"Demon King, Tell Them My Dying Wish" V7 Chapter 2 - Silence More Like Singing
Kasheeeen!
A high-pitched sound echoed. A man fell to the ground cursing as his sword was bitten into by something that looked like a dog. As the man rushed to get up, another dog jumped on him from a different direction. He screamed in desperation.
But, at that moment—
"I release, the Sword of Light!"
Orphen released a photothermal wave that shot through the dog like an arrow of light. It was a large dog with wings, just like the one from before. Its eyes protruded from its head, giving it a rather bizarre appearance. However, that was all there was to it once it was shot through. The dog was blown away by the impact and fell powerlessly to the ground.
Grrrr — The other dog furiously growled at its flaming companion. It immediately changed its target to him, let out a loud howl, and rushed forward. Orphen shouted back at it while standing directly in front of the dog.
"Guide me, Deathcry Startling!"
Destructive vibrations rippled from the tip of his finger and converged on the dog directly in front of him. The inaudible sound made his eardrums itch. The dog suddenly jerked away mid-leap, yelped out a single cry, and collapsed on the spot. At the same time, the skin all over the dog's body was torn to tiny shreds, spurting fresh blood.
Orphen rushed up to the dog, which was now writhing on the ground and brought his heel down as hard as he could. The robust boot caught the dog's head, silencing it. Black fluid spilled from its muzzle as it lay motionless.
Cleao, who'd been following close behind, shouted at him.
"... Orphen, that's awful!"
Her eyes were narrowed as if in protest.
"What do you want me to do?"
"You should study up on cuter ways to defeat them, ways that'll make girls like you more."
"Well, there's nothing wrong with that, but..."
Orphen mumbled something and fell silent. Majic ran up to the man who was lying on the ground, looking up at them, stunned.
"A-Are you okay?"
Even when asked, the man's mouth remained open, in total shock. He was so stunned that he'd forgotten to pick up the sword that he'd dropped.
Majic continued while placing his luggage down somewhere.
"Are you hurt? What on earth is going on? We're in trouble too, but will you thank us for saving your life? Anyway, don't you think it's better not to get involved in something like this?"
"You're not making any sense, Majic."
"But it's all truuuee!"
Majic, still in the position of caring for the man, held his head and screamed to himself as Cleao dutifully pointed out the flaws in his ramblings.
Then—
The man finally spoke up. He opened his mouth wide and pointed behind him.
"AAAaaaahhhh!?"
The line had no meaning, but the implications were easy enough to understand. Orphen quickly braced himself and turned to face where the man was pointing. Three dogs were coming straight at him. Behind the dogs was a man lying on the ground, apparently already dead.
He was about to raise his right hand as usual, when Cleao reminded him.
"Orphen, remember, make it cute this time!"
"Oh!"
He responded, taking a deep breath, then wove a composition and released it.
"I release, the Sword of Light ♥"
The flash of light forcibly ripped apart the creatures, turning into a raging torrent of heat that blackened the three targets in an instant.
"............"
Cleao mumbled something to herself, gazing blankly at the targets, which had been turned to charcoal and were no longer moving.
"So... You just add a"♥" now?"
Orphen nodded gravely as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"It was a dangerous attempt."
"Was it really that hard, Orphen?"
"Yes it's that hard! I just settle things by force, I don't even think about it!"
"What stupid crap are you two on about!?"
Majic yelled at him — He looked over and saw him pointing in random directions.
"This place is still crawling with those weird things! This is no time to act carefree—"
it looked like there were still countless dogs hanging about as he looked around, but they hadn't surrounded them. A number of human bodies were laying all over the place — probably the man's companions. Every one of them was on the ground and looked to be dead. There was still some distance to go before they reached the building — maybe fifty meters from their current spot — but the dogs were flooding out of the building.
Even so, Orphen and Cleao ignored him and continued to argue.
"The way you punch things, Orphen, is just disgusting. It's more like a gross thud. Shouldn't it be a cute little 'bop'?"
"If an opponent could be defeated with a cute little 'bop' I'd go with that, but the way I learned to fight from my Master was basically 'kick and stomp.'"
"Please listen to meeeee!"
