[So, youre going to slip into the Holy Alliances Southern army as a mercenary?]

Erika looked astonished when she heard what I said.

After that talk I had with her, Seras and I immediately went towards Erikas room.

Telling her the situation

[Erika doesnt have any right to stop you but Are you sane?]

She didnt stop us, but she began to doubt our sanity.

[If we can get through the Northern Demon Zone, we may be able to join up with the Southern Army, right?]

[Well, yeah. Moreover It seems that the armies of the countries that are going to join the Southern Army are aiming for the royal capital of Magnars, Synad. Therefore, I think theres a possibility that theyre going to recruit mercenaries to bolster-up their army in that place. Considering the speed at which Neias army is currently moving and the distance between where they are now towards Synad Indeed, if you were to pass through the Northern Demon Zone, you might be able to make it in time.]

A beacon of hope lit up in Seras face.

I could feel relief in her eyes as she glanced at me.

Its still not too late.

The person well-informed with the Demon Zone, the Witch of Taboos is the one who said that.

[However, thats only if you really can get through that place.]

[You mean that time isnt the problem?]

The warm-colored light of the lamp illuminated Erikas appearance.

Erikas expression looks like she couldnt comprehend something.

Its probably not just because of the lights angle that made her look like her expression darkened.

[The problem is that if you can even get through the Northern Demon Zone.]

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Erika held up her index finger.

[All of you came from Urza. That means that you came here through the Southern Demon Zone.]

What Erika is trying to say

is probably

[Is the strength of the monsters in the Northern and Southern areas different?]

[Correct. There are lots of those ferocious b*stards in the North.]

The relief on Seras face began to waver.

[There are various theories as to why there are lots of them in that area, but Erika thinks that its simply because its the closest area where the Root of All Evil appeared. And, the powerful monsters in that area removed the weaker monsters from their territory I guess thats also the reason why the monsters were allocated around like the way it is now? Well, its all just a theory though.]

[Umm, Erika-dono How about taking a detour through the Eastern or Western-]

[If you go through there, its very likely that the main force will clash against each other before you arrive. What I mean is that you wont make it in time.]

[.]

I cast a questioning glance at Erika.

[Other than going through the Northern Demon Zone, is there any other way to join the Southern Army before the war starts?]

Erika shrugs her shoulders.

[Im afraid I cant think of one.]

[Then, we just have to go north so that we could join up with the Southern Army huh]

Seras looks puzzled at my words.

[However, Touka-dono]

[If Seras still feels the same, then our objective will not change. If the hindrance in our path is a monster we just have to get rid of them.]

[If its with Toukas Abnormal State Skill, it might not be impossible.]

Erika continues.

[From what Ive heard, youre capable of fighting in groups, Touka. You also defeated that Soul Eater Cautiousness in battles is indeed necessary, but if you overestimate the enemy, you might also let a good opportunity escape. Its certainly not a good idea to be too afraid of the monsters from the Northern Demon Zone.]

Then, Erika stood up and opened a drawer on the shelf.

The drawer was filled with parchments rolled up into a cylinder.

Picking out one of them, Erika spread it out on the table.

[This is a map of the Northern Demon Zone based on the information gathered by the Familiars I sent there.]

The three of us peek into the map.

I had heard that it was impossible to map the Demon Zone.

However, thats possible for the Witch of Taboos huh.

I point towards one section in the map.

[Whats this line?]

[Its a route that could be used as a way out. In some areas where the larger monsters were moving around in packs, the terrain has also been accustomed to make it easier for them to move.]

[Erika.]

I raised my gaze.

[If youve gone to the trouble of mapping out such a route Youve been thinking that you would get out of this place sooner or later?]

Erika looks back at me.

[Even if I planned on leaving, it should have been something for around a hundred years from now though.]

The way she said it kind of bothers me.

[You talk as if you cant leave this place for around a hundred years.]

Seras looks like shes suspecting something.

No, rather than that

Its like she became certain of her faint hunch.

[Erika-dono, you made a contract with some kind of spirit?]

