１
Urza Federation, west of the woodlands──
There were thin clouds floating in the air, swept away by the wind and becoming flatter. If one turned to look at the horizon, one could see a green sea of clouds that could be called a thick, spread out forest.
It should have been that.
“What’s with that forest, every trees’ leaves are all black……tree disease?
“It’s those devils’ forest, isn’t it? What, Kai, you not being aware is surprising.”
Inside the car──
in the back seat of a military vehicle on the highway, Reirin muttered.
“That’s what happens when the devils’ miasma sticks like that. That way of dyeing is, from my impression, most likely decades old.”
“……I’ve never seen the real thing before. That is, that degree of black.”
“It’s most likely the magical beast’s nest. Devils do not live inside that forest, if anything, they prefer buildings similar to human structures. That is something you are knowledgeable in.”
“……I see.”
After Dark Empress Vanessa ran over the imperial capital Urzak, the property she chose to be her home was none other than Urza government palace.
“It’s the time when the generation of trees changes. After another three hundred or four hundred years, that forest’s trees will themselves transform into black trees that release miasma.
“……If that’s the case?”
“I don’t care. That’s what the forest chose.”
Contrary to Kai’s expectations, the elf shrine maiden’s way of speaking was cool.
“The same goes for the Elf Forest. It’s a form of coexistence, but also the result of the sidhes planting and growing many trees’ seeds that are good for them. That forest is the same. It became a good living place for devils and magical beasts. Because of that, the trees will not die.”
“That’s a little unexpected.”
“Hm?”
“Surely talking about things like the devil’s forest should be hard to stomach for you. It’s an enemy race’s forest.
“Isn’t it that when the forest’s vegetation composition changes, natural things exist? If the devil’s miasma changed the forest to desert, then that wouldn’t be the case.
“Then, you don’t mind that black forest?”
“I can’t disavow the forest itself. But the simple problem is in that situation, swarms of magical beasts started to live in that forest.
Spinning around, Reirin’s words became rough as if they were meant to be thrown away.
She took a glance at the rearview mirror. Seeing the huge beast reflected there, the elf clicked her tongue in displeasure.
“Rinne, how are the circumstances?”
“……Mm. It hasn’t transformed since a short while ago. It’s been running next to Jeannya’s car the whole time.”
“Don’t lose your focus. If that huge thing approaches from behind, this kind of small car will be flattened.”
The monster with the outward appearance of a rhinoceros, the “Jabberwock.”
Although it was a demon with large magic power, due to its resemblance to a magical beast, it was often called that instead. It made earth tremors and was running parallel to the Urza Humanity Rebellion Resistance’s vehicle.
“I think Jeanne doesn’t feel like living ……Neither do I……”
The first car was driven by Kai.
Behind it were five more cars. Twenty mercenary soldiers, including Jeanne, were on board, but the Jabberwock was running alongside Commander Jeanne’s car.
If──
The car slipped horizontally and turned the steering wheel, or the magical beast approached, the two would collide for sure.
No, if anything the car would be one-sidedly flattened.
“You find the viewing experience behind us humans to be detestable. Having said that, running ahead would be like a lackey. So you want to run besides us?
This liar. Taking the trouble to run alongside humans was to intimidate──that was the human side’s feelings.
“──I’m Kai. Report from the first car.”
Picked up the correspondence device.
“There’s no change ahead. It seems like magical beasts live in the forest, but there have been no appearances so far. We will continue traveling.”
“Understood.”
Commander Jeanne’s voice.
“Jeanne, I want to hear one thing.”
“The situation of the magical beast running alongside us? I’m already used to it running just beside me. If anything, the animal stench is more troublesome than the huge body. If we weren’t moving, I’d open the trunk and wear a gas mask.”
“……That’s a disaster. By the way, who is that person?”
“Who knows? He or she should still be on the back of the magical beast.”
Just at the moment of that conversation ──
The roof of the vehicle Kai and the others were on made a thumping sound, which elevated to a loud scream.
“Above?! No way……Rinne, Reirin, watch the top!”
The sunroof slid open fully from the driver’s seat.
The bright blue sky was the first visible thing──
“My, did you open that just for me?”
Giggles and suspiciously smiling lips.
Although they were backlit, the limbs that flaunted the excessively conspicuous twin hills of the chest forcibly drew Kai’s eyes to it.
“…………”
“My, what’s with that expression that makes you look like you want to say something?”
“If you’re jumping on a human vehicle, at least say something. The sunroof will be hard to fix if it breaks.”
