The Water Magician: Arc 1 Volume 2 E-Book

Tadashi Kubou

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: The Water Magician
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 494

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Ryo’s life does a 180 after arriving in the city of Lune, where he spars with an expert sword-wielding elf, takes on guild jobs with Abel (his partner-in-adventuring), Abel’s party, and his roommates, and much more! Ryo never could have imagined discovering a whole different side of this new world!

But then monsters spill out of the dungeon in droves and plunge the city into an unprecedented crisis. When Abel and his party set out to investigate, they’re forcibly transferred to the lowest level of the dungeon. There, they encounter a life-and-death situation against devils—creatures who eventually awaken as demon lords. The Handalieu Federation’s meddling and a confrontation with the Inferno Magician ratchet tensions up even more...

With the dangers racking up one by one, Ryo finally gets serious?! “I won’t let you lay a single finger on this city or my friends.” Here comes the explosive second volume recounting the adventures of the strongest, freewheeling water magician!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

An Omen

The Great Tidal Bore

Ryo’s First Alchemical Experiment

Blockade Lifted

Ryo Meets Sera

The Gate

Beyond the Gate

Ryo Gets Serious

At the Training Center

First Escort Mission

The Port Opening Festival

The Inferno Magician

The Way Home

Nils’s Mysterious Village

The Guardian Beast

The Blue-Eyed People

Epilogue

Afterword

Color Illustrations

Character References

Map of Phi

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Color Images

Table of Contents

An Omen

The Kingdom of Knightley was one of the countries in the Central Provinces. We find ourselves currently in Lune, the largest city on the frontier, located in the southern part of the Kingdom.

After washing off the sweat they’d worked up in the public bathhouse, the water magician Ryo and his three roommates—Nils, Eto, and Amon—had headed for the adventurers’ guild canteen, where they were currently eating dinner.

“Oh, right, Ryo. You mentioned you were going to the library today before you left the room. Can I ask what you were looking for?” Eto asked. Compared to the other two who were swordsmen in training, Eto was a priest. As one would expect from someone of that vocation, he was curious about Ryo’s research.

“Information on alchemy.”

“Does that mean you can perform alchemy too then?”

“No, I’ve never tried it. But there are a few things I want to try to become good at.”

Ultimately, Ryo wanted to construct an ice golem to clear land for a rice field in the Forest of Rondo. However, he hadn’t disclosed this with anyone yet, so he kept his desire hidden.

“I’ve heard you can make potions using alchemy, but apparently it consumes a significant amount of magical energy...?”

“That’s right. I bought a recipe book geared toward beginners and it mentioned something along those lines too.”

“You bought—a book...?” Nils asked.

Eto the priest smiled ruefully.

Amon, the apprentice swordsman, tried to look as impressed as he could without knowing how much money was at stake.

“Abel compensated me for guiding him, so I guess you could say that’s how I was able to afford it.”

“That makes complete sense!” Nils replied. Abel was already a hero he admired tremendously. “I shouldn’t be surprised to learn that he can afford to pay you those kinds of wages.”

For whatever reason, the mention of Abel’s name brought an image of Rihya to Eto’s mind. “Miss Rihya truly is an angel...” he muttered to himself, cheeks flushed.

“I’m assuming books are expensive then?” Amon asked.

His extremely ordinary reaction made Ryo feel relieved.

“Oh, right,” Nils said suddenly. “Ryo, Amon is partying with me and Eto tomorrow to hit the dungeon. How about joining us?”

“Sorry, but I have to decline.” Ryo bowed his head. “There’s something I want to do up here.”

“Ahhh, okay,” Nils replied, scratching his head. “I had a feeling you’d say that, so don’t even worry about it.”

Eto chuckled wryly. He and Nils were both aware of the huge disparity in power between Ryo and the three of them.

The two of them had been exploring the dungeon for half a year now while Amon had only recently arrived in the city from his village, so the difference in ability among the three of them was clear. Even then, it was negligible compared to the gulf between them and Ryo. Nils and Eto understood that plainly. They had suspected as much when he had been able to register right off the bat as a D-rank adventurer, but their suspicions had been confirmed when Ryo defeated Dan earlier that day in one fell swoop.

Dungeon exploration progressed more smoothly with a strong adventurer, but there were always two sides to the equation: those who worked hard to keep up and those who led them. Dungeon exploration placed undue strain on both sides of this equation, so the guild recommended that people of similar ability levels form parties.

Amid this, the fact that only Ryo found himself in such a situation was unusual. Typically, those who had just registered as adventurers weren’t considered particularly strong. Ryo was one of the rare exceptions. Even the guild hadn’t anticipated someone like him wanting to move into their housing annex, so perhaps it was inevitable.

◆

The next day, Monday.

“All right, Ryo, we’ll see you later.”

With that, Nils, Eto, and Amon left to do their dungeon dive.

After seeing them off, Ryo left the city limits. Outside the city walls, he began running. The guild’s outdoor training ground had been perfectly fine for this activity, but he couldn’t help getting distracted by the goings-on in the place where he lived, so he decided to do his training outside the city instead.

As he ran, he built microscopic ice versions of Tokyo Tower on both palms. Just like he used to do back in the Forest of Rondo. Magical control and stamina...his goal was to train both. The more he increased his magical control, the faster he could generate magic.

Yesterday, Ryo had lost to Leonore’s magic in a number of ways, including sheer power. Fortunately, he had actually measured up to Leonore in how fast he could produce magic. He definitely hadn’t lost on that front. This was evidenced by the fact that he’d been able to obstruct her magic during the fight while it was still in the process of being generated.

That was exactly why he wanted to be able to use his magic faster and more precisely. He needed to keep improving upon his strengths and he needed to shore up his weaknesses until they were no longer weaknesses.

In that respect, he had felt an overwhelming disparity between them in movement speed. Leonore had closed a gap of several dozen meters in an instant. He thought the most likely reason for that was air magic. Unfortunately, Ryo could only use water magic, meaning he needed to find a way to combat her air magic with his water magic...

On Earth, there was something called water jet propulsion. Mainly, aquatic warships sucked in water and blasted it out behind them, which propelled them forward. Ryo had already mastered his own water jet in order to cut through things, so he might be able to use that.

Plus, in reality, he had actually used his Water Jet spell to move from one place to another when he launched himself out of the sea during his battles against the bait ball and the kraken all those years ago. He had generated the Water Jet from the soles of his feet to blast himself straight up through the water’s surface.

