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Impenetrable darkness —- This was the only thing they could see.

Here, without any light, Seiya and Yua entrusted themselves to the wind.

The air resistance hitting their faces is intense. It shows that they are falling vertically with tremendous speed.

「Hey, Yua-san?」
「What….?」

Seiya called the girl who held his hand firmly. His facial expression was as blue as it can get.

But it is no wonder he would turn blue. I was three minutes of free fall already, but no ground could be seen.

The only thing he can see is Yua’s hand, firmly grabbing his own. Other than that he couldn’t see anything in this darkness.

In addition to that, the air hitting his face gets increasingly stronger.

Proceeding as it is they most likely fall to the ground and lose their lives, he could easily imagine such development.

「What are we going to do?」

Or to be precise, how do we get out of this situation.

Unfortunately, Seiya has no solution. Rather than that, there are probably no such magicians that can get unscathed.

It was good that they had not fallen to the ground yet. If their falling speed was slow, Seiya could have used『Mantle of Light』, then used the wall to kill the momentum and safely land.

But in the current situation, even if they have Seiya’s『Mantle of Light』, they can’t do anything.

So he ended up asking for Yua’s advice.

「No problem……」

Yua superficially answered. Although he couldn’t see her expression, he could tell from her voice that she is calm.

But when he was told that it was okay in the current situation, if you asked Seiya if he believed her, the answer would be no.

For Seiya who just met her, it is difficult to trust her to the extent of throwing your life away. Even if her father is an executive in the church and she is the daughter the goddess, you can’t trust people that easily.

So Seiya says.

「Is it true?」

You can understand from this words that he didn’t trust Yua.

But Yua won’t be hurt by such words. Because deep down she thinks of using Seiya to only pass through the canyon.

I do not need his trust. If he uses his power for my sake that is enough. Yua thought as such.

That is why, Yua says nothing in return, just concentrates on things to come.

「We arrived……..」
「What?」

Yua muttered something, but Seiya couldn’t hear anything due to the wind.

Ignoring Seiya, Yua exercised a spell into the darkness.

「『Holy Creation』」

Seiya understood that she cast a spell and created something. But looking around there was nothing. For a moment he thought that her spell had failed, but suddenly the ground appeared in his line of sight.

「!?」

Seiya was startled and tried to cast something, but the body of Seiya and Yua already touched the ground the moment he thought so.

（Danger!）

He braced himself for impact, however, the expected shock didn’t happen. He landed on the ground gently.

Boyun, a strange feeling enveloped Seiya. [¹]

「What!?」

The feeling of being enveloped in something soft caused him to leak a weird voice.

Seiya understood that it was absolutely not an impact you expect from smacking into the ground, it took some time for him to understand what happened.

「Success……」

Yua flashed a pleased smile to Seiya. He looked at his surroundings and it dawned upon him.

「Could it be, you created a cushion?」[²] 「Yes……」

Yua answered without any expression.

As you have guessed, they were protected from the collision by a very big pillow.

Yua’s cushion was about 20 wide and 8 meters height, it was this high-performance cushion that slowed their bodies that were falling for more than three minutes easily.

Seiya couldn’t hide his surprise.

He could admit that this was rather unconventional usage of the holy attribute, and he was also surprised at her rough methods.

However, it was true that they landed safely, so he thanked her.

「Tnaks, Yua」
「Yes……」

Yua answers while looking at Seiya. Her eyes still do not contain trust, and it seems that there is still a distance between them.

The same could be said about Seiya, as if there was still something like a wall between them.

However, their cooperation plays an indispensable role in trying pass through the Great Dalis Canyon, both of them know that, they have no choice but to stick together.

「That being said, it’s dark here」
「Yes……」

In the place where they stand now, there is a single way to go, about 10 meters wide, surrounded by cliffs on the left and right side.

The light coming from the ground provides a visibility in a 5-meter radius.

This is all too dangerous.

When Seiya thinks so, followed by Yua’s voice the light suddenly appears.

「『Firelight』」

Fire attribute beginner spell『Firelight』, as its name suggests, is a spell that lights a fire. Thanks to Yua’s 『Firelight』, they can see up to 20 meters ahead.

「Well then, let’s go further」
「Yes……Aquaristan is this way……」

Seiya follows Yua further down the road.

After a while since the two of them started walking, they suddenly stopped. Facing the front Seiya said.

「We are being followed」
「Yeah……quite a lot of them……」

Yua also seemed to know what Seiya was saying, she answered while still looking in front of her.

「What should we do?」
「Can’t help it……」
「I agree」

Confirming their intentions, they simultaneously turned back.

「This is……」
「Come on now……」

When two people turned around, there were countless small red dots around. They were convinced that those dots are eyes of small monsters.

The number of monsters, judging by the number of eyes, is in hundreds. Also, since those red dots are able to move vertically you can suggest that they are of the insect or bird type.

Either way, as long as it is a magical beast, it is the enemy.

「I will deal with them. I leave the light to you」
「All right……」

Seiya asks her to secure the light source, and steps ahead. Usually he summons his trusted Hollins, but this time is different.

Yua was watching Seiya, but did not feel like doing anything. For Seiya who can use the dark attribute, her help is unneeded.

Yua didn’t trust Seiya, but she trusted his ability.

That is why Yua was not willing to help Seiya. All she did was to spread the range of『Firelight』to widen his field of vision, so that at least it was easier for him.

With increase of the range and brightness, he finally found out the identity of the red eyes.

「Bats」

As he said, there were more than 100 red-eyed bats. They were watching Seiya while flapping their wings.

The bats flying in front of Seiya are obviously magical beasts.

They disturb their opponent by ultrasonic waves emitted from their mouth, making it impossible to use magic. Moreover, it is impossible for humans to avoid ultrasonic waves emitted from bats, and they can not feel them either.

They will seal you magic before you even notice.

「Huh?……」

Suddenly, Yua’s『Firelight』disappeared.

But Yua couldn’t understand why her spell has vanished. Besides that, her eyes were also spinning.

Ultrasonic waves were emitted from the bat, and disturbed her sight and spell. [³]

That’s why these monsters were feared.

