Shinka no Mi (Shiranai Uchi ni Kachigumi Jinsei)

I headed with Zakia-san to the place where the heroes were held captive, and the first thing we did was to go to the place where the teachers, who were supposed to be the first among the heroes to be locked up from the beginning, were.

“So, the teachers…… where were the adult heroes confined?”

“Since they are adults, we have been instructed to give them as little information as possible. They were immediately thrown into a prison cell in the basement of the castle.”

“Uwah……”

Apparently, the teachers had been always confined in the dungeons of this castle. Just lightly imagining it made my voice come out involuntarily.

Tha,that’s…… while I was enjoying this different world somehow or the other, the teachers seemed to have had a hard time.

As we headed for the dungeon, we naturally went down the stairs leading to the basement, but as we went further and further down, the air was becoming damp and unpleasant.

In addition to the teachers, the prison should also be accommodating criminals, so the environment seems to be quite bad.

I could easily imagine how difficult it would be to be confined in such a place for a long time.

“Come to think of it, no monsters, in particular, appeared on the way from Alf-sama’s place to the dungeon in this manner.”

“……It’s definitely an effect of you being here. I don’t know what you did, including the magic that wiped out those creatures, but I already know firsthand that you have powers beyond our imagination.”

“……”

It’s different, I couldn’t quite say that it wasn’t the case.

I myself was not thinking of exterminating those creatures completely, but the world had been making considerations for me thoroughly. It wouldn’t be strange if the world is making another consideration and erasing them entirely.

There were no soldiers standing on guard, no monsters appearing, and when we ran through the basement, we finally arrived at the place where the prisons were lined up.

But……

“What!?”

“Wha,what’s wrong?”

“If there’s no one……!”

Zakia-san’s eyes widened as he faced the empty dungeon.

I also took a quick look around, but I couldn’t feel any signs of people.

“The,then, the teachers have already been taken somewhere?”

“That’s what I’m going to say. But there is another problem. This place, as you can see, is a dungeon, and it should have several prisoners. But I can no longer see those prisoners ……”

“Eh!? Did they escape or something?”

“…..It’s hard to imagine that in this situation, but in the unlikely event that they did escape, the residents of this city would be in danger. Luckily in the midst of this disaster, it’s impossible to basically go outside or enter this city due to a strange force. Unless they have the same ability as you. And since there aren’t many competent people among the prisoners imprisoned here, the chances of them escaping out of town are low.”

“The,then what the heck is……”

“…… If they disappeared together with the heroes, it’s likely that the prisoners were taken there as well.”

Speaking of which, I remember that some soldiers were trying to take the residents away from the city. ……

“Uhmm, I was looking around the city before I met Zakia-san, and there were soldiers there who were trying to take the residents away. Could it possibly have something to do with that?”

“Certainly ……. We were aware that some of the soldiers were acting like that, but we didn’t know what the hell they were doing that for. I really should have stopped them and questioned them directly, but because of the monsters, I didn’t even have time to question them. Maybe that has something to do with it. ……”

“In any case, I don’t have a very good feeling about this…… Where else might the heroes be?”

“……Perhaps they are in the audience chamber. His Majesty passed away there at some point, never coming out of that room. That’s why the heroes are likely to be there too.”

After looking at each other, we returned to the surface and headed to the audience room under Zakia-san’s guidance.

◆◇◆

“This is……!”

As we head towards the audience room, I notice a strange presence dominating in the surroundings.

That presence, is more insidious and ominous incomparable to the dungeon.

Somehow, the surrounding walls of the castle also seemed to be dyed black.

The situation was so unusual that Zakia-san’s eyes were wide open.

“Zakia-san?”

“It had indeed been some time since His Majesty had been confined to the audience chamber, but even then, there had been no visible change in the castle that I could notice. But what the heck is this black aura ……”

It seems that the aura that is eroding the walls and dyeing the entire castle black as it is, was not just my imagination after all.

There is clearly a dangerous atmosphere here, but there’s no turning back now.

“……Then, let’s go.”

“Ah”

We nodded to each other and went straight into the audience chamber.

Then inside there ――――

“Wha,what is this space……!”

Since it was called the “audience chamber”, I had imagined it to be a space similar to the audience room in Ranze-san’s castle, but the scenery spreading out before our eyes was so strange that it was hard to believe that we were inside a castle.

It was a chaotic world of strange, indistinguishable colors mingled together, with no walls or ceilings in sight.

However, perhaps a remnant of the castle, only the ground was a floor made of something that looked like marble.

On such a floor, some kind of magic circle drawn in reddish black liquid was applied; there was a single magic circle in the middle, and many other magic circles were drawn around it.

Zakia-san was at a loss for words in this space, but I somehow remembered the space where I fought the Demon god.

