CHAPTER 58

Sage Village

Day three in the spirit world. Noon.

While Seiya continues his joint training session, Jonde and Kiriko receive guidance under Adenela near Café du Cerceus.

“O-okay, l-let’s take a b-break.”

Adenela stutters while looking at Kiriko, her head drooping in exhaustion. Just like Seiya, Adenela gets absorbed in training when it comes to swordsmanship, but even then, she suggests that everyone take a break, giving special consideration to Kiriko. She takes a seat at a garden table in the distance and intently watches Seiya train. Jonde, on the other hand, is sitting on the ground next to me while staring at his sword with a pained expression.

“I hear the Hero was able to learn Eternal Sword very quickly, but this is an unbelievably difficult move to pick up.”

“I—I was thinking the same thing! Even figuring out the basics is hard!” Kiriko admits while nodding in agreement.

Seeing how much trouble they’re having learning the move, in spite of their extremely high stats, reminds me just how insanely talented Seiya is. Cerceus approaches Jonde and Kiriko before striking up conversation with a smile.

“Learning how to use Eternal Sword, huh? That’s rough.”

“Oh. Hey, Cerceus. Sigh… Yes, I am ashamed of myself.”

“Don’t worry about it so much. Eternal Sword isn’t easy to learn.”

“C-Cerceus, have you learned Eternal Sword from Adenela before?”

“You could say that.”

I am taken aback by how Cerceus responds to Kiriko.

“Seriously?! You can use Eternal Sword?!”

“Oh, uh… Kind of…? Ack?!”

Before I even realize it, Adenela is quietly standing behind Cerceus. She glares at the flustered deity.

“I—I tried teaching him, but h-he quit a-after only a f-few minutes. K-Kiriko and Jonde show p-promise. Unlike Cerceus.”

“Cerceus?! Don’t act like you mastered Eternal Sword when you barely even learned the basics!”

“I—I never said I mastered it! I didn’t lie!”

“What are you, four?!”

How can this guy call himself the Divine Blade and act like this? While I may be disgusted, Kiriko, being an angel, stands up for him.

“I know what you mean, Cerceus! It is hard! I’m having no luck so far!”

“Right?! It is hard, isn’t it?! There’s no way to learn a move like that, right?! It’s impossible! Totally impossible!”

Crack. Pop.

I hear bones cracking.

“While it may be a powerful skill, you shouldn’t use any more force than necessary. You need to focus on keeping your arms’ joints relaxed and improving your range of motion.”

I turn around to find Seiya holding his sword in his sheath at Cerceus.

“Take this… Eternal Sword.”

Seiya’s sheath produces afterimages as the lightning-fast attack rains down on Cerceus.

“Blaaaaaargh!”

Cerceus flies backward with a scream! Seiya turns to Kiriko, not sparing an ounce of concern for the Divine Blade, who had been tossed aside like an old rag.

“Kiriko, my analysis demonstrated that Killing Machines have a greater range of motion with their arms than humans. You should improve in no time as long as you try not to use any unnecessary force.”

“R-really?! Thank you so much!”

Kiriko bows, and Adenela’s eyes become hearts.

“Wh-what an impressive d-demonstration of Eternal Sword! I—I love you…!”

“Anyway, how long have you been there, Seiya? Wait. What about your training?”

“I’m done.”

“You are…?”

A quick glance at the plaza leaves me in shock. All of the deities who were practicing with Seiya are now collapsed on the ground.

“D-did you already learn all of their skills?!”

“Yes.”

As I fall speechless, Aria comes walking over with a smile from behind Seiya.

“The secret is Berserk Mode, isn’t it? He’s able to learn moves at an incredibly fast pace by training as a berserker.”

Ohhh! Seiya has always absorbed new skills and lessons like a sponge. I guess he was able to further increase the speed at which he learned things by training in Berserk Mode.

Seiya, who doesn’t seem happy in the slightest, then states:

“Rest well tonight. We’ll be heading to Sage Village tomorrow morning.”

“Th-the time has finally come!”

Jonde cracks a smile. Kiriko, on the other hand…

“What?! Already…?”

She looks down at her sword. Jonde smirks, perhaps realizing how she feels.

“It is a bit unfortunate, since we’ve only just begun learning Eternal Sword.”

“Yes… I wanted to practice more…”

Adenela nods while observing their exchange.

“I—I laid out the groundwork for you. Y-you can practice on y-your own now. I-I’m sure you’ll i-improve in n-no time.”

“Really? Thank you so much for helping us!”

Kiriko deeply bows to Adenela.

At night, Kiriko and I continue playing with the toys Seiya gave me, but we decide to go to bed sooner than usual since we’ll have to wake up early.

…I wonder how much time has passed since I fell asleep by Kiriko’s side. When I wake up, I feel something vibrating.

Is that an earthquake?