「What happened?」
「Uwa, em……」

Being worried about Seiya, Yua produced an incomprehensible answer, she tried to but words just didn’t come out right.

Looking at her state, Seiya more or less understood the situation.

「Maybe it is monsters fault」

Although Seiya was fine, there was a strange change in Yua, he guessed that it was some kind of attack from the bats.

If you are being attacked, as a matter of cource you should counterattack.

Even while being in the darkness, he lifts his right hand using red dots as a beacon.

And casts a spell using more mana then usual.

「『Dark Wave』」

In the next moment, the eyes that were shining in the darkness disappeared. As soon as ultrasonic waves disappeared, Yua’s『Firelight』appeared again but there was nothing around anymore.

「Are you okay?」
「Yup…..」

Seeing his power, Yua confirmed his usefulness for herself again.

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「Seiya……」

A beautiful red-eyed girl, calls on Seiya while pointing to the front. Seiya looked towards the direction of her finger and noticed something.

In this direction was a large horde of animals resembling cattle. And the horde was approaching at the high speed towards them.

Their number was about 3000.

「Magical beasts again」
「It seems so……」
「Seiya…what shall we do?」
「I’ll deal with them」

Seiya starts manipulating mana inside his body while lifting his right hand towards the horde of beasts. Yua does not do anything and just watching Seiya with a relieved face.

「 『Dark Wave 』」

Immediately after Seiya said the name of the spell, horde of close to 3000 beasts that was approaching at a high speed toward the two of them disappeared in a flash.

Seeing this Yua said.

「After all, dark attribute sure is convenient ……」
「Sure enough. That what you should expect from the power of heretics」 [¹]

Seiya and Yua were trying to go straight to the Great Dalis Canyon, but monsters and large mountains got in the way.

Having no other choice, Seiya destroyed every one of them.

By restoring Seiya’s mana consumed by the 『Dark Wave 』 using 『Holy Flower』, they headed to the Great Dalis Canyon in an extremely swift manner.

In the surroundings of the facility, captives were held, there were rocks and dead trees.

But there were no obstacles on their road now, they all disappeared from the『Dark Wave 』.

Proceeding as such, they finally reached a green forest.

This lush forest, located in the dark territory and surrounded by rocks looked like an oasis in the vast desert.

The two raised their guard and entered the forest, then they encountered something.

They saw a bipedal monster with the head of a boar and body of a bear.

And this bipedal boar-bear was not alone.

Their numbers roughly exceeded 100, and the scene of 100 monsters with such bad head and body balance was really strange.

More than 100 monsters turned their sharp nails towards the Seiya and Yua, their appearance was quite intimidating.

According to the research of the church, they can be described as such.

Species: Boad
Danger: ★★★★
Description: An average magician isn’t able to defeat them. Often move in a group. You should escape as soon as you encounter it. Their speed is not so great; escape is most likely possible.

Although it was documented, Seiya and Yua couldn’t possibly know the research materials of the church, so they didn’t know the name of the monster.

Normally, this information can only be seen by senior magicians who are going to subjugate magical beasts in the dark territory, but Seiya, who was the lowest of the beginner magician until a while ago, does not know.

Judging from Yua’s face she is not aware either.

「Their balance sure is bad」
「Creepy……」

Since they do not know the details of boads, they could only recognize it as another magical beast.

A group of boads engaged Seiya and Yua as soon as they saw them.

Seiya immediately fires『Dark Wave 』towards the group of boads. This should have made them disappear in a second. However, this doesn’t happen to a group of boads.

「Hey, this can’t be happening」

While watching the boad’s uninjured appearance, although surprised, Seiya immediately casts a new spell.

「How about this … … 『Dark Wind 』」

The magic exercised by Seiya is the dark attribute beginner magic 『Dark Wind 』, it is not targeted at extinguishing opponent, but slashing him

This spell is supposed to have a high offensive power and it should have sliced the boad in half. But once again the spell does not work against boads.

「Crap……that is a problem」
「What should we do, Seiya?」
「It is dangerous. My magic does not work」

Seiya is nervous fighting against boads with their magic immunity.

He tried to remember what he learned at the Senabia Magic Academy’s lectures, but since there were few lessons about the dark territory, he couldn’t think of anything useful.

At that time, Yua makes a relieved face as if she remembered something.

「Seiya … … maybe they have magic resistance … …. dad said before … … if you meet some weirdos with magic resistance weapons will work just fine……」
「I see. It is worth trying」

Seiya believed Yua’s words and decides to try it.

Seiya thinks that her father is a figure of the church and his position is quite high. So the credibility of information should be high too.

Seiya immediately summons Hollins, his trusted weapon. Because of a『Dark Wave 』, the chant is not necessary, Hollins was immediately summoned in the hands of Seiya.

Meanwhile, boads are trying to quietly surround them.

There are many trees in the forest, but fortunately, the boads are so big that you cannot lose sight of them.

When Seiya takes a stance, boads moved.

Two boads are thrusting towards Seiya, but he also runs to the boads and thrusts, he pours the power of light attribute onto his feet.

And as he took the first step, he accelerated and stabbed Hollins into the sides of the two boads.

Boads were unable to respond to the rapid acceleration and end up getting hit.

The accelerated with a spell『Mantle of Light』, which partially activated 『Single Light』.

「Nice!」

Confirming that Hollins stabbed into the boads, Seiya pours mana of the dark attribute into Hollins.

If it is useless from the outside, how about from the inside?

Two boads, who had the dark attribute mana injected into their body, had their intestines disappear, leaving only fur behind.

Boads, who saw them disappear leaving only the fur, became agitated. Fear of the boy in front of them mixed with anger from having their comrades killed.

「Apparently, magic seems to work from the inside of their bodies. Only the outside is protected」
「I understand……」

Yua hearing his words casts a spell.

「『Holy Maiden』Yuriel」

Immediately after saying the spell’s name, rapier appears in her right hand.

The spell she used is holy attribute beginner spell 『Holy Maiden』, it creates a rapier utilizing the special effect of the holy attribute『creation』.

