Chapter 293

Alicetia the Warlord (1)
While I was lost in thought, trying to figure out how to transport the Yamata no Orochi, I suddenly realized there was a withered old man standing right in front of me.

Apparently, I’d been too focused on thinking.

The old man before me was the head of the Bureau of Sealing—a powerful mage, the top of all charm-art users in this country. They don’t call them magicians here in the Land of Tranquility, but “doshi,” or spiritual masters. His name was Genro Kanesada.

And this old man? He was prostrating himself right in front of me.

It’s not like I did anything extreme—he suddenly dropped to his knees the moment we met, begging me to hand over Alicia. I might’ve gotten a little irritated, but I didn’t go so far as to actually hurt him. Just a little intimidation, that’s all.

“I already said we wouldn’t hand over Alicia, didn’t I? Also, Alice, stop intimidating him. You’re scaring people. We’re not handing her over!”

At my brother’s words, I stopped the intimidation. Looking around calmly, I saw everyone was pale as a sheet. Pathetic, really, being frightened by a child’s pressure.

“But it’s impossible to defeat that thing! To awaken such a being is—”

“Genro-dono, this is a national decision. That matter is already settled,” said Foreign Minister Yoshioki, his jaw tight as he scolded the doshi.

Ah, he’s still scared. Well, he’s a bureaucrat, after all. I’m a battle-trained mage, so my intimidation carries magic—it hits straight at the soul. The fact that he’s not fainted says he’s got some backbone.

“But if we offer a sacrifice, we can buy decades of time!”

“The sacrificial clan is already extinct. Lady Alicia is neither one of our citizens nor obligated to give her life for this country. Besides, once the clan perished, the creature’s revival became inevitable.

Even if you buy us decades, what then? We may feel satisfied that we ‘saved’ the nation, but all we’d be doing is pushing the curse onto the next generation.”

“The sacrificial clan isn’t gone! Two remain! It can be rebuilt!”

“That might be true if they still lived in our country. But they belong to an allied nation now—such negotiations are impossible.

We already explained that the Arland Kingdom doesn’t compromise on matters like these.”

“That’s your job to fix!”

“That would mean war!”

“No one’s going to start a war over just two people!”

Can I kill this damn old man? Did he just casually say to hand over both Alicia and her father?

Apparently her mother isn’t part of the sealing clan, so she doesn’t count.

“Ah, Alice, calm down.”

“I’m calm. You can handle the postwar cleanup, Big Brother.”

“Stop dumping all the trouble on me! I won’t have time to play with Lily!”

“I’ll play with her instead.”

At this point, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to burn this whole country to the ground.

Anyone who touches my family—I’ll wipe them out.

A war? Sure, Arland doesn’t have the strength for another one right now. Recovering from the imperial war and its economic toll comes first.

Still, so what? I’m always ready for war. I don’t think Arland is safe yet, so I haven’t dismantled our wartime system. The factories inside the Treasury are still prioritizing weapon production.

The next batch of armed airships is almost done—soon we’ll have ten in total. I’ll send them north, out of central eyes.

“As I said! This is the nation’s decision! Any more and it will be treason!”

“..….”

The Foreign Minister was doing his best. That helped me cool off a bit.

Leaving aside the enormous sin of trying to hand Alicia over, let’s analyze the situation.

The Land of Tranquility has experienced one previous awakening of the Yamata no Orochi. Apparently, that’s when they first learned of its existence.

It didn’t fully revive, but the destruction was tremendous. The entire country had to mobilize its strength to reinforce the seal, suffering huge casualties.

Hmm… doesn’t that sound off?

Even if you reinforce a broken seal, it’s still broken. Unless the original sealing technique was preserved—but they didn’t even know the creature existed until it began reviving.

That means the original sealing art is lost. If they used an entirely different method, would the seal even function properly? Unlikely.

I should confirm this.

“Question. Has the interval between sacrifices been getting shorter?”

“!”

Got it.

“… How do you know that? That’s a state secret! Could it be—”

“I didn’t hear it from anyone!”

It’s something you can tell just by checking the seal’s state.

“So you can reapply the seal, but it won’t last. It’ll definitely break.”

“How can you be sure?!”

“Because the sacrifice interval shouldn’t shorten. If it does, that means either the Yamata no Orochi is regaining power despite the seal, or there’s a flaw in the seal itself.

Tell me the details of the sealing process.”

In the worst case, it could awaken at any moment.

And when I heard the details, I realized we were in the worst case.

“So the charm-user who reinforced the seal died immediately after?”

“Yes, the burden of the sealing was too great. He died right after completing it.”

“Did he leave any final words?”

“He said, ‘It will return.’”

So he knew the seal would fail. They must’ve misunderstood his warning, thinking he meant it would return without continued sacrifices.

But that’s not it. He was likely worried that the two seals were interfering with each other.

(This country has a proxy of the Earth Spirit King, right?)

I asked via telepathy. I’d sensed it soon after arriving here.

—Yeah, it’s here. Should I call them? … Ah, no, says they can’t come. —

Thought so. That confirms it. The one who created the seal was a spirit user, who cooperated with the Earth Spirit King’s proxy to bind the Yamata no Orochi. There’s no other way to combine two completely different sealing systems to hold a monster like that. Temporary, maybe—but not permanent.

(Ask how much power they have left.)

—… Not much. Says they’re at their limit. —

“Not much” could mean anything with spirits—their sense of time is alien to ours.

(Can you confirm if my theory’s right?)

—Yeah, I can talk from here. You’re mostly right. The Great Earth Spirit is the one holding it down now. At this point, sacrifices are useless. —

That sealed it. Pun intended.

I stood up.

“Alice?”

“It could revive right this second.”

“How can you know that? Our estimates say we have years!”