[-Well, yeah.]

With her hands on the table, Erika replied with affirmation.

[On the way here, did Seras see those magic energy gathering at the bottom of the lake?]

[Y- Yes.]

[The one producing those magic energies is the spirit dwelling in the Sacred Spirit Tree, Runereed Its also the spirit living in this place. So, instead of letting it use its magic energy from protecting this place from the hands of Humans and monsters, Erika is making use of the magic energies produced by Runereed for my research and experiments.]

(T/N: / Runouredo)

Ive heard that the Elves arent a race that arent particularly good at manipulating their magic energy.

They are inferior to humans in terms of both the amount they can produce and the magic energies they could store.

On the other hand though, experimenting with magic tools and the like requires a large amount of magic energy.

Thats why the Witch of Taboos chose this place.

[This mistress has also been blessed with the magic-related qualities of a Dark Elf But when it comes to the magic tool experiments designed by this Erika Anarveil, just that amount isnt enough.]

[The one and only spirit that creates magic energy Ive read about its legends in old books, but I never thought that it would be real]

[Its because shes the shy one, thats why Runereed has been hiding its presence all these times As expected of a High Elf huh. You must have faintly sensed her, right?]

[Her spirit energy was too thin Thats why I thought it must have been remnants of some spirits that used to live in this place.]

[Erika.]

Interrupting their conversation, I have one thing I need to confirm.

[Is it that you dont want to leave this place? Or perhaps, you couldnt leave this place?]

After a brief pause, Erika replied.

[Its the latter.]

I see.

Seras speaks, as if shes reconfirming her words.

[Erika-dono most probably had a contract that makes her remain in this area And in return, she can use the power of Runereed, right?]

Erika sighs.

[Thats how it is. Therefore, Im sorry, but I cant come with all of you.]

[Dont worry about it, Erika-dono. Im already grateful for showing us a map with easy-to-follow directions.]

I began observing Erika.

She looked a little awkward.

And like that, we finished lightly reviewing our route.

[Ill give this one to you.]

Erika held out a map to me.

[Is it alright?]

[Do what you want with it. However, as you can see, this map isnt perfect either. Dont trust the information in it too much.]

Erika poured water from a jug into her silver cup and drank it down.

After wiping her mouth, she spoke.

[Ill think of something I can help you with by tomorrow morning. So, well talk about the details again tomorrow.]

In the early morning the next day, I visited Erikas room.

However, she wasnt there.

If shes not here- then, was she in her lab?

I move past the door and that ladder Ive passed through before.

Once I got down there

Kerchak, clank, thud

Im hearing some kind of noise.

I turn my gaze towards the source of the sound.

From that room huh.

Opening that door, I came upon a large room.

Its even bigger than that room where I used the Enhancer on Pigimaru.

The temperature here was cooler than the laboratory.

However, although the room itself is spacious

There is so much stuff cluttered around in this vast space.

Could this be a junk warehouse filled with the items she scavenged from the Demon Zone?

As for Erika, she was plunging her upper body into a pile of miscellaneous items.

It looks like shes looking for something.

[Good morning.]

With her buttock still showing over here, Erika greeted me.

[That environment and changes of scenery depending on time, is it so that you wont lose your sense of time?]

[You know what theyre for huh- So, what do you want?]

[I just want to have some quick words with just us two. Seras should still be asleep now after I invoked <Sleep> on her.]

Just like a cat walking backwards, Erika pulled her body out of the pile.

[You have something to talk about?]

[First of all, why did you suddenly become so cooperative?]

[Well, Im sorry about that.]

Words of apology suddenly came out of Erikas mouth.

It seems that she immediately figured out what I want to talk about.

[Did you suddenly feel guilty for being so uncooperative after we told you that were going to join up with the Southern Army?]

Raising both of her hands, Erika strikes a surrender pose.

[I was being careless when I mentioned the Holy Kingdom of Neias Princess. She looked so happy travelling with you, so I thought that shes already put her past behind her.]

Erika showed a hint of remorse that she might have been insensitive when she mentioned the Princess.

