Moments ago, just after Miharu used her teleportation magic, King Francois, Christina, Flora, Sakata Hiroaki, Roanna, and Lilianna had gathered together on the rooftop garden of the Galarc Castle. They had received word of the commotion in the capital and made their way there—the place with the best view—to gather what information they could. They were surrounded by Duke Huguenot and other important figures and their guards from the Centostella Kingdom.
The sky was dim and made it difficult to see clearly, but they were able to make out what was happening in the garden by the mansion. They watched the golem attacking Miharu with dumbfounded expressions.
“H-Hey, what’s going on over there? That robot thing looks really bad...” Hiroaki said, face twitching. The word “robot” didn’t exist in this world, but everyone understood that he was referring to the golem.
However, that didn’t mean there was anyone capable of answering him; they were all at a loss for words, and the hero’s question went ignored. They all had more than one question in their minds, and were struggling to process everything as is. Hiroaki himself wasn’t expecting an answer and didn’t bother repeating himself.
However, the situation unfolding before them continued to change. The golem fired a wide-spanning beam of light at Miharu from its right hand. The cone of light instantly swallowed Miharu whole.
“Ah...!”
The castle grounds lit up like it was midday as an explosion reached their ears. One beat later, a fierce wind reached the rooftop garden of the castle. It was the shock wave of the golem’s attack. Unable to withstand the wind, Christina and the others covered their faces with their arms.
“Shit, it’s a real-life mecha!” Hiroaki yelled while hiding his face.
Eventually, the wind ceased.
“Lady Miharu? Lady Miharu is gone!”
“It’s okay, she’s alive!”
Flora paled when she saw Miharu vanish from where she had been floating, but Christina quickly pointed at the ground, where Miharu was standing beside Celia.
“Oh, thank goodness...” Flora exhaled in relief. Immediately after, an enormous magic circle appeared beneath their feet. The space around the residents of the mansion distorted heavily—before everyone that had been gathered together vanished.
“Huh...?” Flora doubted her eyes as she blinked, but there was no one left standing there in the garden.
“Wh-Where are we...?” Satsuki’s voice said from behind Flora.
“It appears to be the rooftop garden of the castle...” Charlotte answered in confusion. Christina and the others whirled around to see all the residents of the mansion standing before them.
“What?!” Flora squeaked in shock.
Francois’s eyes were also wide open in astonishment. “My word...” he muttered.
“Was that teleportation magic just now?” Alma guessed.
“But how?” pondered Orphia. As spirit folk, they were capable of using teleportation sorcery, but the sorcery was incredibly complex to use. In fact, it was considered extremely advanced ancient sorcery that was impossible to use in modern-day Strahl. How could that teleportation sorcery have been used?
We’ve never set the coordinates of this location... So was it Miharu? Or maybe Celia?
Sara’s gaze naturally traveled to Miharu and Celia. The other residents of the mansion had also caught on to who might have teleported them and looked in their direction.
Then, as though to reveal the answer—
“Si vis pacem, para bellum legio,” Miharu recited anew.
Another spell that’s different from what I know...
Celia listened for the slight difference in the spell. Immediately after, a magic circle appeared around everyone’s bodies.
“This is...” Gouki murmured, looking down at his limbs as he sensed the change.
“I’ve temporarily raised the aptitude of your bodies with magic. In this state, you’ll be able to cast more powerful spells and fight more effectively,” Miharu explained. Just like how she described, a feeling of absurd omnipotence rose within their bodies.
“Wow, this is amazing,” Satsuki said with wide eyes.
“However, there are some opponents that cannot be defeated no matter how hard you try. You should stand back and leave this one to her,” Miharu warned, looking up at the sky where Aishia was fighting with the golem.
Indeed, Aishia was flying around at a stupendous speed as she exchanged blows with the golem. Everyone could see how reckless it would be to interrupt that battle.
However, did that make it okay to look on while doing nothing? Was it truly okay to let an unknown girl fight all by herself? That kind of conflict was clear in everyone’s faces, and Miharu could see that.
“If you absolutely refuse to sit back, then keep it to support fire at most. Sara, Orphia, Alma—the three of you who are experienced with midair combat would be best suited for that,” she said to them in warning.
“Miharu...” Personally nominated, Sara called out Miharu’s name to ask her something.
“Now, we’ve got something else to do, so...”
“Huh?”
Miharu grinned and grabbed Celia’s shoulder. “Transilio.” She then uttered her spell and vanished with Celia.
“Wha...?”
Satsuki was left behind, terribly confused.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, Miharu and Celia had moved somewhere indoors. It was a vast space with a remarkably large crystal floating at the center—a spirit stone, perhaps? There was a door that connected the room to somewhere.
“Where are we?” Celia asked, looking around the room in wonder.
“My atelier deep beneath the Galarc Castle.”
“Deep beneath the castle...”
Celia had never heard of such a place located deep beneath the Galarc Castle. In fact, she didn’t think the royal family themselves knew of this place. Just when was it built? Did Miharu build it? How? Question after question filled her head.
“I prepared it a thousand years ago,” Miharu explained, marching over to the crystal floating in the middle of the room.
“A-A thousand years ago...” Celia was dumbfounded with amazement.
“You’ve got a vague idea of who I am already, right? Or have you forgotten my power?” Miharu asked with a grin.
“So you are who I think you are... Okay. What do you want me to do?”
Celia was struck speechless for a moment, but she quickly pulled herself together. With a heavy sigh, she began following Miharu’s steps.
Miharu turned around and smiled pleasantly. “I knew I could count on you. You always get straight to the point, even though you must have plenty of questions.”
“We have to do something about that thing outside, no?”
“Exactly. The golem that’s rampaging above us is the ultimate battle artifact the Wise Gods created to use during the Divine War. Aishia will be able to buy time, but she won’t be able to win no matter how hard she tries.”
“Not even Aishia...?”
“Those monsters were created to buy time against transcendent ones, not defeat them. Just so you know, the situation is far worse than you could imagine.”
“What can we do against something like that?”
Could it even be defeated? But Rio wasn’t at the Galarc Castle right now. She didn’t know where he was either. Panic started seeping into Celia’s voice.
“It’s simple,” Miharu said, unexpectedly calm and eloquent. “If the people at the castle can’t defeat it, we’ll just call someone who can.”
“Someone who can? Don’t tell me...”
A certain person flashed through Celia’s mind. The strongest person she knew. The boy she could rely on more than anyone.
“It’s exactly who you think it is. We’re going to summon him here.”
Miharu nodded smugly, grinning from ear to ear.
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