Quit The Hero Party

EP.59 Rotting Thing (2)

Altar.

The root cause of frontline destruction.

A nightmare or tragedy of the battlefield.

My first encounter with the altar was when dealing with sorcerers on the front lines. Fighting sorcerers was tricky, but if you asked if it was dangerous, the answer was no.

In most battles, we achieved a complete victory. Every time Kyle swung his sword, beasts and sorcerers were swept away in droves.

-Huh?

However.

-What is this? This looks fine?

There was something that wasn’t swept away.

After pushing the front lines and retaking the land we had lost, we faced something strange.

It resembled bone fragments.

Something incomprehensible.

Amidst the chaos, that alone remained intact. We pulled it out and showed it to the knights. One knight came forward with something similar.

Thus, four fragments gathered.

Judging by the completeness of the circuit, I realized one fragment was missing. It didn’t take long to figure out where that fragment was.

-What is this…?

At the time, there was a mage with us.

A promising talent in the Knights Order.

The same thing that was in his heart appeared before the fragments. And before we could stop him, he disappeared right there.

-…

The one who vanished without a trace appeared the next morning. He materialized in the center of the knights’ barracks, staring at the sky with flipped black eyes.

-■■■■■■■■.

Gazing at the sky, he began to chant a spell.

The four fragments resonated with his heart. The resonant fragments formed a single circuit.

And then, a door opened.

A door connected to the heart of the demon world.

From within the door, the demon lord’s army poured out.

The place where the door opened was the knights’ stronghold. The demon army raining down from above was a nightmare itself.

‘…What a chaos.’

That day, the knights approached annihilation. At that moment, we first learned about the altar.

‘The second time the altar opened…’

In a similar situation, we managed to respond.

It was the same missing fragment. The missing piece was embedded in the heart of a nearby mage.

The same thing happened.

The mage disappeared right before our eyes.

From the moment that mage vanished, I tracked him down. Then I realized.

-…I can’t touch this.

-What do you mean, Raniel! If we don’t stop this now, it’ll be just like last time…!

-Damn it, he’s gone to the otherworld. It’s an otherworld that summons spirits and summoned beasts. I can’t touch him in the otherworld.

The one who had gone to the otherworld couldn’t be touched by me. That was the realm of the spirit mage.

-…Let me try.

Coincidentally, the spirit mage from the White Tower, who was beside us at that time, rummaged through the otherworld as if it were a game. Then he found the missing mage.

-I’ll pull him out!

And.

It didn’t take long to realize that it was the wrong method.

-I’ve pulled him out! Right now…! Um…?

Crack!

The spirit mage from the White Tower exploded before my eyes. The one who caused it was the mage he had forcibly pulled out.

-What the hell!?

The mage, forcibly dragged from the otherworld, rampaged right there. Something that was dominating his mind aided in that rampage.

‘His full talent blossomed completely.’

How it had happened, but we had to face the mage created that way. It was horrific. He didn’t die even when we broke his limbs or beheaded him.

In the middle of the knights, we had to subdue the rampaging mage. During that suppression process, both of our knights’ orders were annihilated.

Two failures.

From those failures, we came to understand the causes of our failures and what the altar truly was.

“We learned three things.”

“…”

“First, once the fragments are set, it’s absolutely impossible to block the altar in advance.”

I folded one finger.

“Second, the person who becomes the ‘medium’ of the consciousness with a single fragment must never be touched. Whether it’s before or during the ritual, mind you.”

Folded another one.

“Finally, the mage that serves as the medium falls into a dream during the ritual. That bastard who created the altar takes over that body while it’s drifting in dreamland.”

I folded the last finger.

At that moment, Kalt asked me a question.

“…Why doesn’t he just do it himself and insist on using a medium for the ritual? It would be much easier if he participated himself.”

“Because that guy is a coward.”

Kalt tilted his head at my answer.

This part wasn’t something I could explain, so I shrugged.

“Anyway, when the medium that went to the otherworld comes out, there’s no method other than stopping right before he chants that spell.”

“…Yes, I remember that too. It was a race against time. Has anything more come to light since I left the battlefield?”

Kalt had also experienced the altar. In the two earlier failures, Kalt was with me.

“There’s more. A way to buy a bit more time.”

“What’s that?”

“Breaking the fragments of the altar.”

I pointed to the fragments set on the ground.

“This is similar to the stock of spells I use. When the altar activates, the circuit engraved here activates at that moment. It shortens the casting time for the spell that opens the door.”

“So….”

“Yeah, if we break this, we can buy more time. If I remember correctly, it should be about 2 minutes per fragment.”

We currently had four fragments in our possession.

“So, that means 10 minutes.”

“…That’s still tight.”

“Compared to the old days when we had only 2 minutes, this is rather comfortable.”

Kalt wore a serious expression.

“But, we have no idea where the medium will show up in that wide forest. It will jump out from the otherworld, and due to the saturated mana, tracking will be impossible.”

We stood on the rooftop, looking at the forest.

The forest was vast. The magic that engulfed Harmain Forest was absurdly thick. It was difficult to pierce through it due to the saturated mana.

Finding a single person in there would be impossible, no matter how good Kalt, a bloodhound, was.

That’s the annoying part of the altar.

Even if you know something will happen, until it actually occurs, you can only watch and wait.

That’s what an altar is, but…

This time, the situation was a little different.

“That would be true for a normal altar. But, this time is different.”

I said slowly, resting my chin.

