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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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Chapter 114
The forces sent by the royal family consisted of a total of 20 individuals, including Asion Gale, Professor Ziren, royal knights, and the elders of the Asternon Academy.
And...
"Huh? You're the commander?"
Leading them wasn't some unknown knight-commander, but Asion Gale.
"Yes, they relied on that piece of paper and pushed such a bothersome task onto me..."
It seemed the royal family had used the contract as leverage to persuade Asion Gale.
"Ah, that must have been tough."
"Why do your words lack any sincerity? Have you forgotten who's responsible for this?"
Asion Gale grumbled, seemingly quite dissatisfied with that point, but from my perspective, it was rather favorable.
If the Head of the Academy was the commander of these forces, it would definitely be easier to move around.
Well, with Asion Gale's level of skill, he was certainly qualified to be a commander.
'I heard he participated in many wars in the past.'
Perhaps the royal family had also considered those points and entrusted Asion Gale with the command.
Anyway.
"How do we close the rifts?"
After appeasing Asion Gale for a while, I finally brought up the question I was curious about.
The method to close the rifts.
In a way, it was the most crucial aspect of this war.
The course of the war would change depending on its success or failure.
If we could close all the rifts without any problems by today, we could smoothly end the war, but if there were any setbacks due to unforeseen circumstances...
'Dercion would reappear.'
Surely Dercion, who had escaped with Baal's power earlier, would emerge from the rifts again and wreak havoc.
And it wouldn't just be Dercion.
The remaining high-ranking demons who hadn't appeared yet, the Legion Commander of Greed, Valefor, and the Legion Commander of Lust, Asmodeus.
All of them would surely emerge and cause destruction everywhere.
Simply put, it would be chaos.
Such a scenario had to be prevented at all costs.
And to do that, it was crucial to properly understand how to close these rifts.
Seeing my serious expression, Asion Gale also spoke in a solemn voice.
"There's only one way to close the rifts, according to the royal family."
Swoosh.
Asion Gale reached into his pocket, and soon, a strange device-like object emerged in his hand.
It was a familiar object with a shape I had seen many times, but I asked just to be sure.
"What is that?"
"It's a Rift Closure Device. I heard all the brilliant minds on this side worked together to create it."
[Rift Closure Device].
As expected, it was the object I had in mind.
'They're going with the standard method, I see.'
The [Rift Closure Device] was one of the artifacts optimized for ending wars, used in most wars.
It was a consumable artifact with a limited number of uses, and since it had to be adjusted or completely remade for each war, it required a considerable amount of effort to make it usable.
Moreover, there were often various conditions attached to its activation.
Still, it was the most reliable way to close rifts.
Therefore, using the [Rift Closure Device] was considered the standard method for ending wars caused by rifts.
"How does it work? How long does it take to close a rift? Is this the only Closure Device we have?"
Having a rough understanding of the situation that would unfold, I asked Asion Gale for a more detailed explanation.
The more I knew, the better I could reduce any unforeseen circumstances.
"...Ask one question at a time."
Asion Gale had an annoyed look on his face, but he didn't refuse to answer.
He explained everything in detail so I could fully understand.
How much time had passed since I started listening to his explanation?
"Hmm, this is enough for me."
I finished listening to the explanation once I felt I had heard enough.
The method to operate the [Rift Closure Device] in this war wasn't difficult.
Install the device close to the rift and protect it until it activates properly. That was all.
In short, all we had to do was install it and buy some time.
"Let's go right away."
I urged Asion Gale, as we couldn't afford to waste any more time.
He, too, seemed to understand that the situation wasn't entirely relaxed, and immediately began to command the royal forces.
"Alright, let's move out. Everyone, move as I instructed earlier."
And then.
Swish!
The royal forces, who had been gathered together and chatting amongst themselves, instantly scattered.
It seemed like they had been given instructions beforehand.
Of course, not everyone did.
"Uh, what about... Why are these people...?"
I looked around with a dumbfounded expression.
As soon as Asion Gale gave the order, three or four people in robes surrounded me in a circle as if to protect me.
As far as I knew, they were the elders of the Academy, and I was quite flustered by them suddenly clinging to me like this.
When I asked about it.
"Aren't you going to participate in closing the rifts?"
"That's right...?"
"I anticipated that, so I instructed each elder to escort you."
"Huh?"
Asion Gale acted as if there was nothing strange about it.
"Even if it's a war, we can't lose a talent like you in a place like this. We protect our Academy students."
"...Huh."
So, he had assigned the elders as escorts in case I was in danger.
Honestly, I was speechless.
'To be a elder, they must be at least 7th Circle mages, what a waste of resources!'
Assigning such valuable assets to me, as escorts no less, was a tremendous waste of manpower.
But even though I thought so, I couldn't argue.
"Of course, of course. You're absolutely right, dean."
"You've always been loyal, haven't you? Hahaha."
All the elders surrounding me were nodding in agreement.
