Daybreak Rondo

by Yuri Kitayama

  “Well, I’m here to kidnap you, actually. Though if I’m being honest, it doesn’t matter how I accomplish that, so I think I’ll have some of my own fun,” Lucius said indifferently.

  “...I-I am your target? And you are using this chaotic situation to kidnap me?” Flora asked with a trembling voice.

  “Well, to put it simply... yes. But bringing you back so easily like this is a little too boring. I’m going through all this trouble already, so I’m thinking of leaving my mark on you,” Lucius answered smoothly, grin on his face. Flora fell silent in question.

  “For example, the little lady who entrusted you to me. What kind of face do you think she’ll make when she finds out she made the wrong judgement? Just imagining it thrills me,” Lucius said in an extremely flippant tone.

  “...” For the first time in her life, Flora felt an indescribable sense of revulsion at the excessive wickedness in his words.

  “Hahaha. For now, just seeing that expression of yours is enough. And didn’t I tell you earlier? The little lady’s done for already.” Lucius’ mouth twisted in a grin as reality sunk into Flora with despair.

  “Ah — L-Let go of me, let go of me please!” Flora startled in alarm, trying once again to release herself from Lucius’ hold.

  “Yet again, you...” Reiss appeared, addressing to Lucius from behind.

  “Hey,” Lucius replied casually.

  “Stop dawdling here and move already. The humanoid spirit has already come to the mansion. It would be bad to face that head to head,” Reiss said, sighing tiredly.

  “Oh...?” Lucius’ eyes widened in interest.

  “Just so you know...” Reiss started saying.

  “I know, I know. I’ll head to the rendezvous point after this, so don’t worry. Just let me choose my own route, yeah?” Lucius said vaguely.

  “Go, then,” Reiss sighed once more, urging Lucius away.

  “You heard the man, princess. Come along now. Don’t put up a fight unless you want those beautiful legs to become severed.” Lucius put his hood on once more, then picked up Flora and threw her over his shoulder without letting in a word of protest.

  “Eek — Kya?!” Flora screamed, but was bluntly ignored.

  “Up we go.”

  Lucius proceeded to run down the corridor, disappearing somewhere. Moments later, Hiroaki’s rage caused a cannon of water to blow a hole in the wall.

  Chapter 8: Daybreak Rondo

  While Alphonse was punching Hiroaki in the face, Rio and the others were being escorted to Liselotte’s mansion by the soldiers on hand. The sight of Liselotte bustling about the garden to give orders soon came into view.

  “Lady Liselotte, I have brought Sir Haruto and his two companions,” the soldier called, hurrying to report to Liselotte.

  “...Haruto, I can feel the unpleasant presence of monsters from that mansion.” Aishia muttered, staring directly at the mansion with a severe look.

  “Eh?” Rio followed her gaze, but there was only silence around the mansion. There was no sign of any commotion going on around there, and neither Liselotte nor those around her seemed particularly bothered.

  Liselotte came running over to Rio. “Sir Haruto, I’m glad to see you and your two companions are safe.”

  “Yes, somehow...” Rio replied in slight confusion.

  “I heard you stopped the monsters at the east gate until reinforcements could arrive. Thank you very much for that. Unfortunately, though I would still like to talk to you more, this is an emergency situation. You’ll be safe inside the mansion, so please come this way. I shall lead you.” Liselotte must have been in a rush, as she immediately tried to lead Rio and the girls to the mansion.

  “...Did any monsters sneak in here?” Rio asked with a serious look.

  “Are you referring to the humanoid monsters? I did hear that some managed to get into the city, but with your assistance, my attendants were able to put an end to them outside the ramparts. I haven’t received any reports from the soldiers patrolling the ramparts of anything otherwise, either...” Liselotte answered, looking at Rio’s expression curiously.

  “I... see.” Rio frowned with a troubled look. Even if he told her there were monsters in the mansion, she didn’t have any reason to believe him. There was no knowing if she’d believe him even if he explain Aishia’s background too.

  “...Is there something you are concerned with?” Liselotte asked, sensing something was up.

  “Yes, there seems to be a strange aura coming from the mansion. Is there anyone inside?”