“Because spirits are involved in the seal. If I speak through them, I get answers.

By the way—doesn’t anyone here have a spirit contract?”

The Foreign Minister answered, “Our country currently has no spirits.”

(Why?)

—They get eaten by monsters if they come near. And since no one here can see them, they probably moved away. —

—Not that many spirits would come to a place like this anyway.—

That reply came from the spirits of light and darkness.

Well, spirits are fickle as always. They appear out of nowhere, and vanish the moment they lose interest. A constant headache for nobles and kings alike.

They naturally bless humans just by existing, but they’re flighty creatures. It’s in their nature.

Some nobles have ruined themselves trying to cling to them. Arland, on the other hand, doesn’t depend on spirits. People there believe in their own strength and the bonds between comrades—pure muscle-brained logic.

We respect spirits, sure, but we’re not devout. Some folks probably worship their biceps more than any goddess. As a result, the Holy Church has little power—religion’s about as relevant as it was in modern Japan.

The dark spirit looked like it wanted to say something but stayed quiet. Even the spirits contracted with my brother looked uneasy.

(That monster—it’s that, isn’t it?)

—Yeah. Why do we have to deal with something humans created to kill us?—

The earth spirit’s words confirmed it.

The Yamata no Orochi was a bioweapon created by the Ancient Magic Empire to destroy the Spirit Kings.

We don’t know its original name—even the Spirit Kings didn’t. They hadn’t seen it as a serious threat. After all, killing a Spirit King is basically impossible unless you interfere with the planet’s core—the “Star Core.”

That’s the source of all life and the root of a Spirit King’s power. Humans can tamper with it, sure—but they can’t control it. All they can do is trigger cataclysms. Many civilizations before the Ancient Magic Empire had tried and been wiped out for it.

This world’s history is longer than Earth’s—but it’s been destroyed countless times.

Still… maybe I should call Takuto, just in case. He’s a Hero, and he can teleport. If I ask, he’ll come.

“Alice?”

My brother looked at my face as I thought.

“What?”

“… Can you win?”

Good question.

“Probably. If not, I’ll just gift-wrap it and send it to the Empire.”

They’ll be thrilled for the chance to “prove their strength.” Not that I plan to let them have it unless it’s absolutely necessary.

That sealed island might even have some ancient ruins left. Exploring it afterward could be fun.

If the facilities used to create that monster still exist, that’d be amazing. Maybe they sealed the entire complex along with it. The control device for the beast was apparently a failure—the Spirit Kings didn’t know what it was, but they knew it didn’t work right.

The creature itself was a mess. Like the Spirit Kings, it can dominate ambient mana, but its control is weaker, and if it turns on the Spirit Kings, that ability’s useless.

Its so-called infinite regeneration is mana-dependent, and if the Spirit Kings seize control of natural mana, who knows how long it can last—or if it’s truly immortal at all. It just regenerates constantly, that’s all.

That part doesn’t worry me. Between me and my contracted spirits, we can dominate the mana around it easily enough—at least in a limited area. If I tried to control too wide an area, I’d collapse. The spirits threatened to knock me out if I tried.

Now… that barrier of its is a pain, though.

Why doesn’t my Helios have a barrier? He’s an ancient dragon! Most elder dragons do! I’d ask, but he’d probably cry.

A “barrier” is a defensive field possessed by some high-class magical beasts, holy beasts, and dragons—a subconscious shield. For reference, Mr. Coote has one, but it’s fused with his fur. That gloriously fluffy coat has the toughness of armor plating. He even adjusted it to suit my preferences. Truly the best pet. He understands the importance of fluff. (His barrier’s way stronger than most anyway.)

Well, since I’ve got forced teleportation as a trump card, there’s no real chance of losing. At least the Land of Tranquility won’t suffer damage—the island’s uninhabited.

The real problem’s the charm-users who still refuse to give up on reinforcing the seal. Their spirits are already broken. They can’t do anything themselves, so they cling to the idea of sacrifices.

Hopeless. A mage who rejects change is already dead. A mage’s duty is to seek truth—and truth demands adaptability. That’s the essence of magic.

Can’t I just ship these guys off too?

Big Brother smiled sweetly and said, “No.” Don’t give me that sinister smile. It’s terrifying.

Fine. I’ll just make them understand the difference in power the hard way.

“Foreign Minister, are we done yet?”

“J-just a moment longer!”

“What nonsense! Offering a sacrifice is the simplest solution!”

“I’ve told you already—that’s impossible! You are hereby suspended! Bring all sealing records immediately!”

The minister barked the order, and one of the Bureau’s staff rushed out.

“That’s under the Bureau’s jurisdiction!”

“As of now, you’re dismissed as head of the Bureau of Sealing. The government will take over.”

“Without me, the seal will break!”

“And with you, it will still break eventually!”

“You fool!”

“You’re one to talk!”

Seriously, couldn’t they have finished this argument before we arrived? Apparently they tried, but once he saw me, he must’ve thought it was impossible.

Well, I do usually suppress my magic—at a glance, I probably don’t look like a Sage. But if I unleash it, the effects on my surroundings are… dramatic.

Isn’t there an easier way to convince him?

Why should I be the one convincing him? This is their country’s problem!

Hmm… got it!

I’ll just win.

Lately, I haven’t had any victories. Sure, I beat the Empire—but after that, I kept losing to Madame, and my pride’s in tatters.

If I defeat the doshi of the Land of Tranquility, I’ll reassert my standing and restore my pride. And once he’s crushed, there’ll be no opposition left.

“In that case… I challenge you to a duel!”

In Arland, when there’s trouble, we solve it by force.

“Oh dear, my sister’s so brave,” sighed my brother, holding his head.

What do you think about this chapter?