The sun had long disappeared beyond the jagged peaks of the Galahad Mountain Range, and night had fallen around them.
Normally, no one would walk such a dark road, but now on this highway, three shadows walked solemnly under a faint light.
Chrono, with his head bowed, trudged on with his feet moving relentlessly, while Lily and Fiona, following behind him, could find no words to say.
The trio had consumed their last potion to recover just enough strength to walk, and then immediately set off.
Their destination was the place where adventurers had likely been attacked by the Eleventh Apostle.
If Misa’s words were to be believed, there should be remnants of the battle left on the highway.
It had not been half a day since the carriage carrying the adventurers had rushed past them, leaving them behind, so they could reasonably assume the site of the attack was not too far away.
And Chrono could not help but verify that.
(My legs are heavy…)
Chrono was currently in a state of mind where he had stopped thinking.
He was not considering what had happened to the adventurers, what had become of the refugees, what would happen now, or what he should do—his thoughts had come to a halt, and he focused solely on moving his feet.
Yet deep in his heart, a vague but certain sense of impending doom swirled and tormented him.
Thus, Chrono pressed on, for he could do nothing until he confirmed the truth with his own eyes.
How long had they walked like that? Perhaps it hadn’t been too long, but to Chrono, the path seemed infinite, and at last, an end, an answer, came into view.
“…!?”
Illuminated by Lily’s glowing ball of light, Chrono’s remaining eye caught sight of something rectangular rolling in the distance.
There was no way he could have mistaken it, especially with his enhanced night vision, which worked as well as that of a nocturnal monster.
The moment he recognized that rectangular object, Chrono began to run.
“Ah, Chrono!”
“Chrono-san—”
He could not hear the voices of the two behind him; he had to verify it for himself, even if the worst outcome awaited him.
“Ah, ah…”
It was unmistakably the wreckage of a carriage.
There was no mistaking it; it was the rough wooden carriage they had hastily crafted for escape, even without paint, that lay there, crushed.
What Chrono saw was the back half; the front half appeared to have been smashed as if struck by a massive iron ball.
“W-What the…”
Before his eyes lay wreckage of other carriages, similarly overturned, each showing signs of destruction scattered about.
And from the dark road ahead, a thick odor of blood wafted—a scent he had become all too familiar with over the past few days.
Chrono’s mind did not conjure the faces of valiant adventurers, the hated Crusaders, or the mocking apostles.
What rose clearly in his mind was the scene of Irz Village ablaze; that alone vividly remained in his thoughts.
It was a hell where everything was too late, and no one could be saved.
Here, there were no burning houses, and no friends crucified on stakes.
Yet, this place mirrored Irz Village’s desolate scenery, filled with despair.
“Such…this is too much…”
Chrono staggered but finally lost his strength, collapsing to his knees.
Before him spread the violent aftermath of a fierce battle, with craters, toppled trees, and chaos.
What kind of ferocious battle had unfolded here? Now, it was impossible to know. But one thing was certain:
“Everyone…is dead…”
The fact that the adventurers had been brutally defeated.
Scattered about were bodies he vaguely recognized as those of his slaughtered comrades.
In the center of an especially large crater lay Vulcan, a massive body impaled by a gigantic tooth sword that pinned him to the ground.
The ‘Tooth Sword: Devourer’ pierced his heart straight through, and his severed right arm, amputated at the elbow, still gripped the hilt with strength.
The black tatters rolling about, had it not been for the small staff resembling a skull next to him, one would never have realized they belonged to Mozurun.
Crushed to the point of leaving not a single bone intact, it was impossible to identify the remains, whether they had been repeatedly struck or stomped by something enormous, leaving no trace of the skeleton.
Three corpses leaning against a fallen tree were undoubtedly the three sisters of the “Three Huntresses.”
From a distance, they looked as if they were holding hands cheerfully, but in reality, arrows pierced their palms, forcibly connecting them.
Their heads had been cleanly severed from their necks, and all three shared similar gear and stature, making it impossible to tell who was who.
He felt no inclination to seek the severed heads that might be rolling somewhere.
“What the hell…what the hell is this…why is it, like this—”
The more he looked around, the more bodies, carcasses, corpses he saw—all bloodied, and none whole; he couldn’t help but feel the malice of the killers, seeing such overkill everywhere.
However, even with those dismembered and mangled bodies, he could still discern their physical features, clothing, and equipment; it was almost impossible not to recognize them.
In less than a month, they had shared meals, fought side by side; his comrades could not be mistaken, even in their altered forms.
That was precisely why he understood, believed, and could not help but accept their deaths.
