Laws Broken, Order Reconstructed – Part 02

Soaarunay might know about it, but restoring the labyrinth will take time, Hikaru thought. Hopefully, we can relocate the Black Wedge Gate by then.

“That means we’ll have to abandon the village,” Yoshino said. “Do you think Soaarunay Saak is in the labyrinth?”

“Probably.”

Hikaru had no idea where Soaarunay had gone after hitting him on the back of his head. But it made sense she would be hiding within the labyrinth.

“What will happen to the Man Gnomes?”

“I’m not sure when they’ll wake up, but I have a feeling it won’t be long. Maybe a few days. Ten, twenty at most.”

“That soon?”

“I felt so sick I thought I’d collapse, but now I’m perfectly fine. The same goes for Granryuk. We’re recovering faster than expected.”

This was good news.

“Once they’ve recovered and are able to move, we’ll have to leave the village.”

Yoshino’s expression grew distant. The people who had lived here for so long would have to leave their home. Many would resist. Some would likely refuse outright.

Paula’s home, Cotton-elka, was the same way.

The village of Cotton-elka, located near the dungeon Forest of Deception, had been on the brink of destruction due to the monsters spilling out from it.

Though Paula and her friends managed to convince the villagers to relocate, even in a very dire situation, they were reluctant to move. In fact, many preferred to stay and die in their village.

The Man Gnomes will probably choose to relocate, Hikaru thought.

The Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas still existed, and with Soaarunay, the descendant of the Saak family, alive and aware of the village’s location, they had no other choice.

If it became known that Hikaru had helped keep the labyrinth intact, they would resent him. But he considered himself a victim caught up in this mess, so he didn’t care.

Besides, both sides make completely opposite claims.

The Man Gnomes believed that overusing magical energy would cause the world to collapse. He hadn’t gotten the details, but Soaarunay claimed that overusing soul energy would destroy the world.

I have no idea which is right. They can decide for themselves.

This conflict between the two factions was likely what the War of Absolute Dominion referred to. Hikaru recalled the shrine on the wall of the upper part of the large cave.

In remembrance of the devastation caused by the War of Absolute Dominion, we leave this statue. We pray that such calamity never befalls the world ever again.

Those words were engraved in Japanese. It was probably carved by someone reincarnated or transferred from Japan. Even Japanese people had been caught up in that war.

Hikaru also remembered the rifle he found in the Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas. It wasn’t made by Soaarunay but by one of her ancestors fifteen generations ago. Hikaru believed that the rifle was also created by someone reincarnated or transferred from Japan. Otherwise, it was hard to imagine how they could have built something with the same mechanism as a modern rifle on Earth in this world of magic.

Both factions seemed to have had Japanese involvement. And now, were they expecting him to get involved too?

“No way.”

He didn’t want to believe in fate, but gods apparently existed in this world. If some higher being was trying to manipulate him, then there was no way he’d let them succeed. He would live freely, beyond the walls that separated worlds.

“So, Yoshino. Where are you relocating?”

“Granryuk is currently in the Quinbrand Empire.”

“Oh, right. The emperor there is a Man Gnome.”

Emperor Kagurai of the Quinbrand Empire was a Man Gnome, and the empire operated under the guidance of the Man Gnome village. Running an entire nation was quite the grand operation.

“What about you all?” Yoshino asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What are your plans after this? We’ll be in chaos, but you’ve already accomplished your goal, right?”

Now that he had reunited with Lavia, Hikaru pondered what to do next.

---

After parting with Yoshino, Hikaru walked through the Man Gnome village with Lavia and Paula. The walls were adorned with magnificent carvings, and the roads were smoothly paved. Light streamed down from the openings in the ceiling, but the village was eerily quiet. Around a thousand Man Gnomes slept as if dead, and the tower with its broken tip stood like a gravestone.

What to do next, huh.

The Four Eastern Stars would probably insist on going back to Japan no matter what, and if they could punch a hole in the web of mana with the power of soul energy, they should be able to use the spell for crossing worlds to achieve their goal. In that case, there wasn’t much left for Hikaru to do in this world. He could live a peaceful life here, away from all the chaos. He had enough money. If he felt like it, he could cross over to Japan anytime. Paula would probably want to see Japan too.

“Serika was really worried about Hazuki,” Lavia said suddenly.

Serika and Lavia had talked while Hikaru was asleep.