Majic screamed.
Then—
"Y-you...!"
He turned towards the unfamiliar voice and saw the other man getting up. His voice trembled as he continued.
"What is this all of a sudden? Who are you? Were you the ones who helped me?"
"Yes."
Cleao answered only his last question. The man seemed to be in disbelief when the girl nodded her head, but he continued on, as if he were determined to hang on to any hope he could.
"I-is that so? In that case, thank you — But, um, I have a favor to ask you."
"You want us to help you, don't you? Well... I don't know if I'd say you're lucky, but there aren't any other survivors left besides you."
Orphen said bluntly, then looked around. The dogs were relentless in their attack on the dead and fallen, but when they got tired of that, they'd be coming at them in droves.
"If it's just you, I can manage to get you out of here. We're not surrounded yet."
He said, turning in the direction that he'd come from. However, the man grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"No, wait! We can't."
"Huh?"
Orphen shouted and turned around.
"We can't leave, and we can't hesitate, or we'll all be joining the dead!"
The man pleaded desperately. His breathing was ragged as he pointed his torn up arm towards the building.
"D-don't worry about me — You're sorcerer, aren't you? Then, my boss — you have to save my boss!"
"Boss?"
Orphen asked back. But — before he could answer — he realized and whispered quickly.
"Then, are you guys part of a bandit gang!?"
"It's not like that!"
The man immediately shook his head. He picked up the fallen sword and groaned.
"No... we're uh, tomb raiders..."
"To—"
Orphen's face twitched, at a loss for words.
"Tomb raiders!? Damn, this is such a hassle..."
"Orphen?"
Cleao asked, a strange look on her face. Orphen glanced at her and scratched his head.
"... Well, whatever. It's none of my business. So, you said you wanted us to save your boss?"
"Y-yes — That's right. Please..."
Just as the man was about to speak—
Flap, a shadow fell over them. When he looked up, he saw another one of those dogs gliding towards him with its wings spread out, the moon glowing behind it.
"Oh, they actually can fly? Move it...!"
Orphen shouted as he pushed the man away. Then he jumped back himself. The dog landed in front of him. As soon as it hit the ground, at such speed that it was practically free-falling, it shot right at him like a ricocheting bullet.
(I can't intercept it in time!)
Orphen made a quick decision and covered his face with his arms. If the dog stopped moving for even a moment, he'd be able to hit it with a spell — That is, as long as it didn't kill him in a single blow. Just a moment passed. The dog was already right in front of him.
Gah—! Then, he was pushed back. An unexpected amount of force struck him down from above his guarded stance, and his back hit the ground. However, even as he was falling, he was knitting together a magical composition.
"I fire, a magic bullet of the lightning!"
At the same time, he raised his left hand. Yet, the light bullet born in the palm of his hand failed to find its target, and simply fizzled out — Orphen looked up at the empty night sky in shock. Surely the dog that'd lunged into his arm a moment ago should've been there.
(No way...!?)
Orphen hurriedly stood up. Then—
"Geeeaahhhhh!"
He heard a scream.
The dog was standing over the man he'd just shoved away, swinging its bug-eyed head with such force that it seemed like it might break. Every time the dog's head touched the man's body, a cloud of blood danced in the air. It was... devouring him.
(When it shoved me down, the recoil must've sent it off in that direction...!)
Just a breath later — the man's screams stopped.
"Damn!"
Orphen growled and tried to run up to him — the dog reacted immediately and jumped away from the man. Landing on the ground, the dog glared at him, its eyes darting back and forth as if trying to confirm something. Then suddenly — he turned to look off into the distance.
"............?"
Orphen stopped, puzzled. He followed the dog's gaze and saw Cleao standing there. She was just standing still, stiff as a board, perhaps from the sight of the blood.
The dog snarled. It lunged and tried to pounce on her—
Then it was engulfed in pure white flames, and just like that, it was disintegrated. When he looked, he saw the black puppy above Cleao's head with its twin green eyes wide open.