A lie, impossible, unbelievable—no denial could hold weight.
At that moment, Chrono came to learn the truth, that the Eleventh Apostle Misa had indeed annihilated the ‘demon race passing through this road.’
“We didn’t fight for something like this!!”
Tears flowed with his scream, cascading down his cheeks like rain onto the ground.
“Damn it! Damn it! I—again—”
Crouching as if to reject the stark reality surrounding him,
“—again, I couldn’t protect anyone…”
He could do nothing but shed tears of regret.
Yet, despite the regret, no answer emerged on what he should have done.
The invasion of the Crusaders, the defense battle at Arz Village, the ambush by the experimental unit, the apostles’ onslaught—he and his comrades had given their all against these events.
Yet, in the end, it was all in vain, futile efforts, wasted battles, and pointless deaths.
What went wrong, what was lacking, what should they have done to avoid such a tragic outcome?
The answer was nowhere to be found, nor could it be.
Even if he found that answer, it would still just be regret, one that could not change the reality before him.
However, amidst the cyclical thoughts torturing Chrono, a single flash of insight struck him.
It provided a simple, straightforward, and absolute answer to the question that he believed had no solution.
“…It was because I was weak.”
That answer was ‘strength.’
What if he had the power to defeat thousands, tens of thousands of Crusaders?
What if he possessed the strength to slay an apostle?
“If I were stronger, if I had power, wouldn’t no one have had to die?”
The moment he reached that conclusion, true regret consumed Chrono.
It became a guilt he could never atone for, recognizing it as a consequence of his inability to prevent irreparable situations.
No matter how far-fetched the logic, to Chrono, it felt true.
“Is that it? Everyone’s deaths were my fault?”
What occupied Chrono’s heart was nothing less than
“Ha, hahaha… I see, I see, it’s all my fault, I was the one at fault—”
It was undeniably ‘despair.’
“Chrono!”
At that moment, a ray of light pierced into Chrono.
As the iridescent glow reflected in his right eye, something soft, warm, and small flew into Chrono’s body.
“Chrono is not at fault! Chrono did his best! You did really well! You worked harder than anyone else!”
“…Lily.”
There was Lily, clinging to Chrono’s chest, tears brimming at the edges of her round emerald green eyes, desperately shouting words of affirmation.
“Chrono protected me properly!
I’m alive because Chrono saved me!
So, Chrono is not at fault!”
Her clumsy speech, yet that earnest cry undoubtedly shone a ray of light into Chrono’s despair-filled heart.
“Lily…thank you.”
That light was not a miracle to overturn the gruesome reality.
Chrono had been on the verge of swinging his only remaining weapon, the ‘Curse Blade “Belly Split,” against himself.
Yet, Lily’s words provided just enough strength to hold Chrono back from being consumed by despair.
A flicker of calm began to return.
“I’m okay, I’m okay… so please don’t cry.”
“Yeah, yeah! Lily’s not crying!”
Chrono tightly embraced Lily, who had buried her face in his chest, now reduced to just a shirt.
The small warmth he felt against his chest gave him calmness and the will to stand up again.
“…Let’s search for survivors.”
Holding Lily to his chest, Chrono rose to his feet.
He pushed aside all sorrow, pain, regret, and remorse to focus on what had to be done now.
“Hey! Is there anyone alive?!”
He shouted into the surrounding darkness.
Anyone would do; if just one person was alive, they had to save them.
There was no time to think; the essential task at hand was to search for and rescue survivors.
“Hey! Hey! Is anyone there?! Respond!!”
It was futile; there was no way they could emerge unscathed from dealing with an apostle—such thoughts were forcibly shoved to the back of his mind.
Even as the emotions spiraled back into a negative cycle, he had no time to hesitate or give in to despair; he desperately spurred himself on and raised his voice.
“Hey—!!”
Still cradling a sobbing Lily who insisted she wasn’t crying, Chrono began to walk in search of survivors.
“Light of a candle illuminates Tuesday—‘Lantern’”
At that moment, the area around Chrono suddenly brightened.
Looking up, he saw bright fireballs slowly descending from several dozen meters above.
Like flares, the fireballs illuminated a wide area.
“I thought it’d be easier to search if it was brighter.”
Fiona, appearing behind him like a shadow, held her beloved long staff, ‘Ainz Bloom.’
“That helps, thanks.”
Seeing Chrono with a slight smile, Fiona, although her expression didn’t change, felt relief wash over her chest.
With no friends at all, Fiona had no idea what to say in such a moment.
U.
