“First, I suppose I should introduce myself.”
Cheon Ha-rang, with her back to the moon, looked somehow sorrowful.
“I’m just an ordinary girl, a coward.”
She even harbored what seemed like pity for those who showed hostility towards her.
But even that moment was fleeting.
“And, I am the Demon King you speak of, and the Cheonma who stands above all.”
Cheon Ha-rang then aimed her wooden sword at them.
“The sky you boast of will bow its head beneath my feet.”
*
Meanwhile.
At the opposite end of where the Imperial Army’s advance guard was, two people were climbing a mountain.
“Hek… hek….”
“…Professor Bell, are you okay?”
Whether she was worried about herself or teasing her.
Or maybe it was just that her exhaustion made every word sound sarcastic.
“… Huh?”
Having been utterly worn out, she squeezed out her last bit of strength, sighed heavily, and turned her body.
“Do I, uh, look okay?”
Then, Bell, the Academy’s professor in Alchemy, shot a resentful glance at her side.
“…”
Receiving that gaze, Anna, the Academy’s head, avoided her eyes with an awkward smile.
“… I’m sorry.”
Thus, another tense silence ensued.
Seeing the uncomfortable atmosphere, Anna furrowed her brows but chose not to speak.
“Y-you’re really too much….”
“… I did say I was sorry.”
“Really…?”
“Never mind….”
In fact, she was even scolded to boot.
Considering their usual relationship, Bell’s defiance in the current situation was nonsensical…
“… Tsk.”
As always, exceptions existed.
“Th-then why did you bring me along…?”
Bell muttered in a grumbling tone, while Anna simply bit her lip and avoided Bell’s gaze.
The reason being,
It was Anna who forcibly dragged Bell, who had been crying day and night about not wanting to come.
Given Anna’s straight-laced character, it was only natural for her to feel guilty about it.
However, one could also question why she brought someone who was unwilling.
I mean, she did something others would hate.
“… Surely, even you understand.”
“Well, that is true….”
But that doesn’t change how hard it is.
As Anna handed Bell a cup of water as if she were a criminal, Bell smiled faintly.
“… Here.”
“Ah… th-thank you…!”
So, as you can see, Anna also had her own reasons.
As mentioned earlier, Anna and Bell were part of a separate squad not moving with the main Imperial forces.
Since they were moving in small numbers, they had to rush to take advantageous positions or gather any useful information to inform the main forces.
“Phew!”
As you can see, they had problems due to Bell’s stamina.
‘Should I go ahead…?’
Wouldn’t Anna, the one who brought Bell herself, think this way?
But Anna couldn’t do that.
Originally, she was one of those opposed to the plan for hunting Cheon Ha-rang.
… Of course, it was right to exclude personal feelings in carrying out a mission; however,
‘No… There’s something I must confirm…’
Anna trusted her intuition.
To be exact, she relied more on what she had seen and heard than on mere intuition.
And Cheon Ha-rang was not someone who would recklessly instigate war against the Empire.
When teaching cadets, she was quiet but could suddenly get excited and chatter. She often expressed wanting to quit her teaching job but still remained until the very end.
‘Above all… she has…’
She had already saved the Academy once.
During the attack when her response had been lacking, didn’t Cheon Ha-rang spectacularly hunt down the ringleader?
But someone like that, attacking the Empire?
‘It doesn’t add up.’
If she had such intentions, she would have done it long ago.
Why would she go through the trouble of saving the Academy?
Moreover, the timing was strange.
When the Empire hosted a ball, wasn’t Cheon Ha-rang’s group’s assault on the palace too contrived?
There were no casualties; instead, they removed an old thorn from the Empire.
Because of that,
Since Cheon Ha-rang was seen like that,
Considering all those thoughts, Anna had to meet Cheon Ha-rang before the main forces and propose negotiations.
She needed to hurry, even if just a little.
‘If it escalates to an extreme situation….’
It would become irreversible.
‘… And.’
The last time she faced her.
She remembered her expression, which seemed either regretful or somehow wronged.
She had to understand the meaning of that expression.
Well… anyhow.
While the story veered a bit,
“Looks like I’ll survive for a bit….”
Bell had, in a way, been brought along against her will to prevent such situations as much as possible.
To be honest, Anna and Cheon Ha-rang’s connection could not be considered deep, even as a polite expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that…?”
