Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Indirect Cause
A minute ago.
Bam-!
Sshk-!
Lili's small body was forced backward with every clash. Soon, they reached the lobby filled with drinking tables.
"Kuh..!"
Her grip on the glaive tightened.
A sense of danger crept to her front.
Swoosh-!
She rose her glaive horizontally.
Clang-!
Moments later, a blade threatened to cut her down. Her face contorted slightly at this scenario.
'I need to—!'
Since Lili was kneeling, she is at a disadvantage.
Hum-!
The glaive shone with blue shine before a repulsive force came from it. Zanis lost his balance which allowed Lili to hit him.
Swoosh-!
Cut-!
"Damn it..!"
A wound was drawn to his chest. Blood seeped into his long sleeves. Meanwhile, Lili spun the glaive and held it with her two hands horizontally.
"Huh?!"
"Air Split!"
At the last moment, he withdrew his rapier. He used it to defend his left arm from the incoming strike.
Clang-!
Bam-!
Instantly, he was forced backward. The impact behind the spear strike was far too heavy to bear.
"What..?"
Cut-!
She followed up with a cut to his hand. It caused him to lose his grip over his rapier.
Clang-!
Before Zanis could react, the glaive's tip was pointed at his neck. Everything occurred within fifteen seconds.
'Just like teacher said… magic tools are powerful.'
Due to its unpredictability, a battle could end in an instant. Her glaive—[Emerald (Imitation)] could momentarily cause electromagnetic attraction and repulsion.
"H-how is this possible?!"
His eyes behind the glasses widened. Zanis could not believe he lost against someone like her. He knew she was way weaker than him, a level two. Still, she managed to turn the tides of the battle in an instant.
"How could you—?!"
Right now, the 110 celch tall girl looked intimidating in his eyes.
Smack-!
Lili smashed his face with the staff portion. She continued to do so two more times before Zanis collapsed. Blood littered his face. He didn't even know who knocked him unconscious.
"What…"
Looking at the mess around them, Soma was lost for words. Despite the girl's appearance being strange to him, he knew it is Lili. Their connection (falna) does not lie.
"I see you're done on your side."
"Teacher!"
Nobu approached her before casting a [Correspondence] spell. After finding out she didn't suffer any remarkable injuries, he was relieved.
He looked at the guy whose face got broken. He didn't feel any pity towards the ringleader of every mess in Soma familia.
"Is he your captain?" He asked Soma.
"Yes. I left that position to him."
"Just how many bad decisions could you make?" Nobu deadpanned.
To that, Soma avoided his gaze, all the while forgetting that his eyes were hidden behind his bangs.
He inspected Zanis' body for a hidden weapon. If his suspicions are right—
"Bingo."
Hidden behind his back is a sheathed dagger. It looks like a normal dagger one would find in a weapon store, but as soon as he unsheathed it, he found a familiar "magic".
Its ominous aura did not escape Soma's eyes.
"What was that?" He asked.
"A cursed weapon. It conjures negative emotions into a medium. A single hit could harm a person's astral body."
There are three parts of the body: ethereal (soul), astral, and physical. The astral body is the projection of the physical body. Once harmed, it is worse than sustaining injuries on the physical body.
In short, it is extremely deadly. Nobu tested the one from Valletta and discovered how it prevented healing along the aforementioned effect.
Soma did not understand his explanation. Even Lili was quite confused with the new terms that came from him.
"You can think of it as a magic sword that prevents healing. It wouldn't stop unless the wound gets dispelled."
"Prevents healing…"
Lili immediately understood the implications behind his words.
"Someone could bleed to death with this?!"
"That's right."
Hearing this, Soma asked:
"When did he have this?"
To that, Nobu looked at him directly and shrugged.
"Why ask me? Isn't this guy your child?"
"You're… right."
"Then, it's fine if I interrogate him? We'll find answers that way."
"That's fine."
Having acquired Soma's acceptance, he tied Zanis to a chair. He cast another spell to 'strengthen' the rope that bound him.
"Should we find a secluded place, teacher?"
"Hm… Do you want to see me work?"
"Yes!"
"Then it's alright."
Nobu took out a black dagger. After his fight with Valletta, he restocked the [Memorize] magic swords in his inventory. Each one cost him around 250,000 valis, though. Fortunately, he had the time to sell more magic swords which gave him enough money.
'Inputting coordinates…'
Several of them have [Alice's Wonderland] stored on them. Within fifteen seconds, he could finish the spell.
"Precis exsoltus nox. Grandis modicum optatum." (I pray to the wounded night. Grant this little wish of mine.)
He started mumbling to himself. The black dagger started glowing with a mysterious shine.
"Apertus inanua terra mirabili." (Open the door to my wonderland.)
Sizzle-!