For now, thanks to the fact that I left everything to Lily, Chrono seemed to regain his energy and move well, allowing me to finally express my relief.
“By the way, is there any magic suitable for finding people?”
Fiona, who almost smiled involuntarily, quickly regained her poker face upon Chrono’s abrupt question and answered.
“I can read the presence of killing intent or magical power within a certain range.”
“No, I can do that too. In fact, if someone is on the verge of death, they won’t have such an obvious presence.”
Even Chrono’s slightly exasperated gaze felt somehow comfortable to Fiona.
In front of the unstable Chrono, who seemed like he could break at any moment, she realized again just how shaken she had been.
“I’m sorry, but I haven’t learned any magic for detecting weak magical powers or presences.”
“I see, then how about a spell to amplify your voice?”
“I haven’t learned that either.”
“No choice, I guess we’ll have to search diligently. It’s more than enough to have this much light.”
Thanks to that, the surrounding devastation became even clearer, but Chrono tried his best to avoid thinking about it.
“Hey! Is anyone there? If you’re alive, please respond!”
It was at that moment that he called out for what felt like the umpteenth time.
Clang—
Indeed, a sound was heard.
“Is anyone there!?”
In response to Chrono’s voice, a clearer rattling sound echoed this time.
It was coming from the cargo bed of a carriage that had been turned upside down.
The canopy had been crushed under its weight, and the box shape was completely flattened, but it seemed that someone was desperately trying to escape from the small gap between the body of the carriage and the ground.
Having identified the source, Chrono threw Lily down as if tossing her aside and started running towards the crushed carriage.
“Hey! Is it you!?”
While shouting, he placed his hands on the edge of the carriage to lift it.
With enhanced strength beyond that of a human due to modifications, Chrono could not lift the wooden carriage easily, but he could tilt one side of it with relative ease.
“Are you okay!?”
He thought to ask Fiona, who had free hands, to pull the person out, but before he could make that request, the person trapped under the carriage crawled out on their own.
“…You’re my older brother, right?”
Coming out from there was Simon, the sharpshooter alchemist.
He didn’t have his beloved sniper rifle ‘Yatagurasu’ in hand; instead, he was holding a dull-colored red stone.
“Simon!? I’m glad you’re okay—”
From what he could see, Simon’s appearance was quite dirty, but he only had scrapes and bruises on his arms and legs, which meant he wasn’t critically injured.
Relieved that he seemed to be in stable condition, Chrono let out a sigh of relief.
“…Not really.”
Slumping to the ground, Simon’s face, hidden beneath his gray bangs, was difficult for Chrono to see clearly.
But his voice was certainly trembling.
“Everything is completely wrong… Everyone, everyone is dead, they were killed by that guy.”
“Simon… it’s best not to think about that right now.”
The moment he sat down to say those words, Simon looked up.
His emerald eyes, just like Lily’s, were brimming with large tears.
“Suus died protecting me!
I can’t! How can I not think about it? That person, always—”
Chrono understood the true nature of the red stone Simon was cradling as if it were a precious gem.
It was the core of a slime.
Suus, a rank 4 thief who had teamed up with Simon as a scout, her very source of life.
“I… I couldn’t do anything… I was scared, scared of that guy… I was just protected… ugh, uuuuh!”
As if a dam had burst, Simon began to sob uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
Chrono embraced Simon’s frail body, just as Lily had done for him moments before.
“Ugh, uuuu… Why… Why am I even alive—”
“Don’t say any more! I’m truly glad you’re alive! Really glad!”
“But… but…”
“It’s fine. Just be happy for surviving right now. I’m happy you’re safe, Simon.”
From that point on, Simon continued to cry quietly while being held in Chrono’s arms.
Even Chrono, who was trying to encourage Simon, hadn’t yet sorted out his own feelings. While embracing Simon’s small body, negative emotions were slowly starting to spread within him again.
“—Chrono.”
At that moment, Lily’s sharp call interrupted Chrono’s swirling thoughts and abruptly snapped him back to reality.
“What is it, Lily?”
Though she still looked like a small child, Chrono sensed that her tone had shifted to that of an adult upon saying his name.
He didn’t ask why she had regained consciousness.
There was no need to; it was evident that she had been forced to return to her senses by exerting the magical power of the ‘Red Crystal Ball’ beyond a burdensome limit.
“Look over there.”
With a serious gaze that could never be seen from a child, she was looking far away toward the Galahad Mountain Range.
I released Simon and positioned myself next to Lily, directing my gaze in the same direction.
“That is—”
What lay there was a series of flickering lights.
