“Sir Ur, I’m sorry for leaving it to you.”
“Actually, it helped. You told me where the monsters were… or rather…”
Seeing Shizuku look slightly apologetic, Ur tilted his head.
“Come to think of it, your hearing’s gotten better, hasn’t it?”
“…Yes. Lately, I’ve been able to hear sounds around me more clearly.”
──As Glenn had mentioned, the strengthening of the body through magic gradually manifests as skills. Enhanced senses, the emergence of a sixth sense that shouldn’t exist, and so on.
Perhaps this was a sign of Shizuku’s growth through magic. If so, she was becoming quite reliable.
Ur had also fought the undead soldiers smoothly. After the life-and-death struggles in the greedy labyrinth of city-state of Greed, he felt a momentary surge of pride and excitement at becoming a capable adventurer. But──
──Rapid strengthening leads to complacency and carelessness, resulting in self-destruction. Don’t forget.
“…I know, Glenn.”
Ur exhaled that pride and complacency with a deep breath.
Just because individual undead soldiers were weak didn’t mean this situation wasn’t dangerous. Facing the kind of people who would attack a mobile fortress operated by a nation, there was no room for excitement or complacency.
“Let’s go, Shizuku.”
“Yes, Sir Ur.”
Calming himself, Ur signaled to Shizuku, who smiled gently as always. Then the two of them stepped into the building overrun with undead on the island-devouring turtle──
“…Huh?”
Just before entering, right by the entrance, they saw a pile of destroyed undead soldiers, different from the ones they had defeated. A considerable number of them were stacked like a mountain, their limbs severed by terrifyingly sharp blades, their torsos writhing helplessly.
“…Are there combatants protecting this place?”
Wondering, Ur stepped inside.
Second Cargo Room of the Island-Devouring Turtle
(Why is this happening to me…!)
Such were the lamentations of Minne, a girl who was a citizen of the satellite city-state of Alto.
Her parents ran a business specializing in the binding and decoration of a certain type of rare book. Though there wasn’t much demand within the city, they were fairly well-known artisans outside of it—or so she’d heard. Minne hadn’t been particularly interested in her parents’ reputation, so she didn’t know much about it.
In the magic-centric nation known as the Great Sin City-State of Lust, there was a significant demand for their work, and today, they were using a mobile fortress to transport goods there. Minne had taken over the loading process because her parents had fallen ill and been taken to the hospital.
Honestly, she considered this a stroke of luck.
Most citizens never leave the country in their lifetime.
Though they were allowed to live within the sun’s barrier granted by the wise king, few chose to venture beyond it.
In truth, Minne didn’t want to expose herself to danger outside the city-state either.
Some boys her age would boast, “I’m leaving this country to become an adventurer!” but she honestly thought they were idiots. They didn’t understand reality.
Seeing the Nameless who desperately fled into the country from outside and worked tirelessly to earn their keep, she couldn’t think like that.
Still, she wasn’t entirely without curiosity or longing for the outside.
The thought of spending her entire life in the same unchanging scenery, cityscape, and among the same people was a little unsettling.
At the very least, she often complained with her friends that she wished she lived in the Great Sin City-State of Pride, where the great king resided.
She had mentioned it to her mother once, but her mother had only smiled nostalgically and said, “Everyone feels that way when they’re young.” It had annoyed her, but she hadn’t mustered the courage to rebel and run away.
So, when she got the chance to leave the city-state in her parents’ place, she was excited. Of course, there was anxiety about her parents’ absence, but her uncle, a Knight responsible for city defense, had taken time off to accompany her, so her joy outweighed her worries.
As for the work, she had been helping her parents for a long time and knew the ropes.
If she could do a good job, maybe she’d be entrusted with this work in the future!
A safe and secure journey on a mobile fortress! Her friends would surely be jealous!
That’s what she had thought──but──
“Minne… don’t move…!”
“…!!”
The safe and secure journey had been blown away by flames and monsters.
Minne had no idea what had happened.
While inspecting the goods in the cargo room, a violent noise and shaking had occurred, making it impossible to stand. She had tried to rush outside but ran into her uncle, Kona, and they had been holed up in the cargo room ever since.
“Artificial necromancy…!? On a mobile fortress? This is madness…!”
