After dropping Epiro off at the organization, the atmosphere in the accommodation felt desolate.
It seemed that the Demon King and Aila had gone to the underground training ground, leaving only Tenji and Isabel in the room.
At that moment, I was lying on the bed, enjoying some rare free time.
Bang!
The door swung open, and the Demon King and Aila rushed in.
“Something urgent came up. We have to go!”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll take care of the two patients. Just head out as soon as you can.”
“Where to?”
After a brief moment of deliberation, the Demon King slowly replied.
“Raden.”
The city that had been attacked by armed factions at the old train station.
The Demon King carried Isabel on his back, held Aila’s hand, and snapped his fingers before they vanished.
“What do we do now?”
Tenji, startled by the sudden turn of events, asked me.
I didn’t know the way to Raden, but there was a train station, so we could take a train there.
“We need to catch a train.”
“Is it just the two of us going?”
“They took the others with them, as you can see.”
“Wait, you mean…?”
I hadn’t yet explained about the Demon King to Tenji.
I briefly described him as an exceptional magician.
What could have been so urgent that the Demon King had to intervene directly?
I left the accommodation with Tenji.
As for luggage, the only things I had were a book bag and a bag of medical supplies.
“Have you ever been to another city?”
“I’ve mostly stayed in Paison since coming here. I’ve only been to Kant a couple of times.”
First, I needed to gather information about the map and the route.
There might be friction down the line, but at the moment, the only place I could think to ask for help was the information department.
Upon arriving at the information branch, the agents guarding the entrance immediately opened the door when they saw my face.
“Please wait here for the person behind you.”
Tenji, being neither a Roran nor a Demon, wasn’t allowed to enter.
Since I needed only to gather information on the route, I headed down to the underground by myself.
“Have you heard the news?”
“Excuse me?”
“We’re experiencing bizarre events in various parts of the world right now.”
I asked the accompanying agent for more details.
“We don’t have detailed information yet, but there are reports of monsters appearing.”
“Not monsters or demons?”
“I’m not sure.”
The agent referred to it as occurring in places all over the world, not just Roran.
This meant that the situation wasn’t exclusive to Roran.
“Isn’t that why you came here?”
“Not exactly?”
As I entered the underground branch, I saw Solche discussing matters with others.
“Leave some of the personnel sent for monster takedown and send the rest.”
It was clear they were quite busy, making it an awkward moment to interrupt.
I could just ask the agent next to me about the train station.
“What brings you here?”
“I have a question.”
I cautiously inquired about the nearby city with a train station leading to Raden.
“There’s none near Kant. It’s quite far.”
Then I planned to ask about a city with a teleportation facility.
“I should be leaving soon, so I’ll take you to the nearest place.”
Solche gathered the agents and began giving an elaborate speech.
One unexpected term from that speech caught my ear.
National emergency!
Whatever was happening seemed serious.
Once the information department’s meeting wrapped up, Tenji and I followed Solche as he moved.
“Please, get in my car.”
Once we got on the road, I saw a surveillance checkpoint I hadn’t seen in a while.
“It brings back memories.”
“Yeah.”
The checkpoint quickly recognized Solche and let us through.
“Where should I drop you off?”
“I just heard that it’s a national emergency, so most places probably aren’t operating?”
“Yes. The rumors haven’t spread yet, but they will in a day or two.”
“What on earth is happening?”
Solche showed me a bundle of documents that were still disorganized.
Written in a hasty scrawl was the note from someone.
Large numbers of unknown life forms have emerged in the border region.
Reports indicated that monsters were also beginning to join their ranks.
“What in the world…?”
“We’re still investigating the details.”
It seemed that not much information was available since the incident had just occurred.
“So, where are you headed?”
“To Raden.”
“There’s no teleportation device there.”
It did have a large train station, so various trains would pass through it.
“I’m heading to the capital first.”
“Then drop me at a place with a train station on the way.”
“Understood.”
As Solche’s car drove steadily, it gradually started to slow down.
I began to see road congestion that I had never witnessed before.
“Are all these people heading to the capital?”
“It seems some may have heard the news.”
I was curious how people found out so quickly about what the information department was investigating.
I looked at Solche with a slightly dubious expression.
“My information capabilities are at that level. The higher-ups probably have more detailed information.”
The “higher-ups” Solche referred to were the department heads.
The agents below typically had little knowledge of what was going on with their superiors.
