I Possessed the Villain’s Childhood Friend – Chapter 108

Strong sunlight beats down.

What surrounds us is an endless mountain of sand.

But there’s no feeling of suffocating, murderous heat.

Rather, I’d say it would be accurate to describe it as surprisingly pleasant.

“Isn’t it really not hot at all?”

Atal muttered in wonder.

When it comes to the scenery we see, it wouldn’t be strange if we collapsed at any moment.

Even though autumn is approaching, it should be strictly called summer right now.

In such a situation, a desert basking in sunlight seems like it should be for those who are literally dying to escape.

However, if that place is Ethiopia, it’s different.

“They say Ethiopia is a region where seasons don’t change.”

“I knew that, but it’s a whole different feeling to experience it myself.”

There’s neither rain nor snow.

What rises in Ethiopia’s sky is solely the sun and the moon.

And yet, the temperature and humidity remain consistent.

The reason why the atmosphere has little magical power might be because it maintains such an environment, making it a strange and mysterious place.

That’s Ethiopia.

We first sent Charlotte’s servant back with the carriage before confirming our strategy for this fight.

“As I said, the opponent is fundamentally stronger than you. In one-on-one or multiple against multiple, you’ll inevitably lose. Therefore—”

“We eliminate the enemy one by one, right?”

“Exactly. If anyone strays alone, wait there. If it’s not me, you must always move as a group. Got it?”

“Understood.”

“And lastly, this.”

With that, Charlotte pulled out a white orb.

“Is this the Sealing Stone that can seal the abilities of magical beasts?”

“Correct.”

The reason I could ultimately accept heading to Ethiopia was that Charlotte claimed to have created a means to seal the abilities of magical beasts.

“The magic that the magical beasts use is fundamentally absorbed from the atmosphere’s magical power. In other words, if they can’t absorb the atmosphere’s magical power, then they can’t use their magical abilities either.”

The reason the executives of Avatarara are threatening is that they wield the magic of magical beasts alongside the skills of high-class knights, giving them the combat power to easily surpass multiple opponents.

To say it conversely, if their magical beast abilities are sealed, they would only possess the abilities of a high-class knight unless they are at the level of Rex or Dait.

“By infusing magical power into this magical tool, a barrier will be instantly created within a radius of about 100 meters. The flow of the magical power within the barrier will become abnormally twisted and impossible to absorb.”

In other words, our strategy is to seal their abilities and then eliminate them one by one.

With Charlotte here, it felt like a viable plan.

Of course, I still felt a bit uneasy about Sophia and Leon not being around.

“Just in case, make sure you each take one.”

We each accepted a Sealing Stone from Charlotte and looked at her.

“Alright, shall we set off?”

“Where are we heading?”

“…!”

That was literally an event that happened in a split second.

A pure white flash fell from the sky in an instant.

And almost simultaneously, a blue curtain unfolded around us.

“Wow. What a nasty bunch.”

“Is that something someone said after sending a bunch after one person?”

“What is this….”

I wanted to shout that this makes no sense, that there’s no chance of winning, that we should run away.

The odds seemed reasonable and justified.

But if that first piece was already wrong, didn’t that mean there was no hope?

“By the way, is it really just five of them?”

A chilly wind blew and sand scattered.

The ones beyond the blue curtain were smiling.

There were five of them, same as us.

Among them, two were Es Cruel and Ed Cruel.

And the remaining three were completely unfamiliar faces.

The executives of Avatarara that Sophia’s group encounters in the original work are Rex, Es, Ed, and Cron.

Rex, Es, and Ed I could recognize at a glance since I had seen them once before.

And Cron was clearly described as a white-haired man in the original work.

But among the three standing there, aside from Es and Ed, there was no white-haired man.

In other words, the three standing there are unknown enemies with no information from the original.

What on earth should we do?

At that moment, despair made my mind freeze.

“Why are you stiffening up, Aike?”

Reina’s voice snapped me back to reality.

Looking over, she had a nonchalant expression, as if nothing were wrong.

Charlotte looked the same way.

“Ah, life certainly doesn’t go as planned.”

Charlotte sighed and smiled, as if there were absolutely no issues, not sensing any crisis.

“Aike. The forces of Avatarara are eight. And since there are five here, it means three are left with the main force, right?”

“That could be, but weren’t we told not to engage in a mass confrontation from the beginning?”

“Exactly. That’s how you can never win. …So, we go the opposite way.”

“Eh?”

“The reason we needed to seal their abilities was that individuals gain the power to trample over a crowd. Conversely, an individual with overwhelming power can dominate a crowd.”

Charlotte spoke as if it were a matter of course, with no sense of an issue.

