Interlude
“Mito, the royal capital’s in sight.”
A pretty blonde-haired woman in a dress ill-suited to travel called out from atop a mountain ridge, where she was peering far into the distance.
“Whaaat? Wherrre…?”
The black-haired girl called Mito leaned forward on the runosaur she was riding and squinted into the wind.
“Straight ahead. Don’t you see it between those twin mountains?”
“No way. You’re the only one who can see that far with the naked eye, Sky.”
Mito then muttered, “Long Sight.”
“Okay, now I see it. That’s the royal capital, all right.”
It was much too far away for any ordinary person to see without the use of a longscope or something similar, but Mito managed it with the help of a chant-less Practical Magic spell.
“I kinda feel like it’s gotten bigger… Maybe it’s just been a long time since I’ve seen it, though.”
“No, it’s not your imagination. It’s several times larger than the last time I saw it.”
“I knew it! Even the farmland without barrier posts has spread so far it’d take several days to walk the whole distance. I guess the last few kings have been sticking to the farm expansion plan we made with Sharorik and the others.”
After rambling in excitement, Mito quieted as she scanned the fields.
The blonde beauty gently wiped away the tears that formed in Mito’s eyes with a pale, translucent finger.
“That’s great, Mito.”
“Yeah.”
Shaking off her sentimental moment, Mito urged the runosaur onward.
“Mito, monsters.”
“Is it demi-goblins? We should do some pest control if they’re this close to settled land.”
Mito raised her arm, and fifteen transparent arrows appeared around her. When she brought her arm down, the arrows flew in all directions, hunting down the monsters that lurked in the brush.
If someone familiar with Practical Magic had been present, they would recognize it as the lesser magic spell Magic Arrow, but they would likely be shocked to see it send out three times the number of arrows that even the most experienced mage could produce.
Although perhaps that was still relatively unimpressive compared to the hundred and twenty Magic Arrows used by the masked hero Nanashi…
“Monsters within the walls… Maybe it really is impossible to make a perfect safe zone.”
“Of course it is. Wherever people gather, miasma will form. And when the miasma grows thick, monsters will always appear. That’s just how this world works.”
“Right. I know that, Sky.”
Mito looked a little sad.
“You’ve noticed, too, Mito?”
The blonde woman gazed past the mountains in the direction of the royal capital.
“Yeah, the miasma’s really thick.”
Mito peered through the silver lens hanging around her neck, looking in the same direction as the other woman, and nodded.
The miasma there was several times thicker than normal, though still much thinner than that found in a labyrinth or battlefield.
Those demi-goblins were most likely created when some of that thick miasma stagnated.
“I think it’s almost the new year, though. It’ll clear up when they do the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony.”
Mito had learned that the ceremony still continued to this day from a traveling merchant she’d met while working to raise money in Zetts County.
“Don’t worry, Mito. If the miasma attracts too many monsters or demons, I’ll assume my true form and burn them all to ash.”
“Ah-ha-ha, don’t do that.”
“Why not?!”
The blonde-haired woman stared wide-eyed at her friend who had just shut her down.
“If you let loose, monsters and demons won’t be the only ones destroyed.”
“That’s not—”
“—true? Can you be absolutely sure of that?”
The blonde fell into silence at Mito’s question, then grumpily turned away.
It looked like the royal capital would last another year without being burned to the ground.
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