The rapier created by Yua is one of her favorite weapons, its name is Yuriel.

Yua stabs the bellies of the three boads with the Yuriel and immediately pulls out.

Of course, they won’t die from such a small wound, they tried to hit her using their claws.

Regretfully, they couldn’t even touch her.

Just before their claws were about to land on her, they exploded from the inside and became a meat paste. Although the blood splashed in all directions, Yua avoids it by deploying a light attribute intermediate spell 『Wall of Light』and remains unstained.

「Are you kidding me……」

Seiya has a bitter smile on his face after seeing her attack. He has read about a similar attacking method in a book once.

Among the magicians who use the fire attribute, it is a technique used by especially high-level magicians, it is a technique that detonates the body by pouring the mana of the fire attribute inside the opponent’s body.

The body can’t hold against the pressure created by this spell and explodes. And the victim becomes a minced meat.

Yua’s way of attacking is similar to that attack method, but there were no signs of using fire attribute. The magical attribute used by Yua is a light attribute, and it shouldn’t be possible with the light attribute alone.

But Yua did it right in front of his eyes.

So how did she do it? She pushed the magical power of the light attribute in boad’s body and raised its power.

The special effect of the light attribute is『rising』, which has the effect of improving the object. Yua activated『rising』on the whole body of boad.

Originally it should be strengthened, but boad’s fur is resistant to magic and will not improve.

When inflating the balloon, if the endurance of its material is not enough, the balloon will just explode from the excessive air. It is the same principle here.

Boad’s fur, whose durability has not increased, couldn’t bear the pressure of the raised body and exploded.

This technique is probably possible only for those who have the holy attribute. For an average magician, it is impossible to raise the capabilities of the body that is not his.

Although it is grotesque, her appearance while strengthening others resembles a goddess from the church.

On the other hand, all boads were shivering.

In one moment one’s body is stabbed, as his inside disappeared, leaving only the fur behind. In the next moment, the other one is stabbed and explodes.

Ordinary animals would flee if they are at disadvantage, but boads had their pride and refused to yield.

Driven by their cheap pride they pounce on Seiya and Yua.

Seiya pierces Hollins into the closest one, pushes the mana of the dark attribute inside him, and goes for the next prey.

Right after confirming the death of the boad, he immediately stabs the next one.

Yua also pierces one boad after another with Yuriel. The moment boad is stabbed he explodes from within in the rain of blood.

Yua does not mind whether boad will become a meat block, and will steadily pierce Yuriel sticking to the next prey rapidly.

Before they noticed the massacre was over.

The corpses of boads with only their fur intact and the bunch of meat lumps littered the ground around them.

Because the number of furs and meat lumps are roughly the same, they seemed to have killed roughly the same amount of them.

After that, Seiya and Yua passed through the forest without any troubles and caught sight of their target, the Great Dalis Canyon.

The bottom of the Great Dalis Canyon is so deep it couldn’t be seen.

From where they stood, Seiya threw a stone inside, trying to hear a sound of it hitting the bottom, but he didn’t hear anything.

「Hey, Yua. What should we do now? Do not tell me we need to jump? 」

Just plunging ahead seemed rather stupid, so he confirmed first.

「Can you fly, Seiya?」
「What?」
「I said, can you fly?」
「No, no, no. Do you think people can fly? 」

Seiya was confused, but Yua seemed to understand his answer in her own way. Seiya noticed it and tried to stop her.

「There is no way……」
「Then I guess we have to jump……」
「Huh?……」

Yua’s logic is a method of elimination.

People cannot fly. Then you have no choice but to jump.

Using this simple logic there is no need to search for complex solutions.

Yua gently holds Seiya by the hand.

However, for some reason, he couldn’t resist her grab, and in the next moment Seiya felt his spine freezing.

「Well then … let’s go …」
「Stop, please waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa」

In the next moment, Yua jumps into the great canyon while pulling Seiya by the hand. Their figures disappear in the darkness.

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Seiya and Yua who decided to head to the Great Dalis Canyon, faced two problems.

First, Seiya used up most of his mana due to 『Dark Tremor』, his remaining mana is close to zero.

Second, Seiya does not know their current location precisely, nor does he knows where the Great Dalis Canyon is.

When he told that to Yua, she said it was fine.

「Hey Yua, what do you mean “It’s fine”?」
「I will restore your mana …… Great Dalis Canyon is there … …. I saw the map in the laboratory …」
「You will “restore” it … …. Why did you even saw that map?」
「I was looking at the guard and he gave me the map, he said to look at it instead」

Ohh ~ guard-san I understand your feelings. If someone constantly stares at you, this is creepy~ Seiya felt strange empathy with the guard, but he didn’t know if his feelings reached him.

And Yua said she will restore his power, common sense tells Seiya that this is impossible.

Mana is the source of the magician’s power; you can say it is his stamina.

Restoration requires eating, resting, sleeping and so on. It is said that only the goddess who went missing was capable of such a feat.

Yua silently cast her spell on Seiya, who is deep in thought.

「『Holy Flower』」

The next moment, the Seiya’s body was wrapped in white light. At the same time, Seiya feels that mana steaming inside of him rapidly, his mana recovers in the blink of an eye.

「What was that, Yua? I have never heard of 『Holy Flower』spell. Was there such a spell in light magic? 」

Seiya was surprised by the light attribute spell that doesn’t exist in his memory. He believed that he failed in his studies somewhere. After all, preparing for the future he memorized all spells of light attribute he could.

That being said, Seiya had no idea of Yua’s spell.

「It is not the spell of the light attribute …… it was a spell of holy attribute ……」
「For it to be a holy attribute…….」

Hearing about holy attribute Seiya lost his words.

Because the holy attribute was the magical attribute used by the goddess from the church. Actually, the church of the Leiria Kingdom is also called Holy Church and its name was derived from the goddess.

The magic of the holy attribute is almost nonexistent nowadays. It was said that only one person in hundred years has a holy attribute, and this person becomes a new goddess.

If the Holy Church discovers Yua, she will soon become a new goddess and will be worshiped by people.

The holy attribute is just that important.

