(4 month and 21 day after Klada Disaster)
[Lynn's POV]
It has been a month since we arrived on to Exeter, the supply city of the war.
Eating in a restaurant together with Kyrielle, we are having a conversation about her original world.
"-that was what it's like back in my original world. Technology and quality of life things like entertainments or services are much more better than the ones here."
"That is really hard to believe at first... But it's really fantastic, especially these 'video games' you call them? I can't fathom the possibilities of being able to enter virtual worlds... Perhaps someone can replicate this concept in our world as well huh?"
"I don't know, it seems really difficult to even create simple video games. I doubt anyone in this world can replicate it again, as it took centuries of research and experiment just to create an extremely simple ball game called 'Pong'."
"Too bad then... Maybe you could write a book on it and help spread this concept to people of our world? This way, maybe people here will try to replicate the same product using magic of our worl-"
'Ting! Ting! Ting!' Loud and repeated bell sounds was heard before I even finished my sentence.
"(It's the alarm! Everyone please gather at the government building again!)" The restaurant's owner quickly yelled at us as soon as the alarm sounded.
"Ah come on! Again?!" Kyrielle groaned in frustration.
"Well, we don't have any choice. Let's go."
We got up from our seats and exited the shop before we even finished our food. We had to evacuate to the city center, where government building is, it serves as an evacuation center.
'Ting Ting Ting!' Loud bell rung down at us along with the other women and children as we calmly walked on the street. No one is in a hurry because we knew that this alarm wouldn't result to much problem at all.
"How many times has this happened anyway?... It's getting kind of tiring to do have to do this so many times...." I don't have much mental energy to deal with things like those afterall.
"I have no idea... Maybe the ninth time of the month already?... "
"Yes, this evacuation thing has happened for about nine or ten times already since we last arrived here about a month ago...."
The guards will sound the alarm whenever any enemy group appears within about 10 kilometers distance from the city. Most of the time the alarms rung because of small skirmishes with the opposition, not even an invading force. Well, they are just being cautious, but it's still kind of annoying.
"Honestly I'd rather be at the inn right now... It's just so tiring! Everyday it's just constant paranoia and anxiety for attacks, and this frequent evacuation order doesn't help it either."
"You can't blame them for wanting to ensure the safety of the civilians... There are also childrens and seniors in the city besides women, so I get why they did so. Luckily we are both women so we won't be out of place here."
"I get it... But it's just that when will this war end anyway?"
"Don't worry... Give it one more month and it'll be about 3 months since the eruption of the Bost volcano, the highway would be repaired by then, and we can go to Creimland via that highway instead. If the war doesn't end next month, we'll do just that."
"Right..."
We arrived at the evacuation center, it's the empty government building.
"(As usual, stay calm citizens. The guards will ensure the safety of all seniors, childrens and women...)" The skeleton who appears to be a guard is also tired of this happening so often as well. He has been here at the entrance every time we was evacuated here.
This is how our past month's life in the city was like. Just constant stress inducing situations and threats of horrible things happening to innocents...
Everytime I see this evacuation center, I was reminded about the Great War.... It's not something that I like to remember.
I saw young and hopeful people being crushed to death, have their heads cut off, and get their body torn in half. In the end, they are all fighting for a war that they have no faith or choice in... It's just messed up.
Kids like Kyrielle have no place belonging to a war zone like this... Why am I even letting her stay here? This isn't something a teenager like her should see.
"-ynn? Lynn?"
"...Hm? Oh, sorry I was lost in my thoughts."
"Again?... You are like this everytime this evacuation happens you know? Are you sure you are fine?"
"Yeah.... I'm fine, I think."
"I see..."
But something about this evacuation is different this time...
'Boom...!' A distant explosion was heard and the ground trembled a bit from that, making vibrating sounds.
"(Oh my... a long range spell?)" The guard nearby started mumbling that.
"No way, some actual fighting is happening nearby?"
"It seems that the army is finally here. Kyrielle... I think we should leave this city, and try our luck at the mountain ranges. This city will be overran soon."
"Alright... This city is boring and dangerous anyway, even more dangerous than the mountain ranges-"
'Boom...!' A really loud explosion happened, this time much nearer to us.
"(Goodness, is the city under attack?!)"
"(I thought we were supposed to be safe in here?!)"
"(Mama, I'm scared!)"
"(They are attacking a city so far off to the West? Is there no place safe on this country anymore?...)"
Everyone nearby is panicking, and I can't help but feel bad about it.
....What am I doing?
I refused to help end this war for what? I didn't noticed it for a while, but it's so stupid of a reason that I feel like shooting myself in the face with Black Spear.