This puppy, which had for some reason taken a liking to Cleao, was in fact no ordinary creature. It was the child of a warrior race that guarded the dragon sanctuary in the depths of Fenrir Forest, one of the most feared tribes on the continent. Commonly referred to as the Deep Dragons, this race used the most powerful sorcery. They were a race of dark magic users who manipulated the spirit world with absolute power. Certainly, with that kind of sorcery, there were no monster dogs that could compare.
"T... Thank you."
Orphen rushed over towards the man as Cleao patted the baby dragon on her head. He gestured to Cleao and Majic, who were about to approach with him, to stay away, then he looked at the man's mutilated face.
There was nothing left of his nose or cheekbones, and not even his eyes remained. He was in no condition for the others to get a clear look at him. Healing spells would no longer be effective at this point, so there was nothing more that could be done.
He heard the man's muffled, groaning voice. It was hard to hear over the barking of the surrounding dogs, and the screams of others.
"My... boss... is in... the Kamisunda... theater..."
"Theater?"
As Orphen listened, he looked up at the huge building with the towering spire. The man continued.
"The... Kamisunda theater was built... 200 years ago. It holds... a secret. Our boss... knew this, and sent our... friends. Three people and... two newcomers... They led us to this building... Herk!"
He said, choking on his own blood. He wanted to remove it, but felt like doing so would only make him bleed more.
"I... and the others were supposed to stay here... and wait for our Boss. But... after a while, these... monsters... came out of the... building... and everyone... died—"
The man's voice suddenly grew quiet as he groaned, and just like that—
All he knew now was that there'd been zero survivors. Well no, not zero, not if that boss of theirs was still alive.
"... I get it."
Orphen nodded to a body that was no longer listening. He looked up at Cleao in the distance.
"You guys—"
Just as he started to speak Cleao quickly interjected, turning her head away so as not to look at the corpse.
"We're not running away first. You always say that."
"Besides..."
Majic went on to say. He paled a little — and looked around.
"It's already too late..."
"What?"
Orphen shouted and looked around. Speechless, he backed away.
"When did they...?"
He was more in despair than awe. The countless dogs that'd been mauling the corpses earlier had now surrounded them, somehow without them even noticing.
There must've been dozens of them. Their eyes shined in the darkness. They were about 10 meters away, cutting off all four avenues of retreat. Some were growling, clawing at the ground with their paws. With this fan-shaped encirclement — the only escape route, if you could even call it that — was the entrance of the building.
No more dogs were coming out of the entrance — the entrance of the Kamisunda Theater, or whatever it was he'd called it. The entryway, with its doors open, was pitch black, inviting them in like the center of a whirlpool.
"Are we going to... break through?"
Majic asked. However, Orphen shook his head.
"There are too many of them, and even if we ran away, I don't know how long we'd last before we ran out of breath. There's no way you can escape from a dog that's running, nevermind one that can fly."
"Well then, what we are going to do?"
Cleao asked. Orphen reluctantly indicated toward the building with his chin.
"We'll barricade ourselves in there. There's nothing else we can do..."
"But the monsters came out of there, didn't they!?"
Orphen sighed as Majic screamed, half in tears.
"They're not coming out of the building anymore though, so we'll just have to bet on there being no more of them inside."
"But that's—"
"Let's go!"
Orphen shouted, ducked, and ran toward the theater. Cleao and Majic followed him. Yet, for some reason, the dogs didn't seem to take chase.
Even so, he never knew when they might attack on a whim. With them running as fast as they could, they reached the entrance in about 10 seconds. The theater didn't have a spacious hall, being more along the lines of a large apartment. The entrance was narrow, with a double-sided swinging door on each side. There were no lights in the building, and as darkness reigned, there was also no sign of further dogs lying in wait. After confirming as much, he let Majic and Cleao go in first — and finally, Orphen jumped into the building as well.
Then he closed the door as hard as he could. With a bang, even the moonlight, which had been shining within to some extent, was shut out, and the building was plunged into darkness.
It had windows, of course, which he'd seen from outside — but it was pitch black, as if they'd been boarded up from within.
"Are... are we saved?"
Majic asked, gasping for air. It was dark and he couldn't see his face anymore, but Orphen made a blind guess and turned towards him.
"No. They might still come biting at the door from outside, so we can't let our guard down."
He answered, then turned his palm upward.