There are three kinds of magic. They are: basic magic, derived magic, compound magic.

All magic spells fall under one of these categories.

Basic magic refers to the magic of four attributes of fire, water, wind, light.

For example, spells such as 『Wall of Light』 and 『Fire Bullet』fall under the basic magic category, and dark attribute magic such as 『Dark Wave』should belong there too.

Derived magic, as its name says, is magic derived from basic attributes.

Specifically, ice attribute and flame attribute are easy to understand. The ice attribute is the magic derived from the water attribute and the flame attribute is the magic derived from the fire attribute.

There is also a special effect in the derived magic attribute, but its special effect carried over from the attribute before derivation.

In other words, for the ice attribute it is『calm』and for the flame attribute it is 『activation』. Of course, there are exceptions, but that is how it usually works.

Composite magic is a magic that combines multiple spells at the same time, the example is Seiya’s『Dark Tremor』with no chant.

Although the details are slightly different, it can be said that Seiya’s previous spell is a composite spell consisting of『Dark Tremor』and『Dark Wave』.

But the holy attribute used by Yua was an exception, standard classification doesn’t apply to it.

Holy magic is considered a top class derived magic of the light attribute in terms of classification, but magicians who use light attribute magic will never become able to use holy attribute magic.

In other words, the holy attribute is a light attribute but at the same time, it’s not.

Of course, the holy attribute magic also has a special effect, its name is『creation』. [¹]

It is close to the word generation. The magic of holy attribute is a special magic that can generate weapons and mana from nothing.

In fact, Yua defended from Seiya’s attack, not by the power of the light attribute. The dark power was simply destroyed on contact with holy power.

The dark attribute is classified as a basic magic, and the holy attribute is classified as derived magic. If basic magic is compared to derived magic, derived magic is more powerful, they couldn’t compete since the beginning.

It is said that the goddess of the Holy Church was able to restore the mana using holy magic and light magic at the same time, resulting in light speed recovery.

Seiya’s mana was completely recovered by Yua.

「It is awesome, Yua」
「With this Seiya can go to the Great Dalis Canyon…..」
「Do not be like that. By the way, why can you use the holy attribute? It might be useless to ask though」
「I could use it since the past… I do not know the reason …」
「I see」

The fact that church is not aware of her existence could probably be related to her father’s protection, thought Seiya. Who the hell is her father?

「Seiya, let’s go. Quickly……」

Yua pulls Seiya by the hand.

「All right」

At this time Seiya thought, what if her mother is the previous goddess.

It is understandable if the goddess’ daughter can use holy attribute magic. And if her father is the member of the Holy Church, it will explain his knowledge of the dark attribute.

Given the time when the goddess disappeared and the Yua’s age, you cannot reject this theory. At the same time, the father who can hide it is frightening.

While thinking about such things, Seiya and Yua headed for the Great Dalis Canyon.

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Seiya found a girl lying down in front of him, but he did not think she was still alive.

Because the spell that Seiya cast earlier is a spell to extinguish all things other than the user, the fact that this girl’s body remains is close to a miracle.

What can be thought of as the reason for that is that the girl defended herself with light magic, but in the end could not overcome the power of Seiya’s『Dark Tremor』, leaving only the body intact.

The dark attribute and the light attribute are attributes that are mutually good and bad against each other

In the end, the winner is decided by the power of the spell itself, and the 『Dark Tremor』casted by Seiya didn’t lack in power.

『Dark Tremor』 is a powerful high-level spell of the dark attribute, but few magicians use this spell.

Because 『Dark Tremor』is a spell which annihilates everything in the surroundings indiscriminately at the price of all of the magician’s magical power, it’s mostly used for suicide bombing.

At the same time, the spell used by Seiya in the beginning『Dark Wave』is an elementary spell and it is a basic of the basics of the dark attribute.

It is a spell that will eliminate only the object that the magician wishes to destroy, and the greatest feature is a possibility to destroy the chant.

Among the magicians who use the dark attribute, high-level magicians while casting complex spells, use 『Dark Wave』at precise timing, doing so they can eliminate the chant of that spell.

This is a theoretical chant omission. And this was the reason why Seiya was able to cast『Dark Tremor』 without a chant earlier.

However, when a low-level magician attempts to do the same, the timing may not match, and the spell that he/she intends to manifest is getting extinguished itself.

From this Seiya’s level could be seen.

It was at this time.

「What?」

Seiya was surprised at the fact that a girl who seemed to have already taken her last breath started moving, right before his eyes.

「Just what is happening……」

Seiya approaches the girl since he was interested about the way the girl survived after receiving the『Dark Tremor』with full force.

But Seiya’s movement contained a lot of wariness against the girl. As long as he doesn’t know her identity, he doesn’t dare to leave an opening.

Being ready to cast at any time, he talked to the girl.

「Hey, are you in one piece?」
「…………」
「Hey, are you in one piece?」
「Mm……」

The girl opens her eyes hearing Seiya.

For the moment he felt relieved and then carefully examined her with his eyes.

The girl stretched her slender white limbs, she had beautiful red eyes that fascinate the viewer, beautiful shiny white hair, and neat face. Calling her extremely beautiful won’t be a flattery.

But even facing an absolutely beautiful girl, Seiya was still on high alert. Then the girl said her first words.

「…………Who?」

The was very clear and beautiful voice.

Seiya tells his name to her.

「Me? I am Seiya, Kiritsuna Seiya. And you are? 」

When Seiya names himself, the girl also follows suit in a small voice.

「Yua…..Yua Arunia」
「Yua then. Are you hurt somewhere? 」[¹]

Seiya immediately tries to confirm her body condition.

Seiya is not a battle maniac, nor does he finds pleasure in a slaughter.

He thought it is better for people to live than to die, and he didn’t want to kill too many people too. That’s why he was worried about Yua.

「I’m fine…..」
「I see, that is good」

Listening to her words, Seiya rests assured. But he is still wary against Yua.

Because too many strange things are related to her.

If she can resist his power, they how did they caught her in the first place?

Besides, if she is that powerful she could have escaped the range of the spell easily.