A large magic circle appeared on the floor. Several magic circles existed inside the larger circle. It enveloped Zanis, Nobu, and Lili.
"Teacher, this is—?"
"A special place."
They are currently in a white-tiled room. It is similar to the soundproof rooms back on Earth.
"Enhanced sense of pain, sensitivity, and slowed time. Let's do this."
Midair, a pair of blue and red orbs appeared. Lili was surprised to see them, but she knew her teacher must've done this.
Sizzle-!
Crack-!
The blue and red orbs gradually merged. Once they are finished, they turned into a purple beam of light that enveloped the sleeping Zanis.
He disappeared along with the chair. A few seconds later, he reappeared. However, his pupils were diluted. Sweat covered his forehead. His mouth subconsciously opened due to the amount of pain he felt. He couldn't even shout as his energy was 'drained'.
"...a…that…"
"I know you can hear me. If you don't want to experience that again, you'll have to cooperate with me."
Zanis jolted from his seat. A cold sensation went through his spine.
"Anything but that—!" His dry voice resounded.
Seeing Nobu's interrogation going this smoothly, Lili is full of praise for him.
"As expected of teacher..!"
Nobu began questioning Zanis.
"Who are you working with?"
"We have contacts with many underground familia. They are the Ikelos Familia…"
"Who is the most important partner of yours?"
"It… It's the Ishtar Familia. We have priorities for their orders."
"Where did you get your cursed dagger?"
"From… Ikelos Familia." Zanis said blankly.
Nobu's questions were answered. If he didn't know about Ikelos Familia being part of Evilus, he would've thought this is only a crime network. That, or if wasn't aware of Evilus' possession of cursed daggers. Since he knows, he could guess a part of their plans. Truly, Evilus are good at hiding.
"What did they want?"
"Valis. They seem desperate to earn more valis. Soma Familia is at the forefront…"
In the end, Zanis revealed everything. He is scared to experience that horrifying thing again. In the face of those weaker, his [Alice's Wonderland] could inflict mental trauma from one's astral body.
Although the spell pulls their astral body into a dreamscape. It could cause harm to the astral body, though it loses effectiveness and turns into an "illusion" once the limit is reached.
In a way, it is both real and fake.
"Our job is done."
"Teacher…"
Seeing Lili's confused look, Nobu understood her.
"You're wondering why I brought you along here?"
"Yes…"
In the first place, he could simply interrogate Zanis alone. He didn't have to invite Lili. However, his future memories gave him an impression.
During the years he was gone, Lili tried her best to look for him. He heard it from Artemis herself—that someone who was his student looked for him. Nobu felt bad for making her suffer. Her strong determination led to her persistence in searching for him. That was something commendable in his eyes.
That's why he made a decision.
"Lilli, do you mind being my full-time student?"
"Eh..?"
Their mentorship was supposed to end when Lili could live a normal life. But, he changed his mind. He wants to offer her a better life than her past or foreseen future.
"Yes!"
Unbeknownst to him, Lili is very happy with that offer.
*****
"Things ended unexpectedly…"
A night had passed since the infiltration. We wrapped everything up by 2:30 AM and left the Soma familia. In the end, the familia did not disband.
I gave Soma another way to fix his mistakes. Unexpectedly, he followed my suggestions obediently. One of them was to imprison the ringleaders—the ones responsible for turning his familia into that mess.
Then again, they are lucky enough to have someone without the wine's influence to become their captain. Chandra is his name if I'm not mistaken.
Anyways, he followed Soma's orders down to the core. It looks like he was also tired of seeing the familia like that but did not have the power to make a change. He was happy to see his familia change.
As for Lili, she stayed with them… for now.
'I will look over them.'
That's what she said. She wanted to see if Soma familia is going down the right path. If they go back to their previous ways, she would deal with them.
"Well, everything ended just fine."
With that, my focus is back to the evidence from last night. I still haven't gotten through the other ledgers except for the one from Zanis. He was smart enough to tabulate his sources of income—to better compute his future profits and to protect himself.
This is to be expected in this 'messed up' world. They're only in the medieval ages yet they already have a proper education system, modern-era culture, advanced building techniques, and so on.
The gods who taught them made their progress a jumbled mess.
"Ishtar familia…"
I tapped my fingers on the desk. I am currently in the Northwest branch after I finished making advanced forging tools.
Ishtar Familia is a very suspicious familia based on the ledgers. Zanis also mentioned how Ikelos Familia was the one who linked Soma Familia to Ishtar Familia.
"I recall Loki Familia's attack from before… They got Gugalanna, no?"
I remembered those three years of detailed memories. In one of them, Loki Familia attacked Knossos for the first time and fought against Gugalanna, a demi-spirit.
Coincidentally, Gugalanna is associated with Ishtar. In the myths, it is the bull of heaven she requested to be released to take revenge against Gilgamesh.
