by Fujino Omori
An imposing stone structure that stood wider than it was tall was decorated to stand out from the other buildings in the area.
Inside the main hallway, tap, tap. A white scarf swished back and forth as a woman stomped her way through the main hall.
“Lulune, where’s Lord Hermes?”
“In the back.”
The woman looked through her silver-framed glasses at a chienthrope girl sprawled out on a sofa. The young lady simply jerked her thumb down the hall in response. The slap of her golden-winged sandals on the stone floor echoing through the hallway once again, the woman took off a little bit faster.
As soon as she arrived in front of the room, the woman, Asfi Al Andromeda, rapped on the wooden door with all her burning rage before throwing it open.
“Lord Hermes!”
Every celch of the walls inside the room was covered with maps.
Some showed every road that snaked across the known world, others were treasure maps and ciphers, and even oceanic diagrams, all of them completely hiding the stone walls. Most of the maps were hand-drawn on paper and had little red Xs and arrows detailing future travel plans.
He was in the room, completely surrounded by the intimidating atlas of the world. The person in question was in the middle of a game of chess against himself. The board was on his desk, decorated with gadgets and doodads collected from around the globe. Hours’ worth of sand poured from the top half of a large hourglass to the bottom at his side.
Completely caught off guard by the rather violent entrance of his follower, Hermes practically fell out of his chair in surprise.
“You went to the Pleasure Quarter by yourself a few days ago, yes? Without—an—escort.”
“H-h-how did you know?! Hold on, Asfi, I didn’t do anything with them, I swear…!”
Hermes immediately threw up his hands and claimed innocence, but Asfi’s interrogation had begun.
WHAM! The woman slammed both her hands onto his desk and leaned right up into his face, her eyes burning with fury.
“So you took the hard-earned money we obtained by putting our lives on the line to play with women?! What an upstanding quality of character you have, Lord Hermes, what kind of deity are you I forgot that you’re this kind of god, if only you were just a little bit more aware of your position as our god, how much pain and suffering would it spare us—what’s more, it’s already morning, how sloppy can you be?!”
In general, gods and goddesses had full control over the happenings of their familias, including who got the final say. Hermes, however, shrank in fear from the pulsing red face of his angry follower.
“C-calm down now, Asfi! I went there, but it was to finish a delivery…!”
“Delivery?”
Hermes finally found an opening to explain himself to the woman who was haranguing him like an angry wife giving a cheating husband a piece of her mind.
Asfi fell silent and locked eyes with her god. Her glare exuded extreme pressure, but she allowed him a chance to explain himself. Hermes cleared his throat.
“The truth is—”
“Is it true Mikoto’s been captured?!”
The living room door flew open with a bang as the god Takemikazuchi and his familia rushed inside.
The expressions of Ouka, Chigusa, and the remaining three members darkened the moment they saw a heavily damaged greatsword and what was left of an oversize backpack sitting in the corner and their battered and bloody owners, Lilly and Welf, sitting on the sofa. Every single one of them feared the worst.
“Yes, it’s true. She was taken, along with Bell, in the Dungeon…I’m sorry, Také.”
Hestia finished wrapping Welf’s arm in a bandage before looking up and answering the deity’s question.
The rest of Takemikazuchi Familia filed into the center of the room and took a seat.
“Do you know the identity of their attackers?”
“They wore long robes that hid their faces, but…Lilly could tell. Every one of them was an Amazon.”
“Damn strong ones, too. Couldn’t do jack shit against ’em. With strength and speed like that, it had to be Berbera.”
“Ishtar Familia…”
Lilly was the first to respond to Ouka’s question, her voice weak. Welf’s answer followed, his words laced with frustration. Lastly, it was Chigusa who quietly voiced the conclusion everyone else was reaching.
A quiet chill filled the room at the mention of that familia.
“But why would Ishtar go after Mikoto and Bell? Any ideas, Hestia?”
“Hmm, there was a rather eventful night in the Pleasure Quarter a few days ago…but nothing that would lead to this.”
Takemikazuchi turned to Hestia, hoping for any kind of lead. However, the goddess only growled and crossed her arms.
His next question was whether or not she had informed the Guild. She shook her head and said there was no proof. The Guild wouldn’t take action right away unless there was undeniable evidence of their actions. She had gone to the Guild after Bell had been chased through the Pleasure Quarter, but that had gotten her nowhere—apparently men getting chased by Amazons through the Pleasure Quarter was such a common occurrence that Guild employees shared those stories over lunch.
When it came to Ishtar Familia, the Guild had little to no power whatsoever. Even if they could levy a penalty against them with proper evidence, it would only slow them down.
This was the reason that the Goddess of Beauty could take such military action in the first place.
“Um, if I may…Could Lady Ishtar’s interest in Mr. Cranell be like what happened with Apollo Familia…?”
“It’s not out of the question…But Ishtar?”
“Bell really isn’t her type…”
Chigusa blushed as she worked up the courage to speak. She couldn’t help but remember the events that led to the War Game after listening to what happened with the Amazons. This time Takemikazuchi crossed his arms and Hestia tilted her head to the side as they answered.
