CHAPTER 49

Sandy Village

After digging Jonde out, I get permission from Ishtar to open a gate to the continent of Aeris so we can fight the Death Emperor. To my surprise, however, Seiya doesn’t ask to be sent there right away.

“We don’t know where in Aeris the Death Emperor is, but I want to avoid the north since it’s close to the Demon Lord’s continent of Gustraid. Let’s start with the south.”

“Seiya, there’s a town in the south called Fulwahna. How about I open a gate there so we can gather information?”

“A town on a continent ruled by the Death Emperor? It’s highly likely that it’s already been overrun by ghosts and undead. It would be too dangerous to open a gate right in the middle of town, so get us five hundred meters south of it.”

“O-okay. Sure.”

Although his trademark overly cautious attitude makes me want to roll my eyes, he has a point, so I create a gate away from the town. Seiya places a hand on the door and slowly opens it, and we follow him through as always.

“Wow… It’s nothing but sand!”

Kiriko makes this observation as soon as she passes through. Just as she said, it’s sand as far as the eye can see. To make matters worse, the blazing sun is hanging just overhead, which doesn’t help since we appear to be in the middle of the desert. Jonde squints his eyes as he looks off into the horizon.

“Is that the town of Fulwahna?”

The heat haze makes every faraway object look like a mirage, but there does appear to be a town in the direction Jonde’s pointing.

“It sure looks like it. Let’s head over there.”

“Wait. Rista.”

Before we even start walking, Seiya stops us. Curious, I turn around to find him squatting while placing a hand on the searing sand.

“Seiya…? What are you—what the…?!”

Suddenly, a golem emerges from the dune! Then another appears. And another. Soon, we’re surrounded by four of them. Seiya explains:

“We’re going to be riding on their backs from here on out.”

A golem scoops me up with a giant hand and places me on its back. The same happens to Jonde and Kiriko.

“Seiya?! What’s the meaning of this?!”

“We’re in the desert. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were monsters like antlions that could grab your legs and drag you beneath the burning sand. We can travel safely on these giant golems. Besides…”

“‘Besides’?” asks Jonde.

Seiya puts on a smug grin, then boasts:

“It’s fun, isn’t it?”

“N-no! This is not fun at all!”

Jonde’s right! What’s fun about this?! I have no idea how the Hero’s mind works sometimes! Even so, Kiriko cheerfully replies:

“I’m having so much fun!”

Seriously?! Is it like riding on the back of an elephant for her?!

“Good. Now let’s go.”

And just like that, the golems carrying us on their backs proceed. After only a few steps, a nearby patch of sand begins to swell, revealing some bones with the flesh rotting off.

“Wh-what is that?!”

A skeleton holding a sword emerges from the sand, and it’s not just one! There are close to a dozen of them!

“H-Hero, there’s a band of skeletons! Should we get off our golems and fight?!”

“That won’t be necessary. Just let the golems handle them.”

The rattling skeletons raise their swords while approaching us, but the golems’ mighty blows promptly send them sailing into the distance. The walking corpses are easily reduced to rubble without even getting a chance to fight back. What power! Th-that’s Seiya’s golems for you! He didn’t master earth magic for nothing! Riding on the golem’s back, Seiya extends his hands toward the skeletons and uses Endless Fall, dropping their bodies into the center of the planet. However, I notice there’s one he doesn’t drop. While its head is crushed, its body is still in pretty good condition, unlike the others.

“Jonde, want to try out those bones as a replacement body?”

“N-no, I think I’ll pass. Going from undead to skeleton seems rather pointless.”

“You wouldn’t smell like a corpse, at least.”

“Smelling bad still beats becoming some random person’s discarded bones! At least this is my body!”

“Sigh. Beggars can’t be choosers. Know your place.”

“Am I really being that picky?!”

Jonde refuses the offer, but I…don’t blame him. Now that I think about it, Jonde won’t be able to borrow the body of a living person, so are monsters his only option? At any rate, after taking care of the skeletons, we resume our journey to Fulwahna. But the peace is short-lived, and numerous red clouds of mist soon appear up ahead. I have no doubt that these incorporeal monsters are…

“Seiya! Ghosts! Lots of them!”

Faces twisted in agony and remorse emerge from the mist. The Demon Lord’s powers must have revived the deep-seated grudges of the dead and turned them into monsters.

“Ghosts, huh? Then it’s time to reap the benefits of my training.”

Seiya channels his spirit into his killer sword and activates Ghost Buster just as Nephitet taught him. A white, filmlike aura covers the blade as Seiya gets into a combat stance on his golem.

“You three, unsheathe your killer swords as well.”

“O-okay!”

We brandish the weapons Seiya gave us, revealing that their blades are already covered with a white film.

“What the…?! When did you use Ghost Buster on our swords?!”

“I infused them with my spiritual energy back in the spirit world. It’s time for you guys to be useful.”

Seiya’s asking us to do something for a change! I’ve always wanted to help him, but now that the time to fight has finally come, I can’t stop my hands from trembling! I’m gonna do it, though! Really! …Is everything gonna be okay? A-ack! What’s wrong with me?! It’s my duty as a goddess to support the Hero! I have to give it my all!

Unused to holding a sword, I try to copy Jonde…but Seiya glares at me.

“What do you all think you’re doing? Hurry up and give your swords to the golems.”

““What?! You want us to give up our swords?!””

Jonde and I, while taken aback, surrender our weapons to our colossal mounts. My golem then charges at a ghost with its spirit-infused blade and swings its heavy arm down, sending the sword right through it.

“Oooooo…”

The ghost groans as it vanishes into thin air.