“Even if I told you the sound of the wind would make it inaudible?”
“There is an elf and Rinne here. They’re guaranteed to hear you well.”
“Ah, that is right.”
From the sunroof of the car driving on the highway, the young female demon motionlessly turned her gaze to the car.
Rinne and Reirin were in the back seats. And the Succubus Princess Hinemarill’s aim was to decide to sit in the empty passenger seat.
“I’ve discovered a good plaーce.”
“Huh!? Wait, you devil, what are you doing?!”
Darn it──
It was too late when Rinne shouted with a shocked expression. The devil gallantly slid into the seat by Kai.
“The seat next to Kai is mine!”
“But aren’t you sitting in the seat behind him?”
“Th……that, the back seat is wide and comfortable, so I was just a bit distant!”
“I don’t care if it’s cramped.”
In the seat next to him──
Kai’s arm holding the handle was slowly entwined with both of Succubus Lord Hinemarill’s supple arms. She stuck it to her skin, carefully, bewitchingly.
Furthermore, she came in closer to hold it against her chest.
“The more narrow it is, the more useful it is to stick together. Isn’t that right, human?
“Put your seatbelt on.”
“…………”
The devil’s hand that was touching Kai’s cheek stopped.
“You never know when a sudden brake will happen. It would be bad if the steel machine broke through and crawled up through this highway.
“Boring.”
Hinemarill breathed out a big sigh.
“And this ‘mess.’ Your hand, separate it.”
“……Don’t touch Kai.”
“That’s why I’m trying to pull my hand back. Your animal strength is interfering.”
Rinne’s hand was constraining the Succubus Lord’s wrist.
The two gazes clashed fiercely in silence, and Rinne moved away first.
……I understood completely, but it was just like Rinne.
……She was reliable in not being afraid of staring down a hero-level demon.
Then I could guess.
The power between the two was about the same. Otherwise, Hinemarill would assuredly overrun Rinne by sheer force because of the devil’s nature.
It was troublesome enough to hesitate, each one cautious of the other.
“Is Reirin okay?”
“What are you saying. An elf shrine maiden like me has no reason for me to be afraid of this kind of small devil!
“Well, small devil, or rather, hero-class ……”
“Even so.”
It’s the sidhe’s pride.
In front of the enemy race, rather than folding her arms in an ordinary way, the elf folded her arms in a more dignified manner than usual.
“It’s obvious that this kind of half naked devil’s intellect is inferior.”
“The elf who has a thin body also has poor things to say.”
“What’s wrong with a flat chest?!
“……YesーI get it, I get it. Reirin, be quiet too.”
Inside the car, the three girls were having a staring contest.
It was a strange sight that all except Kai were different races.
“Hmm?” I got on the car for a change of pace, but──”
Hinemarill crossed her knees in the passenger seat.
“This car doesn’t have a good view. Most of the sound outside is inaudible.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you returned to the back of the magical beast right now.”
“Isn’t that cold. There’s a charming succubus next to you. Well whatever, I’ll take my time with the seduction……」
The devil girl’s hand reached out.
Her fingers grabbed Kai’s communicator from the driver’s seat in no time.
“H, hey?!”
“Humans have conversations with this, don’t they? I know from the slaves who carried these too.”
The humans in the imperial capital Urzak were enslaved.
This was because Underworld Empress Vanessa, also known as the strongest succubus, brainwashed many thousands of humans and put them under her control.
“……Did the devils learn how to use this machine?
“This is convenient. It doesn’t use magic, so the elves and holy ghosts can’t sense it.
The devil happily touched the communications device.
Kai’s eyes opened more and more as he saw that kind of dexterity.
“I don’t want to make it myself, but it’s fun to use machines made by humans. It’s very interesting.”
“What are you planning on doing?”
“────Heーre. Can you hear me?”
Currently, Kai’s communicator could only talk with the Humanity Rebellion Resistance.
The first to connect was…
“Hinemarill?”
“I’m in the car right now. I’m next to Kai, borrowing the machine.”
“……And?”
“I want you to change your direction a little .”
“What?!”
“Ah, don’t talk with such a scary voice. Even though things appear this way, I’m saying this for the good of you all.”
She took a sidelong glance at Kai, who continued to drive.
The Succubus Lord’s claw pointed to the devil’s forest overlooking the highway.
“Soon there will be the first magical beast nest. There are about three of them scattered around this area.”
“…………”
“There are two kinds of magical beasts. The obedient and not-so-obedient ones.”