…… At that time, the status said that the Demon god should’ve disappeared, but could it be that he was still alive?

Otherwise, even though he was the emperor of a country with the technology to summon heroes, it would be hard to believe that he could create such a mysterious space.

“Wha…… the entrance!”

While Zakia-san turned around and was surprised, I hurriedly checked behind me and found that the entrance that had existed earlier had disappeared. We’re trapped……

As I looked around for a way out, I noticed something wriggling in the center of the magic circle, which clearly looked like it was dangerous.

“Hi!?”

A mysterious mass of flesh, shredded, bundled together, and writhing about, splattering blood, was present in the center of the magic circle.

“That’s……”

“No matter how you look at it, it looks like it’s dangerous……”

However, I don’t even know if it’s something we should attack, so I can’t put my hands on it carelessly.

Well, even if I attacked it somewhat appropriately, I felt that this planet would handle it to some extent, but my heart was not so brazen enough to be able to rely on something uncertain.

Or rather, that wriggling lump of meat……. somehow it looks familiar ―― I thought…… Isn’t that similar to what happened to me when I was in my final evolution?

By any chance, should I say that that lump of meat is also in the process of evolving?

In any case, I was also like that when I was in my final evolution…… No matter how you look at it objectively, it’s really bad!

It was really amazing that Saria, who saw such a disgusting thing, didn’t pull back and worry about me……. She was so worried about me that she thought I was going to die completely, so she swung her arms down on my hunk of meat and tried to give me a heart massage. Because in the end, the pieces of meat which are me scattered all over the place! I’m so glad to be alive!

When I casually look back on such nostalgic memories, Zakia-san notices something.

“Wha……that’s, a human!? And a hero as well……!”

“Eh?”

Involuntarily, my eyes had been drawn to the huge hunk of flesh in the center of the magic circle, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was a stack of what appeared to be human beings placed on top of the magic circle that surrounded it.

“Ah……elp……”

“N……no……”

“Uah……”

“Tsu!”

The humans placed on top of that magic circle are all parched and shriveled up, as if they’ll die at any moment.

Among them were the teachers I was looking for and the other heroes.

I had no idea that the situation was this dire, and as I exclaimed, Zakia-san, the first to come to his senses, raised his voice toward me.

“Let’s hurry up and rescue them!”

“Tuh! Yes!”

We hurriedly rushed over to the humans gathered in the magic circle.

Fortunately, everyone is breathing and not a single of them is dead.

However, it was clear that if we leave them unattended, they would die.

“Tsu! As I thought, the prisoners and townsfolk were here too …… and even the maids and butlers …….”

As we approached the magic circle, I could see the human figures gathered there, and some of them seemed to be familiar to Zakia-san.

Certainly, among the piles of humans, I can also see people dressed in maids’ and butlers’ uniforms.

When I approached the heroes, too, I found my classmates and teachers there groaning in a completely dried up state.

“Ah……”

“Uhh……”

“This, they’re on top of the magic circle, but is it okay if I put my hands on them……? No, now is not the time to worry about that!”

I summoned up my courage and lifted all the heroes stacked on top of the magic circle together.

“Alright…… the magic circle doesn’t seem to react in particular at all……”

For the time being, after breaking through the first barrier, I invoke my recovery magic on the heroes I’m carrying.

Nonetheless, not a single one of them returned to their original form with that recovery magic.

Is this what they had become because they have been deprived of their powers as heroes?

If that’s the case, then I don’t know why the people in the city have the same appearances as them, though……

In the meantime, when I checked the heroes and people of the city with my 『Advanced Appraisal』 skill, I found out that the heroes had already lost their titles as heroes, and their power as heroes had already been robbed away.

But other than that, I could not identify anything particularly strange with my skill.

I activated the skill on the lump of meat as it was, but nothing was displayed, so I couldn’t make out anything more than it being a mysterious hunk of meat. It’s really creepy……

“Zakia-san! I have to bring these heroes back at once!”

“Back!? No, can you even get out of this space!?”

“Yes, maybe!”

“Maybe!?”

I’m planning on heading back using my transfer magic, but if that magic doesn’t work, I’m thinking of slashing through this space in order to get out.

For the time being, I tried activating the transition magic at once, then the magic was activated without any problems, and I was teleported to the front of the castle in the Kingdom of Welmburg with the heroes in my arms.

“Uooh!? Se,Seiichi-dono?”

“Ah, I’m sorry!”

The soldier who was guarding the castle gates raises his voice in surprise because of my sudden transition. Even though I was in a hurry, I should have given the teleportation a little more thought. ……

“N,no. I was a little surprised, but…… since it’s Seiichi-dono. It’s too late.”