“Surely the Demon King knows more about information that only the closest people can access?”
“Why is that?”
“I’ve heard that even if he doesn’t get involved, reports still go up.”
That must be why the Demon King left the accommodation in such a hurry.
“But why does the information department provide information to the Demon King?”
“My guess is that someone among the information department heads is providing him with information.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Well, if we had to nitpick, the Demon King is also of royal descent, isn’t he? It shouldn’t be a huge issue.”
Since he was a distant ancestor of the current emperor, he surely has the right to do so.
The cars on the road moved sluggishly.
At this rate, walking could be faster.
“I think flying might be more convenient.”
“That’s true.”
Tenji, who was listening to Solche and me, had a puzzled expression, not understanding what we meant.
As the cars that had been moving gradually came to a halt, Solche slowly left the road.
Though it was now driving across open ground, the ride surprisingly wasn’t too bumpy.
The cars that had been stopped on the road began to pull away one by one as they noticed us.
At least by staying where the road was visible, we wouldn’t lose our way.
“How’s Alium doing?”
“I don’t know. Ever since then, I’ve been dispatched to manage the branch, but he’s still on-site.”
Thinking of Alium’s abilities, field duty suited him better than management.
He had once offered me a dagger and tried to teach me assassination techniques.
While I hadn’t learned much, those techniques were definitely very helpful.
Creak!
The well-moving car suddenly screeched to a halt.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something’s out there.”
Staying inside the car, I quietly took out my dagger.
Through the window, I saw a group moving slowly.
They were dragging one leg or limping, getting closer to us.
“Are they injured?”
“Doesn’t seem like it…”
“That’s!”
Tenji peered forward from the back seat, astonished.
Behind the group, which appeared to be injured, came a white figure flowing like a wave.
When it got close enough, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“A skeleton?”
“Undead!”
Both Solche and I had never seen such creatures in our lives, but Tenji seemed to recognize them well.
“What do you mean by undead? Are they just dead bodies?”
“Why are they in this world…?”
I wanted an explanation, but we had already gotten close to them.
If they don’t attack the car, we could stay still, but otherwise, we’d have to fight.
“They’re coming!”
“We have no choice.”
Vroom!
Solche turned the ignition back on and began to accelerate.
“What, what are you doing?”
“I said they are dead, so we shouldn’t worry about dying!”
At the moment when one of the undead collided with the magical car!
A transparent barrier-like effect enveloped the surrounding area of the car.
“My mana is running low, but it looks like I can break through!”
“Did you have this capability?”
“No, it’s just a spell I cast myself.”
The spell Solche used created a transparent barrier around objects.
It worked similarly to the necklace I had.
While the necklace could create a shield with the mana held, it couldn’t be moved from that spot.
In contrast, Solche was currently continuously extending the barrier around the moving car.
Thud! Crash!
I could see the blood and flesh of the undead splattering when they collided with the car.
We needed to escape the sea of undead before Solche ran out of mana, but I could already see the limits approaching.
Dark circles heavily shadowed Solche’s eyes.
“You don’t look so good.”
“No, my mana is almost gone.”
“Do you want me to share some of my mana?”
“Let’s just switch.”
While on the move, Solche and I switched places.
With Solche no longer driving, he seemed to regain a bit of composure.
“So I’ll explain briefly.”
“First, I’ll increase the speed.”
I was always curious how fast a mana car could go whenever I rode in one.
However, since everyone’s reserves of mana weren’t that large, we maintained a moderate speed.
Even Jema, whose mana had considerably increased, felt fatigue when driving it.
“This is how it works, and I’ll let you expand it on what I have laid out.”
I learned the shield protection spell from Solche.
Using a spell for the first time requires significant focus.
It was quite challenging to maintain that concentration while driving in a moving car.
“There’s still time, so don’t rush.”
“Okay!”
I took a deep breath and concentrated again.
Imagining another barrier being laid over the transparent shield.
“Shield!”
A blue barrier enveloped the entire car over the white shield created by Solche.
“Did that work?”
“Looks like it. Then I’ll dismiss my barrier.”
As soon as Solche retracted his barrier, he immediately began channeling mana again.
Merging mana to replenish the amount spent on driving and the shield spell.
“The magic you use is truly impressive.”
Tenji in the backseat spoke with admiration.
“So, can you tell me about the undead?”
“Of course.”
Listening to Tenji’s explanations put me in quite a gloomy mood.