[You never expected that Seras would react like that huh.]

[I mean If you make a face like that, anyone can understand how strong Seras feelings for them are. I think Seras thought that she was hiding it, but she cant hide it at all.]

Erika also saw through Seras acting.

[Thats why Erika felt so bad to her, so I stayed up all night-]

[I know. Besides I think this would have been many times better off for Seras rather than knowing this when it was all over. The point is I came here to thank you. I think that telling her about Neias Princess came out to be a good thing. I was a little surprised that you didnt try to stop us at all.]

[Its because I could tell from looking at the both of you that there wasnt any point in stopping you at all. I feel like Im obligated to explain the difficulty of getting through the Northern Demon Zone though.]

Erika dusted off her upper body.

[But well Thats why I said that last night, that Erika is going to support both of you as much as I can.]

After Erika inhaled for a moment, she pointed to the back of the room with her thumb.

[Theres one thing Id like to show you, alright?]

Theres another door in this room that leads to the back.

Erika pushed the double door open with both of her hands.

Following her, I also stepped into the room.

[This is]

That thing seated in the center of the room was

[A carriage?]

[Rather than a carriage, I think this should be more of a chariot.]

Its not that tank which has those caterpillar wheels or a gun barrel.

This so-called chariot kind of looks like those so-called war wagons.

However, since the passenger seats area looks like that, it felt like its more of a carriage for me.

On the other hand though, its no wonder that Erika called this a chariot.

This is because its black frame looks like its clearly built to repel out enemies.

[This is the item Erika used when I entered the Demon Zone, the Magical Chariot I was storing just in case I needed to use it for when Runereeds contract ends though]

[Are you probably giving this to us?]

[What. Do you want me to say, Looky here!? See this beauty!? Say, Touka. Dont you feel envious seeing my chariot!? or something like that!? Whats the use of showing off aside from useless self-satisfaction]

I wonder if that small skit in between is necessary.

However

[]

It has a fairly large frame.

I mean It stands out too much.

This will make it easier for monsters to find us while were on the move.

This isnt suitable if we want to move inconspicuously.

However, theres no way that Erika is unaware of this.

That means

[Does this chariot have any special ability?]

[It has Recognition Obstruction.]

[You mean it has the ability to make this tank and its surrounding will be unrecognized by others?]

[Yes, I guess theres nothing wrong with that explanation.]

Once again, I turned my attention back to the chariot.

[I see.]

Its ability certainly is exceptional.

[However, this magical chariot only has a third of its energy left. I used two-thirds of its energy when I came here.]

[And I guess we cant just refill it huh.]

With her hand on her hips, Erika hung her head.

[Magic tools like this one are making use of those Secret Arts from ancient times, each of them doesnt make use of the same energy. Therefore, I cant make a magic tool with the same energy as this one. No Neither the method to make this nor some way to refill it with energy, this Anarveil couldnt figure them out. Its quite vexing, I must say.]

This is that so-called lost technology huh.

[So, is it alright to use the rest of its energy?]

[Its alright. Erika will just figure out another way to escape from here.]

Erika approaches the chariot.

[The problem is that the magical creature that was pulling this magical chariot up here isnt usable anymore once I arrived here. And it takes a huge amount of time to make something like that.]

That means

[It will just be up to Slei huh.]

[I think that the third form of that mysterious magical beast would be able to do it]

Ive shown Sleis third form a few days ago.

In the end, I didnt gain any new information though.

However, it certainly seems that the Witch of Taboos is checking out the magical beast, to the point that she would check out under Sleis tongue.

Erika puffs out her chest.

[In any case, wouldnt it be appealing, being able to advance about halfway through the Northern Demon Zone without being found by monsters?]

[.]

Its just a rough calculation but

It may be possible to pass about halfway through the Northern Demon Zone without encountering monsters.

I must say this is definitely appealing.

We could also just abandon it after we got past the halfway point

However, this magical chariot certainly looks quite aggressive.

I could also see a part that looks like it could shoot out spears.

