Empty (3)

Archive No. 6.

Hope and exhaustion crossed the priest’s face when he saw the signboard.

The evacuees moved out from the center of the Great Temple.

Starting from Archive No. 6, the record depots were located far from the Temple-administered villages.

However, they could not relax until they passed the area where Archive No. 11 stood.

According to the knight who had gone to scout the monsters’ movements, the creatures emerged from an opening that had formed underground.

They operated only on the Great Temple’s land.

So they said it would be safe once they left the Temple’s territory.

From afar, the Great Temple’s leader, High Priest Banie, who had seen the monsters, sent requests for aid to both the Imperial Household and Tessen.

“Let’s go back now and escort the High Priest, at least.”

A dust-covered girl spoke as she shed tears.

Her sniffling voice carried sorrow.

The knight who had been about to comfort the girl felt a tremor approaching and looked ahead.

“All hands—battle stations! Priests, fall back!”

Only about ten knights formed a single line at the very front.

Their grips tightened hard around their spears.

The Great Temple was attacked by monsters at the very moment everyone had gathered to pray.

Everyone from the Temple had assembled in the main prayer hall.

That was why they could flee together through the evacuation route, but it also meant no one except the knights carried weapons.

Young priests burst into tears as they saw an enormous black mass thundering over the ground toward them.

Knowing that making noise was unwise, they clenched their teeth and let only their tears fall.

“Halt! I am Turner, a knight of the Great Temple’s Priest-Knight Order! Identify yourself!”

They had not expected a monster to approach from the front.

The opening from which the monsters emerged was behind them.

The black creature was larger and more ferocious than any they had seen.

“I am Reichardt Tessen, Grand Duke of Tessen. Knight Turner, are all survivors present here?”

A human voice boomed from within the black beast.

Only then did the Temple party realize someone was riding the creature.

Several priests collapsed in relief.

Some of the children vomited up their suppressed terror in sobs.

They all knelt before the black monster and sought their god.

Turner carefully approached the black creature.

“Are you truly His Grace the Grand Duke?”

Reichardt guided Lusa so that his figure was clearly visible.

“Forgive me for not dismounting to speak. Where is the High Priest?”

“I pay my respects, Your Grace. The High Priest is in Annas Village, where Archive No. 4 is located. But… did Your Grace come alone?”

Turner had hoped for Tessen’s formidable forces.

But behind the huge black creature was only empty space.

Turner’s gaze fell on the woman seated in front of Reichardt.

“I am Alicia Rain, Countess of Echeveria.”

Alicia introduced herself briefly to Turner and the others.

“Tessen’s troops are due to arrive this evening. You have not yet cleared the Great Temple’s jurisdiction. It will take another hour of walking. Once you are outside, there will be no monster threat, so move as quickly as you can.”

Reichardt’s words sounded almost cold.

“Sir Turner. There were no monsters along the path we took. I recommend you remember this one’s footprints and follow them.”

“Thank you for the counsel, My Lady.”

Turner had heard much about Alicia, so he raised her form of address in gratitude.

He did not care if it looked like flattery.

To Turner’s eyes, Alicia—speaking to them so gently—looked like an angel.

“I know the items borne by those of the Great Temple are precious, but I ask that the priests leave the records you’re carrying here. Everyone is exhausted. Once you leave the Temple’s territory there will be no monster threat, but even at the earliest, the knights who can help you will arrive only in a few hours. You will need strength to endure until then.”

Alicia voiced what everyone had been thinking but had not dared to say aloud.

“However…”

Though Turner knew his party was exhausted, he could not answer readily.

“On the contrary, it will be safer to leave humanity’s precious records here, which has become the beasts’ ground. Dig deep. Bury the records and cover them thickly so no human scent touches them; then the monsters will pay them no mind.”

Alicia pressed her persuasion again.

“Her Ladyship makes sense. We will hide the records here and move on. If there are no monsters ahead, we will rest briefly to conserve strength, then pick up the pace.”

Alicia nodded at Turner’s reply.

“Catch!”

Alicia hurled a large sack—tied to Lusa—toward Turner.

Turner reflexively reached out and caught it.

“Ah!”

The big sack was light for its size.

“We hurried, so it’s only a few loaves of bread. And take this as well.”

This time, Alicia tossed a small pouch.

Tucking the precious bread sack under his arm, Turner caught the flying pouch.

His hand felt the weight.

“If it takes long to rendezvous with the knightly force, don’t camp in the open—head for the nearest village.”

After speaking kindly, Alicia turned to Reichardt and whispered.

“…”

Knowing it was improper, Turner nonetheless took a quick peek into the pouch while the ducal couple exchanged words.

The pouch was filled with gold coins.

“There’s a stream ten minutes from here. If you need water, go to the western hill.”

Alicia continued to share information that sounded like a voice from heaven.

“Thank you, My Lady!”

At Turner’s cry, the Temple party also stood with hands together and offered thanks to Alicia.

“Then.”

“Good luck to you all. We’ll make sure no monsters follow behind you.”

They had bowed at Reichardt’s rather flat farewell, but Alicia’s warm words moved them.

It felt as if they had the strength to move again.

The area around Archive No. 5 was a completely different world from Archive No. 6.

They were drawing near the Temple’s center.

A pack of Gottlans dashed headlong, fleeing Lusa, and ran in the direction of Archive No. 4.

Lusa plunged into the red-furred Gottlans.

