Chapter 5: Makoto Takatsuki Searches for the Snake Sect
“It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The Great Keith Martial Tournament has now begun!”
The commentator’s voice echoed, amplified by wind magic, and the Colosseum was filled with the roar of the crowd. The ring below was filled with fighters.
“Wow,” I murmured.
“There’re so many people!” Sasa exclaimed.
We were both slightly taken aback and looked agape at them all.
“Aya, they all look pretty strong,” Lucy said in concern, pulling at Sasa’s sleeve.
“It’ll be fine. You’re such a worrywart.” Sasa seemed unbothered. Lucy was right though—all the warriors in the ring looked really tough and well-built.
This tournament was unclassified—in other words, it was open to anyone regardless of race or gender. Whoever won would be Great Keith’s State-Authorized Hero for the next year. Therefore, they gave a chance to everyone who wanted one. The participants weren’t just locals either. People had come from all kinds of countries seeking fame and honor.
The commentators were now reading out each participant’s name one after another. Sometimes, a name would be accompanied by a cheer from the audience, and I figured that these were the more famous fighters.
“It seems rather odd that there are only thirty-two participants for a tournament of such renown,” Fujiyan commented.
“It’s not quite like that, dear’h. The preliminaries have already been held. There were over ten thousand applicants’h.”
“Ah. I was unaware.”
“Wait, really?” I asked in surprise. “Sasa, did you have to take part?”
“Nope. I just put my name on the entry sheet.”
Hm, what’s this about?
Princess Sophia then spoke up, wearing a hard look. “Hero Makoto, it seems that since she is one of your companions, she was chosen through an exceptions process.”
“So what you’re saying is...”
“That this is likely all part of their plan,” Princess Sophia finished. “If Aya had not volunteered, I believe they would have probably found some reason to prompt your participation...”
“Defeating Roses’s hero would show how strong their own warriors are.” I sighed. All of my companions’ eyes were on me.
“And representing Roses—Aya Sasaki!” boomed the commentator.
I tried to call out to wish her luck but noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere.
“Go home!”
“You cheat!”
“Boooo!”
“Hurry up and lose already!”
“Think of the people that actually earned their place!”
“Know some shame!”
The arena was filled with booing.
“What?!” Lucy demanded.
“The fact that she did not fight in the preliminary matches leaked. I would wager it was the organizers,” Princess Sophia said, biting her lip.
“The finals are said to be the highest honor for a warrior’h,” Nina—who had once been a warrior here—explained. “An average fighter cannot even get through the preliminaries’h... It’s probably jealousy’h.”
That worried me. “Hey...Sasa?” I asked. “Maybe you should withdraw...”
But her gaze was locked on the VIP box where the king and various nobles were seated. It looked like some bigwigs from Highland were present too. Gerald...wasn’t there. That’s kind of a relief.
The exact point of Sasa’s focus was Olga Sól Talisker, who was yawning uninterestedly. “Don’t worry, Takatsuki,” Sasa said, looking back at me with a smile. “I’m aiming for her.”
Yeah...Sasa wasn’t going to give in.
“Got it. Don’t push yourself too hard, though.”
“Right!”
I’d just have to support her. After that exchange, I went back over to Princess Sophia and Lucy.
“Sophia, Lucy. Cheer her on, please.”
“You can count on me!” exclaimed Lucy.
“Very well. If she is injured, then I will provide healers from Roses,” offered Sophia. “The tournament officials have healers as well, but they are supported by Great Keith, so ours will be available just in case.”
I appreciated her thoughtfulness.
Sasa turned back to me. “You’re going to be fighting the Snake Sect, right? I’m more worried about you.”
Indeed, the underground gathering of the Snake Sect was on the same day as the tournament. Was it a coincidence?
No, it’s probably on purpose.
It was just like how they’d planned things in Highland. Back then, they’d chosen the day when the Hero of Light was to be installed as a leader of the country. It was the same now—they were moving in the shadows and taking advantage of everyone’s focus being elsewhere. Was that archbishop Isaac going to be involved again?
“Well, I’ll see you later!” Sasa cheered before trotting off to the ring.
I glanced at Fujiyan, then Nina, Princess Sophia, Lucy, and...at Furiae, who was unhappily sucking at a straw.