As much as I hate to admit it, I was afraid. I didn't want to face a war once again because it reminded me of my past....
Before I knew it, I had live so long that I forgot the reason that I ever fought for...
I joined the fight to protect the lives of innocents... I promised that to Gilles before his death. I'm now the strongest mage on this world, what am I being afraid for?
"Lynn, what should we do?..."
"...you stay here. I'll make sure no spells will hit the city."
The right thing to do now is not to stand aside and do nothing.... It's to prevent the war from doing further damages. It's to protect Kyrielle as well!
I immediately rushed for the exit of the building.
"Lynn? Lynn where are you going?!"
"Out to the city, where else?"
"At least let me come and help!"
"It's dangerous you know?!"
"I can handle myself!"
Kyrielle isn't a normal teenager... I don't have to worry about her so much. I have been treating her like a kid so much so that I forgot how capable she is....
"....Are you sure? You might die."
"Yes I'm sure. I can't leave you alone when you look like you have just seen a ghost."
"...Do I look sick?"
"Yes you do! I know that all this is triggering your ptsd, so please at least let me help you defend this city!"
" I don't know what is a ptsd but... okay... Then let's go."
"Mmm!"
'Boom!' Another explosion sounded, this time it's much closer to us than before.
"We must hurry!"
We rushed out towards the exit of the government building. The automata officer from back when we first arrived at the city is standing guard in front of the exit, and she saw us.
"(Hey where are you two going?!)"
"(There's no time to explain, just let us do our thing!)"
"(Huh?)"
When we rushed out of the building, the first thing we saw was one part of the wall surrounding this city burning with fire. Part of the wall had collapsed already, implying an explosion magic.
"This magnitude of fire power... That must be Abyssal Flame."
"That saint ranked fire spell?... How come this one is so powerful?!"
"Aamon didn't charge his version for long, if he did charge it then the power would scale up. Here it comes!"
A ball of dark, burning fire flew up to the sky from outside the city. Barriers could be seen casted at that fire ball, trying to intercept it but to no avail, likely the effort of this city's mage squad.
The fire ball sped past the barrier in an arc and flew into the city...
"Look out!" Kyrielle yelled out to warn me.
Two Black Spears!
I shot my spell at the approaching black fireball. Luckily, the second Black Spear hits the target and intercepted it, blowing it up mid air.
'Boom!'
"(Watch out for the residues!)" The spell was intercepted but liquid that looked like magma spewed out from the spell, some of them flying towards us.
"I got it!"
'Fwoosh!'
Kyrielle blasted high pressure winds at all the liquids and pushed them backwards, effectively preventing them from burning the government building and us.
The liquid splashes backwards and landed onto the houses, catching fire on those houses instead.
"Opps.... Lynn, you have anything to for that?"
"There is actually. Storm Call!"
Expending a large amount of Mana towards the surrounding areas and creating wet rain clouds up in the sky, I generated a storm. Within just half a minute, the clouds grew darker and darker before rain starts to pour down like a bucket.
'Splashing!...' Loud rain sounds was heard from the surroundings. We were all soaked in water.
"Hey, another damned spell!"
"On me, Kyrielle!"
Black Spear!
'Boom!'
'Fwoosh!'
Again just like last time, the spell aimed for the government building and after I intercepted it, Kyrielle blasted all the remaining burning liquid away from us.
This time the liquid drops to the surroundings without burning because of the rain...
We stood in place and waited for a few minutes, no remaining spells was fired at us. It seems that when the enemy saw a Saint ranked weather spell being used, they retreated since their fire spells wouldn't work. They likely intended to burn the city out like that and do collateral damage with guerilla tactics.
"Phew...." But either way, I was just relieved that it was over.
"Good work, Lynn..."
"(That was crazy... I didn't know that you two are mages of this caliber!)" This automata... Officer Dao is it?
"(We didn't told you all because you'd ask for our help...)"
I mean I was holding back because I could've just flew to the enemy and shoot them instead.
"(Yeah whatever it's raining out here, let's get back inside!)" Kyrielle whined at us.
Together with Dao, we walked back inside the government building. As we are walking in the hallway...
"(Rin... and a really powerful mage... Wait, you are the Magic God?!)"
"(Ah I was found out... Nope, you got the wrong person.)"
"(There's no mistaking your identity! Those pink eyes, and white hair... you fit all the description of the Magic God, Lynn!)"
"(I appreciate you praising my magic skills, but no you got the wrong person.)"
"(There's just no way you aren't the Magic God... I'll have to report this to Commandant Bataar!)"
Oh God... If that idiot talks to that smartass kobold commander, then no doubt he will come bother me tomorrow.
