ninety-three

After the castle fortress of the balance, the starlight had already begun to sprout in the sky.

The Phantom Corridor, which we decided was our next destination, is now further east across the mountain range from the point. It's quite a distance away, and even a wagon that goes empty would take a whole day.

Time for the city and people to get ready to sleep. Returning to the town of Salut, Mira and the others boarded the wagon and traveled to the suburbs, flying as they were. To keep you a little closer to your destination.

That's how you keep flying east for hours. When the dates were changed and the night was completely up. The wagon across the mountains descends on the shores of a lake that was in the middle of a miscellaneous forest just ahead of it through the meadows at its foot.

Very comfortable in the wagon. That's enough to get you to sleep.

However, with as many as four people packed there for one person, they are cramped with boulders and cannot wipe away fatigue. Therefore, Mira and the others decide to stay in the wild.

A wagon that looks more comfortable than Nojuku, whether stuffed or stuffed, but if you try Aaron, who is accustomed to traveling, or a razor and snake who often fly around on a solo mission, it seems that Nojuku, whose feet are on the ground, is more calm.

As a sleepover, the Holly Knight summoned by Mira sits beside the wagon. Mira at the time, she lay a futon in the wagon and slept comfortably. Sasori and the snake slept leaning against the roof, and Aaron lay down on the table.

Next to which the four sleep. The water surface of the lake is as quiet as an innocent heart, reflecting in full heaven the night sky, which is so far away that it becomes crucible. It was so profound and tender that it seemed to unravel with the stars to consciousness.

The surface swayed slightly. Then one shadow creeps from there towards the wagon.

slowly approaching. That eventually stepped into the alert zone of Holly Knight. But what does it mean? The White Knight did not react at all to the shadow.

Finally, the shadow passed next to the sleeping room, and also crossed before Aaron, who was asleep on the table of your servants, and went straight into the wagon.

Such a floating sensation as falling somewhere, Mira surfaces the consciousness that was in her pale dreams. And when he slowly opened his eyelids, what appeared in his eyes were the black sky, where the little light swayed, and the prince with the gray hair.

Attempting to grasp the situation but unable to keep up with the brain processing, Mira stared at the man holding herself as politely as a princess, just with an unpleasant face.

"Who is your Lord? Are you crazy?"

Mira speaks that way, as if to whine in her sleep. The man who noticed what had happened to Mira in that voice turned to a very good-looking grin.

"Nothing suspicious"

I answered and bowed down small.

Mira looks at such a man as frigid. That would be natural, too. They took him out while he was asleep. It's more impossible not to be suspicious.

Is the man aware of that in a boulder too, softly out of sight? But I didn't see any malice in that look, and instead, the awkwardness was peeking.

"Anyway, why don't you drop me off first"

Saying so, Mira slams her legs so she can escape from the man's arms.

"Whoa."

A man who hastily re-hugs Mira's body, which nearly slipped out of his arm. Then a woman jumped out of the man's back and hugged and held him against Mira's leg, which rammed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But just be a little more patient. It's in the lake now. If you leave his hand, it sinks."

The woman, who explains so as to plead with him while clinging to her feet, wore a feather coat and clear blue hair. And the hair has a familiar pale glow.

"In the lake?

In addition to the two most desperate appearances, Mira looks around at the woman's characteristic hair at a glance, stopping so grunting resistance with a suspicious face. On closer inspection, I thought it was dark. It was a deep, dark flock of blue, full of the sound of gentle water like in my mother's womb if I cleared my ears.

"Sure, I guess not. So the Lord is the Spirit of Water?

"Yes, my name is Antine"

"Is it still true? Then…"

"Yes, I'm a spirit, too. It's called Words Lambert."

The man in Mira's gaze, Words Lambert, nods and answers.

The two were spirits considered good neighbors of men. Mira noticed it and stopped going wild. Spirits do no harm to people. If there is, it is an extra anomaly.

"I see. But what is the reason? You don't feel a sign of the Spirit."

Mira stared at Words Lambert from hair to body and then said so.