“How’s Hazuki doing?” Hikaru asked.

“She’s studying for exams.”

“Oh, right.”

For Hikaru, who had been fighting on a floating island, dealing with superweapons, and battling giant monsters, the words studying for exams felt like something from a completely different world.

But if he chose to return to Japan, he would also be taking an exam next year.

“By the way, what were you doing in Japan?” Hikaru asked Lavia.

“Well, there’s not much to tell, but do you want to hear it?”

“Of course, I do. You used the spell for crossing worlds over there, didn’t you? I’ve been curious about how you did it, and the place I vaguely saw through the rift didn’t look familiar.”

“I’m curious too!” Paula chimed in, raising her hand.

“Oh, all right. I guess I’ll tell you,” Lavia said, puffing up her nose playfully.

Hikaru had dearly missed everything about Lavia, from her casual gestures to her random stories. He had been longing for moments like this.

Lavia’s story was full of adventure, far beyond what Hikaru had imagined. After being separated from Hikaru at Mount Midori, Lavia reunited with Hazuki, snuck into Ayano Sasakura’s place while evading the media, traveled to Shirokiji Island with Nitto Shimbun reporter Hino, delivered mana crystals to a national university lab, and even faced armed foreign soldiers.

“Are you sure things are fine back there? Is this Hino guy okay?”

“I’m not sure, but the attackers were petrified by my magic, and there was no point in hurting Hino or Professor Arai, so they should be fine.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Lavia, that’s amazing!”

“Paula, you always say amazing, but you don’t really mean it, do you?”

“N-No, I really do. I mean it.”

“Yeah, I know.”

When Paula realized Lavia was just teasing her, she looked relieved, and Lavia, feeling a bit guilty, moved closer to her.

I can take my time to think about it, Hikaru thought.

He decided there was no rush to figure out his next move. Hikaru had once told Paula that it was important to rest after a harrowing battle. Even if you think you’re fine, sometimes you don’t realize you’re close to breaking until it’s too late.

Just as Yoshino had estimated, within three days, the Man Gnomes began to wake up, one by one. But not everything went as expected.

The Four Eastern Stars never returned to the Man Gnome village, no matter how long they waited.

And Granryuk, who had gone to the Quinbrand Empire to discuss the Man Gnomes’ relocation, didn’t return either.

“This is strange.”

Hikaru, who was expecting a return to a peaceful life, felt an unsettling presence creeping closer.

---

The imperial palace of the Quinbrand Empire was a historic structure, yet surprisingly comfortable inside. Equipped with the latest magical advancements, it stayed warm in winter and cool in summer. It relied so heavily on sorcery that it was hard to believe Kagurai, a Man Gnome who hailed from a village where soul energy supremacy was the norm, was the emperor.

“It took them long enough. Have they finally arrived?” Kagurai muttered.

His office was sparsely furnished, but everything in it was of the finest quality. The intricate carpet, the tabletop made from a sacred tree over a thousand years old, the perfectly maintained temperature even with snow falling gently outside the polished windows.

There was little need for excess furnishings; the attendants brought whatever was necessary. Every day, they delivered stacks of documents and a giant map. But today, there was none of that. Only the head of the intelligence division was nearby. Since there were no attendants around, their tea had long gone cold.

“Yes. It was quite far, but they should be here soon,” the intelligence chief replied. A metal plate covered his right ear, a new type of magical device capable of transmitting voices across an area as large as the imperial capital.

“It seems they’ve just arrived,” he added as a voice outside the door announced the visitors. The chief moved to open it. “You’ve come a long way,” he greeted the person outside.

“Not at all.” Kutsuwa gave a respectful bow.

Kutsuwa was an agent in the intelligence division and its best fighter. He had once both fought against and cooperated with Hikaru, known as Silver Face, in a conspiracy that had unfolded here in the capital.

Kutsuwa, though a Man Gnome like Kagurai, was tall for his race, nearly as tall as the chief.

“This mission was incredibly difficult, but that’s precisely why only you, our ace, could be entrusted with it,” the chief said.

Kutsuwa didn’t receive any special treatment just because he was a Man Gnome like Kagurai. The chief genuinely acknowledged his abilities.

“I’ve brought the person in question,” Kutsuwa announced.

The chief momentarily froze as he glanced behind Kutsuwa. Although he had been briefed about the person in question, seeing them in person was different.