“I have high expectations of Professor Bell.”
“Eep….”
As for Bell, she had a history of directly bringing Cheon Ha-rang to the Academy, and hadn’t she also visited the palace with her?
Surely, her connection was stronger than Anna’s.
“Ah, no… Even the Heroes couldn’t do it…”
“That doesn’t mean we can give up, does it?”
“… That’s true, but….”
Just as Anna confirmed that Bell looked a bit better and was about to support her to take a step forward.
“… Professor Bell.”
Anna stopped in her tracks, sweating cold.
“Y-Yes?”
Bell, puzzled by Anna’s sudden strange reaction, questioned her back.
“It seems we might already be too late.”
“W-What do you mean-”
Anna’s twisted face wouldn’t turn back, instead, Bell herself started to realize the reason behind her reaction.
– Boom!
A massive rumble echoed from a distance.
The source of the sound wasn’t on the perimeter but above their heads.
“Unbelievable.”
Anna and Bell’s heads shot up almost in unison, their eyes widening at the bizarre landscape.
The sky was falling. The ground trembled.
Heaven and Earth were flipping upside down.
The once dark mountain range quickly began to change shape.
Due to falling debris or the resultant distortion of the ground, the cave itself crumbled.
“This… what’s going on…?”
Bell stared blankly at the splitting ground and the sky that crashed down like glass shards.
As if she couldn’t accept the situation.
This scene felt impossible within her realm of understanding.
Bell’s brain began to reject the information coming through her eyes.
“Am I… going to die here?”
Bell’s body seemed to lose its will to fight.
But.
“I suppose we must hurry even now.”
Anna, unlike that, still held Bell under her arm with the same twisted expression she had seen earlier.
“Let’s go.”
Facing a wall but still maintaining her unwavering demeanor, Bell felt an inexplicable sense of relief and nodded her head as she leaned on her.
*
With Bell on her back, Anna set off without hesitation.
Of course.
There was no uncertainty in their direction; unlike before, when they had been wandering aimlessly through the mountain range.
This time, there was a clear path to follow.
That path was the ridiculous amount of mana that Cheon Ha-rang was still releasing.
Until now, while tracking the superior Cheon Ha-rang, they had no means to follow without her leaking mana.
But this wasn’t the case any longer.
Thus, having traced Harang’s mana, they arrived at this location.
‘… What the.’
Anna squinted as if she found it hard to believe the scenery unfolding before her.
Bell also seemed flabbergasted, having come down from Anna’s back to look around.
“Wh-where did every…. one go?”
Anna couldn’t respond to Bell’s question.
“… I don’t know.”
She herself wished to ask the same.
At the place they arrived, the mana from Cheon Ha-rang that they had felt until then, no longer felt present; in fact, she was nowhere to be seen.
What was more important was that the Imperial soldiers who had marched towards this location were also nowhere to be found.
Could it be that they had made an error in tracking them?
As Anna briefly pondered that question, she shook her head at the traces they had left behind.
‘The footprints stopped here.’
The footprints that had clearly been leading to this very place suddenly cut off here.
Additionally, the Imperial soldiers’ weaponry scattered everywhere.
Considering these signs, it would be reasonable to think the Imperial soldiers had arrived here and lost.
Yet, despite these visible signs, Anna’s expression showed no signs of easing.
This too was quite simple.
Rather, if they truly were defeated,
If they simply lost their lives here, it would make sense there was no one standing here.
But didn’t it seem a little odd?
‘… Then, where are the bodies?’
No matter how much they searched, not even a trace of blood was to be found.
As if declaring that they had never been here from the beginning. It’s as if they vanished without a trace.
“…”
Thus, wrapped in the feeling of solving an unsolvable mystery, Anna.
“…”
Soon, she spotted a crimson current from the corner of her sight and drew her sword.
“Professor Bell.”
Bell seemed to catch on as well, pressing down her witch’s hat and wielding her staff.
“… Yes, I feel magic from the right.”
Soon, the heavy silence in this place was accompanied by the tense anticipation coursing through their muscles.
– Rustle
“… I’ll go in first, so please provide support—”
And then.
From the thick mana they felt came a figure who might, of course, be expected.
“Hmm.”
It was Cheon Ha-rang.
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