Chapter 213 – Septentrion
‘Where on earth did they get caught?’
I tried my best to find the cause, but there was no reason to get it in the first place.
The total time it took to get here were 15 minutes.
After confirming in the carriage that the guards were replaced every 30 minutes, I escaped when the last guard was replaced, so according to my calculations, I still had about 15 minutes to spare until the next soldier arrived.
However, an unexpected situation occurred.
“Run now!”
Fortunately, we were almost in front of the castle gate, so we only had to blow out one corner with magic to escape outside.
The current party members already have enough firepower to break down the castle gate.
However, as if we had predicted this in advance, we suddenly felt the concentration of mana in the air rapidly thinning.
“What!”
The teacher next to me shouts in a panicked voice.
Since he has eyes that read the wind, he probably witnessed the same phenomenon as me.
The other party members who didn’t understand the English language looked at the teacher as if he was strange, but there was no time to explain.
I quickly stretched out my staff before the mana in the air was completely depleted.
Ether x Ether x Ether
Quadra Spell.
「Explosion」
Quaaaaa!!
A cloud of dust rises with a huge explosion of non-attribute nature.
“Are you done?!”
Dorothea’s nervous voice can be heard right next to you.
But I realized it instinctively.
That we failed to break through the castle gate.
Kuuuuu-
When the dust cleared, the huge castle gate revealed a clear dent from the impact of the explosion.
“Tch, maybe we didn’t have enough firepower.”
Seeing that, Dorothea clicked her tongue and immediately tried to use flame magic, but of course nothing came into being in her hands.
“What? Why is this happening?!”
Dorothea exclaims with a puzzled expression, perhaps realizing too late that mana is not being collected.
Glinda, who was watching the situation from behind, saw this and said.
“It seems like an anti-magic field has been activated within the castle.”
“Anti-magic field?”
“Look at the sky.”
We followed Glinda’s fingers and looked up at the night sky.
A transparent curtain that had not been visible until just now was surrounding the entire fortress.
“Elves have the technology to control the roots and ley lines of the World Tree, which are the source of mana. If you block the ley lines in the desired location at the desired time, it is not impossible to completely deplete the mana in the area.”
“But activating a spell on this scale would require quite a bit of preparation time, right?”
Even if we realized that we had escaped from the warehouse and started casting right away, it is clear that there would not have been enough time to trigger it.
If not-
“You should see that we were caught in a trap set by the enemy from the beginning.”
Glinda muttered that with a sad expression.
Meanwhile, I must have heard the commotion at the castle gate, and I saw heavily armed elf soldiers running towards where we were standing.
“The intruders are over there! Hurry and surround them!”
“Uh, uhh, what should I do now?”
Dorothea looks at me with a puzzled expression.
Not only she, but also her other companions were only looking at me.
There was no time to think leisurely in the urgent situation, so I made a decision.
“This is me…” Stupid guy.”
Huh?
When I heard Master’s suddenly interrupted voice, I turned my head and made a stern expression.
That’s because right now, Master’s face looked like ‘the face of a person ready to die.’
“Wait a minute, isn’t that what I think?”
But Master did not listen to me.
“Kaldrash, have you forgotten what I taught you? That people can sometimes even risk their lives for something precious.”
“No matter what, how can I abandon my teacher!”
Master was like a mother to me, the only father I had.
Because he disciplined me, sometimes harshly and sometimes kindly, when I couldn’t get enough of him.
“There is no more time. I will destroy the castle gate with the remaining magic power, so escape with the rest of the party.”
“But!”
“I…”
At that time, Glinda spoke as if she was in trouble.
“I’m sorry we’re in the middle of a conversation, but we’re already surrounded?”
“What kind of nonsense is that? The soldiers haven’t come here yet.”
“I know it when I see it.”
Glinda, who heard my rebuttal, smiled with an ambiguous expression and pointed to the top of the high castle wall, not to the elf soldiers running here.