…After that, we continue riding on the golems’ backs as they freely swing their Ghost Buster swords. The number of ghosts depletes rapidly, but Jonde seems to be in a foul mood.

“We’re just going to let our golems take care of all the enemies? It… It doesn’t feel like I’m doing anything.”

“Who cares? The most important thing is that we’re safe.”

“I understand that, but…”

Ha-ha… That reminds me of Mash. He really wanted to fight monsters as well. I guess boys will be boys. However, when I look over at Seiya, I notice him staring at something with knitted eyebrows.

“Kiriko. What are you doing?”

When I look back to Kiriko, I can see why Seiya’s upset. She didn’t hand her killer sword over to the golem. Instead, she’s holding it in her trembling hands.

“I—I want to try…and fight the ghosts myself!”

“Kiri?!”

W-wait! You’re going to make Seiya angry! Besides, the golems are already doing a fine job of handling the ghosts, so we should just let them do their thing!

Seiya glares at Kiriko.

“Do you really want to test yourself that badly?”

“Yes! I want to get stronger!”

Silence follows. I fear that the back of Kiriko’s head is going to get acquainted with Seiya’s fist, but…

“Very well. Give it a try. But don’t get off the golem until I tell you it’s okay.”

“Okay!”

Wh-what the…?! He’s gonna let her fight?! But the Seiya I know would never allow something like this!

I puzzle over why he was so quick to accept, when suddenly…

“Astral Break.”

…he uses Valkyrie’s special move, which is effective against ghosts. Chains emerge from his palms before tightly wrapping around one of the ghosts. Seiya then looks at the firmly bound monster and nods.

“All right, Kiriko. Try attacking this incapacitated ghost.”

“Okay!”

H-how overprotective can a person be?! I mean, it’s not a bad thing, but still…!

After hopping off the golem’s back, Kiriko timidly approaches the chained ghost. However, right as she gets close enough to attack, she just stands there, trembling.

“What’s wrong, Kiri? All you need to do is hit it.”

“U-um… I started to think about how this ghost used to be a human, too, and I…”

The sweet Killing Machine hesitates, so Seiya lets out a brief sigh and slays the chained monster himself.

“If you can’t do it, then don’t even bother. Just let the golem take care of things.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Kiri! You don’t have to force yourself to do anything! Just take things slowly!”

Right after I try to cheer Kiriko up, Jonde shouts:

“More ghosts have appeared! It’s a much larger group than last time!”

I look ahead to find dozens of ghosts descending on us from every direction. Jonde wasn’t kidding! There are so many! What are we gonna do?!

Yet, in spite of our mounting panic, Seiya extends his hands.

“Class Change: Earth Spellblade to Fire Spellblade.”

He then aims both hands at the approaching spectral horde.

“Maximum Inferno.”

Multiple streams of fire erupt from his palms, burning a hole through each and every ghost.

“Aaaaaa…!”

Engulfed in the blaze, the monsters wail in agony before vanishing.

“Wait…! That’s right! Fire magic works on ghosts! So why do you even need Ghost Buster?!”

“It might come in handy later. Besides, it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, right?”

“Y-yeah, I guess…but it’s kind of depressing since you trained so hard to learn it…”

“More importantly, I need to make sure I thoroughly burn the monsters since I can’t use Endless Fall on enemies without corporeal forms.”

While there were dozens of ghosts a moment ago, all Seiya’s doing now is unloading his fire magic onto empty space.

“What is he doing?”

Jonde and I glare at him for the next ten minutes until he finally decides to resume our trip. After we get back on our golems and trek for a while, the town of Fulwahna comes into view.

“Seiya, it’s Fulwahna! We’re almost there!” I announce, but…

“Ack?!”

A sudden blast of wind blows sand right into my eyes, forcing them shut. I hear Jonde grunt next to me as well.

“M-mn…”

I rub my eyes and try to open them.

Huh…?

I feel like something’s off. The town of Fulwahna, which I’ve been staring at from a distance for a while now, looks a little different. I try to convince myself that it’s just my imagination, but Seiya clicks his tongue.

“Tsk. Be careful, Rista. Something didn’t feel right when that gust of wind blew by.”

“Oh, you thought so, too?”

“We probably walked right into the Death Emperor’s territory. Don’t let your guard down.”

“O-okay!”

Jonde and Kiriko nod with serious expressions. Although nervous, we cautiously enter the town of Fulwahna.

Near the entrance is a woman wearing local garb, which completely covers her head. When she notices us, she uncovers her face, revealing beautiful brown skin. She casts a dubious glance at us at first, as we come riding in on our golems, but she breaks into a smile as soon as she sees Seiya.

“Seiya!!”

She screams while approaching his golem. Seiya unsheathes his sword.

“Who are you? Stay back.”

“What?! Don’t you remember me? It’s me, Mirei! Glesden’s wife!”

“I don’t know any Mireis or Glesdens.”

“What…?!”

The woman named Mirei is bewildered. Sh-she must have known the old Seiya from a year ago!

“Sorry about that! Seiya has amnesia!”

I force a smile and try to play it off.

“O-oh, he does? But he seemed perfectly normal just the other day.”

Hmm? How does “just the other day” sync up with events from a year ago? I’m a little confused, but Jonde and Kiriko are all smiles as they look at the houses made of hardened mud.

“It looks like this town is still okay!”

“The Death Emperor must have overlooked it!”

Mirei gives me a quizzical stare.

“‘The Death Emperor’? What’s that?”

“What?! You don’t know?!”

How does she not know the name of the monster that rules her entire continent?!

As we exchange glances, Mirei gleefully smiles and says:

“Things have been peaceful around here ever since Seiya defeated the Demon Lord Ultimaeus.”