“Cheer her on too, Princess,” I encouraged Furiae. “Are you doing all right, by the way? You could have evacuated back to Roses.”
Since she’d had the vision about Gamelan’s fall, Furiae hadn’t been outside. She’d seemed out of sorts, so I’d suggested she head back to Macallan...but she hadn’t.
“No. I’m not running away alone,” she replied. “Besides, you and the others are staying, so you need to change the future.”
“Got you,” I answered, taking the encouragement for what it was.
“Let us go, Hero Makoto,” the guardian knight called. Princess Sophia had decided that she couldn’t allow me to confront the Snake Sect alone, so the geezer and several other high-ranking knights were helping out.
Good luck, Sasa.
The crowd was still jeering at her as we left the Colosseum and headed for the meeting place.
When we arrived at our rendezvous, a knight from Great Keith greeted us.
“We’ve been waiting,” said one of the men. “You’re the hero’s squad, right?”
“Indeed. And you must be the men General Talisker told us of,” the guardian knight answered.
Neither of them was wearing grand armor, and they both carried the bare minimum of equipment. I was always pretty lightly equipped to begin with. At a glance, our two groups looked like adventurers or mercenaries. This was intentional—we couldn’t afford for the Snake Sect to notice us. That was also why we were in squads roughly ten men strong and why we’d planned to join up at the destination.
The young knight leading Great Keith’s forces guided us. We followed him for a while, and I eventually noticed that the city was getting emptier.
“This is the slums,” our guide explained. “It’s the area with the worst public order in the city.”
I just nodded along. The people milling around here had pretty shabby clothes, and a lot of the kids were barefoot. People had been drinking and gambling before the sun had even risen.
The word “slum” was certainly appropriate.
But...everyone seems oddly bright.
Compared to the same type of area in Highland, there was more life in people’s faces here. There were all kinds of races around—humans, beastmen, dwarves, and even elves. Maybe there are even cambions?
We didn’t have any real issues on the way.
A few kids and beggars came up to us, but our guide showed them some symbol and they all raced off with pale faces.
“What’s going on there?” I asked.
“Hero, this mark is the crest of the Herald Knight,” explained our guide. The crest in his hand depicted a goddess holding both a sword and a book.
“Oh, that is most impressive for your age,” remarked the geezer guardian knight.
“Not at all. Our family has been doing the same since my grandfather’s generation,” he replied with an awkward smile.
A Herald Knight in Japan would be a mixture of a police officer and a judge. Apparently, they made on-the-spot judgments of criminals. Knowing that, I thought the kids were right to run away. It also made this young knight a good choice for a guide since he’d know the whole city.
After a while, we stopped walking. “We have arrived at the entrance,” our guide informed us. We’d ended up in some back alley that looked like an abandoned dumping ground. He pointed toward a stone gate that led underground. “This is the entrance to Great Keith’s underground,” the guardian knight explained.
“Because of the heat on the surface, it’s customary in Great Keith to allow our dead to rest somewhere cooler,” the guide added.
“Huh...”
“Please take care in the dark.”
As we slowly descended, the temperature plummeted. I could almost forget that it was roasting hot aboveground. Periodic vents to the outside kept the place from being completely sealed off, and some light shone through the openings, but even so, this place was pretty much pitch-black.
We used Night Vision to progress through the darkness.
There were graves as far as I could see on either side of the passage. It was the middle of the day, and we were in a group, so it wasn’t too much of an issue...but I’d happily say no to coming here alone in the dead of night.
Even after we’d been walking for a while, there seemed to be no end to this tomb. “How far do the graves go?” I found myself asking.
“The passage and graves continue outside of the capital. This is an escape route in case the capital ever falls, so it is somewhat of a maze. You shouldn’t come here alone.”
Yeeep. Never coming here on my own.
“All of our knights are required to memorize the layout. We are not allowed paper maps... I’m sure you understand why,” he added with a meaningful smile.
“It’d be life and death if an enemy got hold of it.” After all, foes could use this passage to sneak into the capital without notice.
“Indeed. Even notes are harshly rebuked. The punishments are rather unique as well. If a soldier is found with maps of the area, they are left in the middle of it and need to find their own way out. Terrifying, no?”
Was that dark humor? Those of us from Roses exchanged glances.