Back then, he’d been under such an incredible amount of mental strain that he just hadn’t had the headspace to think about the risk of failing, but...without preparation, Ryo had managed to pull it off just when he needed it most, so he knew very well that it was possible.

However, the problem now was trying to figure out how to produce it from behind in a land battle. Maybe shoot Water Jets out of his back...? That might be his only option, but wouldn’t he break his neck? He’d have to shoot a jet from the back of his head too. Yeah, that was the way to go—but then he started wondering if that wouldn’t give intense whiplash to his limbs... Okay, so then he had to shoot it from his shoulders, upper arms, butt, hamstrings, and heels too...?

It looked like he might have to launch the Water Jets from every part of the back of his body. For now, he had an idea of how to visualize it, but he wanted to start off as small as he could on his first attempt.

If I freeze the ground using Ice Bahn, I should be able to propel myself forward easily enough with a weak stream of Water Jet...?

With that thought, he set about putting his plan into action right away.

“Ice Bahn.”

First, he froze the ground. Then, in his head, he imagined shooting Water Jets from every part of his back.

“Water Jet 256.”

Currently, the highest number of Water Jets he could produce was two hundred and fifty-six, so he pictured that many bursting out of the back of his body. What actually happened was...

“I’m not moving forward...”

Not a single inch. It only felt like he had moved forward the tiniest bit.

Ryo’s knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground on all fours in his usual pose of despair.

“I lost...”

Evidently, something had beaten him...

A minute later...

“Well, I guess I can’t do it just yet... But I think I have a shot if I can increase the number of jets from two hundred and fifty-six to one thousand and twenty-four!”

He got back up. Then he started running again.

◆

Nils, Eto, and Amon were in the dungeon’s fourth layer, where goblins first appeared. Alone, goblins weren’t a big deal. Compared to the lesser wolves that showed up until Layer 3, defeating one goblin was pretty easy.

Unfortunately, goblins had weapons and they sometimes attacked in groups too. They usually used broken swords, spears, and such, but there were also goblins who used bows and arrows, though these were rare. Even rarer were the goblins that used magic.

As long as you avoided those rarer types of goblins and didn’t let groups of them surround you, the monsters were easy enough to defeat. However, no resources could be extracted from them, meaning nothing of theirs could be sold off other than their magic stones.

“Man, hunting goes a lot faster with another swordsman, huh?” Nils grinned heartily as he took a magic stone from the goblin he’d just killed.

“It really does,” Eto said. “The speed we progress is especially obvious against goblins.”

Since he was a priest, Eto focused almost exclusively on healing during combat, but he did help harvest materials and collect magic stones afterward. Of the three, he was actually the best at this activity.

“I feel like goblins are easier to take down because they move more slowly compared to lesser wolves,” Amon said. Unlike Nils and Eto, he still wasn’t used to gathering magic stones. Still, he did his best to keep at it a little at a time.

“All right, guys. Let’s take a break.”

At Nils’s order, the three of them sat to rest with their backs against boulders. Having said that, a break didn’t change their surroundings, i.e., the dungeon. In here, resting did nothing to alleviate their mental fatigue. Even so, it was vital to schedule regular breaks.

As an adventurer, Nils was the cautious type who liked to take many extra precautions during his expeditions. Amon was extremely grateful for his careful nature since he was still very much a beginner at dungeon dives.

“Amon, make sure you drink water and lick salt too, okay?” Nils was also the type who liked looking after others.

“That reminds me... You said the same thing yesterday after we ran, about the salt.”

“Yup. Supposedly, it’s good to take in water and salt after you sweat. It’s a tradition in my village.”

“Mother Goddess, lend me your healing hand. Lesser Heal,” Eto said, casting the spell on Amon’s injured arm.

“Haaa. Jeez, that was too close.”

Nils extracted the magic stone from an archer goblin that had been part of the group of goblins they’d just defeated. They had left the fourth layer of the dungeon behind and were now in the fifth, but there hadn’t been any reports of goblins employing archers here.

“I don’t like the looks of this. There shouldn’t be goblin archers in Layer 5. We managed somehow since the group was made of only three goblins, but still, it makes me uneasy about what might lie ahead.”

While Eto healed Amon, Nils finished extracting the magic stones from the remaining two goblins.

“You’re right. Time to head back to the surface. We’re done here for the day. A little sooner than planned, but it’s all good since we made more than we usually do, even with the loot split between three.” Nils smiled broadly.

Survival was the most important thing. Even without recalling Abel’s words, Nils understood the value of life because of past experience. Never overdo it. You should always leave yourself enough energy to return to safety. Nils knew how important that was.

An hour after three of Room 10’s residents withdrew from Layer 5, the E-rank party, Eternal Waves, met their annihilation on the same layer.

“Why are there so many goddamn goblins on this layer?! It shouldn’t be possible!”

“My magic is running out... I can’t keep going...”

“Ngh... Shit... Gah...”

“Help...”

The five E-rank adventurers fell silent, then succumbed to eternal slumber.

◆

“M-Miss Nina...”

“Oh, hello, you three. Welcome back. Finished early today, hm?”

“We did. Y-You’re looking as bootifu—”

Just when Nils was on the verge of making an utter fool of himself by fumbling his words, Eto intervened by chopping his friend on the top of his head to shut him up.

“We came back early because of a goblin archer in Layer 5.”

After explaining to her their circumstances, Eto showed Nina the magic stone they had extracted from the goblin archer. The difference between a normal goblin’s magic stone and a goblin archer’s magic stone lay only in the slight size disparity, but Nina the receptionist recognized at a single glance that the stone Eto held out belonged to a goblin archer.

“This is indeed a magical stone from a goblin archer... We haven’t had reports of them in Layer 5 for several years now, though. I’ll let the guild master know right away, and then I’ll update the notes section of the notice board. Thank you very much for informing us.”

Nina walked away from the reception counter and headed to the guild master’s office.

“Ahhh, Miss Nina...” Nils muttered in a daze.

“Haaa... Nils, let’s go. We need to sell off the magic stones.”

And with that, Eto and Amon dragged Nils to the magic stone purchase counter.

Lune’s guild master, Hugh McGlass, was waging his endless war against the documents piled on his desk when he heard a knock on his office door.

“Enter,” he said.