Her uncle muttered, blood streaming from his forehead. Honestly, Minne, in her confusion, didn’t understand what he was saying, but she knew this wasn’t normal and trembled.
Still, having her uncle here was reassuring──until he let out a small sigh, grabbed her shoulder, and said,
“Minne, wait here. I’m going to check the surroundings.”
“What!? Stay with me…!”
How could he say something so terrifying? But he ignored her protests and stood up.
“It’s more dangerous not knowing the situation. Hide here. I’ll be back soon.”
With that, he left the cargo room.
She waited for a while──or so she thought. She had lost track of time. To her, it felt like she had endured for a long time──but her uncle hadn’t returned.
During that time, unknown things passed by the cargo room door, and each time, Minne trembled and curled up. She had managed to hold on, but when nearby cargo collapsed, her patience reached its limit.
(I can’t do this! If I stay here, I’ll die!!)
Convinced of this, she bolted out of the cargo room. She ran out.
It was a hasty decision.
Her uncle, Kona had told her not to move because the cargo room was protected by a barrier that warded off monsters. It would confuse the undead soldiers wandering outside. Of course, Kona had explained this, but in her extreme panic, she had missed it.
“Uncle…! Where did you go──”
But of course, the evil undead had no regard for her feelings.
[Kakakakakakaaaaaa!!!]
“──Ah.”
The moment she stepped outside, the terrifying jaws of an undead creature loomed before her.
Her parents’ faces flashed before her eyes as death approached. She thought, absurdly, that the concept of a life flashing before one’s eyes was real, just as her head was about to be bitten off──
“[Ice Thorn]”
──It didn’t happen.
Just before, the undead soldier’s head shattered into pieces. An ice spear had flown in and crushed its head with pinpoint accuracy. Minne’s legs gave out, and she collapsed. But even with its head gone, the undead soldier was still moving, its remaining limbs reaching toward her as she sat there.
“Get lost!!”
This time, a gray-haired boy smashed and kicked it away. He moved completely differently from the boy her age who had bragged about defeating a goblin. But of course, she had no time to think about that.
All she knew was that her life had been saved at the last moment. And──
“Are you okay?”
A beautiful, unbelievably beautiful silver-haired girl smiled at her with concern. She seemed to embrace all of Minne’s fears as she opened her arms.
“You’re safe now, aren’t you?”
“W──Waaaaaah…!!”
Without thinking, Minne threw herself into the girl’s arms and wept uncontrollably.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
The interior of the structure built on the turtle’s shell was in chaos. The passages were blocked, doors were destroyed, and undead soldiers lurked everywhere. It was like a maze as Ur and Shizuku made their way to a relatively safe cargo room.
There, they saved a girl about their age who was about to be attacked, and Shizuku calmed her down. Shortly after, a man who seemed to be her guardian joined them. He was initially wary of them, but when Ur showed his bronze-rank ring, the man sighed in relief.
“Minne, I told you to wait inside!”
“But Uncle, you didn’t come back…!”
“It was only a few minutes… No, my bad. Adventurers, huh? Thank you.”
“Can you tell us what’s going on?”
Ur explained that they were adventurers, had been hired to guard someone on the island-devouring turtle, and had been forced to board when it started moving on its own.
“I see──though I don’t know much myself. There was a sudden shake, and undead soldiers appeared out of nowhere. After hiding Minne here, I helped some passengers and came back… What about you?”
“Same here. We found a few passengers, including that girl… but only a handful.”
Thanks to Shizuku’s Super Hearing, a few of the passengers who were being attacked by the undead soldiers were rescued and guided to the cargo hold. Still, it was only a handful. Even considering the size of the Island Devouring Turtle before departure, there should have been more people than this. And the girls they were looking for—their target—were nowhere to be found.
“Just to confirm, you didn’t see a beautiful blonde woman and a red-furred cat, did you?”
Kona shook her head. Their appearances were quite striking. If she hadn’t seen them, then it was likely they weren’t here. The large number of passengers who should have been here were missing. In other words…
“…So they’ve been gathered somewhere else?”
“There should be a large event hall on board. If they’re gathering people, that’s the only place it could be.”
Ur and Shizuku exchanged glances. Their destination was decided.
“Wait, are you two planning to go alone?”
“We’ve got our own mission.”
“Then I’ll—”
As Kona tried to speak, Ur shook his head.
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