“A-And if they don’t manage it?” That was the biggest question.
The knight wouldn’t meet my eyes. “See those graves? They’re new knights. At least one per year can’t find the way back... Mourning for them is one of the new recruits’ roles. I remember well the depression I felt back in the day.”
We all reared back. Great Keith’s military was way too hardcore!
The young knight saw our ghastly expressions and shrugged. “Just kidding.”
“What?” we chorused.
H-How much of it? Was he joking about the graves...or the punishment?
Let’s...just not ask, I decided.
The rest of the trip progressed in silence.
As we progressed further in, the place became more and more dungeon-like. We saw fewer graves, but the passageways still branched off in all directions. There were so many forks and crossroads that I’d have definitely gotten lost on my first time here.
Incidentally, I had Mapping from my RPG Player skill tree, and it was definitely earning its keep. I suppose there was a chance the intel on the Snake Sect was a lie...and that Great Keith’s knights intended to get us lost underground. If that was the case...well, I’d really rather not believe it.
“Someone’s there,” our leader whispered, gesturing for us to stop. We were next to a corner and a long straight path.
My Night Vision did indeed spot someone. Considering our location, it could be some undead...
“Someone from the Snake Sect,” the knight informed us. “A watchman, most likely.”
The Herald Knight had pretty good eyes. He looked like he had a touch of beastman in his ancestry, and they had good night vision. Great Keith was mostly a meritocracy, so if someone was strong, it didn’t really matter what race they were.
“That...is an issue. This is the only path, and a detour will take too long.”
The guardian knight folded his arms. But then, our guide pulled out a magic tool that looked like an hourglass.
“We expected there to be someone posted,” our guide said. “The structure of the maze makes eliminating any of them difficult, so we planned for a coordinated attack once the sand has all fallen. That way, it doesn’t matter if we’re spotted.”
“I see,” the guardian knight nodded.
“Do you want me to take that one out?” I offered. So far, I’d been pretty useless.
The Herald Knight looked at me doubtfully. “I don’t imagine you can do so without being noticed.”
“There are more than a hundred meters between us,” the geezer pointed out. “You will definitely be seen.”
They were about as against it as I’d thought they’d be.
“Then I just need to make sure he can’t see me,” I answered calmly.
“They’re...asleep.”
“It was so easy...”
We snuck up close to them, but they were sleeping deeply. “Them” because there were actually two people on watch duty.
“Hero of Roses, was that the low rank Mist?” asked the Herald Knight, looking with interest at the bottle in my hand.
“It was. I made the water in the bottle into a mist and had them breath it in. The trick’s a trade secret, though.” This particular bottle of water was the one Furiae had cursed with Slumber.
“You disabled them without alerting anyone to our presence! And from such a distance! Incredible.”
The guardian knight was just impressed. “An interesting technique. I’ll keep that in mind.” His gaze was sharp, though that sharpness vanished almost immediately as he addressed our group. “Thanks to Sir Makoto, we can progress. Restrain the Snake Sect members. One of us will remain here—the rest will advance. We are close to our goal.”
We nodded quietly and proceeded through the darkness in silence. Our guide’s face was tense. We were probably very close.
Eventually, we saw the glow of a red light up ahead. Clairvoyance indicated that the light came from flames.
“They’re there,” I said.
“Indeed. The Snake Sect is definitely meeting here.”
We decided to wait a decent distance away. Suddenly, the Herald Knight’s eyes widened in shock.
“I-Impossible!” he yelled, quickly dashing off.
What? Weren’t we waiting?
“What are we doing, Hero?” asked another knight.
“We’ll follow him,” I said. None of us had any idea what was going on, but I figured that’s all we could really do.
The long corridor exited into a weirdly open hall. Torches ringed the room, casting the interior in red. I didn’t understand what I was looking at for a moment, but I thought that something was covering the floor.
It was a pile. Hundreds of people stacked up. Humans, beastmen, adults, children...all slumped together.
A-Are they dead?
It looked like a mountain of corpses. My body froze at the bizarre sight.
“Damn it! Why?!”
“What in the world! Stay with me!”
The two knights had rushed over to the closest victims. I followed quickly behind and then softly touched someone’s face.