"I bring forth, a tiny spirit!"
And from the palm of his hand, a blue-white wisp appeared with a small pop. The light, which wasn't very bright, illuminated the inside of the building.
Orphen wasn't familiar with how the theater was laid out — it was somewhat different from the types of theaters one might find in a large city. They were still standing quite close to the entrance door. Each of the doors was quite large, and it took a certain amount of force to open it. If the dogs came at them, they wouldn't be able to close the doors as easily as they had before. When they'd entered, they'd ended up in the lobby.
There was a red carpet, which turned purple in the blue light. It was quite old, and its blackish color must've been due to discoloration. It was worn out and covered with footprints here and there. Though, of course, if the dogs had come running out of this place, they must've been hanging out here, so it was only natural.
The lobby itself was quite spacious, measuring about 20 meter in both directions, and about 14 to 15 meters deep. The interior wasn't very elaborate, but it seemed like it must've cost a lot of money. The whole structure was made of wood. There was a counter, something like a reception desk off to the right side. Of course, it was unmanned now.
There were no doors or passageways leading beyond the lobby, just a large staircase leading to the second floor. Two statues stood on the landing, facing the stairs. One was a woman with wings sprouting from her upper arms, and the other was a man standing on his hands, with the head of a bull.
"Those statues..."
Orphen had an idea of what they were, but before he could even think about it, he heard a shout.
"Aaaahhh!"
There was a startled voice — and with a jolt, Orphen turned to see that it was Cleao who'd screamed. The girl was staring at Majic, her blonde hair brushed back.
"What is it?"
Majic asked in an anxious tone. Cleao pointed at him and continued.
"You didn't bring my luggage!"
"Oh, t-that's right."
Majic groaned in dismay. He held out his hands and started making excuses.
"After all the commotion... I couldn't run with all that stuff."
"Then you could have at least brought my sword!"
"... I'd rather us leave it behind forever."
Orphen tried to interject from the sidelines, but she didn't seem to listen. Instead, she gabbed the boy by the neck and started screaming.
"You left my luggage out there in the middle of all those weird dogs! I'm sure they've snatched it and buried it somewhere by now! Dogs do that, you know!"
"I-I don't think that'll be a problem..."
Majic was powerlessly defending himself, but there'd never been a case where he'd succeeded in escaping such circumstances. She began to rant and rave as she shook him back and forth.
"Tish found it for me! If it goes missing again, I'll have you find it! It's practically a momento from my father—"
If it was so important, she should've kept it on her person, but it didn't matter to Orphen either way. As he watched her throw a fit, knowing that it wasn't his problem (on the grounds of her not directing the blame at him), he suddenly noticed that the baby dragon ontop of her head swiftly stood up.
Leki's tail was stretched out — and he was looking toward the landing. His eyes beautiful and clear. Reflected in his twin green eyes, a symbol of the continent's most powerful race, was the image of the two statues... He couldn't see that, but he understood the gesture.
Orphen followed suit and shifted his gaze to the statues. Of course, they didn't look like natural creatures, but Orphen knew what the two statues represented.
(If those are... then, this is — I see. The Kamisunda Theater! How could I not have noticed? It's said that two hundred years ago, the king was also invited to the Theater.)
"I got it!"
Orphen turned around with a shout. He looked to Majic, who was still being strangled by Cleao, his white eyes rolled back in his head and his arms hanging limp.
"Hey..."
Stiffening for a moment, Orphen shook his fist.
"Why is he suddenly unconscious?"
"Huh?"
Cleao asked back — as if she hadn't noticed until it was pointed out. She blinked her eyes and looked into Majic's face again.
He was out cold, his head slumped over and limp.
Cleoa started shaking him.
"Hey, that's right! Are you so soft that you're just going to hang there after just four pointy elbow jabs!?"
"Hey, I was talking to you!"
Orphen shouted as he walked up to Cleao and pointed a finger at the tip of her nose.
"Eh!?"
She looked at him in confusion. After dropping Majic's head with a thud, she hurriedly pushed it back up, probably intending to continue.
"It's just, it's just... Majic is just so horrible. It would've been nice if he'd at least brought my sword with him."
