“Where am I?”
I woke up in a tent.
There was nothing as fancy as a bed, but I was left on a sturdy board of some sort, to keep me warm.
And so I wasn’t being treated badly by the looks of it.
I sat up and looked at my surroundings.
“There is something about this that is familiar.”
It was familiar because it was a military tent.
When you went out to war, you often had to sleep in tents like this.
But why was I here?
I tried to go back through my memories, but nothing was clear.
I had fought with the residents of the Celestial World… No, Melvis had used some great magic and blown everyone away?
My memories were muddy.
“…”
I slowly closed my eyes and tried to remember what the last thing to happen to me was.
And I was able to remember the part where I was caught up in one of Melvis’s attacks, along with the enemy.
I sensed the danger instinctively, and ran as fast as I could. However, I was too slow.
And then I lost consciousness and woke up inside of the Orb of Control.
“Ahh…the reason that the Celestial World is targeting me.”
My soul was the result of their experiments.
Apparently, I was their sole example of success. And so they wanted me.
But since I was safe now, it meant I must have been able to get away…?
The entrance of the tent was closed.
My body felt fine though, and so I decided to go outside.
“…Are you serious?”
The scene that spread out before me was terrible in many ways.
“It’s like there was an air raid.” That seemed to be the best way to describe it.
There were craters everywhere.
Not only that, but white and black smoke was rising into the air. Something was burning.
“Ah, there you are.”
The person who called out to me was Bulei.
He was Great Demon King Dalm’s subordinate.
They had come out here in order to eliminate the residents of the Celestial World, when they found me.
“Are you the one who saved me?”
“Aye… It seems like you’ve been through a lot. As the battle between the Celestial World and King Melvis intensified, we brought you out quietly.”
Apparently, Bulei and his men had been able to escape the ‘Negative Mist.’
So I was the only one who had been trapped inside. Their ability to escape was very impressive.
As the ‘Negative Mist’ was in the shape of a dome, they avoided getting close to it, while continuing to monitor the area.
And then the residents of the Celestial World came.
As Bulei and his men continued to watch, the Negative Mist cleared, and the celestials began to move frantically.
Thinking that something must have happened, they came closer to see what it was. And then they found me.
While they had only been watching, I was impressed that they had stuck around at all. Still, he said that it was from quite a distance away.
Thanks to this, they had not taken much damage at all.
Their crisis control capabilities were commendable.
“I’ve never seen so many celestials in one place before. And King Melvis was unleashing a chain of powerful magic attacks… We tried going closer once, but ended up having to fall back.”
And it was during that retreat that they found me.
Perhaps I had been able to escape a lot farther than I thought.
“And what happened to King Melvis?”
“He continued to fight with incredible force until he had killed all of the celestials that were there. And then he just left. Judging by the direction he went, he probably returned to his country.”
Bulei laughed and said that his mission was now complete.
The invasion from the Celestial World had ended in failure.
Apparently, Melvis had pretty much dealt with the entire invasion by himself.
It was insane.
I had come all of this way just to bring Melvis back, and so it would be a shame if I died… That might have been what Bulei was thinking. Regardless, he had helped me.
And so I was incredibly grateful.
“If King Melvis has returned, then I should as well.”
While I was still concerned about the fact that the celestials were after me, I had done what I came here to do.
“I see. Be careful. The Demon World will only become more dangerous from here.”
The chaos was spreading like never before.
The Great Demon Kings have been quiet for now, but who knows how they will move in the future?
“I suppose…that it’s also related to the invasion from the Celestial World?”
“Aye. Chaos brings more chaos. Right now, the world is filled with ambitious people who are looking to swallow their neighbors. We are not safe. If they come, we will fight back with full force. But the fact that people are starting to antagonize Great Demon Kings is a bad sign.”
“Indeed. I’ll be careful.”
“Also…”
“Also?”
“If possible, try and keep King Melvis within his country. This kind of thing is…well, difficult for us.”
Bulei looked at the devastated terrain and chuckled sadly.
“I understand. I’ll try to keep his eyes away from here.”
Now that he knew where Yamato was, Melvis was probably thinking of nothing but how he could go to the Human World.
If that was the case, the wars in the Demon World were nothing but background noise.
Even though he could get angry and cause great damage to his surroundings, it would likely only happen if all else failed.
I thanked Bulei once again and started my return journey.
On the road, I could clearly see the scars and the aftermath of where Melvis had fought.
And there were also pieces of corpses here and there.
I didn’t know how many there had been in the invasion force, but I hoped the Celestial World would lay low for a while.
I traveled through Dalm’s territory for three days, and was able to return home without encountering any celestials.
As this mission had been from General Farneze, I would have to make a report to her.
I assumed that she would be in her town, but was told that she was at Melvis’s castle.
“Now that I think about it, she was originally supposed to guard it.”
The two other Generals were still guarding the borders.
And so General Farneze had to rush back to the castle.
But when I headed to the castle and met with the General…
“I have returned. My mission is complete and I…”
“Golan. King Melvis has called for you. You must go at once!”
Again?