How much time has passed?
It was like waking up from a dream; all my senses returned to life.
And then I smelled grass.
“Where is this…?”
As I gathered my thoughts and looked up, I saw a dense forest.
It was a real forest filled with ancient trees untouched by human hands.
“Where am I?”
The last thing I remembered was being caught in a tempest, the gym collapsing, and the gate transforming into a black hole.
I was swept away by that dangerous magical gate, but thankfully, it seemed like I wasn’t hurt.
What exactly happened?
Where did that purple gate send me?
In this chaotic situation, I decided to start detecting magical energies.
Whether it’s human magic or that of magical tools, if I head toward a place where magic is gathering, there’s bound to be a small village where I can find out where I am.
Buzz—
As I began sensing magic, I detected human magic a little distance away.
However, something was off.
“What is this? This heterogeneous magic?”
Some magic, different from human, was following the human magic.
It felt similar to human magic but was an unfamiliar, heterogeneous magic that was neither Elf nor Dark Elf.
“Well, let’s check it out. 『Aeio (Flight Magic)』!”
I cast flight magic and soared toward where I sensed the magic.
After about 5 minutes of swift flight, I arrived at a place where magic was concentrated.
There lay a knight who looked like he was from the Zers Imperial Army, bleeding and collapsed.
Surrounding him were five mysterious beings.
They resembled humans with purple skin and black horns, all wielding swords.
I decided to stay silent and observe the situation from above the trees.
“You’re such a nuisance… human.”
“Huff… Huff… Damn demon bastards… You truly are devils.”
So it’s true! They are demons.
I had only heard about them from my Master, but this was my first time seeing them in person.
From what I perceived, it seemed like the demons had attacked the Imperial knight.
“We are neither demons nor devils. We are ‘Rus’, other beings with different meanings than you.”
Now that I think about it, my Master had said something similar.
Demons are the name we call them, while they refer to themselves as Rus, like Elves do.
But since saying “demons” rolls off the tongue so easily, I decided to keep calling them demons.
“You can kill me, but my comrades have already witnessed your actions.”
“Perhaps, but it’s too late for you.”
The leader of the demons raised his sword.
It appeared he was ready to finish off the Imperial knight.
Having gathered enough information about who was good and who was evil, I decided it was time for me to take action.
“Huh?”
With the blade of wind, the demon leader’s head fell cleanly without a sound.
Only after hitting the ground did he seem to realize he was dead.
“Human!!!!”
“It’s already too late.”
By then, the demons behind me had noticed my presence and charged at me, but as they said, it was already too late.
With my invisible spear 『Aker (Wind Blade Magic)』, the demon’s heads fell to the ground just like their leader.
I approached the injured knight and extended my hand.
“That was close! You’re alright now.”
“Th… thank you.”
The blond knight grasped my hand and stood up.
He glanced at the slain demons and said,
“I’ve never witnessed a one-sided massacre of demons like this. You must be an incredible wizard.”
“Not really. It’s all thanks to my Master’s teachings.”
This was my first time fighting demons, but I had learned something from my Master.
That was to not hesitate in the first attack and ensure a kill when dealing with demons.
It might seem cruel, but my Master said that demons were monsters that could speak human language, inherently incapable of coexisting with humans.
Engaging in conversation would only lead me to be ensnared by their words; fundamentally, they were designed to exterminate terrestrial life forms.
If confronted, if I couldn’t win, I should flee; if I could win, I was told to use any cowardly means necessary to attack swiftly and finish them off.
While one might see this as cowardly, I couldn’t hesitate knowing what they did during the Third Demon Lord War, so I executed the plan without mercy.
“My name is Yuren.”
“I am…”
“Shh!”
In that moment, I sensed the magic of heterogeneous demons nearby.
There were about ten of them, and with flight magic, they’d be upon us in about five minutes.
It wasn’t a good situation to confront them head-on without any information.
“It seems other demons are coming after us. Let’s move for now.”
“A… alright…”
I concealed my magic and hurriedly moved on foot with the knight.
Since they seemed to be using magic detection, casting spells could reveal our position, so this was the best course of action.
It felt as if I had suddenly been dropped into the chaos of the past Demon Lord War.
*
After about an hour of traversing on foot through the forest, the blond knight and I managed to escape.
As I sensed the heterogeneous magic losing interest in us, I finally sat down and said,
“Hah… hah… I think we’ve shaken them off.”
“Phew… that’s a relief.”
The blond knight seemed exhausted as he slumped down.
It was understandable.
While the wounds weren’t fatal, running on foot for an hour with injuries from demons must have been quite exhausting.
The knight bowed his head respectfully and said,
“I owe my life to you. Thank you, Wizard Yuren.”
“It’s nothing. We, as citizens of the Zers Empire, should help each other.”
Now that the immediate danger had passed, I remembered the questions I had put aside.
Where exactly was this place?
I turned to the knight, who could possibly tell me the answer.
“By the way, may I ask you one question?”
“Yes, of course…”
“I was caught up in an accident while performing a magical experiment… and when I opened my eyes, I found myself here. Do you know where this place is?”
Upon hearing my words, the blond knight’s expression turned sympathetic.
He likely thought I had been caught up in a grand magical experiment for the Empire.
If I said I got caught while playing with demon magical tools, he’d definitely look at me strangely…
“I see… this is a place called ‘Wains’ in the southwestern region of the Empire.”
“‘Wains’!?”
“Shh! Shh! Please keep it down!! Yuren!”
“I… I’m sorry.”
‘Wains’
If my memory serves me right, it was a region at the southwest edge of the empire, known for its demon gates as well as being the site of the Third Demon Lord War.
It was also several hundred kilometers away from Irene Land, where my home is located in the southern region.
“If I go back, I’m going to get an earful.”
I imagined a future where everyone would scold me non-stop.
But before that, there was something else I needed to confirm.
It was the issue of the demons.
“By the way, you mentioned being chased by demons; what happened? Did those demon bastards invade again?”
“Yes… they have invaded again.”
The knight growled with anger.
“Those damn devils… They promised to settle peacefully, yet here they are preparing to stab us in the back!!”
“What!?”
They promised to settle peacefully and then stabbed in the back?
That sounds like what happened during the Third Demon Lord War!
Did our Imperial Army fall for the same trick again?
As I was pondering that, the knight continued.
“They clearly said not to bring weapons when settling, but yesterday during patrol, we saw them hiding weapons. When we confronted them, they attacked our division.”
Oh?
This sounded like a story I’ve heard many times; I focused on listening to him.
His story echoed events I’d heard before.
“The sudden assault from them left our unit scattered. I was rushing to inform the Southern Army about this when they started pursuing me. If it weren’t for you Yuren, I would have been in a big mess. Hahaha.”
“Th… that’s quite the scenario…”
As I listened to the blond knight’s explanation and laugh heartily, I started sweating profusely.
Is it really that?
Could it be?
I cautiously asked,
“May I know your name, Sir Knight?”
“Oh! How could I forget to introduce myself?”
The knight stood, salute-style, placing his right fist on his left chest, formally introducing himself.
“I am ‘Karuga Nova,’ the commander of the 17th Unit of the Southern Army of the Zers Imperial Army.”
‘Karuga Nova’
The hero of the Third Demon Lord War, the one who cleverly used the protagonist in Legend Fighter and Dune.
I felt like I had seen him somewhere, and it turned out to be him…
This clarified everything.
I had crossed over into the past.
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