"What'd be so great about that?"
With those words, he yanked Majic from Cleao's hands. As he laid the boy on the floor, Orphen let out a deep sigh.
"You know... I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a while now, but why are you so violent?"
"There's nothing violent about me."
Cleao replied with a nonchalant look. Orphen closed his eyes in meditation for a moment — though at this point he wondered if he should literally take up meditation — and let out a sigh, then he stood up.
"Listen. I'm not saying this just because you're a woman, but if you can't be kind to others, then it makes you half the person you could be."
"... That's not convincing in the slightest, Orphen."
"Hush. To put it simply, it'd be good for you to have a role model. My sisters, when they were young—"
Just as he was about to say it, Orphen suddenly stopped. So many memories came flooding back to him, and whatever it was he'd wanted to say fell to pieces.
After a moment of hesitation, Orphen suddenly continued.
"I see. You might actually be calmer than I thought."
"I'd love to ask what memories you were comparing me to, but I don't want to ruin the mood, so I won't."
Cleao muttered, turning a little pale.
"Right."
Orphen simply nodded and waved his hand in front of Majic's unconscious face.
He was actually grateful, because on some level he wanted to forget those memories. That didn't resolve anything in the end, but it didn't really matter.
"By the way, Orphen, what were you about to say just now?"
Cleao asked, as she bent down beside Majic's unconscious body. As she crouched down, Leki tilted his head back even further to look up at the landing, so far that he fell onto his back and then right down to the floor.
Watching him, he replied.
"... This building. It's the Kamisunda Theater."
"That's what that guy just said."
"That's right, isn't it. I'd forgotten — Did you learn about it in history class?"
Orphen waved his hand toward the staircase landing. Towards the two statues, strangely and fantastically illuminated by the dim light of the wisp...
"Look, those statues. A pair, an angel and a demon. Better known as the Swedenboli Angel and the Swedenboli Demon."
"... What's that mean?"
"Man — This is such a pain. There's a myth from before the history of Kiesalhima. Did I ever tell you about the dragon races stealing magical secrets from the gods?"
"Yeah. I remember that."
Cleao nodded and carefully picked up Leki, holding him to her chest.
Orphen continued, pointing at the baby dragon — one of the very dragon races he was speaking of.
"However, there was a god whose secrets weren't stolen by the dragon races. He was the king of all things, known as Swedenboli. He planned to wage war against the other gods and reign as the sole god himself, and thus, he was referred to as the Demon King. Demon King Swedenboli."
"Really."
She chuckled, not all that interested.
"... So, what's wrong with that?"
"The Demon King Swedenboli was followed by Swedenboli's Angels and Demons, you see. Do you understand?"
"Well, it's good that they have a name, I guess."
Cleao blew lightly on Leki's ears to pass the time. She looked at Leki as he drew back in surprise, then smiled and hugged him again.
"You don't get it, do you?"
Orphen sighed hopelessly.
"The most widespread religious organization on the continent, the Kimrak Church, loaths the Demon King's name."
"... Loaths?"
Cleao asked back, as if she didn't understand what he meant. He cleared his throat and rephrased.
"Well, because they see him as dangerous, or taboo, or something. Either way, they just hate him."
He said in a huff.
"If that's the case, why didn't you just say so from the beginning? You're just paraphrasing what you've read in textbooks, aren't you?"
"You're so annoying."
Orphen was playing along — although she was actually right on the money — and continued.
"I mean, they worship the three fates. The Demon King is the supreme king of the gods, who's actively trying to destroy the three goddesses of fate, whom they worship. The mere act of creating a statue featuring the Demon King's servants, something that's forbidden by the church, would draw complaints from people. Yet this is the only place on the continent that has them — so it's quite a famous story."
"I don't know about that."
Cleao shook her head nonchalantly.
"The only stuff I remember from history class is when the aristocrats had the last king charged with double homicide and had him hung. I also learned that the thirteenth mayor of Urban Rama was a pervert who used to throw cow entrails at his wife every Sunday, and when his son saw him doing this, he committed suicide, but I'm sure you knew about that, Orphen."
"Your history teacher sounds like they were a bit on the strange side...?"
