"Is this the devil's ego?"
I look out from the top of the cliff at the Demon Ajito. [M]
It was the ruin of a fortress built in a large canyon.
Following the reaction of the marker attached to the demon, I came to the demon's Ajito.
At first, I thought I'd wipe it out if I went with metastatic magic, but I didn't know what place there was and how many demons there were, so I dared to come with flying magic.
If the jumped ahead was downtown, and there were a lot of demons, there was a great risk of instant combat and sacrifice to the people of the town.
And if you use metamorphosis magic, even if you disappear with hidden magic, you'll see dimensional distortions and discover the intrusion.
Most importantly, I'm sorry to be caught in a demon's leap.
So if I can, I want to exhaust the Demon Man.
Fortunately, the place where the markers stopped responding wasn't so far from the town we were in.
It was a few hours away with flying magic at best.
Use exploratory magic to make sure dozens of life reactions are moving around the fortress.
Even though it is certain that it has decayed and been discarded, it is still suspicious that someone is there.
"But a fortress made at the bottom of the valley, or something strange."
It seems this fortress has not been used for a long time and looks worn out.
Nevertheless, it seems that minimal preservation magic is nevertheless practiced, which can be used if cared for.
"Hmm, it looks like a regional fortress from when I was alive in my previous life. Looks like it's broken, and is it a relic of the same era?
Yeah, speaking of which, the laboratory built in the cave between these days was a secret facility to defeat the warcraft called White Disaster, and this fortress was probably built at the bottom of the valley for that purpose as well.
"Do you want to go then"
Having already activated the magic of invisibility, I headed toward the Fortress of Ruin without thinking.
◆
"I knew it was a familiar structure"
I remember nostalgia for its architectural style and interior as I walked through the fortress.
I used to be sent to these fortresses in my heroic days to fight warcraft and demons.
If that was a good commander too, it would be easy to work with the military and fight, but it would have been tough because if we were men in ments and honor, we could hardly let them fight to solve it on their own, and there would be more damage.
And in order to protect the knights and soldiers who receive them, they sneak back from the base by making high-area heels and other range magic so that they can cover them even if they don't have permission to leave.
"Oops."
If you miss the base in the fortress, the footsteps approach from the front.
Of course, the identity of the signs is not a person.
It's a pair of demons.
Probably a look around in the fortress.
They come this way looking bored and talking to the public.
"Speaking of which, have you heard? You're telling me that the people who went to raid the Dragon Emperor were wiped out?
"Ha ⁉ What is that? You mean you failed with all those troops? ⁉"
Oh, you mean the demons who attacked the town.
"They were returning everything to one dragon emperor."
"You're lying. ⁉ Is the Dragon Emperor that strong? ⁉
"No, with the Golden Dragon following the Dragon Emperor, they're wary that the Dragon Knights could be back in top secret. Looks like you're thinking that you might have attracted us by putting the presence of the Golden Dragon on the table."
"You think we've been lured out more?"
"They say it's likely. The Knights of Dragons rebuilt and lured us into a massive field trip."
Um, I don't remember thinking about that.
Either that or I was just in a hurry to get ready for interception.
"Now it seems that the town's warriors were clearly equipped with simple weapons using Dragon materials"
"Why is it so simple?
"Because of the appearance of poverty, they performed unusually well."
Huh? I don't remember making that up, do I?
That was only spare equipment for the people who were in the process of developing their gear.
"I see, that's obviously a disguise"
"Oh, I deceived this one's eyes by pretending to be a mess of gear."
Uh, whatever that is... No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Could that have happened?
That request from the guild, that's really what you asked me for. Bye.
I'm guessing the town has the disguised equipment of its destiny, and you've asked me to count it to make it credible.
I'm so convinced!
I guess the reason the adventurers admired the gear they made over the steeple was also actually the disguise of the soldiers of the defensive corps defending the town who wore the gear of their destiny.
That's Dragon Nation Dragonia's defense team.
Even when the Dragon Knight was gone, he was preparing for the foreign enemy.
Yeah, even if the Dragon Emperor is gone, the will is inherited.
If I thought so, the demons who were talking to the public passed by me.
"Well, I have to check inside the fortress, too."
The fortress is already decaying, so I don't think we need to worry about involving humans, but if there's a hostage that's been kidnapped from somewhere, it's bad.
Besides, there may be a transfer gate that can be moved to the home of the demons.
If we find that, we should do some damage so that we can't reach out to humans for a while.
That's why I walk around inside the fortress.
Exploration magic tells us how many people are in the fortress, and to some extent we can tell if they are human or otherwise.
But I'm pretty sure you need to check it out with your own eyes just in case.
"Nevertheless, demons like to use our ruins."
I don't know if it's a hassle to build a new one, but can I just take the rent?
"... ah"
With the word rent, I come up with an idea.
"Yeah, maybe it's good, it"
If that's the case, we start acting fast.
Fortunately, the structure of this fortress is not very different from that of the common fortresses of previous life.
"Maybe over here... oh, there it is"
Yes, it didn't take long to get to where you were looking for.
The place is the place, so I don't even react to exploratory magic by demons.
It was a large room, with huge spheres on top of thin columns in the center, and many thin columns stretched from the spheres to all parts of the room.
And the identity of this round sphere, it's a demon-guided power furnace.
It's a power source that moves by magic, as the word goes.
Back in my life, I needed a power source to move fortifications of defensive magic items against powerful demons and giant demons.