...I said that I'm not taking part in this war, but now I'm not sure anymore. But I guess I technically didn't take part inside the war itself, I was just protecting myself and Kyrielle.
But then again, now that the military of this city knows of my power, I'm sure they'll try to make me help them somehow... Sigh... and here I said I don't want to fight in a war anymore but just look at what happened here. In the end I can't help but interfere, I'll never have the end of it at this rate.
I already have enough thing son my shoulder; taking care of Kyrielle, taking care of some trauma, taking care of the problems in Creimland, and now I'm about be to coerced into ending a war... Give me a damned break will you?!
We walked back into the evacuation center, and waited until the evacuation order ended before we headed back to our inn.
(The next morning...)
We were just relaxing in our room inside the inn as usual. Kyrielle was studying the Bostnian language with a textbook that she bought in this city, it's something that she did to kill time.
Me? I am reading a newspaper, and having some tea.
'...The source of the mysterious large scale explosion that happened in the forests between West and East area somewhere near Monproximus was found out. A fire wraith's body was likely the cause of the explosion.'
Hold on, this sounds oddly familiar... Oh no.
'The fire wraith's identity was unknown but theorists suggest that it may have been the reason for the explosion because of how wraiths explode upon death... Tens of thousands of Gold coins worth in damage was dealt, but luckily no one was hurt.'
"Tens of thousands of Gold coins worth of damage?!"
"...whats the matter? Why are you shouting so early in the morning?"
"Kyrie! Read this!"
"....yep I can't read well at all."
"Aamon's body was found!"
"...What?! Where?!"
"It's in the forest between the east and west side of this country!"
"Oh god... It's all your fault Lynn!"
"Hey, I didn't do that intentionally! Besides, it was YOU who poured so much mana into the teleportation spell and caused it to go berserk!"
"Me?! That isn't me! That's the dragon!"
"Oh right..."
"But if we don't say, no one will know haha... Are there any casualties?"
"Luckily, no one was hurt... At least I subconsciously knew which part of the world has no one in, that's why it was teleported there."
"...We should do our damned best to keep our mouth shut about this incident, alright Lynn?"
"Yeah... I need another cup of tea to calm my nerves down..."
I stood up and walked to the kitchen to prepare tea, and then....
'Knock knock knock!'
"...Kyrielle can you answer it? I'm busy brewing tea here."
"Okay."
'Cha chak!'
"(Good morning, Kyrielle-san and Lynn-san.)"
"(Oh hello, its the kind commander Bataar and the creepy miss automata! I forgot your name though... )"
"(I'm not creepy or a pervert! And I'm called Dao!... Ahem, excuse us for bothering you two so early in the morning.)"
Oh great... There is only one reason these two will show up here.
"(So... Lynn-san? We would like to talk to you.)"
"(Hahaha, 'talk' is it? You guys sure have a funny way of putting your words together. Come on in and make yourselves at home.)"
Talk? More like trying to convince me to join them!
"(Come on in!)"
Kyrielle welcomed them into our small room and they took a seat on one of the table. I poured tea into cups and lifted them to the table with gravity magic.
"Wow..." (2x) The two was impressed by my gravity magic.
"(So, what is it that you want to 'talk' about?)"
"(... We'll get straight to the point. Please help us in the war.)"
"(Hahaha, no.)"
"(Pleade at least consider it!)"
"(I don't want to slaughter hundreds of people for no reason using my magic. Whatever political disagreements between your country there is, I have no interest in it. Besides, we are already planning to leave soon, so I wdont care much about how your country turns out.)"
"(Please don't be like that. We have a big reason to ask for your help, and I'm sure that once you have heard of it, you will at least consider it...)"
"(Is that so?)"
"(Lynn. Maybe we could at least hear them out?)"
"(...Fine. Why you do you need my help besides using my spells?)"
"(Allow me to explain. I'm sure you already know that our country is in the middle of a civil war. This civil war is one that stared out because of the incident in Creimland right now....)"
"(Creimland? Why?)"
"(A rift which appeared to be like a crack up in the sky above the city of Creimland spawned one day, without any warning whatsoever. The cause of it is unknown at this moment.)"
"(How does this have anything to do with the war?)"
"(This entire war started its because of Civil Unrest that resulted from this incident in Creimland. While the king and the people's decision is to send reinforcements to the city, the ministers has instead decided to ignore the problems at Creimland and refused the King's request.)"
"(That alone isn't enough to start a war right?)"
"(It escalated... The civilians protested against the action of the current ministers and government, and instead allied themselves with the king. Because of this, the country was divided into two factions of East and West with the East being the Ministry's faction.)"