  “The hero and Princess Flora have taken refuge inside, and their knights are guarding them. I’ll send a servant to confirm.” Just as Liselotte suggested that, a tremendous booming sound echoed from the mansion.

  “Kya?!” Celia and Liselotte couldn’t help but scream.

  “That’s...” Rio immediately directed his gaze at the source of the sound. A giant hole had opened in the wall of the second floor, and a torrent of water poured out from it.

  “W-What?!” Liselotte said in shock. At that very moment, a hooded Lucius came bursting out of the mansion’s front door in a rush.

  “Hahaha, coming through!” Kicking and struggling over his shoulder was none other than Flora.

  “Let go of me! Ah, there are monsters inside! Roanna, and the hero! Someone, please save them!” Flora said incoherently. She had been trying to escape the hold restraining her when she’d noticed the allies around her.

  “Didn’t I say I’d cut your legs off if you struggled?” Lucius hit the back of Flora’s legs with the side of his hand in a karate chop. Since Flora was being carried facing backwards, she mistook the sensation for a blade and let out a frightened squeak.

  Liselotte couldn’t understand why Flora was being carried like that, but she clearly sensed there was something bad about the situation and gave an order on the spot. “Someone apprehend that man!”

  “Nope! Too slow! The princess is mine! Try if you want, but you ain’t getting her back!” The speed with which Lucius was running was abnormal. He burst out of the estate grounds before the formation surrounding him was even completed. It was as though he was enjoying the chase. Meanwhile, Rio reacted to Lucius’ voice, eyes widening intensely.

  “Could that voice be...?”

  Rio’s heart thudded in his chest. It was similar to the low tone of the man’s voice that grated on his ears... A voice he would never forget. Rio wanted to run after him right away, but waves of pale black revenants were swarming out of the mansion’s front door.

  “Graaargh!” The revenants started attacking the people nearby indiscriminately, and pandemonium fell upon the garden in an instant. Furthermore, from the hole in the wall of the mansion appeared another, pitch black revenant — Alphonse.

  “Hmph.” Alphonse leapt down and glanced over the scene in the garden. He snorted.

  “Kshaaa!” One of the rampaging revenants suddenly attacked Rio’s group.

  Rio drew his sword in a flash, thrusting it through the heart of the approaching revenant. “Gwah?!” it cried out.

  “...The three of you should stand back.” Rio said to Celia and the others behind him as his eyes followed Lucius’ retreating back with an extremely frustrated expression.

  “Go, Haruto.” Aishia said.

  “...Aishia?”

  “You’re upset, no?”

  Rio’s eyes widened at how Aishia had seen through him. “But...” Rio frowned as he looked at Celia. There was a great number of revenants. In a battlefield this chaotic, there was a chance Celia could be in danger too.

  “No, Haruto,” Celia said in a cool voice.

  “...Cecilia?” Rio’s eyes widened slightly.

  “Remember what I said to you. You need to prioritize what you think is right — no, what your feelings tell you to do. Though we’re in opposite positions, it’s a similar situation to when you saved me, no? I don’t want you to make that face because of me. You look like you’re suffocating right now,” Celia said
with a sad frown.

  “...Okay.” Rio nodded with quite the guilty look. He wanted to act purely for his own sake right now, but he was feeling extremely reluctant about it, wondering if this was something that could be forgiven. However, he was the one who had said a similar thing when he pushed Celia out of the marriage she didn’t want.

  “It’s my turn to save you this time. Well, I can’t do much compared to you, but... Terra Carcerem.” Celia suddenly crouched down and placed both her hands against the ground, chanting a spell. A magic circle immediately appeared on the surface, and the magic activated with practically no delay at all.

  A short distance away from them, the ground rose in four directions and completely enclosed some revenants running about in a prison made of earth. Like its name implied, Terra Carcerem was magic that created a prison of earth and enclosed the target within.

  “Wh...” Seeing that made Liselotte’s eyes widen in astonishment. The ability to activate magic with practically no delay was already worth a reaction of surprise, but to be able to enclose a target moving at high speed from a long distance with such ease could almost be considered godly.