I could see the pattern in this world.
"Ishtar Familia… Valis… Right, the Knossos!"
Right now, I consider that place a diamond mine. All of its doors were created using pure orichalcum while its walls are made of pure adamantine found in the deeper floors. They also have mithril for their traps.
Thinking about them made me drool. If I had those… that'd be unlimited experiments.
"To build that place, they needed money. Ishtar has that. It wouldn't be surprising if they are Evilus' direct partner. Which means…" I realized something. "She might have a key."
The Daedalus Orb.
That orb is none other than the key for Knossos. It provides control to all of its doors. That thing has the highest strategic importance if we wanted to prevent Dionysus' schemes.
From what I could remember, Loki Familia had one. If I count the Xenos, that's two. On the off chance Ishtar Familia has one, that's three.
"Shit…"
I slumped my head down.
"It'd be a pain in the ass."
Loki familia is a strong familia. The same goes for Ishtar familia. As for the Xenos, they are very elusive. I don't have a clue how I could meet them.
"I would use up my entire stock of luck if I manage to get it with my skill."
[Memoir Manifest] is the only viable way of getting it for now. Even then, it has a less than 0.0001% chance of manifesting. Who knows how many 'targets' I have interacted with over the years.
"I can't go to the dungeon… I need to spend time more productively."
I might have said that, but I'm caught in a slump for both forging and mystical research. I lack the proper ingredients for gunpowder's creation with the former. As for the latter, I have no clue how to find my way home.
Honestly, I have the spell that could send me back. What I did not have, however, is the coordinates. I completely understood the return spell from the future Suimei, which is why I incorporated it with Louise-san's spell.
In the first place, Louise-san was right. I couldn't use the spell since I am not a <Void>. I could do nothing because it is a "rule" of their world.
What I did was convert it into my usage. Using Suimei's spell, it transformed into the current <Void Transference>.
"Suimei is very lucky."
Lacking enough inspiration for the day, I ended up doing the same thing as Bocchi-chan. To vent my frustrations, I took out my guitar and amplifier. Their setup is easy to be done within three minutes.
Strum-!
"Good enough."
After adjusting the pitch, I began playing a song. It is called [That Band] which will become popular three years later.
Ano bando no uta ga watashi ni wa; (That band's songs sound to me;)
Kandakaku hibiku waraigoe ni kikoeru (like shrill laughter all around)
Ano bando no uta ga watashi ni wa; (That band's songs are to me;)
Tsunzaku fumikiri no oto mitai (like the piercing clang of a railway crossing)
…
I didn't notice the passing of time. I played around three songs already, I think?
Just then, a visitor entered the shop.
"Welcome."
I put my guitar aside and looked at the new arrival.
"Yo, Sirius!"
An amazon and an elf entered the store. They are familiar faces.
"Crusher-san… and Thousand Elf-san."
"H-hello, Sirius-san."
Thousand Elf avoided my gaze.
"You became stronger than last time!"
My feat of killing Goliath was publicized to reason out my level up. They must have realized that I was the same adventurer they saw back then.
"Things happen." I replied. "What do you need to buy?"
"A-actually… we're here to ask you something."
Hearing Thousand Elf, I was slightly confused. What questions do they have for me?
"A question? Go ahead."
"Last night… Aiz-san snuck into the dungeon."
"Wallenstein-san did?" I asked. "What does it have to do with me?"
I am genuinely confused right now. Wallenstein-san sneaking into the dungeon has no connections with me. I didn't tell her to dive…
"She said it was a training from you."
"From me?" I thought hard. "Ah."
I think I might know what happened.
"Did she say it was for sharpening her senses?"
"That's exactly it!"
"Sigh…"
I recall Hephaestus-sama calling her 'crazy'. Now, I know why. She wouldn't hesitate to jump into danger if she became stronger. I thought her hidden bloodlust was drastic enough, but that is not the case.
"I assume asking questions is not the only thing you came here for."
"As expected of Sirius! You are just as smart as the captain!"
Crusher—Tiona Hiryute complimented. Thousand Elf followed up:
"That's right… We are inviting you to the Twilight Manor."
"You want me to talk some sense in her, right? No problem."
Since I am the one who caused it (albeit indirectly), I ought to fix it. Maybe they thought that I could persuade her due to me giving that advice to her.
I don't mind it.
Suddenly, I remembered one of my regrets. In the eighth iteration, I lost the chance to further contrast my spell system to this worlds. It has a reference value for countering magic in Gekai.
Based on my eighth iteration, I should've met her. What I have said moments before my death confirms it.
"It's a pity everything went like this. I wanted to continue our discussions, Lady Riveria."
Orario's strongest mage—Riveria Ljos Alf.
I am interested in meeting her.
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