Campione! - Volume 18 - Chapter 9.9

Part 9 

"Owww..."  

Aisha was supposed to fall to the bottom of the earth but she found herself lying on grassland by the time she came to her senses.  

Joints all over her body were aching. However, that was all. She had apparently not suffered any heavy injuries such as fractures. Compared to falling to the subterranean underworld, this would be no more than a scratch...  

"Oh my oh my, goodness."  

Instantly pushing herself up, Aisha exclaimed.  

A vast expanse of "spring" stretched before her eyes. Flourishing vegetation exhibited hydrated greenery with leaves glistening from morning dew. Adorable flowers were blooming in various colors all over the place.  

A wilderness as far as the eye could see.  

No homes nearby. Not even a single man-made structure.  

"What a beautiful place... But how did I come to this kind of place?"  

Aisha stood up and made a few rounds in the area. A mild breeze was blowing against her skin, tickling her.  

The sunlight falling from the eastern sky was also warm and pleasing. It was a comfortable environment where one would even hope to remain here forever.  

Clearly she should be in the metropolis of London in midwinter, so what exactly was going on?  

Although Marquis Voban's mansion was definitely surrounded by a countryside filled with nature, after the onslaught of such a powerful blizzard, it should be quite far from this scene of spring.  

While Aisha was puzzling...  

"Onee-san, looks like it's okay now."  

A cute male voice spoke to her.  

She had heard the same voice during the fight between Marquis Voban and Oneesama.  

Aisha shifted her gaze to see a tiny person walking towards her, only ten inches (roughly twenty-five centimeters) tall. Roughly ten years old if judge by human appearances, he looked quite young.  

He was dressed in green with a pointed hat.  

Rather than a single boy of such a description, there were a total of seven of them.  

"Could it have been you guys?"  

Aisha stopped down and looked at the boys' faces.  

"Did you transport me here?"  

"Rather than us."  

"Actually, it's our boss. The queen of the land of fairies."  

"Just as you can see, we are fairies."  

"We were captured by that evil Devil King geezer."  

Evil Devil King. They probably meant Marquis Voban. Realizing that, Aisha smiled slightly wryly.  

Meanwhile, the seven tiny people continued to talk all at once.  

"That mage working for him said something about 'research.'"  

"Using us."  

"We've been waiting the whole time for a chance to escape."  

"Then we saw you guys fighting. There'd no more chances if we missed this one, so we prayed to the Lord of Fairies."  

"Please open a portal to the fairy realm."  

"However, we can't summon the portal to the surface by our power, so we asked you to smash the ground."  

"Then the underground portal sucked in everyone."  

After listening to the gist of things, Aisha figured out the situation.  

Just like the three-pronged rod, this was probably destiny brought by the luck authority. Thanks to that, she had overcome that predicament.  

"Then where did that lady, the one who was fighting master—the evil Devil King—go?"  

"Where eh?"  

"Like you, should be somewhere in the fairy realm."  

Aisha's current location was apparently a world known as the "fairy realm." Since she was fine, master and Onee-sama were surely unharmed.  

While thinking that, Aisha thought of other ideas.  

Given this rare chance to visit the fairy realm, she might as well go traveling in this world.  

Also, the seven tiny fairies also seemed to be encouraging her.  

"Hey, Onee-san. Would you like to visit the fairy city together?"  

"It's where our queen lives."  

"Ordinary people can't go there."  

"We'll lead the way for you."  

"Eh, really? Then thank you so much. I am so happy!"  

Aisha accepted this unexpected suggestion.  

This fairy realm was what humans called the Astral Plane or the Netherworld.  

It was a place ruled by several gods known as the Lords of Fairies. Furthermore, it was the mysterious domain where "a being who used to be a Heretic God" lived in seclusion.  

Furthermore, the seven tiny people who had invited Aisha were definitely not benevolent fairies.  

In fact, they belonged to an evil race of black dwarves. To kill the seemingly stupid godslayer, whom they had discovered by chance, as a sacrifice, they intended to deceive from the start.  

At the place where they took her, Aisha encountered the queen of the fairy realm.  

Then after a convoluted series of events, "the authority to open fairy portals" finally fell into the hands of Devil King Aisha... But that would be a separate tale.  

Also, Aisha had received several effects of good luck from invoking her authority earlier.  

By the time she realized the price of that was an encounter with evil fairies, she had already been caught up in a vortex of commotions.  

Ultimately, the power to bring sudden fortune was likewise capable of summoning abrupt misfortune and disaster, thus maintaining a balance between them.  

But back then, Aisha was still an inexperienced girl of seventeen.  

Hence, she was completely oblivious to this fact.  

Part 10 

Time went by, arriving at the year 1860.  