At first glance, no one would expect a fierce-looking giant like him to have anything to do with paperwork, but they would be terribly mistaken. There was simply no way the master of the frontier’s largest adventurers’ guild could avoid doing paperwork. The role demanded leagues more processing power than the average person possessed—it would be impossible to run an organization so massive otherwise.

“Excuse me, master,” Nina said as she entered. Even though Hugh continued focusing on the documents in front of him, Nina continued without waiting for his signal. All of Lune’s adventurers’ guild staff knew Hugh’s standing orders of getting to business straightaway. “I have urgent news. Just moments ago, a party composed of the F-rank adventurers Nils, Eto, and Amon came to reception and reported encountering goblin archers in the dungeon’s fifth layer.”

“Goblin archers in Layer 5?” Hugh asked. This news was enough to make him lift his attention from his paperwork and stare at Nina in surprise. “But they’re supposed to be in Layer 10 and deeper.”

“Precisely.”

“This might be an omen then. Which B-rank parties are currently in the city?”

“The Crimson Sword and White Brigade.”

“All of the White Brigade? Including Phelps and his army?”

“Yes, sir,” Nina answered without hesitation. “They returned from an expedition the day before yesterday and they’re still here.”

“All right, I want you to summon both the Crimson Sword and White Brigade. Tell them to come here to my office in an hour for a job.”

◆

“The White Brigade too? I’m not so great at dealing with them...”

“How can you say that, after all this time? Especially since you’re all childhood acquaintances.”

“Honestly, Abel, all you do is complain. You should follow Warren’s example once in a while.”

As always, Warren remained silent.

Abel, Rihya, Lyn, and Warren were standing in the corridor outside the guild master’s office. They had come here at his behest.

“Haaa...”

Abel exhaled then knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

“Excuse us.”

With that, Abel stepped into the room. Just like he’d anticipated, he found Hugh the guild master along with the White Brigade’s captain, Phelps, and its vice-captain, Shenna, inside.

“Hey, Abel,” Phelps said amiably. He measured roughly the same height as Abel at one hundred and ninety centimeters, but his frame was much more slender. He was twenty-four years old with golden hair and blue eyes. And also very handsome.

His popularity was through the roof. While Abel was popular with both men and women, Phelps was ridiculously popular with women in particular. Of course, that didn’t mean men hated him. They were usually just jealous of him. That aside, without exception, everyone respected him as an adventurer. That was what he’d accomplished so far.

“Hello, Phelps,” Abel said, scowling.

Phelps grinned, amused. “You always greet me in the same way, huh, Abel?”

Once the Crimson Sword’s four members sat down, Hugh spoke.

“I ’preciate both the Crimson Sword and White Brigade responding to my call. My people should’ve already told ya the gist about the goblin archers in the dungeon’s fifth layer.”

“Master, how accurate is that information?” Phelps asked.

“One hundred percent accurate. Three F-rank adventurers took down a trio of goblins, one of ’em an archer. They brought back its magic stone and Nina verified it at reception.”

“An F-rank party hunted down a group of goblins, including an archer? Looks like the future just got more interesting, huh?” Abel sounded delighted. As a veteran adventurer, it made him happy to hear about such promising novices.

“Nils is their leader and the boy’s got a good head on his shoulder. Always careful with his decision-makin’. I’m damn sure he’ll last a long time as an adventurer,” Hugh replied, giving them his stamp of approval.

“Wait, Nils? So was the party made up of Ryo’s three roommates then?”

“Yep. Nils, Eto, and Amon. I had no idea you knew them, Abel.”

“Well, I had a chance to chat with them for a bit a while ago...” Abel nodded slightly, a soft smile on his face as he thought back to his meeting with them in the restaurant. They’ll definitely make good adventurers since they understand the importance of staying alive.

“Okay, I understand that the sighting’s been confirmed. So what exactly are you asking us to do, Master?” Phelps asked.

“Right. I want the Crimson Sword and White Brigade to go down into the dungeon and check whether or not another Great Tidal Bore is comin’.”

Everyone in the room went tense at the mention of the words “Great Tidal Bore.” The Great Tidal Bore was a phenomenon that occurred once every few years in Lune’s dungeon when the monster population exploded. Monsters that should have existed only in the deeper layers beginning to appear in the upper ones was a portent of a Great Tidal Bore.

There were some normal instances of lower-layer monsters appearing on the upper layers. For example, the soldier ants on the first layer likely dug shafts up to the first layer from below. This explained why the first sighting of soldier ants in Layer 1 had been reported six months ago but was not considered a harbinger of a Great Tidal Bore.

A goblin archer, however, was a different story. Although they were supposed to be in Layers 10 and deeper, one had been discovered in Layer 5, making it extremely likely that this was in fact a Great Tidal Bore omen.

Moreover, ten years had passed since the last Great Tidal Bore, so they were long overdue for one to occur.

“I’ll pay ya a hundred gold coins upfront and two hundred each after ya come back.”

“GuilMas, just making sure here. All we have to do is check whether or not there’s an outbreak, right?” Abel said, repeating the job description.

“Yea, got it in one.”

“And if there is an outbreak?” Phelps asked. He wanted to confirm how they should proceed in that event.

“Ya haul yer asses back to the surface pronto and report to me. I’ll be at the branch office waitin’ for ya all. If this is another Great Tidal Bore, the plan is to abandon the dungeon’s entrance and intercept the monsters on the surface by containin’ ’em within the double wall. The guild’s gonna work together with the margrave’s knights. I already told him about this commission I’m sendin’ all of ya on and the counterattack plan too.”

Everyone’s nerves ratcheted up another notch upon hearing that. Hugh informing the lord of the region about his strategy meant he was already certain about a Great Tidal Bore. There was no other conclusion to draw from his words.

“I need ya all to head into the dungeon tomorrow morning. I got a bad feelin’ I’ll have to ask all the adventurers still in the city to be on standby at the guild the day after tomorrow. We already put up a flyer on the guild’s notice board that dungeon dives are a no-go startin’ tomorrow. ’Course, the branch office near the dungeon’s been notified too and they’ll be ready to stop anyone from going down tomorrow.”

Hugh had made all the moves he could. The fierce-looking giant may have seemed like a meathead inside and out, but appearances could be deceiving. Not only was he Lune’s guild master, he was also a former A-rank adventurer. He couldn’t have attained either rank without a set of first-class brains as well.