Four fleeing Gottlans were swept at once by spear and axe, shrieking as they collapsed.

“Progress is faster here.”

Reichardt nodded in agreement at Alicia’s words.

“Archive No. 6 we saw earlier functions like an external storehouse. That’s why it’s isolated. From Archive No. 5 onward, the distance between depots ahead is short. The High Priest’s party is not far.”

The two spoke while swinging axe and spear in turn.

“Screee!”

Lusa glided smoothly between Gottlans emitting dangerous hisses.

Guiding Lusa, Reichardt chopped toward every direction the sounds came from.

Alicia sprang onto Lusa’s horn.

Running along the horn, she threw the daggers she had prepared all at once.

Alicia thrust her arms out repeatedly as if spreading both wings.

Six Gottlans fell at once and one flank collapsed completely.

To the untrained eye, Alicia’s dagger-throwing looked like magic.

“Give me your hand.”

As she came down from Lusa’s horn, Alicia gripped her spear.

“Do you really have to?”

Reichardt, taking Alicia’s outstretched hand, spoke with concern.

“Throw!”

At her eager shout, Reichardt dropped Alicia beneath Lusa.

Clasping Reichardt’s hand tightly with one hand, Alicia windmilled the spear in her other like a windmill.

Reichardt quickly hauled Alicia back up after she finished mowing down the remaining Gottlans.

“Let’s go!”

Alicia called out brightly.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

Reichardt voiced his concern once more.

He was voicing his worry when he caught Alicia smiling back at him.

Then he saw a banner fluttering in the wind.

Lusa surged faster.

After that, Reichardt never let his gaze drop downward again.

Only after the two annihilated one Gottlan pack and one Eto herd did they spot the sign for Archive No. 4.

Lusa charged straight at a place where a Kakan was lurching about.

Thud!

The Kakan, its waist severed by Reichardt’s axe, stopped moving.

Alicia’s spear pierced the back of the Kakan’s neck as it hesitated.

Boom!

The shattered Kakan was unusually massive.

So were all the monsters they had seen here.

The beasts—already big compared to animals—seemed to grow even larger the closer they drew to the Great Temple.

“Here.”

Reichardt reined in Lusa as he spoke.

At his gesture, Lusa stood and looked around in all directions.

Alicia pointed to a large boulder.

“Is someone there?”

Alicia raised her voice toward the rock.

Reichardt led Lusa toward it.

“Who are you? Are you human? If you can understand human speech, identify yourselves.”

A man emerged from behind the once-silent rock.

Terrified, the middle-aged man eyed Lusa warily.

“I am Reichardt Tessen, Grand Duke of Tessen, and this is Alicia Rain, Countess of Echeveria. The area is safe for the moment. Bring the High Priest.”

After confirming Reichardt’s identity, the man looked puzzled, then went back behind the rock.

Soon, with a clattering of wheels, around forty people appeared.

Those hiding here skewed older in age.

There were many wounded as well.

Those too injured to walk rode in carts.

But, lacking beasts to pull them, burly men were drawing the carts themselves.

“Reichardt!”

A blonde woman stepped out from among the people.

She looked to be in her late twenties.

She, too, seemed wounded and limped a little.

“Banie. It has been a while.”

Reichardt tipped his chin in greeting to the woman approaching him.

Alicia was startled at the sight of her.

The woman could have passed for the Emperor’s twin.

Shining platinum hair and sky-blue eyes.

Her looks made one wonder if she was a seraph rather than the High Priest.

High Priest Banie—whose features were slightly softer than the Emperor’s—gazed at Reichardt with moist eyes.

“I knew you would come, little brother.”

Banie’s familiarity with Reichardt threw Alicia for a moment.

“How is Your Grace the Grand Duke the High Priest’s younger brother?”

Reichardt, by contrast, wore the look of a man hearing something he never wished to hear.

He looked deeply displeased.

What was this?

Alicia concluded there must be something between the two—between the royals and the Temple’s lineage.

“There is no need to be shy, Reichardt. Did you not rush here out of worry for me? By the way, what is that beast you ride? And who is the lady with you? I heard you were betrothed.”

The High Priest’s manner of speech sounded older than her appearance.

And that tone curiously recalled the Emperor.

It gave the uncanny feeling of someone who asked while knowing everything already.

It seemed the High Priest resembled the Emperor not only in looks but also in temperament.

“How many elders are left behind in the underground archive?”

Reichardt did not take Banie’s bait and confirmed what was necessary.

“Eight.”

Though she seemed likely to spend days expressing her joy, Banie answered immediately and matter-of-factly.

“Reichardt, you make me worry you will be misunderstood. ‘Left behind,’ you say, of the Great Temple’s elders—prophets revered by all? Your rough tongue is as ever.”

Having given the needed answer, Banie returned to saying what she pleased.

To display such ease in a crisis—what a personality.

“This place will be safe briefly. Return to where you were hiding and stay concealed. Knights of the Priest-Knight Order remaining here for escort, follow me. We’ll need hands to support the elders when we bring them out.”

Ignoring Banie’s eyes seeking to engage him, Reichardt addressed the people.

The knight who had stepped forth earlier came to the front again.

“Your Grace. You say this place is safe for a while, but that is because you don’t know the lay of the land. Though less than inside Archive No. 2, monsters also roam here in packs.”

The man pulling a cart came up beside him and added to the warning.