According to Erika, it also has several offensive abilities in addition to its recognition obstruction.

Therefore, it may also depend on the usefulness of its offensive abilities whether we would abandon it or not.

[Other than this magical chariot, there are also other magic tools that were personally handcrafted by this Witch of Taboos. Theyre still just experimental prototypes, so endurance might be an issue but Well, you can just pick out some that you can use and Ill give them to you.]

[So, thats what youre looking for in that pile before huh.]

Apparently, that pile earlier was a pile of Erikas handmade magic tools.

They were sloppily piled up that I thought they were just junk.

[Most of them arent really intended for long-term use, so just think that they were limited use items.]

[They would be boosting our war potential so I would be really grateful even with that. By the way, can this tank be carried above ground?]

[Dont make me laugh. Im Erika Anarveil, remember? You think that I havent thought about that? Dont worry, I will have the golems carry them.]

Fuunnn she snorted.

[Well, thats to be expected of you huh.]

[Ah, also When youre going to slip into the army as mercenaries, you would name yourself as the Fly King Squadron, right?]

[? Yeah.]

[Hold on a second there.]

Saying so, Erika left the room.

After just a few moments, she returned with a golem in tow.

In their arms, they were holding unto what appears to be black clothing.

Erika unfolds one of them.

[While youre at it, why dont you try facing them with a bang?]

The robe that was unveiled certainly looks like its giving off an atmosphere that was perfect for the Fly King and his subordinates.

Unlike the Great Sages robe that Im wearing right now, the robe presented to me certainly screams out like Im the evil boss.

However, it doesnt seem to be a bad match with my mask.

In fact, it increases my evil boss factor until the smallest detail.

[Did you scavenge this from the Demon Zone?]

[The materials are. Erika tailored this using those materials. I was actually going this to you when youre about to leave but. What do you think? Isnt it cool?]

Her tone sounds somewhat excited.

I could also see some sparkles in her emotionless eyes.

Her breathing also sounds a bit wild.

She still doesnt have a smile on her face as usual, but she looks happy.

I could also see some clothes that I think were fitted for Eve and Liz.

I guess she originally liked tailoring clothes.

[Well, your hobby isnt that bad.]

Erika shows me a lining in the robe.

How should I say this, it kind of looks like those mail order programs where things would be done with the push of a button.

[Its not just about looks, you know? I also made this to be perfectly practical. These were weaved with Black Lion Spider thread, so its both durable and fireproof.]

Erika proudly continues her explanation.

I heard that she went through a lot of trouble making Seras and Eves coats.

I touched the injury in my shoulder, in which the pain has almost disappeared already.

If we had protective gear like that, we might be able to prevent taking injuries like this.

Moreover

I compare my robe to the others coats.

[..]

It even had a uniformed appearance.

It can be said that our Fly King Squadron has finally become more like them.

Alright. I said as I held out my hand.

[Erika Anarveils handcrafted protective gears The Fly King Squadron will gratefully use them.]

<Authors Notes>

Ive rewritten and edited this story several times, so its taken me a while to update it (sweat). Please accept my apologies. I remember writing about this somewhere before, but I feel like the less flashy the scenes are, the harder it is for me to write them.

In the time between our last update and this one, weve received another new review! Thank you very much. My points also reached 170000 before I knew it I will do my best to make it more interesting and to make the characters more appealing so that they can live up to expectations.

Also, thanks to your support, the manga has begun to be distributed today. The first chapter has been published in Comic Gardo. Uchiuchi Keyaki-sama, the one in charge of the composition, has been very magnificent in bringing life with her names (T/N: theyre the mangas rough draft). Uyoshi Shou-sama, the one in charge of the illustrations, has the ability to strongly appeal to emotions with both delicacy and intensity. Hes also drawn really charming images. I strongly feel that the combination of Uchiuchi Keyaki-samas composition and Uyoshi Shou-samas illustrations has made this manga really attractive.

Im thinking of updating the next story a little sooner In the next episode, Touka and the others will now enter the Northern Demon Zone. I hope you will wait for a while until the next update.