«Is that so......? It was indeed abrupt.»
"Yeah, I'll occasionally come back here, but I want to stay by Teto's side as much as possible, so......"
«It's our duty as maids to respond to the Master's wish. Please be at ease and stay by Teto-sama's side.»
I went to the «Empty WIlderness» for a while through the «Transfer Gate», explained Teto's situation and the result of my meeting with the Eldar Forest Nation side to the others, and then went right back to the guest room in the Eldar Forest Kingdom.
"Good morning, Teto. ——«Charge»."
I didn't know what I should do in this situation, but feeling the pulse of Teto's mana emanating from the mud cocoon and pouring my mana into it, the pulse quickened as if she was delighted.
I took it as a sign that mana exchange at least wouldn't be harmful to Teto.
Afterwards, I would read the books I received from the Eldar Forest Kingdom and prepare the countermeasures against the intruders of the «Empty Wilderness» while waiting for Teto to awaken.
I then passed the measures I learned from Erneah-san to Baretta, and after some adjustments, we put them to work.
"Leaving it to Baretta and the others is the best and most efficient way."
With their exceptional operational ability, I could say with surety that they would lay down foolproof countermeasures against intruders.
Furthermore, mechanoids also loved making tools, so they'd be happy to make the required tools as long as I sent them the blueprint and the required materials.
Aside from them, Erneah-san would take me on a tour of the capital city, the villages, and the forest in her free time from her political duties, stating that staying holed up all the time was not good for one's mental health.
I also occasionally talked with Selene or Prince Gyunton through the communication tools, though for now I mostly stay in the Eldar Forest Kingdom.
The days turned into a year, and on one such day, I was passing my time in the company of Erneah-san, Altair-san, and Rorona-san——
"It would be nice if Teto-sama wakes up soon."
"Yeah. It has been a year since the evolution began......"
I asked Baretta and the other mechanoids how they evolved to high-ranking species of their kind, but they mostly happened when they were asleep, and none of them seemed to have exhibited such a clear sign of evolution.
As I was looking at the mud cocoon waiting for Teto to safely come out of it as it was the only thing I could do, the blind elf Rorona-san's eyes snapped open abruptly even though she shouldn't be able to do so and she underwent a sudden transformation.
«——Damn them! They have the guts to do that in my territory!»
"Rorona-san!?"
The usually serene and smiling Rorona-san suddenly said a harsh statement and turned her face toward the northwest direction, as if looking at somewhere far away.
Even the way she normally referred to herself in first-person had changed and her voice sounded doubled that for a moment I thought I was having an auditory hallucination. (T/N: Usual Japanese language problem. Rorona used boku which is used by boys instead of girls 'atashi'.)
"Hmm. Judging from her situation, could it be Goddess Leriel?"
"Leriel...... are you referring to an oracle?"
"Yes, Rorona's oracle is performed through housing the consciousness of a goddess in her body, who then uses her body as a medium to speak through her."
An oracle could sometimes manifest as visions of the Goddess, hearing her voice, or in this case, possessing and speaking through someone. Alternatively, oracles could also be given in other ways depending on the receiver's condition, such as encounters in dreams like mine.
Because Rorona-san was blind, she didn't have the strength to resolve the oracle herself even if she could receive them. Therefore, receiving the oracle through Rorona-san, the ones who act were the capable elves like Erneah-san.
«High Elf Queen and the apostle of Liliel onee-sama. I would like you to lend me your power.»
"What happened for you to appear so suddenly? Anyway, let's hear the reason first."
Facing the flustered Leriel in possession of Rorona-san as she raised her voice, Erneah-san first tried to calm her down.
«The human bunch in the west has forcefully triggered a dungeon stampede as their strategy to weaken the other nations! Soon, there will be hundreds of thousands of monsters overflowing from the dungeon!»
"Are they even sane to trigger a dungeon stampede?"
In this world, there were some unspeakable acts dubbed as 'forbidden tactics' that must not be used under any circumstances. One of them was triggering a dungeon stampede.
Normally, dungeons were formed on the surface of the earth veins to gradually disperse the mana emitting from underground onto the surface by transforming it into dungeon materials and mana stone.
However, situations like the accumulation of the mana from the earth veins could cause the phenomenon called stampede, producing large numbers of monsters and forcefully spreading the mana.
"Good grief, this is utterly foolish. There's no way humans can control tens or hundreds of thousands of monsters."
«Apparently, they intended to invade the other nation in the guise of subjugating the stampede too large for the other side, however, the table has been turned on them and now the monsters are overflowing beyond their expectations and are spreading everywhere.»
Altair promptly acted and took out a map of the continent's northwest on which Leriel, holding a pen, marked the movements of the monsters.
«This dungeon town was used to deliberately trigger the stampede. Not only have some monsters returned to the wild after freeing themselves from the dungeon's power, others attack people during the stampede.»
The place where the stampede occurred was a free city, a location where the borders of the two nations on the continent's west side and the Mubad Empire in the north intersected. A struggle had been ongoing revolving around that land.
And now, monsters were overflowing from the dungeon in the Free City spreading to various places.
