Chapter 202 Who Are You!?
"Haah... I'm exhausted..."
As the day drew to a close and the night wore on, around midnight...
Zephyr Aron, who had finally returned to the Aron family's estate via teleportation, let out a deep sigh in the entrance lobby of the mansion.
Thanks to the efforts of explorer clans like ≪Wooden Sword Way≫ and the Four Great Families of the Seals, the Stampede had been brought to a surprisingly swift end.
It was likely the fastest record for quelling the Stampede in Necronia.
Meanwhile, after successfully restarting the [Seal Temple]'s functions, Zephyr had teleported to the Kirke family's estate with Duncan.
This was because they needed to discuss the response to the situation as the heads of their respective families, and share various pieces of information.
And then, while verifying the damage inflicted on Kirke by the secret society Chronosphere's attack with Isaac and the others, Zephyr and the others were visited by Aaron Gale from ≪Extreme Sword≫ and Logan Abrams.
Zephyr was surprised that Logan showed up with a normal face, but what shocked him even more was Aaron's demand.
He wanted to reveal all the secrets about the secret society Chronosphere that the [Four Great Families of the Seals] had been keeping hidden.
That was Aaron's demand.
Of course, normally, there would be no need to even consider it, and it would be dismissed outright. In the first place, even though the four families are regarded him as hero in the "Great Outbreak" and the defeat of the Nord Singular, there is no need to confide important secrets to someone who is only a mere citizen.
However, in the end, they decided to accept Aaron's demands.
There are reasons for this, such as how Logan, who was influenced by the [Testament (Contract before God)], was able to speak about various things related to the Chronosphere and was on Aaron's side.
But, above all, the biggest reason is simply brute force.
――No, he should say, military power.
Thanks to Isaac's "communication" through the Brain Support Interface, the ≪Extreme Sword≫ effortlessly suppressed the dozens of Space magicians, including the 3 leaders, who had gathered at the scene.
(Ugh... I never thought that heavy-attribute weapons could do something like that...)
Just thinking about it makes his body shiver.
To begin with, heavy-attribute magic and heavy-attribute weapons are indeed rare means that can counter Space magic. However, being able to counter it doesn't mean having a superior attribute. It's just that heavy-attribute magic or heavy-attribute auras can interfere with the phenomena caused by Space magic, such as whether a heavy-attribute weapon can pierce through a [Space Barrier] depends on the difference in abilities between the two sides.
No, it's not just a difference in abilities; the Space magicians also have a slight advantage in terms of attributes.
Therefore, normally, it's impossible to easily cut through the [World-Dimensional Barrier] deployed by the head of the families, like it's made of paper.
In other words――it means that there's a huge gap between the power of ≪Extreme Sword≫ and Isaac, and that's all.
And the difference in power wasn't limited to just Isaac. Even Zephyr and Duncan, who were also family heads, couldn't do anything about it.
(What the heck is this, that technology to block magic activation...!!)
He thinks he applied some kind of skill, but trying to imagine how he did it――is actually possible. He dispersed the magical energy imbued with Space attributes, which was about to manifest as magic, using a heavy, external aura.
But the fact that he did it with an aura that spread so thinly and widely, that's what's truly terrifying. Ironically, that thin aura of his was even "stronger" than the magical energy that Zephyr and the others had converged.
(Ugh... just thinking about it makes me feel bad... it's like a bad dream...)
It's hard to believe it's something a human can do.
There was no way the head of the [Four Great Families of the Seals] could reject his demands, even if they were made while being held at swordpoint.
It's a definite fact.
≪Extreme Sword≫ could have killed all the Space magicians, including Isaac, who were present at the scene, single-handedly if he wanted to.
And he could have done it with ease.
(If he had that much power, I suppose it's no wonder he could capture Noah alive...)
He also heard that ≪Extreme Sword≫ had captured Noah, and he even confirmed it by seeing Noah's restrained figure afterwards.
In the [Seal Temple] control room, the fact that Noah, who had shown powers far surpassing their own, was not killed but captured alive, was enough to make even Zephyr and Duncan crack a dry smile.
Anyway.
When, where, and what information to reveal, Aaron and the others had discussed in detail, and even after the members of ≪Wooden Sword Way≫ had left the mansion, Zephyr's group continued to talk. They called Logan over, asked him what had happened today, and were discussing what to do next with the heads of the households, when Nacht and Caduceus suddenly arrived, bringing news of the Chronosphere God's disappearance and the strange phenomenon of the ≪Great Transition≫ in the [God's Remains Labyrinth], as well as Nacht's succession to the head of the Caduceus household.
And if that wasn't enough, 'Sage' Io Suleiman showed up at Kirke's mansion with Ail Hermit in tow, adding to the chaos.
With so many things happening at once, their capacity was already overwhelmed.
Still, he busied himself with dealing with the aftermath of the stampede and making adjustments for the future, giving instructions to the household members through the interface, and finally managed to return to the mansion in the dead of night.
In just a few hours, the night would be over.
As he waited nearby, a servant appeared in the entrance lobby, greeting Zephyr.
"Welcome back, Milord. Will you be having dinner?"
"Ah, I'm back. No, I don't need dinner. I had a little something on the way."
