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Chapter 81

“...I don’t think Charon’s unconscious because of exhaustion.”

“Do you care?”

Compared to the three of them, we were a bit better off, but since we didn’t know what might happen, we decided to close our eyes and rest for a bit as well.

Over the course of the night, the four of us took watch one at a time.

The first day of the special test—though I didn’t know if we could still call it that—came to an end.

The morning of the second day...

After going outside to get some fresh air, I looked up at the sky and tilted my head.

“...Is it morning? I can’t tell because the forest is so dark,” Mir said, echoing my own thoughts.

Due to the sheer number of trees, it was always quite dark... but for some reason, it felt darker than usual.

I was quite sensitive to the presence of the sun, so I could tell even without being able to see through the branches.

Has the sun not risen yet?

I took out the hourglass from my pocket.

About a third of it had fallen, meaning that approximately a day had passed since the beginning of the test.

And since the test had started in the morning, the sun should be up now...

I hope this is just a bad feeling.

But since demons had already appeared, hoping for the best was just denying reality.

For now, I should check in with the others.

I returned to the shack with Mir.

There in the small shack, I saw the other young heroes sitting together.

“...It’s so stuffy in here.”

Maybe because there were no windows, but it felt harder to breathe for some reason.

If it were summer, I wouldn’t be surprised if we just died from overheating.

I first looked at Hector.

“Are you okay now?”

“I’ve recovered a lot. What about you?”

“Me?”

“Didn’t your hand get pierced yesterday? And you had burn scars as well...”

He was more attentive than I’d realized.

It was right before he collapsed, but he was talking like he’d seen the entirety of my duel against Charon.

“I’m fine. I should be all healed by tomorrow.”

“I see...”

“Are you okay as well, Mr. Dwarf?”

“Ah, yes. I’m good.”

I looked at the dwarven young hero for a moment.

“Your name...”

“I am Bazil Jule.”

“Right.”

I’d forgotten even though Evan had told me.

Bazil looked dejected as he mumbled to himself, “I heard the general situation from Evan and Sharyl. I never thought Pam would die... I guess we can’t be too hopeful for Denma either.”

There was no point in trying to console him right now, so I just stayed quiet.

Finally, I looked at Charon.

Just yesterday, he had been so swollen that it had been hard to even see his face and neck, but it had settled down quite a lot now.

His healing is quite impressive as well.

He’d probably eaten as well as Hector had while growing up.

“So why are you here alone? Where is your team?”

“...Our team decided that we would all work alone.”

“Aha.”

It was stupid to be acting alone in a dangerous place such as this one, but I understood Charon’s reasoning.

“So you wanted everyone to go around and get their own points. Did Zeros try to go around selling potions with his blessing?”

“...”

Charon’s silence told me I was correct.

Seeing his secretive attitude, I felt the desire to bully him further bubble up within me.

But before that...

I let out a fake cough to clear my throat.

“Before we start, who here knows a lot about the Church of Darkness?”

Hector was the only one of the seven who raised his hand in response to my question.

“Then I’ll ask you something, Elder Brother.”

“What is it?”

“Do any of the cult’s rituals relate to solar eclipses?”

Hector’s expression hardened.

“...Are we in a solar eclipse right now?”

“Probably.”

“This isn’t something to be taken lightly. Give me a direct answer.”

I nodded.

“That’s right. The sun is covered by a shadow.”

In response to my words, everyone’s attention focused on Hector’s expression.

His expression, which had previously been hardened, was now pale like a corpse’s.

“Sir Hector?”

“Do you perhaps know what is happening right now?”

“From what I’ve read... a solar eclipse that happens only in a specific location without any warning can mean only one thing.” My theory became reality as Hector continued, “A demon lord’s summoning ritual.”

The Church of Darkness.

Those crazy bastards intended to summon a demon lord on Bednicker land.

* * * * *

* * * * *

Naturally, all the young heroes were shocked.

We had just barely defeated a demon pawn. With the sudden shift to talking about demon lords, we lost the sense of scale.

“Y-you’re joking, right? A demon lord’s summoning means...”

“Not just anywhere but in Bednicker territory... There’s no way that’ll happen, right...?”

“Of course, it won’t be a full summoning. They shouldn’t have the time or the sacrifices necessary.”

Bazil seemed to get scared quite easily, unlike a regular dwarf, as his face became pale at Hector’s words.

“S-sacrifices...”

“Only a part of the demon lord’s body will appear here.”

“I-I guess that’s a bit of a relief.”

“A relief?”

Hector gave a dejected smile.

“Do you remember when, 20 years ago, the Great City of Pilpia was demolished in just 27 minutes? Even now, that land is covered by such disgusting demonic energy that even high-ranking priests have given up on trying to purify it. What the cult summoned back then was just a demon lord’s finger.”

“...I’ve heard about the tragedy of Pilpia as well,” Sharyl said, “but I heard that a few hundred people were sacrificed then...”

“There’s no way we can know what preparations the cult has made. Regardless, we need to be wary because the solar eclipse has already happened and the ritual has begun.”

I asked, “What will happen next?”

“First, living creatures will start to mutate. Life without any resistance to demonic energy will be affected by it and start to become twisted.”

“Affected?”

“Originally, this forest didn’t have any wolf-type monsters. The beasts who live in this forest were affected by that energy and turned out like that.”

“Hmm...”

“Second, demons will begin to appear. Most of them should be low-ranking demons with the intelligence of animals, but after the gates of hell have been opened, they’ll appear in swarms.” While looking at me, Hector continued, “Finally, there’ll be a solar eclipse... just like you saw.”