"(Wait a minute, you say that disagreements about ways to handle Creimland's situation caused this war? Isn't that kind of a bad reason for this war to start?)"
"(It was just a spark that caused this burning fire we call 'war'. Civilians in the West never supported the prime minister in the first because he ignores the command and the power of the monarch, that is not to mention that he may have gained votes with corrupted means.)"
"(So what you are saying is that civil unrest and political instability is already a thing before the incident at Creimland, the incident itself is just a small trigger for a Civil War that is already here. This means that I have even less of a reason to help you stop this war, because it all started over some stupid political corruption, right?)"
"(Please hear more of us, there's a reason we are so desperate for your help. The entire war started because of the problems regarding Creimland, but what if you can promise us that you will help solve the issue there? Then, rooms of negotiation for peace can happen.)"
"(...Negotiations?)"
If it's just negotiations, then I won't have any problems. I just don't want to use my magic, but if it's just my presence and words, then it's fine.
"(Yes... If you can show up to that negotiation with your title as the Magic God, the East will likely be more able to accept a truce, especially if you can handle the situation in Creimland. By votes, the East had refused to help Creimland. If you can go and solve it alone, then the East will lose one of their reason to fight us. It's killing two birds with one stone.)"
"(That is a huge bet you are placing on a negotiation that hasn't happened yet... And you are going to send only me there to solve the issue? It's like sending a single person to fill out the job of an entire army.)"
"(...We can't offer you two much, but at least we will give you all the assistance that you need.)"
I covered my face with my palm.
"(Please! Many lives depends on you!)"
"(Sigh... I can't refuse you if you say it like that you know?...)"
"(Then does that mean...?!)"
"(Yes yes, I will help you lot with the negotiation... You whine just like King Hal...)
"(King Hal?... So you have met with him. That explains your Royal Right of Passage!)"
"(Yes, I have met with him and he asked me to do the same thing as you did; to help fix the problems at Creimland. But seriously? I'm only a God by title, I'm still a human at heart! I can't handle so many responsibilities you know?)"
"(We understand that, it's just that no one is qualified for the job other than you...)"
"(I get it I get it.... Enough about such serious topics, do you like my tea?)"
"(Oh this? It tastes great.)"
"(I see... I put a lot of effort into making my tea aromatic and sweet enough at the same time. After listening to the suggestions of Kyrielle, I even added milk to tea and it tastes even better now!)"
"(Indeed... I have never had such a peculiar tea before. It's like the thick milk balances out the thin taste of the tea, while also enhancing it's aroma and taste at the same time.)"
"(You have a thing for tea as well huh? How about you, Officer Dao? You have been silent all this time.)"
"(Oh it's nothing, it's just that I can't drink the tea, sorry. I'm an automata; a living doll, I can't drink or eat.)"
"(Right... but you can at least stop staring at Kyrielle, okay?)"
"(Ah I was found out again!...)
"(....Creepy pervert!)"
"(I'm not cree- okay, I'm sorry. It's just that after I have turned into an automata I have no hair... I had always wanted to wear a twin tail but I don't have the chance to. Seeing Kyrielle-san in a twin tail really makes me excited you know?)"
"(Well if you say it like that, I suppose letting you touch my hair is fine...)"
She says that as she plays with her hair nervously. Even though she's nervous about it, I could still tell that she wanted to show it off to Dao.
"(Really?!)"
"(Mmn.)"
"(Then...)"
She slowly approached Kyrielle like a molester and touched her twin tails really weirdly.
"(Man... If only I could get to wear one as well...)"
She brought Kyrielle's hair up to her face and then...
"Sniffs-"
'Slap!' Kyrielle slapped at her wooden face.
"(Who the hell sniffs someone else's hair?! Enough touching!)"
"(Oh, I got carried away...)"
"(Your officer is really lively isn't she?)"
"(Yeah... It's kind of entertaining, although she's an idiot most of the time. Anyway, we'll be taking our leave then. I'll contact you in the future about the negotiations, for now you just sit tight.)"
"(Yeah.)"
I turned to look at Kyrielle again and.... pure chaos is happening.
"(What do you think you are doing?! Help, I'm being assaulted! Mana Ball!)"
'Boom!'
She shot a small Mana Ball at the Automata and finally got her off.
"(Enough is enough!)"
"(Please... Just one more rub!)"
"(Oi Officer Dao! It's time to head back, stop messing around.)"
"(Fine.... Thank you for letting me play with your hair though, Kyrielle-san.)"
"(Play is an understatement!)"
It seems that they are friends again now... What happened to their hostility?! I don't understand them at all...
(Chapter end)