It was none other than something or someone forming a line advancing along the night road, carrying torches.
“—No way, could it be a Crusader pursuit unit!?”
“But if that were the case, they should be coming from the back, right?”
Lily’s observation was indeed correct.
Chrono quickly understood that the possibility of the Crusaders approaching from the Galahad Mountain Range was improbable.
“Then, could it be a line of evacuees? No, but then they would be going the wrong way—”
“Um, Miss Lily…”
Before he realized it, Simon, with his puffy eyes, had come up beside him.
“What?”
Receiving Lily’s sharp gaze, Simon momentarily appeared startled but quickly responded.
“Could you use the magic that sees lights from afar?”
“Right, we need to determine what they are.”
After finishing a single incantation, a transparent light sphere that had previously been used as a scope during the scout team ambush in Irz Village formed in Lily’s hand.
Chrono and Simon peered through the lens simultaneously, observing the approaching group on the night road.
“I can’t see very well…”
Even in the zoomed state, perhaps due to the night, all Simon could see was the dim glow of darkness and the light of the torches held by the group.
However, with Chrono’s keen night vision, he saw clearly.
“—That doesn’t seem to be a Crusader or villagers.”
What Chrono saw through the lens was knights clad in armor riding on horseback.
Their equipment was entirely different from the predominantly white and characteristic armor of the Crusaders, appearing to represent a completely different military force.
However, since there were no signs of beastmen or golems, who are typically larger than humans, it couldn’t be completely dismissed that they might be Crusaders composed solely of humans.
“Brother, can you see the emblem on the flag they’re holding?”
“Flag? Hmm… Ah, yes, I can see it.”
“What does the design look like?”
Squinting, Chrono carefully observed the two flags held by the knights.
First, he felt relief that neither flag depicted a cross.
Then he noticed that each of the two flags bore different emblems.
“One has a crown crossed with a sword, and the other has a helmet, shield, and spear.”
“Do you know what they are, Simon?”
“Yeah, there’s no doubt— it’s the Spada Army.”
At that moment, a gasp of admiration escaped him as he remembered sending a messenger to Spada for help.
The fact that they had rushed to their aid in this situation meant they had dispatched forces to rescue them.
“Wait, are they really going to help us?”
While it was an unexpected line from someone who suggested fleeing to Spada, it was a valid concern in front of a fully armed military force.
Importantly, Spada was not friendly towards Daedalus but rather closer to an enemy state. After all, the expedition was intended for refugees, and there was no reason to not feel anxious before an army.
“It will be alright; that unit should be able to communicate. By the way, brother, just to be sure, isn’t the knight at the forefront in heavier armor than the others?”
“Hmm… Yes, that’s right; only one of them is completely dressed in heavy cavalry armor.”
Even while using Lily’s lens, he could only see the silhouette, making it hard to discern details. Still, he could tell there was a clear difference compared to the other knights.
The leading knight was undoubtedly of the captain rank.
Equipped with a spear-axe and a large shield typical of heavy cavalry, he stood tall.
Naturally, he was proportionately larger than the knights flanking him, seeming a head taller.
The other knights wielded spears with shorter grips, distinctive from infantry spears, along with a shield that was larger but not as bulky, and their armor appeared slimmer compared to the captain’s.
Chrono conveyed what he observed to Simon.
“Yeah, without a doubt, that unit is Spada’s second division, ‘Tempest.’ They’ll definitely come to our aid.”
When he noticed Simon’s face seemed somewhat relieved, he naturally asked.
“Are you familiar with the Spada Army?”
However, Simon hesitated for a moment before honestly sharing the truth.
“Well, the captain of the heavy cavalry leading ‘Tempest’ is my sister.”
Though he added that it was through marriage, Chrono was left speechless in surprise.
“Ah, well, it’s not that I was hiding it— I just have my reasons. I’m not exactly a Spada soldier myself, but— anyway, it’s going to be alright!”
While there were many questions lingering, for now, the fact that a ‘welcome’ had come from Spada meant that,
“I see, we’re going to be saved…”
Chrono realized that this long battle had finally come to an end.
The battle of Alsace, which ended as an overwhelming defeat with only four survivors and none to protect, had come to a close.
Chapter 9 will be the last next time.
Although it isn’t explicitly written, I see this as a point of demarcation. If I had to say, this serves as the conclusion of the first part, the Daedalus arc. The next part will be the Spada arc.
Also, since this chapter 9 ends on a bad note, I refrained from adding an afterword to avoid ruining the serious atmosphere. After this, I might occasionally add some comedic chapters.