Half awake and groaning, Orphen continued.
"Well, if you don't know, it's not like you need to, but the Kamisunda Theater is a historical building built two hundred years ago. It's where the famous play "The Demon King" was performed. The king of the time was invited here as well."
— He stood up, and looked up at the landing again. The Angel and the Demon, who've probably been standing in the same place since then — were staring blankly at the entrance to the lobby. At them, that was.
"But it's deserted now, isn't it? I can't believe it became a den for all those dogs."
Cleao said, appropriately, while ignoring him for Leki. Orphen ruffled his hair, then continued.
"Yeah... but I don't think it's really their den. The day the king was invited to the last performance, for some reason, he was extremely displeased — he ordered the execution of everyone associated with this theater as well as its demolition."
Then, as if feeling something odd, Cleao looked up. Orphen looked back at her suspicious eyes and grinned.
Then, feeling that he hadn't quite been clear, he continued.
"That's right — it was supposed to be demolished, and should no longer exist in this world. The Kamisunda Theater..."
It wasn't until a few minutes had passed that Majic woke up.
"... Are we going to explore this creepy place?"
He said fearfully as he climbed the stairs of the landing — As Orphen climbed the stairs ahead of him, he looked back over his shoulder.
"It'd be a shame if we didn't look for that boss of theirs, if they're really here."
"Well, yeah, that's true, but..."
Majic groaned. Cleao, walking beside him, interrupted with Leki on her head.
"But what are you going to do after you find him? Those dogs outside have this place surrounded."
"Yeah, that's certainly a concern..."
Orphen stopped when he reached the landing. He checked the knife in his jacket and continued.
"I'll think about that when it's time to leave, but if those monsters came from this theater, maybe we'll be able to find their weak point by searching around a bit."
"Can't you just ask Leki to transport us, Cleao?"
Majic suggested, in a somewhat depressed tone. Cleao shook her head with a shrug.
"I can't. I don't even know how to ask."
As it turned out— the Deep Dragon puppy always listened to Cleao's commands, but he was always a little off on what her intentions were. Furthermore, regarding this case in particular, Cleao wasn't sure how to express her request to weave a complex magical composition such as spatial transitioning.
They would've had more hope if she'd ordered him to burn away all the dogs he could see, but with so many of them, it was a risky gamble she couldn't take.
"I guess we'll just have to take care of this ourselves."
Cleao mumbled with a sigh.
By that time, the three of them had reached the landing. To the left and right were the statues of the Angel and Demon, with plaques set into their pedestals.
"... Those were gifts given by the royal family when the theater was built."
Orphen explained to them as he read the plaque.
"It bears the royal seal — which is why the Kimrak Church couldn't make too big of a fuss at the time. The Kimrak Church, as it still is today, acquired its status as the state religion by joining the Aristocratic Federation."
"......Right."
Cleao and Majic nodded, as if they were on a complete social studies field trip. Orphen took his eyes off the plaque and continued.
"The Sorcerers Alliance welcomed them, too. After all, both the Aristocratic Federation and the Sorcerers Alliance had come to regard the previously prevailing Dragon Faith as dangerous for a variety of reasons. Promoting the rise of the Kimrak Church was their lifeline."
"... What do you mean about them seeing the Dragon Faith as dangerous?"
Majic asked doubtfully. With a snap of his fingers, Orphen started his explanation — probably just reciting from a textbook.
"It goes without saying that for sorcerers, there was the threat of sorcerer hunts. The Nornir disappeared from the earth two hundred years ago. However, the dragon worshippers, incited by the Nornir, were determined to eradicate the sorcerers of the world, even if they had to do it on their own. The Aristocratic Federation... they didn't want the Nornir in the world. Mainly because of matters such as ownership of the continent's ruins and... the fact that they were the original rulers of the continent. As long as the Nornir were still alive, the Aristocracy's right to rule was unjustified. Thus, the dragon worshippers who believed that they were still alive somewhere on the continent were a nuisance."
"So what about the Kimrak Church?"
"Well, that's the thing. It didn't make much sense, especially to the Sorcerers Alliance, but soon after the Kimrak Church called for the execution of all sorcerers."
