The Pursuers And The Pursued

“There is no problem at all”—

That was what Travas had declared, but there was nothing but problems.

As he entered the first hidden room, Travas spoke with full confidence to Yuri, who was walking beside him.

“It seems some lucky intruder noticed the hidden door, but there is no need to worry. There are three layers of traps set up here. First, the treasure chest. Second, the bomb built into the treasure chest. Third, the illusion magic disguising the wall. Either they die to the bomb, or they are satisfied with the contents of the treasure chest and turn back—that is how it ends.”

“…The treasure chest is open, and the entrance to the next room is completely visible as well—but is that really alright?”

“Wh-what!?”

Travas looked around the room—and indeed, it was exactly as Yuri had said.

After pressing a hand to his forehead for a while and suppressing his emotions, Travas opened his mouth.

“It seems the intruder has rather sharp powers of observation—but there is no problem. There are still more traps prepared.”

This time, he was confident.

Because—

“This is a room guarded by powerful golems created by me, Travas, a professional maker of magic tools! Luck alone will not be enough to get through from here on!”

With absolute confidence, Travas went into the next room, then could not help but blurt out,

“Fnuah!?”

The shattered remains of the golems were scattered across the floor. The door at the back was open.

“…No matter how you look at it, they have broken through…”

“…Th-that cannot be!?”

Travas found it impossible to believe. The golems he created were on a completely different level from ordinary ones. And yet they had been defeated!

Travas placed a hand on his chest and let out a deep breath.

“It seems it is true that they broke through…”

Passing through the back door, they arrived at the final room where the teleportation circle was.

Having come this far, Travas was not optimistic enough to think that the intruders had chosen not to use the teleportation circle and had simply gone home.

“But well, this is as far as they will get. Because where that teleportation circle leads is the deepest part of the ruins. The monsters there are all more powerful than my golems. It is a level that only I, one of the Eight Stars, together with Black Dragon’s Fang’s elite, can barely overcome. By now, those insolent intruders are probably corpses, regretting their careless curiosity…”

Travas and the others used the teleportation circle and transferred to the deepest part of the ruins.

And after walking for a while—

“Is that not the corpse of a High Minotaur lying over there?”

“—!?”

The massive bull-headed body was lying there. Its jet-black muscles were stained bright red with the blood that had poured from it.

“Wh-what…!?”

“They seem to be quite skilled.”

Just as Yuri had feared. As Travas and the others advanced, more and more monster corpses were lying about. Every one of them had been dispatched with such clean skill that it was obvious they had all been “swept aside” with ease.

Travas was shaken.

“Th-this cannot be!?”

“…No, it seems to be reality. In any case, shall we go look at the Eye of the Netherworld?”

“Y-yes, let us.”

But Travas could not shake his bad feeling.

The road leading to the Eye of the Netherworld was littered with monster corpses one after another. Which meant, in other words, that the intruders had charged straight down this path.

(…Were they after the Eye of the Netherworld!?)

That was the only possibility he could think of.

Who—no, not with methods like this. It could not be the work of an individual. Then was it a nation? Which country? And for what purpose? How?

All sorts of thoughts spun round and round inside Travas’s head.

And then—

They reached the room where the Eye of the Netherworld had been enshrined—

“Ooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Travas screamed without thinking.

The red jewel that had been enshrined on the altar—the Eye of the Netherworld—was gone.

“…It seems it has been taken…”

At Travas’s side, Yuri was looking on with a severe expression.

Travas covered his face.

“N-ngoooooooooh…!”

Something truly outrageous had happened. Three years. He had not merely waited for three years. In order to take out that Eye of the Netherworld—and use it as a magic tool—various technical research efforts had been carried out. The enormous cost poured into that would all go to waste.

No, it could not be allowed to go to waste.

He could never report something like this to Orfred!

“I will not forgive this… I absolutely will not forgive it… I will make them regret laying hands on me, Travas—or rather, on something that belongs to Black Dragon’s Fang!”

“What will you do?”

“I will take it back.”

Travas answered immediately. His emotions had calmed considerably. Since he had decided what needed to be done, his usual cool and clear mind had returned.

“…In the first place, we cannot simply leave it alone. Because if it absorbs miasma in the outside world, a gate to the netherworld will open in no time…”

If that happened, the surrounding area would suffer catastrophic damage.

To assume the enemy possessed the “technology for taking it outside” that Travas and his people had developed—that would be far too optimistic. Opening a gate to the netherworld was the one thing that absolutely had to be avoided.

“How will you find where they are?”

“…Heh heh heh. There is an item perfectly suited for tracking down a powerful magic tool.”

With that, Travas took out a circular device whose screen displayed green grid lines.

“With this radar, I can search for registered magic items. The Eye of the Netherworld is an artifact containing immense power. It should be traceable even from quite a long distance away.”

Judging by the state of the monster corpses, they could not have gone that far.

Travas flipped the switch. The moment he saw the point of light that appeared on the green screen, a smile rose to his lips.

“It seems it was stolen only very recently—it was truly a matter of moments. They are very close. If we hurry back, we may still make it in time.”

“I see… Then let us hurry.”

“Indeed. Though, perhaps there is no need to hurry after all.”

Saying that, Travas chuckled low in his throat.

“What do you mean?”

“That jewel, you see, draws the dead and invites misfortune as well. By the time we catch up, there is a good chance they will already be corpses.”

After obtaining the red jewel, we decided that for today, at least, we should get some rest, so we took a room at an inn near the ruins.

It happened while we were walking toward the inn.

In the plaza along the way stood a large pole. As a traveler, I had no idea why such a thing had been built there, but apparently it was often used by the locals as a meeting place.

As we were about to pass by while glancing at the crowd gathered there—

At the same moment a grating creak rang out—

People near the pole screamed.

“Look out!”

A voice like that was thrown toward us.

I looked over reflexively, and my heart gave a violent leap. The pole, snapped in half, was falling down.

And standing under its shadow was—

Not me, but Fiona!

Fiona noticed something was wrong, but perhaps her legs had gone weak and she could not move; she stood frozen, eyes wide.

I drew my dagger, leaped beneath the falling pillar, and slashed once.

Kiin!

The moment it took my sweeping cut, the pillar gave off a sharp sound and tumbled off to the side.

“Th-thank you very much, Ilvis-san…”

Still frozen in place, Fiona thanked me with only her mouth moving.

Of course, that was simply part of my work as her escort, so there was no problem—but would a pillar really just snap in half and fall at such perfect timing?

…Well, if you called it bad luck, then that was true enough…

I tilted my head, unable to shake the feeling that something about it did not sit right.