Part 3
After finishing Shiroyasha's Game, they walked for thirty minutes past the water fountain plaza and arrived before the gate to the [No Name]'s residential area. Something that looked like the vestiges of a hoisted banner could be seen.
"This is our Community. However, we still have to walk further from the entrance to reach the base, so please pardon that. There are still traces of the battle around here........."
"Traces of the battle? The one with that Demon Lord who's naming is so wonderful?"
"Y, yes."
"Just fine. Maybe I'll take a look at the leftover scars of Little Garden's worst disaster."
It seemed that Asuka was upset because of the incident not too long ago. For the girl who was very prideful, she couldn't swallow the reality of having herself looked down upon and compared to a bug.
Kuro Usagi opened the gate hesitantly. In so doing, a dry wind blew towards them.
The three shielded their faces from the sand clouds. One side of the ruins of a building came into sight.
"This is.........!?"
Asuka and Yō gasped upon seeing the scars engraved into the townscape and Izayoi narrowed his eyes.
Izayoi approached the wooden town and took a piece of the surrounding wreckage into his hand.
Gripping it a little, the wood gave out a dry sound and crumbled.
".........Oi, Kuro Usagi. The Gift Game with the Demon Lord --- how many hundreds of years ago was it?"
"It was a mere three years ago."
"Hah, that's interesting. No, it's seriously interesting. This townscape was weathered down in three years?"
Yes, their [No Name] Community was --- it was almost as if it had deteriorated and crumbled away over the course of hundreds of years.
The white avenue that should have been maintained was buried in sand and the wooden houses were decaying and falling apart. The iron bars and wires that were used at key points had been eaten away by rust and warped, and the roadside trees were neglected and withered to a pale white like stone monuments. The three gasped as they walked through the town whose condition made it unthinkable that people used to live here and it used to be bustling.
"I'm going to state it. No matter what destruction method was used, this kind of destruction is impossible. Other than naturally over a large period of time, the way this wood has deteriorated is unthinkable."
As Izayoi concluded the impossibility, he felt pleasant cold sweat.
Asuka and Yō also looked at the dilapidated house and expressed complex impressions.
"A tea set is still out on the veranda's table. It's like the people living here just disappeared instantly."
".........There's absolutely no presence of living creatures. To think that even beasts wouldn't come to a human residence that's not being maintained."
Their thoughts were voiced far heavier than Izayoi's.
Kuro Usagi averted her eyes from the dilapidated house and continued down the deteriorated avenue.
".........The Demon Lord's Game was that much of an otherworldly battle. Them not taking away this land was a display of their power as a Demon Lord and a warning. They playfully challenge humans that have strength and crush them such that they cannot oppose them a second time. The few comrades left had their hearts broken.........and left the Community and Little Garden."
This was the reason one prepared a large Game Board like Shiroyasha's when doing a large-scale Gift Game.
If a powerful Community and a Demon Lord fought, ugly scars would be left behind. The Demon Lords enjoyed that. Kuro Usagi continued through weathered down with eyes that showed she was sealing her emotions. Asuka and Yō also continued along with complex expressions.
But only Izayoi's eyes were fiery, and he smiled fearlessly while muttering.
"Demon Lord --- huh. That's good, good, really good, yeah. This seems more interesting than I imagined.........!"
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