"The western countries in that area have been fighting with each other over that territory for a long time, and the monsters have reached——"
-The Durge Principality, the enemy nation in the west and also the preparator behind this stampede; -The Palma theocracy, centered around the five goddess' church as their state religion with the pope at the top, in the southwest; -The Mubad Empire in the north; -And while ravaging the Christa Kingdom to the east, they were also heading toward the border of the Iska kingdom, the center of the continent.
Altair-san gasped when Leriel pointed out the routes the monsters were going to take through her oracle.
In the meanwhile, a doubt about the stampede suddenly came to my mind.
"How in the world does one even trigger a stampede in the first place?
A dungeon stampede was a phenomenon that occurred due to the saturation of mana. So if one wanted to cause a stampede, they would have to introduce a large amount of mana from somewhere.
«This is the vexing part, they sacrificed humans inside the dungeon to produce the mana.»
Sacrificial rites weren't that efficient.
The amount of mana one person could generate in their whole life could be calculated based on their amount of magic power multiplied by the number of days of their lifespan.
When sacrificing, it was possible to gain vast amounts of mana in a short time frame by forcefully squeezing out the sacrificed people's mana and shortening their lifespan, but it was far less than the amount of mana that could have originally been obtained from that person.
According to Leriel, they secretly carried a large number of people into the dungeon and then sacrificed them for their nefarious plan.
"However the cause and effect isn't just limited to that. Under the influence of the resentful cries of the sacrificed and their mana, the dungeon takes away even the soul of those humans drifting in space-time unable to reincarnate and turn them into monsters.»
"......The soul of a human unable to reincarnate?"
I reflexively tilted my head in puzzlement at the foreign terminology.
It seemed like even Erneah-san and Altair-san felt an unease premonition at Leriel's words as they implored her with their gaze to explain what exactly transpired there in detail.
«I think I should have dropped a tower at the place of Onee-sama's apostle, right? A 'Space-time Flotsam'.»
"Ah, yeah...... It was the building that had been swallowed into the space-time gap during the mana experiment 2000 years ago if I'm not wrong?"
«That's right. But you should know that what it swallowed wasn't just the building, noh?»
"I see...... So those are the souls of the people who drifted away from this world."
Facing Erneah-sama who also understood the gist, Leriel nodded in affirmation.
I have heard that the Netherworld Goddess Loriel fell into slumber due to the large number of deaths of people who couldn't adapt to the low-mana environment caused by the recklessness of the magic civilization 2000 years ago. However, at the same time, I was also told that another reason was due to the sudden disappearance of souls which were swallowed by the space-time gap.
«The subspace of the dungeon and the outside world are like neighboring places for me who control space and time. Their sacrifice this time inspired the large number of souls who still had lingering attachment to flow into the dungeon and merged with the mana, transforming into undead monsters.»
Originally, the dungeons served as a training ground for the people to raise their level and also to deal with the accumulated mana of the earth veins.
Leriel, in possession of Rorona-san, made a regretful expression as she failed in stopping them from disturbing that equilibrium in time.
"So, how much time do we have?"
«What's done is done, but we only have two weeks left. According to my prediction, the powerful monsters that will emerge from the dungeon will strike the east first. I need your power in defeating them.»
In a dungeon, the closer to the upper strata the monsters were, the weaker they are, and vice versa. So, people could have the time to escape to some extent, but it was a stampede that occurred without any prior warning.
Furthermore, a glance at the situation drawn on the map was enough to explain that the living space for people was in decline and the land was turning into a demon-infested region.
"So, Chise, what will you do?"
"I......"
I glanced at Teto's mud cocoon.
I didn't want to leave Teto alone for long, but I also couldn't sit calmly after knowing countless lives of innocent people were in danger.
"Fine. I'll immediately head to the «Empty Wilderness» and begin to prepare the countermeasures."
"A desperate time it is, huh......? I can't send people to the Eldar Forest Kingdom, but we will be sending mana potions as relief supplies. And, I will also join Chise on the frontline."
«Much appreciated...... I'm really glad I could rely on you.»
Leriel's presence vanished as she smiled after saying that. Erneah-san and I supported the body of Rorona-san who slumped down as if strength had left her body.
"Let's start with our preparations, Chise."
"Yea, I'll head to the scene right away."
"You fool...... This is a war with monsters. We need to be prepared to confront them. For now, the fort and town soldiers can deal with the monsters that have come out from the shallow floors of the dungeon. Our main dish is the monsters from the deepest layers! We need to gather our spirits and prepare until then!"
Receiving the harsh scolding of Erneah-san, I recalled the stampede in the dungeon city Apanemis. And also the admonishing senior A-rank adventurer Alscae-san who told me to think more carefully about the importance of waiting and the allocation of strength. "......Thank you. I will not rush away."
"That being said, Chise. You must have made a choice looking at Teto's cocoon earlier, noh? If you need to choose, then try to grab the best of both sides until the very limit! You should also think about marching toward the battlefield with Teto!"
"Fufu...... What are you even saying, is this your way of encouraging me?"
I reflexively chuckled at the words of Erneah-san. Erneah-san too, flashed a grin at my reaction.
"It's just my hunch...... If it's her, she will surely make it in time. After all, she is your protector. I doubt she can bear watching you leaving for the battlefield without your protector by your side."
If it was Teto, certainly it was possible, I thought. Then, I spent the next two weeks in a flurry.