The emotion visible in her smile was only one.

“I’ll handle those five alone, so the other three can take care of the rest. How about it? Easy, right?”

It was confidence.

★

“What an incomprehensible confidence, huh?”

At Es’s sneer, Charlotte shrugged her shoulders.

Aike, Reina, Helen, and Atal had already distanced themselves to the point where they were barely in view.

“Are you really okay letting them go this easily?”

They seemed to just watch as Aike’s group faded away, as if they never intended to capture them in the first place.

“Of course it’s okay. What can those four do? Our objective was you from the beginning.”

“Well, that’s an honor.”

“Without you, those four would never pose a threat to us.”

From a certain perspective, that was a valid point.

Even if the situation played out according to the original strategy, ultimately, Charlotte would have the power to determine the outcome.

“…I guess they’re deluding themselves.”

“What?”

“Do you know? Real geniuses grow in the blink of an eye.”

“…What do you mean?”

There comes a time in life when one inevitably runs into the wall of limits.

Those who easily break through that barrier are called geniuses by people.

“If you’re careless, you’ll be eaten in an instant. If there were truly no chance of winning, I wouldn’t send my students into this predicament.”

Of course, that also means the last piece needs to fall into place.

Charlotte slowly raised her right hand.

“Well, just in case, let’s finish this quickly and catch up, shall we?”

As she spoke, blue flames flickered in her right hand.

“How ridiculous. Your master, Ender Arcana, died to me, and you think you can take us all down? Do you really think that’s possible?”

“Well, we’ll find out once we try.”

Charlotte infused magical power into the Sealing Stone and stepped forward deliberately.

Her movements were devoid of hesitation.

The blue flames roared mightily in response to her.

“Well then, I take it you’re the one named Es? Looks like your arm is alright, huh? It must have hurt like hell.”

As the provocation seeped from Charlotte, Es’s expression twisted in anger.

Revealing the sleeve of her arm, she bore the signs of still being in a state not quite healed.

“…Hmph. Well, I suppose this isn’t so bad.”

But soon, Es grinned fiercely and charged at Charlotte.

“Brother. Vita. Roxy. Arc. Since it’s come to this, let’s really give it our all.”

At Es’s words, the other four nodded in agreement.

Thus began the clash between the Empire and Avatarara.

★

Something feels off, no matter how I think about it.

Even as we headed toward the main force of Avatarara, following Reina’s lead, that thought persisted in my mind.

I understood that Charlotte had the capabilities to face all five executives of Avatarara simultaneously.

She is the apprentice of the Ender Dean, known as a sage, and they wouldn’t be able to use their magical beast abilities due to the Sealing Stones.

But aside from that, those five came to stop us initially, didn’t they?

So why didn’t they move at all when we began to make our move?

As if they had come solely to confront Charlotte.

Did they think we could do nothing?

But I didn’t think Dait would entertain such a thought.

He must understand that to topple an empire, every tiny root of evil needs to be eliminated.

“…Is it really okay?”

“Aike. The master is strong.”

“If Charlotte-san is so confident, we should trust her, right?”

Reina and Helen misunderstood my concerns, reassuring me not to worry.

As I was about to wave my hand, saying that wasn’t my intention, it was Atal who spoke up.

“…Something feels odd.”

Atal’s expression was serious.

And it appeared he had an understanding of the situation’s oddness, rather than worrying about Charlotte.

“Those people earlier seemed as if they already knew we were coming.”

“…That’s true.”

“So, the five from earlier must have appeared to stop us. But when we were about to leave, no one tried to hinder us. It was as if they wanted us to just pass by.”

“Could it be that we’ve neatly fallen into the enemy’s trap…?”

None of us could answer Helen’s words.

If this truly is a trap, it would mean that our situation of separating from Charlotte was a mistake.

But now there was no choice to turn back.

Before long, we found ourselves at the entrance of a cave leading to Avatarara’s stronghold.

“Is this the place, Reina?”

“Yes. According to the results of the investigation my master and I conducted over the past three months, this is the stronghold of Avatarara.”

The pitch-black path with no visibility was just as it was described in the original work.

And facing that pathway, it was Reina who spoke up first.

“So, what should we do from here? I think the best course of action would be to wait for my master and then move.”

I agreed with Reina’s judgment.

If this situation is indeed what Avatarara is aiming for, then at all costs, they would want to exclude Charlotte.

Moreover, I had no confidence in defeating Rex with the four of us present here.

Just as I was about to consent to Reina’s thoughts—

“Sorry, but I don’t think that will work.”

A voice I had never heard echoed.

Turning my gaze, there stood—

“Having that person here makes things quite troublesome for us.”

A calm-looking white-haired man.