The night of the blizzard with three godslayers gathered in one spot had happened many years ago.  

Dejanstahl Voban desperately wished to forget that memory, but was unable to wipe it from his mind no matter what.  

Simply encountering a peer—a godslayer—was already rare enough. In addition, both of the two he had met back then left with him with deep impressions.  

Especialy the Indian godslayer named Aisha. It was an unacceptable blunder for him to have failed to discern her identity.  

Most likely, the same applied to Cult Master Luo Hao of the Chinese martial realm in addition to himself.  

However, there was probably no helping it. To think that girl with apparent mental problems could be a godslayer, totally impossible to imagine no matter what...  

Every time he persuaded himself in this manner, he always felt an impulse to click his tongue.  

As a side note, after "being had" by Aisha's authority back then, Marquis Voban and Cult Master Luo Hao were both dragged into the Astral Plane.  

Voban went through several adventures after that before finally returning to the real world.  

Cult Master Luo Hao probably returned in a similar fashion. Or perhaps using some kind of planewalking magic, she might have returned to the real world directly. Voban had frequently heard rumors about her from China.  

However, he had not heard any news of that Aisha girl.  

"Did she die in battle somewhere?"  

After muttering that, Voban shook his head with troubled thoughts.  

A gentle girl of that sort was not suited to being a godslayer. Although he did not know if she was in this world or the Astral Plane, either way, she was surely living a carefree life somewhere.  

"No matter. I do not wish to meet her again. I probably won't get involved with her ever again."  

Saying that, he intended to forget this incident.  

Ever since, "Marquis Voban" also changed how he lived.  

Weary of settled life in London, he was now moving between major cities across the land. Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, etc. There were as many exciting places to live in as he wanted. Accompanying industrial development, the many cities of Europe's major powers were undergoing earthshaking changes.  

Speaking of change, the world of magic was also changing.  

Marquis Voban had paid Buckingham Palace a visit on a whim in the past.  

Due to this incident, the magi of London had apparently assembled an organization known as the Witenagemot. Reportedly, it operated under the banner of defending the queen from the evil reaches of violent godslayers. At its core was apparently a secret club of old magi known as the Diogenes Club.  

Also, Campione.  

An Italian who had served a godslayer in the past published a paper.  

Reportedly, his paper recorded details on Devil Kings who had slain gods and usurped their authorities—Revolutionary content on what kinds of beings they were.  

The royal title of "Campione" was to be offered to these Devil Kings, deserving of fear and reverence.  

This paper proved to be unexpectedly influential. Lately, Voban had been increasingly called a Campione.  

"Oh well, it is true indeed."  

Smiling with delight, Voban shrugged.  

"It's much more concise than Lord of Magi."  

He was currently enjoying a long vacation. Not only leaving his city of residence but even Europe as well, he had arrived at Africa's eastern shore.  

On the deck of steam-powered ship, he was leaning against a guardrail, enjoying the sea breeze.  

Sailing from Cape Town, the ship was proceeding smoothly along the Zambezi River. This all began with an emergency report from Viscount Gerard, who had heard a certain rumor.  

'There is a valley in the depths of the mountains upstream of the Zambezi River. A place featuring many caves, legends tell of people inheriting primordial magic who have even built a small kingdom there. I heard that several months earlier, an Englishman who had gotten lost and reached that place... met a goddess there.'  

'She had otherworldly beauty and even possessed mysterious powers.'  

'Everyone injured... Even those on the verge of death would be healed just by her offering a prayer. Perhaps because of that, the kingdom's people all regard her as a goddess. They would do everything in their power to fulfill her requests no matter what. If it were for her sake, they would even die gladly...'  

'The man who reported this should still be in London, but while speaking with a rapturous expression, he expressed his wish to see the goddess again, even if only for one more glimpse.'  

'Hey Dejan, perhaps that Heretic Goddess might descend once more!'  

It would not be bad entertainment to confirm the veracity of this report while on vacation anyway.  

Due to this notion on whim, Voban was currently heading on a journey to the land of Africa.  

If all went well, perhaps he might be able to fight a goddess somewhere. Also, one might add as a digression—Two weeks later, the European Campione would come to learn of a truth he had no wish to know.  

The place upstream of the Zambezi River did not have a goddess. Instead, it was actually his old acquaintance, a girl.  

She rejoiced at their reunion with a smile no different from several years ago. However, her authorities had already evolved in a more disturbing direction than several years ago.  

Furthermore, he was painfully aware that in a certain sense, this girl was his true nemesis.  

While enjoying a journey by ship, the young Marquis Voban immersed himself in thoughts of the never encountered foe waiting for him somewhere out there in the world—