“Crimson Sword, White Brigade, will ya take on this job?”

“Yeah, the Crimson Sword accepts.”

“As does the White Brigade.”

The Great Tidal Bore

The next day, Tuesday, a little past nine in the morning, Ryo set off for the southern library on his quest for information about akuma. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.

After eating breakfast with Ryo, the other three occupants of Room 10 went to the guild where they now stood in front of the notice board.

For Nils and Eto, Tuesdays were for commissions on the surface. Amon had joined them because if he didn’t accept regular jobs too, it would take him forever to move up to E-rank. Moreover, adventurers were discouraged from exploring the dungeon on back-to-back days for the sake of their mental health. So the three of them had stopped by the guild’s notice board to accept normal commissions, but...

“The flyer says dungeon dives are prohibited until further notice,” Amon said, reading the notice tacked on one end of the jobs board.

“Oh, shoot, you’re right...”

Nina had told them yesterday that she’d post a warning about goblin archers, but...instead of just a warning, for whatever reason, all dungeon explorations had been suspended.

Eto tilted his head thoughtfully. “It’s possible they received additional information after our report.”

At around the same time, the Crimson Sword’s four members and twenty of the White Brigade’s gathered in front of the dungeon’s entrance located in the center of Lune.

“Hello, Phelps. Brought twenty with you, huh? That’s half of your people. What about the rest? They aren’t coming?”

“Morning, Abel. These twenty adventurers are all C-rank or higher. It wouldn’t be right of me to bring along D-ranks knowing the dangers we’re about to face.”

The White Brigade consisted of forty members in total. It would be more accurate to call them an organization, a group, or a clan rather than a party. However, their size didn’t mean they accepted just anyone. Applicants needed to be at least D-rank adventurers. Furthermore, they all had to be approved personally by Phelps. He couldn’t have any problematic personalities in his organization.

And within the group, Captain Phelps and Vice Captain Shenna along with four others made up the six elite core of the White Brigade. The best of the best among them. They were all B-rank adventurers who formed their own B-rank party within the organization and Hugh referred to them as the Army.

Usually holed up in the headquarters, Hugh now walked out of the branch office. “Oh ho, yer all here, eh?”

Abel stared at him curiously, like he was witnessing an extremely rare event. “It’s so weird seeing you here, GuilMas.”

“I can imagine, but I gotta be ready to make a decision as soon as ya get back, so I’m hunkerin’ down here for the day. Just like what I said yesterday. All ya ladies and gents ready to dive in?”

With that, Hugh ordered the gatekeeper to open the doors.

“Wait, GuilMas.”

“Hm? Whatsa matter, Abel?”

“I sort of have a bad feeling. Lyn, can you use your Probe spell to check out the first layer?”

“Roooger!” Lyn stood in front of the doors and chanted, activating her air magic. “Bring to me the pulse and existence of life. Probe.”

Waves of exploration spread from Lyn. When the waves reached the end of the hundred-step stairs past the doors and arrived at the first layer’s main cavern, her expression changed.

“I’m getting a lot of readings from the main cavern. A lot, Abel. It feels like hundreds.”

“Damn. So the Great Tidal Bore already made it that far?”

“Son of a bitch! We’re withdrawin’, now! All of ya! Retreat to the top of the first defensive wall. Contact both the knights and guild’s headquarters and tell ’em the Great Tidal Bore is already underway, that it won’t be long ’fore the monsters rush out.”

All of them, including the guild staff in the branch office, all headed toward the rampart stairs. Staff members tasked with contacting the knights’ headquarters ran north while those responsible for contacting the guild headquarters raced south.

◆

“Master, everyone has been evacuated to the walls and the gate has been blocked off.”

The moment Hugh heard the report from his subordinate, the doors to the dungeon’s entrance blasted out.

“They’re here, eh...”

Originally, on Earth, the term “great tidal bore” often referred to the massive backwash called the Pororoca in the Amazon River. It was apparently a majestic and frightening sight, as if a whole host of living things were rushing up the river all at once. Here on Phi, the fury of Lune’s Great Tidal Bore held its own against the Pororoca.

More, to put it more directly: its horror was overwhelming.

The courtyard within the enclosed walls of the dungeon’s entrance was about the size of a four-hundred-meter track in a track-and-field stadium. Nearly oval in shape, it measured seventy-five meters from north to south and one hundred fifty meters from east to west.

Currently, the whole area was overflowing with monsters. Truly the definition of packed in like sardines. The sheer number was so great that every single member of both the Crimson Sword and White Brigade was left speechless. Hugh McGlass, master of Lune’s guild, was in the same state, even though he’d personally witnessed the last Great Tidal Bore.

Where in the bloody hell did all these things come from... There wasn’t anywhere near as many last time! Not to mention this ain’t even a fraction of ’em, considering how many are still crammed inside the dungeon.

A cold, greasy sweat trickled down Hugh’s back at the unexpectedly massive amount of monsters.

Be that as it may, plans were already in motion. They all knew what they had to do: annihilate every last one of the monsters. If they couldn’t, then they would spill out into the city and destroy Lune.

“We’ll whittle ’em down as much as possible with ranged attacks, specifically magic and arrows. The vanguard’ll cut down the arrows they shoot at us and protect the magicians and archers on our side.”

In the nine years since he retired from adventuring, Hugh had essentially spent day and night battling an endless mountain of paperwork. An adventurer was an adventurer until the day he died, however, and he was a former A-rank. He had survived more carnage than all of the young’uns here combined.

Though the Crimson Sword and the White Brigade were both excellent groups, there was no clear hierarchy within the guild. With that being the case, the best choice to take command of the situation was the guild master, as it would mitigate confusion tremendously. Unifying the chain of command was an absolutely necessary protocol for fighting.

The battle began under Hugh’s orders. Having said that, it was less a battle and more a one-sided slaughter. Standing atop the first ten-meter-high defensive wall, the members of the Crimson Sword and White Brigade launched an assault of magic and arrows.

The monsters retaliated sporadically. Mixed in with the huge numbers of goblins was a smattering of goblin archers, but most of their arrows couldn’t reach the top of the ramparts. Even if they did, the defenders repelled them all with swords and shields.

The Crimson Sword and White Brigade took up positions on the south wall. Others defended the north wall. Then, ten minutes after the fighting commenced, long-awaited reinforcements finally arrived at the north wall: the order of knights under the command of Margrave Lune, the lord of the region.