“The ones ahead are?”
“Of course the latter. They are very territorial and will probably attack the moment it sees a human car. If you find that unpleasant, change your course right away. You can get to the national border of the West without driving straight on the road, do you?”
The pathless road.
This desolate ground would mercilessly wear away at the tires. Even if we could pass through safely, there was no doubt the tires’ lifespan would decrease.
Even so, the devil was saying we should push on.
“……I understand. We’ll avoid the magical beasts’ nests. All cars, as you heard.”
The Holy Knight of Light complied bitterly.
“Kai, I’m sorry, but can I ask you to continue as the lead car?
“I’ll drive safely.”
He turned the steering wheel sharply.
The asphalt pavement gave way to the hard cracked ground. The tires rotating at high speed sent pebbles flying up into the air.
“Whoa whoa, Kai! Drive more courteously!”
“I am driving courteously. It’s the ground that’s not courteous.”
If I lost focus, the steering wheel would go out of my hands.
While avoiding the large grounds protruding out of the ground, Kai stole a glance at the Succubus Lord sitting next to him.
She was used to cars. Her calm cross-legged appearance was very different from the fluster of Rinne and Reirin when they first boarded.
……It is becoming increasingly off of the canonical history’s record.
……There was no record of devils being able to use human machines without difficulty.
Is this also the influence of the world reincarnation?
It’s not only the sixth position “Steel Machine,” but also the five races that may be undergoing changes that deviated from the canonical history.
“Come on. I’m always fickle. All devils are fickle.”
Hinemarill played with the communicator, rolling it around in her palm.
“I can think of a lot of smart options. But I’m not satisfied with those. Although when I get to think like that──”
She turned around.
“I’m more intelligent than the sidhe and impure crossbreed there.”
“What?! The barbaric race head talks so arrogantly!”
“That’s right! And yet the devils immediately get angry and attack with magic!”
……Disagreeable. At first, Reirin said, “How can I talk to a human?”
……Rinne attacked me, who had helped her.
Are you in a position to talk?
Next to Kai, who swallowed his inner thoughts…
“Oh, I forgot.”
Before Kai could react, the devil girl opened the door vigorously.
The car was driving at great speed.
“Hey?! It’s dangerous──”
“Leave.”
A roar that shook the atmosphere.
The magical beast Jabberwock, which was running alongside the car, screamed towards the sky. It started running backwards with the momentum gouging the hard ground.
“Does that mean you don’t need a companion?”
“It’s just that soon we’ll be crossing the magical beast’s territory. Humans also have kings and nobles who determine their territories.”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard that. Does each devil have its own territory?”
But there are some things that made sense.
Although they were devils, the huge bodies of magical beasts could not enter the habitat of, say, a small devil imp, which had a small body. As for the sidhes, the elves lived in the forests. The angels were able to live separately in the sky.
“Ehー……”
Rinne was the one who responded with a disgusted voice.
“Is that place another devil’s territory?”
“Are you asking me this? I don’t owe you an answer, but the answer is of course, yes. If they see this car, they might come.”
“I beg your pardon.”
It was unlikely that they’d attack us now that the Succubus Lord was here, but being surrounded by a horde of demons was never going to be a good feeling.
“The ancient devils are curious. I told them not to attack us, but I didn’t tell them not to gather. It’s rare to see a moving human car, and I think they’ll be curious to see it.”
“……Watch all you want. No more than that.”
“You better hope that happens.”
But──
No matter how far we went, there was no sign of a demon horde appearing in front of the Humanity Rebellion Resistance.
“Hmm, no sign of them?”
“Wait, succubus, did you lie to us?”
“…………That’s strange. Did something happen?”
Hinemarill stood up.
Even though the car was moving, she opened the car door again and moved her upper body out of the car.
“I’m the Succubus Lord and I’m coming here? It’s hard to imagine that not even one of them is there to greet me.”
The timing coincided perfectly with the murmur.
On the pathless road.
A gunshot echoed.
“Tch, what?!”
In this wilderness? Who was aiming for whom?
Kai’s doubts were blown away by the sight of the Succubus Lord spilling blood and bending backwards.
Bleeding? Was it a serious injury?
Before he checked anything, Kai only bellowed,
“Hinemarill!”
Deja vu.
The sight of Jeanne’s armor being shot and Rinne’s wings being pierced came to mind.
Steel machine race──
Those mechanical lifeforms were monsters with a gun structure built into each of their bodies.
