Chapter 277 – A Step Towards SalvationIt would be a disaster if a monster like the Yamamaneki appeared in the kingdom of Ponsonia. Even Dream Maker, with their cannons, was barely able to hold it back. Stronger monsters than that one existed, no doubt.
「That means the people here are walking on thin ice.」Hikaru said.「They"re living life on the edge.」
The citizens he saw on the streets seemed to be at peace. They simply lived their lives, working and having fun. But that peace was slowly getting violated.
If we told them what Drake said, they would probably only take it with a grain of salt. Actually, how many people would even come with us if we told them they should leave this country and cross the sea?
Transportation was no problem. The warships they possessed could ferry a few thousand people across at once. Even with a lot of luggage, they could fully evacuate after a few trips.
Maybe… Just maybe. Eiichi created the ships so the people could abandon this continent.
It was possible. State leaders would at least prepare last resorts for their subjects.
「Hey, Drake. Can you use the Drakon Pa.s.sage here?」
『Hmm?』
The drakon was devouring some fruit, sweet juices sticking around his mouth. With a strained laugh, the store employee allowed them to bring their pet.
With the door locked, they were able to take off their masks in the room. If someone came, Hikaru could sense them with Mana Detection anyway. They could just put the masks back on then.
『I don"t think so!』
「Well, that sucks… I thought we had an escape route just in case we need it.」
『The ley lines aren"t really stable. My holy mana would only disperse if I used it.』
「I"m not even sure what you mean by the ley lines not being stable. Please elaborate.」
『You humans use it too. You know, the thing guilds use to contact other guilds.』
「Oh, Linga"s Quill Pen.」
Linga"s Quill Pen was a magic communication item that used the mana flowing under the earth. Apparently it followed the same principle as the Drakon Pa.s.sage.
『Using that might be possible, but the Drakon Pa.s.sage would be too much.』
「Wait a sec.」
『What?』
「Can we use the pen even across continents?」
『I think so. It should work.』
「Hmm…」
「So…」Lavia joined the conversation.「We can communicate with people back home with the Linga"s Quill Pen, right? Are you planning to do something with it?」
「No, I don"t really have anything in mind. I was just wondering if we could use it.」
「But there"s no Adventurers Guild here!」Paula cut in.
「Not here, no.」
「Not here?」
「But there might be one in the settlement from 500 years ago.」
「Oh!」
Monster wouldn"t be interested in the ruins of an old human settlement. If they had the pen back then, it might still be there. The Linga"s Quill Pen was invented quite a long time ago, the technology now lost, but it did exist five centuries ago.
It might be a good idea to visit the ruins, Hikaru thought. Fortunately, they were given permission to venture outside freely.
『If you want to use the ley lines, I think you should fix the disruption first.』
「How do we even fix that?」
『I dunno.』
「Nothing we can do about it, then.」
『Hmm… I guess you"re right. It feels like someone"s disrupting the ley lines on purpose. Just like how people lose their ability to use magic.』
「So some evil creature is involved? They sure have a lot of time in their hands, doing whatever they please.」
『It"s their deepest desire to destroy this world that G.o.d created.』
「They sure are thorough.」
「Thorough?」Lavia asked.
Drake seemed to have had enough of the complicated matters and went back to eating fruits fed to him by Paula.
「Yup, thorough. They spent a very long time eating away at the continent. Every move they made was calculated. First, they chose this continent that drakons wouldn"t spot easily, then they gradually expanded their territory. Drakons still found the place, but they managed to take them down by weakening them over a long time.」
「So the drakons left a message with the residents, huh?」
「That was all they could do. Next, the evil creature expanded its territory even farther south, destroying Vireocean"s settlement along the way. They"re even disrupting the ley lines.」
「Careful and logical…」
「Yup. It would be easier if they were dumb.」
「But put it another way, they might be easy to manipulate.」
「What?」Hikaru wasn"t sure what Lavia meant.
「Careful and logical.」she said, smiling.「Just like you, Hikaru. By putting yourself in their shoes, you can antic.i.p.ate their next move.」
「I see. I don"t know if we"re similar or not, but I just have to do that, yes. That"s not a bad idea.」
Hikaru believed he was indeed careful and logical in his actions, but hearing it from someone else made him feel a little embarra.s.sed.
「Hikaru.」Lavia wore an expression that said she had complete faith in him.「If we defeat the evil in this place, would that make us the savior of the world?」
「You really think we can do that?」
「Of course.」
「Yeah, I think that"s what would happen.」
Hikaru was a little surprised. It sounded like she wanted to take action herself. He didn"t expect Lavia to care that much about this continent.
「What"s going on? Why are you so interested in this matter? Normally, people would postpone threats they couldn"t see.」
「You might"ve rubbed off on me.」
「Me?」
「By the way you think. The enemy gets stronger with every pa.s.sing day, so it"s better to take immediate action. Plus, if more evil creatures are born in this continent, hundreds of years later… or even a few decades later, they might attack, you know, during our lifetime. You considered that, didn"t you? That"s why you mentioned postponing a threat.」
「Yeah…」
「But you weren"t sure. You thought about not taking down the root cause of all this. Because of us. You don"t want to put me and Paula in danger.」
「Paula and I are prepared for anything.」
「Yup!」Paula exclaimed as she fed Drake fruits she cut up.
「Oh, stop it. I"m not that n.o.ble, you know. To be honest, I don"t really care if the world ended as long as it doesn"t happen while I"m still alive.」
『Hey, that"s not good!』Drake voiced his complaint, juices spraying out of his mouth, but Hikaru just ignored him.
Lavia chuckled.
「But this continent might go down sooner than expected and become the Ruined Continent in the truest sense of the word.」Lavia said.「If the evil had to be taken care of, you"ll rise up to take the challenge.」
「Like I said, you"re giving me too much credit.」
「No, I"m not. Me and Paula will be in danger if evil spreads. You will then drive it away to protect us.」
「Well, yeah, I guess.」
Hikaru had no other choice after hearing Lavia"s words. He would take action and destroy evil in order to protect her.
「M-Me too?!」Paula asked.
「Not really.」
「Nooo!」
「It"s fine. Hikaru"s just hiding his embarra.s.sment.」Lavia said with a wry smile.
「Okay, fine.」Hikaru sighed.「Let"s explore the continent. It"s best if we take care of any problems quick.」
Lavia smiled.「Yeah! I have to learn the language and read their books too! It"s amazing. They have lots of books and they"re all printed! Plus their book making technology is too advanced. Apparently there"s a library too, thanks to Mr. Eychi!」
Hikaru watched Lavia as she was getting excited.
Okay, I get it. You want me to destroy the evil lurking here so you can read all the rare books in this country, Hikaru thought.