Chapter 31

Out of the five shrines, the fifth was the most difficult to reach. It’s located near a mountain peak, and the roads leading up to it, if you can call them roads, were too small for carriages. That said, it wasn’t much of a challenge for the three of them. It took a while longer, yes, but it’s nothing impossible. Elerina and Memorus had way better physical abilities compared to a regular person, while Angen can use magic to lighten up herself.

Heck, Angen could use wind magic to throw herself into the sky. In theory, she could fly up there, but such powerful spells use a lot of mana, and since her being there without Elerina is completely useless, there’s no reason to rush. Besides, the difficult path also made it difficult for monsters, so other than the small fry here and there, there was no threat blocking their way.

“Phew, here we are.”

Standing right next to a waterfall was the fifth shrine. It looked nearly the exact same as all other magic shrines, looking unnatural as it stood next to what I would call the very definition of picturesque.

I prepared myself, sitting down in a comfortable position and making sure all the devices are charging.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Elerina extended her hand and touched the shrine’s surface.

•••

I stood in a large desert. A crowd of people were in front of me, holding hands. I count hundreds… no, maybe thousands of them. Way too many to get a correct guess.

I walked through them. While their bodies didn't block my body, they did block my sights. I walked to the front row.

“Noreterasirksohu nazetarebukilasiza nuziefetegerusela…” came the familiar chant. I tried finding the person talking, but they're well hidden. That said, it's only one person. There's no overlapping voices. A single person’s voice boomed across the sky.

After looking for some more, I finally find a space behind the crowd of people. A large rock that towered over the crowd. I wasn't much of a climber, but Elerina's training helped my physical abilities a bit. I couldn't climb, but I could jump high enough to reach an overhang, and have strong enough arms to support myself as I hang from it.

The higher vantage spot gave me a better view of the crowd. They were spread in front of me, facing toward the desert.

In the distance, black color that had engulfed everything beyond the horizon barreled straight to where we stood, much like waves rushing to the beach. It took over whatever was underneath it. Behind it was what looked like a town, shattered and damaged. Some of the parts were airborne, connected by a string of darkness. At the center of the town was a tower, its upper part floating inverted above the town.

“... nezemorehikatum nizisokuzetarema.” The person finished the chant.

Immediately after that, everyone else shouted, “Izoma!”

Green aura spilled from the crowd, flying straight toward the black ground. It crashed into it, and a loud screech echoed through the air. I reflexively closed my ears. The crowd of people began shaking, but they did their best to keep standing.

The black spread slowed down, then stopped. The part where their magic hit was restored from its black color back to the brown of the desert. After a while, the screeching stopped, and was replaced by the cheers from the crowd. I couldn't tell what they're saying, but it's clear that they're happy.

“Come back to where it all began, magic's home, Izoma.”

•••

“Welcome back,” Elerina greeted me upon my return. She really likes to put me in her lap for some reason. Oh well, I sure am not complaining.

“I got the complete message.”

I began telling them of what I saw.

“... So the rumors are true?”

“The rumors…? Oh, you mean about dark magic?”

Everything we saw so far seemed to confirm it. What’s it link to the demonic magic remains uncertain. We didn’t know why or how those visions kept appearing to me when Elerina touched the shrines.

“So those shrines…”

“We visited all the shrines, so what’s next?”

The answer seemed obvious to me.

“Come back to where it all began, magic's home, Izoma,” I reiterate the one sentence I understood.

“Where even is Izoma?”

“I thought that’s a magic boosting spell.”

“I thought that as well, but apparently, it’s the name of a city?”

“I have a guess,” Memorus said. “Where it all began, so probably the empire’s capital.”

“But it’s name…” Angen trailed off. “Actually, what is its name?”

“That’s the thing. No one knows for sure.”

While her world had an international language like English, they also had many smaller, more regional languages.

“In the human kingdom, the name is Monozore, which means the city of a thousand nights.”

“Huh, that’s weird-”

“What do you mean weird?”

“We felinks call it Kukorot, which means the city of blood.”

Those two are certainly very different interpretations.

“How about you, Ellen?”

“We call it beginnings, that means city of beginnings.”

Looks like the city’s name was translated as well. That must mean the city’s name and the word beginning in her language are exactly the same.

“So what if the empire call it Izoma?”

“What do you think it means?”

“Well the spell izoma boosts your capabilities, but…”

“That doesn’t sound like something you would name a city with.”

“But what if the city isn’t named after the spell, but the other way around?”

Elerina turned to me.

“On Earth, we sometimes name elements after the place they were found in.”

Germanium, for example, is named after Germany.

“Maybe the spell is something the scientists created, and they named it after the city they found it in.”

“Assuming that’s true… how will that help us?”

“No idea.” I shrugged my shoulders. I intend to point out a simple observation, that’s all.

“Do we know where the empire's capital lies?”

I recalled the picture in my vision. The town I saw is probably not the capital. It took a lot of effort before people were able to stop the spread of dark magic, so it's probably a town by the nation's outskirts.

That said, a town with such unique properties should be easy to spot, and assuming the black areas that were engulfed by dark magic is still visible today, we should be able to follow it toward the center of that area.

Being able to spot it from the sky would be useful. Drones that have a long range and ability to fly high do exist, but they're expensive and big. I guess dismantling it and rebuilding it on the other side is an option, but the three of them didn't have the technical expertise required, and neither do I.

We need an easier way of finding a way to get there.

“Say… aren't we forgetting something?” Memorus' murmur caught our attention. “Those who went there never returned, remember?”

“Oh, yeah…”

It's unclear what kind of threats await us in former empire territory. We probably couldn't just waltz out there and hope to return unharm.

“Should we go back first?”

“Yes, probably. Might as well look into it if we can.”

“True. We shouldn't rush it.”

There's no point in uncovering the truth if we ended up dead before it. With that decided, the three made their way back to the frontlines.