such pressure. No, that’s not it. It is exactly because he has become the Knight General, it is exactly because he is the Knight General that the he rose along with his position.

“Shut up shut up! Don’t get close! Don’t go speaking high-and-mighty to me!” (Dobbe)

The trembling finger of Dobbe squeezed the trigger, and finally, a bullet was shot.

*Bang!*

But maybe because Dobbe sucks, or because the ethereal weapon’s calibration was not good, the bullet flies at an unknown direction.

It won’t hit General Grades. It is not a trajectory that would hit him. But…

*Splat*

The bullet pierces the hand of General Grades.

He purposely moved his left hand to the trajectory of the bullet, and blood gushes out heavily.

“Why?!”

The bullet was completely going at a course that would miss General Grades!

Grades basically went and got hit himself.

“Where are you aiming?!” (Grades)

“Awawawawa!!” (Dobbe)

“Don’t go shooting at random places!! What are you gonna do if you hit a citizen?!” (Grades)

Amazing.

That person is already winning purely by pressure!  —Ouch!

Someone suddenly hit my head!

“Haine-sama, it is time.” (Doraha)

Doraha was the one who hit me huh.

“General Grades is pulling the attention. This is the time to infiltrate the library.” (Doraha)

Right.

General Grades was so overwhelming, I got enraptured by it, but this mission, the core of it is for us to infiltrate the inside.

But that’s how effective it was.

Karen-san had finished all preparations and stabilized the course in the time time Grades was buying. And now, it would be our turn to use that opening.

“Let’s go, Haine-sama. Please hold onto me tightly.” (Doraha)

Doraha holds my hand and we slowly sink into the shadow of the flying machine.

First the legs, then waist, and when it finally came to the head, all vision was lost.

“Woah?!”

Thanks to holding hands with Doraha, the shadow had accepted me as a target of the technique.

Just like how she had explained, it was truly as if we were inside water. At the other side of what felt like a domain of water, I was able to slightly tell what was happening outside.

“Here we go!” (Karen)

I could hear the voice of Karen-san outside the shadow.

The Light Grand Church; the plan to save the hostages had truly begun now.

• 233: To the gunpowder warehouse

Entering a shadow felt mysterious.

It is as if we were being moved along with the water tank.  

It felt as if it would continue endlessly and we were being pushed to the inside of a wall.

When I look up, I could see the flying machine as if seeing it through a water surface.

(Haine-sama, please don’t lower your guard. Karen-sama will most likely only pass the skylight for a second.) (Doraha)

The voice of Doraha also travelled to me in a totally different way from a normal space.

(The moment the flying machine’s shadow overlaps with the shadows of the objects inside the library, we will jump to that one. With that, we will be able to infiltrate the library……but be careful.) (Doraha)

Hm?

(Haine-sama is not a shadow user and simply entered the shadow with me as proxy. If at the moment when we jump to the other shadow you are left alone inside the shadow, who knows what would happen. Even I don’t know.) (Doraha)

What’s with that?! What a scary prospect!

I would be instantly shut inside the shadow then?!

No, that would still be fine, but if I were to lose the guide that is Doraha and I am unable to leave the shadow for the rest of my life and have to stay there all alone…just imagining it sends shivers to my spine!

(Haine-sama, Haine-sama, the infiltration has been completed.) (Doraha)

You serious.

(That’s why I said it would take an instant, didn’t I?) (Doraha)

Right. When I look up, I could see the skylight that reflects the sky, and the figure of the flying machine is not there anymore.

“Oi!! How long is that ‘Knight General’ guy supposed to be outside?! He has told them our demands already, I hope.”

“Like I would know! …That idiot, just because this is his homeland, he acts as the leader. He isn’t of use at all!”

“Someone go to the entrance and check out what’s going on! If that self-proclaimed Knight General-sama is still blabbering, shoot him death!”

“You go! Who are you ordering, you heathen?!”

…?

Things are strange here?

They don’t feel at all like terrorists that have taken arms in order to fight the nation’s power.

(Haine-sama, for now, let’s surface. Staying too long inside  the shadow is not good.) (Doraha)

Right.

For now, I leave everything to Doraha and move through the shadow, and surfaced on a place where we can properly hide our bodies from the terrorists.

The characteristic smell of paper and ink was permeating this library.

Since this is a library, I thought that we wouldn’t have any problems finding a place to hide due to the many bookshelves lined up, but the enemies are terrorists. The bookshelves are being used as barricades and to block the door of this place.

As if saying that the books inside of it were in the way, the books were scattered everywhere.

“How terrible.” (Haine)

We managed to surface from the back of the desk that the librarian uses and hid our bodies there as we look around the place.

There’s the hostages.

They have been gathered at a corner of the room, their numbers are close to a hundred, and surrounding them, there’s clear ruffians with their swords unsheathed

But those are not the only weapons those guys have on them…

“That shape…they look similar to the wind guns that the Wind Church uses.” (Doraha)

Doraha whispers.

“They are the same as the one Dobbe was using outside. Damn it. So ethereal weapons were really circulating from behind the scenes huh.” (Haine)

That truth was, frankly speaking, a headache-inducing problem on the level of the Demon Lords.

But let’s concentrate on what we have in front.

“Doraha, I have thought of something.” (Haine)

“What is it?” (Doraha)

“Your shadow, can you move it to a faraway place without being noticed?” (Haine)

“As long as the shadow is connected to another shadow, it is possible to move through each shadow. As long as another thing’s shadow overlaps with the shadow.” (Doraha)

I see. An interesting power.

Depending on the application of the divine power, it can spread endlessly then. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing though.

I once again look around. I catch sight of one that looks to be part of the terrorists.

Of course, there’s no way the terrorists here in the ‘Goddess Space’ are all of them.

Counting Dobbe who is bawling outside, there should be lookouts in different locations.

But it doesn’t change the fact that this place is where the kernel of the terrorist group is.

First, we will take control of this place, and take a foothold towards the resolution—but the situation is always taking one step ahead of us.

From within the group of hostages, one specially loud voice was raised.

It is a little girl.

Her age is around 6-7 years old. This girl that had come to the library to read picture books like any other day, but had been caught in this unreasonable situation.

That crying voice of hers was probably a cry for help. Maybe to her parents, or to any other adult. But there were many in this room that would get rubbed in the wrong way by the cry of this young girl.

“Shut up, shitty brat! Stop the crying!”

“Just kill her! There’s plenty hostages anyways! It won’t change with one or two missing!!”

“If we show example, the bunch will certainly be silent! These are the trash of the Light Church anyways! The lives of heathens are the same as trash!!”

“Let’s offer the death cries of these heathens to Nova-sama!”

“Divine punishment on the holy name of Coacervate-sama!!”

The terrorists raised gleeful voices.

“Those guys…!” (Doraha)

The expression of Doraha turned visibly ferocious as she heard them.

That was a sign that she was changing into the ‘Shadow’ that engulfs the world.

“Calm down…!” (Haine)

I grabbed the shoulders of Doraha tightly.

There’s no need for you to become that fiend.

If these people need divine punishment, I -the Dark God Entropy- will provide exactly that to them.

I have plenty of divine punishment for everyone.

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