Both deities knew something didn’t add up, but they couldn’t figure out what. The two of them glanced at each other.
“…Could this be related to the situation with Haruhime?”
A new voice, Ouka, broke the silence.
Mikoto had already informed Takemikazuchi Familia that their childhood friend was working as a prostitute and had brought them up to speed on the plan to free her with a redemption.
A hint of despair filled Chigusa’s eyes as her head drooped. The other three Takemikazuchi Familia members donned similar expressions.
Takemikazuchi sat up straight and closed his eyes.
“Everyone’s been saying she was just a low-ranking member, so it makes no sense that Ishtar would take action for that renart…”
Hestia mumbled as she brought her hand to her chin. Then suddenly, she remembered something important and turned back to her divine friend.
A piece of information she’d heard directly from Bell.
“Ishtar has something called a Killing Stone…”
“I-I understood going in, but this is tight…”
Mikoto made her way through the stone air ducts of Ishtar Familia’s home.
This same duct was how she escaped to the vault after sensing the approach of possible enemies—while she was safe from their sight above the ceiling, this air vent had about as much breathing space as a coffin.
Bending her shoulders and hips in an alternating rhythm, the girl crawled her way forward through the network of dusty, cobweb-riddled air ducts.
“…?”
She was about to activate her Skill once again when suddenly voices coming from below caught her attention.
“Sounds like Haruhime’s gone.”
“The Killing Stone Ritual is tonight, yeah…You don’t think?!”
“She’s plannin’ to use the Little Rookie to escape?”
Mikoto twisted her body to place her ear as close as possible to the nearest iron grate. Crawling forward, she got close
enough to it to see the hallway below.
Only catching a glimpse of the two Amazons as they walked by, she let her eyebrows sink as she replayed their conversation in her mind.
Killing Stone…?
This is bad. I need to find Haruhime, too, Mikoto thought as another set of Amazons came into view below her. Even more questions flooded her mind.
Just what was the Killing Stone Ritual, and what did it have to do with Haruhime? Wasn’t she just a prostitute—in other words, a low-ranking noncombatant?
A gray shroud of dread began filling her heart as Mikoto continued crawling through the air duct.
According to the new voices beneath her, the Amazons had expanded their search to outside the familia’s home. That meant the number of patrols inside would decrease. This was her opportunity to escape the compound. Her decision was made even easier when the air duct suddenly became even narrower than before. Mikoto backtracked to the nearest iron grate, removed it from its frame, and silently dropped into the room below.
“What is this place…?”
She was surrounded by a maze of shelves.
She quickly deduced from the amount of books and paperwork in the area that this was some kind of library or archive.
The scent of old wood and papyrus filled the dimly lit room.
Mikoto started working her way through the maze as quietly as possible, knowing that an exit had to be nearby. However, that’s not what she saw first.
A desk littered with scrolls and paperwork blocked her path after she rounded a corner. What’s more, there was no dust. Someone had been here very recently.
Mikoto leaned down to take a look at the sheets on top of the pile in the middle of the desk.
“…Killing Stone Ritual information.”
She had to strain her eyes in the dim light to make out the characters at the top of the sheet. She almost gasped the moment they came into view.
She took a quick look around each corner before grabbing a lantern-style magic-stone lamp off a nearby shelf and turning it on. Placing it on top of the desk, she ran her finger over the many lines of Koine text before stumbling across a very important memo.
“‘Once the Killing Stone has been delivered by Hermes Familia, the Berbera shall—’”
“—A Killing Stone?!”
Takemikazuchi grabbed both of Hestia’s shoulders.
Hestia was so stunned by her good friend’s sudden outburst and the desperate look in his eyes that she couldn’t step back.
“Are you sure?! Are you absolutely sure—Ishtar has one in her possession?!”
“L-Lord Takemikazuchi!”
“Please calm down!”
Ouka was the first to step in front of the panicked deity. Lilly and Welf were close behind, stepping in front of Hestia as if to protect her.
“M-my…my apologies, Hestia.”
“It’s…it’s okay. So what is it, Také? What’s a Killing Stone?”
Free of his grasp, Hestia quickly changed her expression from bewilderment to urgency.
Takemikazuchi let Ouka push him back one more step before looking to the floor and gritting his teeth.
“The Killing Stone is an item that only renarts can use.”
“Sesshouseki, also known as a Killing Stone…A forbidden magic item that is created by the synthesis of a tamamo stone and a toba stone.”
There was an ominous air to Asfi’s voice. Being an item maker, she knew exactly what it could do.
She continued to glare at Hermes as more and more details of his delivery came to light.
“You brought something like that directly into Lady Ishtar’s hands—is that what you’re saying?”
“I didn’t know the cargo until I saw it for myself.”
Hermes’s shoulders sank into the back of his chair. The aura emanating from the woman on the other side of his desk was downright terrifying.
However, Asfi wasn’t satisfied with her god’s response and changed her tone from a blunt hammer into a sharp blade.
