“Wow! The Guild is really taking this seriously.”
Rose Ashfort can’t help but speak out in astonishment.
Before her are several hundred adventurers and knights all gathered together for a single purpose.
Finding and bringing back Lua safely.
“Yeah, I am amazed they even got several Gold and Mithril ranked space mages to take everyone to the second ring.”
Helimos excitedly looks out at the crowd, powerful people all dressed in armor stand before the entrance to The Sea of Trees with a strong determination in their eyes.
The Guild had been infected by the Carrion City Vice-guildmaster’s enthusiasm for the supposed Hero.
Adventurers from across the continent had been gathered by the Adventurers Guild, most of which specialize in scouting and transportation.
These powerful people were either chosen for their expertise in tracking, or were volunteers swept along by the craze.
No one could blame them though. After all, the influence of a Hero is strong.
Whether they are here for the prestige of potentially saving the Hero, or out of their strong sense of justice, everyone gathered believes that this Hero will do great things. And they are determined to be a part of it.
“It makes sense considering the situation. Lua’s our best hope against the Demon Lord. Making sure she is safe should take priority over money or politics.”
Jen throws in her own more practical thoughts on the matter while shielding her eyes from the sunlight bearing down on them.
It is about mid day, so the sun is coming on rather strongly. Jen however, is doing her best to enjoy the sunlight before delving into the forest. She is not a fan of the endless shade cast in The Sea of Trees.
A wind blows through the area as a new voice chimes into the conversation.
“Good to see you are all fired up. The Emperor was kind enough to supply us with powerful mages and supplies for our search so we best make good use of it.”
Crystal’s sudden appearance and casual mention of The Emperor startles the group from their idle chatter.
“Even The Emperor is getting involved?!”
The Emperor of The Dragon Empire is a reclusive figure to even the citizens of his own nation.
Most human nations only exist because they are backed by incredibly powerful figures, and these people can not move easily.
Any movement from these backers is often seen as a threat to others and can cause tensions to rise rapidly. These situations often lead to wars that leave hundreds of thousands dead.
For these reasons the hands of these powerhouses are often tied.
“Yes, The Emperor shares my conviction that the safety of the Hero should be our number one priority.”
Rose is truly shocked that even The Emperor is onboard with all of this.
This Demon Lord must be even more of a threat than I realized…
The Vice-guildmaster, just as bad at reading the mood as the three before her, drops another bomb while she starts to look over the paperwork in her arms.
“They even wished to come join the search themselves. But sadly doing so would endanger the nation as you would expect.”
A nation’s leader could never leave their country, even to look for a savior like the Hero. However, this situation is even more complicated than normal.
“Right, the Human Nation Alliance is still in a precarious position, I heard.”
Jen was the only member of the party to be keeping up with the current state of affairs in the outside world, so she was not as shocked by the information as the others.
Despite being able to get a sense of the Demon Lord’s location, the lack of any form of attack is letting the more aggressive nations continue to push for the dissolution of the alliance.
Worse yet, the Duskallen religion is preaching all over that the Demon Lord is being defamed by national propaganda. With no other information, besides the fact that the Demon Lord they were told was evil incarnate is nowhere to be seen, the citizens are starting to lean into the cult's teachings.
The prospect of which is very worrying for the nations that are in support of continuing the alliance.
“I hope we can retrieve Lua before she gets hurt, she could be the one that holds the alliance together.”
The three adventurers nod along to Crystal’s words and begin doing a final check on their equipment.
But, just as they begin, a fifth voice appears with a slightly different perspective.
“Personally, I still don’t get the fuss about the Demon Lord. What I do care about is Lua’s safety.”
“Oh! Are you joining in the search too Agera.”
The young man with silver flaked hair walks up to the group with a large pack strapped around his shoulders and his hand resting on the pommel of his sword.
Rose, seeing the concern in the man’s eyes, steps forward and looks right at him with a big grin.
“My, from your words it sounds like you might have a thing for the little Hero.”
Agera’s face immediately morphs into a scowl.
I really can’t stand these three, it is like they are all off in their own little world.
“No. The boss sent me along to prevent you from scaring the poor girl off again.”
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“What! B-But, that was not our intention…”
Rose’s denial just inflames Agera’s anger further.
“Good intentions or not, the only thing that matters is how your actions affect the other person. And they affected Lua rather negatively last time.”
Agera knows that Lua had fled for many reasons, but chief of all was the extreme human supremacy that all of these people treat as if it is the most natural thing in the world.
And she had been shown that first hand by Jeniveve when she was taken to that underground fighting ring.
She might even prefer to work with the Demon Lord if I am truly right about her opinion of the discrimination.
Before Agera can get any further with his thoughts, the Guildmaster stands up on the podium at the entrance to the forest.
“Alright people listen up! This is a sketch of the girl we are looking for, chances are though that she may have reached Class 3 and evolved so the portrait may not be perfectly accurate. Keep that in mind.”
The Guildmasters words hang in the air as murmurs spread across the crowd.
He must have a lot of faith in this Hero if he believes she could have evolved so quickly.
“She is traveling with a fairy and uses Light Magic, and Golemancy. If you encounter any signs of her then please use your provided talismans to communicate that to your appointed team leaders!”
