Rāna’s Escape And The Subspace

Morning in the Luktia Holy Papal State.

Beside the great river in the capital Lux, Liricia was crying and screaming.

“Master! Masteeeer!”

“Take those people to the prison.”

The Pope in the purple robe gave the order with a relaxed smile.

Liricia scattered tears around her as she charged toward the black cloud that had swallowed Alec.

However, both her hand and flail were easily repelled. Even so, Liricia did not give up. Again and again, she struck the black cloud while crying and screaming, her silver hair disheveled.

The knights of the Sacred Knight Order surrounded Liricia and gradually narrowed the ring around her.

While no one was paying attention, only Rāna was operating as usual.

Rāna wiped the Jewel of Light she had received from Alec with the hem of her white dress, then popped it into her mouth.

“Kyuuiiiin!”

After swallowing the fourth Jewel Orb, Rāna grew larger while releasing golden light.

By the time the light disappeared, Rāna had grown to thirteen years old and was standing by the riverside. She had slender arms and legs, a modestly swelling chest, a narrow waist, and a boldly pert backside.

Rāna drew her thin eyebrows together and fired herself up, then charged into the black cloud.

However, the black cloud repelled Rāna. Carried by her own momentum, Rāna landed on her rear. From her now mini-length dress, her slender legs were visible all the way up to her thighs.

“Muuh!”

Rāna glared at the black cloud with a wrinkle between her brows. She seemed suspicious about why she could not pass through it even after eating four orbs.

Since her actions stood out, Rāna ended up drawing the knights’ attention.

Several of them pointed the tips of their swords at Rāna.

Unmoved by that, Rāna put a finger to her chin and sank into thought.

The knights whispered quietly.

“She’s just a child, right?”

“W-well, let’s capture her gently.”

“Yeah.”

The instant the knights reached their hands toward Rāna, she burst into motion as if springing away. Toward Liricia.

Then, after slipping her hands under Liricia’s arms and lifting her up, she produced dragon wings from her back and shot into the air all at once.

“Keen!”

“W-wait! Rāna-chan! Master is! He is still over there!”

“Keeeen!”

Still holding Liricia, Rāna flew south at tremendous speed.

Left behind were the stunned knights.

“Huh?”

“She flew?”

“What just happened?”

As though splitting the calm ocean, Rāna flew while sending up spray. In her arms, she held Liricia.

Liricia writhed and shouted while scattering tears.

“Rāna-chan, wait! Master is!”

“Rāna can’t pass through that gate either. Better to find another way.”

“Ah…”

Liricia realized something and quieted down.

Rāna, being the Sacred White Dragon, was a being who could fly anywhere for the sake of the Hero. Yet she could not follow Alec. That meant Liricia had even less chance of doing so.

“But what do you intend to do?”

“Go home and ask Kou-chan!”

Liricia looked at Rāna’s gallant face and quietly nodded.

“Understood. That would be best… Wait, the spray is incredible! Could you please fly higher!?”

“Kyaa!”

Rāna let out a cheerful voice and flew into the blue sky at a steep angle. From the wings on her back, magic power was released like ribbons, shining rainbow-colored in the sunlight.

Having flown high into the sky, Rāna increased her speed even more. She had grown stronger with four orbs.

Then, while flying south, there was a sharp cracking sound. A round ring of cloud appeared.

It was a vapor cone formed when she exceeded the speed of sound.

Held in Rāna’s arms, Liricia murmured, “Hawawa…” while looking like she was about to faint, her eyes spinning.

And so, the sea that had taken them more than half a day to cross on the way there was crossed by the two of them in a few hours.

A blood-red sky, trees with purple leaves, and gray ground.

This was the subspace inside the black cube that had appeared near the Royal Capital.

Edgar and the Demon King were gathered around a campfire with the children of Edgar’s party.

They could drink water, but there was no food.

Illuminated by the red light of the campfire, Edgar and the Demon King looked calm, but the young faces of the children were deeply marked by fatigue.

Edgar snapped a twig and threw it into the campfire. With a whoosh, the flames grew just a little stronger.

The Demon King, with his fierce face and jagged teeth, said while sipping tea,

“What has become of Alec?”

“Right now, he’s gone to the Luktia Holy Papal State to get the Jewel Orbs needed to grow the Sacred White Dragon.”

“Who knows how many days that will take?”

“If it’s Alec-san, he’ll do it as quickly as possible. That’s the kind of person he is.”

Edgar directed a bright, unhostile smile toward the Demon King.

The Demon King snorted in annoyance and let it pass.

—Then.

Edgar and the Demon King twitched. It was as if they had reacted to something reflexively.

After Edgar and the Demon King exchanged glances, the Demon King casually stood up while stretching.

“Mmm, sitting all the time makes the body stiff.”

“That’s true. Shall we go for a little walk? —And, Chaana-chan.”

The small girl in her early teens whose name was suddenly called looked up in surprise. The hood covering her head slipped back, revealing black hair cut evenly at her shoulders.

“Y-yes! Captain! What is it?”

“You still have the medicine case I gave you before, right?”

“Ah, yes! It’s right here!”

Chaana searched her bag and took out a black-lacquered medicine case.

Edgar looked at it and nodded.

“Then please give everyone the dark-green pills in the lower section of that medicine case. There should probably be seven of them.”

“Yes! —I’ll hand them out!”

Chaana opened the lower section of the medicine case and distributed the pills to everyone.

Edgar smiled cheerfully and said,

“Then, everyone, please drink them. I think they’ll restore your energy.”

The children obediently put the pills into their mouths. They swallowed them with difficulty using the small amount of water available.