Their skin was still warm, and their chest rose and fell, albeit only slightly. I could still hear them breathing. Ph-Phew, they aren’t dead. None of them responded to the contact though.
“Healwater.”
Oh, nice one, geezer! I didn’t know you could heal. He might look pretty harsh, but he was adaptable.
Apparently, all of the water knights could. They gradually cast the magic on the various people piled on the floor. Unfortunately, I had no healing skills.
“There’s no sign of the Snake Sect here! Just former slaves! They’re all almost dead as well. Call the healers!”
The Herald Knight was calling for reinforcements into some kind of magic tool. I couldn’t use healing magic or call for help, so there was nothing I could do. Instead, I just carefully watched over the collapsed people.
Huh?
Something was weird. The mana surrounding them was ridiculously weak. Their bodies were weakening too. It was almost like something...was draining their vitality. In a way, I recognized the situation.
“Geezer, do you have a Soul Book?” I asked. “A blank one, for reference.”
“I do not... What do you need one for?”
“Hero!” exclaimed the Herald Knight. “Do you know what happened?”
“It looks like they used sacrif—suicide magic... Or, well, were made to use it.”
That was my guess based on my own experiences. I could remember the feeling of my mental and physical strength fading away. And when I’d used it, I’d also fallen unconscious.
“Exchanging their lives for powerful magic... That’s forbidden!” the guardian knight cried out.
The Herald Knight turned to me. “The churches of the goddess strictly prohibit suicide magic. They shouldn’t even know how... Why are you aware of it?”
Oops, yeah... It was kind of weird for me to know about it. I worried for a couple of seconds before answering, “The Grandsage told me about it.”
He wouldn’t be able to fact-check. After all, she was massively influential in Highland.
“The White Grandsage... Yes, she is the preeminent mage on the continent and has a thousand years of knowledge... I can certainly see that.”
“I wanted to check their lifespan to verify,” I said. “Is there any way to do that?” A Soul Book could definitely show us.
“That is no concern,” said the Herald Knight. “I have a spell to investigate such things.”
“Huh, I didn’t know there was a spell for that,” I admitted.
“It displays a person’s stats and skills, so it shouldn’t be used freely... This is an emergency, though. I will apologize later.”
He then touched one of the children’s foreheads and mumbled a spell. A faint light formed around them, which looked the same as when someone used a Soul Book.
The Herald Knight’s expression twisted. “What in the world?” he whispered.
“What happened?”
“He has...days left.”
“Days?!” the guardian knight demanded angrily. “What cruelty!”
“What’ll happen to them?” I asked. Was there anything we could do?
“Worry not. We will take them to our priestess and beseech Sól. It should be possible to extend their lives to a degree... Though it will require a significant payment.”
“Payment?” I asked in confusion.
“An offering,” the guardian knight explained.
Oh, right! You could buy longevity in this world.
“Won’t it be a pretty big sum, though?”
“It will... But there is no other method. I will make the request to His Majesty.”
With how dog-eat-dog Great Keith was, I was pretty worried about them paying to extend slaves’ lives. The Herald Knight at least wasn’t going to abandon them. That was good.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps.
“What happened here?!”
“Where is the Snake Sect?!”
“Sól gave us the information!”
Knights swarmed the area, healers among them.
“Show me the weakest!”
“Anyone empty-handed, take them outside! We don’t have the room to heal them here!”
“There are foreigners here—can we show them the way out?!”
“This is an emergency! General Talisker has allowed it.”
There was a flurry of activity as the healers prioritized the most injured and the Herald Knight issued orders. The group from Roses helped ferry the wounded out. With my strength, I could only carry the children.
I hate my stats...
Complaining wouldn’t do any good, so I set to working. There were more and more reinforcements and by now, we’d gotten about half of the slaves out.
Eventually, the guardian knight called out to me. “Hero. We shall remain here. Why not go support Lady Aya?”
“I’ll stay until they’re all out,” I declared.
Sasa wouldn’t be happy about me prioritizing her over wounded people. I made the trip to the surface several times, and after a few hours, everyone was out. The people in the worst condition were taken to the church first. At this point, there seemed to be nothing more for us to do, and that was when the Herald Knight approached us.
“Hero Makoto, knights of Roses. Thank you for your assistance. Fortunately, no one seems to have died.”