“How many stages does the ritual have?”

“From what I know, there are four stages. The final stage is when the land itself starts to rot and begins to emit suffocating demonic energy. This energy is so strong that even active heroes have a difficult time resisting it.”

So if we reached that point, everyone was going to die helplessly.

“...”

“...”

In any case, Hector’s explanation had instantly brought down the mood.

I was no exception.

I’d expected the situation to be serious, but this was worse than I had ever imagined.

A calamity of this scale might be enough to kill even me...

Was this what my master had foreseen?

But I couldn’t think of how the advice I’d received could affect this.

Could I have grown enough to respond to this situation in just a month?

But then Evan, who looked relatively calm compared to everyone else, asked, “There’s no way House Bednicker won’t know this is happening when it’s such a huge deal. Won’t the house send support soon?”

“There will be support sent... but we can’t know when.”

“Pardon?”

“Centered on the campground, there is a barrier that is 40 kilometers across. It was created by the Archmage himself, Sir Asad, and it was created to completely separate the inside of the training camp from the outside.”

“Why was a barrier like that...”

“Because without it, this training camp couldn’t have been created in such a dangerous area. The barrier stops monsters from invading and also removes the effect the forest naturally possesses. That is, the loss of direction.”

“Ah...”

“The culprit is likely aware of this fact.”

Although he didn’t say it out loud, Hector seemed to also understand that the culprit was inside House Bednicker.

“...It would be nice if there was a way to relay this news to the outside.”

“Shouldn’t someone here have a blessing like that? You know, there’s that guy who smuggled all sorts of items in from outside...”

As that person was mentioned, we all turned to Charon.

His expression didn’t change at all, as if he was trying to hide whether he knew anything about this situation...

But he soon bluntly replied, “...If you’re talking about Zeros, it’s impossible. His blessing doesn’t create a path to the outside world. He just has a huge vault.”

It was impressive how he was able to maintain that rough personality of his after getting beaten up so badly.

I sat there amazed at Charon for a moment, but then I suddenly had a thought.

“Wait. Did you say that the barrier was made by Archmage Asad?”

“It’s Sir Asad.”

“Yeah, Sir Asad.”

Hector looked at me with a displeased expression before nodding.

“That’s right. That’s why there’s no point in someone using a power with a lower rank than him.”

“I have a magic item given to me by the family head. Shouldn’t it be enough to break through Mister Archmage’s power?”

“A magic item?”

I held up my middle finger.

Of course, I wasn’t insulting Hector, I was showing off the ring.

“That’s...?”

“He told me that if I pour mana into it, I can go to the fifth floor.”

Hector closely checked the ring before his expression brightened.

“Ah! It’s a regular ring without a gem or any detailed inscriptions... Sir Asad was definitely the one who made this.”

“Oh.”

“With this magic tool, you should be able to get through the barrier.”

“Ah...!”

As he said that, exclamations of relief were heard from everyone around us.

It felt like a ray of sunshine had shone through the cloud of despair.

“Okay. Wait just a moment.”

I quickly began to imbue mana into the black ring.

Vwoong...

I was worried about what I’d do if it didn’t activate, but thankfully, the ring accepted my mana without any issue.

Soon, mana flowed out from the ring and engulfed my body.

Then...

Flash!

My surroundings instantly changed.

“...Hm?”

Suddenly, I was standing inside a worn-out room.

There wasn’t even a window. Instead, the huge room was covered in bookcases, and most of them were ancient books written in languages I couldn’t understand.

Now that I thought about it, hadn’t he said that the fifth floor’s scenery changed every time?

That meant that the Lord of Blood and Iron was somewhere around here...

“What’s this?”

I was immediately surprised since I hadn’t detected a single presence.

I looked backward, but rather than the Lord of Blood and Iron, I saw someone else sitting at a desk.

The man was wearing a magnifying glass as he read a book; he wasn’t looking at me at all.

It was the Archmage Asad.

“Luan Bednicker, why are you here?”

“...What about you, Sir Asad?”

“Is it odd that I’m in my room?”

“It is odd. This ring was supposed to send me to the fifth floor of the main house.”

“Ring?”

Only then did Asad take his eyes off the book to look at me.

His exhausted-looking eyes saw my ring.

“Where did you get that ring?”

“The family head gave it to me.”

“Dellark did? Hmm.”

Asad seemed to have his doubts, but he soon lost interest.

“I guess if you say so.”

“...So where is the family head?”

“I don’t know. You’re distracting me, so leave.”

As Asad said that and tried to get me to leave, I hurriedly spoke.

“W-wait!”

“What is it?”

“We’re in a dangerous situation. It’s because of your barrier, Sir Asad.”

“My barrier?”

I began to explain everything to Asad.

The training camp’s special test, the deaths that had already occurred, and even the premonitions of a demon lord’s summoning.

...Asad closed the book he was reading.

He put his chin on his knuckles and seemed to fall into deep thought. All in all, his reaction was calmer than I’d expected.

I thought he would make a bit of a fuss when he heard about the demon lord’s summoning...

Now that I thought about it, didn’t magicians who lived long lose their human emotions and become more and more detached?

I thought it would be boring to live life like that.

Finally, Asad spoke.

“I see.”

“...Ehm. Excuse me, but is that all?”

“There’s no need to make a fuss about it.”

“Even if you didn’t make a fuss about it, I thought that you’d at least be surprised.”

“You have only told me what I already know, so why should I be surprised?”

“...What?”

What had this man just said?