But it isn’t. Kiriko is faintly trembling.

“Kiri! What’s wrong?”

Startled, I immediately turn on the light. Kiriko is latched onto me.

“Are you okay?”

“Wh-what does it feel like to have a dream? When I closed my eyes, I saw a dark shadow swallow the world. It felt so real.”

“‘A dark shadow’?”

“I’m sure of it… That was the Demon Lord Ultimaeus,” Kiriko exclaims, her voice trembling. “I could feel his powers growing exponentially. It was terrifying…”

“Kiri…!”

Not even Ishtar knows what Ultimaeus is currently doing, but Kiriko once shared sensory organs with Oxerio. Maybe she learned of the Demon Lord’s powers the same way.

I send her a smile.

“I understand that you’re scared, but peace will finally return to Ixphoria once this is all over! You, Queen Carmilla—all the residents of Ixphoria—will be able to live your lives however you please!”

“Y-yes… I see what you mean…”

I was trying to persuade myself along with Kiriko, but…

“What was I thinking, getting depressed over a dream? I have to become stronger like Seiya!”

I rub Kiriko’s head.

“Seiya will defeat Ultimaeus. There’s nothing to worry about.”

I decide to leave the lights on after that, holding Kiriko in my arms until we fall back asleep.

The next morning.

Kiriko and I hold hands and head to the plaza. When we get there, Jonde and Seiya are already packed and waiting for us. According to Ishtar, Sage Village is located on a remote island to the south of Aeris, which the Death Emperor once ruled. I cast a spell and open a gate.

“I figured you wanted to avoid the demon priests, so I chose a spot thirty meters away from the village ruins!” I boast, knowing how Seiya thinks.

However…

“Hmph. Only thirty meters? You should have picked somewhere farther…but I guess it’ll do.”

Seiya snorts. As always, he peeks through the gate before being the first to walk through. We follow him, but when we arrive, we see Seiya rolling on the ground.

“S-Seiya?!”

“Hero, what’s wrong?! Is there an ambush?!”

Jonde and I brace ourselves, but the area around us is not only desolate but peaceful. Seiya stands back up, unbothered.

“Wh-why did you fall like that?!”

“I dropped to the ground just in case of an ambush.”

Jonde’s nose twitches.

“Who does that?!”

“Yeah! Seeing you rolling on the ground for no apparent reason startled us!”

“W-well, at least everyone’s okay.”

Kiriko tries to calm me down while Seiya brushes the dirt off his clothes.

“All right. Let’s head to the village. Don’t let your guard down… Cave Along.”

After slipping underground, we quietly walk through the caverns. Before long, Seiya makes sure the surface is safe, then turns off the spell. After returning to the surface, we stare at the village ruins from within the thick shrubbery. In the distance, the masked demon priests we saw in the crystal ball are marching around a magic circle. Seiya looks ahead, his eyes serious.

“If that’s some sort of summoning ritual, then I have to stop them before it’s too late.”

“G-good idea!”

“Fortunately, one of them appears to have separated from the rest of the group. I’ll use that one for information, then destroy the others around the magic circle.”

Seiya extends his arm straight forward and mutters:

“Class Change: Jolly Piper—Earth Mage.”

Seiya’s clothes transform into what appear to be those of a jester.

Whoa! It feels like forever since I’ve seen him like this!

I think back to the countless days we spent underground as he sniped the beastkin. While I was starting to suffer from mild depression at the time, I can look back at those memories fondly now. However, what Seiya pulls out of his equipment pouch is not the blowpipe I remember.

“Wh-what is that?!”

Seeing the nearly one-meter long cylindrical pipe startles me.

“Platinum Blowpipe—Type: Cannon. I’m going to use Burst Air to wipe out those demon priests in one go.”

After Seiya lowers the Platinum Blowpipe, thick as a club, to the ground, it starts to suck up dirt like a vacuum cleaner. He then bites down on the tip like he’s eating a roll of sushi.

Boom! There’s an explosion in the distance less than a second after he blows into the pipe. I look ahead only to see flames climbing toward the sky as black smoke rises. After the smoke clears, all that’s left are body parts of what were once demon priests. I scream:

“How powerful is that thing?!”

I feel like I just watched a rocket launcher unload. Not only is that not a flute, it’s not even a blowpipe anymore!

“It appears they’re dead, but I need to check to make sure.”

“Forget about that, Seiya! That other one ran away when it saw the explosion!”

“It’s fine. My earth serpents have already gotten ahold of it.”

When Seiya snaps his fingers, a larger-than-usual earth serpent drags the segregated demon priest over toward the magic circle. After a closer look, I notice there are various earth serpents of all shapes and sizes wrapped around the priest.

Seiya changes into a Fire Spellblade and uses Maximum Inferno to burn the bodies, then drops them into the planet’s core. After that, he makes sure to keep his distance from the last living priest before asking:

“What were you doing here?”