“That is all we can ask,” said the geezer with a smile.
“I wonder what they were planning,” I mused.
They’d spent huge amounts of money to buy up slaves and then used almost all of their strength with suicide magic. But...for what? The man’s face hardened.
“We are currently organizing a search party to locate the Snake Sect. We have captured and interrogated all known members but have yet to find any pertinent information.”
“Perhaps we set their plans back?” suggested the geezer.
“I certainly hope so, but...”
I listened to their conversation with half an ear, but I also reflected on my day under the influence of Calm Mind.
Then, a voice in my head spoke up.
Makoto, they were used for sacrificial magic. Though, I don’t know what that magic was used for... Eir and Sól probably don’t either.
None of you know?
The people behind this are protected by Typhon’s blessings. The daemon’s influence hides the future, so we can’t tell what’s happening. Be careful.
I will. Thank you, Noah.
“Maybe if we knew what the magic had been used for,” I interjected.
The other two looked at me.
“Did it not fail?” asked the guardian knight. “Nothing happened in the end. Is Suicide Magic not the practice of sacrificing your lifespan to cast magic?”
“No, it’s just using your lifespan to make up for a mana deficit,” I clarified. “If their lifespans were used, it was probably to cast something.”
“Hero Makoto.” The Herald Knight offered a deep bow. “I know nothing of Suicide Magic. If you noticed anything, anything at all, please tell me.”
The guy was really earnest and forthright. I wanted to help him, so I thought carefully and then started speaking.
“Like I just said, it’s fundamentally making up for a deficit... This is only a guess, but let’s assume the Snake Sect used it for something.” If Noah was right, then that was undoubtedly the case. The other two nodded along. “The sect doesn’t attack without backup. In Roses, they conjured blight giants. In Highland, they used a swarm of wyverns and a stampede. Even in Macallan, they summoned another stampede and an ancient dragon. Springrogue was Zagan’s army and resurrecting a demon lord... So, they must be trying to dilute Great Keith’s strength somehow.”
“By buying slaves?” the Herald Knight asked.
“They let those slaves go, though, Hero.”
“You’re right. But the slaves aren’t fighters—just fuel for magic. Past history shows us that the sect uses monsters frequently.”
“So...they’re going to cause a stampede here?!” the guardian knight shouted. The Great Keith knights all looked our way in shock.
Quickly, the Herald Knight pulled out his communicator. “Alert the city watch! Check for nearby monsters immediately!”
He’d acted fast. It was good to see.
“Thank you, Hero,” he said. “We have put our forces into making sure the Snake Sect members do not escape, but the possibility of external attack is still there. I have informed them to be on guard for such a thing.”
“We can simply watch for monsters!”
“W-Well...”
All the knights from Roses wore satisfied expressions. It felt like they were all a bit optimistic. In some ways, this was a good thing, but it made me uneasy when I considered them fighting against Iblis.
“Thank you for everything. I will continue our search. Why not go back to the tournament? One of your comrades is participating, correct? If she advanced, I believe they are currently holding the semifinals.”
With that parting suggestion, the Herald Knight took his leave. He’d been pretty agreeable the whole time.
“Let us return to Lady Sophia.”
“Let’s.”
We hurried back. It had been morning when we’d left, and a lot of the day was already gone. Was Sasa still in the fight? As we jogged, I asked the guardian knight about the tournament.
“Have you ever competed?”
“Once... Unfortunately, I never made it through the preliminaries.”
“O-Oh.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.
“It is rare for our fighters to make it. I believe Lady Aya should offer us a good showing though!”
“Yeah, she should still be in the game,” I replied with a nod.
The tournament only lasted for a single day because of how impatient the citizens were. I’d have thought splitting it up over a few days would make for a better show. Any injuries sustained were healed right away by the best healers the country had to offer, so that part wasn’t an issue. The geezer and I were discussing that when the Colosseum came into sight. Once we’d shown ID, we headed in. It was just as loud—maybe even louder—as it had been this morning.
The crowd was pretty into it.
We’re so late... I wonder how Sasa’s doing?
I was looking for the seats where Lucy and Furiae were when I heard the amplified commentator’s voice.
“Our winner! Aya Sasakiiiii!”
Huh...? Wait...what?
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