Ch.15First Escape (1)

The Valkyrie pointed to where the mermaid monster had appeared.

“Let’s find a way out.”

That’s what the mermaid had said. That this path was the only way to the exit.

Maybe if we get past there, we can make it outside.

“Wait.”

There’s something I need to do first.

I approached the mermaid.

“Completely dead.”

The Valkyrie had thoroughly crushed it.

“The body’s hardened too.”

The mermaid monster’s corpse was fundamentally different from other monsters. For one thing, upon death, its entire body crystallized and broke into several pieces.

I picked up a few fragments and examined them.

“Just as I thought.”

Magic stones.

The Valkyrie had pummeled it with so much holy power that most of the mana had transformed into Ekirel, but that didn’t matter. I could always infuse magic power back into them.

At any rate, these were creatures I’d never seen before, which made them all the more intriguing. This also confirmed my theory that monsters leave behind magic stones when they die.

“Let’s go.”

I took one last look at the monster corpses and moved on.

Following a narrow, winding path, we came upon a small room.

In the center of the room was a structure resembling an altar, and on either side were headless skeletons displayed like museum exhibits. I counted roughly a hundred of them.

“This is insane. Unbelievable. Are all these people? What the hell was that monster doing?”

“Tsk.”

That mermaid had claimed it was originally human.

Is this truly something a human would do?

No. Using forbidden illusion magic, making a pact with a devil, and then brutally killing dozens of people who came to this island and displaying them like this.

“They really went all out.”

In the Magic Kingdom, there’s only one sentence for such evil people.

Execution.

I didn’t care if that fish-person was originally human. I’m not soft enough to show compassion to a monster that has lost its humanity.

When I sighed, the Valkyrie looked in my direction. Her expression seemed complicated.

I wanted to erect a memorial for the sacrificed people, but there wasn’t time. We decided to take only what seemed important.

And we found two things.

One was an old map.

The other was an ancient document written in incantation.

The Valkyrie checked the map and spoke with an excited tone.

“This is definitely a map of the surrounding area. With this, we might be able to escape!”

Well, I’m not sure if I should be happy about this.

I’m somewhat familiar with the waters around here. But I’ve never seen such a dense cluster of islands. Especially not near the Tatangkur Waters where the Valkyrie and I fought.

We need more information. Next, I examined the ancient document written in incantation.

[This place is surrounded by fog. It is cut off from the outside. Even if you swim until you reach the edge of the world, you’ll only return to the same place. You may enter freely, but leaving is another matter.]

Did the mermaid write this?

Wondering if there was more, I turned to the next page, and sure enough, there was something like a diary.

[Occasionally I spot other islands in the distance and try to approach them, but I can never reach land by any means. As I get closer, a mysterious fog appears and I end up back on the original island.]

[Being completely exiled to a small island was fine. Because I had my family with me. The children became quite stupid, but not so dull as to be boring conversation partners.]

[I made a pact with a devil to offer the bone powder of a hundred people. In exchange for getting out, I focused on guarding the altar and preparing the sacrifices. It was my servants’ job to capture humans who somehow drifted to this island.]

I’m starting to get the picture.

There are two things I can understand:

First, there are other islands nearby, but some unknown force prevents easy landing.

Second, the entire archipelago is cut off from the outside world by what is metaphorically described as “fog.”

“Damn it.”

If this is true, the Valkyrie and I are completely isolated.

This is beyond something we can escape from with a lifeboat.

I glanced at the Valkyrie. She looked back at me.

It seemed I would have to spend much more time with this woman.

***

After gathering what they needed, Rachel and the man followed the path beyond the leader’s room. Though hungry and thirsty, they had to push on.

One hour, two hours, three hours.

They had no idea how long they’d been walking, and just when their strength seemed to be reaching its limit…

Light began to appear.

The man and Rachel quickened their pace. Light. Dawn. If they could just get out there, they could finally leave this wretched place behind.

And so, emerging from the long cave, they found themselves in a familiar place.

“Huh?”

There were traces of campfire and mana lamps. Leaves spread on the ground were visible. It was the forest cave where they had been staying all this time.

“So this is how it connects.”

A chill ran down their spines. If monsters had come out this way, Rachel and the man would have been dead that night. The difficult exit path had been a blessing in disguise.

But that didn’t matter now.

They had escaped the cave. That was all that mattered.

Food was scarce and there were few means to make fire in the cave—the longer they stayed, the more exponentially their survival chances would have decreased. Breaking through before a full day had passed meant they had survived.

“We made it. We made it out!”

“Wow, really. I thought we were going to die in there.”