So, seeking answers Seiya asks the girl.

「Why were you captured here?」
「I was careless … … they approached from the back and drugged me, when I noticed, I was already trapped … and then everything disappeared ……」

She said that she is a 16 years old magician living in Aquaristan, a student of the second year in the magic academy, and was kidnapped on the way back from the school.

Listening to her explanation, Seiya was amazed. He was neither being sneak attacked nor drugged by medicine.

Yua is sixteen and she if and of the school year as Seiya.

Her appearance is that of a beautiful girl, but she gives off the impression of a trainee. It is hard to guess that she is sixteen on the first look.

Such Yua is staring at Seiya right now.

Her beautiful red eyes make her expressionless face somewhat mysterious, Seiya felt uncomfortable looking at them.

「What is it? You are staring too much」
「Seiya is seventeen ……so you are my older brother ……」
「Well, that’s right. Although we are in the same year」

Hearing that Seiya’s wariness against her disappeared, rather the girl became interested.

But the girl named Yua was an unimaginable existence to Seiya.

「That’s why, walk me home…..」
「———————————What?」

What did she say?………… Seiya could not understand it at all.

「Walk me home……」
「Wait a little. Why is this happening? If you are a magician, you can go home alone. We are even of the same grade. Although I’m older … …」

To her request that disregards common sense, Seiya did not know what to say.

But, Yua proceeds with her explanation.

「The grade is the same but older brother is older brother … Seiya is seventeen years old …… I am sixteen years old … Seiya is an older brother. Besides, it is impossible alone……」

Seiya blanked at such an answer. Using logic, he couldn’t understand Yua asked him to walk her home.

No matter how much of a girl you are, there is a way to return to Aquaristan from the Freestan, which is close by.

If you go to church you will be able to do finish the procedures, and as soon as you arrive at Aquaristan you are as good as home. Yet, she said she could not do it for some reason.

With no other choice, Seiya asked her himself.

「Why me?」
「Because of the Great Dalis Canyon」
「What?」

This time Seiya’s brain mouth gave up on him, he couldn’t understand her at all.

Thinking about her words, it is hard to understand the whole picture.

「Great Dalis Canyon. Is it the place with lots of super strong magical beasts walking around?」
「Yes……」

She answered with a spaced-out look on her face.

She suggested walking through the Great Dalis Canyon, a den of powerful monsters.

The Great Dalis Canyon is situated in between Freestan’s and Aquaristan’s borders and is known as a monster den.

Also, there is a rumor that Undine is living there, people refuse to approach that place.

The rumor says that people who went into the canyon never came home, everyone in the Leiria Kingdom knows that

In the past, there were cases where some stupid magicians went searching for Undine, but they died after being chased by monsters in the Great Dalis Canyon, the monsters then proceeded to Freestan.

Seiya couldn’t understand why is she going through the Great Dalis Canyon. What kind of reason can force you to go inside on your own volition?

「Why, for god’s sake! Can’t you just return by common route?」
「This is impossible …… I am not good with people …… I can’t pass where there are many people…….I need to go through the Great Dalis Canyon, where no one is ……so escort me, Seiya……」

Seiya is stunned and doesn’t know how to respond.

To summarize, she is saying that she wants to pass through the Great Dalis Canyon, where there are no people because she is not good with crowds. Even though there are strong monsters in the Great Dalis Canyon.

「No, THIS is impossible」

Naturally, Seiya does not want to go with that proposal. Although he managed to survive somehow, he didn’t want to commit suicide yet.

But at this point, Seiya thought.

「Hey, if I come with you to Freestan will that be fine?」

If you can’t do it alone, let’s do it together. However, Seiya still could not comprehend the person called Yua.

「No … … if we arrive at Freestan Seiya might disappear …. So I will go to the Great Dalis Canyon… … it is already decided … … Seiya, escort me …」

Yua dared to pass through the Great Dalis Canyon. How much does she hate crowds to the extent of trying to pass through the infamous Great Dalis Canyon by herself.

Again, doubts sprouted in the mind of Seiya.

Like Seiya was on guard against Yua, Yua also does not trust Seiya from the bottom of her heart.

Yua has a secret. If the secret is known to Seiya, she can’t predict his reaction.

That is why she chose to pass through the Great Dalis Canyon.

Whatever she thinks inside her head, Seiya doesn’t understand. It is a suicide to go through the Great Dalis Canyon with a strange girl around.

「Wait a little, I won’t run anywhere, I will properly walk you home. Let’s go to Freestan, please consider it」
「I don’t believe you……besides, going through the Great Dalis Canyon is also for your sake……」
「Mm?……」

Listening to her words, Seiya’s expression changed in a blink of an eye.

「For my sake?」
「Yeah……if people discover your dark attribute you will be in trouble……」
「Why do you know about the dark attribute?」

The atmosphere around Seiya changed drastically.

Why does she know about the existence of the dark attribute? The existence of the dark attribute is a very confidential matter, only some people in the church and powerful clans are aware.

Seiya’s first thought was that she is the spy from Dakuria, but he quickly dismissed that thought.

If you are saying that she is a spy from Dakuria, then you are probably an idiot.

Her character is not suitable for spying. Dakurian spy should be more competent than this.

When Seiya contemplates such a thing, Yua explains why she knows of the dark attribute.

「I heard from my father …… But it’s the first time seeing the real thing….」
「Who is your father?」
「An amazing person …」

Seiya mulls over her story. Yua’s father knows the existence of the dark attribute. That may mean that he knows about the relationship between Leiria and Dakuria more than Seiya himself.

Or perhaps he just can’t remember it.

Actually, Seiya has not regained all of his memory yet. A while ago he got back his memory up to eight years old, but could not remember the memory from eight to ten years old yet.

Certainly, Seiya’s darkness attribute is dangerous if it is known. He may be attacked by many magicians the moment he enters the Leiria Kingdom.

If that happens, his life is over.

Also, he is interested in Yua’s father. He knows of the existence of the dark attribute. Just who is her father?

The dark attribute is the biggest concern for Seiya. If he returns to Windistan but ends up revealing himself, he can’t predict the consequences.