Orphen said lightly, but Cleao, who was listening intently, didn't seem convinced. She pouted and mumbled.
"So they were trying to take advantage of each other. That's kind of sneaky."
"I don't deny it, but back then... there was no other way to do things. It was still the early days of human society. The Sorcerers Alliance, Aristocratic Federation, and Kimrak Church weren't yet at a stage where they could sustain their organizational power on their own."
"Yeah..."
She still didn't seem convinced, but he couldn't help it. Orphen absentmindedly tapped Leki on her head and pointed to the back of the landing.
"Well, that's enough of show-and-tell. Let's head deeper into the building."
At the end of the landing, there was a double-sided door. Orphen walked up to it and lightly checked the knob. It was unlocked.
"I'll open it, just stay back a bit."
Orphen said, then motioned them back with a hand gesture. He turned the knob and pulled the door open.
As soon as the door opened, Orphen jumped back and moved the wisp to the other side of the door. The pitch-black darkness was suddenly illuminated. What he saw under the light was...
Orphen rushed to close the door. The wisp was shut out, and their side of the door plunged into darkness. Yet after a while, the wisp came through the door, and the area brightened up again.
Orphen glanced over... then fearfully turned around. As expected, Cleao and Majic were standing stiff, their eyes wide. Cleao even had tears in her eyes. As soon as their eyes met, the girl's petite body began to tremble.
"Kyyaaaaaaaaa!"
She began to scream at an incredible volume.
"Orphen! Just now! There! There was a dead body on the groooouuunnnd!"
"You're being too loud!"
Orphen yelled in protest. He tightly gripped the girl's shoulders as she crouched down in a panic right then and there.
"So what, there were plenty of dead bodies lying around outside!"
"I mean, it was dark outside, I couldn't even tell if they were dead or nooooooot!"
"Just! Calm down!"
Orphen shook her shoulders roughly, though it was seeming more and more like he'd have to pour water on her to calm her down. He saw Majic, who was standing next to him crouching down, and called out to him.
"You too! Try and calm her down someho—Aaahh!?"
Majic just sat there quietly, and vomited.
"What's with you all of a sudden!? If you're going to throw up, go over to a corner or something!"
Orphen patted Cleao's back as she continued to scream and yell, feeling like he was going crazy himself. Leki, too, was backing away, like he was scared of something.
When Majic looked up, he seemed a little blue in the face. He groaned and spoke up in a husky voice.
"How can you say that, Master... when you show me something so gruesome..."
"Oh please. I want to throw up too!"
Orphen gave up trying to appease Cleao. He stood up and turned towards the door again.
"I'm going to go in there and do some... field work, and figure out what's going on, so please try to calm Cleao down."
"Yeah..."
Majic nodded weakly, seeming as if he no longer had the energy to complain. He turned away and started walking.
"I'll be taking the light with me, so you'll need to make your own. You're not to move until I say so."
"I understand..."
Hearing Majic's reply, Orphen grabbed the door knob once again. This time he opened it narrowly and slipped inside. He didn't want to escalate Cleao's panic any worse than it was.
"Cleao, are you okay?"
"Nooooooooo!? It smells sour in heeerreee!"
Hearing such cries, Orphen passed through the gap in the door.
A few minutes later, he returned to the landing of the lobby.
He opened the door — and only poked his face in to see Cleao and Majic sitting in the corner of the landing. He didn't know how their nerves were handling things right now, but they seemed more relaxed than he thought they would be.
"Are you done?"
Majic asked. Orphen nodded silently and glanced at Cleao. He decided it looked safe for now, and motioned for them to come.
"You can come in now."
"Really?"
Cleao stopped, mumbling. Majic stood up slowly and followed suit. However, he looked at him suspiciously.
"If you say that, and we do as we're told and go in there only to find something more insane, she'll start crying on the spot. She won't stop crying for a while, either."
"Don't make threats like that... It's scary."
Groaning, he invited them both in.
Next to the lobby was a hall. It was quite spacious, but it wasn't furnished with chandeliers and other furnishings — which was natural since it was made out of wood — but rather decorated like a sports grounds. The floorboards were shiny after being rubbed smooth by countless shoes, and there were round pillars that seemed to have been made by combining several pieces of wood. There were white benches here and there. Apparently, this place had once been used as a waiting room.