“And just where was it made, huh? How did they get the materi—”
Hermes didn’t let his follower finish her question and jumped in halfway.
“Oh, you know. From the ashes of a renart.”
“Making an item from the corpse of a child…Seriously?!”
Hestia shuddered as she heard an explanation of the tamamo stone.
Takemikazuchi nodded, his expression so heavy that wrinkles appeared around his mouth and eyes.
“Its original purpose was to boost a renart’s magical power…An item to increase the effectiveness of their sorcery…”
The outlawed orb was created by desecrating graves of the deceased.
Ouka, Chigusa, and the others didn’t know how to react and fell silent. Only Lilly was able to keep a cool head. She looked over at Takemikazuchi from her spot on the sofa.
“The other item, a toba stone…Would that be lunatic light?”
Takemikazuchi grunted an affirmation and nodded.
“Lunatic light?” echoed Hestia. It was Welf who answered her.
“It’s an ore that gains magical attributes and glows different colors under the light of the moon. I know quite a few smiths who use it in their armor and weapons.”
The young man went on to explain that the material had been made famous by a bard long ago who sang of his love for the glowing stone.
Takemikazuchi listened to Welf’s story before adding another piece of information.
“The attributes of items and weapons that contain it change depending on the level of moonlight. Since there’s no moonlight in the Dungeon, lunatic light is almost never used in Orario…”
* * *
“And toba stones are most effective under a full moon. Should one be synthesized with a tamamo stone at full power, you get a Killing Stone.”
The sand in the hourglass on Hermes’s desk continued to slowly pour into the lower half. Hermes spoke as he moved different pieces on his chessboard.
Her glare as sharp as ever, Asfi opened her mouth to speak.
“The user…The renart’s magical power—no, soul—becomes sealed in the stone.”
“Exactly. And if everything is set up just right when they use it, the renart’s unusual magic…their sorcery can be passed on to another. It’s basically a magic sword that doesn’t break.”
Hermes moved another chess piece into place on the board and weakly smiled.
“But the price is steep: The sacrificed renart becomes a soulless shell.”
Alive, but not among the living.
That’s why the use of Killing Stones was forbidden.
A dark-magic item created by the ancestors of humanity, one that allowed another race to use renart sorcery.
“The surprising thing is that Killing Stones were created by renarts.”
Hermes smiled again and leaned back in his chair. Asfi chose not to respond and looked at the positions of every piece on the chessboard.
A white army and a black army.
The black queen led a group of pawns in surrounding two unique pieces carved into the shape of a rabbit and a fox.
At the same time, the white queen was leading a charge into the heart of the enemy ranks, as if proudly brandishing her own power and influence.
“Children who become obsessed with power are quite scary indeed.”
“What happens to the one losing their soul?!”
Chigusa’s voice shrieked, coming out much louder than usual.
The eyes of every other Takemikazuchi Familia member went wide with surprise. They didn’t know she was capable of producing that much noise. The human girl was on the verge of tears as she implored her god for an answer.
“If the Killing Stone is returned to the user, the renart will awaken. He or she should be able to live on as normal, assuming their physical body wasn’t damaged during their soul’s absence.”
Every person in the room was about to breathe a sigh of relief when they noticed the dark scowl sti
ll plastered on Takemikazuchi’s face. All eyes were on him as he continued.
“However, Killing Stones shatter.”
He went on to explain that a solid stone couldn’t release all its energy.
“Each shard of a morality stone is able to unleash the same amount of sorcery as the original. What’s worse, trigger spells are not necessary.”
An army of 10,000, each equipped with renart magic.
Every single one of them capable of sorcery.
While one on their own wouldn’t be much of a threat, an army of sorcerers would be an unstoppable force.
—Just like Crozzo’s Magic Swords.
Welf wasn’t sure who uttered those words. He ground his teeth together and clenched his fists so hard the bones started to creak.
“…What happens to the soulless child if a shard is lost or broken?”
Hestia couldn’t even look up as she spoke.
Takemikazuchi was the only one in the room who knew the answer to that question. He, too, lacked the courage to face anyone else, and his gaze wandered from place to place as he put it into words.
“At the very least, they would never be normal again. Even if every other piece was collected and returned, the child would become similar to a human baby…or suffer from mental disabilities.”
Chigusa’s knees gave out. Ouka managed to catch her moments before she hit the floor.
“So then, Lady Haruhime will…”
Tears emerged from eyes hidden behind her bangs.
That was Ishtar’s plan. She had everything she needed: a Killing Stone and the renart, Haruhime.
There was no doubt she was planning to seal Haruhime’s soul inside it.
“…Killing Stones contain lunatic light, meaning that the ceremony or ritual to transfer her soul will happen on the night of the full moon…”
“The next full moon…”
Takemikazuchi came to the grimmest realization as he listened to Lilly and Welf’s hushed exchange of words. He looked up at the ceiling in hopeless despair.
“Tonight.”
“—How ludicrous!”
Mikoto roared as she finished reading the last document.
Briefly forgetting that she was in the bowels of an enemy fortress, she gripped the paper roughly between her fingers, her hands shaking.
