Volume 8 Side Story Part 5

「But I couldn’t gather any information like this. That’s why I started collecting tentacles. 」

「Huh? 」

Orca said as if that was the most natural thing to do in the world, and everyone looked at him suspiciously.

Tentacles are certainly an essential element when talking about Null. Null was said to be a master of summoning magic, and he was incredibly skilled, but for some reason the only things he summoned were projectiles with tentacles. When they once asked Null why wouldn’t he call for another type of projection:

「Wouldn’t it be scary to see monsters that don’t have tentacles? 」

They were given an answer that they couldn’t understand at all. However…

「Do tentacles really will help with establishing a clearer image of him? 」

「That’s not to say it won’t happen… but that’s still pretty impressive. 」

Stia said with a sigh.

Once upon a time, Stia was supposed to have been wrapped around a tentacle monster that Null had summoned. Maybe she was still remembering that, since it was an event that left her with quite a trauma to cope with,

「We don’t have much time. Let’s just reinforce the image with those tentacles. But even so, we’re going to have yet another problem to deal with, and a more serious one at that: the lack of proper Chaos density.

Stia then proceeded to explain that it is going to be difficult to pull back Null, who is not in any other world but in a place called the Dimension Rift, to their world, because performing a summoning like that would require a tremendous amount of Chaos density.
「It would have been better if there were still Demonic Realms left in the area, but the Chaos density in Medinia and Fargard is currently at a low level thanks to the liberation of the Tree Dargon Forest. 」

Stia said as she shook her head.

「Chaos, you say…. Chaos, huh? Well, it’s true that we don’t have a lot of it here anymore. But if we did, would defeating a large enough projection do the trick? 」

At this point, even a Chaotic Disaster will not occur in Fargard and Medinia, so they could forget about summoning even the simplest of projections, much less the giant ones or the Mage capable of summoning gigantic monsters.

「No, no, we don’t have the strength to do something like that. It would be troublesome for us even if we did manage to summon such a projection here. 」

Katarina smiled bitterly at Nina’s reckless remark.

If she defeat such a projection, a Chaos Core with enormous power would definitely be in her hands, and if she incorporated it into her Crest, her rank as a Lord would’ve definitely risen.

your Holy Seal, your rank will rise. During the time of Extreme Chaos and the war of Restoration, it is even said that there was indeed a dragon that made its lair on the territory of Fargard and Medinia…

Suddenly, Katarina came up with an idea.

「Maybe we could actually try doing the opposite. 」

A chill ran through her entire body when her emotions caught up with the ideas in her head, and everyone else could also see that she was shaking, so she tried to breathe slowly and regain her composure.

(If you break a Crest, it’ll create a Chaos Core in its place…)
In her own mind, Katarina once again puts that thought into words. Unlike Arts users, a Lord can willingly destroy their own Crest, on the condition that they possess enough of a strong willpower to actually go through with it. What is then born as a result of that action is a Chaos Core.

(But doing something like that…)

Doing something like that would mean that the Crest would be destroyed in the process.

「What’s wrong, Lady Katarina? 」

Marta called out to her worriedly. Before she knew it, everyone was paying attention to Katarina. Katarina puts her hand on her chest, on the place where her Crest was.

By sacrificing this, she can protect her hometown, her friends, and what’s important to her. If so…

「I think I might’ve come up with a solution to our problem. 」

Katarina looks around at everyone and conveyed her intentions to them.

「I’ll break my Crest and turn it into a Chaos Core. 」

* * *

The sound of the trees rustling was really soothing.

A while ago, she would never have imagined that she would feel like this in the Tree Dragon Forest, a land that was once a Demonic Realm that rejected people, and was the subject of fear in both Fargard and Medinia.

Katarina thought that if it wasn’t for such an emergency, she would have been able to enjoy it at her own leisure.

A few days after the meeting, Katarina and Stia came to the old castle in the middle of the Tree Dragon Forest where they had met with Nina the other day. Their purpose in coming here was to break Katarina’s Crest so that they could summon Null with the Chaos Core she’d get as a result.

Katarina’s proposal met with fierce opposition from everyone. Marta threatened her that she is going to abandon Fargard if she goes through with it, and Nina went so far as to say that she will break her own Crest instead.

However, Katarina did not change her opinion. It was because of her younger brother Alois. Nina is the ruler of Medinia, but with Katarina, the story is different.

The ruler of Fargard is her younger brother, Alois. Even if Katarina loses her Crest, her country will survive. Although she may suffer personal losses, she she’ll be able to protect her country.

Of course, Katarina wished that there was some other way to do this, but unfortunately, there was no other solution for them to circumvent the problem of the lackluster Chaos concentration.

「Lady Katarina… 」

Stia announces that she was ready.

Items related to Null were piled up in the castle’s courtyard. The most noticeable part was Orca’s right arm. Various tentacles were sprouting from the white and blue arms. To be honest, it was very disgusting, and Katarina wished that she didn’t have to see it if at all possible.

「Even if you take the tentacles away from the projections they will disappear over time. So I ate them myself and took them in. 」

Orca spoke with a smile on his face as he talked happily about tentacle hunting in various Demonic Realms around the world. It is said that he went all the way to that famous Chaos Vortex in Sistina and even managed to steal a tentacle from a monster called Charybdis.

(Roughly speaking, how can I say it…)

Katarina laughed out loud when she heard about it.
But no matter how absurd, this mass of tentacles is the result of Orca’s years of effort. Katarina just desperately thought that it would be great if they really had an actual influence on the outcome of the summoning process.

There is a reason why she chose this castle. This is the place where Null once used great magic. It was the most suitable place to imagine that Mage so that he could be summoned back to this world.

「Hey Stia, take this as well. 」

Katarina handed Stia glasses wrapped in cloth from her pocket. It was something Null left with her when they parted ways for the last time. It was a keepsake of sorts for Katarina to always remember him.

「I just heard from Martha that a battle has begun in Medinia. Let’s hurry and get this over with so we can take Null with us to help them. 」

The army of Waldrind led by Dirk began an attack as soon as they arrived in Medinia. He doesn’t seem to have any intention of wasting his time, and has committed most of his forces to a full-scale attack from the very beginning.

That’s why they needed to hurry.

「Lady Katarina, are you really sure about this? You really want to use your own Crest for this? 」

Stia still looked worried.

「Yes. I feel sorry for my ancestors, but I’m doing this because I want to protect my country and my friends no matter what. So, with that in mind, could you please start with your magic? 」

Katarina lowered her eyes and folded her hands. Stia didn’t say anything more, just bowed quietly. Taking a deep breath, Katarina shifted her attention to the Crest on her right hand

(I originally received this Crest from my father…)
Katarina first got this when she was eight years old. Her father, Magnus, the previous ruler of Fargard had offered half of his Crest to Katarina and the other half her younger brother Alois. He did so after rejecting the voices of protest that were saying the two of them were too young to accept the burden of such a great responsibility.