V5. Prologue part 6
Translator: Soafp
[Alexia side]
Alexia was running in the backyard of her dormitory.
The backyard is an almost unkempt forest with trees. Her boots were getting damp from the dew.
“Hey, hurry up!”
Alexia looked behind her as she ran.
“Alexia-sama, that magic is dangerous! Let’s wait for backup!”
The guards were frantically chasing after Alexia.
“They’re going to get away with it because you’re taking your time.”
“Wait, Alexia-sama!”
She ignored the guards and waded through the bushes.
There she found traces of the battle.
“This is …….”
There were several scratches on the ground, grass, and trees.
There were traces of strong magical power.
“Who in the world could have created this much magic power ……”
“Alexia-sama! Ugh, this is ……!”
The guard who had caught up with her choked up at the sheer force of the magic.
“D-dangerous. The culprit may still be nearby.”
“Isn’t it your job to catch them?”
“T-That’s …… that …….”
The guard looked away and met his colleague.
Alexia sighs, trying not to look too surprised.
“It’s blood.”
She traces the blood on the grass.
“There’s a lot of blood. Maybe he’s deeply wounded. Could it be the perpetrator of the case in question……”
There are rumors of a series of missing students at the school.
The investigation by the Knights was sloppy. Several pieces of evidence were ignored and the case was ruled non-criminal.
Alexia suspected that there was more to this case.
“A top-notch mage fought here …… why, in a place like this?”
This is not a battlefield. It’s just the backyard of a student dormitory.
“It’s natural to suspect a connection to that case. There is some larger force behind it. ……”
“A-Alexia-sama!”
A panicked guard’s voice interrupts her thoughts.
“What’s wrong?”
“O-over there ……!””
The guard pointed to a figure in a long jet-black coat standing there.
“When did he”
She shuddered at the fact that there was no sign of him at all.
“Y-you are …….”
The figure, deeply hooded, wiped the bloodstains on the grass and trees with his fingertips.
“This is the price of battle—“
“Shadow ……”
Alexia’s words were choked by his somewhat sorrowful appearance.
“Were the lives that were lost here a necessary sacrifice for the world ……?”
“Shadow, are you involved in this?”
Shadow was just immersed in deep thought, oblivious to the presence of Alexia and the others.
“A-A-Alexia-sama, it’s dangerous! We must retreat, the Knights—-!”
The guards shakily drew their swords.
“It is useless, fall back. Your swords will not reach him.”
Knowing this, Alexia pointed her sword at Shadow.
“Answer me, Shadow. What happened here?”
She put her magic power into the sword and Shadow finally turned around.
The red eyes behind the hood looked at Alexia.
“—What will you do after knowing it?”
“I’ll get you. I won’t let you do anything you don’t want to.”
Shadow laughed behind his hood.
“It’s useless.”
With that, he vanished.
No, that’s not it.
He appeared right in front of Alexia.
“Wha—!”
She couldn’t feel his magic, his presence, or anything else.
When she realized he was right in front of her, holding a sword to Alexia’s throat.
It was a familiar sword.
Because it was her sword.
“My sword.……”
She didn’t even realize that it had been taken from her.
“—We live in different worlds.”
“What do you mean by that?”
She bit down hard on her back teeth.
She had been working hard since then.
Thinking she had closed the gap a little.
“Head and tails, yin and yang—there exists a world in which people on the surface shouldn’t be involved.”
With these words, he drew his sword and turned away.
His long jet-black coat fluttered as he walked slowly through the darkness of the night.
“—It is time.”
“Time? What are you talking about?”
“They’re on the move.”
A black slime gushes out from under Shadow’s feet.
It swirled and covered his body.
Then the wind blew, and Shadow vanished in a black mist.
Only Alexia’s sword lay where he had been.
“He’s gone…..and who are [they]?”
Too many things she doesn’t understand.
Still, it is a step forward to know that Shadow is involved.
A very small step.
Alexia looks back at herself with a self-deprecating smile.
“Still no backup? Preserve the site as soon as……”
She stood aghast.
“No….way”
The guards were all unconscious.
Shadow had knocked all the guards unconscious in that instant.
She was completely unaware of it.
“There is still such a gap …… because I……because I”
Alexia turned her head down and clenched her fists tightly.