“Reduce their numbers as much as you can with ranged attacks.”

Their plan was fundamentally the same as the adventurers’ because naturally, Hugh had discussed it with Neville Black, the knight commander, the day before.

I’m glad I made the time to talk to him yesterday, despite how crazy busy it was...

Hugh was fervently glad for his foresight. He’d worried he might offend the knights’ honor or what have you by asking them to work side by side with adventurers. Things would have taken a turn for the worse if they suddenly found themselves lacking in allies.

Neville doesn’t seem like the type to obsess over things like that, so I think we’re fine.

◆

Let’s rewind just a little bit.

At the moment when the adventurers’ guild was informed of the unusual situation at the dungeon’s entrance, there were quite a few adventurers at the guild. There were some who intended to explore the dungeon today and others who intended to accept normal jobs on the surface.

Regardless, when they sensed something abnormal occurring, the various parties talked to each other and exchanged information on what they knew. Whether A-rank or F-rank, all adventurers understood the importance of information. Although, at the moment, there weren’t any active A-rank adventurers in the city of Lune...

Amid the chatter, a messenger came running in and shouted, “A Great Tidal Bore outbreak! Monsters are coming to the surface from the dungeon.”

At those words, C-rank and D-rank adventurers sprang into action without hesitation. They took up their weapons and flew out of the guild toward the dungeon’s entrance. The remaining E- and F-rank adventurers weren’t left in the dark for long about the situation.

“A Great Tidal Bore is a phenomenon when monsters pour out of the dungeon,” one of the guild’s staff explained. “This is an emergency request. You should all be able to help defend from the top of the rampart. Please hurry to the scene.”

Once they heard that, even the adventurers who weren’t sure about what to do immediately followed suit with the rest. This group included Nils, Eto, and Amon, who had been exchanging information with other adventurers at the guild.

On top of the rampart, guild staff distributed their stockpile of bows and arrows. The guild headquarters had sent them here ahead of time because of the sheer volume of reserves they had in storage. Now, they were being put to good use.

In any case, no one had to worry about running out of arrows. They could fire their bows to their hearts’ content. This knowledge was a huge mental advantage because no matter how many monsters they defeated, they kept coming out of the dungeon...

“Shit! It doesn’t feel like we’re making any headway.” Abel kept firing arrows even as he complained. Though he was a swordsman, an adventurer of his level grew proficient at all methods of attack, melee, midrange, and long-range. Naturally, he was far better than the average archer with a bow.

Next to him, Rihya the priestess loosed arrows too. She wasn’t as skilled as Abel, but she could still hold her own. “A war of attrition, hm?” she replied, aiming at a goblin not too far away. “But if we don’t defeat these goblins, the real terror won’t appear.”

The real terror... So far, it seemed that this Great Tidal Bore revolved primarily around goblins...which meant the outbreak would likely end when they finally killed the goblin general. Another way to put it was this influx would keep going as long as the goblin general didn’t come out of the dungeon.

“Lyn, I think we’re in for a long haul here. It’ll probably wind up being me and the Brigade charging in toward the end, so make sure you preserve your magical energy.”

“Roooger!”

“Having said that... If you got a magic trick up your sleeve that can wipe them out in one shot, you have my permission to use it. I don’t suppose you do, huh?”

“Are you nuts? Of course I don’t! You know that too, so stop fooling around!”

Lyn the air magician sat down and focused on recovering her magical energy. In this type of prolonged fighting, magic was inevitably inferior to a bow and arrow...

On the wall a little ways away from the Crimson Sword stood the White Brigade’s captain, Phelps. A lancer by vocation, he was also firing arrows matter-of-factly. Next to him was the magician and his vice captain, Shenna, doing the same.

The remaining twenty members of the Brigade had arrived as well, so all forty took up positions on one section of the wall and unleashed a hail of ranged attacks. About thirty of them were firing arrows. Only five of them were archers in their own right, but this situation called for quantity over quality.

“All of you, don’t neglect to drink water. So far, only goblins and some goblin archers have come out, so this will take some time,” Phelps ordered as he continued loosing arrows.

Some of the brigade members were finding it difficult to draw the bowstring, probably because they had been shooting arrows for almost an hour now. Since they weren’t professional archers, they wound up using excessive force at times, leading to unnecessary strain on their bodies. Their priest healed them with magic and sent them back to the front lines.

But...the end was still nowhere in sight.

◆

The people who work for me are the best of the best. One of ’em should be comin’ back soon, Hugh thought as he awaited news.

“Master!” a voice called from the city street outside the rampart wall.

“Yer here!”

“We gathered all the arrows we could from all the weapon shops in the southern part of the city. A total of about 80,000.”

“Huzzah!”

The other guild staff members by Hugh and the adventurers in the vicinity shouted in excitement at the announcement.

“Nice work. Hand ’em out quick as a flash to the adventurers.”

“Master, a report just came in from the group assigned to the northern part of the city. They acquired close to 70,000 arrows and are distributing them to the knights as we speak.”

“I’ll be damned! We’ll be able to keep up this ranged attack for a while yet.”

Would you like to guess what Nils, Eto, and Amon were doing around the same time?

Since he was a priest, Eto worked his way through the adventurer parties on top of the wall, healing them whenever necessary.

Nils and Amon were running to and fro distributing arrows to the various parties.

“Abel, we got more arrows from the weapon shops in the city.”

Nils delivered two barrels overflowing with arrows to the Crimson Sword.

“Oh, hey, Nils. Thanks a bunch. We were just about to run out too.”

Abel turned his head ever so slightly in Nils’s direction and nodded in appreciation.

“I also have a message from the guild master. He said, ‘I want the Crimson Sword to charge in at the end, so be ready.’”

Abel burst out laughing. “Yeah, I figured as much. Please tell him, ‘Got it.’”

“I will. May the fortunes of war ever favor you.” With that, Nils turned around on his heel then raced off to tell Hugh Abel’s response.

“Times like this really make me think about the importance of replenishing supplies,” Abel said.

Four hours after the battle commenced, the wave of goblins finally started receding. It was also around this time that both the adventurers and knights began to run low on arrows. All of their arrows had been gathered from the city, so they couldn’t expect a resupply from Lune. This meant they would soon need to descend the wall and engage in close-quarter combat to settle this battle once and for all.