Slap!

Rachel was so happy that, without thinking, she high-fived the man.

“Ah.”

“Ahem.”

Belatedly realizing what she’d done, she quickly withdrew her hand. The man also seemed embarrassed, clearing his throat and avoiding eye contact.

Judging by the breaking dawn, they must have walked for at least fourteen hours. Though their legs had no strength left, they still needed to walk a bit more.

“We need to find the boat first.”

Rachel and the man headed straight for the shore.

Fortunately, the lifeboat was still there. The two dragged it up to the hill where they had first met.

The sun was rising.

Not a single monster in sight.

“Let’s rest a bit.”

Rachel sat on a rock, enjoying the cool breeze.

“Haaa.”

They had overcome a major hurdle.

But it wasn’t completely over yet.

Rather than feeling refreshed, her mind was more complicated. She felt somewhat uncomfortable. Probably because of the mage resting beside her.

Erich Lohnstein, a mage from the Hazkhail Magic Kingdom.

He had killed Daisy and Olivia. Right before her eyes. Using magic stones that spewed flames. That was still unforgivable.

But.

At the same time, he had saved Rachel from death multiple times.

On the first day when she lost consciousness, and when she was sick, he protected her from monsters and helped her escape from the illusion magic.

An enemy and a benefactor.

A mage from an enemy country and her only ally on this island.

Someone she wanted to kill, yet someone she needed to work with to survive.

Could there be a more complicated relationship?

But one thing was certain.

“I don’t want to stay on this island any longer. Let’s prepare well and leave.”

She needed to learn some of the Magic Kingdom’s language.

Until now, Rachel hadn’t paid much attention to what the man said. She thought that necessary communication could be done through gestures and tone alone.

But in that moment within the illusion when they first communicated, she thought:

It would be nice if she could have more detailed and higher-level conversations with this man.

This was, well, purely for survival. Better communication meant better teamwork, which would greatly increase their chances of making it back alive.

It absolutely wasn’t because she wanted to talk with this man.

“Let’s head back now.”

Though they had defeated the monster leader, you never know. Other monsters might appear. And now that they had obtained a map of the surrounding waters, they needed to seriously prepare to escape this island.

“We have a lot to do. Let’s move quickly… Kyaak!”

Rachel slipped as she was getting down from the rock. She had accidentally stepped on a mossy slope. She ended up falling ungracefully in front of the man.

“Oww…”

What an embarrassing display. In front of an enemy.

“Tsk tsk.”

The man clicked his tongue. He extended his hand.

“Here, take my hand.”

Come to think of it, this mage had offered his hand every time she fell. Even though he knew she would refuse. It was undoubtedly calculated kindness.

But now there was no reason not to accept it. Even calculated kindness was still kindness.

Rachel grabbed the man’s hand and slowly got up. The man tilted his head as if surprised.

The two returned to the cave, dragging the lifeboat, and went out to look for food until the afternoon. That day, prey was particularly scarce, so they only picked and chewed on a few leaves they knew for certain, like Feredina or Spearmint.

“We won’t die from fasting for a day… ugh, bitter.”

After eating what barely qualified as a meal, the man began making traps using stones and wood. Despite the constant growling from his stomach, his hands worked without hesitation.

After setting the traps and returning, the sun was already setting. A time when monsters might appear again.

Swoosh.

A drizzle began to fall.

Even in a tropical region, rain always made one’s body shiver.

Rachel sat down next to the man. He was startled and looked at her as he was rolling around the magic stone from the siren.

“…I’m just sitting close because it’s cold.”

There was absolutely no other meaning.

“Ahem. By the way…”

***

“…By the way, Holy Maiden—I mean, Colonel—you know some of the Magic Kingdom’s language, right?”

“Yes, just a little. Why do you ask so suddenly?”

“It’s about the missing person search. The church’s upper echelon sent in this additional analysis.”

The document handed over stated: Possibility of encountering survivors from the Magic Kingdom during the search.

“This ‘fog’ we’ve discovered isn’t just an ordinary strange phenomenon. It’s possible that soldiers from the Magic Kingdom who survived that naval battle might be trapped inside. We have a manual prepared for when we encounter them. Here it is.”

She continued reading.

Capture ordinary soldiers or officers, but for mages, execute them on the spot depending on the situation.

“Take this.”

The silver-haired woman was handed a small pistol. As a Holy Maiden without offensive holy magic, it would be her only weapon.

“Orders from the top. If you see a mage, especially one dressed neatly, dispose of them immediately.”

“Well, I was planning to do that anyway.”

The woman grinned. Her eyes glowed yellow.