"Huhu, nice to meet you."
When I made eye contact with one of them, he smiled brightly as if nothing was wrong.
It seemed like anything I said wouldn't get through to them.
Fine, let's leave it at that.
But this raises another question.
"Then what about Kayla? And what about Mister Thompson? Oh, and isn't there Roan too?"
It wasn't just me from the Academy participating in the current war.
Me, Thompson, Kayla. And even Roan.
Considering that, there were quite a few people to look after.
But had he already thought that far?
"I've already sent two people to Kayla, so don't worry."
Asion Gale waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh, is that so...?"
It seemed his words about protecting the Academy students weren't lies after all.
"Then what about Roan and Mister Thompson?"
"It's about time Roan left our hands. Thompson... he'll be fine."
"Huh?"
"He's tough, right? He doesn't get hurt easily."
Asion Gale gave plausible answers to all the additional questions I threw at him.
Now that I thought about it, Thompson was quite sturdy.
Perhaps even most knights couldn't compare to Thompson in terms of resilience.
And it was somewhat understandable that Roan didn't need help.
"I know because I've hit him myself."
"..."
I pretended not to hear the chilling words that followed.
It was the moment I realized that my feeling that Thompson seemed to be afraid of the dean wasn't a misconception.
***
The operation was swiftly executed.
There were a total of nine rifts to close.
That was the number of rifts remaining after subtracting the one Dercion had closed when he entered, out of the ten initial rifts.
Among them, I headed towards the fifth rift, leading the elders who were tagging along.
It was the place that needed the most urgent support since Elbert, who was originally scheduled to join this side, had been injured.
And this place was closest to the third rift where we had just been.
Thanks to that, I was the first to receive the [Rift Closure Device] that Asion Gale had.
Since this was the only Closure Device that had been made, we had to close the rifts quickly and hand over the device to the others.
Tada-dat, tada-dat! Tadat!
We arrived at the fifth rift.
I was worried because the main force had been absent for quite some time, but the situation wasn't as bad as I thought.
Kieek! Kieeeek!
"Die!"
Slash!
The soldiers were doing their best in their assigned roles despite the absence of a commander.
The high-ranking demon had already been subjugated by the knights, and the number of demons emerging from the rift was being adequately managed.
"First, this..."
Pak!
I immediately went to the front of the rift, dug a suitable hole in the ground, and inserted the [Rift Closure Device] into it.
Then, as if to signal its activation, a long beam of light shot up from the Closure Device.
Piiiing!
It was like a high-tech beacon with no end in sight, reaching who knows how high.
And gradually.
Ching, ching, ching...
The beam began to be dyed a blackish color.
The [Rift Closure Device] was absorbing the surrounding demonic energy to close the rift.
'Good. Now we just have to hold out.'
Around the time I had that thought, the soldiers discovered me, who had infiltrated to the front of the rift, and cheered loudly.
"Mage! That mage has come!"
"S-so that means we just have to hold out a little longer...?"
"Uhahahaha! Now there's nothing to fear!"
For some reason, my presence seemed to give them hope.
There was no need to spoil the mood, so I smiled and shouted,
"We're going to close the rift now! They say it will take an hour, so please do your best to hold out until then!"
Then.
"Woooh!"
"Let's wipe them out now!"
The faces of the exhausted soldiers lit up.
Their morale soared.
Even the soldiers who had been resting from exhaustion got up and moved to desperately protect the [Rift Closure Device].
Of course, there wouldn't be anything for them to do from now on.
Kieeeeek!
Gurg! Gurg! Gurg!
The demons, realizing the presence of the [Rift Closure Device], swarmed towards it like a pack of dogs.
However.
Fwoom! Bang! Fwoobang!
They all scattered as gray dust before they could even get close enough to be considered a threat.
The Academy elders, who were assigned as my escorts, had swept them away with magic.
I had expected it, but their power exceeded my expectations.
To the point where I didn't even need to lift a finger.
'...They're definitely 7th Circle, right?'
If I remember correctly, the elders were mostly high-ranking mages of the 7th Circle.
But the performance they were displaying now was comparable to that of an 8th Circle mage.
Each of their spells was on par with Dercion's.
Moreover, the way they coordinated the timing of their spells showed that they were no strangers to working together.
"You seem to be quite skilled at handling such magic?"
I asked with a hint of doubt, and one of the elders, who was still clinging to my side, replied,
"Ah, we fought in many wars when we were younger. This kind of thing is second nature to us now."
"Wars? All of these people?"
"Yes, didn't you know? The dean too. He used to go around with us. What do they call it these days? A party, something like that."
Huh, so that's how it is.
These people had experienced this kind of war countless times... In other words, they were practically masters of combat.
Knowing that made me feel even more frustrated.
No matter how I thought about it, it seemed like a huge waste of resources.
'These people are protecting me? Four of them?'
I appreciated the special treatment, but I couldn't understand Asion Gale's intentions at all.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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