"Very well, sir."
"Yeah."
He replied, but in reality, he hadn't eaten dinner. He had prepared something simple, but he didn't feel like eating.
"I'll sleep for a bit until dawn. Wake me up when morning comes."
"Yes, understood."
He told the servant and headed to his room.
He would put off taking a bath as well. Right now, he just wanted to take a short nap. Tomorrow... no, today, he would have to move quickly from early morning.
* * *
He opened the creaky door and entered the dimly lit room.
After closing the door, he flipped the switch on the wall-mounted magic tool near the entrance, and the magic tool hanging from the ceiling lit up, illuminating the room.
As he was about to change, he suddenly stopped.
"――Who are you?!"
There was someone sitting on the luxurious sofa in the spacious room without the owner's permission.
The sofa was facing this way, and the person's face was hidden from him.
"――――!?"
And, in the instant he was caught off guard, he sensed that 2 magics had been deployed in the room.
Space magic――[Space Closure]
Space magic――[World-Dimensional Barrier]
[Space Closure] would prevent him from escaping through teleportation, while [World-Dimensional Barrier] would physically block him from leaving the room.
Before he could react, the two magics were rapidly deployed. This Space magician is incredibly skilled, far surpassing him.
As Zephyr performed such a high-level magic, a figure... no, an existence appeared in his mind.
It was the Chronosphere god who had gone missing.
Only someone like Noah or that god could do something like this, he thought.
"Wha...?! You're a kid?!"
But Zephyr's expectations were shattered.
The one who stood up from the sofa and appeared before him was not Jilva Chronosphere at all.
Instead, it was a young girl who looked around 7 years old.
She had long, beautiful silver hair and a pure white face, with a fully developed beauty despite her young age. Her eyes sparkled like gold, and she wore a thin white one-piece dress that accentuated her silver hair and pale skin, giving off an otherworldly beauty.
Zephyr couldn't believe his eyes, but he forced himself to think.
(Is this girl a child from the Aron household, judging from her hair and eye features? But there's no way she's from the main or branch families...!!)
Zephyr had memorized the faces of everyone in his household. So, he could confidently say that the girl in front of him was not from the Aron household.
(But this appearance is unmistakable...!!)
Yet, the girl's features unmistakably belonged to the Aron household. That's why Zephyr was on guard. Who was she, and why had she magically sealed this room?
"......"
Zephyr stood before the expressionless girl, took out his staff from his ring, and readied himself without letting his guard down.
So, in order to reveal her True Identity, he opened his mouth to speak, but...
"Zephyr Aron... there's something I need to apologize to you for."
The girl's voice rang out like a bell as she spoke.
"Apologize for what? I don't understand what you're talking about... but who are you, anyway?"
Zephyr asked cautiously, but the girl replied nonchalantly.
"I'm Lucia Aron, the first Priestess of the highest god, created as a vessel for Archetype Intelligence. Your ancestor."
"――What?"
Zephyr's jaw dropped in surprise at her answer.
As the head of the Aron household, Zephyr was familiar with that name, of course. The name Lucia was often used in the Aron family for naming children, and there were many women with that name.
But that wasn't what the girl in front of him was saying.
She was saying that she was the actual founder Lucia herself.
Normally, Zephyr would have laughed it off as ridiculous, but after being overwhelmed by her Space magic, he couldn't simply deny it. He still couldn't break through her Space Closure.
In other words, his capacity was simply overwhelmed.
Just when he thought he had finally returned home after dealing with a huge commotion that only happens once in a lifetime, he found another source of chaos waiting for him in his own room.
It felt like something in his heart snapped with a faint cracking sound――or so it seemed.
Zephyr had a bewildered expression, unable to do anything but stare at the girl. Lucia Aron, however, continued without paying any mind to Zephyr's state.
"Your son, Kyle Aron, has been dead for over a year. And someone else has been impersonating him. The one impersonating him was the owner of this body. She wanted to apologize, so I'm doing it on her behalf."
"............"
It was a barrage of explosive statements that left him wondering where to even begin.
The confusion was so intense that even being told his son was dead didn't evoke any sadness or anger. Maybe it was because the reality of the situation hadn't sunk in yet, or maybe it was because he was still trying to process the fact that his unworthy son was dead.
He gazed at the girl, feeling the need to respond somehow, and finally, he snapped back to reality.
"Growl..."
The girl's stomach let out a cute little rumble.
"...I'm hungry."
The girl muttered in a monotone voice, still expressionless.
For some reason, the tense atmosphere was broken, and the tension that had been building up dissipated.
It was clear that the girl wasn't an enemy. If she had intended to kill him, she would have done so already. Despite having the power to do so, she hadn't, which meant she had no intention of killing him.
Zephyr let out a relaxed sigh and smiled tiredly. He had told the servant that he didn't need dinner earlier, but he couldn't very well not offer food to the person in front of him.
"Heh, hehe...now that I think about it, I'm hungry too...ah...let's get some food ready first. Do you have anything you'd like to eat?"
It was a pointless question.
At that, the girl nodded without hesitation and replied.
"I want to eat fish grilled over an open flame."
"......"
Zephyr was taken aback by the unexpectedly troublesome request.
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