At the back there was a large double door and a staircase leading back down in front of them. The staircase itself was quite wide, and the handrails and other parts seemed like they must've taken a ton of time and money to construct.
Just after entering the room, there was a pile of charcoal and ashes where the dead body had been lying earlier. Both Majic and Cleao seemed to have noticed right away. They pointed and asked.
"Um, Master, is this...?"
"Yeah. I burned him. He wasn't breathing, and I couldn't bear to look at them."
"I guess so..."
Cleao looked into the ashes, softy mumbling. He didn't stop her, but Orphen looked at her and quietly added.
"There was... enough for two bodies."
"Huh? There were more dead bodies?"
Majic asked, and Orphen nodded.
"All over the place."
"Huh?"
"They were in pieces. When I put it all together, it was enough for a second person."
"Ugh..."
Majic groaned, holding the pit of his stomach as if he were suddenly feeling ill.
Scratching his hair, Orphen took a deep breath — and swallowed, trying to calm the knot in his own stomach.
"I burned them, too, and that's when I noticed..."
He pointed to a wall in the hallway, at whichever wall was closest.
Then he shouted.
"I release, the Sword of Light!"
A photothermal wave struck the wall—
When the flames had subsided, there wasn't a single mark on the wall. It was stained with soot, but that was about it.
"? — What is this?"
Cleao's eyes blinked and she asked in a confused voice.
Orphen pulled his arm back and mumbled.
"There's not a scratch on the wall or the floor. I thought it was strange that a building like this, made of wood, could stand for two hundred years without renovations, but it seems to be shielded by sorcery."
"Sorcery?"
"Yeah."
Orphen replied, turning to Cleao and the others.
"I think there's probably some Wyrd Graphs somewhere in the theater that provides protection. Only the Nornir's Wyrds could last for hundreds of years. If that's the case, though, does that mean this theater was built by the Nornir..?"
"Would that matter?"
Orphen looked up at the ceiling — its flat surface flickering with the wisp. He let his gaze wander for a while, then looked back at the two of them.
"It's a long story, but not a complicated one. Remember what that guy said about tomb raiding?"
"Yeah. You said it was a pain in the ass, Orphen."
"All artifacts on the continent are now basically owned by the Aristocratic Federation. There are some ruins that officially belong to the Sorcerers Alliance, that they made deals for, but those are quite few in number and hidden away by the Alliance..."
Orphen shrugged.
"The ruins are the forts and whatnot that were left behind when the Nornir disappeared from the face of the earth. Fort Basilicok, which was hidden underneath of Alenhatam is a typical example. The Aristocratic Federation, professing to be the successors of the Nornir, decreed by continental law that all remains and legacies of the Nornir belong to them. The thieves are the ones who ignore this decree and ravage the remains. The scary thing is that this isn't just theft and robbery, but treason. It's called treason against the crown, the penalties for which aren't light."
"Huh..."
Majic responded enthusiastically. Orphen continued.
"But, well, this is the west after all — it's not realistic to fear the Aristocratic Federation. What I'm really afraid of is..."
Orphen stopped talking. Three pairs of eyes — including Leki's — were staring up at him. He indicated the wall that'd been struck by the photothermal wave moments ago.
"The possibility that Nornir's sorcery is involved in this theater. Then, in an attempt to sniff out this place's secrets, or whatever, a burglar broke in. Having all of this information, there's only one possible conclusion — That this theater is one of the sites of the Nornir. It was probably built by them two hundred years ago."
Then he withdrew his finger from the wall and pointed with his thumb to the ashes on the floor.
"There have already been casualties. Now this might just be statistics, but most of the Nornir's ruins have some sort of guardian installed to keep intruders out..."
"! Then..."
Majic finally realized as a look of shock streaked across his face. Cleao was still in a daze, perhaps not quite sure what he meant.
"That's right."
Orphen nodded and looked around the hall. The empty halls didn't respond a single echo.
"It means that even inside this theater, it's never safe."
The silence rang more like a song, reciting their concerns.