“Too late!?”

“More importantly, what the heck are those people you’re holding ……?”

“Ah! I came because I have a business about that……”

Actually, it would probably be better to take them under the care of Kannazuki-senpai, but these heroes are now dying in a state that I don’t know of. Even if I take them to her in this state, Kannazuki-senpai won’t be able to do anything.

More than anything, I have a favor to ask Ranze-san to hide the heroes once they have recovered.

In this manner, I head for Ranze-san’s location while being guided by the gatekeeper.

Ranze-san seemed to be in the audience hall, and I walked to that place while holding the heroes, but ……although I thought I was being looked at strangely by those around me, the moment they realized it was me who was holding it, they changed their expression to one that seemed to be convinced. Can you stop acting like you’re convinced just because it’s me?

“Oy, oy, ……Seiichi, you said you wanted to see me, so I came over, but what the hell, is that…….”

“Err…… the hero”

“……Their current state doesn’t feel like that of a hero, though…… are they still alive?”

“Tentatively……?”

While I was holding them like this, I continued to apply recovery magic on them. I don’t know what’s causing it for them to be like that, so this is probably just a temporary relief.

However, as I found out when I held them, they all seem to be extremely depleted of their life force.

“More importantly, what’s up with all those heroes?”

“Ermm…… I was requested by Kannazuki-senpai, so I went to the Kaizer Empire for a while and brought them back.”

“You, really are absurd!”

We,well, I’m usually being swung around by my body, but I’m thankful that it’s convenient at times like this. It would be even better if it would listen to me a little more.

“Well whatever. Oy! For now, get these guys to the first aid room! I don’t know what’s going on, but when they wake up, give them something to eat that will give them energy. That will bring them back.”

“I,is that how it is?”

“I don’t know! However, the fact that they don’t revive even though you’re applying your recovery magic to them probably means that they sustained damage in a different way than wounds and illnesses. There is no other way they can recover from such a thing except by slowly making them recover their mental and physical strength.”

Certainly, everyone, including these heroes and the humans in that space, had exhausted their vitality to the extreme……. it’s not necessarily incorrect, right?

“Ah, then……”

“Ah?”

To test what had suddenly occurred to me, I used the power to manipulate life force that I had acquired in the underworld and lightly poured it into the heroes.

Then……

『――――!?』

“Ah”

The heroes’ bodies sprung up greatly as if they had been struck by lightning, then they fell down limply as it is.

“……you killed them, huh”

“N-n-n-no, it’s different!?”

What are you talking about! I was just trying to do a good deed!!

……A,are they okay? Are they alive!?

None of them were moving at all, but compared to before I poured life force into them, their faces had regained their vitality, and most importantly, the life force I could sense from them had gotten stronger.

The,they’re going to be okay!

I,I really just poured a little bit of life force into them, but to think that something like this would happen……

I understood this without someone telling me. My life force was too strong. ……

Thinking about it, the aftermath of that little life force, was enough to obliterate the evil spirits of the underworld. That’s unbearable for a normal person. ……

After confirming everyone’s safety for the time being, the soldiers who were summoned by Ranze-san came and carefully carried the fallen heroes with dubious expressions on their faces.

“So you went to the Kaizer Empire, right? What happened?”

“That’s……”

I gave a brief explanation of what occurred in the Kaizer Empire.

Then, Ranze-san puts on a grim face.

“……I see, Alf-dono……”

“Do you know him?”

“Indeed. The old Kaiser Empire wasn’t a tyrannical country like it is now, but it was a very well-grounded country. All of these were due to the skills of Alf-dono, but…… one day, the emperor suddenly changed, which surprised me at the time. When I gathered some information, I found out that he was cursed or something…… I just didn’t know who had placed that curse on him.”

“So that’s it……”

“However, according to your story, Alf-dono was safely revived, right?”

“Yes. It was the same curse as the one Ranze-san was under, so it changed into 【Eternal Health】 after the reversal as well.”

“That’s all right. If Alf-dono is safe, then the Kaizer Empire should return to being a good country. More importantly, the current emperor …… Sheld-dono would be the problem. From what I’ve heard, there was no sign of Sheld-dono in the audience chamber where the heroes were, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Something that looked like a strange magic circle, the citizens who were brought to the palace, and a lump of meat I couldn’t quite make out were there.”

“That strange chunk of meat has a foul odor, you said, but…… at any rate, after this, Seiichi will return to the Kaizer Empire to assist Zakia-dono and the others, right?”

“Yes. Since I just found out that if I pour my life force into them, they will recover……”

“……Keep it in moderation”

I’m being very moderate, you know, I’ll be pouring in as little life force as I can, though! It’s truly a wonder!

―――― And thus, I was back to that eerie space once again.