Only human magic. Then you can't move defenses all the time.
"Yeah, I can use this if I fix it"
It's a decaying fortress a long time ago, but the magic of maintaining the state seems to have worked until recently, and hasn't hurt much.
This area is the heart of the fortress, so I guess he was more focused on conservation than on the outside.
"So do you want to start repairing"
Just in case there is no sound leaking outside the room, the silencing magic is stretched indoors before starting work.
"I can replace these parts with hand-held materials. This is a magic item. Can I go instead?"
I will be diverting materials and magic items from my hand to repair the Magic Power Furnace.
Let's modify the control device to make it easier to use.
"And this fortress, was it the last Dragon Emperor era that was used?
The story of the dragon emperor and the dragon princess told by Mr. Lune told the story of taking all the dragon knights out to fight.
So I guess the soldiers in this fortress went to that battle too or fought here to the end.
It's ironic that it's used as an aside for demons.
"But the structure of this device, it's not very different from what it was in previous life."
The fact that you didn't know about this fortress, even if you recall memories from your previous life, means that maybe this ruin is likely something I made after I died.
But the fact that we don't see much progress in equipment for that matter means that the days of the Dragon Emperor are not much different from those of my previous life when I died?
"All right, repair done!
The repair was done easily, so I'll try to get the Magic Power Furnace to start up quickly.
Then the vibration runs slightly within the fortress.
When the silencing magic is lifted because the work is done, the sound of a loud siren pops into my ear.
This is a siren that informs you of enemy incursions.
Of course the intruder the siren informs is about the demon.
I hear screams from afar thinking it belongs to the demons.
At the same time, the reactions of the demons, who had been perceived by exploratory magic, disappear one after the other.
"Yeah, the defenses seem to be alive."
In the last lifetime, these fortresses were most alert to demon incursions.
That's why incorporating demon-specific wavelengths into the defense device's alert target was a top priority.
For that reason, the power of the fortress was restored, and the defenses, which had not yet been broken, were reactivated, and the demons who broke into the fortress began to be exorcised.
You must be surprised that the demons were suddenly attacked by a fortress they thought was already broken.
"Every time I used the ruins of our time. Sometimes it would be a good experience to look in the eye."
Thus, after a while, all reactions disappeared from within the fortress.
"Apparently, there were no humans."
Yes, even if this fortress is tough on intruders in military installations, it doesn't suddenly kill a human being who is one of them. It's something that catches you for now and examines your traits.
But the fact that there was no one left on the base to disappear is proof that there were no humans in this fortress.
And as the demon's reaction disappeared, so did the sirens.
"Now the demon man in the fortress is swept away!
People like you who live unauthorized without paying rent can't complain about being kicked out by force, can they?
By the way, there's a reason the fortress's defenses don't respond to me who's not involved.
That's because when I was repairing the demon conductor reactor earlier, I dived into the center of the defense device in the fortress from a nearby control terminal and registered me as an associate of this base.
No, the surgical security on the controls was sweet and helpful.
Why did you do that?
That's because I was the first person in my previous life to build a magic architecture that incorporates and manages magic items into buildings.
In previous generations, I was ordered to create semi-automatic fortresses incorporating magic items that could be operated by even a small number of the kings of the time.
With that in mind, knowing the foundations of the magic guide architecture, I immediately realized that it was the system of development of the control device that I had once built.
The rest is easy if you know the basics.
It was easier to understand the devices that were more similar in structure than I had expected in previous generations, and immediately changed the management authority of the fortress from the administrator at the time to me.
"Well, then let's resume our exploration inside the fortress. I hope there's a gate that leads to the home of the Devil."
◆
Having decided to crusade all the demons, I explored the fortress from corner to corner.
But unfortunately, there was no transfer gate that could go to the home of the demon.
The most important facility is somewhere else.
It's a shame, naturally.
This is where the demons used it as a temporary base.
If you were to set up a gate to go to base, it would be normal to be in a fortress of destiny that invests more in defense equipment.
"I can't help it. Let's just destroy the demons in the fortress this time!
By the way, the demon who had planted the marker had also collapsed inside the base.
Without being able to escape, I would have normally knocked him down.
"Well, I guess I'll just go home."
I will activate the magic of the transfer and return to the town where everyone is waiting.
"I'll leave the rest to the demon whee."
◆
It was hell there.
"Yah!"
We came to the decaying fortress in Dragonia to find out the safety of our lost compatriots.
"Cordell's been hit!
And when he went to the back where no one could find him, he suddenly screamed from behind.
That was the gong that marked the beginning of hell.
"Wow!"
"Ruthermuh!!"
What a decaying, immobile fortress defense is reactivating and suddenly hitting us.
"Damn! Damn!"
My countrymen attack the defense device, but how dare this device incorporate a magic item that activates defensive magic, and the damage didn't go through properly.
"To, run! Anyway, we're gonna run outside. Wow!
Well, this was a trap.
The moment a foolish intruder walks into the back of a fortress caught his guard, a terrible trap hitting him as hard as he wants from behind.
"Who the hell has such a bad taste trap!
As if nothing was going to happen, a staggering number of defenses intercept us as we flee.
Thus, we did not reach the exit and were wiped out, and our compatriots, who came to investigate, followed the same path as us.
And after several unsuccessful investigations, my compatriots finally decided that this fortress had revived its function in some way, giving up any further investigations and abandoning the fortress, but it was a decision that was too late for us already dead.