“The Crimson Sword and White Brigade’ll lead the charge. I saw goblin mages too, so be careful out there,” Hugh said, shooting out orders briskly.

Goblin mages were an extremely rare type of goblin that could use offensive magic.

“Once the Crimson and White open a way forward for us, C-rank and D-rank parties will charge behind them and widen it further.”

“Master, the northern wall!”

Hugh looked toward where one of his subordinates pointed. The northern wall’s door leading down had been opened and the knights there had already begun fighting the goblins at close range.

“Shite. Guess that means the knights’re outta arrows. Right then, we’re goin’ in too. Folks, let’s crush this Great Tidal Bore”!

“Aaaye!” the adventurers roared enthusiastically.

While they understood the necessity of the tactics employed so far, they had been growing increasingly frustrated with being restricted to engaging the enemy only from afar. There were many adventurers whose blood fired up at the prospect of melee combat. After all, was there a better way to end such a battle?!

Suddenly, the southern wall’s door opened. With Abel and Phelps in the lead, the Crimson Sword and White Brigade rushed into the goblin horde. Abel slaughtered swaths of goblins in a single stroke, their swords never even once making contact with his own weapon. Phelps’s skillful use of his lance’s thrusts and slashes meant he massacred goblins in a wide range. Warren used his shield to bash goblins while Shenna stabbed at them using a flame spear with high penetrative power. Together, they created a path for Abel and Phelps to charge through.

“We’re about to see the last of the goblins. Prepare yourself for the incoming mages,” Rihya instructed.

Just as the wave of goblins ended, a goblin mage attacked using the Fire Arrow spell. It was a magical ranged attack similar to the Sonic Blade air magic spell. The flame arrow launched by a magic user split into five projectiles on its aggressive flight toward its target.

On this occasion, three flew toward Abel and the remaining two at Phelps. Warren positioned himself in front of Abel and blocked the flame arrows with his massive shield.

“Earth, become our shield and protect us against evil. Clay Wall.”

Capable of using earth and flame magic, Shenna, the vice captain, created an earth wall in front of Phelps and blocked the flame arrows rushing at him. That was when the Crimson Sword and White Brigade arrived near the entrance from where the goblin mages came. They were the only groups who succeeded. The knights who had charged into battle first were still fighting behind them.

Right after he finished confirming this fact, Abel caught sight of a humongous goblin lumbering out of the dungeon entrance.

“A goblin general...”

Unlike other goblins, the goblin general, just as its name indicated, possessed a unique and extremely high combat strength. A B-rank adventurer could take it in a one-on-one battle, but the issue was...

“Three goblin generals...” Shenna murmured.

It was actually the first time Abel had heard Shenna’s voice and he couldn’t contain his surprise. This, however, was neither the time nor place to turn around and gawk at the Brigade’s vice captain.

“Several of these generals mean...”

“There’s a king inside, yeah,” Abel said, finishing Phelp’s thought.

Goblin king. A mutant species of goblin that was occasionally sighted in the Central Provinces once every few decades. There was even a record of a goblin king leading an army of tens of thousands of goblins and destroying an entire city.

The goblins pouring out of the dungeon numbered more than ten thousand, so they should have expected the existence of a king—except...until now, there hadn’t been any record of goblin kings being born in dungeons.

“I honestly have no clue how strong a goblin king is supposed to be, which is exactly why I want to take down these generals before it gets to the surface.”

“Agreed.”

Abel and Phelps were clearly on the same wavelength.

“Phelps and I will each take one, so the rest of you handle the third,” Abel said.

With those orders, the battle against the three generals commenced. If it had been purely a melee, Abel and Phelps would have won relatively easily. Unfortunately for them, the goblin mages launched their magical attacks with the perfect timing to put the adventurers at a disadvantage. Because of this, the two parties were having a tough time dealing fatal blows to the goblin generals.

When the general Abel faced swung its mighty sword down, Abel evaded without using his own blade to parry the attack. Then he immediately slashed at it with his magic sword.

“Grrraaarrr!!!”

The general’s bellow echoed throughout the space.

Abel wasn’t the only one pressing his advantage though. Phelps too was making inroads in his fight.

All right, this is going pretty well.

Then, in the next instant, a sense of foreboding struck Abel. He looked toward the dungeon’s entrance where a goblin leagues taller than the generals was emerging. It lifted its arm, then swung it across the battlefield.

Crap!

“Get down!” Abel shouted at his comrades, his instincts as a swordsman warning him.

Neither the Crimson Sword nor the White Brigade understood what was happening, yet they were all seasoned warriors who had experienced their fair share of carnage. Each of them immediately dropped to the ground.

A split second later, the three goblin generals were cut in half, their upper bodies cleanly separated from their lower. The adventurers, face down on the ground, felt the air above their heads being disturbed by the flying body parts. Abel shuddered. It doesn’t even care if it kills us or its own generals, huh?

Air Slash was an invisible air magic spell, but whatever the king had unleashed was not only much faster than an Air Slash, it also possessed an incomparable cutting power. Moreover, unlike an Air Slash, which required a chant to execute, the creature had executed the attack silently.

Then maybe...it’s not magic? I mean, all it did was swing its arm... Either way, we need to close the gap between us.

“Phelps, you and I are charging in.”

With that, Abel ran straight for the king. Phelps followed without delay. The former attacked at melee range while the latter used his lance to attack at midrange. The king fought back, using its sword and shield to engage them in an orthodox melee.

What wasn’t orthodox was the incredible heaviness behind even just one of the monster’s blows.

The king suddenly swung its sword so fast Abel had no time to dodge, leaving him with no choice but to parry.

“Ngh!” He grunted at the unexpected heft of the strike.

While his sword clashed with the king’s, Phelps took the opportunity to stab it with his lance, dealing damage. Just like Abel’s sword, his lance glowed red. A magic lance.

Within the Crimson Sword and White Brigade, the only ones in possession of magical weapons were Abel and Phelps. This was the reason Abel said the two of them would attack the king together. He’d guessed that normal weapons would most likely have no effect on the monster, a suspicion that had been confirmed during their battle with the generals. Although Abel and Phelps had succeeded in hurting their respective generals, their peers’ attacks hadn’t been strong enough to deal serious damage. Since the king was undoubtedly more powerful than its generals, he’d concluded that only magical weapons could harm the king.

