Part 3
From the northern ends of the Human Empire, to the edge of the eastern territory.
No matter whether it was Integrity Knight Alice, or Amayori, who was born in the Western Empire, it was the first time that they had stepped into the land with the most mysteries of the four empires, the Eastern Empire Eastabarieth.
Between the rolling mountain peaks, surging rivers as blue as glass connected tortuously. The villages and streets that occasionally appeared at the river banks were different from the familiar stone architecture of the north; these were almost entirely constructed with wood.
The people who gazed up and pointed to the sky at them were all black-haired. Then Alice suddenly remembered that Fanatio, the Integrity Knight Vice Commander who could not get along with her, was born here.
Moving her eyes back forward, Alice thought: the Kirito leaning on her back and staring blankly at the sky also had jet-black hair, so could he be born in the east? Would he start to regain his memories if they could land on the streets and let him get in touch with people here? She soon abandoned this idea, though, as they could not delay, not even a second.
Camping on rural areas at night, they had rushed full tilt for three days, living on dried fruit and fish that Amayori caught—
In the afternoon of the second day of the eleventh month, the Mountain Range at the Edge that stood as same as its northern section, and a valley as straight as if it had been split by an axe, entered their sight.
“…Can you see it, Kirito?”
Alice muttered, gently soothing the neck of her beloved dragon that she forced to fly a long distance with a heavy load. Nowadays, since the magical beasts were virtually extinct, dragons have become the lifeforms with the highest Life and Priority. But, it was definitely not a trifle to carry two people and three Divine Instruments. The strength that Amayori had been accumulating through unrestricted fish consumption had almost been completely depleted.
When they reached the camp, I’ll definitely provide her with fresh lamb to her heart’s content. Alice thought as she shook the reins; Amayori replied with a seemingly restless shriek and vigorously flapped her wings.
The valley that seemed a crack as thin as paper from faraway was definitely not the same up close.
It was about a hundred Mel wide: wide enough for an army of Orcs or Ogres if they were to enter it in a row.
In front of the entrance of the valley that straightly sliced the mountain in half, was a grassy field spread as though it was encircling it. On the field, a large campsite comprised of countless white tents neatly erected in rows. Steam columns from cooking food rose here and there; around were soldiers training in formation. Alice could almost feel the flashing blades and heavy atmosphere from high up.
Morale was not as low as she had feared — but no matter what, their number was definitely too little. From a rough glance, their total number was less than 3,000. Conversely, the Dark Territory invaders must be at least 50,000. In the Human Empire, the Sacred Task of Soldier and Guard were bestowed upon extremely few; in contrast, everyone in the mountains, regardless of gender or age, was a soldier.
In this situation, it would not make much difference for Alice alone to join the battle. Just how does Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli plan to protect the world…?
Alice deliberated as she flew over the camp; she guided the dragon towards the slight darkness of the valley.
“Sorry Amayori, just a little more.”
She said; as the dragon responded with a “kururu”, the mountain peaks obscured Solus’s light.
As soon as they entered the valley, chilly air immediately enveloped their bodies. The rocky cliffs to their left and right were perfectly perpendicular, smooth surfaces that could only be the work of a god. No organisms, not even vegetation, were visible.
After slowly gliding for a few minutes—
Through the thick, velvety mist, several colossal structures eventually became visible.
“This is the… «Great Eastern Gate»…?”
A vertically standing gray door; it was probably as tall as three hundred Mel from top to bottom. Although it was not as tall as the five hundred Mel Central Cathedral of the Axiom Church, the gravity of both did not differentiate between heights.
The most shocking fact was that the door was constructed with one stone slab, without any gap at all. An existence of this caliber naturally could not have been carved by human hands; even creation by way of magical processing would be absolutely impossible. The structures that the world’s strongest sorcerer, the Highest Minister Administrator constructed in the past was the «Immortal Wall» that divided Central Capital Centoria into four, but the individual stone slabs on it were far smaller than this huge door.
In other words, this great door was placed here by the hand of a god at the beginning of the world. To divide these two worlds — in order to instigate the tragedy that would come three hundred years later.
“Stop, Amayori.”
Having Amayori halt in the middle of the air, Alice looked again at the great door from a closer distance.
For some reason, on the door, or the stone slab would be a more appropriate name, there were Sacred Words inscribed.
“Destruct… at… the, last, stage…”
Although she tried reading the line of Words in the middle, she hadn’t an inkling of their meaning.
Just as she was thinking with her head tilted, suddenly, a wave of frightening scratching and creaking noises shook the air, stunning Alice and Amayori. Alice turned the dragon’s neck towards the noise; a portion of the great door that had been perfectly smooth before, had developed a crack that resembled lightning that was extending downward.
The crack that was tens of Mel long suddenly stopped; bits of stone broke off from its surface and struck the valley floor with heavy impact sounds.
Alice raised her head and looked again at the great gate: the cracks and falling stone were not just confined to one area. It would be better to say that the giant door was nearly covered with a mesh of fissures and cracks.
Alice gently shook the reins, coaxing Amayori as close to the great door as possible.
She gingerly reached out her left hand, rapidly drew the Seal of Stacia in midair, and softly knocked the surface of the door.
A purple window materialized, labeled «Great Eastern Gate», with its full Life capacity and current value.
The number on the left was the highest Life she had ever seen — more than three million. But the one on the left was less than one thousandth of that: 2985. Moreover, the rightmost number decreased just as she was looking at it.
Sweat beading on her palms, Alice counted out loud, measuring the amount of time it took for the number to decrease. She then estimated the time until the Life would completely deplete.
