It was still early in the morning in a big city lined with tall buildings,
and a girl was walking through that city that was unnaturally silent.
The girl with wavy semi-short blonde hair, blue eyes, casually dressed
with navy blue jeans, white shirt and brown jacket, stopped in the
middle of the road, and approached a large machine set up on the side
of the road.
After pressing a few buttons to operate the machine, the girl held up a
palm-sized card and a freshly made hotdog came out of the machine.
As she took a bite of it and started walking again, she muttered to
herself.
[…Hmmm, if asked if it's convenient, it sure is convenient. Everywhere
is unmanned, payment is made with electronic money, and few people
carry cash nowadays… I wonder why though? Technology is
undoubtedly developing day by day, but I couldn't help but feel like
civilization is on decline instead. In the 20th and 21st century, I saw the
expectations for the future by the people everywhere, but arriving in
that future, all of it just ended up like this…]
After muttering, the girl stopped and let out a small sigh. In the next
moment, the girl's figure blurred and disappeared from the scene. Even
though it was early in the morning, there were still, more or less, people
around. But strangely enough… No one noticed that the girl had
disappeared.
Before one knew it, the girl was standing on the roof of one of the
largest buildings in the metropolis, looking out at the cityscape tinged
with the morning glow, and as if she were talking to someone, she
spoke.
[…Iris, it's been a long time since then. The world forgot about magic,
and the era we lived in became a fairy tale… And yet, I still haven't
fulfilled Iris' last wish. Love is such a difficult thing to find… Well, I'll
carefully search for that right person. It's going to take me a while to get
to where you are, Iris, but I'll have lots of stories to bring you as
souvenirs… so wait for me over there, okay?]
Alicia, the Hero of Hope who once saved the world from the Great Evil
God, still travels the world to fulfill her best friend's final wish.
Traveling through a changing world, weaving many bonds and losing
them… Still, she continued to walk forward. Little by little, she tried to
escape from the feeling of resignation that was budding within her
heart…
[Now then, I've been in this city for about five years, haven't I? I think
it's about time to change my base… I wonder which place I should go
next?]
Muttering like so, Alicia took out a card-shaped mobile terminal and
activated it. Thereupon, a display appeared in the air, showing a map of
the world.
[Come to think of it, I haven't been to Asia in a long time. Let's visit a
place somewhere around there… I traveled by plane last time, so why
don't I try riding a ship this time?]
On the deck of a luxury cruise ship, Alice looked out at the sea.
[It's good to have a clear sky on the first day of a several days boat
trip~~. I can even see the horizon clearly, so it seems like this is going
to be a fun trip.]
Muttering to herself, she leisurely gazed out at the sea glistening
brightly in the sunlight. It's been several hours since the ship departed,
so not a single land can be seen, and all she could see is the ocean.
After squinting comfortably at the sea breeze caressing her cheeks,
Alice thought about having a meal in the ship's restaurant and was
about to look away from the sea… when her gaze suddenly turned
sharp.
[Unnn? What is that… an island?]
Alicia's eyesight is on a different level from that of normal people. She
can easily see distances that a normal person wouldn't be able to see
even with binoculars.
What her eyesight caught was a small island far in the distance… and if
that's all there is to it, it wouldn't have been particularly unusual.
[…What is that, I'm kinda curious.]
She had been traveling the world for so many years, and her intuition
told her that there was something about that island. She could have
dismissed it as just her imagination, but Alicia decided to trust her
senses, and pulling her mobile terminal out of her pocket, she activated
the map.
[…That's strange. That island isn't on the map. Putting aside if it was a
map a few hundred years ago, it's an island that's not on the latest map
of this era… I feel like I'm smelling that nostalgic scent of an interesting
adventure.]
A grin creeping out of her face, Alicia stuffed her mobile terminal back
into her pocket and began to stretch her body, as if she were doing
preparatory exercises.
[Ahh~~ It feels a bit of a waste since I'm riding the most luxurious boat,
but this looks more interesting than that after all… Well then, shall we
go!?]
Immediately after muttering this, Alice jumped off the deck into the sea.
However, none of the guests on the deck noticed her… No, they couldn't
notice her. Not only that, but all records and memories of "Alice being
on this ship", including those of the ship's crew, had already
disappeared in an instant.
"After running over the ocean", Alicia was able to reach her destination
in a matter of seconds, arriving in front of the island… or what seems to
look like one.
If it were to be compared to something, just like how it's hard to think
that mushrooms… King oyster mushrooms… were created naturally, the
island is covered 360 degrees by cliffs with a warped shape, as if the
island refuses anyone from docking their ships in this place.
[…I see, an "artificial island' huh… Moreover, this is also one of the
biggest I've ever seen. Moreover, it's amazing… the cliffs are even
equipped with machine guns and laser blasters… This kinda feels like a
fortress.]
Measured by eye, the cliff seemed to be about a hundred meters, and at
first glance, they looked like ordinary rocks. However, when Alicia
magically scanned the interior, she discovered a tremendous number of
heavy weaponry installed in it.
Which means that there's something on this island that needs to be
protected with the utmost care…
[I have a feeling this is going to be a bigger deal than I thought. It's been
a long time since I've been this excited… It's probably not a treasure
trove, but it could be a secret military facility… I'm looking forward to
seeing all of it.]
Saying this with a smile, Alicia began "walking up the cliff". She walked
as if the concept of gravity didn't exist, and landed on the island
without triggering any sensors. Thereupon, the next thing she saw was
an iron wall.
[…Now this is amazing. Heat, sound, vibration and all kinds of sensors
are all over the ground, and there are even mines all over the place…
Even if I dodge it and move forward, I'll only find myself surrounded by
an iron wall with no entrance. I see, so they made this island only
accessible from the sky… Well, not like it matters to me!]
Seeing the island being tightly guarded, Alicia isn't particularly shaken
and muttering in a light tone, she leapt… far higher than the towering
iron wall.
[Now then, let's see whether onis or snakes come out… Unnn?]
What she saw were two more similar iron walls that felt like it would be
quite spacious inside, and beyond those walls… There was a small
grassy field that looked like a garden, and a building that looked like a
large box within that place.
And… standing in front of that box, looking at Alice with a surprised
look on her face… was a beautiful girl with long, rust-colored wavy hair,
gray eyes and a white dress.
As Alicia flew through the air, she used magic to scan the surroundings,
but there were no biological signs of anyone other than the girl on this
island, making Alicia know that she was the only inhabitant of the
island.
While tilting her head at the turn of events that she didn't expect, Alicia
fluffily landed in front of the girl.
[I was wondering if there was some kind of treasure in here, but it was
just a girl… What the heck is with this situation?]
[You're asking me what this situation is, isn't that supposed to be my
line… For you to suddenly appear from the sky, who are you? An angel?]
Hearing Alicia lightly speak to her, the girl asked back with a puzzled
expression on her face. And just like that, this was the encounter that
started it all.
[I'm not an angel, but talking about me appearing from the sky would
take too long, so I'll just introduce myself first… I'm "Alicia". A humble
traveler and a slightly strange monster.]
The arrival of a Transcender, whose power she didn't wish for. A Hero
girl who now uses the power she lost…
[Fufufu, I am…"Makina". If I were to introduce myself in your way, I'm a
bird caged from birth… and a monster who doesn't know about the
world.]
A girl who was born with a unique power that led her to become a God
by her own will… It was a story of a promise spun with these two as the
main characters…