His theory turned out to be correct. Normal weapons, including arrows, inflicted no damage whatsoever to the goblin king’s flesh. Their only viable options were Abel’s magic sword and Phelps’s magic lance.

The two of them had a very slight advantage in this situation, but it was so small that a single misstep on either of their parts and the tables would be turned against them. Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened. Abel’s foot slipped the next time he attacked.

“Shit—”

He managed to stop himself from falling entirely by planting one knee on the ground. At the same time, the king took a step back and put some distance between them. Then it swung its arm.

“Get down!” As he shouted, Abel charged toward the king.

“Abel!” Phelps cried out in surprise.

But he had already dropped to the ground and could only watch. Why would Abel do such a thing...?

“Sword Skill: Perfect Shadow.”

Perfect Shadow was a technique Abel used to dodge long-range attacks, including magical ones, with minimal movement. With it, he evaded the king’s invisible attack and then closed the gap between them completely.

“Combat Skill: Total Impalement.”

Normally, the surefire way to kill an opponent with this technique was by stabbing them through the throat or head. The king’s enormous size, however, made it impossible for Abel to reach either of those targets. So Abel aimed as close to its heart as he could get from below.

“Gugaaaaaahhhhhh!!!”

The king screamed either in pain or fury, but he wasn’t down yet.

“I predicted as much. Lyn, shoot! Don’t worry about me and just shoot!” Abel yelled.

“Bullet Rain.”

From under the shadow of Warren’s shield, Lyn shouted only those last two trigger words of the spell. Over a hundred invisible air bullets raced toward Abel and the king.

“Sword Skill: Perfect Shadow.”

Abel executed Perfect Shadow again, allowing him to dodge her magical ranged attack too. Meanwhile, the king, severely wounded, couldn’t.

“Hraaagh...”

Normal weapons were useless against the king’s skin. However, the same couldn’t be said of Bullet Rain, the highest level of air magic. It required a frighteningly long chant time, so it was considered impractical. Lyn hadn’t used her magic at all since they descended from the defensive wall so she could use Bullet Rain to deal the finishing blow. You could almost say she’d been stubbornly focused on not using her magic for this very moment.

A top-tier air magic attack boasting nearly invincible penetration power. As expected, even the king couldn’t withstand it. Countless air bullets pierced through its flesh...and the goblin king breathed its last breath.

Around the same time as the Crimson Sword and White Brigade defeated the goblin king, the rest of the adventurers behind and outside finished their extermination of the goblin horde.

◆

“We recovered 32,133 magic stones, eh... Helluva a lot, even for goblins. Much more than the city of Lune can process.”

Hugh sighed. When Abel had defeated the goblin king, even Hugh had raised his fists high in triumph. He had been genuinely happy that they’d all somehow managed to overcome the Great Tidal Bore.

But his duties as Lune’s guild master weren’t over yet. If anything, the real challenge would begin now, especially because he couldn’t ask anyone else to do his work for him.

He needed to update the national government and the margrave. Submit documents. File a petition to the government to disburse funds to Lune from the budget it set aside specifically to deal with the periodic Great Tidal Bore outbreaks. Even after he submitted it, it would take them six months to approve it, so he had to advance the adventurers’ their rewards from the guild’s coffers in the meantime. There was also compensation to the weapon shops for providing all those arrows and condolence money to the families of those who sacrificed their lives in the battle. Then there would be assessing rank-ups for the adventurers who participated in the battle, planning to restore the facilities and equipment destroyed in this latest Great Tidal Bore and how to acquire the funds for the restoration, bonuses for guild stuff, and so much more that the list just didn’t seem to end...

When he thought about one thing, it inevitably led him to remember another task. Work that he couldn’t ask anyone else to do...

Still...

Hugh looked down at the goblin king’s magic stone resting near his hands. A pale green magic stone about half the size of a clenched fist.

This is a damn big stone. It’ll fetch a pretty copper on the market, which makes the wyvern magic stones Abel and Ryo brought in even more abnormal in comparison... Although I s’pose that’s par for the course when wyverns are involved.

The wyvern magic stones were deep green and big as a clenched fist. With their color and size, those wyverns in particular must have lived a long time and accumulated a great many experiences. That was what the depth of the shade indicated.

Meaning the goblin king this time around hadn’t been alive for very long considerin’ how light its magic stone is. A monster who spent a dang short time in the bowels of the dungeon.

Much still remained a mystery about the Great Tidal Bores. All people knew was they occurred routinely and when they did, the resulting surge of monsters only consisted of one type.

“Ahhh, hell and damn... The scholars’re definitely gonna descend on us, demandin’ I let ’em study what happened... The dungeon’s s’posed to be sealed off for a month after the outbreak, but how’m I s’posed to hold off the scholars if they come during that time...”

A guild master’s suffering never ends...

Nobody was thinking about the guild master’s worries because of the feast taking place in the guild’s canteen. Naturally, the adventurers were celebrating overcoming a Great Tidal Bore, an event which occurred once every few years. Moreover, this latest outbreak was the biggest in recorded history.

That explained why the guild’s canteen, with its strict no-alcohol policy, made an exception. For today only, liquor flowed throughout the dining hall. For this one night only, the guild would bear the costs of food and drink for all. Well...at least until the national government disbursed the funds to Lune from the discretionary budget dedicated to the unique phenomenon. Then the guild master would just use those to settle up the guild’s coffers after tonight’s celebration.

Either way, it was a grand banquet for all the adventurers here in Lune today: those who participated in the battle, those who couldn’t for various reasons, and even those who had no idea a Great Tidal Bore had even occurred.

Amid the merriment, Ryo returned from the library. He had initially planned on heading straight to his room in the housing annex, but then he heard the din of drunken voices coming from the guild’s canteen, which was unusual given the guild’s strict no-alcohol policy. Curious, he peeked inside, and sure enough, saw the huge feast taking place.

The guild had bought many casks of liquor and adventurers dipped their tankards into them freely. Servers placed mountains of food down on the tables, constantly running back and forth from the kitchen.

Ryo stared at the scene in astonishment. Farther back in the hall, he finally spied his three roommates of Room 10 beckoning him over. He avoided cutting through the heart of the celebration, instead electing to skirt around the edges of the room before he reached the trio.

“Welcome back, Ryo...” Eto, who had once mentioned his low tolerance for alcohol, greeted him, already half-asleep. Amon, the one who’d enthusiastically waved Ryo over when he saw him, drank juice since he was still underage.

