CH 17.2

“Isn’t that… dangerous?”

“Beats me. Can’t tell unless I actually use it. Well, it looks like it’s running if you ask me. I should be back by morning, but in case I don’t return, Jill, you go back to the village and make a detailed report, and the rest, Jean’s grandson—That Eilmer lad will take care of it.”

The words that Regina uttered so lightly as she shrugged her shoulders made me pale. Finally, it hit me that this task was deadly and, if something went wrong, this might be the last time I would ever see Regina.

“—?!”

“What’s with that face? You think something’s gonna happen to me? Hah, too bad for you, everyone I’ve ever known has always been wondering how this old bag o’ bones isn’t in the graves just yet, little they know I’ll live hard and die peacefully in my sleep once I’m done. Ain’t no way I’m dying in a place like this!”

Regina let out a hearty laugh at the end of her statement. She and Maya walked forward, their gaits carefree as if they were on a picnic, leaving us in a daze as their figure fizzled and disappeared into the teleporter.

Perhaps it was because the light from the teleporter vanished along with them, our surroundings suddenly became dim and chilly again. Chad shivered, looked up at the dusk-tinted sky with a puzzled look on his face, then mumbled.

“She said she’d be back by morning, which means we’ll still spend the night here in these ruins all the same.”

“Yeah, that sure sounds like it. We can’t leave the teleporter alone, too. For starters, let’s get our emus where we tied them. Next, we need to get a place to set up camp—can I leave that to you, Jill? And the extra two.”

Just as begrudgingly, Andy acknowledged Chad’s statement and the two of them went back to the outskirts of the town to retrieve the emus we had left behind.

“For good measure, Vier and I are going to go around the area and put up a simple evil-warding barrier. Can I ask you two to clear up some debris and build a fire pit out of it?”

“Not that we can’t, but what do we do about firewood?”

“I have some firewood with me.”

Dead branches and fallen wood that I picked up in the forest as firewood and put away in the Close (Storage) magical art were taken out on the spot and laid out in front of me.

“And then, some water, some seasoning, and horned rabbit meat…”

Water in a leather bag, a burlap sack full of rock salt, three skinned and gutted rabbits and various cooking utensils. Finally, I took out about a dozen stakes to use for the barrier. Eren and Bruno’s eyes lit up when they saw them.

“Whoa, magic sure is convenient. Wish I could do the same.”

“You moron, like hell you can do it. Also, what’s amazing isn’t the magic, but Jill who prepared all of them beforehand!”

Eren was haughty as if it was her own deeds that she was boasting about, before she yelped “Eeek!!” out of the blue.

“What’s wrong, Eren?”

“Ah, erm, I’m sure it’s just my eyes playing tricks on me, but I felt like I saw some kind of blue flame in the rubble there.”

As Eren answered, sounding uncomfortable, Bruno sneered at her mockingly. “What, seeing things again? I’d bet it’s just some bird or something.”

Fed up with the usual bickering that ensued, I decided to take the stakes and circle the area.

“12 stakes positioned clockwise should be enough—Vier, let’s go.”

But then, even though I already called her, Vier didn’t follow me but instead was growling and staring at a spot with her tail and back fur bristling. It was the spot where Eren had said she saw the blue flame.

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“What is it, Vier? What’s over there?”

As though to answer me, Vier barked sharply—the moment she did, in the twilight of the dusk, several masses of blue flames emerged from the rubbles, appearing as fire lit to bait fishes at night, surrounding us.

““WHA…?!””

I ran back to Eren and Bruno who exclaimed in fear and confusion. I quickly drove the evil-warding stakes into the ground around us, then readied my staff as I knead the mana in my body.

(This is bad. I’ve used all I could before, so now I don’t have much mana that I can use)

“Jill, wh-, what are they…?”

Eren lightly clung to my robe, so I answered her question as straightforwardly as I could.

“Will ‘o wisp, also known as the souls of the dead. I’ve never seen them before either.”

“Wh-, why are they coming to us?!”

Bruno, just as frightened but holding onto his sword desperately, shrieked.

This is just my assumption, but with the two biggest threats, Maja and Regina, gone, and the two adults away, they judged that there are only us children—and they saw us as an easy pick, so these dead souls took it as an opportunity to attack…no, even then, there’s too many of them for that.

Even Regina already said, “It’s been 30 years, no ghost has enough willpower to linger that long,” and yet it almost appears like every single ghost in the area is clustering here…ah!!

“…it could be that it’s my fault.”

The Force Sonar that I used to look for this teleporter, was the kind of art where I basically screamed at a mountain to hear the echoes. It was basically as telling any being who possessed mana where to find you, which meant I had given these deceased souls a guide to gather here…

Eren and Bruno glanced at me with puzzled looks as I held my head with both hands.

♢♦♢♦♢

The huge ring-shaped stone circle, 7 to 8 mertes high and 30 to 40 mertes in diameter, was made of a mysterious phosphorescent substance, neither obsidian nor metal, that was quarried instead of constructed.

As Regina looked at the vast space—which was terrifyingly enough inside a gargantuan structure instead of in the great outside—formed by the seamless white ceilings and the pure white tranquil space where not a speck of dust had fallen, she snorted all annoyed-like.

“Hmph. I knew it, it got factory reset. The Superempire’s mainland…been a real while since I was last here.”

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As she shook her head to express her exasperation, Maya, who was waiting at her feet, jerked her head to look behind her—and at that moment, the caru leaped back and landed after half-turning mid air, curling her tail and rubbing her whole body against the ground, turning her head in said direction in a posture of reverence.

Seeing her familiar, feared as a catastrophe-class demon beast, showing a posture of complete surrender, Regina furrowed her brow in a grimace and looked behind her.

“—I came since I sensed the eastern teleporter was activated after years of disuse, and who do I see…It’s you.”

Right that moment, with a voice as soothing as a silver bell, and three pairs of pure white wings fluttered on her back, as well as beauty that transcended the very concept of beauty—neat and dainty, graceful and elegant—as if she was borne out of The Golden Rule, the beautiful silver-haired Seraphim, descended onto the air from a void right before the eyes of Regina and Maya.

Her age…was indescribable. Innocent much like a young girl, and yet mature and prudent much like a lady at the same time, or perhaps those human qualities were simply below her—as it was simply impossible to apply humane standards to a being known as the Messengers of the Heaven.

“Long time no see, White. You too, Maya, you look well.”

Bathing in the gaze of Regina and Maya, the silver-haired fierce Seraphim pinched the hem of her long skirt, smiling softly and bowing gracefully, at the same time as she landed on her toes on the floor.

For the part, there is actually a negotiation going down in the Superempire, but since it’s a story that doesn’t involve Jill, I’ll cut off Regina’s scene here. Next, we’ll have Jill and friends fighting.

Thank Hiyuki for that! I haven’t read the entirety of Vampire Princess, and that sounded like a scene full of references to Vampire Princess. I’d continue reading Vampire Princess if I weren’t so busy already.