“There’s a way to find it.”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems that coward who made the altar made a mistake this time.”

2.

I had a dream.

It was a happy dream.

I didn’t want to wake up.

*

“Hey, you have talent.”

“Talent?”

“Yeah, I think you’re the second person I have ever seen with such talent. I never thought I’d find treasure in a place like this.”

An esteemed guest visited an orphanage gathering the orphans who lost their parents in the war.

‘…Who is that person?’

The young Resti had no idea who he was.

She only thought he must be a great person since the usually stern teachers kept bowing their heads in front of him.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Resti.”

“Alright, Resti.”

The man introduced himself.

“I am Krenbel Elenoa, an elder of the Ashen Tower.”

Resti, though young, was not so naive as to not understand what that meant.

The dream of every mage, the tower.

She didn’t know its color precisely, but if he was the elder of that place, he was someone of immense importance.

“H-Hello.”

“Haha, no need to be afraid. I’ve come to make you a proposal.”

The old man, introducing himself as the elder, pointed to Resti’s notebook. Inside were the circuits Resti had drawn over the past month.

“At your age, you already know how to handle spirit circuits. Have you ever tried injecting mana into them?”

“…Well…”

“No need to be hesitant. Unlike your teachers, I have no intention of scolding you.”

“…I went out at midnight to try it once or twice.”

“Ah, a curious child, I see. What did you summon?”

“A fox wrapped in wind.”

The old man casually touched the circuit.

The wind blew. When the wind subsided, there sat the fox that Resti had seen on the old man’s shoulder.

“Is it a creature that looks like this?”

Resti nodded.

“Do you know this child’s name?”

“The book called it a wind spirit.”

“Hmm, simply calling it a wind spirit would make this child sad. This child’s name is Silphy.”

“Silphy?”

“Yes, Silphy.”

The old man set the fox on the ground.

Resti watched in wonder as she touched the fox. It felt amazing.

“Resti.”

“Yes?”

“Would you like to learn magic under me?”

The old man extended his hand.

“You have talent.”

Smiling as he looked directly into Resti’s eyes.

“Talent to lead this era.”

Resti took that hand.

Thus, Resti became a mage. The subsequent stories flashed swiftly before her eyes.

Those were happy days.

She learned magic, made contracts with new spirits every day, and with each time, the elder praised her.

-You’re amazing, Resti.

With aged, wrinkled hands, he would stroke her purple hair. Every time his cracked fingers brushed her forehead, it felt prickly, but she loved that too.

However, that memory would soon be interrupted.

The elder fell ill, losing consciousness. Resti was left alone in the tower.

The dream does not show the memories of those three years.

It only displays happy memories.

“….”

The Resti in the memory is smiling.

She is brightly smiling while learning magic.

“….”

The Resti in reality lifted her hands.

She instinctively touched the corners of her mouth. Her lips felt rigid. The face reflected in the mirror was one she did not want to see.

If she closed her eyes, the dream would appear.

If she opened them, reality would be revealed.

The dream was sweet.

The reality was bitter.

The dream was filled with things she wanted to see.

The reality was that she became someone she did not want to be.

Resti closed her eyes.

She wanted to dream a little longer.

-Rustle.

While she dreamed, her body faithfully moved toward the center of the altar.

3.

“I heard there’s another altar, Kyle.”

“This time, it seems like we can’t just overlook it. It’s being held in the royal capital.”

“It doesn’t seem like a good situation.”

Sara and Remia whispered.

They were moving through the alleyways of the royal capital, cloaked in robes.

“Here it is, everyone.”

Guiding them was Hound Gale. Gale gulped nervously and navigated the alley. He was leading them on the shortest route to Apuria.

‘…Senior Kalt said he was bringing support troops… Could it be the hero himself?’

Gale knew Kalt to be a prudent person. As a knight experienced in battle, he loathed wasteful actions. Among the hounds, he was particularly one who pursued efficiency.

Such a person had called forth a hero.

That signified a significant incident was unfolding in the royal capital.

‘What on earth could have happened?’

As mere guides, Gale had no way of knowing. He could only guess that a major event was about to happen.

“This way…”

“So you said you’re a hound.”

“Ah, yes.”

The hero behind them, Kyle, spoke up.

“I have a question.”

He kept his pace and asked Gale.

“Are we the only support troops in this incident?”

“Yes, the only support troops I was ordered to bring are the hero party, including you, Kyle.”

“That guy… No, isn’t the Ashen Mage taking part as support?”

“From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t seem so. At least, it doesn’t look like he’s in the royal capital.”

Even the hounds didn’t know where the Ashen Mage was. That mage had vanished without a trace.

‘The tracker, Senior Kalt, has been searching for two months, without even finding a small clue.’

At least in the royal capital, it was a shared opinion among the hounds that he wasn’t there. Just as Gale thought that, he was about to continue walking when.

“That’s strange.”

Suddenly, Kyle stopped.

He stood still and spoke.

“I don’t think he’s lying, but this situation feels like a lie.”

“…What do you mean?”

“It could be one of two things.”

His finger fiddled with the hilt of his sword.

Light shone from the hilt as stars glimmered.

“Either the Holy Sword has given a wrong prophecy.”

Kyle’s crimson eyes fixed on Gale.

“Or simply, you didn’t receive the full message.”

“What do you… mean?”

“The stars have foreseen.”

His crimson eyes narrowed.

“Either way, it means we will meet that guy.”

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