The Spirit has one trait in common. It has zero light, shiny particles. The characteristic was well seen in the hair of the water spirits, the Antine.

But that's not seen by the Words Lambert. It's what caused Mira not realizing she was a spirit at a glance.

"As a Spirit, I direct silence. Therefore, I am good at covering up and hiding, but for some reason, hiding is now a habit."

The man makes me laugh bitterly as he says so. Then Mira glanced at him, surprised. And gradually, I dye that look with joy.

"The spirits of silence. What a surprise. There were spirits like that! I've never seen you before!

Mira raised her joyful voice and uttered her heartfelt emotion, putting her fingertips on her chin and saying, "Look closely, you have majesty! Continue with the words."

"Didn't you know...... That's right. It is often said that there is no presence from within…"

In contrast to Mira, Words Lambail shows a distinctly discouraging color. Because of his abilities, apparently he is particularly discreet among spirits.

"Better than that. Look, I got business to run. Say it."

From the joy of meeting spirits you never knew before, Mira, who is quite in a good mood, encourages you to talk like that with the attitude of listening to anything.

"Is that..."

Words Lambert drowned with such a grunt.

That's the time. The perimeter lights up unexpectedly as if it had slipped through the tunnel. Mira narrowed her eyes only rarely to that sudden change from darkness. But the light filled the surroundings was pale, and it was a moment until I got used to it.

And Mira, slowly opening her lid, breathes in the sight in her eyes.

When we got there, it was a small enough space to be able to circle in about thirty steps. But it wasn't there that surprised me. Because at the end of that space, like a cave, there was a temple where some peeps, like in the middle of an excavation. Moreover, the temple emits an overwhelming presence despite the fact that the periphery of the entrance is buried in earth masses, without even signs of aging.

"What the hell is this place? Didn't you say it was in the lake? Thank you. I can see it in the ground."

If Mira asks so, Words Lambert looks back and shows the little water buildup with a glimpse of his eyes.

"This is precisely the back of a thin cave stretching sideways from inside the lake. However, the entrance is covered by me and Anne, so it's not an easy place to get in."

The man walks toward the temple as he says. And just through the entrance, I finally unloaded Mira, who was about to hug me.

"─ Those with special powers beyond us cannot be inhibited. This is how I took you on an errand, but it's nothing else. I want you to save our friend."

The man who told him so with a sinking face slowly turns his gaze behind the chapel. Antine, standing next to him, also stared at the same place with a much spicier look.

"Are you friends of the Lord?

With that said, Mira reflected in her eyes what was at the end of their gaze.

The deepest part of the chapel. There drifted thin, black misty things, and beside a prominent pedestal was a skeleton squatting with a sword.

"Yes, she is"

Words Lambert nods and answers with a sinking face as he looks ahead to it.

"Talking about saving, isn't this too late? Or is that, like, a soul or something?

If the word "save" means life, it will not come true any more than it is a wreck. But when the situation was opaque and Mira felt unexpected discomfort, she asked in an exploratory tone.

"No, he's still alive. She's the sword."

"Sword, then?

Probably, the problem doesn't seem so simple. Indeed, if you look closely, the sword that the wreckage seems to hold is decorative, but even though it is unplugged, it has not floated a single piece of rust. Whoever saw it was a substitute for knowing it was like a famous sword.

"I mean, don't you mean" friend "mean" spirit of arms "?

Over the years, there are spirits in armaments, and if it's a business, it tends to be more so. Friends of the spirits still seem to be spirits.

"A little different, to be exact, but generally nothing wrong with that perception"

"I don't know, the way you say it caught on."

Although it is a presence of an armored spirit, it is slightly different from the general armored spirit. Mira, so received, peeks into her uncontrollable curiosity and turns her gaze to Words Lambail.

"Her name is Sanctia. It's Sanctia the Holy Sword."

I guess it's too painful for Sanctia, my friend, to be able to do anything. The man, who gazed straight back at Mira, mouths his name to bite.

"Holy Sword Sanctia? Hmm, that's a bad name."

There are many strangers in the world that have become reality. This could be one of them again. I thought so. Mira moved that gaze to the sword with greater interest.