Only the Demon King stared suspiciously at the pill pinched between his fingertips.

“What is this?”

“A soldier ration pill. It won’t fill your stomach, but it restores magic power and stamina.”

“There cannot possibly be such a convenient thing—”

“Even if it’s a placebo, we need some vitality right now, Mao-san. Just think of it as being fooled and try it once.”

The Demon King glared at Edgar with a look that seemed ready to shoot him dead.

However, Edgar stood there with an easygoing smile.

“What an unreadable man, truly.”

The Demon King sighed, then swallowed the pill in one breath.

After swallowing it, he closed his eyes and rubbed his stomach as if checking the pill’s effect.

Without letting his smile fade, Edgar spoke lightly.

“How is it, Mao-san?”

The Demon King nodded once and showed a frightening grin.

“Heh, I suppose I should say, as expected of an S-rank ninja in actual ability.”

“That’s overpraise, Mao-san.”

Edgar looked at the Demon King with a faint smile. The Demon King smiled with half exasperation.

The heated gazes of two strong people ran beneath the surface.

However, that opposition lasted only a moment.

Edgar stood up and moved beside the Demon King. He looked around at everyone and said,

“Then be careful of monsters. If anything happens, run into the cave and form the defensive trapezoid formation.”

“Huh?”

“Captain?”

“Are you going somewhere?”

The children raised worried voices.

Edgar answered with a broad smile.

“It’s all right. I’ll be back soon. I’m just going for a little walk.”

“Hmph. You brats should hide in accordance with your ability. Fwahahahaha!”

When the Demon King laughed loudly, for some reason, the mood relaxed.

The children exchanged smiles and nodded.

“Understood.”

“See you soon.”

“Come back quickly.”

“We’ll do our best.”

“I’ll do my best too.”

“Then I’ll be right back.”

Edgar narrowed his eyes and raised a hand lightly, then left the place.

The Demon King also followed Edgar, making his flashy aloha shirt sway.

Then, the instant they entered the bushes and were hidden from the children’s sight, the two figures vanished.

Somewhere inside the square subspace.

It was a world where neither location nor east, west, north, and south could be understood at all.

Edgar and the Demon King were in a stand of trees facing an open field. They were hiding in the bushes while watching the open field.

Although the open field was inside the forest, it was several hectares wide.

The Demon King muttered bitterly.

“What… is that?”

“What is it, I wonder. I have no idea.”

In the forest was an open clearing several hectares wide. There, pitch-black shadow monsters were lined up in rows.

Simply counting them by multiplying their rows and columns, there were over two hundred thousand.

Edgar asked in return,

“Wouldn’t you know more about this, Mao-san? They look like Darkness Attribute monsters, but they sort of lack presence. It doesn’t seem like attacks would hit them.”

“They are likely not monsters of this world. The shadow monsters around here are probably the same. They have no physical body.”

“Since we’re in a subspace right now, I’d understand if it happened to connect to another world and shadow monsters were roaming around, but… these ones are lined up, like an army.”

“Indeed. When it was only the wandering shadow monsters, I was not all that concerned. But when I see this army… something is going on. Rather, unless something was going on, they would not move a force this large.”

“That’s true… I’ll ask Kou-chan for a bit.”

Edgar took out his sub-device.

The Demon King looked at him with a frown.

“Kou-chan, you say?”

For a while, Edgar grimaced painfully and tilted his head in thought.

However, he looked back at the Demon King with light in his black eyes.

“Kou-chan is the Dungeon Core. This sub-device and contacting Alec-san are both things Kou-chan handles.”

“…I am disappointed. To leak information about Alec, my enemy, so easily to me. You are not a trustworthy person.”

Edgar glared at the Demon King with shining eyes.

“No. Mao-san already noticed it. After all, you came to Alec-san’s shop in the Royal Capital. Someone at Mao-san’s level should have noticed something was off the instant you entered.”

The Demon King’s eyes wavered a little. Then he casually said, “Ah.”

“I-I noticed. I noticed that the shop was the entrance to Alec’s dungeon.”

“As expected, Mao-san. Then there’s no problem, right?”

“Y-yes. Of course.”

The Demon King nodded while breaking out in a cold sweat.

—There was no way he could say that he had not noticed the dungeon’s existence at all because he had been floating on air after creating an ointment that could block Holy Wave.

Edgar narrowed his eyes and smiled brightly.

“The fact that you noticed and overlooked it means Mao-san wants to fight Alec-san head-on without trying to outmaneuver him, right?”

“Of course! There is no way I would use cowardly tactics against the likes of Alec! Only by defeating Alec head-on am I worthy of being the Demon King, fwahahahaha!”

The Demon King laughed loudly while sweat ran down his forehead.

Edgar quietly held back a laugh.

“Then I’ll contact Kou-chan.”

“Mm. Do as you like.”

The Demon King folded his arms and leaned back arrogantly. It was just a pose to hide his panic.

Edgar put the sub-device to his ear and contacted Kou.

“Do you have a minute, Kou-chan?”

“What is it?”

“Inside the subspace, about two hundred thousand dark beasts are lined up.”

“Oh-ho?”

“Ah, looks like they’re still increasing… Just how many are there going to be?”

“What does that mean? Even if they increase them, once Master enters the subspace, they will be annihilated in an instant?”

“That’s true. I can’t see what the enemy is thinking.”

“Hmm? Enemy? No… but… surely not?”

“Is there something? Please tell me, even if it’s a long shot!”

When Edgar leaned forward and spoke, from the other side of the sub-device, he heard the sound of someone running with a dadada.