  “Like I said, I can fight too.” Celia grinned at Rio.

  “Haruto, it’ll be fine. I’m here too. You can leave Cecilia to me,” Aishia stated flatly, shoving Rio’s back.

  “That’s right. Now go. You can still catch up from here, right?” Celia said, giving Rio firm words of encouragement.

  “...Right. Aishia, if you can, please look after Lady Liselotte too.” Rio nodded.

  “Yup, leave it to me.” Aishia nodded with determination.

  “Thanks. Lady Liselotte, please allow me to retrieve Princess Flora.” No sooner had Rio said those words, he had enhanced his entire body and started running at full speed. He drew his sword and activated his wind spirit arts through it, using a blast of wind to propel him forward and accelerate him more.

  “Wha...” Liselotte’s jaw dropped as she watched Rio leave.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Once Rio had departed...

  “Cecilia, protect yourself and the other person with the magic that makes an essence barrier. I’m going to reduce their numbers,” Aishia ordered Celia behind her.

  “Got it. Magicae Murum,” Celia replied promptly. A magic circle appeared around Celia’s hand, forming a transparent barrier of magic essence. The barrier of essence formed a dome that stretched from the front of Celia all the way around to Liselotte behind her.

  “Wh...” Liselotte was once again shocked into widening her eyes. The Magicae Murum Celia had just used was that spectacular.

  She covered an area of 360 degrees around her in an instant?! And that earth prison earlier... Just how skilled at controlling essence is this person?! Who is she? Magicae Murum happened to be a magic where the caster’s essence amount greatly affected the size of the barrier formed. If one was skilled at controlling their essence, they could change the shape of the barrier freely to a certain degree, but forming a dome shape was particularly difficult.

  On top of that, it was also a feat to maintain the barrier formed, not to mention the fact that the larger the area of the barrier, the more essence was consumed in maintaining its strength. At the very least, none of Liselotte’s attendants could form an essence barrier at the same speed and shape as Celia, then maintain that through a real fight.

  That being said, she couldn’t afford to simply stew in her surprise. “Eh, ah... Will she be all right, unarmed like that?!” Liselotte snapped back to her senses at Aishia’s lack of weapon and questioned Celia in a panic.

  “It’ll be fine. She’s as strong as Haruto!” Celia stated with confidence.

  Once Aishia confirmed that Celia had established an essence barrier behind her — “Augendae Corporis,” she chanted. But she hadn’t used magic; because Aishia was a spirit, spell formulas couldn’t be embedded within her body to obtain magic. She’d used sorcery instead, using the bracelet artifact Rio lent her beforehand to use as a camouflage when fighting in front of other people. A magic circle immediately appeared around the bracelet, casting an enchantment of physical abilities on Aishia’s entire body. However, Aishia canceled the sorcery as soon as she activated it and instead casted her own spirit art to enhance her physical body. This way, it looked like she had used an artifact to enchant her physical abilities to everyone else.

  However, the capabilities of a magic physical ability enchantment and spirit arts physical body enhancement were vastly different. A physical body enhancement based on spirit arts strengthened not only the physical abilities, but the physical body too. That was why it could bring out abilities that surpassed the limits of a human body.

  “Grah!” Suddenly, a revenant leapt at Aishia, but she easily parried the revenant’s attack barehanded.

  “Gah?!” Aishia knocked the attacking revenant off balance and flung it at another nearby revenant with all her might. The other revenant was in the middle of pressuring Chloe, but — “Gragh?!” The body Aishia threw crashed into it, sending the two revenants rolling on the floor.

  “...Eh?” Chloe was completely bewildered by the sudden disappearance of the revenant in front of her. One beat later, she sighed in relief. Meanwhile, the revenants that Aishia had sent rolling were glaring at her with hatred and growling lowly.

  “Lend me that,” Aishia said to Chloe, holding out her hand.

  “Huh?” Chloe inclined her head blankly. The only object she was holding was a roughly two-meter-long short spear. Did Aishia really mean that?

  “Lend me the spear. You can fall back,” Aishia stated in a flat voice.

  “U-Umm...” Chloe was confused.