"It's been a long time since she hid herself from the table, and only once has she been wielded, so it may well be that she hasn't passed on"

"I see."

For such reasons, Mira is convinced that she can also nod that she does not know.

There is an anecdote about famous swords, holy swords, and demon swords. A dish colored with joke-like truths, such as the story of killing hundreds and thousands of demons without breaking or breaking, or piercing the hearts of evil dragons, but continuing to bury royal blood muscles for generations. That's common sense in this world.

No matter how powerful it is, it will be buried without the inheritance to back it up. In other words, if you look, there may still be plenty of these specialties.

Mira stared at the sword, which could be considered proof of it, and aroused joy even as she thought it was bad for both of them to faint.

"There are strange signs for a long time, but saving means doing something about that?

Mira makes it that way again, showing a creepy swaying black mist.

The chapel was filled with lights without light sources and even shadows were anointed with light. It is due to the power of the Spirit of Light, something that is also truly familiar to Mira.

While in a space unrelated to such darkness, there exists a place that precipitates in darkness at first sight. That was the black fog, the place where the sword held the wreckage.

"Yes, it is. It's a curse that erodes the Spirit, and we can't even get close. She dives deep into generations and manages to remain present, but how much more can she stand..."

Words Lambert suffers from his impudence and increasingly clouds his expression. Having glimpsed such a face sideways, Mira stretches out her back to breathe and then untie her body.

"And not the way to save it. Keep watching, take down that skeleton. Is it fit?

When Mira inquired that way, Words Lambert turned around momentarily after he had only spooked him for a moment. "Are you sure!?" he inquired as if he had panicked. For him it was just an explanation of the situation, and he was surprised at Mira, who was already willing to fight.

"I thought you were going to bring him here?

In contrast, Mira answers in such a tone, naturally, without knowing the circumstances.

"It is. That man is a vicious ghost who has hunted over a thousand lives in his lifetime. After I told you about it, I was going to ask you to make a decision. Sorry, I'm a little surprised."

Did you get relief from Mira's appearance of too grandeur, Words Lambert relieved that look of bitterness with a bitter smile.

"Ho...... He seems like a pretty strong opponent. If ever, it's not easy."

With that said and a challenging grin, Mira walks slowly toward the wreckage. Then, just past half the chapel, the air changed openly. The fog crawls through the ground as if seeking prey, dyeing the white of the floor black.

The two spirits jumped away as they panicked and moved to a beam near the ceiling whose fog could not reach them.

"We can't be a force for war. We'll let you watch here. But please give me a signal when you retreat. I'll do everything I can to get you out there."

Copy that.

Mira stops one step ahead of the floor covered in black mist, looking up at Words Lambail and responding, who says sorry.

In the game era, there was a war area for boss fights. It is an area in which the boss reacts and is characterised by visual clarity. Mira just stopped in front of what would be the war area. To see if, in reality, this area is still valid.

If I turned my gaze behind the chapel, I would have given off severe signs and my skeleton would have risen. But that doesn't seem to hit me just yet.

(Hmm... Could this be considered valid?)

I don't move from the spot, but the skeleton looks straight at Mira. That seemed as if we were weighing in on the time, a situation in which it was no exaggeration to say that the battle had already begun.

"No?"

Mira raised her voice low and frowned at the root of her eyebrows, gazing at the enemy if she didn't move immediately. Because I didn't know what they were capable of, either.

In the game era, players can grasp the power of the game by keeping an eye on the target. Although the former players are now the exception to each other when it came to reality, they were certainly able to grasp anything else.

But for some reason, I can't examine the skeleton in front of me.

(It's funny when it comes to the end of a former player, etc. Well, it doesn't change what you do. Maybe I'll ask the two of you later.)

With that in mind, Mira summons the Dark Knight as one and two Holly Knights to stare back at the unidentified opponent of her abilities.

(It could be an immeasurable fierce man. Looks like you should take it seriously.)

According to the man, we are talking about a powerful enemy who has slaughtered numerous lives.

Mira stretched her body gently to relax before stepping into the black mist.