However, the risk of going with Yua is low, in Freestan there is a possibility that you can fail to enter the Leiria Kingdom safely.

The Great Dalis Canyon is indeed a dangerous place. But now Seiya has a strong power of dark attribute.

In some cases, weak but smart people are much more dangerous than powerful but simple monsters. In that case, it would be better to go through the Great Dalis Canyon, relying on his own power.

Besides, if Yua betrays him it is okay to just erase her with the dark power.

That is why Seiya decided to accompany her.

「All right, let’s go through the Great Dalis Canyon」
「Thank you……」

In this way, they decided to go to the Great Dalis Canyon.

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Seiya never heard the voice resounding in his head. From that voice, hatred and killing intent flowed densely, it was very dark.

The darkness seemed to envelop Seiya without any resistance.

However, the deep darkness strangely gave Seiya incredibly nostalgic feeling.

Seiya asks the deep darkness in front of him.

（Who?）
（Do you hate, boy?）

The voice coming from the deep darkness. For some reason, Seiya couldn’t ignore this voice and started a conversation.

（Hate who?）
（The ones who abandoned you, unjust treatment, this world）

Seiya felt that a mysterious voice came from inside of his heart. It felt like the voice asked his inner self, and Seiya answers as if it is natural.

He felt like he was stepping somewhere he shouldn’t enter and was about to pass a point of no return.

But he couldn’t lie.

（I hate. The ones who abandoned me. Unjust treatment. This terrible world）

Seiya ended up saying as such. He couldn’t turn back anymore.

（I see… then, do you want power?）
（Will you give me the power?）

Seiya reacts to the word power. That was something he could not possibly ever have, and Seiya wanted the power the bottom of his heart.

（Wrong. The boy already has power. Power to destroy everything）
（The power to destroy everything? I do not have such power）

Seiya doesn’t have the power to destroy everything. If he had such power, no one would have called him Unknown.

（You have. You just forgot. Remember it, boy. Your true power）
（Can I really remember my power?）

When Seiya said so, the voice in the deep darkness approaches him.

If it is usual Seiya he will run away or defend, but at this time somehow he had no choice but to accept.

He didn’t know himself, why he didn’t run, but he did not feel like rejecting the deep darkness.

The deep darkness envelops Seiya more and more. Being swallowed by the darkness he experienced a peculiar feeling.

Twelve years ago, Leiria Kingdom, Windistan, south of Erenerita city.

There were two figures in a deep forest far from the city.

「Daddy~」
「What is it, Seiya?」
「Look her, look here, it is a purple magic circle」

The identity of two people is a pair of father and son. Father was taller than an average human, with red eyes shining like rubies and white hair.

Furthermore, there is a characteristic big scar on his face, and anyone who saw it for the first time will become afraid of him. However, the face of the man was that of a gentle father.

The child was about 5 years old boy. A boy with beautiful blue eyes and golden hair, although he didn’t resemble his father, they had a strange affinity.

A characteristic purple magic circle was deployed on the boy’s hand.

Because the boy was able to deploy a magic circle, you can understand that they are both magicians.

If a magician while being a child can create a magic circle, it should make his parents extremely delighted, but his father’s face does not seem to be very happy, his face looked rather sad.

After all the magic circle created by the golden-haired boy belongs to a magic treated as a heresy in the Leiria Kingdom.

In the Leiria Kingdom, the colors are: yellow for the light attribute, red for the fire attribute, blue for the water attribute, green for the wind attribute, the complex circles can have different colors, but they won’t become purple.

This was a common sense among magicians, it was an unchanging fact. However, this is the common sense of the Leiria kingdom, not the common sense of the rest of the world.

The dark territory is spread around the Kingdom of Leiria, lots of monsters live in the dark territory and almost no humans.

That is also a common sense of the Leiria Kingdom.

But the reality is different.

There is a country in the dark territory. And the dark territory separates the two countries.

That country’s name is the Dakuria Empire, and just like the Leiria Kingdom, it has a lot of people living in it.

The size of the Dakuria Empire is about the same as that of the Leiria Kingdom’s central region. Instead, there are seven similarly sized cities under the wing of the Dakuria Empire.

These cities have no names; they are called simply Dakuria First District all the way to Dakuria Seventh District.

The seven cities are not adjacent to the Dakuria Empire but are spread across the dark territory. The country which combined this Dakuria Empire and the Seven Districts under one flag is called Great Dakuria Empire.

The Great Dakuria Empire is traditionally led by the demon emperor Lucifer. In each district, there was a demon king ruling the populace.

The common sense of the Great Dakuria Empire is different from the Leiria Kingdom.

The magic circle of the dark attribute is purple, the magic circle of the fire attribute is red, the magic circle of the water attribute is blue, the magic circle of the wind attribute is green, the concept light attribute does not exist in the empire.

There are almost no interactions between two countries.

However, it is not like they are not aware of each other existence, some people in the Leiria Kingdom also know of the existence of the Great Dakuria Empire.

It could be attributed to the gag order given by the church. They concealed the existence of the Great Dakuria Empire and the dark attribute magic from the people.

Let’s return to the parent and child.

「So Seiya also has a dark attribute ……」
「Dad?」

Seeing this magic circle the father-like person makes a “the time has finally come” face. The child was looking at his father with shining eyes.

「Seiya. Do not use this purple magic circle except in front of daddy」
「Why?」
「Because those who use the purple magic circle do not have any friends. You don’t want Rona-chan to disappear right?」
「I don’t want to~」
「Then promise me not to use it, Seiya」
「Yup! I promise」

The boy responds in good spirits and embraces the father, and his father also embraces the boy with a gentle smile.

「We should go home. Mom is waiting for us」
「Yes!」

The father placed him on his shoulders and left the forest to go home.

As they enter the residential area, there are small but stylish houses here, and the two people enter one of them.

When the parent and child arrived home, a beautiful blonde woman came out from inside the house.

「Mom!」
「Welcome back Seiya, dear」
「I’m home, Mom!」

The child smiles and runs to his mother.