Speaking loudly as a wind mage amplifies his voice, the Guildmaster holds up a drawing of Lua made by a sketch artist who had sketched the girl’s likeness using mind magic.
The posters have been passed out to everyone in the crowd along with a series of documents on things to look out for.
“Her safety is the priority! However, do not forget that the Demon Lord is likely to be nearby as well, information on the creature will be greatly rewarded to those who provide it. Stay safe, and don’t die! That is all.”
With his speech over, the Guildmaster steps down and the space mages get to work teleporting the teams into the forest at strategic positions.
…
..
.
As the four adventurers arrive in the second ring they begin looking tensely in case of an ambush by monsters.
The towering trees blocking out the sun and the eerie silence of a forest devoid of insects only adding to their tension.
After looking around for a while and not finding any, they begin strategizing on how to track down Lua.
“I think that we should head further into the forest and search for any dead monsters. With her strength she is likely to leave a trail of monsters with missing cores.”
“A trail of dead monsters could also lead us to the Demon Lord, Jeniveve.”
Agera quickly pokes a hole in the proposal.
Though she may be strong, and has likely hunted countless monsters in her time since she returned to the forest, it is unlikely for Lua to leave such a trail behind anyway. She is smarter than that.
“Though I agree that she likely moved further into the forest.”
“Hmmm, I just hope that she didn’t head all the way into the third ring. That place is crazy dangerous.”
Helimos speaks up with a bit of unease in his voice.
The third ring is a sea of darkness that even Gold Rank adventurers would quickly find themselves dead in. It is a place that he would really prefer to avoid.
“Well.. with her Light Magic, the darkness would likely be no issue for her, so…”
“Ugh, you are right, Agera. I bet she went straight there.”
They all knew that Lua was pushing herself to get stronger so it seemed like the most likely place she would go.
Rose then turns to the space mage who was accompanying them and asks a question she wishes she didn’t have to ask.
“Sir Trolund, would you be able to bring us closer to the third ring?”
The Mithril Rank space mage looks at the woman with apprehension. Even a Class 4 like himself wants nothing to do with the third ring. So her question makes him hesitate.
Finally, after a few seconds of contemplating, the mage sighs.
“I can bring you right to the edge, but teleporting into the third ring is far too dangerous.”
“Of course. Please take us there Sir Trolund.”
The Space Magic user, who normally serves as a court mage in the employ of The Empire, can’t help but wish he had been put with another less reckless team as he prepares his teleportation skill.
----------------------------------------
Yawn!
“Ugh, today has been a long day.”
Complaining to no one in particular, I move over to the giant Class 4 rabbit monster’s remains so that I can remove the lingering radiation before storing it in my shadow. As I get closer I suddenly stop in place.
“Hmmm. I need to get rid of the radiation now but… I am not sensing any.”
“I thought you said that your magic would leave the monsters filled with radiation?”
I am rather stumped at this development.
“Yeah. Or at least I thought it would…”
I really should have paid more attention in my physics classes, though to be honest they don’t teach about how magical radiation will affect flesh in college. For obvious reasons.
“You know, I don’t know much about this radiation you have talked about. My only knowledge of light magic is what you have taught me and that the curse blocks some of it.”
That reminds me that I have not gone into detail on it due to how I assumed that I would never be able to use anything that would cause such problems due to the curse.
I went on to explain to Alice with the best explanation I could give in a fantasy world.
How it breaks down your body and even disintegrates it at the higher frequencies, that it lingers on things it comes into contact with because of the-
“Ah! I know why there is no leftover radiation now; There is no radioactive material to keep producing any!” I slam my fist into my palm before my eyes lose a bit of light and I slump my shoulders. “Ugh… I feel dumb for not realizing that sooner.”
Alice pats me on the back for a while before I manage to flip my brain around and switch gears.
An important skill I have been training. Positivity is important after all.
Okay! We have collected all the cores, as well as some wonderful third ring materials, and can start working on The Great Demon Lord’s Castle!
I decided to leave the cleaning of the monster remains, aside from the giant rabbit man, to our goodest boy Snappy as I start prepping the golem cores.
I had this idea that, while I can’t make super massive constructs with a single golem, I could make several interlocking golems form one powerful entity. For example, a giant, shifting, walking castle.
There is more than enough room between the trees now that I thought about it. Not enough for a true castle, but a large mansion will fit just fine.
Plenty of vertical room as well, so I can just build up if I run out of space in the future.
I reach into my shadow to pick out some cores when I slow for a moment.
A frown quickly forms on my face as I pull out the cores.
Alice noticing my mood comes over with a serious look on her own face.
“Need any help?”
“No, I got this. I will be back in a few. I need to grab something from the second ring.”
I quickly begin packing up my stuff and have Buttercup take me up the cliff face as quickly as possible.
Ugh, what a pain.
As soon as I make it to the top, I jump as a blade slices through my right leg.
“Agh! Fuck!”
I use my abilities to quickly reattach it before throwing dozens of Class 3 cores in the direction of my attacker.
“Rude! Is that any way to greet your long lost daughter?”
I glare up at the man who raised me in this world.
My father has returned to finish what he started.
And only one of us is leaving here alive.