“… It can’t be…”
In disbelief of her own conclusion, Alice mumbled:
“… Five days… There are only five days left……?”
The door at the end of the world that had stood dignified for over three hundred years, had only less than five days until it would collapse — how was this possible?
Selka’s bright smile, old man Garitta’s tanned, deeply wrinkled face, and her father Gasupht’s grave frown — passed through Alice’s mind. It was only a few days ago that she had repelled the Goblins that had attacked them, and sealed the cave with ice. She had thought that those actions would bring a temporary peace to Rulid.
As soon as the great gate collapses five days later, the Army of Darkness would swarm in like insects, and if the guards are unable to defend, the bloodsucking monsters would gush into the Human Empire like floodwater. This flood would soon reach the northern border, and Rulid would be engulfed.
“We have to… We have to think of something…”
Alice muttered to herself as if in a dream, as she unconsciously pulled the reins. After moving away from the stone slab about to collapse, Amayori slowly rose up, and stopped roughly three hundred Mel above, at the top of the door.
Behind the door, the valley continued in the same way, as though splitting the mountain. However, what appeared there were not a blue sky and green plains, but the blood-red sky and desolate, cinder-speckled wilderness of the Dark Territory.
Alice did not want to see this unsettling sight, but as she narrowed her eyebrows, focusing —
On the hazy, great black landscape, a tiny waving light was visible.
Urging Amayori higher, she fixed her gaze afar. There was not just one light, but many extending outwards irregularly.
Bonfires.
A camp. The vanguard of the Army of Darkness, already in formation in front of them, just waiting for the great door to collapse and the way to the Human Empire to open.
“There are only… five days…”
Alice mumbled softly again.
Immediately, as though she were escaping reality, she turned the dragon around and retraced her path towards the valley entrance. If she looked at those countless bonfires for long, she felt that she would be consumed by a massive urge to attack them alone.
If that really happened, if the opponent were merely Goblin or Orc foot soldiers, she was still confident that she would be able to take the heads of one or two hundred before retreating. But if there were Ogre crossbow archers or Dark Sorcery squads within the enemy, things wouldn’t be so easy.
Although it was said that Integrity Knights possessed the strength of a thousand in one, it was as described: that was only one. If the Knight was confronted with a focused range attack from afar where neither his swordsmanship nor his techniques were able to match, he would definitely suffer injuries. Even if they were light injuries, if they built up over time, they would eventually reach the upper limit of his Life. That was the greatest weakness of the Human Empire’s defense that Knight Commander Bercouli has worried about for years.
With the stickler for gathering power, Administrator, now dead, the large amount of defense weapons buried in the Cathedral were already distributed among the hurriedly assembled guard team. But their remaining time was too little. At least, if they had 10,000 soldiers, and a year of preparation—
With a soft sigh, Alice pushed away these meaningless thoughts and motioned for Amayori to land.
The plain at the center of the guard team camp had a large clearing. Seeing a huge tent beside it, Alice knew that the clearing could only be a landing field for dragons.
Flying down and landing in an arc, Amayori struck the grass with her talons, turned towards the tent, and gave a high “kuruuu” call.
Quickly, a slightly lower call responded. That was probably her brother-dragon, Takiguri. As soon as the dragon came to a stop, Alice held Kirito, jumped down onto the grass, and helped Amayori unload the heavy load on her feet. Afterwards, Amayori shot excitedly towards the tent, and rubbed heads with her brother, who had extended his head out of the tent.
Alice couldn’t help but smile. However, she instantly noticed footsteps approaching from behind, and frantically tightened her face. She adjusted her plain skirt and tucked her wind-blown hair behind her back.
Before she could turn around, a familiar, easygoing voice rang across the landing field.
“Sensei! Mentor Alice-sama!! I knew you would come!”
The one sliding over with pattering footsteps was Integrity Knight Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One, whom Alice had parted with ten days ago. Although they were in a long-term camp, his pattan-colored long curls and silver-white armor were as spotless as always.
“… You seem spirited.”
At Alice’s cold words, Eldrie’s long eyelashes that trembled in great surprise, and the corner of his lips that seemed as though they had something to say — froze completely.
Of course, he had noticed the black-haired youth that Alice held with her left hand.
Straining the left part of his face, throwing back his head, the young Knight put on a look of disbelief and said:
“You brought him… huh. Why.”
Alice threw out her chest in defiance and replied:
“Of course. Because I have sworn to protect him.”
“Bu, but… If there is battle, we Integrity Knights will need to be at the very front line. What’s going to happen when we cross swords with the enemy? You can’t possibly fight while carrying him on your back.”
“If I need to, I will do so.”
As though she were hiding from Eldrie’s sight, Alice leaned slightly as she held Kirito’s frail body, which was unable to stand on its own. But, somehow, the soldiers and lower Integrity Knights on break had all gathered around the landing field. They watched Alice with gleaming eyes, and Kirito with surprised expressions.
To drown out the wave-like hubbub, Eldrie retorted sharply.
“You can’t, my mentor! Please forgive my directness, but if you carry this useless load to battle, not only will our strength be halved, but you yourself will fall into danger; this is definitely not okay! In the coming battle, Alice-sama will…”
He interrupted himself, and suddenly pointed at the surrounding swordsmen with an ornate silver armguard.
“…be responsible as their leader in battle! How can you not give this your all?!”
He had a point. Although he wasn’t wrong, Alice couldn’t just reply with that. To herself, which one — protecting the world, protecting Kirito; both were equally important. Alice clenched her teeth as she thought of a way to explain this.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login