“That’s them!”
While trying to control the steering wheel with one hand, he desperately reached out. Kai grabbed the shoulder of the Succubus Lord, who was just barely able to stay in the car.
“Attack!”
He shouted into the communicator above his knees.
There was no time to wait for a reply from Jeanne, so Kai only continued to speak in a one-sided manner.
“It’s a steel machine! If you stop your car, you’ll be shot. Keep driving!”
Earth and sand were blowing up.
A cloud of dust rose up that blocked the route of the car, and I could definitely see a dark gray huge body crawling up from the ground.
“Hinemarill, are you conscious?!”
“…………”
The Succubus Lord was holding her shoulder.
With all my might, I was trying to pull her back into the car as she was about to far out the car with her upper body slumping──
Kai’s hand was brushed away by none other than the devil.
“What?!”
“────Don’t get carried away, fool!”
The devil howled.
A charming smile reflecting the intent for massacring appeared on the lips of the Succubus Lord, who was bleeding from her forehead.
“──It’s a thousand years too early for steel to kill me!”
The devil jumped out of the car.
While she held left hand over her forehead, which was covered in black blood, Kai saw a crimson glow reminiscent of purgatory in her right hand.
“Turn everything to dust!”
Bomb blast.
And then the ground turned upside down.
The earth and sand the steel machine was just about to emerge from was obliterated, and millions of fireballs dyed the air red.
“This is bad?! The flames are approaching us……Rinne!”
“Wa, wait a bit. What are you doing, succubus!”
Rinne jumped out of the car and thrust her hands towards the void. The swelling flames of the explosion were pushed by the invisible magic and shut off.
The flames were extinguished just before Kai’s car was burnt.
“Oh?”
“‘Oh’, what, succubus?! What were you doing?! It was about to reach us──”
“I think it’s escaping. Stop the car.”
The cars suddenly stopped.
Six military vehicles stopped away from the flames. From there, the mercenary soldiers holding guns jumped out one after another. And when they saw the wounds of the Succubus Lord, they screamed a little.
Jeanne, who came running from behind, also frowned at the devil’s forehead.
Is the wound on the head……?”
“Hm? I’m not worried at all. I thought it was about time it attacked. It was annoying that it went through my miasma.”
Hinemarill threw a piece of steel.
The fragments that were caught in Kai’s palm crumbled into pieces.
The bullet aimed at Hinemarill had already deteriorated sharply by the time it touched the miasma. Therefore, the Succubus Lord was at most only hit by pebbles.
……It didn’t matter how injured she was.
……She felt humiliated that she was still injured even after defending herself with the miasma.
“And the steel machine?”
“I let it get away. You’ll understand when you look.”
The commander Jeanne, who was looking around, and Hinemarill, who was talking next to her, said to each other.
“You can see it dived into the ground just before the technique was activated. I was going to rip the ground apart, but…”
“……You think it dove like a mole?”
“That steel seems to be able to dive through the earth like swimming in water. I’m sure it’s escaped to the end of the horizon by now.
It was a speed that exceeded the expectations of the Succubus Lord.
The speed at which it dove underground was extremely fast, and it escaped the direct hit of the magic technique in the nick of time.
“……Tch.”
The devil girl took her hand off of her forehead.
The wounds that should have been caused by the bullets had closed up nicely. There were only a few bullet holes left, but they would soon disappear.
“Ahh. It’s been about fifty years since I had a scar on my face.”
“Hinemarill, you just said you couldn’t find your subordinates. The ancient demons that are territorial haven’t shown up. That……”
“Hmm? That’s a problem. I don’t want that stranger to take my territory.”
The Succubus Lord put her hand to her lips and appeared to be thinking.
“Hey humans. I wonder if that guy has appeared somewhere on the horizon now. Since there are so many of you, you should at least make yourselves useful.”
“We’re searching. My men are looking around.”
Jeanne responded quickly.
Given the persistence that it had attacked with in the Devil’s Graveyard, it was hard to imagine that the steel machine had completely escaped. The reason it went underground was to avoid the magic of the Succubus Lord. We should be prepared for it to come back to the surface.
……Hinemarill herself was more cautious than anyone else.
……She didn’t say it directly, but she acknowledged the steel machine as a powerful enemy.
Kai held the Drake Nail.
Rinne and Reirin, who were standing next to each other, hadn’t said a word since the beginning because their senses had been sharpened to detect the counterattack of the steel machine.
But──
No matter how long we waited, the steel machine that lurked in the ground did not appear.