「Aye, I’m home …」

A woman called mom had beautiful blond hair stretching to her hips, bright blue eyes and was incredibly pretty.

When a child approaches, the mother holds him gently in an embrace and shows a smile to her husband.

The child was smiling while being held by his mother.

But the mother, who realized that her husband’s face is not that bright, asked him gently.

「What’s wrong, dear?」
「Seiya has materialized the magic circle of dark attribute」
「I see….the time has come」

Mother’s expression gets cloudy in a blink of an eye. But this was not the end of my father’s words.

「Yeah, I think he will soon be able to create a light magic circle too」
「I agree……end eventually he……」
「Mom?」
「Everything is fine, Seiya」

Father faced his wife with a resolved face and his wife nodded to his husband in response.

「Just five more years……」
「Yes, darling. After that Seiya will have to work hard……」

The next moment his mother started crying.

「Mom?」

All children are worry warts.

「I’m sorry, Seiya. I’m sorry」
「Seiya. From tomorrow onwards you will study magic under your father. You need to make sure to master your purple magic」
「Yup!」

The mother embraced her child carefully, and his father also embraced them.

Here, Seiya’s consciousness is released from the deep darkness.

（I……remember……. they are ……my parents）
（So you remembered. That is your power）
（And who the hell are you?）

Seiya asked the owner of the voice. But he didn’t get the answer.

（I’m your memory, I’m you. So use my power to your heart’s content）

Saying this the darkness recedes. In the end, Seiya didn’t uncover the voice’s identity, but it wasn’t the enemy.

（I see. Thank you …… for returning memory）

Seiya thanks the mysterious voice that returned his memory.

He slowly wakes up.

Watching Seiya waking up, the man in the white coat says「What happened!? My anesthesia didn’t work? 」but Seiya didn’t care.

「『Dark Wave』」

The moment Seiya muttered that, a purple wave was emitted from him and erased the restraints binding him.

The man in white seeing this incomprehensible scenery screamed on top of his lungs.

「*******, what did you do? What is this? I have never heard of such a thing. Who the hell are you? 」

The white coat lost his previous composure, his pathetic figure completely exposed.

But it was impossible. A white-robed man was a researcher and had a considerable confidence in his knowledge, but the magic used by Seiya was a first for him.

The man was proud of his magical knowledge but faced with an unknown spell he lost his cool.

The spell used by Seiya originally does not exist in the Leiria Kingdom and even its name is concealed by the church, so it is natural that he does not know.

Seiya disregards the white robe and continues.

There was no killing intent for a white robe or a grudge against this unreasonable world. There was only the power.

At that time, Seiya had already lost interest in the white robe and the world.

「『Dark Tremor』」

Immediately after the words of Seiya, one big wave started spreading out in all directions with him as the center.

Everything that touches that wave if getting extinguished, like it never existed.

The humans disappeared, and the man in the white coat did not even leave the body behind, it vanished in an instant without a trace.

There is a flat ground all around Seiya, if someone said that there were facilities here no one would believe him.

It is a dark territory around, he didn’t know what happened to Zach’s trio, but Seiya didn’t care anymore. [¹]

Looking around Seiya muttered in a small voice.

「So this is a magic of dark attribute ……」

Dark attribute. It is magic that exists in the Great Dakuria Empire, its special effect is 『annihilation』. It is magic that can make everything disappear, a magic contrasting to the light attribute.

While looking up at the sky, he notices the change in his thinking pattern.

Until I awakened, I avoided every conflict, I wanted to find a peaceful solution, but now it is different.

If something stands in my way, I can just destroy it. I someone doesn’t bother me then I won’t bother them either.

He felt as if he quit being a human. Seiya did not know whether he was still considered as such.

Seiya’s heart was almost dead at this time.

He didn’t know what to do from now on. He couldn’t think of anything he should or wanted to do.

「Hmm?」

At such time, Seiya noticed a fainted girl lying face down on the ground.

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Selena’s spell was a spell to create an ultrasonic wave through the power of fire-attributed mana.

The fire-attributed ultrasonic waves, of course, had a special effect of activation and were able to activate the insides of its body again. This spell is also used for treating injuries.

The receptionist men immediately understood that it was a genuine Glena Lion after looking at it again. However, at the same time, he recognized an inconsistency.

Despite having the ability to capture the Glena Lion alive, they didn’t know its value. Capturing beasts alive is a field of work for the adventurers.

The adventurers are supposed to know the value of the beasts, which means that they are amateurs……this line of thinking gave birth to a demon in his heart.

「Understood. It is genuine. You can sell it. There are no visible problems with its condition, how does 20 thousand grela sounds? 」

His suggested price was dirt cheap. In the case of Glena Lion, it can easily go for 320 thousand even if it’s dead.

If it’s alive, it won’t be strange for the price to reach 600 thousand grela. However, the youth lost to the whispers of the demon in his heart.

The eating magicians seemed to hear the youth and gave him a hard stare.

At that time, Seiya learned that the currency was called grela here. However, he didn’t know whether the circulation of this currency was limited to this district or the whole country. Anyway, it didn’t matter to him.

He needed to get it first. When Seiya intended to agree, he noticed the youth being a bit unnatural.

The receptionist was rather eloquent to them until a while ago. It didn’t change even after the Glena Lion was displayed, but his lines became much shorter.

There, Seiya glanced at the people around him and got a rough idea. Seiya closed his eyes and said to the youth.

「I sure have been underestimated」

Seiya opened his eyes filled with killing intent and glared at the youth. The moment the youth saw Seiya’s eyes, he started trembling and fell from his chair.

However, Seiya didn’t retract his bloodlust and kept staring at the youth. From the looks of it, he seemed to look down on the poor youth.

「As of now, I can still forgive you. Either you tell me the truth or die, choose」
「Auu…….」

The youth tried to apologize to Seiya, but due to the overwhelming bloodlust, he couldn’t produce any words.

Looking at the trembling youth on the floor, Seiya confirmed something.

Threats are much more effective in the Great Dakuria Empire than in the Leiria Kingdom. He didn’t know why, but he felt his killing intent growing stronger the further he went from the Leiria Kingdom.