“Ryo, you made it in time for the party! It’s all you can eat and all you can drink! Courtesy of the guild too,” Abel said happily. The heap of food overflowing his plate was a testament to the bounty of the buffet tables surrounding them. A true paradise for adventures lacking funds.

Nils arrived at the table with his own plate piled high with food. “You’re late, Ryo. Grab a plate and a mug from over there and fill ’em up to your heart’s content,” he explained.

“But...what’s this feast for?”

“Ahhh,” Nils said. “So you still don’t know, huh? There was a Great Tidal Bore outbreak. You should have learned about it in the beginner seminar, right? It occurs once every few years.”

“I see...and this banquet is because you all managed to weather it. I guess I’ll make a plate for myself then.”

“Yeah, go for it. Gotta make sure we stuff ourselves with a week’s worth of food tonight!” Nils cackled at his own joke, then started tearing into his food like a wild beast.

Next to him, Amon dug into his own plate like a hungry demon hell, showing off a teenager’s voracious appetite.

When Ryo returned to the table with a plate full of food and a mug full of wine, he saw that Nils and Amon had finished eating. For now, anyway, since they planned on going back for another round soon enough.

“You should have seen Abel! He was amazing!” Nils said before launching into a story about all the things Abel had done during the Great Tidal Bore.

Ryo listened attentively while eating. Not only was Abel a great swordsman, he was just as good with the bow and arrow as any professional archer. Then Nils told him about how Abel led the charge when it was time to fight the goblins up close and carved a way forward for the adventurers. He concluded by telling him how Abel had almost single-handedly taken down the goblin king.

“Almost single-handedly?” Ryo tilted his head curiously. A dexterous feat indeed.

“W-Well, technically speaking, Miss Lyn dealt the finishing blow with her magic. But! It only worked because Abel had already immobilized the goblin king by stabbing it. When he told her not to worry about him and just shoot, I got chills in more ways than one.”

Nils couldn’t stop grinning as he recalled the sight. It creeped Ryo out just a bit. It was fine for men to admire other men, but he felt like Nils was starting to take it too far.

“He would have been in real trouble if her magic actually hit him, right? A goblin king’s body sounds really tough. If her magic punctured it, Abel probably might have died.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point. I heard the chant for the spell takes a terrifyingly long time, which is why magicians hardly ever use it in combat.”

Eto lifted his head. “It’s called ‘Bullet Rain’ and it’s the most powerful air magic out there.” Then he dropped his head onto the table with a thud and fell asleep again.

“Bullet Rain... A shower of bullets... Sounds really cool.”

“Apparently, it’s an invisible magical attack made of dozens of air blades. Man, I sure am glad none of them hit Abel.”

“Only because I deflected them with my sword,” someone said from behind them. Nils jerked around in surprise.

Behind them, Abel stood holding a tankard in one hand. Ryo hadn’t even noticed his presence until now due to a combination of how crowded the hall was and the intensity with which he was eating.

“Are you referring to your Sword Skills?” Ryo asked Abel.

“Yeah, right in one. Even more advanced than Combat Skills and exclusively for swordsmen to use. Specifically, I used Perfect Shadow. It’s a technique to dodge all long-range attacks, including magical ones.”

“Sword Skill: Perfect Shadow. That’s the one you used in our fight against the harpy queen, isn’t it? What a really cool naming convention!”

“Of course that’s what you focus on, Ryo. Why am I not surprised...”

Nils was still completely frozen by Abel’s sudden appearance. His admiration for him had grown to such an extent after today’s battle that he no longer knew how to interact with someone he practically worshiped as a god.

“Oh, yes. Abel, Nils couldn’t stop gushing about you. He said you were amazing and incredible and more.”

“Gah, stop it. You’re gonna make me blush. But Nils and the others pulled their weight too, you know. They didn’t take any breaks while they rushed around resupplying everyone with arrows. It’s thanks to them we ultimately won. So be proud of yourselves too.”

His words finally brought Nils back to reality, though only for a moment, because hearing his hero praise him made him freeze up again.

“One thing though... We’d have won a lot easier if you’d been there, Ryo. Where the heck were you?” Abel asked.

Ryo took a swallow of alcohol from his mug. “Right, about that... I was in the library,” Ryo said, a little sheepish.

Of course, his absence wasn’t his fault. He simply hadn’t known. Any adventurer who hadn’t been able to participate in the battle for whatever reason wouldn’t be penalized. That was little comfort, though. It didn’t sit well with him that he hadn’t been there for a major event that demanded all hands on deck.

“The library, huh... Then yeah, it is what it is.”

“I’m just glad I didn’t have the chance to steal the spotlight from you, Abel.”

Abel burst out laughing. “Jeez, you didn’t have to say it out loud!”

“Ah ha! I found you, Abel.”

“See. I told you odds were good that he was with Ryo.”

Lyn and Rihya had apparently been searching for him.

“Ryo,” Rihya said. “I see Abel’s taken a real shine to you.”

Ryo sensed the barest hints of jealousy and a dangerous bite in Rihya’s words.

“Nah, that’s not why I hunted him down. I just wanted to complain to him that it would’ve been a lot easier for us with him there.” Abel nodded vigorously, agreeing with his own comment.

“In any case,” Rihya said. “The guild master has a message for you. He wants you to go with him tomorrow when he visits the margrave to give his report. Said you should be in his office by the time the clock strikes noon.”

“Ugh...”

“Sounds like your reward for a job very well done, hm?” Ryo said.

Ryo’s sarcasm made Abel scowl even more. “But I wasn’t even the one who finished the thing off. It was Lyn...”

“Ah ah, don’t think you can wiggle your way out of this, Abel. My Bullet Rain never would have hit it if you hadn’t stabbed it practically in the heart.”

Upon hearing Lyn’s words, Abel didn’t just scowl but also hung his head.

“Oh, right,” Lyn said, swinging aggressively toward Ryo. “I wanted to ask you something, Ryo.”

“Sure, what is it?” Ryo, having finally cleared his fully loaded plate, began sipping the wine in his tankard.

“Abel told us you can create an Ice Wall in midair, and really high up too. Is that true?”

“Yes, it is. I’d say the highest I can go is around forty meters up in the area?” Ryo replied, trying to visualize the scene to give her an estimate.

“Omigosh. It really is true...”