  “Chloe, lend it to her immediately! Fall back!” Liselotte commanded, showing her quick wit.

  Other than her attendants, there were barely any soldiers at the mansion right now who could face a revenant. Even then, many of those attendants had trouble with close ranged battles. This particularly applied to Chloe, who was still a novice that couldn’t take on a revenant alone. Liselotte had no choice but to believe the skillful martial arts she just witnessed and Celia’s statement that Aishia’s strength was on par with Haruto.

  “Y-Yes, my lady! Here you are!” Chloe immediately obeyed her master’s order and offered Aishia the spear she was holding.

  “Thank you. Tell the others to fall back too. I’ll do the rest,” Aishia said quietly before dashing off.

  “She’s so fast!” For a moment, it looked like Aishia had disappeared, making Chloe gaze in wonder. Before she knew it, Aishia was in a different location, closing in on a revenant from the side.

  “Gragh?!” The revenant didn’t notice Aishia’s approach and was swiftly slayed.

  “Whoa!” With the revenant fighting before them suddenly cut down, the several soldiers that were facing it together raised their voice in surprise.

  “Fall back,” Aishia said, closing in on the next revenant and slaying it. She continued to exterminate revenants one after another by coming up from behind and the side to surprise them. Everyone who was engaged in battle with the revenants were taken aback by that sight, their attention locked on Aishia’s fighting.

  Amazing. She really is as strong as Sir Haruto, isn’t she?! I wonder who would be stronger between her and Aria? First Sir Haruto, then this sorcerer girl... just who are these people? Liselotte’s shock and questions muddled together, making her eyes widen in amazement.

  “Gruuh!” The other revenants finally caught on to Aishia’s conspicuous actions and attention began to spread out to surround her. Surprise attacks would probably be less effective from here.

  “She’ll be okay, right?” Liselotte asked Celia worriedly.

  “...Let’s believe in her.” Despite her face clouding with concern, Celia nodded her head firmly. Isn’t that right, Aishia?

  It had been Aishia’s decision to make the others withdraw. They had distanced themselves from the revenants as ordered and were watching over Aishia’s fight.
>
  “...Mm?” Meanwhile, Alphonse — who had decided to overlook the battlefield from above — fixed his gaze on Aishia. He narrowed his eyes dubiously. He seemed to realize something, mouth twisting with a wicked grin. “That woman. From. The inn!”

  “Hey! Don’t kill. That woman!” Alphonse bellowed his order at the revenants.

  “I-It talked?!” Liselotte was dumbfounded by the sight of Alphonse speaking humanlike words.

  Celia nodded with her eyes wide, still maintaining the barrier of magic essence around them. “Y-Yes, it certainly seemed like that...”

  “Get her!” Alphonse ordered the revenants.

  “Gragh!” The pale black revenants all attacked Aishia at once.

  “Kshaah?!”

  However, they couldn’t get near Aishia. She spun the short spear in circles, freely repelling the approaching revenants with the sharp spearhead.

  “Guh...” The revenants had tough skin, but even they could take damage from physically enhanced fighters and their deadly weapons. There was no way for them to block all the damage of Aishia and her spirit arts-enhanced body, swinging her spear.

  With light footsteps, Aishia slipped through the gaps between the revenants while brandishing her spear freely. Her movements were like a mystical dance.

  “Graagh, gah?!” The number of revenants was decreasing rapidly.

  “Next,” Aishia muttered each time she eliminated another revenant. The revenants couldn’t even lay a finger on her during her merciless and beautiful dance with the spear.

  “Gah! Enough! I’ll do it! You lot. Attack. The others!” Alphonse ran out of patience, bursting into a run with annoyance. He made a beeline towards Aishia, but she’d closed in on Alphonse before he realized it.

  “Shut up.”

  Beating him to a counterattack, she thrust the spear through Alphonse’s heart. However, being that he was a perfect specimen, Alphonse’s life didn’t end simply by having his heart pierced.

  “Guh, no... way... Wait!” Alphonse’s mouth twisted in a grin, pulling the spear out of his heart and hugging Aishia with all the strength he had.