That same killing intent was used against the youth. There wasn’t supposed to be any physical binding effect connected to the killing intent, but he felt as if there was.

While he was thinking that, he heard an angry voice from behind. When he turned back, he saw the magicians, who were previously before the board or eating, staring at him.

「Hey brat. Laying your hand of the guild staff is a taboo here」
「If you don’t stop right now, the magicians present here won’t forgive you」
「There is an A rank here, you better be prepared」
「Even if you are able to capture a Glena Lion, it would be difficult for you with these numbers」
「You still have a chance to apologize」
「That’s right, you brat」

There were about 50 magicians saying those things.

The held their weapons and assumed a fighting stance, but their eyes were mostly directed at Yua, Lily, Selena, Mona, and Aishi.

The magicians used the pretext of protecting the guild’s stuff to cause problems for Seiya. Even so, no one was worried about the receptionist, they wanted to mess with Seiya and take his women.

Of course, Seiya, who was aware of their intentions, decided to release his pent-up stress.

「Do it if you want to, I’m not responsible for the consequences」
「Hmpf, brat, don’t let it get into your head. Let’s do it, guys! These women shall be ours! 」
「「「「「「Ooooooo~」」」」」」

The started chanting and creating one magic circle after another.

There were those who did it chantless. Most likely, they were the so-called A rank adventurers.

Looking at those magicians, Seiya retracted the pressure from the youth. After being released from the pressure, the youth felt his back drenched in sweat.

Somehow, he managed to cling to a chair intending to watch the confrontation between the adventurers and Seiya.

As expected, the magic circles created by about 50 magicians looked rather spectacular. Yua and Lily were calm, but the student council members, who weren’t aware of his abilities, prepared themselves for a battle.

「It’s all right!」said Lily towards the three.

The magicians kept creating the magic circles. However, Seiya wasn’t courteous enough to let them have it their way.

Pachin

As soon as Seiya waved his finger, all of the magic circles disappeared without a trace. It was due to Seiya’s『Dark Wave』.

The adventurers didn’t know what had happened for a moment, but soon enough understood that it was 『Dark Wave』.

The Dakurians won’t be shaken by just this. But they should have noticed.

The strangeness of Seiya’s『Dark Wave』being able to erase fifty magic circles. Even if the dark attribute is common here, being able to erase fifty magic circles in one go was clearly abnormal. Not just that, the magic circles were erased completely, nothing was left behind.

Seeing the circles disappear, the adventurers understood that he was able to use dark magic and switched to the weapons.

Some had swords, some katanas, some bows, and some chains, there were a plethora of weapons. However, in the end, no attacks were able to reach Seiya.

Gon!

When they thought that they heard such a sound, in the next moment, they felt great physical pressure descending upon them. That was Seiya’s killing intent. [¹]

However, it was in a different league compared to the killing intent he exerted on the youth. The bloodlust of Seiya, who at the moment remembered the eyes they used to look at Yua and Lily, reaped the consciousnesses of one adventurer after another.

After that, there were six of those who managed to keep their consciousnesses, but they didn’t have the will to fight any longer.

「Are we done?」
「「「Hi, hyiiiiiii~」」」

The still-conscious adventurers ran away from the guild in a pathetic manner. As Seiya saw them out, he rubbed the heads of Yua and Lily in satisfaction.

Receiving the headpats, they happily clung to him, but the student council members couldn’t understand what happened and just stood there absent-minded.

There was a person that wanted to speak with Seiya. It was the receptionist.

「Etto, about the Glena Lion, I think about buying it for 600 thousand grela」

Hearing those words, Seiya furrowed his brows.

He understood that it was a difference of thirty times but had no way to confirm whether it was the correct rate. Even if he tried to gauge the surrounding people’s reactions, there was no one there who could help him.

Without any other choice, Seiya decided to go on the offense.

「Ho, should I accept it?」
「W-What are you talking about?  It’s a normal rate! 」

Judging from his behavior, it should be the proper rate. However, they needed as much money as they could gather, so Seiya engaged in the negotiations once again.

「That’s not what I was talking about. It was regarding your ridiculous first assessment. Am I supposed to agree without receiving any consolation fee? 」
「Uu, I regret my decisions」
「Then you should understand」

Seiya was supposed to be the deceived victim, but the receptionist resembled a victim much more.

「How about 650 thousand grela?」
「……….」
「680 thousand grela」
「………」
「Then, then 700 thousand grela. How about it? This is my limit. It is impossible to increase any further! 」

Faced with silent Seiya, the receptionist said the biggest possible price, but Seiya wasn’t kind enough to let him off with just that.

「I see. So this is the limit. Then how about going above the limit to show your sincerity? 」
「Uh, how much do you want?」
「800 thousand grela」
「Don’t joke with me! This amount is just….! 」
「Who was the one who said 600 thousand and 20 thousand?」

Seiya didn’t apply any bloodlust on the youth, but his stare alone was enough to intimidate him.

「Or should I spread the rumors? The assessment here is……」
「Understood. 800 thousand.」
「Thanks」

Saying that, Seiya handed the Glena Lion together with the cage to the receptionist receiving a small pass box in exchange.

It looked more like a terminal than a box, but there were no buttons.

「This is?」
「This is? This is the IC Gater. It’s used when dealing with virtual grela」
「I see. Tell me how to use it while you are at it」
「Ha? Could it be that you don’t know? 」

When he heard that Seiya didn’t know how to use it, the youth assumed an unbelieving expression.

「Are you dissatisfied with something?」
「No, not at all」

After that, Seiya had the youth explain everything to him and then moved to find an inn to stay in.

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Thank you for reading. This time we have the people of Dakuria appear before us. That being said, they aren’t that different from the people of Leiria (-_-;)
I’m thinking of explaining it here, different from the clan system of Leiria, the system of adventurers and ranks has been implemented in Dakuria. Well, in simple terms, the ranks are something like elementary-intermediate-advanced classification of the Leiria Kingdom. I’m thinking of writing extensively about that part in the future. Next is the information collection in the city. If it if okay with you, please stay behind for the next story. [²]

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