It was a completely unexpected direction, so I hurriedly raised my head and saw seven shadows lined up on the castle wall, with the moonlight at their backs.
“Septentrion, a military group directly under Archon.”
Glynda said and raised her staff made of mistletoe.
***
In the past, records of the elf mages who wiped out the once prosperous human empire in just one night remained in the Emerald Tower.
People of the time recorded that it was a group of elves, all of whom were wizards of the 6th rank or higher.
At a time when there were only 6 Grand Mages of the 6th rank, which was theoretically the practical limit that a living creature could reach, on the entire continent, an equal number of Mages suddenly appeared at once.
Recalling the events of the night the empire fell 300 years ago, surviving historians vividly recorded their events.
Disasters in the form of humans who freely use not only elemental magic, which is the privilege of elves, but also hierarchical magic that deals with the four major elements.
Also called septentrions.
The seven magicians compared themselves to the Big Dipper in the night sky and spoke to the refugees of the empire who barely survived.
‘Humans of the Empire, we did not spare you out of mercy. This is a warning and a declaration to the entire continent. Never again pollute the vegetation of Alfheim where we live with those dirty feet of clay. This is the will of the Archon who rules Elven Wood, and it is also the will of all subjects. We are the first beings born on this earth, and we are indigenous people who deserve respect. Until now, we have tolerated interference in order to fulfill our God-given role as mediators, but we will never tolerate such disrespect in the future.’
The words they left behind became history and legend, and were spread throughout the continent by the surviving humans.
Such a legendary armed group has become our enemy and is standing before our eyes.
“It’s been a while. Your Royal Highness.”
Among the seven mages standing on the castle wall, the red-haired elf standing in the middle spoke.
“It looks unchanged. Akkad.”
Then the elf called Akkad laughed and brushed away his flowing bangs.
“It’s the same as everyone else. Just like Her Highness, I inherited a strong ancestor’s blood, so I tend to age slowly.”
The red-haired elf looked down at us with vertically slit reptile-like eyes as she said that, and when her eyes suddenly fell on me, she muttered as if she was interested.
“Oh, there was a reason why Mayer sent us. This unit’s Gaut is next to us.”
Gaut? What do you mean?
“You really came here without knowing anything?”
The elf named Akkad shrugged her shoulders and answered Glynda’s question.
“Because a hunting dog shouldn’t question its owner’s commands.”
“… You weren’t like that in the past.”
“That’s what I want to say, Princess. How did you become so weak? In the past, Your Highness wasn’t even a match for a bunch of bastards like us.”
Akkad, who spoke sarcastically in a tone that seemed to be teasing someone, said “Oh my god” And waved his finger when another elf next to him said something in a whisper.
“I guess we’ll have to stop chatting here. It looks like the person serving us has become impatient. If we had made a mistake, we would have missed the bundle of luck that rolled in right before our eyes.”
Then Glinda hurriedly asked.
“Then I would like to ask you one last question.”
“What are you curious about?”
“Was it Commander Theseus who tipped off that we were hiding here?”
Then Akkad twitched the corner of his mouth.
“Indeed, indeed, Her Royal Highness was curious about that. Did she suspect that the person she trusted and trusted had betrayed her?”
“…”
“Well, considering our old friendship, there’s nothing I can’t tell you. Theseus, he did not betray the princess’s trust. But-“
Dan?
“He has been the subject of government surveillance for a long time. If he was making suspicious movements, there was no way the report would not have been reported to the higher-ups.”
“… What happened to Commander Theseus?”
Then Akkad tilted his head and said.
“You are asking the obvious, Your Highness. According to the National Security Act, if you are caught assisting someone who has been expelled from the country or a serious criminal, you can face at least life imprisonment and up to
Death penalty
It is.”
The moment I heard those words,
Glinda’s mood, who always had a sad smile on her face, changed for the first time.
“… Really.”
She muttered with her cold eyes.
“The person you are not change.”