The monster doesn’t answer. It makes sense, though. After all, Seiya’s over ten meters away, so who knows if the priest even heard the question.

“H-Hero! What’s the point of being so far?”

“Who knows what this monster may do out of desperation? It’s too dangerous to get any closer.”

“I get that, but we can’t even hear what it has to say from this distance!”

“Then I’ll use an earth serpent mic.”

Seiya poses the same question but through the earth serpent microphone this time.

“Like I’d tell you…!” hisses the earth serpent at our feet.

It appears this creature is relaying what the demon priest over there is saying.

“Tell me what you were doing, or that earth serpent will strangle you.”

Seiya threatens it, but the priest cackles.

“Do you think I care! You’re all going to die! Demon Lord Ultimaeus has become invincible! Now nobody can stop him! Hya-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“Hmm…”

Seiya stomps the ground, instantly creating a stone wall around us. A moment later, an explosion shakes our bodies along with the walls.

“Wh-wh-what just happened?!”

“It self-destructed. Just like I thought.”

“Wow, Seiya! You were right about keeping our distance!”

Kiriko sighs in admiration while Jonde groans. After giving Jonde an I-told-you-so look, Seiya turns to Kiriko.

“Kiriko, there’s an old saying that goes like this: ‘a cornered rat will self-destruct.’ Never forget that.”

“Okay!”

“I thought it was, ‘a cornered rat will bite a cat’? Eh, whatever. Seiya’s cautiousness actually did save us, after all…”

“Anyway, I wonder what kind of ritual that was.”

Right as I mutter those words…

“They were offering up prayers to the Dark God…”

…I hear a hoarse voice.

“Hmm? Jonde? Did you say something?”

“No! That wasn’t me!”

“But I heard an old man talking, and it definitely wasn’t Seiya’s voice. That was you, wasn’t it?”

“My voice doesn’t sound like an old man’s, either! But I did hear a voice in my mind!”

“I—I heard someone’s voice, too!”

I hear the voice again.

“They used to call me Imel when I lived here. Well, technically, I am nothing more than Imel’s consciousness, so I guess you could call me The One Who Was Once Called Imel…”

Wait! What?! This voice is a ghost of a sage! Was he waiting all this time for the Hero to come?! After the Hero was killed by the Demon Lord, the village was attacked, and the sages were killed. This probably would have never happened if Seiya had visited this place a year ago.

H-he must resent Seiya!

I’m worried. Seiya, on the other hand, nonchalantly poses a question to Imel.

“Could you not detect the enemy was coming? Not very smart for a so-called wise man.”

“Seiya?!”

But Imel chuckles with a dry voice.

“Nobody knows the future, especially when that future is their own.”

“If you really are the ghost of a wise man, what do you want from me?”

“I came to tell you what I couldn’t tell you then.”

A short while later, Imel’s stern voice echoes in our heads.

“The Demon Lord Ultimaeus possesses two lives.”

“I know that already.”

Seiya sounds fed up. Thanks to Ishtar’s crystal ball, we were already able to see what happened in the past against the Demon Lord. Seiya continues:

“After receiving the Dark God’s Blessing, the Demon Lord has grown even stronger, which means he probably has more than two lives by now.”

“Y-yes, I suppose so.”

“Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

“I wish we could have taught you the Sage Village’s hidden skill, Drain: Charged Attack, but unfortunately, the wise man who could have helped you was already killed…”

“It’s fine. I already learned it.”

“What…?!”

The sage’s voice trembles.

“H-Hero…! If that’s true, then you must have transcended time and space! You could very possibly defeat the Demon Lord now, even though he has grown even stronger with the Dark God’s Blessing…!”

“Of course he can! This time, we’re going to defeat the Demon Lord! Right, Seiya?”

I’m sure he’s going to say, Of course, as if it’s a sure thing, but instead, he frowns and asks Imel:

“I have one thing I need to ask you. Is there any way to save this world without defeating Ultimaeus?”

What…? Seiya…?

“There is no way to save Ixphoria other than defeating the Demon Lord.”

“Okay.”

Wh-why would he ask something so obvious? Don’t tell me that Seiya’s not confident he can win?

“If—if you are able to defeat Ultimaeus, you shall most certainly become a true Hero. When that happens, come visit me once more…”

The ghost of Imel continues talking to Seiya, but I suddenly hear footsteps. When I look back, he’s walking away.

“S-Seiya?! Seiya, wait!”

Jonde and I panic, but…

“There’s nothing left for us here,” Seiya quietly mutters as he makes his exit. I chase after him while nervously swallowing my breath.

Wh-what is this vibe Seiya’s giving me?! He isn’t seriously planning on going straight to the Demon Lord’s castle, is he?!

My heart is pounding out of my chest as I feel the final battle drawing ever closer.