“Rinne, you have a keen sense of smell, don’t you? Do you smell it?”
“No, not at all. I can’t hear any sound from the ground.”
“Me too. I don’t see any sign of approach at all.”
Reirin knelt down on the ground.
It seemed that she was searching for the sound with her ears close to the ground, but there seemed to be no doubt even with the elf’s hearing.
“Hmm. Either it was wary of me, or it went to call its friends……”
“Huh? What’s there to be wary of with a chest as small as yours?”
“You bastard────────?!”
The Succubus and the elf glared at each other.
And then.
“Jeanne-sama!”
Five human soldiers who were walking around the perimeter to investigate returned. The soldier at the end of the line was holding a huge bag with both hands.
“Is that the wreckage of the steel machine?”
“N, no……”
The mercenary opened the mouth of the bag that was tied up.
What slipped out of the upside-down bag wasn’t a piece of steel.
“This is what we discovered.”
Softly.
It was a single feather that fell to the ground.
──It was a golden feather larger than Kai’s height.
What?
What was this huge feather?
Kai wasn’t the only one who forgot his words and stared at it. The commander Jeanne and his twenty men were all stunned and unable to move.
“It’s a feather. No matter how you look at it.”
Reirin stroked the feather that had fallen to the ground.
“Cryptid race? But I don’t know of an individual with such flashy feathers.”
“……I agree too.”
Bending down next to the elf shrine maiden, Kai touched the golden feather with his fingertips.
Hard.
The surface was smooth as silk, but the fibers of the hairs that made up the feathers were terrifyingly hard. I think even bullets would get repelled by them.
……Were the feathers this big?
……If it was, how big was the body? This person is the size of a cryptid.
I felt a burning sensation in my chest.”
It wasn’t just the steel machines.
There was still some kind of tremendous monster in the immediate vicinity. Everyone felt that way.
“Everyone, let’s start make a fresh start soon, but──」
Jeanne looked up at the sky.
She made sure she didn’t see anything in the bright blue sky.
“The enemy does not always appear from the ground. Always open the sunroof and keep an eye on the sky!”
The mercenaries turned around.
No one collected the feather that had fallen to the ground. The trunk of the car was full of cargo. There was no room for anything else.
“Kai, are we leaving too?”
“Yeah. I want to collect this feather and examine it if I could, but it can’t be helped.”
He pulled on his Drake Nail and turned away.
“Rinne, Hinemerill, let’s go.”
“Ye-s!”
“……Sadly, I’ve been aching for so long, but now it’s over?”
Despite being wounded, the devil girl slumped her shoulders as if regretting the interruption of the fight.
“I can’t just overflow with fighting spirit and then be done. I like being teased, but I don’t like being rushed.”
“It’s far from the end.”
Kai got into the driver’s seat and held a map of the Federation in his hands.
“We haven’t even crossed the northern border of Urza. Everything starts from here.
It was far off the planned highway. The current location that I have determined is only a guess, so we’ll have no choice but to take a pathless road from here.
“Hinemarill, will the ancient demon territory continue for a while?”
“I don’t know, but it seems like the territory has been devastated. Your map is also old, so why don’t we just proceed appropriately?
“We’ll do our best to proceed appropriately. We want to choose the route that is even 1% safe.
“Humans are so serious……Ah, but. By the way.”
“What.”
A bold smile floated to Hinemarill’s lips.
“I just want to make sure you know, human, that there is a place that was discovered by the ancient demons a long time ago. I wonder what it is.”
“……What is that place?”
“Was that human-made? I was curious as to why the devils would build such a cryptic thing in secret from us.”
The devil girl leaned forward, as if to show off her ample cleavage.
Pointing with jet black nails──
It was a point on the map in Kai’s hand, right on the border between Northern Urza and Western Schultz.
“It’s right in front of the border. I’ll show you the way.”
TL: I totally botched the “the more narrow it is” line from the illustrations, but in my defense, I couldn’t get a good read on what it meant from the picture. Anyway, sorry for not posting for a while, I’ve been trying to focus my efforts on learning Japanese. I had thought that I’d be able to get through these translations at a somewhat reasonable pace, but it’s still taking way too long. As it stands, I’m likely going to not post much for the next six months while I concentrate on studying Japanese in school, but will hopefully resume posting as frequently as I did last year from April to July during this summer. I just feel like my time is not really well used when I rush through these translations, so I want to invest some more time to make sure I can do a better job in the future.